Chronicle IX: Mother and Son Part II

Yuusei charged Nanoha with his weapon at the ready. Obviously no one had told the poor boy about Nanoha's more subtle means of countering frontal assaults. In no time flat, the boy had disappeared in a blur of motion and had reappeared in front of the white-clad mage.

Nanoha looked up with surprise. He's pretty fast, she thought to herself. With little time to waste, the white-clad mage quickly raised her staff over her head, just barely managing to intercept a powerful slash from Yuusei's katana.

Clang!

Red and pink colored lights flared from the two mages as they collided. Golden eyes stared hatefully into a pair of loving blue eyes. Cringing, Yuusei tightened his grip on Athena.

[Milord, please move away from her.] rang out a metallic voice.

Yuusei's eyes widened as a magic circle appeared in front of Nanoha's staff. Ah crap, it's a trap! he thought to himself. Unfortunately for Yuusei, he was too slow to notice and Nanoha now had him bound with the chains of her spell.

"Nyahahaha, you're a hasty one," teased Nanoha. Twirling her staff, the white-clad mage said, "Let me show you a better way to attack your opponent."

Yuusei had no intentions of waiting to see what Nanoha's idea of a "better attack" looked like. Struggling against the chains, Yuusei desperately attempted to cut himself free with Athena, but it was too late. The chains had locked his arms into place. Any attempt to use the Athena would run the risk of slicing his arms clean off of his body. "D-Damn it!" he yelled.

What should we do now Yuusei? asked Aerith.

Yuusei shook his head. As he watched Nanoha ascend into the sky, he replied, Nothing just yet. We have to try and bait her. Knowing Nanoha, she'll probably go for a shooting spell. When she does, I want you to use Army of One under the cover of the spell's light. Got it?

Got it, answered Aerith.

Yuusei looked skyward to see that a powerful sphere of magic was gathering around Raising Heart. Blanching, he thought to himself, Starlight Breaker? No, it's too early. She wouldn't have enough risidual mana on the field. So this attack has to be-

The blue-eyed boy didn't have the chance to finish his thought as Nanoha brought down her staff, swinging it against the sphere of mana. "Starlight Burst!" she cried.

Yuusei's eyes widened with surprise, gazing up at the slowly bursting sphere. "W-What?" It was too late to react, the powerful beam of pink energy was racing toward him at an incredible speed. There was no time to think of a new plan. Yuusei would have to hope that his current plan would work. We have no choice, do it now Aerith!

Aerith said nothing; however, a metallic voice rang out from the Athena. "Celestial Division- Army of One!"

A pillar of white light blocked Nanoha's assault, shocking everyone who was observing the battle.

"N-No way," muttered Touma with surprise.

"He blocked a direct attack from Miss Nanoha," muttered Einhart. "Vivio, I must fight with that boy."

Vivio laughed sheepishly. "Now, now, let's just calm down Ein-chan." In reality, Vivio was equally as surprised. She knew that Yuusei must have had a decent amount of skill to have escaped from Signum, but to block an attack from Nanoha was either a sign of talent or a sign of dumb luck.

Fate watched on, not sure of who to worry for more. Just as she was about to say something, Signum placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Relax Testarossa, I can sense the boy. He's fine. Him aside, you know that Nanoha will be fine."

Fate seemed a bit surprised that Signum was able to see through her worries, but nodded happily anyway. "R-Right. Thanks Signum," said the blonde swordswoman.

Signum smiled, but said no more. Instead, she returned her gaze to the battle, arms crossed as the light began to fade. How will the boy approach this? He's aware that Nanoha's magical output is far greather than his own now, she thought to herself. Narrowing her eyes, Signum thought to herself, Yuusei was it? What will you do now?

As the light from the pillar faded, Nanoha and the crowd were astonished by what they saw. Yuusei had returned to his original appearance- auburn hair and deep-blue eyes; however, what had changed were the number of combatants. Yuusei now stood alongside four women, each of them much taller than him. One had glowing blue eyes and long, black hair done in twin braids. The second, slightly shorter than the first, had silvery-white hair done in twintails and glowing teal eyes. The third, the shortest, had brown hair and glowing red eyes. At last, the fourth had blonde hair done in a ponytail with purple eyes.

Yuusei kept his gaze trained on Nanoha, who seemed intrigued by the turn of events. This is the final bout. I have to put everything into this last move! he thought to himself.

Nanoha gazed down at the four women, surprised by their appearance, but confused as well. "I've never heard of a Unison Device that could split into four people," said the white-clad mage with curiosity evident in her voice.

Grinning, Yuusei said, "That's because she's a one of a kind! Aerith's one of the first ever Quad-Core Unison Device!"

Everyone gazed up in shock. Agito, who had been laying low within Signum's hair, thought to herself, What a real freak show! And I thought that the Eclipse Wierdoes were bad!

Fate gulped worriedly. This is bad. Those girls each have magical power levels comparable to Signum's. Nanoha can't fight four of those at once while dealing with Yuusei! she thought to herself. Looking up at Nanoha, she sent a message over telepathy. Nanoha! He's dangerous now! Be careful-

I know, replied Nanoha. Fate-chan, if you can, please stay out of this.

