Madoka Magica: The broken seal

by aliastheabnormal

Many years ago a great betrayal sparked a massive war. This war spread through the cosmos and led to the fall of the incubator race. The beings they once farmed for energy took their magic for themselves and created their own empire. Now a thousand years have passed and a new conflict has arisen born from the ashes of the Homun heresy.

2. Chapter 2: The Homun heresy

The ruined streets of Akihabara

The time, a thousand years into the future. The place, the ruins of the pussy destroyer netcafe. Honoka Kaname is facing off against a group of Skull Raisers, minions of the Cycles Cult seeking blood. How will our heroine survive?

"What just happened?" Honoka blurted out in a deadpan tone. "Seriously? Am I like Iron man or something now? Because this isn't what I imagined when I transformed. Jarvis explain."

"Who is Jarvis?" The voice of a woman blurted out from within the armor. "Kaname-chan, you may be a literal demigoddess. But I am still your senpai and I expect some sempai dignity." The Raisers meanwhile charge towards Honoka who easily dodges and counters every move while holding a conversation with the voice.

"So does this thing get uni-beams or something?" Honoka asks while separating one Raiser from the pack and punching him senselessly before finishing with an uppercut.

"This isn't an Iron man armor. Its... Um... What is this stuff made of anyways?" The voice asks while Honoka kicks away several Raisers. Another summons one of their arm cannons and fires it in auto fire. Honoka takes all the shots and emerges unscathed. Leaving the Raiser to crap his pants.

"Summon the Pies! Bomb this bitch back to the stone age!" The panicked Raiser yelled out as the mooks who are still conscious ran leaving the downed ones to die.

"Well I got to admit. This armor is pretty good at tanking bullets." And then Honoka gets shanked from behind by a Raiser with a sickle. Whose weapon breaks apart in half unable to penetrate the armor.

"What are you?!" The horrified Raiser asked Honoka. Who then noticed the Pie bombers closing in and readying their bomb bays. Sensing an opportunity the Raiser tackles Honoka and with a crazed laugh yells. "You may defeat me but you will never defeat our master!" The ten bombers launch their ordinance and level the entire city block vaporizing the corpses of the fallen Raisers and leveling everyone and everything else unlucky enough to be caught in blast with ordinance so powerful it can turn concrete and steel into ash.

All except one. As Honoka leapt hundreds upon hundreds of feet into the air and straight into the bombers stopping in midair. "Really, how could you not know about Jarvis, Jarvis? You know Tony Starks A.I. From Iron Man. I mean aren't you supposed to be an A.I. or something?" The bombers begin to shoot at Honoka relentlessly with their blaster cannons only for it to have no effect.

"That is absurd Kaname-chan!" The voice yelled clearly offended at the thought.

"But it's been a thousand years. Anyone from that era should be long dead."

"Well I admit you have a point there. Most mortal species would be dead after a millennium of standard galactic time. But I can assure you I am very much a survivor of the Homun heresy that began the Post Cycles calendar era. By the way shouldn't you be doing something about these guys shooting a you?"

"Oh yeah, I should. The thing is i'm not really feeling the whole getting shot by basically 40 starfighter caliber laser cannons all at once." Then Honoka gets floored by a salvo of rockets fired from the Pie bombers underside mounted missile launchers. Which as the smoke clears reveal they had no effect either. The Pie bombers upon seeing this all turned tail and flew back into the atmosphere while Honoka looked on silence trying to process the scenario. "What just happened? I thought we were fighting?"

…...

It is the year 1000 PCE. For more than a hundred centuries The Immortals have sat in the golden thrones of Center. They are the masters of mankind and countless other races by the will of the gods, and masters of a million worlds by the might of their inexhaustible armies. Living carcasses cursed by powers from the dark age of magic from countless lives have been lost to end. In a war so monstrous and far reaching that entire populations are silenced out of fear of a resurgence of such events.

Yet even in this age war is a constant. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon infested miasma of the warp. Vast armies give battle in uncounted worlds. Greatest among these soldiers are the legionnaire space marines, super warriors enhanced by the incubators former technology. Their comrades in arms are legion: The Internal fleet systems armed forces and countless planetary defense forces, the ever vigilant inquisition, and the tech masters of the mechanocracy to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants, and worse.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget hope and miracles, for they have been spurned in the pursuit of selfish desire. Forget the promise of forgiveness and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace among the stars, No happy ending for magical girls, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods.

…...

Chapter 2: The Homun heresy

Honoka is still in the air looking at the destruction. She takes a deep breath and says. "Well now to change back and pretend this never happened."

The woman's voice in the armor screams in shock and asks. "You're still at it?!"

"Of course, aside from saving Boss this whole mess really isn't my problem."

"Well too bad because if you want to save this boss guy you need to do as I say."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not Kaname-chan. Tell me what do you know about using magic?" Honoka stood still for several moments unable to answer the question while the voice smugly told her. "I thought so. This isn't Power Rangers where a twelve year old can suddenly browbeat kaiju twice his size by simply slapping a key into a brace, yelling shift into turbo, and then turning the key." Honoka looks at the armor funny who after a moment notices the hypocrisy of the comment considering their situation. "Okay, I admit that didn't came out right. Anyways I need you to save a scientist of mine that wound up on Earth. His name is Tsurugi Ichijin. Here's his picture." The voice shows Honoka a hologram showing Green Hack's face giving the girl such a surprise that the helmet separates and retracts inside turning into particles of data that disperse into the air. "You got to be kidding?! That's a scientist?! But he's a murderous asshole!"

