Chapter 2: Gods of War
Nanoha Takamachi had been a mage for roughly a year, and in that time had been exposed to two major cases. Both of them had been deep, emotional and complex. Many people had suffered in both, and many more had had the wounds in their hearts healed. Both had changed her, forever.
Both had also been solved by, for all intents and purposes, pointing Raising Heart at the problem and blasting it until it wasn't a problem anymore. So she was certain to keep one hand on her staff and ready to blow the strange boy out of the sky if necessary. She didn't want to, of course, but hey… there was a girl in black floating right next to her and a quartet of Belkan Knights being trained at TSAB headquarters that proved it worked pretty well in a pinch.
"Hello!" she shouted, once they'd gotten within speaking distance of the young man. "Don't worry, we just want to talk."
"Oh? That's nice. I'd just like to talk too. What are we going to talk about?" He asked.
"We're with the Time-Space Administration Bureau. My name is Fate Testarossa. This is Nanoha Takamachi and my familiar, Arf." Fate said. Immediately afterwards, she kicked herself mentally for saying 'Testarossa' instead of 'Harlaown'.
"We know you're not from this world. We want to know why you're here? Earth hasn't discovered magical energy yet. There's nothing here you should be interested in." Nanoha inquired.
"You're here." The boy pointed out.
"I live here." Nanoha replied.
"I'm go to school with her, so my family lets me stay in our home here most of the time. I'm from Midchilda, originally." Fate offered.
"Where Fate goes, I go. You've ruined our lunch, by the way." Arf grumbled.
"My point stands. Apparently the Bureau found this world fascinating enough to train up a local and let one of their agents get educated here. Why shouldn't we take a look around? Maybe it's a really nice world, or something." The boy said, looking around as though checking the world for fleas or something. Maybe he would open the world's mouth and look at its teeth, his expression suggested.
"If that were the case, it wouldn't be a problem. But you're looking for something specific, aren't you? A 'gate'. And I can't help but notice you haven't told us who you are." Nanoha pointed out.
"Oh, that's right! Where are my manners? My name is Susanoo. There, we all know each other, isn't that great? Go away."
"Susanoo… and Tsukuyomi?" Nanoha wondered aloud. "Who are you…?"
Is there a problem, Nanoha? Fate asked telepathically.
Susanoo and Tsukuyomi are the names of two Shinto gods. I'm simplifying this a bit, but it's a big religion here in Japan and...
I know, Nanoha. I've been going to the same school as you for awhile now. I've picked some things up. Fate thought gently.
Right, right, sorry. It's just that as far as I know, Shintoism has never spread beyond Earth, but… well, the day that I buy that this guy is from Earth is the day that I hang up Raising Heart and take up knitting. Nanoha replied.
Hmmm… that is a little odd, I guess. If it was just one, that's one thing, but they can't both be coincidences.
Remind me to ask Yuuno about it later. We've got more important things to worry about right now. Nanoha replied. Out loud she said, "That's a start. But what is this gate you're looking for?"
"Sorry, but I really can't give you that information. To be frank, I'm not one-hundred percent sure I understand how it's supposed to work myself. But look, I do have some standards, and they include not hurting people who can't fight back. So I wouldn't be doing this if it were a threat to that city over there, all right? Plus, it's all for a good cause!"
"Which is…?"
"Um… I can't tell you that, either. Orders, and all." He dropped his voice into what he probably considered a conspiratorial tone. "Covert ops."
Nanoha sighed. "Fate?"
"Regulations are clear. Any magical artifact of unknown origin and purpose is to be classified a Lost Logia and restricted until determined safe by HQ. And unsupervised activation of a Lost Logia is, of course, illegal." Fate said.
"Okay, Mr. Susanoo. You seem like a pretty reasonable person… can't you just please walk away? We can't let you commit any crimes, but you haven't done anything wrong yet, so if you just stop right now than nothing will happen to you or your sister. I'm sure you have a good reason for wanting to find your gate, but most Lost Logia are extremely dangerous, even if you think you know how to use them. Please, can't we just settle this peacefully and go our separate ways?" Nanoha asked, a warm smile on her face to show her sincerity.
