Author's Note: Okay, two people reacted the same way to the same thing, so I thought I should make an attempt to justify myself… although they were right, so that'll be kind of hard.

Nanoha's response to Tsukuyomi in the last chapter. Yeah, it was a little bit out of character for Nanoha, I'll grant that. I'm choosing to approach it from the perspective that she was just, you know, shocked. A big part of Susanoo's constant bombastic goofiness is to make people not notice that Tsuku is, by far, the more ruthless of the two. He goes out of his way not to kill opponents who aren't trying to kill him, and her… well, I realize that lines like 'If you only had one arm you would have to retreat' might sound like throwaway gag lines, but what happens if you take them literally? She's the sort of person that really does consider permanent maiming to be 'taking it easy' and she's 100% serious when she tells Nanoha that although she doesn't dislike her, she does plan to kill her.

Nanoha doesn't experience that very often… actually, at this point, only one person she's fought has attacked with truly lethal intent, and that was the mad-with-grief Reinforce/Hayate. To make matters worse, there really is no hostile intent… 'killing Nanoha' is about as important to Tsukuyomi as 'picking up the dry cleaning', just something that needs to be done. And even without that, her odd combination of 'head in the clouds' and 'the Terminator' would have been off-putting in the best of circumstances. So when this openly murderous girl suddenly turns around and says they are now on the same side, without the slightest build-up or even so much as a 'wanna work together?' she kind of didn't know how to process it. Which is what I was going for… Tsuku's thought processes are supposed to be just shy of incomprehensible much of the time. But, as you pointed out, I probably had Nanoha be confused in the wrong way... she is one of the top ten friendliest people in existence, after all, and Tsuku's plan, while sudden, was something she should have agreed with instantly.

At this point, all I can do is remember that for next time, but thank you for pointing it out. The little details are important, and if I blow one of them, it's nice to hear about it so I don't do it again. I'm not the sort to get angry at constructive criticism… I won't always agree with it, as I did this time, but I'll at least listen.

Author's Note 2: Heh, heh… remember how I said this chapter would be up by the weekend? Well, turns out I'm incredibly lazy and decided to spend the weekend playing Fire Emblem instead. Sorry about that.

Author's Note 3: Wow, I babbled for a long time up there.

Chapter 8: Monsters

Listen closely, our strategy is as follows. Tsukuyomi said telepathically. Nanoha chose not to question exactly how the girl had managed to establish the telepathic contact link so quickly and without even asking, but decided that she'd already let Tsukuyomi throw her off her game enough and should probably just stop being flustered when she did something weird.

My close range capabilities are superior to yours, so I will engage them in melee and attempt to get several focused on me. They seem to want to take me alive, so I should have an easier time countering their attacks. You will then use your high-level distance attacks to isolate and destroy any that are separate from the group attacking me.

Hmmm… well, it sounds good, but that barrier they use isn't exactly magic. I couldn't really tell if I came close to breaking it before or not.

Most likely they are using group tactics to compensate for individual weakness. I suspect that at least three of them would have to work together to repel your fire.

And what do we do if you're wrong?

I am not.

Humor me.

Ummm… uh… well… um… I don't really know any jokes… Tsukuyomi thought in a somewhat confused tone. I… I did download some files concerning Earth culture, and I believe there might have been some humorous anecdotes in them. Something about a creature native to Earth called a 'chicken' attempting to cross a path for wheeled vehicles…

not that kind of humor. I was just saying that we should have a backup plan in case this one doesn't work.

Oh. That is a relief. Then she attacked.

Following her sudden charge, Tsukuyomi snapped her blade to the left, knocking aside the black figure's defending hand and striking a light blow to its face. No visible damage was inflicted, unfortunately; the sword struck up a gouge in the black armor, but didn't pierce through to flesh. What did happen, however, was that two others used their advantageous position to open fire on her. Purple streaks of light flew through the air… and were intercepted by pink streaks of light as Nanoha shot them out of the sky.

Tsukuyomi briefly sighed in frustration, despite the realization she'd just been saved from taking a hit. You were supposed to launch a major attack once I had them separated. Why did you defend me?

But rather than dissipating on impact, the pink spheres kept going and began to home in on the black killers, striking from target to target like a pinball. Each individual strike was weak, yes, but there were eight bullets in the air, and the five figures could not lower their defenses long enough to get close to each other for a coordinated effort.

In other words, the one currently battling Tsukuyomi had no means of getting support.

