Murakumo Awakens

The Murakumo Awakens (叢雲覚醒) is the eleventh episode of BlazBlue: Alter Memory.

Short summary
Ragna becomes unable to activate his Blue Grimoire due to Terumi’s interference. While waiting for the smelting of Noel Vermillion as the God Slayer Kusanagi, he tells Ragna the story behind the Blue Grimoire and the Black Beast. The smelting of Noel becomes complete and becomes reborn as Mu-12. She goes down to the Kiln under Terumi’s orders to destroy the Master Unit. Mu-12 is then met by Hakumen, where battle between them ensues. Ragna becomes overwhelmed by Terumi, and when Terumi tries to finish off Ragna, Lambda intervenes to save him from death. Lambda tries to fight Terumi but to no avail. Ragna catches Lambda’s dying body, where he asks her why she had saved him. Nu’s memories within Lambda awaken where she is taken over by Nu’s personality, who tells Ragna about her lonely past and dream about Ragna. She disappears as she smiles then gives Ragna her Idea Engine. Ragna becomes able to activate his Blue Grimoire along with the Idea Engine then uses his Distortion Drive: Devoured by Darkness to finish off Terumi. Meanwhile, Jin arrives in the Gate and starts a battle with Mu-12. Meanwhile, Gii comes flying to ask Ragna to save Rachel who became trapped, where he goes down to the Cathedral to save her from Phantom’s trap, then proceeds to the Gate to find Mu-12. Jin becomes overwhelmed by Mu-12 then is caught by Ragna, who then proceeds to fight Mu-12 together with Jin.

Long summary
Ragna the Bloodedge becomes unable to activate his Blue Grimoire due to Terumi’s interference and is unable to fight Hazama properly. After feeling some influences from the Kiln with Noel Vermillion inside, Ragna asks Terumi if he is planning on reviving the Black Beast. Terumi tells Ragna that the Black Beast is a failure product and is a Kiln that has gone berserk, then tells him the history behind the Black Beast, Amaterasu, Dimensional Boundary Contact Prime Field, the Blue, the Takamagahara system, and the Boundary. Meanwhile, Lambda-11 is teleported to Kagutsuchi by TR-0009 Tager.

The smelting of Noel becomes complete and she becomes reborn as Mu-12, the God Slayer Kusanagi. She descends from the Kiln, while saying that she hates the world. Terumi comments that she is adorable and asks Ragna just how many times he had people with his sister’s face taken away from him. Ragna declares that he will definitely defeat Terumi, then Terumi tells Mu-12 to go down to the Kiln to destroy the Master Unit. Mu-12 then goes down through a portal while Ragna yells at her to not go, but Mu-12 ignores Ragna’s plea and disappears.

Mu-12 arrives at the Gate, where Hakumen was waiting for her. Mu-12 declares that Hakumen must be destroyed as he is the user of the Sankishin Susanoo Unit, and the battle ensues between them.

Ragna and Terumi’s battle continues, where Ragna continuously becomes overwhelmed by Terumi. Lambda watches the battle from the sky as she is on standby on Kokonoe’s orders. Ragna is continuously overwhelmed by Terumi, then when he is about use his Distortion Drive: Eternal Coils of the Dragon Serpent to finish Ragna off, Lambda intervenes and protects Ragna from death. Kokonoe tries to stop Lambda, but she tries to fight against Terumi, only to get overwhelmed and stabbed in multiple places. Lambda falls onto Ragna’s hands, where Ragna asks her why she saved him.

Ragna calls out to Kokonoe for her to teleport Lambda back to save her, but Kokonoe tells Ragna that Lambda is beyond saving due to her severe injuries. The memories of Nu awakens within Lambda, where she then tells Ragna about her past when she was all alone in the Boundary, and telling him about the dream she had about him. Ragna sheds tears as he sees her dying, where Ragna apologizes to her. Nu tells Ragna that she can tell that Ragna is a gentle person from seeing him cry, and tells him that they will always be together. Lambda’s body then starts glowing and Ragna’s body also starts glowing, then Lambda’s body starts to disappear. Ragna then sees Lambda’s visor fall off and sees her smiling as she disappears. Ragna shows anguish over Lambda/Nu’s death, yelling out that she shouldn’t have saved someone like him, where then Terumi asks Ragna if he is crying while Terumi himself is getting ignored. Ragna then stands up, telling Terumi that he cannot forgive Terumi no matter what.

