Tanya and Visha
1942 San Bernardino, California, USA Another World
Some might have called it the Second World War, but few later would call it that and almost no one considered calling it during the war. The Empire-America Colonization conflict started with a five way fight over South America and Pacific islands. Three years later it stabilized into two factions, America and the Empire. Both had fought in the World War and others called it a sequel. The Empire chose to press early advantages into a war on its enemy's turf after a 32,000 column troop had surrendered and then massacred the Imperial 32rd Infantry Brigade after discovering it had 972 troops and no mages. Then they took the food, the supply they were low on that prompted the "surrender." A few generals were puzzled by Tanya von Degurechaff's quip that "The America I know will follow international law as long as the other side doesn't make a sneak attack, violate a truce, kill prisoners, or use ununiformed illegal combatants. Only the Allied Kingdom seems to like keeping their word" It was common knowledge among even neutral countries that while America was not the worst violator of prewar treaties, there were several previous violations without even a token attempt to stick to the letter of the law.
Lieutenant General Tanya von Degurechaff had finished fighting for her life against seven skilled American mages. Just as she rejoined the mobile mage command group for her Army, intelligence brought bad news.
"We intercepted a communication. They will be dropping 7 of the new mysterious 15-20 kiloton hot bombs to eliminate us. Can your shields hold? You said magical shields were effective against particle radiation" said Major Viktoriya Serebryakov.
"We did studies of these barriers on the radiation phenomenon French scientist Marie Curie… sorry Allied researcher Mary Wilson found in radium, certain cesium particles, and uranium. Technically this is true, but this is our end if our antiaircraft gunners don't do work" said Tanya.
"Didn't you survive one of the mystery bomb blasts that produced similar types of particle radiation?" said Viktoriya.
"I was in the radiation radius. Shields can block the radiation, but the air around gets really hot and dangerous particles are thrown around. Know cancer? You get cancer if you inhale them. I can block convection of air, preventing heat transfer, while selectively allowing 1/3000 of the oxygen to pass through. If I let more oxygen though, the shield no longer blocks any air, including hot air, which would fry my lungs. I had to flee while encapsulated in a shield that also prevented entry of oxygen, and egress of carbon dioxide weaken with decreasing internal pressure, requiring more and more manna to force out. Normally anyone in the radiation and larger137 kPascal overpressure air blast radius are radius are doomed, and I'm the only one with the speed to escape. Four of the seven target location according to leaked radio conversation will be in the fireball radius. I'm fairly sure even if the shields block the fragments and the radiation, the force of the blast itself dooms us. Our only hope is to get out of the dodge before bomb deployment or our primitive antiaircraft missiles from allied units to actually hit" said Tanya.
"One of the bombers have released his payload" said command post. Tanya's heart sank. She briefly considered going full speed to save her own skin, but realized she could not outrun a plane, much less a blast even with the Elenium Type-95.
Suddenly, time froze. A pigeon turned towards the pair. "Were you resting on your laurels until called in three years ago?" said a voice from the pigeon.
"Being X!" screamed Tanya. She immediately shot the bird, tearing it to pieces on impact. An image of a Belgian Wood Crafting Company brand nutcracker appeared in the sky above them.
"Why did you shoot the Pidgeon?" said Viktoriya.
"Visha? You can move. Hurry!" screamed Tanya Viktoriya sensed urgency and internal distress from her commander.
"Your lack of faith is still troubling Tanya-chan" said a voice from the nutcracker in a familiar, or perhaps unfamiliar language.
"Is that Japanese? I wondered when you had the time to learn it?" said Viktoriya, following Tanya
"Hello Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov. I see you have met the apostle of your Lord. Tell me, would you like yourself and your commander to be saved, at the cost of never seeing your homeland again?" said Being X, now continuing in German.
"You are the one who put us up to this Being X! The atomic bomb is way too early. You were also the one who instigated the conflict didn't you? You keep messing with my life" said Tanya. Safety seemed so far away, even with the clock stopped.
"Where did you become knowledgeable about their 20 kiloton weapon?" said Viktoriya.