"True, Ichijin-san is as UNBEREABLE asshole. But he is an useful asshole. So I need him for my plans to succeed."

"Seriously Jarvis what would an AI need with a mad scientist? Are you really Ultron or something?

The voiced brutally exasperated at Honoka's attitude sighs and pulls out a hologram with a map showing several icons. "No, I seek the power to save the universe. Ichijin-san is located there. Save him and you will be rewarded."

Incredulous of the situation Honoka asked how. To which Mami showed a large pair of breasts which instantly caught the girl's attention. "You like these don't you? If you help Ichijin-san i'll let you fondle them."

Angry, Honoka relents and begins to fly to the location shown on the map. "Still I wonder how this map works?"

…...

The less ruined streets of Akihabara

Back to the battle between Green Hack or Tsurugi Ichijin and Aviator Gremlin. Hack is fighting off Gremlin's Raiser lackeys as well even when they are all ganging up on him. With one of them even commenting on it.

"Dammit, why is this thing so hard to kill?!" Before Tsurugi punches him in the gut tossing him a good distance away.

"An excellent question with a simple answer." The tiny one answers. "My power levels even without transforming, are bigger." Tsurugi then somehow summons an RPG stat sheet for all to see full of very high numbers and goes into a theatrical rant. "Funny thing is, train long and hard enough and you're basically untouchable. But you don't you have to worry, because you don't have to wonder where your god is. He's right here!" Tsurugi then goes quiet and somber. "And he's fresh out of mercy." Only to get hit a speeding truck controlled by a cursed tack into a storefront which is set to explode by Gremlin.

Gremlin goes into an evil laugh as the flames consume the building. "Despair for the conceited Ichijin. Or should I say, death?" And laughs like a madman.

Tsurugi then rises from the flames. His trenchcoat completely destroyed by the explosion and flames revealing the green armor and lime green bodysuit but the scarf somehow survived intact merely being singed in some places. Gremlin readies his shoulder mounted weapon pods and fires more cursed tacks which are blocked by a round green energy shield which violently cracks.

"Interesting." An angry Gremlin scowls at the revelation. "While it is true that purely magical defenses can block my curse." As Gremlin speaks six missiles. Three in each underarm lock and load, taking aim at Tsurugi. "The cursed tacks aren't my only weapon. Red scourge!" And fires the six missiles which smash thru the defenses knocking Tsurugi into the floor. As he tries to recover Gremlin dives in landing and stomping both his arms making sure he cant escape. "I honestly can't understand what is so hard here? Well I guess that's what happens when you send a magical girl to do a man's job all these years. Wouldn't you agree Green Hack?" Gremlin chuckles as he looks down at his victim only get spat on.

"You understand nothing." Tsurugi bites back in a defiant tone.

"Cute." Gremlin mutters back annoyed as he prepares to fire on Tsurugi when he is smashed by a truck. It being pulled telekinetically behind Gremlin and mashing him into the ground.

Tsurugi gets up and boasts. "I'm the greatest genius in the universe! What made you think a mere pawn could checkmate a godslayer?! Now time for you to die!"

And in the middle of the boasting Honoka flies in and lands with a bit of difficulty next to Tsurugi. "So there you are Vegeta. Jarvis told me to find you."

Tsurugi practically throwing a tantrum responds with. "But im trying to kill the prick who wrecked my ship here!" And ends up double taking asking. "Wait, Honoka? What happened? And who is Jarvis?"

And the Gremlin gets out of the truck pissed as all hell Honoka looks at the plane shaped monster and comments. "That must be Aviator Gremlin."

"Indeed, I am Aviator Gremlin. I see my reputation precedes me. It truly is great to be recognized."

"Actually I just guessed because you look like a giant old timey plane straight from a war museum turned into a monster of the week."

"Ha! I am more than a mere monster of the week." Gremlin boasts as he lands on the ground. Honoka moving towards him while being unaware of this fact. "This temple of a body was given to me by Dark Messiah. The ruler of the Cycles cult. And the ruler. of. THE. UNIVERSE!" And thus Gremlin gets a right hook in the face for his carelessness landing him on the ground.

"Not so tough now are ya?" Honoka asks the fallen Gremlin who angrily fires off a salvo of tacks only for the girl to flash step away and appear behind him.

"What the hell is going on?" Gremlin asks in an incredulous voice.

"Beats me." And kicks the gremlin straight into their forty feet up then kicks him again into a Raiser who was just getting up.

Clapping her hands once Honoka ignites several sparks of flames and summons a massive red claymore into her left hand which she easily handles. Four feet long. Almost as long as her with a blade that is more like a Japanese katana or a giant fang than a dual edge blade that would be typical of the weapon and a large pommel with a circle shaped console and two tips on each side. The suit itself makes an announcement alongside the sword yelling "Summon, God Eater!" And the sword itself shone with binary code, flames, and sparks surrounding it for a while before stabilizing.

