Destroying the Cauldron

=====>Abandoned Hospital (Yabiko)

With confident steps, two sturdy black boots with steel toes moved across the dusty floor. The journey to this god forsaken place had taken a while but at the very least it was uneventful. The last thing the Grim Reaper wanted was another chain of fights. He'd already made the mistake of over extending himself against Nu and Saya in the past. This time when the time came for a fight, he'd be at full strength and with the mood he was in probably not about to hold back as much as he usually did. Stopping in roughly the center of the room, Ragna stopped and rested his hands on his hips, looking towards the massive glowing Cauldron up ahead. He had no fond memories of this place so it would definitely leave a smile on his face to destroy the damn thing. Plus, if things went down the same was as they did at the other Library branches, the explosion should be able to take out the whole damn building. Not taking his eyes off the demonic contraption, Ragna spoke to his newest travelling companion. "We got pretty lucky so far, not sure what's going on up top but it's a nice distraction for us. Now we just gotta worry about this damn thing. Whadda ya think Kinjou?"

A long stairway downwards, Nu, accompanied by Zeta, arrived at the cauldron, hearing Ragna´s voice in the distance. For a moment, she thought about yelling out to him as a cheerful greeting, but the echo was quite intense in these halls, and he would probably think that its a hallucination... a voice from the past. Ragna was mentally broken as it was, no need to make it worse.

"Zeta, please stay calm... this place isn`t just creepy, its haunted. The Black Beast resides here, and Nu`s body knows this well." She warned her companion, then walked into the room where the cauldron was waiting to walk up to Ragna, with a smileing face.. although the tears and the redness in her face from the crying was still there.

~~~~~~~~~~>(From 6th, Heirarchical City, Yabiko; Abandoned Hospital)

The Beastkin offered his recent travel partner a grin of positive kung, one thing said to be a method of sharing a good feeling with another. This was something he trusted would work out more than fine for the two of them. This place smelled of blood and seemed to have a dark aura in general around it. Something that he immediately ignored, his senses were being messed with by whatever bad mojo lurked in this place. It was not for him to worry about right now, he looked at the cauldron. This beastly form of a machine is supposed to be whatever was causing this kind of problem. He could not allow this machine's continuance. "I can agree with you there, we were fortunate. Now it is time to be rid of this evil device, how shall we go about this?" he prepared himself by summoning up his ki'an force, drawing it into his stomach, while preparing to make a move whenever Ragna mentioned it.

"At the ready, let's do this."

As Nu took steps and warned Zeta about the silence that was needed her, the blonde-haired Murakumo simply decided to follow Nu, whose smiled was really warming her up. Though her face still had marks from all the tears that flowed over it, she was becoming less agitated over the time. She remained silent as asked, confirming the fact she had listened to Nu with a single nod as she took some steps forward, hand-in-hand with Nu. If that Ragna person was as nice to Nu as Jellal had been nice to her, Zeta would make sure to treat him with regards. She didn't know what she was supposed to do here besides following Nu, and walked near the Cauldron with a sort of feeling she never knew about before...

Frowning a bit in thought, Ragna recalled his past experiences with Cauldrons. "Well, with the others it was all about just making enough of a dent to destabilize it. There's a helluva lot of power in that thing so if we can crack it enough it should take care of itself. About time too." Suddenly Ragna spun, hearing footsteps growing closer. In one fluid motion he drew the Blood Scythe in a reverse grip and pointed the tip towards the source of the sound. For a brief moment memories flashed through his head. Memories of blood and violence and death revolving around Nu. He came very close to charging there and then but managed to stop himself. Nu hadn't become violent yet so there wasn't much point in starting something. However, it appeared as if she had a new companion with her. Relaxing a bit, Ragna made a point to keep his sword drawn just in case. "Nu, mind explaining what you're doing here and who the hell that is with you?" Not realizing Nu had actually gone through with the ridiculous underwear plan, Ragna could only assume she was stalking him again. That was the first step to another incident if he ever saw one.

Nu blinked a bit at Ragna´s behavior, haveing expected a much more relaxed response seeing how she was sane and calm again, but then again, it was Ragna, if he wasn´t moaning or whineing about something then he was sick.