"I promised to not intervene in your life since your birth without your approval. I made the Elenium type 95 work and it is your choice to use it or not. Similarly, I didn't make them deliver the bombs here on their own soil at you or developed it for them. I just simply answered a series of yes and no questions from some Americans working for project Trinity. They chose to use this information and they were the ones who chose to use them here. So Viktoriya, if you and a few others were saved at the price of exile, would you chose it?" said Being X.
"If this is what it takes to save Tanya, I'll do it, although I prefer you just save us from this situation and let us get on with our lives. Who are you? An angel? Why does the commander seem displeased with your presence?" said Viktoriya.
"I'll grant you your prayers. Or rather, I'll let someone else grant them for you. If you manage to defeat her, I'll even give you time to escape no strings attached my love" said Being X. He switched over to Japanese "I give you permission to take them on without retaliation from me" A girl with long white hair and a military uniform appeared out from the ground, a portal that appeared to be closing. The edges were blue squares, almost pixilated.
The girl generated knives and shot them at Tanya, who dodged. She tired to avoid the fight, focusing on escape.
"He won't give you time if you don't engage me" said the mystery girl.
"Who are you? Some girl from a Dōjinshi? An American mage? Your uniform doesn't match" said Tanya. She made several shots at the girl, and the three began a dance in the sky. Tanya realized this new girl was fast and only Tanya could exceed her speed.
"I'm getting better at not leaking subconscious information. You can call me Military Uniform Princess" said the newcomer in Japanese. She attempted to use an enchanted blade at Viktoriya. Tanya pushed her subordinate out of the way and got nicked on the hip by the blade. Viktoriya used her magical bayonet against the newcomer, but lost most momentum after breaking a shield. "Magical bayonets should allow easier penetration than this" said Viktoriya. The two of them put in a combined of three clips into the newcomer. Three bullets got through the shield and hit her left hip, torso, and leg.
"Her eyes should glow when using an operation orb. What's going on?" said Viktoriya. Tanya immediately realized there was something disturbing about this observation.
"Why do you seek us?" said Tanya, starting a chant.
"You can call it a kidnapping. If you really want to come back and stay a child… er legal adult in a child's body soldier I can return you" said the girl.
"Are you the enemy of the fatherland? We have a mission to accomplish" said Tanya. Her movements became restricted to planar movement and a hand reached towards her jewel. Viktoriya felt some relief.
"If you do not cease and desist, I must bypass your protection" said Tanya. The newcomer was a bit puzzled.
"I'm not going to stop her holy relic from working. I gave my blessing for her to use as long as she follows my instructions" said Being X.
"I praise the power of the Lord and give him thanks for his blessings" said Tanya. An energized magical bullet shot out and pierced the newcomer, who cried out in pain. Tanya moved in with her bayonet and started to stab, opening a seventh wound.
Suddenly the girl's eyes turned yellow and she broke away from Tanya's grasp. "I warned her she had no chance of blocking and had to dodge" said the girl's voice, seemingly echoing.
"Damn you Being X!" screamed Tanya, perusing the newcomer towards the ground. Something wasn't right with the ground. It appeared blue. Suddenly, the new girl doubled back and gave Tanya and Viktoriya a powerful shove downward.
"I lost a bit of fine tuning. I either have to turn off the flight spell or wait 30 seconds for stabilization" said Viktoriya.
"It's the supply dump" said Tanya, looking down. The building was consumed by the blue grid and started falling apart.
"The others!" said Viktoriya, racing downwards.
"Wait, that's not solid ground" said Tanya, but felt her own flight was hard to control. Soon she realized there was nothing left of the world. She should have crashed some time ago. All that could be see was far away blue squares crumbling and falling, but nothing of the world itself was remaining.
"I remember when you were 9 you wished to see the land of the rising sun and eat there again. Enjoy" said Being X from the nutcracker.
"I'll see you soon" said the now not possessed girl. She watched the two girls fall into the enlarged portal.
"I wonder if they would like the world of the despicable gods of pleasure" said the white haired girl.
"It's really the world of eavesdroppers, but I suppose you have no way of knowing that and I have no intention of providing evidence to support this" said Being X.