Gremlin wastes no time in firing more curses which are countered by Honoka grabbing her new sword and focusing as the blade begins to glow. And with a mighty swing a wave of energy is launched that consumes all of the curses forcing Gremlin to fly up and the unlucky Raiser caught in the middle to get vaporized in the blast. Gremlin is utterly awed as the wave goes on to pulverize the surrounding area before subsiding a good three hundred feet behind him. "Sweet merciful Putin! What kinds of winter do they have in Japan?"

A random Raiser asked. "Did you just invoke Putin? Because I thought you weren't a Putinist."

After composing himself Gremlin quickly goes on the defensive. "Of course i'm not a Putinist! I merely slipped." After some moments of awkward silence. Followed by the murder of the Raiser who dared question his superior via missiles. "Pie bombers attack!" As Gremlin gestures for a bombing run nothing happens. "Hey! Where is my air support?!"

…...

Earth's upper athmosphere

Meanwhile in space the Pie bombers are quietly leaving the battlefield. Exiting the planets gravity field to activate their teleportation fields and return to any allied base far away from the mess they've gotten into and hopefully not get noticed by Gremlin.

"Say Blueberry 1. Do you really think it's a good idea to leave out commander out there on his own?"

"Yeah, like i'm facing that freak alone Merange 3. That girl tanked everything we threw at her. There's no way we mere mooks would survive a fight with that. Anyways let's get back to Charon before the Hunters or the IFS decide to send reinforceme-" A horrific scream and explosion later Blueberry 1 is gone. Vaporized by a blaster cannon shot.

"What's going on?!" And before the Pie's knew it the ten mook strong group was decimated by a group of black and gold AW-1: Hunter fighters led by an orange and brown Hunter fighter custom on the way to Earth and AW-4: Hunter dropships heading to the planet below.

The Hunter fighter a single seater starfighter with black coloring and vertical gold stripes in the nose and wings. It has a very long nose with the hunters emblem a bubble canopy, heavy laser cannons on each wing, above them a pod with a special device capable of launching energy nets, and missile launchers on the nose. While the custom has faster engines, dual turret cannons,, and can sometimes have wing mounted heavy torpedoes. Hunter fighters are equally capable in space, atmosphere, and underwater since manaplasma engines are naturally waterproof by design.

The Hunter dropship is a larger ship with a rectangular cockpit followed by a pod and an engine block with movable wings and both wing mounted cannons and a back mounted turret complete with a front mounted missile launcher. It is also black with gold stripes with the hunter emblem in both the front of the cockpit and a large one on the pod. The pod itself can hold twenty troopers and holds a crew of three. A pilot, a co-pilot, and a gunner.

…...

Back on Earth

Honoka and Gremlin are in the sky trading blows with great force. Neither giving an inch as Raisers rush at the duo being taken out in the crossfire while Tsurugi dodges the whole mess with ease with short hops to the side. Honoka's swordplay is crude but overwhelming. Each blow driving back the commander who to his defense isn't that experienced in combat either getting his position thru treachery and his unique powers. This is quite possibly Aviator Gremlin's first fight against an equal, let alone better. Dark Messiah's plan to use him to assassinate Tsurugi was backfiring badly. Then again when a Japanese middle school girl is carrying what is essentially a tokusatsu version of the Tessaiga. Graceful and artistic swordplay naturally tends to be difficult even when your divine parentage gives you enough brute strength to wield it with one hand.

The two break off as Gremlin launches his missiles again which are dodged easily by Honoka who launches a sword beam in retaliaton. Gremlin dodges as well and flies upward at high speed gathering energy and bursting on fire. Taking a foot first dive onto the girl. Honoka grabs God Eater with both arms and swings it like a baseball bat smacking Gremlin into the ground while Honoka gets her sword knocked out from the recoil of the explosion but is otherwise fine. After getting back on her feet Honoka and Tsurugi face the defeated Gremlin who is flat on the floor.

Gremlin angrily mutters. "Well finish me off."

And Tsurugi in full agreement adds. "You heard him kid. Kill him so I can get back my driver and my ship and go home."

And Honoka merely drops her guard and undoes her transformation back into her civilian form shocking both Tsurugi and Gremlin who asks. "What are you doing?"

Honoka merely folds her arms and demands. "Release Boss from your control."

Gremlin laughs "You fool didn't the boy tell you? I can't just snap my fingers and break the spell on a Raiser. Once they are corrupted that's all she wrote. Speaking of which." Boss snuck up behind the duo of Honoka and Tsurugi striking down the former with his sickle causing her to bleed and giving Tsurugi a powerful kick enhanced by his barrier abilities that send Tsurugi flying. Gremlin gets up and looks at the fallen Honoka alongside the mind controlled Boss. "Well, well, well, looks like your little rampage ends here." Grabbing Honoka by her head, Gremlin lifts her upwards and prepares to finish her off when he and Boss are shot from behind by very powerful blasts of energy causing him to lose his grip on the girl.

The Hunter fighter ships arrive just in time. Swooping down from the sky and spreading out. Killing the Raisers with their more powerful blaster cannons with the exception of Boss who barely manages to push back the enemy assault and thus he and Gremlin are forced into retreat alongside whatever survivors as the Hunter dropships land and open their pod bays releasing its compliment of troops. Yukikaze troopers the hunter guilds mooks. ashigaru infantrymen in space in motif. black and gold armored troops in full body suits with blocky chest armor and shoulder pads and helmets that can be described as space age samurai helmets with full face visors and a small mouthpiece with three vents, tiny horns and in front of the helmet the emblem of the guild. Led by a commanding Inazuma trooper who is similar in design but with ruby red parts where the gold would be, larger and longer horns, a larger and more ornate mouthpiece, and angled shoulder pads. All carrying rifles, guns, swords, and large riot shields spreading out to hunt down the enemy.

