Driven by Revenge, Tri-Edge Vol. 1: Rebirth
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All credit for the fight scene of this chapter goes to P4Nd0RaS so be sure to thank him, too!
Chapter 4: The Fated Battle: Witches VS. Tri-Edge, and some Questions Answered
Last Time…
"Incoming from above..." Sanya warned as her Magic Antenna started changing color rapidly noticing something coming at them at high speed.
All the Witches looked up to the sky high to see a black figure diving onto them.
Pulling out of her steep dive, the target positioned herself a hundred meters away from the rest of the Witches, the figure's back turned to them. For some reason, she showed no notion of moving so Mio pulled out the photo one last time before the battle begins, giving a silent prayer that she'll live through the battle so she can keep her promise. She then put the photo back into her pocket.
That was when Tri-Edge's armored form turned to faced them. Eyes glaring with all the hostility they could give, causing each and every Witch to freeze in fear mid-flight.
Now…
"Strike Witches! Engage!" Minna was the first to ignore her fear and made an order as the Witches moved on reflex. The shrouded figure, making her move at the same time the squadron moved, flew head on towards the group.
"Break formation!" Came the second order. The Witches split into two directions but Tri-Edge ignored it as she chased off a single target.
It doesn't matter if she flew left or right, the main purpose was to be flanked. Surrounded by Witches on all side should make her stop in her tracks, giving some moments to banter, that was the expectations.
To the surprise of all Witches present, Tri-Edge burst out of the blockade with ease, as if there was no enclosure in the first place. Her speed and the shockwaves caused by it were enough to send a regular Witch off-balance. If the Witches present weren't the best of the best, they wouldn't have be able to calm themselves and regain flight as they tumbled down to the sea below.
'Like sticks on a windy day.' Tri-Edge mused as she effortlessly burst out of her enclosure but she never let her guard down for her second thoughts was, 'If they activated barriers it's going to be a different matter.'
"Is this meager strategy all you've got?" She taunted without restraint hopeful that the hot-blooded of the lot will straight out charge and under the pressure, outdo herself and show her an interesting sight. "The Strike Witches are the best, right?"
True enough, one that has been restraining herself let it loose. Charlotte Yeager boosted her Strikers to their maximum speed, moving out of formation straight at Tri-Edge. Smirking, the girl in question acknowledged the battle of speed with excitement. After all, 'What could a meager regular Striker do against a Rocket Striker?'
They sped up faster than any regular Witch could fly, so much that few can follow up. Lucchini strained and Erica used her wind ability to boost herself but still the two could barely follow the two boosting Witches that are racing. Yeager shot bullets at the girl, only to be evaded easily. Tri-Edge retaliated by performing a quick slash, suddenly appearing right beside her. How she performed that instant parallel glide, nobody could see.
Tri-Edge suddenly stopped short causing the still at high speed Yeager to fly off a hundred meters per second apart from the girl. Soon those chasing found the reason. Those who couldn't chase mainly Lynette, Ursula and Minna who stayed behind to watch over the situation, tried to do what they can without moving. Ursula calculated the trajectory, Lynette fires her bullet.
The anti-materiel bullet flew at high speed straight towards where Tri-Edge should have flown just like Ursula's calculation said she would, but the immediate stopping caused the mark to be off by a few meters. Not a problem that is because using Lynette's Ballistic Stabilization, the anti-materiel bullet turned.
Surprised by the sudden changed in direction, Tri-Edge was hit hard and without a shield. The chasing Witches, who now stopped, and Lynette herself who fired watched in horror in fear that they might have killed off their capture target, only to find the girl practically unharmed.
Tri-Edge shot a glare of pure hatred towards the sniper before shooting off towards her and the two near her. Minna knew that even if they split, Tri-Edge will target Lynette for she is the one that took the shot and will be the easiest to knock out if not kill. The other Witches instinctively went on the flight path of Tri-Edge only to be outmaneuvered, their defensive shots missing their mark every time.
"Hii!" The Britannian girl shrieked before raging winds knocked the attacking Witch upwards.
Erica had used her wind magic since her logic deduced that after Lynette, Ursula will be the next target. Her protective instincts allowed her to perform better for a moment, enough to send the attacking Witch flying. Tri-Edge wasn't knocked out though. She shook her head as if to clear the surprise and maybe confusion before raising her hand towards the sky.
