Chapter 10: Eternal Soldier

Fate and Evangeline engaged the unknown figure. It was a woman, holding a glowing beam sword in one hand. A few blasts from Mami's rifles shot past them, but the woman parried them effortlessly. Fate made a low horizontal slash with Bardiche, but the woman blocked it with her sword. Evangeline simultaneously struck downwards with the blade of light on her hand, but right as she was about to hit, the woman vanished in a burst of blue light. Reappearing behind Eva, she let loose a powerful kick, slamming Evangeline into Fate. "Where is the key?" The woman's voice was soft, but powerful. "Tell me where the key is."

"Key? What key? Who are you anyway?" Evangeline demanded.

"I am Iczer-1, soldier of the Cthulhu. The key is the key to the mistresses's return." At the mention of her "mistress" something passed across the woman's face, a…grimace? A shock of pain? It lasted barely a moment, but was nonetheless easily identifiable. "Your companion has already been taken away, right now she's facing the same question." Evangeline and Fate looked back, realizing that Mami had vanished.

"Fate," Evangeline's voice rang inside Fate's head, "I think she's being controlled somehow. Whoever this 'Mistress' of hers is, I don't think she's serving her willingly. I need you to hold her off, I sense something that may be important. Try to lure her towards the ocean, there is something going on over there." With those words Evangeline shot straight upwards, faster than Fate had yet seen her move. Iczer-1 moved to follow, but Fate put herself in front of her.

"You are my opponent." Pointing Bardiche at the woman, "Bardiche, limiter release. TRUE SONIC FORM!" Multiple cartridges discharged inside Bardiche's cylinder, filling Fate with their stored magic.

"Barrier Jacket. True Sonic Form." Bardiche intoned, as a glow enveloped Fate, vanishing in an instant, revealing her outfitted in a black leotard, with black thighhighs and gloves up above her elbows. "Form Change. Riot Blades." Bardiche changed form, hilt retracting, a shorter sword style blade emerging from it, then splitting into two identical swords, connected by a glowing rope of light.

Iczer-1's response was simple, she held up her left fist, a second sword of light springing out of it. The two women, each holding two swords of light, clashed with a massive explosion of energy.

Evangeline climbed higher and higher into the air, thankfully she did not actually require air to survive. She climbed through the stratosphere, and at almost fifty kilometers over the surface, she found what she was looking for. It was a…wrongness, a palpable sense that there was something there that shouldn't be, that shouldn't even exist. "Ensis Exsequens!" The shafts of pure magic erupted from her hands, and she sliced through the invisible wall. A tear in the very fabric of reality seemed to erupt, and in a flash, a massive floating fortress was revealed. The sense of wrongness was amplified a hundred-fold, a wave of pure evil washed over Evangeline. She found herself on the ground before the gate, the wave of malice having forced her out of the air by its pressure. "I haven't felt anything like this since…it can't be. He's dead. He can't be here!"

"Indeed, Dark Evangel, he can't, and he isn't. But you shouldn't rejoice, since I am far, far worse." The voice rang around Evangeline, coming from everywhere and nowhere, all at once. But then, from the gate of the fortress, a female figure appeared, glowing with a bright, golden light. "Die, Undying Mage." She lifted her arm and pointed at Evangeline, a solid beam of liquid gold light leaped from her fingertip and pierced straight through Evangeline's chest. But right as it dissipated, Evangeline burst apart into a swarm of bats, and recombined behind the woman.

"You really thought that that would be enough to defeat me?" Evangeline stabs her magic blades through the woman. "You should never underestimate the Dark Evangel".

"Indeed, I seem to have taken you too lightly." The woman looked down at the beams of light protruding from her chest. "And yet, you take me even more lightly." She grabbed the beams in her hands, and shattered them like glass. Instantaneously, she was behind Evangeline. No movement, no light, just there, between one moment and the next. Grabbing Evangeline by the head, she slammed her into the ground. "Now you will die. You should not be here."

Evangeline, blood streaming down her face, gave a twisted smile. "I know, that is why I'm here." The smile became a massive grin. "Magia Erebea".

An explosion of pure darkness enveloped them both.

Fate's battle against Iczer-1 raged across the skies. She'd never fought an opponent so perfectly matched to her before. If someone had been watching, they would have just seen two streaks of light, one bright yellow, the other a light blue, painting the night sky with patterns. Neither woman could seem to gain the upper hand, they were equally matched in strength and speed. Fate tried to catch her in binds, but she was too fast, while Fate dodged all the woman's strikes with ease.