As both a dropship and the orange and brown fighter loomed closer to the duo Honoka passed out. The last thing she saw was Tsurugi waving his arms at the ships.

…...

An unknown hospital room, several days later

Waking up in a strange white room Honoka finds herself in a open stasis pod a pearly white oval construct designed for medical purposes. This is the first time she's seen one since this is the first time she's been wounded badly enough to require nanomachine cellular repair treatment. The pod is connected to several cables in its back which provide both power and the nanomachine and stem cell mixture required for the treatment of injuries. The nanomachines are controlled by a master hive custom AI who use the stem cells to repair the organic tissue while the body is in stasis.

"Where the hell am I?"

A nearby door slides open revealing an elven woman with an icy an detached outlook. Possessing short neck length ice blue hair and gold eyes with a doctors eyepiece and wearing a ice blue version of the hunter guild's uniform. A jacket with six buttons and white gloves and shoes. And oddly enough pants instead of a skirt with a pocket on the left side and the guild's emblem on the right and a white lab coat with some medical equipment. Honoka started checking the elf out only to be disappointed that she wasn't all that attractive.

The elf meanwhile commented in a flat and emotionless monotone. "Excuse me miss, I happen to be a widow." And revealed a pair of wedding rings made into a makeshift bracelet alongside a gold chain in her right wrist. "Just because my husband died 300 years ago doesn't mean i'm not still faithful to him. Also we elves happen to be long lived and I don't look forward to a prison sentence for seducing a minor."

Honoka ends up blushing in embarrassment while the elf doctor continued her explanation. "Anyways my name is Doctor Ventus Vi Endulf. As you can guess from the pointy ears I am an elf. Medical officer for the Irregular hunter guild and specialist in cellular biology and..." Ventus waved her right arm to the side and summoned a flowing stream of energy that landed some distance aside the duo creating a eight foot tall ice sculpture of an emperor penguin in a fancy pose. "cryogenics." The twintailed girl is impressed at the feat.

Checking Honoka's vitals with her driver it having an ice blue coloring alongside the gold stripes. Ventus puts it away and gives a hand to her patient. "Well i'm happy to say you have a clean bill of health." And gives Honoka her red and orange driver. "We've been examining this driver and decided to let you keep it."

Honoka is amazed at the news. "Really? I thought these things are important." And as she looked at the driver she noticed at the ID icon in that it said Honoka Mikage instead of Honoka Kaname. "What's this Honoka Mikage thing?"

"First question is yes. Drivers are important, but they are still merely mass produced tools. Without the transformation program from the Kagami Research Facilities they would be nothing more than smart phones with some extra security. And second question is yes. We gave you a fake identity with the name of Honoka Mikage. As far as the public and the government knows Honoka Kaname was a civilian killed in the crossfire in Akihabara. The fact that you are Madoka Kaname's daughter is also top secret. Only I, High command, and Professor Tsurugi are aware of that detail. And we ask you to keep it a secret."

"Professor Tsurugi? I'm hard pressed to believe it."

"Yes, although he may not look like it Professor Tsurugi Ichijin is one of the head scientists of the Irregular hunters guild. And a major stake holder and technical consultant in the KRF. Taking over from the legendary Professor Kagami Ichijin a famous roboticist who was involved with the development and acceptance of the 3rd generation of robotics. Anyways that's enough of me. The guildmaster wishes to see you as soon as possible and i'm quite busy. So our intern will have to take it from here. Miss Tsukoyomi please come in."

The door opened revealing a young human girl the same age as Honoka. With long flowing blue hair that reached the back and a serious quiet expression not showing her eyes for some reason. She was taller, and fairly more muscular but not by much. But unlike Honoka it was clear that this girl exercised regularly. Like Ventus she wore an uniform but had no gloves or doctors coat.

"Good day, I am Gekkou Tsukoyomi. Nice to meet you miss Mikage." Gekkou politely bows causing Honoka to blush and suddenly stand to attention.

"N-nice to meet you Gekkou-chan!" She blurts out while thinking. "Definitely my type."

"Shall we get going? The guildmaster is expecting us?"

"For a threesome?" Honoka mused to herself out loud. Obviously her counterparts were not amused and Gekkou swiftly grabbed Honoka by the ear and pulled her out of the room at top speed.

…...

The two girls walk thru the facilities hallways. Honoka looks around amazed at was she sees. From the sterile and advanced medical facilities to the shuttle port that would take them to the guildmaster's office. It is a completely different from Akihabara. Full of activity and life as countless sentient beings of all shapes and sizes work hard at their jobs. And then as the shuttle leaves the medical wing thru a large tunnel Honoka sees an amazing sight from her window seat. She's seen it in anime before but never in real life. A massive cityscape covering the inside of a massive space colony shaped like a giant asteroid. Numerous other shuttles and spacecraft covered the sky beneath an artificial sun which was powered by the sun outside the colony that regulated a day and night cycle for the colony as well as artificial weather.