'You want to play with the wind, eh? Eat this... Raging Winds.' Tri-Edge thought intensely, finding no need to invoke those words or making it known to her enemies.
The effects was instant as the winds raged, turned, churned and flew freely in all directions. Something that causes all the Witches to get thrown up and about as if in a storm. However, unlike a tornado which is a circular motion, these winds are erratic. Soon enough the winds dissipated, but the Witches could barely hold their lunch and stabilize themselves to receive Tri-Edge's next attack.
Tri-Edge did not make a move though. An act that is called mockery. She is showing that she made no effort to throw the Witches into disarray and is making it worse by looking at her watch, if she has one because nobody can see the watch, another gesture of mockery.
Perrine was the one who couldn't take it, her anger getting the better of her. Her logic was, 'If she is fast then make her unable to run. I just have to perform a large attack.' A huge electric discharge will knock the damned Witch out. "Tonnerre!" Lightning surged as it traveled the air outwards in a huge area.
Tri-Edge made no movements, not running away much less making a barrier. She just folded and sheathed one of her blades and stretched her open hand towards the lightning. To the Gallian Witch's surprise, the lightning was being absorbed, the body of Tri-Edge emanating a golden glow, one of lightning. Her element.
'Electricity is thrilling isn't it? It's quite shocking.' Tri-Edge asked to herself as she sent a bolt of thunder towards the Witch that spewed it out. Evading the light speed attack by a hair's breath, the sky rumbled from the discharge as the thunderbolt dissipated into a faraway cloud.
While Perrine was frozen in the middle of the sky in shock, the other Witches continued their assault anew. Tri-Edge, who wasn't able to notice the ambush behind her, reacted badly and was sent flying by Trude's stock slam. It wasn't without a payment though, for Tri-Edge managed to slash one of the Karlsland Witch's guns to shreds.
Mio was waiting for the chance as she swung her sword towards Tri-Edge's armor, hoping to cut it off by the shoulders so that Lynette could perform Plan B, which was to tranquilize the target and restrain her while she is unconscious. Sadly, Tri-Edge managed to evade the swing, the blade barely cutting the girl's mask. Mio performed a reverse strike, a blunt attack by the back of the blade may knock the Witch out, but Tri-Edge slowed down making the strike intended to the neck strike upon her mask.
The mask cracked under the strain but the Witch herself doesn't show any damage nor concussion present. Rather, she is more irritated now; the increase in magical power indicated that the Witch in front of them may have shut off her limiter if not a few limiters. They have no absolute information about the Witch so they could never know.
Swords are really a disadvantageous weapon in a battle, especially if there are a lot of experienced shooters within it. Tri-Edge wasn't able to slash even a single Witch, not even one of the Storm Witches that she had defeated before. Mio's strike succeeded because someone sent the target towards her in an open state allowing easy and comfortable attacks toward any target.
"Sanya! I have an idea!" Lynette called upon the Night Witch that have been confirming Tri-Edge's position when she flew into clouds, the silent Witch raising her eye at the sudden exclamation the shy Witch performed and nodded at the burning passion in the sniper's eyes.
The two looked at Minna, their commander for confirmation and noticing the gaze the two wore she thought that it might not be too bad to bet upon a spontaneous plan. "Tell me what I should do..." Sanya asked readying her rocket launcher.
Tri-Edge's breathing has become rougher, she has been flying for a long time. Rather, this is the longest time she has flown under her current circumstances. The Witches that strained themselves to keep up with Tri-Edge weren't in any better condition though; each and every one of them were gasping, even if they did have the occasional rest. 'Monster!' was the common thought each of the Witches have against Tri-Edge.
Then a barrage of missiles flew towards her. Of course, each and every one was evaded swiftly but they turned, just like the anti-materiel bullet, the first and foremost missile blowing up right over her shoulders sending her tumbling forward, open to more missile attacks. Lynette is ready to fire the syringe, but the number of missiles and the amount of smoke may lower the precision and chance of hitting the target perfectly, so she will wait for the perfect moment.
Tri-Edge noticed that she had something up her sleeve, but knowing that she herself will not show a single opening to that attack chose to ignore it for now. The bigger problem is the strategist redhead and the genius that have been reading her movements for a short while till now. Which one should she attack first?