Suddenly, she stopped. Fate paused in surprise, what was she doing? Whatever it was, this was her chance. But before she could move, Iczer-1 started go glow with a bright blue light. "Come! Iczer Robo!" And with a flash of blue light, instead of the woman Iczer-1, Fate found herself facing a massive grey and green robot. "Iczer Beam!" the chest of the robot erupted with blue-white light, enveloping Fate…

The girls all looked up at the robot which had appeared in their midst. "Astraea!" Cecilia called out, "stay here and help keep those two busy, we'll deal with this robot." Cecilia turned her attention to the rest. "Elise, Perrine, Shine, we'll work together on this, just like before. Ok?" a chorus of affirmatives responded immediately. "Lets go!" All four girls opened fire with their weapons, pouring everything they had into the robot. On the ground, Mami summoned hundreds of rifles, hoving in the air behind her. The fired in unison, blasting the robot backwards, as the assault of the girls slacked for a moment, the robot leaped into the air, striking at Shine's Fairlion.

"W-I3NK System, Single mode!" Shine effortlessly evaded the strike, and responded with a slash of her arm mounted blades, scoring deep into the robot's arm. Cecilia saw an opening, and used the Tears to fire four blasts right into the wound Shine created, blowing one of the arms right off.

"Great shot Cecilia!" Elise crowed as she dashed in and attacked with her lance, Perrine right behind her. Elise sliced into the back of the robot, and Perrine followed up with a Tonnerre discharge. The robot faltered again, but still wasn't going down.

Fate saw two figures advancing towards her. A woman in red, and a young girl in black, she was still trying to recover from taking the blast from the Iczer Robo. "Bardiche, Recovery". A glow emanated from Bardiche, enveloping them both, healing their wounds and restoring them. It was something she could only do once, but it was for times like this. But it was just barely too late, they both attacked simultaneously, while the Recovery was still in effect. But right at the last moment, a shape descended and blocked the blows. It was…an angel, huge white wings filled Fate's vision.

"Hey, are you ok?" The angel looked over her shoulder, "I'm Astraea, I'll hold these two off while you recover." Astraea concentrated and her sword and shield grew in size, and seemed to glow with power.

The Recovery ended, and Fate stood up. "No, we'll fight them together." The momentary pause came to an end, and the two attacked again. Blades clashed, glowing yellow beams parrying bodyparts transformed into weapons, brilliant white sword blade deflecting massive steel cleaver. "Astraea, I think they're being controlled. At least, if they are like the woman in the robot, we need to stop them without hurting them too much." A short range Plasma Lancer threw the girl in black several yards away as she said this. And a strike from Astraea sliced through the woman in red's dress, tearing off much of the top.

"That's easier said than done," the assaults didn't phase either antagonist. The girl in black got back up and charged right back at Fate, while the woman in red completely ignored her exposure, as she fought back against Astraea. "Nothing seems to slow them down."

A massive explosion illuminated the beach, and suddenly the girl and woman fell to their knees, hands clutched to their heads, screaming. Fate and Astraea turned around to see that the robot was gone, and that the third woman, Iczer-1, was similarly on the ground, clutching her head and screaming. Finally, all three simultaneously passed out. Fate looked at Astraea and shrugged, the knelt and picked up the girl in black, carrying her back towards where the others were. Astraea did the same with the woman in red. As they reached where the others were, she saw that Mami was kneeling over Iczer-1, with her hands held to the woman's head. "Mami, what happened here?" Mami looked up after a few moments, taking her hands away from the woman's head.

"Oh, Fate-san, we hit…something on that robot, and it exploded, leaving this woman behind, screaming. I think whatever was controlling them was on the robot. Put those two down next to her. My healing magic seems to work on them, so hopefully they'll wake up and we can find out what is going on." Fate and Astraea laid the two girls down next to Iczer-1, and Mami moved over to the girl in black, and put her hands on either side of her head, a soft glow emanated from them. Fate left Mami to her work, and looked around at the others.

A girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes, a few years younger than Fate walked up to her and introduced herself. The others came up and did the same. As Mami worked, they all exchanged information about how they arrived in this place, and what was going on. "It seems that Evangeline was right, they were being controlled. I don't know how she knew, or what she went off to do though. Hopefully she'll return soon." They were interrupted by a moaning sound from one of the three girls, it was the woman in red. Mami knelt down next to her.

"Slowly…slowly…" Mami said softly as the woman's eyes flickered open, but seemed to have trouble focusing, she tried to sit up, but Mami placed her hand on her arm.

"Don't touch me!" the woman sounded terrified, and pulled her arm away from Mami's hands. Looking down, she saw how exposed she was, and actually squeaked, as she blushed and covered herself with her arms. "Who…who are you? What am I doing here? She pulled a set of square framed glasses from a pocket in her skirt, and slipped them on.

"My name's Mami, Tomoe Mami, and like you, we" Mami indicated the rest of them back behind her, "were brought here. Though you and these two," motioning towards Yami and Iczer-1, "were being controlled, and you attacked us. We seem to have managed to break you free though. What is your name?"

"Sattelizer. Satellizer el Bridget." The woman's voice was so soft as to be nearly inaudible. "I'm a Pandora, are you?" Right then, the other two started to stir. Mami started to pat Sattelizer on the shoulder, but she started to flinch away before she even got close, so she settled for a comforting smile, as she moved over to the others.

