Primordial: Severance (Part III)

[December 6th, 12:50 JST]

Shizuoka Prefecture – Primordial Ruin Level 2 Chamber, Mount Fuji

The wide pillar gave off an oppressive presence, a silent pressure that made the air feel heavier the closer one stood to it.

Its surface was crowded with diagrams etched in careful sequence.

At the upper left, a human figure lay upon a stone platform. The drawing was crude, but the damage was unmistakable — one leg missing, the body darkened with heavy strokes of black, as if burned. Smaller figures were carved around the platform, gathered close. At the base of the stone lay numerous fragments, each rendered with deliberate detail. Even without context, their origin was clear.

Meteor shards.

The next diagram showed the same altered scene.

A rectangular structure had been added beside the platform — an enclosed box of unfamiliar design. From it, wave-like markings radiated outward, spreading toward the figure on the stone. The fragments were now arranged around the device, drawn as if feeding into it.

In the third sequence, the waves were carved as if they flowed directly over the injured body.

The markings grew denser here, overlapping one another. The waves were guided and forced into flesh.

The fourth diagram completed the process.

The blackened surface was gone. The missing limb had returned. The figure stood whole once more, indistinguishable from the others beside it.

Beneath all these carvings, a line of tightly carved characters ran across the stone. The language was unknown, but the intent was sharp. The strokes were deliberate, restrained, carrying the weight of something meant to be heeded rather than understood.

To the right, everything changed.

The diagrams there were blurred, the stone scraped and scarred as if someone had deliberately tried to erase them. Yet traces remained. Beneath the damaged surface, faint lines of text could still be seen, crowding every frame. Their annotations and descriptions abruptly cut short.

Reina’s breath caught.

Her hand rose to her chest as she steadied herself, fingers pressing lightly to anchor her breathing. Emi noticed at once and stepped closer, slipping an arm beneath Reina’s to support her weight.

She didn’t need to understand the language.

The procedure was already familiar. It was something she had thought she had made peace with long ago.

Behind her, Yuzuriha did not speak.

Her jaw was clenched so tightly her teeth creaked. Her fingers curled inward, nails biting into her palms until thin red marks bloomed against her skin.

The team spread out again, forcing themselves to refocus on their objective — the entrance to the third chamber.

At one corner of the wall, Reina noticed something different.

Unlike the rest of the room, this section bore faint, shallow carvings etched into the stone. It felt deliberate, as if the wall itself had been waiting.

Reina placed her hand against it.

The moment her palm made contact, a pressure surged through her chest. Her lips moved on their own as unfamiliar syllables slipped free, guided by the resonance she felt rather than conscious intent.

The chamber responded.

A low rumble rolled through the stone. Dust fell from above as the narrow section of the wall shifted inward, revealing a descending stairway hidden behind it.

Reina pulled her hand back, briefly touching her lips before issuing a short report to the Director through her earpiece.

With Emiko’s light sphere drifting ahead, Reina led her team as they began their descent.

The stairway ended sooner than expected.

The chamber below was vast — easily twice the size of the one above. Its walls were once again lined with carved symbols, dense and orderly. A heavy resonance lingered throughout the space, ancient and raw, yet unstable in places.

At the center stood a stone table, and upon it rested a tablet.

They approached cautiously, unaware that Yuzuriha had not moved at all, remaining several steps behind.

The tablet’s surface was covered in tightly packed symbols, far more intricate than anything the ruin had shown them so far. Reina pressed her earpiece again.

“Tempesta reporting. We’ve reached the third chamber. A tablet is present at the center. Beginning documentation for further analysis.”

She signaled Momoko to take photographs.

Nana leaned closer, eyes scanning the surface. “I wonder what this tablet does.”

“It summons a Level Five.”

They all turned toward Yuzuriha as her words fell flat into the chamber.

Yuzuriha slowly removed the white ring from her braid, letting her hair fall loose around her shoulders. She closed her fingers around the ring in her palm and whispered a chant none of them could understand.

The ring flared briefly, swelling into a sphere of white light before collapsing in on itself.

When the light faded, a microphone rested in her hand.