"Yeah, okay, I've got another idea. I'll let you meet Raijin." The young man extended his hand, and the jagged metal pendant he slipped off his neck began to glow blue before growing and configuring itself into an intelligent device… which, in this case, took the form of a really, really big axe. Actually larger than the boy holding it, in fact. "Say hi, Raijin."
"Prepare to suffer!" The axe said cheerfully.
"Sorry about that. She's a little energetic. Hasn't been out in awhile." Susanoo said apologetically.
"… Of course, maybe there will be a huge fight. Like always." Nanoha said sadly.
"Sorry, ladies. Well, actually," Susanoo said, his cheerful smile morphing into a predatory smirk. "I'm not really sorry. I'm assuming you noticed that undercover really isn't my thing?"
"You were sort of pathetic at it." Arf said helpfully.
"HA! Yeah, I totally suck at the subtle things, y'know?" He said, his mirth apparently genuine. "I'm very much a straightforward brawler, if we're being honest. Unfortunately for you lovely young ladies, I'm really, really good at it." drumming his fingers meaningfully on Raijin as he spoke.
"Please, there's no need for this. Just talk to us, there has to be some way we can…"
"Oh, come on. You think you can get me all worked up like this and still try to talk?! I've been skulking around avoiding notice ever since I woke up. A straight fight will be a nice change of pace," Susanoo said, that mad grin growing even wider. "I just hope you three are better quality than the usual garbage that seems to pass for a mage in this day and age, or even three on one will be pretty boring!"
Nanoha. Fate thought. Arf and I will hold him here. You need to break out of this barrier and find the girl before she reaches the Logia.
Be careful, Fate.
I always am. You're the one who always pushes it too far.
Nanoha didn't reply, but she did smile slightly as she broke away and rocketed past the young man.
"And just where the Hell do you think you're going?!" Susanoo roared. "Raijin, rip her out of my sky!"
"Thunderclap!" the axe proclaimed, beginning to glow blue. Susanoo swung the blade, sending a wave of crackling electrical energy surging at Nanoha… or it would have been, had Fate not slammed Bardiche into the underside of his weapon as he swung, diverting his aim and sending the attack harmlessly skyward. Susanoo instantly swung the blade back towards Fate, who brought Bardiche up to intercept… and was slammed backwards by the force of the impact as though she weighed no more than a doll. Off balance, she was in no position to do anything but dodge desperately backwards before he could launch a more focused attack.
Fortunately, Arf was there, just like always. Susanoo broke off his assault to draw his weapon back towards his body, using the wide blades as a shield against the glowing golden punch Arf threw at his face. This time he was the one sent flying back through the air; Fate took advantage of his few seconds of disorientation to set up her attack.
"Bardiche! Load Cartridge and lock on target!"
"Cartridge Load. Plasma Smasher, get set."
"Plasma Smasher… FIRE!" Fate shouted.
"Meet it head on, Raijin!" Susanoo ordered in reply.
"Lightning Blade, ready!"
Rather than dodge or deflect the attack, Susanoo simply swung the energy-charged blade directly into the stream of magic. Blue and gold lightning collided, sending off an explosion of light and thunder that filled up the darkened sky within the barrier.
"Heh, heh… hahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Susanoo laughed uproariously when the light faded. "So you're a lightning mage too, huh? How'd that taste, Raijin?"
"Quite strong!" Raijin said in a cheerfully bloodthirsty tone totally incongruous with its childish voice. "Ripping her apart will be fun, your highness!"
"Um… thanks?" Fate said doubtfully.
"Oh, don't mind her. Trust me, that was about the closest this crazy thing gets to a compliment." Susanoo said cheerfully. "Hmmm… darn, I guess that brown haired girl got away. Nice work! You win!"
"… eh?" Fate said.
"What? You were trying to distract me so she could get away, right? Well, you did it! Good job!" Susanoo said.
"Oh… um… thanks?"
" 'Oh, um thanks'?" Susanoo repeated mockingly. "Come on, kiddo, show some energy! I just paid you a compliment!"
"Ah. So that whole 'frantic goofball' thing you had going back at the picnic wasn't an act, huh?" Arf said dryly.
"Hey! Don't mock me, tailed woman! If you want your master to be an effective lightning mage, energy and passion are the most important things! I know that's true because I say so, and I'm never wrong so it must be true!" Susanoo proclaimed.
"What about when you thought your sister was kidna..." Fate began.
