A/N: A very long chapter this time, takes up 10 pages in my word processor. Anyway, just reading the title should give you an idea of what to expect this time. There will be tones of action in this chapter at least, and of course this will be the halfway point, so the plot is starting to really get going. Also, I read the reviews, and saw that people wanted more NanoFate, so I threw you all a bone. This is only a small taste, so you can't have the rest until the end, okay? Anyway, next time this story will explore the meaning of its title even further than it does here.

- Kode-Dekka


Chapter 3:

Destruction! Weiss' Motive Revealed


After a few days, Nanoha started to feel a lot better. Despite the dark mana that was constantly battling with her own, she was adjusting a little more to the struggle. Three days after she was wounded, she was finally able to get through a day without crying in pain. Still, she was weak, and couldn't get out of bed. Whatever was happening to her, it was draining all of her energy, so all she could do was sit in a hospital and rest.

Luckily, she had Fate to keep her company for the time being while Vivio waited outside. Vivio was full of energy like usual, she hid her worry for her mother well. In order to keep herself distracted from it, she had Einhart entertain her.

Fate on the other hand, she was a whole different story. The blond couldn't stop herself from worrying constantly, not that there wasn't anything to worry about. In a single day, her best friend was badly injured; her other friend, robbed of her powers as a mage, even the Wolkenritter were now under someone else's control. To make the situation worse, the higher ups were starting to make certain suggestions, ones that would put her brainwashed friends on the TSAB's most wanted list. That list, was only just a stone's throw away from an execution order. So yes, Fate had a lot to worry about, but Nanoha always remained at the top of the list.

Speaking of which, they were currently engaged in a serious talk, it was about their next move. The Ace of Aces was always so hotheaded, so she wanted to save their friends no matter what, and as quickly as possible. Fate was different; Like Shari had said, their enemy would appear sometime, and they could use that chance to break whatever control he had. For now, she was far more worried about Nanoha's body than anything else. She voiced these opinions very clearly, which only served to piss the woman off.

"We can't just sit around and do nothing, Fate-chan."

"There's nothing we can do right now Nanoha, all we can do is wait."

"That's not good enough! Have you forgotten that they're our friends?"

"No but..."

Their conversion came to a standstill at that point. There was no point to this argument. To suggest that Fate didn't care about her friends, that was something that the Nanoha she knew wouldn't do. The normal Nanoha would never had said that. It must have something to do with that thing... Whatever that thing was, it wasn't just messing with Nanoha's linker core, or so Fate thought. She decided to let it go, there was no need to pursue this small burst of anger.

"I'll see what I can do, Nanoha, but don't put too much faith in me."

"Okay." After that, the tense atmosphere dissipated. "Sorry about being so grouchy, you know how much I hate being in a hospital."

"I know, Nanoha." Everything was fine now, and Fate could go back to being a worrywart. "Make sure that you get some rest, I want you to get better as soon as possible." But really, that all depended on Shari, who was still trying to figure just what to do about this.

"Fate-chan." Fate was standing by the bed, while Nanoha sat up and locked her blue eyes on the blond's red. Suddenly, Nanoha reached out her arms, wrapped them around Fate's neck, and pulled her close to her, making their lips touch. There was confusion abound in her head, but she didn't dislike it and made a move to kiss her friend back. However, by that time, Nanoha was already finished and pulled away. Both their faces were bright red. "Hehe~, sorry about that Fate-chan, I just felt like doing it."

"I-I-It's okay, Nanoha..." Nanoha's face softened up, a sad smile formed on her lips.

"I know about what's happening to my body. Yesterday I pretended to be asleep and overheard it, so you don't have to hide it anymore. Thank you for worrying about me, Fate-chan." Something was disturbing Fate greatly; the tone of Nanoha's voice, sounded like that of a person who was on death row. The way she said it, made it look like she'd already accepted her fate.

"Nanoha..." Fate was at a loss for words, all she could do was say Nanoha's name.

"Don't worry Fate-chan, I have no intention of dying just yet. I wouldn't be the 'white devil', if it was that easy, right?" She was smiling brightly now. Just a moment ago it sounded like she was giving up, but the determined look in Nanoha's eyes reassured Fate greatly.