Lucchini was thrown by Shirley at high speed hoping that their combined speed and throw power may allow her to slam her shields towards Tri-Edge. Eila evaded another strike from Tri-Edge's twin swords but succeeded in stopping the Witch from attacking Sanya. At that time, Lucchini, shields deployed flying at high speed, struck Tri-Edge. But even at that speed, the shields merely scratched the side of her armor.
Minna noticed that there are no more defenders in the direction they are in except for Shirley. Knowing her, at high speed, they will merely cross each other. The three split apart just by noticing that they will be open to attacks. Lynette also moved because she is convinced that her shot will not hit.
Just like they have predicted, Tri-Edge crossed Shirley's flight path nimbly and was moving at high speed, towards Ursula. The blonde-haired girl, surprised, shrieked a bit before choosing to keep flying rather than trying to shoot. The second she opens fire she will be open to a melee attack especially if Tri-Edge is only a few hundred meters behind her.
Evading all other bullets fired from the Storm Witches, Tri-Edge slowly but surely closed the distance between her and her target. None of the others were able to help but they kept trying. When the blade was about to strike upon the cornered Witch's body, someone slammed Tri-Edge with a huge blast of air.
"Nee-san!" Ursula exclaimed finding her twin sister in a defensive position right in front of her. Firing bullets at the evading Tri-Edge, she flew faster than before. A short gaze towards Minna showed that she had allowed the removal of limiters. Shirley is flying faster and Barkhorn's bullets are getting stronger. Ursula, sadly, has no limiters she wanted to release. Keyword: Wanted.
"Heh." Even in the face of the toppled balance, Tri-Edge chuckled as if she expected them to release their magical limiters. The winds churned, their temperature rising. There is no Witch in the area that can control fire. Missiles that were originally chasing Tri-Edge stopped in their tracks a meter or two from her and exploded but everyone can see, the missile tubes are molten red before they exploded in shrapnel and melted metal.
Bullets were fired at the overpowered Witch but she did not evade. The bullets, reinforced with magic, could not pierce the energy barrier she created from superheating the air. "A Plasma Barrier." Ursula confirmed with awe at the perfect molecular construction of the fourth state of matter. The sky darkened not so long after, thunder rumbling. It seems that the forces of nature were on their side for the rain cooled down the ambient energy and dissipated the barrier like it was clay.
The Witches take their chances as Tri-Edge blankly watched the rain fall onto her and around her. A shame it is for thunder struck around Tri-Edge covering her from any trials of close range attack. When the lightning was gone so was Tri-Edge. "Kyaaaa!" A scream from one of the Storm Witches, Kitano to be exact, alarmed the rest that she was ambushed, taking a clear hit from both of the twin blades, leaving the mark of Tri-Edge on her body. It's as if Tri-Edge herself moved as fast as light and traversed the distance within a second.
With some difficulty, the now comatose Witch was helped by one of her comrades as the rest continued the battle. A hopeless one at that.
That is, until a sudden jolt in Tri-Edge's body allowed Gertrud to bat her away with her full strength and was fired upon by numerous machine guns. Losing the close range advantage and unable to do anything in range Tri-Edge tried to swoop down onto the resting Witches below, but the barrage of bullets wouldn't allow her to. One after another clear hits struck upon the body of the Witch but she ignored it. How, nobody knows, but thinking of how much she was hit, she sure does take a lot.
As time continues, the frequency of these sudden surprises increase. Mio was more concerned to how to save the girl before she does any more damage to herself than capturing her alive by now. Her Katana strikes meeting air, she kept ordering changes in offensive and defensive parties regularly maintaining Minna's paced strategy at the same time.
Tri-Edge's complexion is waning. Her sight was getting blurry. She thought about letting loose but couldn't think clearly enough to make the choice until, "Tonnerre!" an electric attack from the Gallian Witch woke her up from her half-awake state. If she is to unleash her power, she will have to stay still for a moment. The risks are high considering the Major is admirable in her swordsmanship.
Choosing to risk it, Mio retracted her blade lest it cut off the head of the target she intended to save. Unable to stop her swing fully she could only change its direction and it struck upon the face mask of Tri-Edge once more, this time breaking it completely. Showing the identity of Tri-Edge for the Major to see and to her surprise, she widened her eyes.