It was unlike the D-Mics Reina and the others carried. Its frame was carved from stone, rough and ancient in design, with fragmented Novium embedded between the layers. Runes were etched along its surface, worn but deliberate, as if the relic itself had survived an age long forgotten.

“Reina-senpai,” Yuzuriha said quietly. “Please hand the tablet over to Yuzu.”

Shock rippled through the room.

“Yuzu-chan, what are you doing?” Emiko asked, her voice unsteady.

Yuzuriha turned her gaze to her. “Emiko-chan... I’m sorry. But Yuzu has to do this.”

She raised the relic to her lips and began to sing.

The tune was ancient — older even than the wordless resonance the Diva used. It carried a weight that pressed down on the chamber, heavy and unfamiliar.

“Aikawa Yuzuriha, Codename Marionette. Project Harmonia Subject Zero-Zero-Three.”

She declared in a steady voice.

A dark haze seeped outward from her body, coiling around her like a shroud. Sigils ignited across her skin, spiraling upward from her feet — musical patterns etched in black rather than white. White runic sigils flared within her eyes, contrasting sharply against the darkness.

“Ars Aria: Imperium Cantus.”

Her Cantus Veil expanded, swallowing the chamber whole.

It was nothing like Reina’s or Nana’s. This frequency felt ancient and oppressive, carrying a pressure that crushed against their senses. The resonance in the room grew heavier, denser, forcing the air itself to bow.

A sigil circle ignited beneath Yuzuriha’s feet.

The marking spread outward in uneven rings, biting into the stone as they expanded. Black glyphs slid into place, locking together as they turned, until the floor itself was swallowed by a complete Cantus array.

Black smoke poured out from its edge.

Shapes began to form within it.

Level 1 and Level 2 CODA emerged, their silhouettes solidifying as they stepped forward, yet they did not attack. They remained still, standing in silence.

“Reina-senpai,” Yuzuriha said again, her tone unchanged. “Please give Yuzu the tablet. This is Yuzu’s last warning.”

Her eyes lowered slightly.

“Yuzu doesn’t want to do this.”

Reina stood frozen for a moment, forcing herself to process what she was seeing before she spoke.

“Yuzu-chan... you were a Project Harmonia subject?” she asked.

Yuzuriha did not answer.

Her gaze lowered further.

“Why do you want the tablet?” Mika demanded. “If it really does what you said, it’s supposed to go to the Foundation for research.”

“That’s irrelevant,” Yuzuriha replied. “What happens after doesn’t concern Yuzu.”

She tightened her grip on the relic.

“This is my father’s order.”

Misaki stepped forward. “Stand back. We don’t know who your father is, and we don’t know what he plans to do with it. If that tablet can summon a Level Five, it’s too dangerous to hand over to anyone.”

A brief silence followed.

“So,” Yuzuriha said softly, “this is your answer.”

Her voice did not waver.

“Then Yuzu will take it by force.”

Reina caught the shift immediately. Beneath the calm certainty, something heavy stirred. It was restrained and deeply buried.

Yuzuriha said nothing more.

With a flick of her wrist, the CODA surged forward in unison.

Tempesta Unit reacted instantly. D-Mics were raised as Cantus Veils unfolded around them, sigils flaring briefly across skin and eyes as resonance flooded the chamber. Frequencies collided, overlapping chaotically as the space filled with layered sound.

The chamber fractured into combat zones. The outer members of Tempesta Unit engaged the oncoming horde, blades of winds and surges of water cutting through bodies. Every cleared space filled again as fresh smoke bled from the circle.

Reina and Nana moved forward together.

Nana struck first.

Flames surged around her arm as she drove her fist forward, a compressed arc of fire tearing through the air. Reina layered her own Cantus into the attack mid-flight. A sigil circle flashed as the blow passed through it, lightning threading into the flames.

“Ars Aria: Silentia Cantus.”

Yuzuriha snapped her fingers.

The fire collapsed inward, guttering into a weak flicker before extinguishing entirely, its lightning stripped away as if it had never existed.

Both of them froze.

A Diva capable of deploying two different Cantus grade alongside an active Cantus Veil—

Misaki acted immediately. A gravity sigil bloomed above Yuzuriha, pressure crashing downward to pin her in place.