See? Sometimes it's good to have more than one plan. Nanoha thought cheerfully.

It was not, Tsukuyomi decided, a terribly bad bit of improvisation. The assassins were definitely more dangerous than normal humans, but one-on-one, they were not much threat to a skilled mage. Rather than deciding to take the risk that her large, slow attacks really wouldn't pierce their group shields, Nanoha had used small, fast attacks and essentially gotten the same results: the fight was reduced to a one-on-one confrontation, albeit only for a few moments.

Tsukuyomi did not intend to waste them. She held out one glowing hand, and chains of turquoise light sprung into existence, trapping her target's limbs. Assured a hit, she struck without hesitation, burying Suijin into the figure's chest up to the hilt.

Almost instantly, she realized her error.

She had struck for where the heart would be on a human, but the resistance to her sword was far too great for flesh and bone. She had just driven Suijin into an artificial being… and judging by the fact that it did not visibly express any discomfort, she had struck nothing vital.

Defensive Skill: Magic Cancel. That formless electric voice spoke once more, and her binding on the target's limbs shattered like glass. Instantly, one of his arms clamped on hers with surprising strength, preventing her from drawing her weapon free, while his other leveled that extendable wrist blade directly at her face. She considered exactly what she might do to escape from this situation, with Suijin, within the next two seconds…

A pink staff was thrust into the tiny space between her and the creature in black. "Shoot!" Nanoha commanded.

The brilliant blast of energy roared into the black figure's chest at point-blank range, hurling him backwards so quickly that Tsukuyomi nearly lost her grip on her device. The beam pushed him back nearly half a mile before detonating, filling the sky with pink light.

"Are you all right?" Nanoha asked warmly.

Tsukuyomi blinked a few times. Had that girl just saved her life? No, probably not her life, but she had at least spared her some serious discomfort. "… Thank you?" She said hesitantly.

Nanoha smiled brilliantly. "It was my pleasure. We're partners for right now, right?"

Tsukuyomi blinked a few more times. "Yes, but I did not expect you to honor it so fervently. I'll admit, a part of me thought your attempts at befriending me to be an effort to make me lower my guard…"

Nanoha's smile got even warmer. "Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not the kind of person who could do something that awful. I'm happy to work with you and get the chance to know you, even if we are on opposite sides most of the time. I meant it when I said that I don't want to be your enemy forever."

Tsukuyomi blinked a few more times. "Oh, my… you weren't trying to deceive me at all… you really are that childishly naïve. Now I'm going to feel rather guilty when I kill you…"

Nanoha's smile got a little bit nervous. "We-well, you could try not killing me… I think that would be nice…" she said. Then her already tenuous grin completely vanished. "You have got to be kidding…" She muttered, looking at the clearing smoke around the attacker she'd blasted.

He was, to her credit, mostly gone. Over half of the mechanical body had been simply obliterated. Both legs, one arm, and a portion of the torso were so much scrap… he must have used a shield to redirect the attack from his chest, but the beam had gone around it and burned through most of his limbs. And, on a deeply disturbing note, there appeared to be organic tissue visible among the circuitry; the implications were not entirely known to Nanoha, but she knew that they were very, very bad.

But its head was still there, it was still floating, and it didn't even seem to be in pain. And most importantly, a small green gem was serenely floating above his one remaining hand.

Nanoha's eyes widened. "W-what?! But that was… Raising Heart, what happened?!"

"Unknown… no breach detected, but, object lost. Sorry, master…" Raising Heart said apologetically.

But Raising Heart was only near it for a second! How could it just override her security so quickly, without her even noticing?! Nanoha's mind whirled, desperately trying to think of some explanation for how this could have happened.


"Sir? One of the units has made a successful recovery."

"Do we know what it has?"

"Not as such, sir, but preliminary readings are very impressive indeed. Unfortunately, the unit in question is extremely damaged and likely can't protect its finding on-site."

"Well then, withdraw it immediately. Really, that's just common sense. I'm a little annoyed you needed me to tell you this."

"Actually, I gave the retrieval order thirty seconds ago, just before I contacted you, sir."

"Oh. Well, good work, then."

"Thank you, sir."


"The driver…" Tsukuyomi said, her eyes glinting. "It cannot be permitted to flee with that device."

"Device Form, set up. Lunar Teardrops." Suijin said. Five silver-blue bullets fired… and each met a black figure, rocketing in to take the scattered shots. Not all of them even got their shields up in time, and consequently had fist-sized holes punched through their blocking limbs, but as with their thoroughly crushed partner, they didn't seem to notice the wounds.