"MOVING ON!" Susanoo quickly interrupted. "Now, I'm going to compliment you again, and this time, show some enthusiasm when you accept it! Ahem… 'Why Fate, I think that huge lightning beam you shot at me was very impressive! I truly admire the skill with which you deal destruction! Nice job!'"
"… … …" Said a, by now, very baffled Fate.
Susanoo sighed deeply. "Wow. I see this is gonna take some work."
"Work?"
"Sure! As of now, I'm declaring you to be my new apprentice! I'll turn you into a first class lightning mage! You've already got the skills down, so all I really need to do is get you to have the appropriate attitude!"
"What?! I don't want…" Fate began.
"Oh, don't worry, it's no trouble."
"That's not what I was going to…" Fate began.
"Yes, yes. You were going to say you don't want me to overshadow you. I know, it's hard when your teacher is so awe inspiring. But don't worry! I understand that an apprentice cannot be caught in her teacher's shadow! No, she needs to spread her wings and fly! So fly, Fate! Step out into the world and let your presence inspire wonder from the masses like a bolt from the heavens!" Susanoo proclaimed grandly, striking what he probably deemed to be a heroic pose. "My apprentice, Fate Testarossa! The next great hero of this new generation!"
Arf struggled not to laugh.
Arf! What the heck?!
I'm sorry, it's just… the look on your face… Arf replied, even her inner voice cracking with mirth.
"Can we… can we just fight now?" Fate asked, blushing furiously.
Susanoo sighed in disappointment. "Again with the bland! Ah, well. This is still your first lesson…" He smirked and held Raijin over his head with one hand. A turbine on the weapon's shaft began to spin, and the blade hummed with energy. "… so maybe I'll just to have beat an appropriate action out of you!"
What was that? I didn't see a cartridge load, but the power from that weapon just… Fate thought frantically.
And then he charged, and time to think became a luxury.
A silver staff set with an oval-cut blue-green gem sparkled in the sunlight.
"Suijin. Move us outside of their sight." Tsukuyomi said, looking down upon the city of Tokyo from her perch atop a convenient office building.
"Time Seal." The staff's voice intoned. The sky darkened once again as another barrier burst into existence, filtering those without magical abilities into a slightly different space-time.
"Thank you. Now, we must locate the gate. Please begin a wide area location spell, if you don't mind."
"Search mode… Warning! Incoming!"
Tsukuyomi raised her head to look around, to spot a rapidly approaching pink comet. "Susanoo could not hold them all."
"Confirmed, my lady."
"Prepare for combat, Suijin. We shall have to deal with this mage before we can continue our search."
"Yes, my lady. Barrier jacket, activate."
Tsukuyomi's kimono dissolved into an elaborately frilled dress in the same blue and green color scheme, including a pair of blue high-heeled boots and a green ribbon in her hair. Taking back to the sky, Tsukuyomi considered the approaching mage. "Good afternoon," She said once the girl had gotten fairly close. "I'm sorry, but I have a mission to accomplish. Could you please leave?"
"Please, you have to stop! I don't know why you're going after the Lost Logia, but trust me when I say that things like that are better left alone! If you stop now, there's still time for you to talk to your brother and avoid further violence. Otherwise, you two are going to end up in prison!" Nanoha pleaded.
"Lost… Logia?" Tsukuyomi asked. "Oh, the gate. Don't worry, it's not lost, we've just misplaced it. Now, please leave."
"Um… that's not actually what I meant…" Nanoha said.
"Yes, it is." Tsukuyomi said absently.
"… … … …"
"Focus, master." Raising Heart chimed in.
"Huh? OH! Yes. My point is, that what you're trying to do could be very dangerous. Couldn't you just stop and talk it out before you go ahead? As things stand, if you don't at least make your brother stand down, I'm going to have to use force to stop you." Nanoha stated.
"Oh, that wouldn't be a good idea. I'm actually quite dangerous, if pressed." Tsukuyomi advised her. "But we could compromise, perhaps? I will convince Susanoo to stand down if you agree to withdraw and stop interfering with our objectives."
"Maybe, if you told me a little bit more about what you're trying to do…" Nanoha suggested.
"Unfortunately, my superiors have ordered me not to disclose that information. You already know more than you should." Tsukuyomi replied.