The force never landed.

A Level 1 lunged sideways into the sigil’s path, its body crushed apart — only for another to replace it instantly. The gravity field destabilized and collapsed without ever touching its target.

Nana attacked again, driving forward in a rapid sequence, fire blooming and breaking again and again.

Each strike was erased with a snap of Yuzuriha’s fingers.

Reina moved.

She launched forward, chainsaw blade igniting from a circle along her leg as she closed the distance in a single boosted bound. Yuzuriha snapped her fingers again, creating a Silentia barrier to meet the strike.

However, the blade didn’t vanish.

The impact slowed, weakened. But it continued.

CODA surged in front of Yuzuriha at once, smokes merging together into a living wall. Reina tore through them, the blade carving a path straight through as the wall dissolved.

Her strike connected.

A shallow cut opened along Yuzuriha’s arm.

Reina pulled back instantly, landing beside Nana. Her chest tightened, a weight settling deep inside her.

The wound closed. Skin knit together seamlessly, the only trace was the torn sleeve.

She glanced at the healed arm, then looked back at Reina, unbothered.

“This ruin feeds Yuzu,” she said calmly. “Senpai is already running out of time.”

She deepened her voice, new smoke began to form beside her.

Ten shapes emerged at once, sleek, massive bodies formed low to the ground. Level 3 CODA, predator-built. They fanned outward and struck as Yuzuriha waved.

Reina and Nana were forced back as the creature leapt in coordinated arcs, claws tearing through the floor where they’d stood moments before. The rest of the unit struggled to regroup as fresh Level 1 and 2 horde flooded the chamber again.

Yuzuriha walked forward.

Every attempt to intercept her failed. Silentia erased incoming Cantus. CODA intercepted physical strikes without hesitation. The battlefield bent around her presence, attack breaking before it could form.

She reached the stone table and closed her fingers around the tablet.

With only one Level 3 left, the smoke surged again. The remaining CODA halted, then turned toward it.

They rushed to the lone, battered Level 3.

The Level 3 then feasted on them, others merged. Mass piled onto mass as resonance spiked violently. The creature swelled, its frame distorting, cracking as it absorbed the horde.

Reina felt it as the Level 3 evolved in front of her.

A pseudo-Level 4.

Its massive frame stood motionless between Yuzuriha and Team 02, head lowered just enough to remind them it was watching.

Reina understood immediately.

They were spent. Several of the girls were already breathing unevenly, struggling to maintain their resonance. If they forced another engagement—

No. It wouldn’t end well.

Yuzuriha turned away and pressed her earpiece.

Not once, but three times.

A channel opened.

“Papa,” she said quietly. “I have the tablet.”

A long pause.

“Yes... understood.”

Her voice softened, just slightly.

“Thank you, Papa.”

She lowered her hand.

A sigil circle unfolded vertically in the air beside her. Reina felt it at once. The resonance did not belong to the ruin, nor to Yuzuriha.

It came from somewhere else.

Yuzuriha stepped toward it, then paused, turning back.

“...Thank you,” she said softly. “For singing the song Yuzu created.”

Emiko stiffened.

Yuzuriha smiled.

It was small and fragile, but genuine.

“The past few days with Team 02,” she continued, “were the happiest days of Yuzu’s life.”

Her gaze lingered on Emiko.

“Thank you, Emiko. For being Yuzu’s friend.”

She reached into her pocket and took out a small bottle. Star-shaped pills rattled softly as she shook them into her palm and swallowed some.

The change was immediate.

The black sigils circling her body dimmed. The oppressive resonance filling the chamber faltered, then collapsed inward. The pseudo-Level 4 froze mid-breath, its form unravelling into smoke before dissolving completely.

Reina’s eyes widened as the pressure vanished.

Yuzuriha looked at her then. Her expression was unreadable, but her voice carried something beneath it.

“And... thank you, Reina-senpai. For accepting Yuzu.”

She turned back toward the circle.

“Goodbye.”

As she stepped fully into the light, a single tear slipped free — falling without her wiping it away — before the circle collapsed.

Yuzuriha vanished.

The chamber fell silent.