"No… Suijin, fire again, quickly. You too, Takamachi, we must not…"

In a strange pattern that looked more like static than any teleport Nanoha had ever seen, the half-destroyed creature vanished, drive unit and all.

"P-primary mission objective… failed. Your majesty… I'm sorry…" Tsukuyomi said in a soft and slightly unsteady voice.


Enlil fell to her knees, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Impossible."

"I am certain, master. The signal from the second drive unit has disappeared. Your knights have failed." Yggdrasil said.

"That… that's not possible. They couldn't…" Enlil said.

Never. Not once, not in her entire lifetime, nor in any of the many lifetimes they'd lived both before and after, had her guardians once failed to achieve a mission. How could it have happened now? The mages of today were… a joke. Her knights, her guardian gods, should have been like dragons fighting insects when dealing with anything the modern world had to offer. Yet they'd been damaged so badly on their first mission, and now… the driver had been taken before activation could be achieved.

Something was terribly wrong.

"Yggdrasil. You said that their diagnostics were fine, didn't you?"

"All parameters were green."

"Then why… what's wrong with them?! This is… this isn't what they can do! These aren't my knights!" Enlil snapped.

"I have no explanation, your highness."

She sat for a moment, just thinking. Ever since she'd been a child, those three… Tsukuyomi, Susanoo, and Amaterasu, had always been a pillar of strength that no one had ever expected to see fall. Created as simple golems, sentient defense programs for the royal family, they had surpassed their designer's expectations at every turn and in every way. By the end of the first century of their activation, they were revered throughout the Empire, truly deserving of the nickname 'gods'. Far from being simple programs anymore, they well and truly were the guardian gods of this world, and not a single soul in civilized reality had not heard of them.

The guardian gods of this world?

This world.

"Dammit…" Enlil growled. "How could I have been so bloody stupid?!"

"Your majesty?"

"Get ready to support me, I'm opening the portals." Enlil said, rising to her feet. "It's past time we get my children back home before they get themselves killed by my incompetence."


Fate slashed her weapon at the creature's remaining arm, forcing its defenses on her.

It could only shield one direction by itself.

It had been separated from its allies.

From the opposite side, where it had no arm left to defend with, a silver axe swung in.

The massive blade ripped through the torso until it hit what was apparently the power source, causing its shield to fall. With no resistance, Bardiche ripped through it as well, the scythe and the axe meeting in the middle and passing each other on their way to the other side. The creature fell from the sky, ripped neatly in half.

Fate frowned. She hadn't meant to do that, but once her swing had started she hadn't been able to halt her momentum. She was still too uncertain of the nature of the things she was fighting to be comfortable just destroying them like that. She sighed, and took a little comfort in the fact that it had already been… dead? Non-functional? She wasn't sure, which was the problem… before Bardiche had ever hit; Susanoo had struck the lethal blow, not her. She didn't take much comfort, but took as much as she could.

Fate and Susanoo stood back to back, breathing heavily weapons at the ready to defend against the remaining attackers. It was a shame that only one of them was smiling, because it probably would have looked more intimidating if Fate had been matching Susanoo's psychotic grin.

"Must you be so violent?" Fate asked.

"Hey, it's not my fault they don't react to anything other than 'death'. If removal of a limb doesn't slow it down, I can't exactly afford to be gentle."

"I'll admit they are somewhat… frustrating."

"You said it. That was a lot of work to destroy just one." Susanoo agreed.

"The one that was already damaged, no less."

"They don't feel pain, they don't get tired, and getting them to stop supporting each other is like pulling your own teeth." Susanoo said. "I am having so much fun."

"You're an odd one, you know."

"Oh, ye… no. Oh, no…" He said as a black portal appeared in the sky, beckoning him.

"You're being told to leave?" Fate asked. "I'd obviously prefer not to lose the assistance, but I'm in no real position to stop you."

"No, it's not that… it's just that the Gate isn't active, which means… did something happen to Tsuku? No, no, I'd know if she was hurt…" He muttered. "Still, something's gone wrong, something's gone really wrong…"

"So what are you going to do?"

"I… huh. Well, I mean, I can't just ignore her majesty, but I can't leave you here all alone either, I'd never forgive myself if I just abandoned you..."

Fate smiled slightly. That was actually rather sweet. She thought.