The shuttle itself is fairly large and maneuverable even though its a bulky D-tess class shuttle. A giant block with wings and thrusters designed to carry 100 passengers of countless species, thousands of tons of cargo, plus a crew of three. So obviously it had a massive load capacity. Able to carry over ten million tons with ease with blaster cannons for defense on both its wings and one on a fin on top of the shuttle. The guild's version of the D-tess also have shields and can be overriden by a central AI to serve as emergency defense decoys in the case that the interior of the colony is invaded.

"Gekkou-chan what is this place?" Honoka asks excitedly face glued to the viewscreen as a flock of flying monkeys pass nearby. Tiny palm sized monkeys which can fly instead of climb and have special hair that evolved similar to feathers. They can live in space colonies by scavenging for trash and stealing food from colonists and can be seen as pests but can be trained as short ranged messengers. And are often used inside colonies just like pigeons and butterflies are used planetside.

"Well we're in Skywalker base the main headquarters of the Irregular hunters guild. Situated in the depths of the Tundra asteroid field. Apparently this station was once home to an ancient library from long ago. But something happened to the people who inhabited the place. Some say they went insane from the isolation and tried to summon a Chaos god which ate them all. Some say that a rogue zetsu infected the library and devoured everyone with its spores. And some say that the ghost of Bill Cosby came out from a cursed book, had it's way with the women and then killed everyone before leaving in a space pod."

Honoka weirded out at the last rumor could only comment "What?" Before Gekkou continued.

"Yeah the last rumor is obviously completely made up."

The shuttle stopped at the main office a surprisingly massive building at the "back end" of Skywalker base that looks like several high class Italian villas surrounding a massive ancient stone temple of alien design which can only be described as an ancient Greek temple carved into a stories high, miles wide, limestone boulder with metallic pipes crossing alongside it and green orbs glowing that dwarfs the mismatched modern Italian architecture besides it and feels bizarre in every shape way and form.

Gekkou took a look at the facility and began to explain to her guest. "Welcome to the main office miss Mikage."

"This is just surreal. I know this base was repurposed, but this is too much!" Honoka comments as the duo continues inside. Heading to the Italian villa closest to them.

"Well, asides from the main office this place is also home to the library I talked about before. The infinite library, an eldrichtian location where knowledge from all across the universe is gathered. A big reason why the guild turned this place into Skywalker base is to protect the library since it contains much knowledge of the days from before the Homun heresy when incubators were still in power." Gekkou stopped walking and lowered her head showing a fearful expression.

"Do you know a lot about the Homun heresy?"

"No miss Mikage. But what I heard sounds rather scary. I actually grew up in the middle of a war torn world. I still remember the day I managed to escape that planet. I honestly hope I never have to return to that place again."

Gekkou was terrified and Honoka knew it. Honoka ended up holding both of Gekkou's hands to cheer her up leaving her perplexed. "Don't worry it'll all be alright. Still this library place sounds like something out of Nanoha." Honoka joked with a smile

Gekkou looked puzzled and asked. "What's a Nanoha?"

Honoka looks surprised at hearing that Gekkou never heard of the series. "Seriously?" And ends up patting Gekkou in the back while at the same time at the distance a young orange haired border collie dog beastgirl wearing a cream colored bandanna with a lab coat and a red bow tie is looking at the duo with interest. Even putting on a pair of round rimmed glasses for a while until two more lab coated gentlemen interrupted her one a giant lizard man and the other a bald blue skinned humanoid with pointy ears and earrings.

The blue humanoid spoke up. "Chief librarian Bookman what are you doing?"

Bookman replied "That girl looks kinda familiar. I think i've seen her before."

The lizard man replied. "Yes Chief Elmar I believe that's one of the interns. Her name is Tsukoyomi, nice kid, way too quiet for my liking though."

"Not the intern! The other girl I believe I saw someone with her face in the ancient forbidden records."

The two attendants began to show concern with the lizard man speaking out. "Chief Elmar I don't think you should be talking about the forbidden records in public."

…...

Inside the main office

Honoka and Gekkou entered the main office while passing several other people. Gekkou took care of the security while showing Honoka the ropes and the duo went on their way. The insides were even more unusual as they pass between Italian decoration, ancient supertechnology, passages made of moldy space rock billions of years old and any odd combination of the three all at once.

"Gekkou-chan, what's up with the décor anyways? It looks odd."

"From what I hear some of it is the guildmasters idea. She's from Earth like you but she's half and half apparently. Half Japanese, Half Italian from her mother's side. But her mother's relatives, the Marciano's were upset that she married a Japanese man and "dirtied the blood" Since the mother's side suffered greatly under some guy named Mussolini and apparently they hated the Japanese people because they were allies to the guy in some war. So the guild master was abandoned by her relatives after her parents died. Of course after the war there was hell to pay. She went back with the IFS and took their assets by force since they sided with the incubators during the Homun heresy and had them imprisoned for treason."

"Damn that's cold! But why?"

"Same reason they opposed the marriage. The Japanese sided with the Reibai, the Beastkin, the Anim, and the Golems during the Homun Heresy against the incubators and that was the start of the IFS, the current galactic government. So Marciano holdings sided with the incubators in the hopes that once the war was over they would be able to profit from Homun's powers. The guildmaster took over the company and its assets becoming very rich. Able to fund a good portion of the guild."