"Yeah." She then flicked Nanoha's forehead playfully. "I have to go now, maybe this devil should get some rest while I'm gone." Nanoha saluted her and stuck out her tongue.

"Yes sir." They laughed together for the first time in days, it was a sound that Fate missed dearly. She then said goodbye and left the infirmary.

When Nanoha was all alone, she laid back on the bed, letting thee smile go away. She held her left hand to her heart, clutching her shirt tightly and doing her best to hold back tears as a result of the pain she was feeling right now. "Fate-chan..."


The night on Mid-Childa was rapidly approaching. Weiss had been watching the skies and waiting. A bit of knowledge that the dagger had given him told him to wait until tonight to act. For some reason that not even the spirit inside the dagger could explain, on the night of the new moon, the seal was a little weaker than usual.

For that reason, their next move had to be tonight, while things were in their favor. Tonight was perfect, for more reasons than just that. The four Belkan knights, had finally submitted to his will and no longer resisted. Even Reinforce, the unison device who had a human shape, eventually submitted. He hadn't chained her to the dungeon, but kept her with him at all times, to help him contain and control the power of the Book of Darkness.

Now that everyone was finally under his control, he wouldn't have to worry about any unneeded surprises. Weiss continued to wait, as he was told to, for the sun to set.


On the third night since the incident at the Long Arch – which was being repaired for the second time-, everything seemed to be quiet on Mid-Childa. For now, everyone who was available was stationed at TSAB HQ. There was another meeting happening, to which Hayate attended, though she wasn't given much time to speak. It was obvious that she was being discriminated against, but held her tongue. It was a lot harder to shut up Agito, who had accompanied her. Somehow she did it, and everything went smoothly.

On the outside, every precaution was taken. For guard duty, there was a large number of mages encircling the area. This included Fate, Subaru, Vivio, Einhart, Teana -who had returned after being called-, Dieci and Cinque. Erio and Caro were elsewhere, as were the remaining Numbers. Nanoha was still in the hospital, and the Saint Church was not getting involved this time. There was also a large number of TSAB enforcers and guards on the inside of the building.

They didn't know when anything would happen, but they were certain something would eventually. Until then, no one was allowed to take any chances, so the full power of the TSAB was employed to keep its members safe.


After the meeting was over, the three admirals in command of the TSAB retired to a conference room, to further deliberate matters. Everything seemed to be fine. All those who attended the meeting had left and were on their ways home. Hayate was going back to her room as well. Everything was quiet, peaceful, and no problems had arisen.

The night was too peaceful. The mages outside were beginning to take notice of that, everything felt weird.

It was like a cliche from a movie; but just as they thought that nothing would happen, a hundred blue daggers rained down from the sky. Coming out of nowhere, the attack was hard to dodge, but when they sensed it, they safely managed to get away from it.

On cue, five figures came out of a distorted space from above. The four members of the Wolkenritter, and Reinforce herself. All of their eyes were completely empty as they stared down at their former friends.

Right away, the seven mages on the ground knew that they weren't just being paid a friendly visit. That became only more evident as Rein held her hand up in the air.

"Frigid Dagger." More blue daggers, made of ice, started to come down on them. At the same time, the other four moved out toward them.

"Everyone evade and engage!" Fate said, flying out of the way of the deadly spears. As soon as she got out of that pinch, she was forced to swing Bardiche in front of her, to intercept Signum's sword. The last thing Fate wanted to do was fight her, but she had no choice in the matter, and continued to defend herself.

Like a perfect killing machine, Signum moved quickly and precisely. The blond found that it was near impossible to block the attacks, which came in waves. I forgot that she was this good with a sword. She mused, deciding that a change in tactics was in order. "Bardiche!"

"Sonic Move." Fate moved at a speed so fast, it would be impossible for a human to track. It was unfortunate for her, that Signum was not human. As she zipped about, she came up behind the redhead, and swung her blade, using the flat side of it, so that she wouldn't cut her in half. Signum, without even looking, put the sword behind her and blocked the attack. No way! Still stunned, Fate was further taken by surprise when Signum spun around and delivered a punch so hard to her chest, that the mage was blown downward to the ground.