"I mean, what kind of master just leaves his star pupil in the middle of such an uneven fight?"

"On second thought, you can leave. Go ahead." Fate said.

"Don't be like that, Fate! I'm really not sure what to do! It's a legitimate problem!" He whined.

"No. Really. I don't mind. Go right ahead. I'll be fine." Fate said with a smile. A big, fake smile.

"No! You know what? I'm staying! I don't even care if you want me to stay… no, it's better to say that I'm staying because you don't want me to! So take that!" He said triumphantly.

"Okay, that's fine too." Still with a bright fake smile... although it was rapidly becoming genuine as she realized that finally she was the one who had him flustered. She wasn't really angry anyway, so it was more just a little game than anything else.

"Well then I'm leaving after all!"

"Whatever you want to do."

"… … … which choice will make you upset?!"

"Neither."

Susanoo opened his mouth and closed it several times, but no words came out.

"Fine, I'll choose!" Said a third party. Fate's smile got even more genuine.

A bolt of glowing gold light shot through the sky and slammed into one of the assassins, striking it full in the back. Without any defenses ready, the blast sent the figure plummeting to the ground below, its mechanical frame badly smashed. "He stays." Arf said with a fierce grin, her arm still outstretched from her ambush. "After all, I owe him a good beating once we've mopped up these losers!"


"Are you going to be all right?" Nanoha asked. She sounded genuinely concerned, which just made the whole thing worse, actually.

"I… I failed… it was all my fault…" Tsukuyomi muttered.

"I'm sorry, but you need to snap out of it! They're not going to hold off forever!" Nanoha said firmly. "Now stand up! I need your help or we're both in trouble."

"… I cannot 'stand up'. We are floating in the air…" Tsukuyomi commented.

"Um… right… I guess. You know what I mean!" Nanoha said.

"Indeed." Tsukuyomi agreed. "Five targets still remain. Until this battle is completed, I will fight beside you, Nanoha Takamachi."

"Good to hear!"

Just then, a black tear opened in the sky.

"Oh, my. Well, it was nice to see you again, Miss Takamachi, but I'm being summoned… I suppose I do need to brief her majesty on this situation, so it's probably for the best. Good bye." Tsukuyomi said, floating away.

"Wh-what?! You're just leaving me here, just like that?!"

"Oh, yes… well, you are resourceful, so I'm sure you'll be fine…"

"But you just said we were partners until this fight was over! I thought we were…"

"Well, this fight is over for me." Tsukuyomi said mildly. "Plus, with the drive unit gone, I really have no reason to stay. You can keep going if you want to, though… have fun…"

"Have fun?! Please don't say things like that with a straight face, it's really weird!"

"But Susa would have fun, and you're so loud and cheerful like him…"

"Don't lump me together with that guy who can't even remember my name!" Nanoha protested.

Tsukuyomi sighed. "I suppose I'm sorry, but I really must be going… oh, and by the way, they are about to shoot you in the back…" she finished, floating into the portal.

"But you can't just… wait, what?" She glanced over her shoulder to see the familiar bolts of violet light incoming. "Not good, not good!" She said, desperately hoping her barrier would be up in time.

It wasn't, but that didn't mean she got hit. A wall of green light burst into existence, the enemy fire bouncing harmlessly off.

"Who the… Yuuno!" Nanoha said with genuine relief.

"Hey, Nanoha. Sorry it took so long to get here." Yuuno said apologetically.

She smiled. "Considering the circumstances, I'm going to say you showed up right on time."


"This is getting out of hand, director. The number of witnesses has increased, three units are out of the fight, and now one of the targets has fled the scene." The man on the screen said. "Sir, at this point, I cannot in good conscience recommend we continue the operation as planned. We must either invest additional combat resources, or withdraw the Black Cat unit before any more are lost. Whatever you choose, I recommend you decide quickly… every lost unit leaves us a bigger mess to clean up."

The man behind the desk nodded. "We've finished securing the Lost Logia retrieved from Takamachi?"

"The command codes we acquired worked perfectly. The logia is in custody, and it's being taken to R&D as we speak… although the transfer was not exactly smooth. It's possible the device might have been damaged somewhat by all the ambient energies."

"Then we'll accept that for now. Make sure to recover all the debris, have the recon unit self-detonate, a clean sweep all around... that ought to make the old men reasonably happy. If they complain, we'll just remind them that if they want completely positive results, they really ought to give us more than twenty minutes to plan an operation."