The duo go into a transport chamber. An enormous dark circular chamber with numerous consoles similar to a pay phone. Where Gekkou accesses one of the many consoles. An automated system asks where the duo wants to go to which Gekkou responds the guildmasters office. The console activates a beam above the console that scans the two girls whom disappear and then reappear in another smaller chamber in mere seconds surprising Honoka and worrying her a bit. And inside the office it gets even weirder as the place resembles the Japanese cityscape that Honoka left mere days ago if only older in design. It's clear the materials are more expensive and built to last compared to what was in Japan nowadays.

As the two entered the office. Honoka instantly remembered the scene in the first season of Nanoha where the main characters were introduced to Lindy Harlaown an alien who had a real Japanese fetish. Although not as full on gaijin as there what she saw was a young adult human woman serenely sitting in a seiza position sipping a cup of tea. Blonde with drill twin tails and wearing a yellow longcoat that even thought it covered quite a bit it still showed that the woman had quite the figure especially her breasts. Something Honoka saw and liked. With a white undershirt and small yellow tie underneath. The coat itself was buttoned up neatly and showed the hunters guild emblem on her right breast. She also had nearby brown cowboy boots and a brown beret with a guild logo on the right side and a white tuft hanging on the left. And on the table a really fancy tea set and a bunch of little cakes. Its also notable that next to her office was a huge kitchen that seemed more fit for a five star award winning restaurant than a single woman and it looked and smelled recently used.

The woman looked at the two of us and smiled speaking with a polite and familiar voice. "Greetings Mikage-chan. It's been quite some time since we spoke back on Earth. My name is Mami Tomoe, the guildmaster of the Irregular Hunters. I'm afraid the sub-guildmaster and my bodyguard are dealing with some important issues that have come up recently shortly after your arrival so i'm all alone."

Gekkou looked at the situation and bowed. "I see, if you don't mind. I must leave now. I have matters to attend to. Good bye." And she left closing the door behind her leaving Honoka waving.

Mami looked with concern and commented. "Ichijin-san was right. You have similar tastes in women as your mother." As she poured tea in a second cup. Honoka herself sat on the floor and looked at the tea being offered finding it strange. "It's Kangran black tea. A blend that originally came from India in the Kangra District. Normally I drink Darjeeling or Nepali but I felt like a change of pace."

"So this is black tea. Grandpa, Grandma, and me only drank green tea back home." Honoka took a sip and was amazed at the taste. "Wow! This is amazing!"

"Is that so?" Mami smiled proud of the compliment. "I've been brewing tea and baking sweets for a thousand years so i'm confident of my skills. I can give the greatest pastry chefs in the universe a run for their money. Truth be told if the heresy never happened I would have become something like a baker or even a TV personality."

"Mami why am I here?"

"It's quite a story so I should start from the beginning. Basically seeing as you, your adoptive parents and maybe your boss are legally dead. I want you to make a contract with me an become a magical girl!"

After a moment of unpleasant silence Honoka bolts for the door as Mami rushes to stop her by grabbing her leg. "It was just a joke Kaname-chan! Just a joke!" And the two sit down again.

Honoka upset reprimands Mami. "You do know people don't joke when saying those words?" Even pointing to a nearby poster at the wall showing the face of a strange white creature with red eyes and a creepy smile with a small solar system being destroyed and the words "Beware the enemy!" On top of the poster with the seal of the IFS at the bottom left corner. The letters I,F, and S above a blue bar with three golden stars. Showing that its basically a propaganda poster.

Mami sighed and remarked. "Yes, that poster is actually a bit of a personal reminder. To never forget my sins."

"Your sins Mami?" Honoka looked at the guildmaster concerned.

"Yes, I still remember that battle clear as day in the witches labyrinth. I had Homun on the ropes. I managed to disable her powers using my magic and could have killed her by shattering her dark crystal. But I hesitated and she escaped with the help of Oktavia von Sekkendorf. Another witch which was also responsible for her awakening as the demon lord. If I only knew back then how dangerous the demon lord would become. I would have murdered her without hesitation. If only she was dead maybe Bebe would still be alive." You could tell Mami was furious when she recalled those memories. "Homun and the incubators stole everything from us. Our hopes, our dreams, our homes, our salvation, our loved ones, our very future. All of them gone forever all because they couldn't accept the way things were."

"The way things were?"

"Those cards you hold now. The card with the picture of Kaname-san. Apparently is a physical fragment of the Law of cycles." Honoka looked confused. "Kaname-chan, what i'm about to tell you is one of the states biggest secrets. For a thousand years the inquisitors of the IFS have blown up entire planets to ensure that a single person with this knowledge dies."

"A thousand years ago. Not just this galaxy, but the entire multiverse was a very different place. The magic we take for granted now was a mysterious force that defied logic and reason. Capable of doing just about anything as simple as healing wounds to as complex as reviving the dead and turning back time."

"Reviving the dead?! That's impossible!" Honoka is in shock at hearing those news. She had heard rumors of using magic to travel thru time in the seedier corners of the internet. But reviving the dead? That was mere fantasy!

Mami lowered her head and looked at her teacup with a sad expression. "You're wrong. You only believe that it's impossible because we manipulated history to make you believe its impossible. Because it was those things that led to the rise of the demon lord Homun. The demon lord Homun loved your mother and wanted her for herself. She betrayed and killed Akemi-san the woman Kaname-san loved. Stole their powers and brought the incubators into her service beginning what would be known as the Homun heresy. A war that would span six years and consume the universe.