Fate knew that something would be coming at her, so she quickly recovered. Catching Signum in her sights, speeding toward her, she thrust Bardiche forward, extending the blade up at her incoming opponent.

Signum didn't dodge, and did the same thing, thrusting Laevatein forward. Before the two swords could meet, Signum's device glowed bight red, and then transformed, turning into a snake like coil, which wrapped around Bardiche. The sharp tip of her blade, still pushed forward toward Fate, spinning around her weapon, which was completely bound. Damn it! She tried to break it free, but it was no use. She only had two choices, abandon her device, or take a sword to the chest. Fate couldn't just abandon Bardiche, but time was running out.

"Fate-san." A shout came from her side. In the nick of time, Subaru came and grabbed the tip of Laevatein before it could hit. Her Mach Caliber stopped the attack completely, she used this chance to get a good grip on it, and pull. Signum was carried downward by Subaru's strength, who held her other fist back, ready to counterattack.

Signum simply muttered something under her breath. The blade glowed again, and reverted back to its sword form. Fate's device was released, she retracted it, putting it back to its original size.

"Thanks Subaru, you really saved me."

"No problem."

There was a big problem. Signum was still hovering above them. She took Laevatein, holding it sideways, and then grabbed her sheath, putting the two together at the hilt.

"Bogenform" Her device said. Fate had a really bad feeling inside, that feeling growing as the weapon transformed once again, this time into a bow.

"Subaru." She said calmly as she could.

"Yes, Fate-san."

"Be prepared to dodge, like you've never dodged before."


As Fate and Subaru fought off Signum, the others were having their own troubles. Vivio and Einhart had decided to take on Vita and Reinforce together. Their opponents were very good at long ranged spells, something that the two friends weren't exactly their forte. It was a huge disadvantage to them, as they were much better at close combat. This made things very difficult.

"Frigid Dagger"

"Swallow Flier"

Their dual attack came down like a storm, there was little time to dodge, so Vivio blocked instead. A powerful rainbow colored shield appeared in front of them, completely nullifying the assault. Vita and Reinforce may be powerful, but it would be foolish to underestimate those who also specialize in Belkan magic.

In order to go on the offense, Vivio and Einhart lunched up into the air together, trying to get close enough to fight properly. Both had entered their adult modes at this point, which would allow them to better use their magic. Vivio herself, was forming two rainbow colored balls of energy in her hands, getting ready to strike Vita.

It seemed only fitting for the two of them to face off, considering the knight had once been an enemy of her mama. And like her mama, Vivio was going to use all her strength, and try to knock some sense into her.

For Einhart and Reinforce, the unison device kept her distance, as she had very few short ranged attacks. When Einhart did get in range to attack, her opponent stood no chance, as without a master to unison, she was only ranked at a level of A+.

Vita was also only a AAA+, though its possible that she may have obtained an S ranking lately. However Vivio easily ranked S+, so it was no problem knocking Vita down to size. Once the brainwashed pair realized this, they changed things up.

While Vivio and Einhart were getting ready to strike the finishing blow, the two moved quickly all of a sudden, appearing side by side together. They touched hands, and started to shine brightly.

Vivio and Einhart waited patiently, while still being cautious. When the light show was over, only one person remained, Vita. Her hair color had changed, as had her eyes and barrier jacket. Without saying anything, Vita held out Graf Eisen in front of her.


Dieci, Cinque and Teana took on Zafira and Shamal. The three worked well together, Dieci and Teana used long range attacks to try and take down the two Wolkenritter. Unfortunately, this was going to be a long battle, as those two were both skilled in the use of barriers. Cinque was too, so she could easily protect them.

The problem was that this was the worst kind of match up possible. Neither side was really skilled with close combat, except Zafira, who taught martial arts. However, he would likely never get a chance to use any of his techniques, not with Teana releasing a relentless assault of attacks. So in the end, they were at a complete standstill. In order to end it, they would have to use an attack that was strong enough to break through the barriers and finish them off at the same time. There was only one spell that Teana knew which could do that, the Starlight Breaker, which Nanoha had taught her. If she could use that, then it would be possible.