"Whats the matter? Doesn´t Ragna like to see Nu? In such a nostalgic place?"

Nu smiled and came closer, her hand not letting go of Zeta.

"Nu just came to report you that her mission is accomplished. The Imperator´s panties are spread all over this branch. ...Oh, and this here`s Zeta-6... Nu kinda took her along because of a looong, loong and really unfunny story."

Hearing the voice of the one he'd met briefly at the hospital, he said nothing and looked on at the meeting. There was another here? Since it was Nu-13 and Ragna at least seemed calm enough, he just sat behind him quietly while he was remaining ready. They would strike the cauldron and it would blow, though first things first; they would need to get things settled here with anything that Nu and her guest, Zeta-6 might need.

As she saw Ragna's reaction and heard the criminal's words, Zeta doubted that man deserved Nu to love him. "Are you sure this man is your... soul mate?", she whispered to her silver-haired sister as she was done answering to Ragna.
As Nu had mentioned the "loong unfunny story", Zeta remembered the instants just before and despite the slight shy smile she had on her face, tears fell from her eyes as the expression of the pain in her heart, and she came even closer to Nu than she already was. Needing warmth, she rested her head on her sister's shoulder. A bit lost, she whispered to Nu's ear again. "Um... what are we doing here?"

With a groan, Ragna sheathed the Blood Scythe and shook his head. She might not be quite as homocidal as she used to be, but Nu was still crazy as hell. "Nostalgic my ass. Last time we were here you freaking impaled me...wait. You actually did the thing with the underwear?" smacking his palm against his forehead, Ragna sighed. There was a time when he was a feared terrorist that only a handful of people would even consider tangling with. Now he was babysitting a couple of cybernetic valleygirls fresh from a panty raid. Turning back towards the Cauldron, he rubbed his right shoulder and walked towards the supernatural device. "Screw it, let's just blow this thing to hell and be done with it. You ready Kinjou?" he asked his new partner. In the past, he had called on the power of the Azure to destroy the Cauldrons, fighting fire with fire. However, with Kinjou backing him up he might not need to resort to that this time. The less he relied on the Azure the better.

The Beastkin had been dying to get a shot at this cauldron, something told him that it was not only the right move, but it just might make a proper change for the future. His body surged with the freshly gathered Ki'an, like a soft flutter of heat in his stomach the energy rested from head to toe; his body having surged with his new intention of promised destruction as he drew the Huang Long Ji. He would combine the focus of his Ji'an energies with his Ki'an in order to generate something wicked in the result. All now he needed was the word to finish this, he would shatter this cauldron with Ragna; this seemed to be a clean fact for him now.

"Say the Word, Ragna. This Cauldron is going down." a tone of seriousness and focus that hadn't been in that rather calm minded beastkin before the moment, but as with any battle or situation that called for it: he changed all attitudes about and devoted himself to a complete end, no matter what it had been.

====> (CF: Yabiko, Leaving the city?)

Valkenhayn was on his long way to reach the NOL headquarters, together with his companion Reiei. "It is time to depart from here on out... I do not want anybody to see us together. That could bring you into a lot of trouble."
Within the nick of a second the butler jumped into another direction, seeing Reiei off towards the maingate while he followed another trail.
*I lost too much time... I should make my move quick!*
As fast as he could he made his way to the cauldron. This was the only place Ragna the Bloodedge could have interest in.


There. He seemed to just make it time. From the distance Valkenhayn saw some figures standing beneath the dangerous device. He sped a last time to jump into the middle of the little group, revealing his human form in midair. With an astonishing flexible landing maneuver the tall old man came to a hold, rising himself to his full height.
"Bloodedge-dono. What are you doing here?"
With the foremost alertness he tried to analyze the situation, while correcting his gloves.
"I do not know how much Rachel-sama explained you. But you should not be here right at this moment!"
With a strict and instructing voice he almost growled towards the Grim Reaper...

Nu shrugged, then turned to Zeta with a smile.
She couldn´t know what it was with Ragna that made him this way, nor did she know thier history together.. but still.
"Ragna is a bit of a blockhead, but his heart is at the right place. Nu knows that."
With a light hug, she tried to cheer Zeta a little, before letting go of her again.