"Yoshika..." She muttered the name of Professor Miyafuji's daughter. The daughter that ran away from her home to seek revenge... "You are... Tri-Edge?"
For some reason Tri-Edge do not wish to answer, but she did not attack either. The other Witches stopped flying watching the surprise in their colleague's face and their commander's confusion.
"How long does it take to make the connection?" Tri-Edge replied cynically. "Sakamoto Mio, father may have spoken a lot about you... but that soul of yours. I will consume it to become stronger." The cold glare in her eyes are not playful in any way. She is determined to kill and this is a mere warning to an acquaintance of her father. A form of action done out of mere respect.
"Why do you do this?" Mio herself continued to question the girl's motives. "What do you seek from devouring the souls of many?"
"I seek revenge. Judgment. Justice..." Each word was filled with malice, so much that it sent shivers down the spine of those listening anew. But only Mio, who is close enough can her last words, which were a whisper. "Redemption..." Such sorrow within a little girl, this just wouldn't do. For the Major, this is the utmost failure to her promise, she was so heartbroken that she let her sword down.
"I will not stop twice, take up your sword." Tri-Edge ordered for her to continue and fight. Seeing as Mio had other thoughts in her mind she did not comply. Tri-Edge frowned at the refusal to fight that she threatened, "If you stop now I'll raze the nearest military base." Nobody knows if the threat is a mere bluff or she will really perform such horrendous actions to see her aspires come true but still Mio refused causing the Strike Witches to lower their guns.
'This will not do. This will not do at all!' Tri-Edge thought, starting to panic. Despite her twin swords, Empty Skies, trying to calm her down she could only explode in rage. Letting her twin swords hover in midair she grabbed onto the Major's sailor collar, her actions are getting more pitiable by the second.
"Fight me! Show me the strength of the strongest Witch Squadron!" She screamed with outrage, so pathetic was the display that even the Storm Witches lowered their weapons at the rogue Witch. "Tch." Pissed that her targets refused to fight she took one of her swords and swung it down. The Major did not even try to evade as the sword stopped barely touching her face. "What the hell is wrong with you...?" Tri-Edge asked.
Mio opened her mouth to respond, but Tri-Edge cut her off. "Do not need to make the effort." Tri-Edge flew up above the Witches cutting off what message Mio is trying to convene. "If you do not want to fight me then I'll reap your souls all the same... no... Much better, I'll give you all an eternal death!"
At that point, seven golden spikes appeared in a semicircle behind her back, signaling the start of her ultimate attack as she folded and sheathed her two swords. Then, seven more spikes appeared, completing the circle. The fourteen golden spokes then spread out to make the outline of a large circle. Then, to the Witches' shock and fear, a large purple eye opened up from within the circle behind the rouge Witch as a ball of super-condensed magic with a dark green center and a purple outer shell started to charge up.
Mio looked at the spell in horror; she knew what that spell was, thanks to the Miyafuji family telling her about it, and their history, when she visited them three years ago. If her memory is correct, then the spell she is seeing Tri-Edge charge up is called Drain Heart.
"This… This marks the beginning of the slaughter!" Tri-Edge yelled as she brought her hands up, preparing to send the spell down to end the lives of the Witches below her.
And that was when all the pain she had previously ignored from the battle decided to rear its ugly head.
Tri-Edge started screaming in agony as all the pain hit her at once, resulting in her losing focus on the spell as it faded from existence as she clutched her head in a vain attempt to ease the agonizing pain.
Mio and the rest of the Witches were stunned, as well as confused as to why Tri-Edge just suddenly started screaming in pain. Mio, however, was worried about Tri-Edge's, or rather Yoshika's, safety.
That was when the pain became too much for her to bear; the rouge Witch fell unconscious and dropped out of the sky, her Striker Unit detaching from her legs. Then, 47 orbs of light shot out of her body, 46 of them shooting off in different directions. The last one, however, flew down into the formation and entered Kitano's body, causing her to stir as she regained consciousness, the mark of Tri-Edge fading away.
That was when the Witches realized what the orbs of light were; each orb was the soul of a Witch that Tri-Edge had taken, and now they were returning back to their respective bodies.