But Nanoha-

I guess I'm gonna have to take out all five of them at once! Nyahahaha, don't worry, this kinda stuff is my specialty!

Fate felt like slapping her palm against her face. Nanoha was always like this, but this situation was entirely different. Nanoha could really die. Her Nanoha, her best friend, could die if something went wrong. Regardless, she had to trust her. Okay, she finally said with defeat.

Nanoha smiled gently, summoning all four of her blaster bits. Thanks, Fate-chan. Aiming them down at the five warriors, she said, "Your first mistake was summoning such powerful warriors all at once! Now I have more than enough energy to go all out!"

Yuusei raised an eyebrow, but paled when he too realized his mistake. The white mana that had brought forth his secret weapon was now being fed into a progressively growing sphere of pink mana. O-Oh no! Looking to the four girls around him, he yelled, "Pattern Beta- All Out Assault!"

The four girls quickly withdrew their weapons. The first held a katana, the second held a swordcannon, the third held a hammer, while the fourth held a spear. Mana began to gather around them as they charged their attacks. As they did so, the chains that bound Yuusei's arms disappeared.

Sighing with relief, Yuusei summoned his own staff and began to charge up an attack of his own. That attack is defintely dangerous, but let's see how she likes this, he thought to himself deviously. The boy's confidence was unwavering, that is, until he discovered that something was horribly wrong. No freaking way! Looking up, Yuusei realized that the mana his four warriors were charging up was being absorbed into the pink sphere of mana, along with his own mana. It was as if Nanoha's spell had become a black hole of mana, sucking in any bit of magical energy around it.

Fate paled, quickly turning around to face the crowd. "Everyone summon up a barrier or three, she's gonna use that!" cried the blonde swordswoman fearfully.

Vivio's shoulder twitched slightly as she pulled Einhart beside her and obediently began placing barriers around them and Einhart's house. Einhart looked up in surprise, having never seen Vivio look so afraid. "What's the matter Vivio?"

Vivio shook her head. "You don't wanna know what that attack's gonna do. If we don't set up at least a few barriers, we're all in big trouble!" yelled the blonde fearfully.

Blinking, Einhart began to summon barriers of her own. If Vivio's this worked up, that attack has to be really dangerous. Einhart looked up to notice that everyone was summoning up as many barriers as they possibly could. It was only then that Einhart noticed that Nanoha's attack was sucking up the mana from their barriers as well! Gaping, Einhart thought to herself, Oh my gosh!

Yuusei stared up at the pink sphere, now eclipsing the very moon as his mother loomed over him in the air. "N-Now that's a devil," he muttered to himself worriedly. Staring up at the blast, he gulped before grinning madly. "Ta hell with it! Aerith, Silver, Claire, Rein, we're going all out!" The four nodded to him and continued to charge their attacks. Readying their weapons, all five of the warriors released their attacks- five gigantic waves of mana. They hadn't bothered to name the spell, fearing that they would not be able to intercept Nanoha's attack in time. Alas, it was far too late.

Swinging her staff down, Nanoha whispered the name of her terrifying spell. "Starlight Zero."

BOOOM!

As soon as Nanoha's staff collided with the sphere of mana, a gigantic blast the likes of which no one had ever seen before ripped through Yuusei's team's assault and engulfed them in a blinding pink light. Not even their screams of pain were audible over the gigantic boom of the blast.

Everyone gazed on in awe. Indeed this was a duel between mother and son; however, the gap between them was more than terrifying. When the light faded, Yuusei was completely unconscious, laying beside a girl that looked similar to the first warrior that he had summoned. The only exception was that this girl had silvery-white hair. Covered in bruises and bleeding from their arms, the pair of combatants were somehow still alive.

Noticing the damage, Nanoha quickly descended and scooped Yuusei into her arms, cradling him gently. "That hurt me more than it did you," she whispered quietly. Looking over to Fate and then motioning to Aerith's unconscious body, Nanoha whispered, "Fate, come help me with her."

Fate quickly obliged, lifting Aerith from the ground with grace that would put any gentleman to shame. Just as she made her way to Nanoha's side, a voice stopped the two of them dead in their tracks.

"Mama! Wait!" cried Vivio. Running up to the two of them, she asked, "Where are you going with them?"

Nanoha smiled, ruffling Vivio's hair. "Don't worry. We're just taking them to the infirmary," answered the white-clad mage. Looking down at the unconscious boy in her hands, Nanoha said, "It's going to be okay."

Vivio paused, turning around without a word. "Alrighty then. I better be able to visit him when he wakes up though," she said with an unusually demanding tone of voice.

Giggling, Nanoha replied, "You bet." With that, the white-clad mage summoned forth a instant transmission circle and warped away to the infirmary with Fate by her side.

Koga, who still stood beside Signum, only looked on in complete and utter shock. "Y-Yuusei lost..." It was brief, but it was needless to say that Yuusei and Koga both had gotten a crash course lesson in just how scary the famous White Devil could be.


Author's Notes:

I live again! I hope the battle met your expectations. For those who wanted a longer fight, I do appologize, but it's still early in the story and no OC should be able to fight Nanoha of all people on totally even ground. Of course, I gave Nanoha quite a terrifying upgrade myself xD Anywho, I hope you enjoyed the latest chapter of Photon!