"Afterwards the goddess Gretchen appeared and alongside myself. Nagisa Momoe, Kyoko Sakura, and Sayaka Miki began fighting the demon lord all across the world. Trying to find a way to escape Earth and head to Incubaa where Homun holed up. Then the aliens showed up. A combined fleet of survivors from the reibai, the anim, the beastkin, and the golems were also tracking down Homun and found that she originated from Earth. Joining forces with a group of scientists led by the reibai Kagami Ichijin her adopted brother Tsurugi, Tsuruya Dattaya a miko of Reibai, and Ciel Fuuma an earth born Puella magi that was stranded in space due to the dimensional changes caused by the Law of cycles and ended up in Reibai. And formed the group known as the Five heroines."

"With the five heroines leading the charge we gained allies and drove off the incubators from countless worlds they controlled. Eventually driving them back to their homeworld of Incubaa where the final battles of the heresy took place in. Eventually we confronted Homun atop Bangado towers the main hive of the incubators. In the end The goddess Gretchen sacrificed herself to strip Homun of her powers and Kagami struck the demon down. Decapitating her with one swift stroke as Homun was reduced to a mere mortal again. The war was won and the united army became the foundation of the Internal fleet systems. But Kyubey one of the incubators and the one who masterminded the war escaped in the chaos and for hundreds of years fled as the entire universe hunted him down."

"But ten years ago. Something went very wrong. Kyubey returned with a powerful ally in tow. A mysterious pink and black magical girl with incredible power that calls herself Dark Messiah. With a transformation completely unlike ours. More like a monster than a magical girl. I think you've fought one of them in Akihabara."

Honoka closes her eyes and mutters. "Gremlin."

"Correct, Her power was incredible. We didn't stand a chance. Dark Messiah went to assault the planet Reibai. Kagami Ichijin-san and I alongside an army division of the IFS went to face her. But in the end the planet was destroyed and I was the sole survivor of the affair."

"The IFS? What do you mean Mami-san?"

Mami scratches her head and smiles. "Ah yes I guess you wouldn't know. But the guild was once part of the military. And I was the supreme commander of the IFS armed forces but left after the destruction of Reibai forming this organization." Mami grew somber, quickly gaining a sour taste in her mouth. "I couldn't stay there anymore after Bebe died in the crossfire. And Miki-san looked the other way. There are even rumors that she took an under the table deal. That Miki-san would hold off reinforcements while Dark Messiah destroyed Reibai and killed its defenders. Giving Miki-san a clear path for a promotion. I honestly hope that isn't true. But she never did agree with my methods and she was always resentful of Ichijin-san especially since she was the one who killed Homun. Miki-san hated Homun and always wanted to kill her herself especially after she betrayed Madoka and always claimed she was robbed of her destiny by a so called xeno."

Honoka was appalled at the word xeno. After all the word is basically a racist slur for an alien species. Of course this also counts when a non human refers to a human.

"And thus its been a three way conflict since then for the past ten years. Neither side really gaining an advantage over the other, at least until now. Those cards you have were originally a crystal that came from another world that suffered a dimensional distortion similar to a witches labyrinth but different." Mami showed Honoka several pictures in a holoscreen from the table. Including a planet that looked oddly similar to Japan before it was destroyed in the heresy and strange monsters unlike any Honoka has seen in real life. Mainly orange blobs and blue humanoids with, red bellies? The truth is that they looked just bizarre like computer generated graphics edited upon the real world. Honoka couldn't help but think that this was all photoshopped. But then again she had heard of witches from her grandpa. Corrupted Puella Magi whose forms and powers boggled comprehension. Could these be witches? Mami ended up answering those questions soon enough. "Believe or not Kaname-chan those aren't witches. Those are noise."

"What?" Honoka muttered. "Noise, as in the monsters from Symphogear?"

"Yes I couldn't believe it either when Tsurugi first reported it. But the world was basically transformed into a facsimile of the world in Symphogear." Mami showed another photo showing three high school age girls. Two of them one in orange armor and one in blue armor with a sword are facing off against a girl with red armor wielding giant waist mounted Gatling guns.

"I recognize those girls." Honoka answered as she began to point. "The orange one is Hibiki Tachibana, the blue one is Tsubasa Kazanari, and the red one is Chris Yukine. But why are they fighting each other?"

"Yes, about that. These worlds aren't exact copies. They seem to be weird mishmashes of different bits and pieces of the world it was and the anime that possesses it. Creating its own story independent of its stories origin. Truth be told i'm not exactly sure of the whole specifics. Magitech isn't my forte, as much as I hate to admit it I may be one of the most powerful magicians in the galaxy but I really do not understand how the stuff works. When I was younger I just thought up ribbons and poof there they were. And with those ribbons I could create building sized cannons."

Honoka slams her hands on the table in disbelief and yells. "Seriously!"