The man on the screen nodded once. "I'll get right on it, sir."


Yuuno floated in the green circle, arms outstretched. Chains of emerald light shot from the runes and held all five of the targets in place. He closed his eyes to focus on the binding. "Oh, my, you're slippery ones, aren't you…"

Defensive Skill: Magic Cancel.

"No, I don't think so. At least, not all of you are getting away… Nanoha, could you please target the one on the far left? Your left, not mine." He said, pointing one open palm at the chosen target. As the magic cancel broke his chains on the others, the bind around that particular target only grew brighter. Despite its obvious efforts to escape, it was well and truly caught… at least until an enormous pink beam blasted it to kingdom come, binding and all. It wasn't destroyed, but the fact it was falling like a stone suggested it was pretty well out of the fight. She'd been certain to aim for the center of the torso rather than the 'heart' as Tsukuyomi had done, reasoning the power source would most likely be in the middle, and it seemed to have worked well.

Nanoha prepared to turn her attention to the others… if five of them couldn't pierce Yuuno's defenses with one salvo, she doubted four could, but it was best to be safe… only to have her eyes drawn back to the falling attacker as he vanished. It was the same strange, static pattern as the last one, like no other teleport she'd ever seen. It quickly spread, as well, taking in the other four, mostly intact figures. Before she could even prepare a new attack, the sky was clear.

Yuuno let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that was somewhat difficult. They were rather hard to hold on to." he turned to Nanoha with a sad smile. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here. If we'd managed to arrive earlier…"

Nanoha smiled reassuringly. "I'm willing to bet that's not your fault, right?"

Yuuno smiled sheepishly. "Yeah… I just didn't want you to get mad and replace me or anything…"

Nanoha raised one eyebrow. "Replace you…? Why would I?"

Yuuno smiled warmly in return. "I don't know why I even brought it up."


The golden scythe swung, and hit empty air. "Escaped…" Fate muttered. A quick glance confirmed that the one Arf had been sparring with and the two attacking Susanoo had also vanished, along with the two broken ones that had fallen to the ground below.

"Huh. Guess they retreated." Susanoo said.

"Guess so." Arf agreed.

"Thank you for your help." Fate told him. "Arf, thank him."

"Thanks! You were a big help." Arf said cheerfully.

"Oh. You're welcome." He replied. "I don't suppose you'll just let me retreat in peace…?"

"Sorry, but I have a job to do too." Fate continued, dropping back into a combat stance.

"As for me, I just kind of want to rough you up a little." Arf said, with a wicked grin.

"Yeah, I thought so." He said, responding in kind.

"Excuse me…" A quiet, polite voice said from near the still-open black portal.

Tsukuyomi emerged from the opening and serenely floated towards Fate. Fate tensed herself for combat, but the girl simply stopped and bowed to her. The sheer unexpectedness of the gesture left her briefly taken aback, and she blinked a few times in confusion.

She gently said, "Hello, but I'm afraid it's time to leave. These doors are difficult to hold open for very long, so I really must bring Susa home before he wastes any more time. Thank you for playing with my brother, and I hope to see you again. Have a nice day." She then, without another word, reached out her hand to grab Susanoo by the ear and pull him back with her, ignoring his protests and shouts of pain.

She floated back past Fate, stopping again to briefly bow. She also bowed to Arf this time, saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there before. Have a nice day."

"Ow! Tsuku, ow! Let me go, this isn't funny, I'm not done yet!" Susanoo protested.

"We've been summoned. It is time to go home…" She said calmly.

"I can fly by myself! Ow, stop it! You're gonna rip my ear off, let go!"

Completely ignoring him, Tsukuyomi just continued dragging him by his ear until they'd entered the portal, which closed behind them.

"… what just happened?" Arf asked.

Fate, replied. "We… we probably should have stopped that."

"Um… yeah." Arf agreed.


Susanoo grinned in an embarrassed manner once Tsukuyomi let go of his ear. "Sorry I'm late, I had to deal with some things before I headed out, and…"

He was cut off when Enlil took two steps forward and slapped him across the face.

"Y-your majesty? What was…"

He was then cut off again when she enfolded him in a hug, her cloak billowing around them. He cast a confused glance at Tsukuyomi… who, he finally noticed, had a fading palm-print on one cheek, and looked rather uncomfortable.

"You knew, didn't you? You knew. It's never been an issue before, but while you're separated from this place by the void…" She whispered. "How much power loss is there? You're restricted to what, one-third? One-quarter?"