Nanoha readied Raising Heart. "Then I'm sorry, but letting you go through with your plans without even any explanation is just too much of a risk to this world. Please, put away your weapon and come with me."
"I see. Very well, I surrender." Tsukuyomi said, and motioned with her left hand. A six-pointed turquoise star blinked into existence at her palm.
"HEY! Who says they surrender while they're attacking?!" Nanoha protested, just barely dodging the bind that burst into existence around her and pretty much had to have been set up in advance. It caught the edge of her left foot, dispelling the flier fin on that leg and sending her into a spin.
"I am using deception." Tsukuyomi informed her, pointing the tip of her staff at the floundering mage.
"I figured that much out already!" Nanoha snapped, a little more worried about getting her flight spell working properly again.
"Waves, crash. Draw her into the endless current and crush her." Tsukuyomi incanted.
"Cascade Break." Water, seemingly from nowhere, gathered at the tip of her staff and fired at Nanoha in a punishing jet.
Deciding that now wasn't the time or place to be worried about spells, Nanoha took the simple approach; she stopped her fall by jabbing Raising Heart into the side of a building, then essentially pole-vaulted out of the path of the water jet. This turned out to be a very good decision, as the high-pressure stream sliced through the masonry like a knife through butter, sending a chunk plummeting to the streets below. At least the barrier around the area would ensure nobody got hit by it, thank God for small favors.
Tsukuyomi frowned. "That should have been faster… is the air too dry for even a simple spell like that?"
Finally, Nanoha managed to restore her lost fin, returning to something resembling controlled flight. Leveling her weapon, she shouted, "My turn! Lock on, Raising Heart!"
"Divine Buster, stand by!"
"Shoot!"
"Defend me." Tsukuyomi requested.
"Mirror Wall." Suijin said, and a much larger hexagram appeared in the air between Tsukuyomi and the oncoming attack. The massive pink-white beam struck the turquoise barrier, and pressed against it for several seconds with no visible effect.
"Not good." Tsukuyomi said mildly. Although the beam did not penetrate, when the light cleared her shield had several visible cracks running through it. "You are… more dangerous than anticipated."
"Then don't fight me! Please, I've already told you I'd be happy to just talk this out!"
"Hm? No, I am not afraid of you." Tsukuyomi said coolly. "But you really have nothing to do with this, so I'd hoped to be gentle with you."
Nanoha looked at the building with the huge chunk sliced out of it, and imagined what might have happened if that attack had hit her. "…That was gentle?!" she asked, eyes wide.
"I was only aiming for your arm." Tsukuyomi replied agreeably.
"… … … … …" Nanoha said, eloquently.
"You see, if you only had one arm, you wouldn't have been able to continue and could have withdrawn while I…" Tsukuyomi explained, apparently mistaking Nanoha's mild terror for confusion.
"I… I get the idea." Nanoha said wearily.
"It is not ideal, but it is unfortunately striking to cripple is as gentle as I can be with you. My domains are water and moonlight, and most of my spells for defense and binding are linked to the former. It is a hot, dry day, and we are not near any large standing pools… with so little moisture in this atmosphere and insufficient time to produce my own, my ability to strike nonlethal blows is somewhat limited." Tsukuyomi stated. As she spoke, a turbine in the shaft of her weapon began to spin rapidly, and the feel of magic around her became thicker. "Do not worry, though. I am far more versatile than my brother. Even with my water spells crippled, I still have quite a significant repertoire, although the chances that I will kill you by accident are increased."
"That's really not a very good reassurance…" Nanoha said.
"Lunatic Veil." Suijin said.
Fate struggled to control the shaking in her arms and wiped some sweat from her brow before it could drip into her eyes. She spared a glance at Arf, who was in much the same boat.
You okay? Her familiar asked her silently.
Y-yeah. He caught me by surprise with that last exchange, but he didn't land any solid blows. His speed is only average, but his power and stamina are both off the charts. My arms are almost numb just from parrying… I can't keep close combat up for much longer. If we don't get some distance he's going to take us apart. This thought in mind, she shifted Bardiche to Assault form, since it was more useful for long-range shooting than the Haken she'd been using to try to keep her head from getting chopped off.