"Yeah." Mami admits. "All that stuff I did back in the war. All made out simple ribbons. I basically taught myself how to engineer everything from swords, to muskets, to railguns, to tanks, all out of simple ribbons. All out of necessity because every time I faced a witch in close quarters I choked." Honoka was awed at hearing this. "I was weak back then. My weakness costed me everything. When I was young I lost my parents and was left to fend for myself for years on end. Then Bebe came along. Truth be told even after all these years I never really understood why she decided to just one day show up and insert herself into my life. Even after the war and losing the ability to use her doppel and most of her combat capability we were still very close. And then she was killed because she was visiting the planet Reibai during the day of its destruction."

"You know Mami-san as informative as this all was. This was one long and boring info dump. What did you basically kidnap me for?"

"Well to be blunt. Those alterations are caused by crystals. The same crystals Tsurugi carried with him, that you turned into cards and used as a transformation power up. Basically I want you to go with Tsurugi to worlds like the one I showed you. Collect the crystals that alter the worlds and restore them to normal before the Cycles cult or the IFS gets their hands on them. Tsurugi was doing these missions alone to maintain secrecy but now that Dark Messiah has caught wind and sent Gremlin with the express purpose of assassinating him. I believe he will need a bodyguard. Anyways you don't need to answer right away. For now you should get a tour of the base. I'll get someone to show you around.

A voice from the roof suddenly spoke up. "So this the new girl." As a lightning bolt struck behind the duo revealing a tall muscular red oni woman with short platinum blond hair and golden slanted eyes. With a sleeveless amaranth red gi with the same colored shorts with the hunter gear logo on the breast, bandage wrapped arms, and yellow boots. She also carried a large jug in one arm and a massive jet black kanabo on the other one with a pair of rotating generators underneath the spikes but above the handle. "Sup, name's Rai Kumo of the oni race. Mami-san's bodyguard for the past ten years per the orders of the Fuuma clan head. As well as her latest magician apprentice."

Mami smiles and asks Rai. "Could you guide Mikage-chan to where the other crystals are located? I'm guessing Rattle-san is still dealing with the crystals as well."

Rai smiles as she gets closer to Honoka and gives her answer. "Yup the vice-guildmaster is still waiting for Bookman to show up. You're gonna have to get Murakumo to sniff her out at this rate. As for this girl leave her to me! She's in good hands!"

Rai and Honoka leave the room. And after a few moments of peace Mami begins to wonder. "Kaname-chan looks a lot like Akemi-san as well. She reminds me of this hypothetical baby between the two I saw once. Only it had more purplish hair instead of black. But that's impossible, Akemi-san's corpse was destroyed after her death and we made sure all traces of her DNA was eliminated. But the DNA results are clear as day. Somehow, someway, that girl is Madoka Kaname's biological daughter. As utterly impossible as it seems somehow Kaname-san had a child again." A picture shows the report which among numerous other facts shows several facts including that Madoka and Honoka are a genetic match and that something is interfering with the systems ability to determine who the father is.

…...

In another area of Skywalker base

Gekkou enters a hidden room in a small building with no windows a fair distance away from any civilization in the middle of a grassy field. There she finds three strange aliens. A golem, a demon, and a short man inside a bulky sealed radiation suit with an atmosphere conversion pack which in his case is a medium sized sealed black dome for a backpack with millimeter wide vents on its sides. The golem himself is an alien not a magical one so it is a massive twelve foot tall barely human like behemoth composed of floating slates of marble with three stones for a head that vaguely resemble a head. Each slate floating and separate and floating to form the hulking creature. Having the all too fitting codename Marble Slates because its body was made of a material that felt as hard as solid marble. The demon known as Malicious Troll was a slim and handsome red skinned devil with long blonde hair, green eyes, and a huge pointy nose, and a purple suit and bowler hat with a green tie. And finally Essence Stealer, a bon. A being who instead of being composed of for example carbon is composed of the element boron. His bulky suit makes him look squat and clumsy but he is quite agile and the suit itself is pitch black with a blood red screen and it also had a small access panel in its chest. His gender is unknown to all but is referred to by the others as male. An odd quirk of this trio is that they were only known by their wizard names. Even referring to themselves and each other as such in private an odd thing to do. Another quirk is that they do not transform. Although transformation is a relatively modern thing for magicians. The advent of drivers which gave all the benefits of Puella Magi and more with none of the drawbacks made them a common tool of combat with traditionalists who opposed its usage quickly being crushed underfoot by the organized and disciplined military might and sheer numerical superiority of the early IFS.

Troll informs the group. "People it's time to strike. I assume you have everything ready girl?" His voice being notable for having the feel and tone of a used car salesman.

Gekkou answers. "Yes, I managed to obtain the access codes to steal the crystals."

Troll smiles and boasts. "Then we will be the distraction. Those fools believe the IFS would never attack Skywalker base as long as the former commander is protecting it. Well its high time we prove them wrong."

Stealer whose voice is even creepier. Being high pitched and slightly distorted thru mechanical methods laughs and yells. "I can't wait! There are so many strong fighters here! I have always wanted Mami Tomoe's essence for my own. All the while Slates just watches silently cracking its knuckles.

Gekkou simply adds. "Very well, just remember your part of the bargain."

"Of course, you'll get one of those elite driver models they have. Still I don't get why you want that instead of something like cash like the rest of us." Troll muses genuinely curious of their mysterious partner who merely opens a crack in space that turns into a portal.

"Never mind let's get ready." Gekkou comments as the four prepare for the attack thinking to herself. "Soon it will begin. No that won't be necessary."

To be continued...