But right now it wasn't a good idea. That spell collected the left over magic in the area. The battle hadn't gone on for nearly long enough to get enough power. If she was going to release a strong enough attack, then they were going to have to use as much magic as possible right now.

"Guys." Teana addressed the Numbers, who gave her attention, while trying not to let their guards down. "For the next five minutes, I want you to use as many spells as possible. Got it?" They nodded, even if they didn't quite understand the logic behind it. "Alright, lets go!" The battle continued, but everything would soon fall into place, where Teana would be able to end it.

At that moment, a large explosion occurred from inside HQ.


Weiss had slipped by all of the TSAB's defenses without a problem. Thanks to his distraction outside, none of the mages were able to sense him, or stop him for that matter. He tore a hole in the side of the building and entered that way. At once, he was confronted by several enforcers and grunts.

"Halt!" One of them yelled.

"You're under arrest." Another said. All of them had devices with him, raised and ready to fire. He stared blankly at them, materializing the Silver Dagger of The Ancient Kings in his hand.

"Fire!" They didn't wait for him to attack and fired all at once. He just put up a barrier and rendered the attack useless. Without a word he shot a stream of black energy at them, vaporizing them all within an instant.

When he advanced past the wreckage, a woman stood in the middle of the corridor, smirking at him. "Welcome, I was wondering what took you so long." Auris Gaiz crossed her arms, blocking his path.

"Are you going to stand in my way?" He said in a dull, emotionless tone. Auris adjusted her glasses, widening the smile on her face.

"Of course not, if possible, I'd like to be of assistance." She reached into her pocket, pulling out an I.D. Card. "I'm sure you would like to meet with the big bad bosses during this visit, shall I show you the way?"

Weiss didn't know whether to trust this woman or not, as it could lead to a trap. However, by using the dagger, he was able to see into her heart, which was black with resentment and revenge. He knew he could trust her then, and that would only make his job so much easier. With the power of corruption, he was going to break the seal. He first step to doing that, would be to take over this facility, and use its influence to open the hearts of the citizens to darkness. After he's done that, he can begin to spread it even further, thanks to the technology housed here.

"Very well." Was all he said, and Auris led him to the secret shelter where the three legendary admirals were being protected. It was there that he would use his powers to corrupt their linker cores, and their hearts, and use his dark magic to take over them.


In the hospital, Shari kept Nanoha company. They could hear the raging battle from there, and felt the explosions coming from within. The door was locked, but it could be easily blown open if someone wanted to.

Nanoha felt terrible. She wanted to get up from this bed right now, and join the others, who were putting themselves in danger while she lazed about. She remembered this powerless feeling, being stuck like this, unable to do anything. She hated it, and then she hated herself for feeling this way.

"Shari, help me up from this bed." She suggested, surprising the woman.

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you out of here." That was Shari's stance and she wouldn't budge. "You should rest, everyone else will be fine, they can take care of themselves." Nanoha knew that, but she also knew that it would drive her nuts to just sit her while everyone else fought.

Sorry about this, Shari... Using the strength that she managed to recover, Nanoha created a small pink ball of light in the air.

"Nanoha-san, what are you doing!" Nanoha's eyes darted towards Shari, she lifted her finger, and waged it.

"Forgive me, Shari." The light hit Shari in the head, knocking her out, but not doing any serious damage.

Her chest hurt immensely, it was like her heart and linker core were on fire. Just hold out for a little longer. She used whatever strength she had to roll out of the bed, barely being able to stand upon exiting it.

"Master." Raising Heart called from the table beside her.

"I'm fine, Raising Heart, don't worry." Breathing in heavily, Nanoha took hold of her device, and held it in the air. "Set up!"


Vivio and Einhart were having a bit more trouble with Vita now that she had done a unison with Reinforce. At this point, she was probably at the same level of strength as them, but with a wider range of spells at her disposal.

Vita used combination attacks, using both the Frigid Dagger and Swallow Flier in succession. Eventually, the two mages started to take damage.