Susanoo smiled cheerfully. "You two are truly impressive! I know I've said that before, but you're really defying all my expectations. The mage attacks at high speed while the familiar sets up binds and barriers… I can't afford to ignore either, and I can't focus on either one long enough to eliminate her without the other taking my back. Again, very nice!"
Fate smiled a little bit in return. "You're the impressive one from where I'm standing. Two on one, and you're still not letting either of us get far enough away to counteract your close range advantage. And I can't help but notice none of those attacks and binds you're complimenting have actually done much to slow you down."
"Hey, thanks! You know, you're a pretty okay girl, Fate Testarossa. I wish I could play with you a little bit more, but I do have a job to do. I guess I'd better finish this up. Raijin, load up a wide-range attack. We're going to just blow away the whole battlefield."
"Storm Shatter, stand by!" the axe said, that turbine beginning to rev again.
Fate, he's charging up for another big one, and I think he's aiming for you! Arf warned, putting up her best barrier.
Good. That turbine on his device… I don't understand the principle, but in practice it's no different than a cartridge; just a sudden, sharp power boost. Now that I know what to watch for… maybe I can finally spot an opening in his attacks! Fate said. "Bardiche?"
"Cartridge Load!" Bardich snapped two cartridges in, fairly humming with stored power.
"Get ready, and on my command…" Fate began.
"Storm…" Raijin shouted, drowning out the last of Fate's command.
"… SHATTER!" Susanoo finished, swinging his blade in a wide horizontal arc. The attack that arose was similar in form to the wedge of lightning he'd hurled at Nanoha at the beginning of the fight, but significantly greater in scale; a vast wave of crackling blue death that filled the sky with light and a resounding thunderclap. Arf, barrier and all, was sent flying just from the shockwaves. Fate, the main target…
After the light cleared, Fate was simply gone.
Susanoo's eyes widened. "Well, that isn't good." He said. And that was when the first of the golden missiles struck him, more and more flying in to smash into the off-balance man from all directions.
Fate, her barrier jacket in Sonic Form as she floated safely about a hundred meters above her opponent, said, "Plasma Lancer, direct hit. Sorry, but an attack that huge really does leave you wide open if it misses."
A blue spark snapped through the smoke from the explosion.
"... oh, no." Fate said.
With her speed enhanced by Sonic form, dodging the axe as it came flying out of the cloud was simple enough. Unfortunately, being faster didn't help her avoid being surprised when she looked at the weapon and saw that there wasn't a person attached to it.
He threw his dev- Fate began to frantically think, only making it about halfway through before Susanoo burst out of the smoke… bloody, burned, and with a psychotic smirk… and punched her in the side of the head.
Really, really, hard.
As Fate struggled to clear her vision and make her ears stop ringing, she only faintly felt the second hammer blow as he kicked her in the midsection as hard as he could. She felt vaguely aware that a simple physical blow, even with her defenses thinned by Sonic form, shouldn't have hurt so much through the field projected by her barrier jacket.
It wasn't really Vita's fault, she realized as her mind managed to piece the answer together, but Fate was delirious enough to blame her anyway. A weapon as large as Graf Eisen in the hands of such a small girl must, logically, have a system to eliminate the weight of the device, or it wouldn't be usable. Vita was certainly stronger than she looked, but not that much stronger.
And this fact had led her to make the same assumption about Susanoo's Raijin; that such a huge blade must obviously have some method for making itself light enough to be usable. Only now did she recognize that, apparently the actual reason he could lift it so easily was that he was that much stronger than he looked. Which meant he almost certainly was some sort of construct... that would be good knowledge to file away for when her brain started working again.
Continuing to try to think and stay conscious, she finally felt her fall slowed by something soft and warm. Arf?
"Gotcha, Fate. Hang on." Her familiar said. She then turned her head to look at Fate's assailant. "You…" she growled, quite literally.
Susanoo just smiled even more madly and extended a hand to catch his falling weapon. "Hahahaha! Again, very nice! To boost your speed that much without losing any power, that's an impressive trick! But it looks like you had to lower your defenses to pull it off. Too bad!"
Of course, he added silently, I got very lucky with that last shot. If her defense hadn't actually dropped, or she'd reacted a fraction of a second faster, she might have taken my head off without Raijin to defend with. And even with a head injury to slow her down, I've barely touched her familiar the whole fight, and that big shot she hit me with pretty much destroyed my barrier jacket and ripped up my body pretty bad. Even if it's just me against the animal-girl, I wouldn't say I'm guaranteed a win. How fun!