"Now that thats over with, lets get out of this joint and do something fun."
With a light giggle, she took both of Zeta`s hands and teleported them both out of the Cauldron, to let Ragna finish his work as he pleases...

-----> Exit

Zeta didn't exactly have the time to react at Valkenhayn's appearance, Nu took her hands and teleported them away... Zeta was not afraid of where Nu could take her: as long as she was with Nu, she was happy.
-------------(Exit with Nu)------------->

Walking towards the Cauldron, Ragna was secretly thankful that Nu and Zeta took their lead. Better they bother somebody other that him at a time like this. Between Kinjou and himself they could take care of this Cauldron easily enough. However, a new obstacle appeared between the Grim Reaper and his target, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. The tall werewolf blocked his path and seemed downright angry at Ragna's presence here. Never one to back down, Ragna leaned forward towards the Hero, his shoulders back and frown in place. "I don't really give a rat's ass about Rabbit's little games. I came here to blow this place sky high old man and I'm gonna do it one way or another. Now you mind getting out of my way?"

"I cannot accept such a foolish behavior!"
Valkenhayn answered in an unusual aggressive attitude. It was the only way to somehow get Ragna to listen as he became more aware of a somehow dangerous situation.
"Do you even know what you are doing right now? Are you not aware of the fact that you cannot just go from cauldron to cauldron, destroying one after another without Terumi knowing and catching up to you? You are still in a weakened state, Bloodedge-dono... any reckless action may cost your life and our chance to succeed over these insane demons! I fear I cannot let you roam as freely as you like."
"This is my last warning, Bloodedge-dono... let us leave immediately and let the cauldron be."

Kinjou decided to do his best at such a situation, what's more he wasn't entirely sure how to best assess this, but he could decide that based upon what was said, something had to be up. While he was still ready to destroy the Cauldron, he still posed the question towards Ragna. "As I imagine you already know who this is Ragna, I won't start there...but I merely voice a word of concern. Certainly, Sir Valkenhayn of the Six Heroes would not act rashly without thought; what if this idea might not be sound? I admit I know next to nothing of the boundary, only what little my father could tell from having one ear to the proverbial ground. Perhaps we should talk about this? It might prove more fruitful than fighting amongst...allies? if I am right?" a clumsy enthusiasm that spoke out, hoped to act as the voice of reason.

He gave his humble opinion and assessment, in truth he still was determined to help Ragna; one way or another he would not go back on the word he'd given to him. If the Grim Reaper turned to see it, there was no question in his eyes, but something more radiant; holding a promise to help and that he'd follow what his word was. No matter the dictation of it's choice.

Ragna's frown slowly but surely twisted into an angered scowl and a low growl left his lips. Taking a step forward, he and Valkenhayn were only about a foot apart and Ragna was forced to look up at the tall werewolf. Through his anger, the Grim Reaper was only able to catch the gist of Kinjou's sound advice. It was something to the effect of not senselessly fighting with your allies but Ragna was beyond rational thought at this point. "Listen up wolf man, I'm tired of you and the Rabbit jerking me around whenever you damn well please! First I'm supposed to destroy the Cauldrons, now I'm not supposed to touch em. Make up your freaking minds! Terumi's used these things to make the Murakumos! They feed on souls! There's no way in hell I'm about to leave em be just because your ancient ass tells me to!" With that, Ragna widened his stance ever so slightly and put some bend in his knees. It wasn't an overly violent gesture, but it was apparent that the Bloodedge was prepared for a fight if that's what it took.

"This is not about Rachel-sama ordering you around. It is about the consequences of certain actions and how they will influence everything around it, no, the whole world! Destroying such a monstrosity is dangerous in itself, but did you ever consider any after effects?"
Valkenhayn became more calm, as he spoke. Now that he got Ragna's attention there was no need to scream at each other. That behavior gave the old butler his noble attitude back as he , again, fixed his gloves tighter around his fingers.
"Rachel-sama gives her everything to prevent anything unfortunate, to prevent a catastrophe. First things first, you cannot expose yourself to such danger anymore. When you die, everything ends. Do you understand this grave situation?"