Mio's visible eye widened as she noticed Tri-Edge falling from the sky, unconscious. "Yoshika!" she yelled, taking the other Witches by surprise as she boosted her way up and caught the unconscious girl, while Lucchini, noticing the falling Rocket Strikers, flew towards them and caught them.
Ursula, who had noticed Lucchini catching the stolen Komet Striker, was overjoyed at finally getting the Rocket Striker back.
That was when Minna saw Mio start flying back to base while carrying Tri-Edge's unconscious form. "Mio?" she questioned, flying after her. This got the attention of the rest of the Witches, who started following her.
Mio arrived first, and after carefully getting out of her Striker Unit and placing it in its designated docking bay, stood still and waited for the rest to arrive, still holding onto Tri-Edge's unconscious body.
She didn't have to wait long, because in a span of five minutes, the rest of the Witches of the 501st JFW and the 31st JFS landed and docked their Strikers, with Ursula carrying the Komet and placing it in a spare docking bay, then getting some chains and locking it up tight.
Minna walked up to her. "You do know that we're going to have to put her in the interrogation room, right?" she asked Mio.
Mio grunted. "I don't like it, but I have no choice."
"We need to remove her armor first, though." Trude said, something that the others agreed with.
While the Witches started to carefully remove Tri-Edge's armor, Marseille made a move to remove the swords.
"Touch me, and consider yourself dead." An ominous male voice said, startling all the Witches present.
"W-Who said that?" Kitano asked shakily.
That was when the swords unsheathed themselves, snapped open, and started floating in midair. "That would be me." The swords responded, shocking all the Witches.
Mio shook off her shock and narrowed her eyes. "So you're the forbidden twin swords that the Miyafuji's told me about… Empty Skies, one of the Lost Weapons."
"Indeed I am." The swords responded. "Now answer me this; what do you plan to do to my wielder?"
"We're taking her in for questioning." Minna responded, after getting over her shock. "Will that be a problem?"
"How do I know if you're not lying?" the twin swords asked accusingly.
"Because I will make sure that is all that happens. You have my word as a Sakamoto." Mio answered.
"…And a Sakamoto never goes back on her word… fine, then. But you'd better not try anything else." Empty Skies warned.
"Understandable." Mio said, as the two swords folded themselves and returned to their sheaths, which Mio picked up.
By then, the rest of the Witches have removed all of Tri-Edge's armor, and Trude handcuffed the rouge Witch with anti-magic handcuffs to keep her from escaping. Mio didn't like it, but it was standard protocol when dealing with rouge Witches. Minna then carried Tri-Edge over to the interrogation room, with the rest of the Witches following.
When the group reached the interrogation room, Minna and Trude took off the handcuffs and strapped Tri-Edge to the far wall using solid steel, anti-magic restraints that were one meter thick on each of her arms and legs. At that point, the interrogation officer walked into the room.
"This is her?" The interrogation officer asked.
"Yes," Minna answered, writing down several questions on a slip of paper and giving it to the interrogator. "These are the questions that we need answers to. Can you do it?"
The interrogator nodded, and with that, the Witches headed to the hangar at Ursula's insistence. Leaving the interrogator to do his work after Tri-Edge regained consciousness.
In the hangar, Ursula was unchaining the Komet to take it for a test flight, with Shirley instantly volunteering to take it out.
"New speed record, here I come!" the Liberion Witch exclaimed as she jumped into the Rocket Striker and pumped her magic into it.
To everyone's immense shock, the Komet didn't start up. There wasn't even a reaction to Shirley's magic.
"What's going on?! Why won't it start up?!" Shirley exclaimed.
"This never happened before! Why isn't it starting?!" Ursula asked.
"You think Tri-Edge would allow anyone to fly it so easily?" Empty Skies, which were being held by Mio, asked.
"What do you mean?" Mio asked back.
"Ever heard of a Magic Signature Lock?" The swords answered Mio's question with one of his own.
Ursula's eyes widened. "No wonder why it won't start… she used one of the strongest binding spells to ever exist! The Komet will only respond to her!"
This shocked the other Witches, but Minna had another question for the swords. "So… what's with Tri-Edge's armor? And why did she suddenly scream in pain?"
"That's an easy one; it was her armor." Empty Skies answered.