"So, you girls ready to keep going? Raijin, you're set, right?" He said out loud to his newly reclaimed weapon.
"Never throw me again, you idiot! I am a melee weapon!" Raijin snapped.
"… hey! You stupid hunk of scrap! We're in the middle of a fight, now's not the time to be second-guessing me!" Susanoo retorted, his wounds momentarily forgotten.
"Our victory is because of my power, your highness. But you threw me away like garbage!" the axe stated, adding a sarcastic tinge to the honorific.
"Hey, we're only winning because I took the big risk and thought outside the box! Besides, I'm the one who got hurt because you have no accuracy! Not to mention that you don't have any power without me, so just switch off your voicebox and live with it!"
Fate got unsteadily to her feet (on thin air, no less), trying to ignore the ringing in her ears. "Hey… who said either one of you… is winning? The last time I checked, you look worse than I do."
"Heh, heh… hehehehe… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Great! Just great! That's the spirit I expect from my apprentice!"
"We're not done talking about this!" Raijin warned.
"You wanna have your memory core wiped after the fight? 'Cause I'll do it, and I won't even feel bad afterwards." Susanoo said mildly.
"… Let's focus on the battle, your highness!" the axe replied nervously.
"Arf?" Fate said.
"We absolutely… cannot lose… to this idiot and his idiot device." Fate said carefully, trying to keep herself steady despite most of her muscles feeling uncomfortably like jelly and a horrible pounding in her head.
"Oh, yes." Arf agreed.
This is new. Nanoha thought, looking through the mist that had arisen around her and her opponent. While the purpose was not immediately obvious, given that despite the mist she could still clearly see both Tsukuyomi and everything else, it was safest to assume that this was some sort of trap. "Raising Heart, a barrier would be appreciated." She muttered.
"Round Shield." There. Now no matter what happened, she'd have some protection…
"Insufficient." The girl's emotionless voice said… from right next to her ear, inside her shield.
She spun, Raising Heart rising into a defensive position, only to find nothing there. And of course, that was really the point.
"Howling Moon." Suijin intoned in its calm voice. A beam of silver light slammed into Nanoha's shield. Weakened by her distraction, it nonetheless managed to block the majority of the attack and she was merely sent sprawling across the nearest rooftop with a few new bruises. She snapped to her feet and scanned the area, but Tsukuyomi was nowhere to be found.
Not good. Nanoha thought. Illusion, teleportation or both? No… personal teleportation isn't that fast. It has to be illusionary, and it has to be the fog. It's making me hallucinate, some-
"Howling Moon."
Nanoha did her best to dodge, it but was rapidly becoming apparent that her ears and eyes were equally compromised. She heard the blast approaching, saw the silvery light, but neither the sound nor the light had come from the direction the blast actually hit from, and in fact neither had actually come from the same direction. It wasn't until she practically felt the beam ruffling her clothing that she got an accurate picture of where the attack was approaching from, and just barely managed to turn a battle-ender into a glancing blow.
A glancing blow that hurt like Hell. If the girl's plan was just to wrap her in this illusion and keep taking potshots at her until she couldn't dodge anymore, it wasn't a half bad plan. A thousand beestings could kill you just as easily as a single bullet… and Tsukuyomi had all but stated she planned to kill Nanoha. With that grim thought bolstering her resolve, she assessed her options.
At this point, she had once again caught sight of the other mage, but she wasn't foolish enough to assume that the girl was actually where she appeared to be floating. I need to get out of this fog! But how far does it extend… and will I even be going in the right direction? If I get turned around in here, I could just be walking into a trap. No, I definitely will be walking into a trap if I do this incorrectly.
"Raising Heart? If you have suggestion, I'd love to hear it."
"Sensor input obscured. Sorry, Master." The device said, genuine sadness in its voice… at least Nanoha thought so. It was hard to be sure, but she liked to think that she'd gotten to know her device pretty well by this point.
"Don't apologize to me, I'm having the same problem." Nanoha said warmly. "Now, I think I've got a plan, but I need you to handle most of the heavy lifting, okay? I won't be able to do much in the way of concentrating, since I need to keep us… well, alive."