Fate and Subaru weren't faring much better. Signum was using one Storm Falcon attack after another. It was a powerful arrow that had a wide destructive range. Because of that, they had to put all their energy into dodging, and had no time to counter attack.

The only ones who seemed to be getting anywhere, were Teana, Dieci and Cinque. At this point in time, Teana was preparing to use her most powerful attack, the other two simply spammed spell after spell to hold off Shamal and Zafira.

There was so much magical energy flowing all around her, she could feel it. I'm ready. "Starlight..." Right away she started to gather energy into a red ball. She gathered and gathered, but couldn't fire it yet. Not yet, I need more power.

Cinque and Dieci used a combination attack to hit the enemy. It was returned in full by Zafira, who used his special attack. "Steel Yoke." She said, and a dozen gray pillars shot down at them. Cinque could only deflect eleven of them, the last one headed toward Teana.

She was still in the middle of casting Starlight Breaker, so it would be impossible to use a defensive spell now. Dieci tried to shoot it, but missed, and then cursed herself. Teana quickly closed her eyes, not wanting to see the pillar smash into her.

Much to the Number's surprise, a black beam intercepted it and reduced it to nothing. They cried and Teana opened her eyes as she heard a familiar spell.

"Divine Buster." Another black jet of energy shot out at Zafira and Shamal, who put up a barrier, but were quickly overwhelmed by the strength of the attack. The two of them were blasted away and sent flying.

Like the last time, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the direction of the attack. The remaining Wolkenritter retreated and got to a safe distance, Reinforce and Vita even separated.

Coming in from the distance, barely walking, was Nanoha, who used her weapon as a support.

"Nanoha!" Fate cried and started to fly to her. Nanoha legs gave out then, but she was caught by her friend, who supported her. "What are you doing out here, are you crazy!"

"Maybe a little, Fate-chan, nyahahaha~." Even though she joked, Nanoha could feel her heart pulsing with pain. She pushed herself too far, which was evident by the fact that she could no longer walk. Fate wanted to take her back inside, even though she had heard the explosions a while ago.

Suddenly, Nanoha's eyes widened. "Look out..." Fate felt something coming and jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding a black spear.

They heard a chuckle from above. Along with the Wolkenritter, the white-haired mage was there again. The eight mages on the ground grouped together. Vivio helped Fate hold onto Nanoha during this standoff, the second one in three days.

"I hope you all enjoyed the show, it was certainly spectacular." He clapped his hands, as if he was amused, even though there was no expression on his face.

"Who are you?" Teana said, taking command of the situation.

"You may call me Weiss, though it wont matter soon." He snapped his fingers, a small portal appeared behind him. "Enjoy this peaceful moment, for it will be the last one you will have." Weiss started to float backward, it looked like he was leaving.

"I don't think so." Teana said angrily. Using high speed movement, Everyone except for Fate, Nanoha and Vivio quickly made their way up, surrounding them from all sides. "You are under arrest, now come quietly."

Weiss, who had not shown any emotion before this, smiled. "Interesting, you believe that you have the power to stop me. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can stand against the power of darkness." He closed the portal, and then snapped his fingers again, a burst of dark energy emitted from him and blasted away all of the mages. They recovered fast, but made no move to attack. He casually sighed.

"Since you have put on such a lovely show, I shall tell you what I have in store for you." With a wave of the dagger, a dark cloud of smoke appears, it covers everything, swallowing them all. Weiss, using the power of the dagger, showed them a vision. There was a battlefield, where two powerful forces collided, using all kinds of magical and mass-based means of attack.

"Welcome to Al-Hazard." The name rung a bell for everyone, but for Fate, it had the most impact.

"Al-Hazard... is real?" Fate couldn't believe it, that distant place that her mother causes so much pain for, it was actually real.

"Be happy, you are witnessing its destruction." As the battle raged, the leaders of the two sides fought one another, they were twins and yet they still clashed blades. "You are seeing the battle between Raius, the king of Al-Hazard, and his brother, the great ruler of darkness, Raios."

Everyone was to stunned to say anything about what they were seeing. In the first place, they couldn't move their bodies, it was like they were being bound by an unknown magic. All they could do was watch and listen.