This earned confused looks from all the Witches.
The swords sighed. "Her armor has strong magical properties such as being impenetrable from bullets, along with an extremely high resistance to magic-based attacks. But this comes at the cost of draining a high amount of magic to maintain and that the wearer still feels quite a bit of pain from each hit, and this applies for all the pieces of her armor. But the mask also had another role."
"And that role was…?" Questioned Ursula.
"The mask put her brain into a hypothermic state by reducing the amount of oxygen that she can breathe, severely reducing her reaction time, along with making her unable to feel pain so long as it was worn. When the mask is removed, it takes approximately five minutes for the brain to register all that pain at the same time, which caused her to pass out." Empty Skies explained.
This shocked all the other Witches, but Mio was still worried about Tri-Edge's safety, which Minna noticed. "You seem to be worried about her. Do you happen to know her?" she asked.
"As a matter of fact, I do." The Fuso Witch answered, shocking all the other Witches present. "I also know her real name as well."
"You know her real name? What is it?!" Trude asked, wanting to know the name of, in her eyes, one of the strongest Witches to ever exist. The others nodded, also wanting to know the real name of the infamous Tri-Edge.
Mio was silent at first, but after a few seconds of internal debate, answered the question that was on everyone's minds. "Her real name… is Yoshika Miyafuji, the daughter of Professor Ichiro Miyafuji."
There was a period of total silence that lasted for a full five seconds, but then. "WHAT?!" came the shouts of shock from all the other Witches.
"She… She's Professor Miyafuji's daughter?!" Minna exclaimed in pure shock.
"Yes, she is." Mio answered. "Minna… please… keep this off the official record. We don't know her reasons for her actions yet."
"But, Mio…" Minna started to protest, but upon seeing Mio's pleading look, she stopped. "Alright, then… but we need to know her reasons. Come on; we're going to the interrogation room."
With that said, all the Witches started for the interrogation room.
In the interrogation room, things were not going well for the interrogator. No matter what question he asked, the bound Witch, who had regained consciousness, refused to answer. By now, the interrogation had lasted for twenty minutes.
The man sighed. "Freak…" he muttered under his breath, but Tri-Edge still heard him.
The rouge Witch's anger flared, and with pure rage fueling her actions, easily breaks free from the otherwise normally unbreakable restraints.
At that point, all the Witches were in the room, and they were all shocked at what they saw; the only one who could break the restraints was Barkhorn, and even she had to use magic to perform such a feat. What really shocked the Witches was that Tri-Edge did it without using magic, showing that her petite body was far stronger than they thought.
"Stop it!" Mio yelled, pulling out a pistol that was loaded with a tranquilizer dart. Before Tri-Edge could react, Mio pulled the trigger, sending the dart straight at the rouge Witch, hitting her in the shoulder.
Tri-Edge staggered for a moment, but before she collapsed, she uttered one word. "Traitors…" she then collapsed, once again unconscious.
The Witches were thunderstruck, and Mio only had one thought. 'What could have caused her to act this way? Her father's apparent murder can't be the only reason… and why did she call me a traitor?'
The rest of the Witches finally got over their shock, and Minna put her hand on Mio's shoulder. "We need to take her to the higher ups. It's out of our hands." The red-haired Karlsland Witch said, with most of the others nodding in agreement.
Mio, however, was having none of it. "I won't allow that. One, her father's death can't be the only reason why she's acting this way. And two… I made a promise to her family to find her and take her back."
This shocked the others, but Ursula shook her head. "Taking her back to her family as she is now won't do any good."
"What do you mean?" Raisa asked, not understanding.
"What I mean is that, since she is obviously set on revenge, if Mio takes her back now and keeps her with her family, she'll fall into a depression so great that she'll eventually commit suicide." The blond-haired researcher/Witch answered.
The Witches were stunned at that, but Mio recoiled in shock; she hadn't thought of that, and there was no way she was going to let that happen.
"But why does she hate us so much? And why did she call us traitors? It doesn't make sense!" Lucchini yelled.
"Are you sure you want to know? The truth isn't pretty in the least." Empty Skies asked.
The Witches looked at the twin swords that Mio was holding, and they all nodded simultaneously.
Empty Skies sighed the best a pair of sentient swords could. "Very well. It all began when she was ten…"