"Without your help? Harder, but for my master, okay!"
"I knew I could count on you!" Nanoha said, smiling brilliantly. "Oh, no. Just a sec…"
"Howling Moon."
This time Nanoha managed to dodge just a little better than the last time, but still went sprawling as her knee was clipped by the blast. She gritted her teeth through the pain and promised herself a nice long bath for her aching muscles once this was over. "Raising Heart, you still with me?"
"The plan is?"
Nanoha smiled mischievously. "Weeeeell… if we can't get out of the fog, we get rid of the fog, right? How do we usually handle things like that?"
"Full power, set! Stand by for Starlight Breaker."
"It's like you read my mind. Now, here's the problem. You'll have to gather the energy without me, because I need to make sure she doesn't shoot us while we prepare. How long do you think that'll take you?"
"By myself?" The staff said doubtfully. It had, after all, never done this before, as Nanoha was painfully aware. Intelligent devices were designed to focus the mage's power, but Starlight Breaker was fueled by power from the surrounding environment, so, theoretically, Raising Heart should be able to do it without her will guiding the energy and shaping it. It probably wouldn't be able to guide the energy into anything resembling a coherent beam without her, but at the moment, all she needed was a really big boom. "… … Two minutes, master."
"Ouch." Nanoha said. Two minutes was a really, really long time considering her present situation.
"I'll try better. Beginning charge," Raising Heart said apologetically, her familiar magical circle appearing around its tip and white-pink lines beginning to flow into the gem.
"Just do your best, okay?" Nanoha said consolingly, not voicing her thoughts, which were something along the lines of Two minutes, how am I going to keep dodging these things for two minutes my knee is killing me and my shoulder is on fire and two minutes is a looooong time, and oh no here comes another one…
"Howling Moon."
This time her left arm was the sacrifice, and went numb from the elbow down. She waggled her fingers experimentally, and found they moved all right; must have pinched a nerve or something. At least it wasn't broken, probably. This is going badly. I won't make it the full two minutes at this rate. It's just so hard… my eyes and my ears are both lying to me, and they don't even have the good grace to tell me the same lie!, said the little voice in the back of her head that existed to make her doubt herself.
Okay, then. Said the much louder voice in the front of her head that existed to beat up that other voice, take its lunch money, and make it go run away and hide in a corner. If you can't trust your eyes and your ears, then why are you still listening to them?
Taking flight, just to keep in motion and make herself a harder target, she clamped Raising Heart into her numb left hand as hard as she could and used her right hand to tear the ribbon off the front of her barrier jacket. Having clothes that grew back, she mused, was a big load off her mind. Ducking behind a building and hoping it would cover her for a moment, she shifted Raising Heart to her elbow and ripped the ribbon up to make the best earplugs she could manage. Then she closed her eyes.
Sight was a distraction. Sound was a distraction. And all that training to focus her mind had not been for nothing.
In her mind, she could still remember the battlefield. The position of every building was there, clear as day, like an outline in the blackness behind her eyelids. That was good, that was easy, none of that would change. The battlefield was static, it was simple to remember. Now all she needed was the dynamic aspect. Tsukuyomi, she knew, was watching her, waiting for an opening, and an opening appeared to exist.
There.
Nanoha Takamachi was not an idiot. If touch was the only sense she could reliably trust, then touch was the only sense she would use.
She didn't hear the enemy's spell call, she didn't see the silver light of the attack. But she felt the air move as the spell cut through it, and she felt her clothes ruffle as it came closer, and then she moved. And she felt the air move as the beam shot harmlessly through the spot where she had been.
From her vantage point below the girl, floating through maze of concrete and glass, Tsukuyomi's eyes narrowed. "She's found an opening so quickly? Interesting. Test it again when you've recharged, please." After about thirty seconds, Suijin again launched a bolt of silvery white light… and again, the odd bureau mage stepped through the air without so much as being grazed.
Tsukuyomi smiled. Maybe. It wasn't easy to tell; her mouth might have twitched or it might not have. "Yes, this girl is quite interesting after all. She reminds me somewhat of older sister, when she was a child.
"Suijin? I believe it is to time to change our pattern. Load a wide spread, rapid shot, full automatic."
"Lunar Teardrops." Her staff said. A dozen balls of silver light sprung into existence around the blue-clad mage.