Fate and Cecilia came over to take Mami's place, and talked a bit with Sattelizer, meanwhile, Konjiki no Yami had woken up, and seemed just as confused, if less scared, than Sattelizer had. Mami knelt next to her, "are you feeling better, Yami-chan?" Yami looked surprised to be called that.

"Yes. H..How do you know my name? Are you an enemy?" Mami shook her head, and gave a soft smile. Yami realized that if they were enemies, they could have disposed of her already, so she was probably safe. The question now was, who were all these blonde girls? What happened? Last she remembered she was with Yuuki Mikan and...and...what? "Where are we?" The girl next to her...Mami, how did she know that name? In her head was just fragments of the last few hours, started to explain what she knew.

"Burgers? No, sorry. All we have are ration bars." Cecilia smiled sheepishly and handed a few to Sattelizer, who was still holding one arm over her exposed breasts, blushing furiously. Cecilia and Fate had explained to the woman what they knew, and she'd explained a bit about herself, and where she came from. Cecilia desperately hoped she never encountered one of the "Nova" Sattelizer-san spoke of.

As they talked, a few feet away, Iczer-1 suddenly sat bolt upright. "Nagisa!" The sudden exclamation drew the attention of the other nine girls on the beach. Iczer-1 got to her feet, her eyes darting around at the unfamiliar faces. A girl, no, a woman in a black leotard, her long blonde hair done up in two long tails walked up to her. Recognition flickered through Iczer-1's mind, but like everything about the last few hours it was fractured and uncertain.

"I see you are up, Soldier Iczer-1." The woman's voice was sweet, but had an element Iczer-1 recognized, a sense of having been tempered on the battlefield.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage..." she trailed off and arched an eyebrow at the twintailed woman. Eight pairs of eyes watched with interest and anticipation.

"Fate. Enforcer Fate Testarossa Harlaown of the Time Space Administration Bureau." A flicker of recognition went across Iczer-1's eyes, confirming a suspicion Fate had. Fate extended her hand as she finished her introduction. After a brief pause Iczer-1 grasped the proffered hand, gripping it firmly.

"These others, are they also members of the TSAB?" Releasing Fate's hand, she gestured at the other girls scattered across the beach. It was a truly motley group, several seemed to be using technology she had a bit of understanding of, but the comparative advancement was all over the place. Her eyes fell on the two who'd been lying next to her, and the automatic scanning and analysis devices gave their reports. She actually gasped out loud, these two...the small one in black was a nanomachine colony! And the one in red...there was something twisted about the devices implanted in her, almost like what had been done to pervert the Cthulhu, and her wayward sister, Iczer-2. The rest of the group were human, though even some of them were very unusual.

As Fate confirmed that no, the others weren't part of the TSAB, and the introductions began, Iczer-1 started to analyze the others. The youngest of the group, Shine, Elise, Perrine...they were all basically normal humans. Mami, the girl with spiral hair...she was unusual. At first her scans returned normal, but a strong signal seemed to be emanating from the flower-like decoration in her hair. And even stranger, when examined more closely, there seemed to be some sort of...filth, or...corruption hanging over her. Iczer-1 was not given to metaphor, but that's all she could think of to describe what she saw. The older girl, Cecilia, was a perfectly normal human, but the blue earring she had in one ear nearly blinded Iczer-1's censors. It was an incredible concentration of technology, using some sort of spatial compression to store it all away. Fate was a normal Midchildan Human, with an exceptionally strong Magilink signal, though what a Midchildan was doing with these Earth Humans was the question. The Cthulhu were aware of Midchilda and the TSAB, but they had had minimal interactions and Iczer-1 had never personally met a Midchildan Mage before Fate. Last but certainly not least was the "Angel". She was a curiosity, mostly because of her similarity to Iczer-1 herself. The technology was subtly different, but the concept and execution was very similar. She was created to be a soldier, just like Iczer-1 and her sisters were. That collar around her neck, and the short broken chain that descended from it...they were control devices! But they were inactive, the chain broken in both form and function. Curious.

By this point, the mutual introductions had finished, and everyone had more-or-less been brought up to speed on the others. They still had no answers, but it was clear there was someone out there, someone looking for the "keys". Iczer-1 and Yami both had no memory of the "Mistress", or what the keys they had been searching for were. They spent the next few hours sitting around a fire on the beach (there had been none of the usual fretting over how to start a fire, to the secret disappointment of several of the girls, it just seemed like cheating to use magic!), discussing tactics and how their abilities could be used in concert with each other. Mami had also undone the bandage around her leg, revealing smooth, unscarred skin below. With a bit of concentration, a new thighhigh formed on her leg, returning her to her usual elegant appearance. She looked up as Cecilia cleared her throat.

"It seems we can't do anything else until this Evangeline-san returns," Cecilia summed up, "but we have no idea when that will be." As she spoke, the sun broke the horizon to the east, and light washed across the beach. But moments later, a shadow fell, despite the cloudless sky. Everyone looked up to see a massive fortress floating in the air…