Biting back a curse, Ragna clenched his fists tightly and shook with frustration for a moment. The old man had a point, he hated to admit it but it was true. She might be a pain in the ass but Rachel generally tried to look out for him in her own way so if Valkenhayn was here and so adamant about the Cauldron then there had to be good reason. The Grim Reaper sighed and visibly relaxed. Now wasn't the time for a fight against one of the Six Heroes. Even if he won then Kinjou was still right, what would Ragna gain? "Alright, alright, fine. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here old man. If she doesn't want me busting up these cauldrons then what exactly does the Bunny Leach want from me?"

Kinjou had been happy that Ragna had taken a turn for the better of this, in his grace he had at least seen enough sense in what was being said; at least enough not to attack Valkenhayn of the Six Heroes in anger. That much was something that he was glad for. Though The Beastkin had not a clue what he had to offer here, he would support Ragna fully, at first it was for cauldrons and now it seemed there would be some other kind of aim, something that he could surely go along with; there as no problem with giving help, but only a matter of trying to understand it. 'Alright, now we just find a new aim...there is a chance to salvage this yet!' he meant the efforts, he knew they could too be turned into a positive light.

Valkenhayn suppressed a sigh of relief, they were still in danger. A moment of unawareness could've been the end. They were in one of the core territories of the enemy after all.
"I appreciate your cooperation, Bloodedge-dono... I recommend leaving this place as long as we can still get out of here safe and sound! Do you have the patience to wait with my explanation until we have left this building?"
There was nothing much to add. They had to scarce. Without another word the butler shortly noticed Ragna's companion - to at least show him Valkenhayn was aware of his presence and not totally ignoring him (it was incompatible to do so for his pride as a butler) - and then turned around to use the passage out of here, where the old man came from.


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OT: This would be the perfect moment for a 'can't-let-you-do-that-starfox' sorta interference of a bad guy.... bad guys anywhere reading this?

OOC: Very short post I know and I apologize for it but my head is about ready to crack open right now and I don't want to hold anybody else up.

Still grumbling about the treatment he had been receiving as of late, Ragna shrugged at Valkenhayn's question. Obviously the Grim Reaper had other things on his mind than a timely exit. "Doesn't matter to me old man. Looks like I'm not doing crap here anyway so we might as well split."

Noting Ragna's seemingly troubled mind, he didn't make much of an effort to do anything shy of following him. As promised, it would be whatever that he got into, at least this was the plan of the beastkin. "Well Ragna, just say where we go to, no matter what the objective is; consider it done." he said this with no hesitation, as the matter went on; he knew one thing for certain and that was he was doing the right thing. This was the right group of people to have met up with...all of this sense of danger, he'd just met two murakumo units and then another of the six heroes.

Fortune both smiled and offered him a heavy warning, judging by Valkenhayn's warning, this was not going to be as easy a thought as just destorying cauldrons, then maybe just smashing up bases? He would be sure to try and think of something useful during this wait.

Spitting on the ground, Ragna turned on the ball of his foot and walked away from the ancient werewolf, both hands in his pockets and eyes closed as if in deep meditation. It was plain to anyone that the Bloodedge was angry, frustrated, and bordering on outright violence but he did his level best to keep himself restrained. "C'mon Kinjou, let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps." his tone was a bit rough, his personal problems with Rachel and her minions spilling over into his attitude towards the beastkin who had done nothing but assist him thus far. Continuing onward to the staircase that led up and out of the Library's secret chamber, Ragna was wasting no time in leaving. He could care less for Valkenhayn's explanations at this point. He was going to get some answers straight from the source. He was going to shake them out of the rabbit one way or another.

========> EXIT

By this time the Beastkin was settled on Ragna's actions, when given the word he gave a soft grin and nodded. Well this was getting interesting? While he kept that excitement bottled up, he kept focused and left his innerthoughts to continue the focus on their task, he'd be finding that out as he went with the Grim Reaper.

"You got it, Ragna. Right behind you." as he moved the way behind his companion, following his step he went the way after the most famous bounty in the land; confident their destination would prove fruitful. He allowed a moment for his rather lengthy tail to unravel, to allow the cramped limb a moment of flexing before he went off; following Ragna out the exit.

(Exuent after Ragna) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~>