"Lunar Teardrops, lock on… and fire." Tsukuyomi said.
Nanoha felt the air move again. Felt it move a lot, and from several different directions.
Oh, dear, she thought, and then there wasn't time to do anything but move, move, move.
To her credit, she dodged almost all of them. She wasn't exactly used to fighting blind and deaf, after all, and had really only thought of this plan as a crazy last resort. Frankly, it was a miracle that she had lasted through even one attack. To dodge two blasts by air pressure alone, then avoid all but two of the smaller, rapid-fire bursts? Amazing.
But being amazing didn't change the fact that two hammer blows slammed into her, one smashing her already-numb left arm and the other hitting right between the shoulder blades. She fell, bouncing off a building and colliding rather horribly with the street. I should have shielded instead of trying to dodge. Nanoha told herself. That, of course, had not been an option, given that her only chance of real survival lay with giving Raising Heart the opportunity to gather the needed magic, but pain makes people think funny things.
Tsukuyomi nodded in approval. "Good work, Suijin. Make certain she's incapacitated."
"Target Locked. Howling…"
"Charge Complete. Time: 1 minute, 36 seconds." Raising Heart announced.
"… Wait, what?" Tsukuyomi asked.
"Twenty-four seconds early. I knew you could do it," Nanoha said proudly, smiling despite her pain. She struggled to her feet, brandished her staff as best she could with one arm and no knowledge of her opponent's location, and shouted her challenge. "All right! It's my turn again, so get ready! Raising Heart!" She shouted, the gathered magic fairly bursting from her staff, the circle leaping into existence around her burning so brilliantly it was hard to look at it.
"Starlight…" Raising Heart began.
"… Breaker…" Nanoha continued, holding the staff high above her head with her one good arm.
"… Explosion!" The two shouted in unison.
It was like someone had dropped a big, pink sun onto the streets of Tokyo.
The barely-stable power, gathered without the will of a mage to shape it, did not form a coherent beam. Rather, it simply blew up, sending out a massive spherical burst of pink and white light that struck out in all directions, burning away the illusionary mist cloud as it did.
"Suijin! Fire!" Tsukuyomi said, showing just the tiniest amount of panic, the first genuine emotion she'd shown in a very long time. The spell she'd prepared beforehand blasted forth into the rapidly approaching energy sphere… and was swallowed up, followed shortly by its creator.
It was a few seconds before the light cleared… and considerably longer before Nanoha's eyes finally adjusted to the absence of it. She was treated to the sight of Tsukuyomi, her frilled dress tattered and singed, struggling to her feet on unsteady limbs. She finally managed to find her legs, using a slightly cracked Suijin as a crutch. The cloud of hallucinatory mist was completely gone. Tsukuyomi looked to be saying something; Nanoha took out her impromptu earplugs to be sure.
"In… insufficient." The girl breathed, a slight growl to her voice from the effort. "Your power… was insufficient… to incapacitate me."
"No way… after all that?" Nanoha gasped between pants for breath.
"I… released my own spell directly into your assault. It blunted the force enough for me to… put up a partial barrier before impact." Tsukuyomi said. But if I hadn't… she thought, I would not be standing right now. Just a child, and from a world the Bureau's files marked as not having achieved widespread magical proliferation, yet she has such power… who is this girl?
"The damage… was notable." Tsukuyomi admitted. "Your powers continue to impress. But my combat ability remains at approximately 70%, while your injuries are obviously more severe. I am still more likely to emerge victorious."
"Well, we won't know until we try, right?" Nanoha said, dropping once more into a combat stance… as best she could, anyway.
"Confirmed. Suijin…"
"WARNING! Wide area magical disturbance detected!" Raising Heart warned.
"What?! What's happening?!" Nanoha snapped, looking around and wishing there were fewer buildings in the way. Meanwhile, Tsukuyomi's staff had a much different report to give.
"Primary Mission Objective detected, thirty six degrees southeast." Suijin intoned.
Tsukuyomi immediately took to the skies, scanning the Tokyo skyline for anything resembling her target. She was treated, then, to her first view of the one sight that anyone would recognize in Japan's capital, Tokyo Tower. While it lacked the cultural significance for her that it might have had for someone actually from Earth, it was still a fairly impressive sight.
The fact that it was glowing probably helped with that.