He gulped and looked to Tsuku for aid. She just shook her head.

"… one-fifth of maximum ability. Maybe a little bit less… it's hard to be sure."

"AAAAAH! You… you idiots! How could you?! How could you let me risk you like that, how could you?!"

He smiled sadly and wrapped his arms around her. Gods, she's shaking. And she's so tiny… It's just like when she was a kid and she used to hide in my chambers because she had nightmares, poor thing. It was times like these that reminded him just how much this whole situation had hurt her. She did a good job of hiding it most of the time, but now that she'd been given a scare, the emotional damage was starting to leak through. "Lil, it's okay. It's not your fault, we're the ones who didn't say anything."

"Why didn't you?! You could have been killed! I never would have put you at such risk if I'd…"

"Yes, you would have. It wouldn't have made a bit of difference." Susanoo cut her off. "We're the only real operatives you have right now. You would have had to use us anyway, so we didn't see any reason to worry you. Don't you dare blame yourself, because we all did what we had to do, so it's not your fault."

"But…"

"It's all right." Tsukuyomi broke in with the ghost of a smile. "We don't have a problem with putting our lives at risk. We exist solely to serve the royal family, and you are the only living member. We are instruments of your will, nothing more and nothing less. If you ask it, we would gladly walk into certain death to safeguard your wishes, your majesty."

Enlil rubbed a tear from her eye. "You… you two…"

"Oh, don't tear up yet." Susanoo said dryly. "We might talk pretty, but we just failed you. If you start praising us when we don't deserve it, my pride won't be able to handle it."

"You didn't fail. You can't be expected to perform to your old standards, since you aren't at your old level..."

"A lack of raw power is not an excuse we would accept, even were this a situation which could be excused. There is no way for us to apologize for this disgrace." Tsukuyomi intoned.

"I'll accept the blame this time… I haven't been taking things very seriously. You know how I get…." Susanoo said.

"I am the one who failed to protect the drive unit, first from the Bureau mage, and then from the thieves who stole it from her. The fault for this failure is mine." Tsukuyomi said serenely.

"Nah, it was my fault for leaving you alone. I should have been by your side, but I was off screwing around…"

"You had no choice. We needed to separate to escape that barrier. Had I reacted more quickly to the initial threat, that might not have been necessary, however."

"If I'd put more effort into it, I could have broken myself out too. I never should have…"

Enlil laughed, a high, sincere giggle. "Oh… oh my…" she said, rubbing a tear that was half sadness, half mirth from her eye. "Are you two really fighting over which of you is the bigger failure?"

"No, it's just that it really was my…"

"Not as such, no, but I feel I could have done…"

Enlil raised a hand. "If I can't blame myself, you can't either, understood? And that's an order," She said, her composure mostly regained.

Tsukuyomi nodded once. "… understood, majesty. For now, we will declare this loss to be a result of our unit still being only two-thirds complete."

"Oh yeah! I guess we can't really be blamed for taking a loss when our leader isn't in the field with us…" Susanoo said thoughtfully. "Hmmm… well, this is kind of weird. I was looking forward to seeing her after so long, but she's the kind of person where that excitement starts to fade the more you remember what she's really like, you know?"

"We'll need her. We are now restricted to only four Gates. Success is still completely possible, but the fewer we have, the less likely it becomes. We can't risk a failure of this magnitude happening again," Tsukuyomi intoned. "Wake her up."

"Well, I guess we should, at that," He agreed reluctantly, hefting his weapon and walking towards the black gem she floated in.

"Lightning Unit, please cease. Flame unit's repair cycle is only 98% complete. It will not be completed for the next ten standard hours." Yggdrasil warned.

"Suuuuuure." He said. Then he drew back his arm and swung his axe as hard as he could.

Instantly, there was an explosion of white light that filled the entire chamber so intensely that even the perpetual gloom of this world was briefly chased away. When it cleared, an attractive twenty-something blue-haired woman, naked except for a red pendant, was standing in the place of the shattered crystal. Her arm was outstretched, her hand wrapped around the shaft where she had caught the weapon, halting the blade within inches of her neck.

Susanoo smiled. "I knew it. Forget 'ninety-eight percent', you were just sleeping in again."

Tsukuyomi gave the tiniest of frowns. "How disgraceful… you really do never change, sister…"

The blue haired woman stretched and yawned. "And I was having such a nice dream, too…" Amaterasu said.