Eventually, the scene changed, and it depicted Raius sealing away Raios within a dagger, the same dagger that Weiss possessed. "This dagger, which was passed along throughout the generations, houses the spirit of Raios, who was sealed within by his brother, losing his life in the process." After that, a dimensional rip in space started to tear apart the world, and quickly swallowed it, bringing it into oblivion. "Because of that war, the greatest civilization even known, was destroyed, leaving nothing but this dagger."

Everything turned pitch black, and they were finally released from the spell. Once again they were outside of TSAB headquarters. Weiss held the dagger affectionately. "In order to free the great ruler, I am going to break the seal and bring Raios back, so that he may rule this universe, as he rightfully should."

Weiss used the dagger, and suddenly attacked Teana, as well as the mages who had surrounded him. One by one, they were hit by a powerful blast before they could do anything, and fell to the ground one after another. All that was left was Nanoha, Fate and Vivio. The child released herself from them, and created several rainbow balls, throwing them at Weiss.

"Futile." He easily stopped it with a dark barrier. He then pointed his weapon at her, and took her down as well. She landed right beside Fate who called her name, but got no response. She, like everyone else, was fading in and out of consciousness. "Now, I shall take care of you, and be on my way."

He shot a dark beam at Fate, who dropped Nanoha and used Bardiche to intercept it. It wasn't strong enough to break through her device, but it still knocked her back. Now it was just Nanoha.

"I wont forgive you." She said, standing on her shaky legs. She pointed Raising Heart at Weiss. "Starlight..." Black energy started to gather toward her, forming a dark ball. She should have questioned why it had taken on that color, but was too preoccupied by her growing anger.

"Oh?" Weiss remembered then, that she was the same mage that he stabbed days earlier, the same one that he infected with the power of darkness. "I see. Good, excellent, let the power of darkness flow through you." He used the dagger, and as a show of his own power, fired another attack.

Nanoha was finished preparing, and was ready to fire. "I wont forgive you for hurting my friends. STARLIGHT BREAKER!" A massive wave of black energy shot from Raising Heart. It was so large that it overtook Weiss attack, easily pushing it back.

He was only surprised for a moment, before putting up a barrier. That too, was completely overpowered, and destroyed upon impact. It hit him. At the very last moment, he moved enough, where it only hit his shoulder, though it took a large chunk of it away.

After the attack, Nanoha collapsed to her knees, using Raising Heart to keep herself from falling on her face. Her heart was pulsing quickly, it felt like she was having a heart attack.

And then her linker core went berserk. Dark energy started to explode out of her chest, she screamed in agony, clutching her chest as it burned.

"Nanoha..." Fate, the only one still able to stand up, moved slowly toward her. She wasn't fast enough. Nanoha passed out then, her device going back to its original form.

"Wonderful, she's perfect." Weiss, teleporting, got to Nanoha before Fate. He picked her up and cradled her, teleporting back to the Wolkenritter.

"Let her go!" Fate said, getting ready to go to the air, even though it would be her against six.

"I'm afraid that I really must be going. After I've spread darkness to everyone's heart, and broken the seal, I shall be able to use this girl. With a little fine tuning, she will become the perfect Vessel for Raios' spirit." Once again, he opened a portal,the Wolkenritter and Reinforce disappeared into it.

"Give her back!" Weiss only smiled even more.

"Do not worry, you'll see her again very soon. Until then, this is goodbye." He took Nanoha into the portal, and it vanished.

Be it from exhaustion, or stress, or maybe something else entirely, Fate felt all the strength draining from her then. She collapsed beside Vivio, and passed out along with everyone else. The mages of the TSAB had been completely defeated.

However, things were only going to get worse from then on. Once the battle was over; Largo Kiel, Leone Phils and Midget Crowbel awoke in a room, which looked like it had been put through a blender. As they opened their eyes, they revealed an emptiness in them, as if they were swallowed by darkness.


A/N: I realize that Hayate was mostly absent this chapter, that was sort of an oversight on my part. Do not worry, she appears much more from this point on, as she isn't out of the fight just yet.