Ragna realizes that he had received Lambda’s Idea Engine, where after Kokonoe tells him to connect to the Idea Engine, he activates his Blue Grimoire again along with the Idea Engine. Terumi tells Ragna that it’s no use but sees that Ragna can activate it due to Idea Engine. Terumi also activates his own Blue Grimoire, but Ragna’s own Blue Grimoire overwhelms Terumi, which makes him go flying.

Ragna then uses his Distortion Drive: Devoured by Darkness to defeat Terumi. Terumi coughs out blood and suffers from his wounds, then tells Ragna to kill him off, but Ragna does not speak and only stares down at him. Gii then comes flying to beg Ragna to save Rachel Alucard. They both leave while Terumi suffers in pain from his wounds, where Terumi calls Ragna a chicken.

Meanwhile, Hakumen has trouble fighting against Mu-12, then Jin Kisaragi appears to fight Mu-12, declaring that she is an evil that must be destroyed, then the battle between two of them ensues. Ragna saves Rachel from Phantom’s trap, then after Ragna asks Rachel for some thanks for saving her, she tells him that she has always been thankful towards Ragna. Ragna tells Rachel that they should head down to save Noel, then heads down to the Gate.

Jin is unable to defeat Mu-12, and becomes overwhelmed, where Ragna catches Jin who was knocked out by Mu-12’s attacks. Jin tells Ragna that he is late, and Ragna tells him that he was waiting in the shadows to see Jin getting defeated, where Jin tells him that he is mean. Mu-12 takes notice of Ragna’s appearance, where he tells her that she had become something unknown. Then both Ragna and Jin charge towards Mu-12 to fight against her.

Locations

 * 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi
 * Altar
 * The Gate
 * Hanging Gardens (flashback)
 * Cathedral

Weapons

 * Snake Pair: Ouroboros
 * Large sword
 * Slaying Demon: Ōkami
 * Dream Blades: Musashi (flashback)
 * Ice Sword: Yukianesa

Fights

 * Ragna the Bloodedge versus Hazama
 * Hakumen versus Mu-12 (Offscreen)
 * Jin Kisaragi versus Mu-12 (Offscreen)

Trivia

 * Differences from BlazBlue: Continuum Shift:
 * Lambda was in the Cathedral beforehand in the game, but in the episode, she was teleported to Kagutsuchi, then went on standby in the sky above Altar to attack Hazama when the chance presented itself.
 * Terumi telling Ragna, about the history of the Black Beast and the Prime Fields was originally told to Noel, to push her into becoming Mu -No.12-.
 * Lambda did not fight against Hazama in the game when she saved Ragna from getting killed.
 * Lambda’s visor was destroyed after getting attacked by Hazama in the game. However, in the episode, it does not break and only falls off in the end when she dies.
 * More details about Nu’s dream about Ragna is added compared to the game.
 * Hazama had originally said that he has a Life Link with Mu-12 in the game, but none of this was mentioned in the episode.
 * Terumi had never revealed that his own Blue Grimoire is an imitation in the game.
 * Ragna originally said some things about why he wasn’t finishing off Hazama when he was dying in the game, however in the episode, he stays quiet while watching Terumi suffer.
 * Jin had never met Hakumen in the anime until this episode, where they seemingly know each other.
 * Ragna originally put Jin in Hakumen’s care because of Jin’s sustained injuries from his battle against Mu-12 in the game. However, in the episode, both Ragna and Jin attempt to fight against Mu-12 together.
 * When Noel was reborn as Mu-12, she appeared in her battle form instead of her pre-battle outfit.
 * After Lambda’s death, Kokonoe tells Ragna to use the Idea Engine. She doesn’t say so in the game.
 * When Ragna combines the Blue Grimoire with the Idea Engine, the color of the Idea Engine during its activation is yellow instead of blue in the game.