Little Bookwyrm: Hello everyone! Here I am with a new chapter!

Reborn: About time.

Little Bookwyrm: Oh shut it. I've been busy with other things.

Reborn: Really? Like what? It's not like you have anything important to do.

Little Bookwyrm: …

Published: March 28, 2014

Chapter Ten: Song of the Storms and the Secret Enemy

"EHH?! Kyoko-chan and Onii-chan were attacked?" Of all the things that Tsuna expected to hear when he arrived home from his daily training with Reborn and Basil, this wasn't it. Was it too much to ask for one day of nothing happening to him or his friends and classmates?

Sadly, it clearly wasn't meant to be.

"They're okay right?" Tsuna asked worriedly.

"Besides a couple scraps and Ryohei-sempai suffering a few burns," Alisa explained with an amused smirk, "they are fine and dandy. Sempai fought off the attackers, even with that busted hand of his."

Tsuna sighed with relief.

"What a coincidence," Reborn said from his spot atop Tsuna's head, "that Ryohei would be attacked shortly after winning his match."

Tsuna's blood turned cold as a dreaded thought then surfaced. They wouldn't…would they? Though the Varia was clearly a blood-thirsty group, they wouldn't go as low as trying to steal the rings already claimed, would they? Maybe they tried getting the ring from Yagami-san?

"No one broke in the apartment," Fate said as if reading Tsuna's thoughts. "The ring is still safe."

Tsuna again sighed in relief. He didn't bother asking how the other four knew about the ring—since girls do talk that much was certain—but another worry entered his mind then. "Is it okay for you guys to be seen with us? I mean, Yagami-san does have the Lightning Ring in her possession and…"

"As if she would let any of us have the ring," Alisa scoffed. "You should be more focused on these fights of yours, Tsuna. Leave the wellbeing of that ring to us; we'll make sure no one gets a hold of it, no matter how much they beg."

"A-Arigato," Tsuna said.

"So much for telling Tsuna about mages and magic," Alisa huffed as the five girls walked down the street. Tsuna, with Reborn in tow, had gone for their daily dose of training with another boy who was introduced as Basil—the girls trying not to laugh at his odd speech pattern as he did—leaving the five girls to walk to the school.

"You know, the longer we wait the harder it's going to be," Hayate added.

"But it's not like we can tell Tsuna-kun and the others that a mage attacked Kyoko-chan and Ryohei-sempai." Nanoha said frantically.

"True," Hayate sighed. "And even though he didn't say anything, I bet Tsuna-kun suspected those Varia guys were after the ring that Sempai won."

"I wonder if this was what Future Alisa was talking about." Fate added.

"Maybe…Though I wish the future me left a few more details." Alisa turned to the two witnesses. "So, did you get a good look at them at all?"

Nanoha and Fate looked at each other. "Well…" The first said. "It's just like we told Lindy-san…"

"Maximum Cannon!" Nanoha, Fate, and Arf barely had time to brace themselves before a massive explosion of white light sprouted from the street below, sending the airborne trio a good few yards before righting themselves. They could easily spot the boxer down below on the street—the source of the energy blast—kneeling on the ground as the light faded away with a worried Kyoko attached to his uninjured arm, asking frantically if he was alright.

There was a third person as well.

"You're pretty good," the voice of a teenage girl said, her being shadowed by the building despite the several streetlights. She too was kneeling. "Didn't think you'd manage to land a hit on me; I'll have to be more careful from now on."

"Who is that?" Nanoha asked puzzled.

Arf's body tensed. "I don't like her smell. She's bad news, that's for sure."

"And she attacked a non-mage," Fate added, her grip on Bardiche tightening slightly as her red eyes narrowed. The Lightning Mage's body was tense, ready to pounce to defend the two siblings at the slightest moment.

"Fate-chan, we can't let Kyoko-chan and her brother get caught up," Nanoha countered.

"A little late for that," Arf grumbled.

As if having heard the trio, the shadow figure glanced up in their direction before turning back to the grounded pair. "I'll let you go this time, but don't think there'll be a second time!"

She then vanished in a flash of red light and the trio, not sensing any need to remain as they were, landed far down the block to release their battle attire and devices before heading over to check on the siblings.

"You gotta say that Ryohei is pretty impressive," Alisa commented, "if he can hold his ground against a mage and all."

"I'm sure he had the element of surprise," Hayate said solemnly. "I doubt he'll be as lucky next time."

"But I don't get it," Nanoha said with a puzzled expression while scratching her head in a confused manner. "Why attack Sempai? He isn't a part of TSAB, and he's not even a mage."

"That's a good question," Suzuka agreed.

It was with that question in mind that the five entered the school grounds.

"You couldn't find anything?" Reborn asked over his Leon cellphone. Both Tsuna and Basil were deep in their sparring match, so neither heard the hitman's side of the conversation.

"My apologies, Reborn-san" the contact said. "But aside from what documents that we could find for the past three years, there is no record of a Fate Tesstarossa Harloawn. The same goes for her family as well."

"What about the others?" Reborn questioned.

"Aside from Takamachi Nanoha, Yagami Hayate, Alisa Bannings, Tsukimura Suzuka along with their families, there is no record of the other names that you requested ever existing." The voice said.

"Any chance that they are in a protection program?" Reborn asked.

"Negative. We even ran their photos through recognition software and got nothing. But we did get a hit on the name 'Tesstarossa'. I believe you would like the file." It wasn't a question.

"ASAP." The hitman said before shutting off the call. Being a hitman, Reborn didn't like being the dark, especially when it came to the well being of his student. He may have unorthodox techniques for tutoring—aka torture—but his worry for the young, reluctant heir was genuine and any chance that Tsuna could be in danger was immediately investigated.

"A device for Alisa and Suzuka?" Signum asked as she sat at the table beside Lindy. Both Arf and Zafira lay beneath the kitchen furniture in their beast forms, ears twitching slightly as they snoozed on.

The retired Admiral nodded. "It might just be coincidence that Kyoko-chan and her brother were attacked, but if there is a mage going out and attacking anyone mage or not, I want those two to be able to protect themselves. Simply knowing magic isn't going to protect them like we had originally planned."

Signum sighed; there goes another list of things to be added to the teaching list. Not that she could complain; the two were progressing well in their after school training sessions. Surely learning how to use a device will be just as quickly grasped. "I suppose you gave the request to your son?"

"Chrono-kun will have them here as soon as possible," Lindy said. "I'm thinking a Storage Device will do just fine for those two."

The Sword Knight raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that is a good choice? They are still learning and have never been in a combative setting before. They might not be able to react in time."

"The thought has crossed my mind," the retired Admiral confirmed. She could still remember the reports from Nanoha's early days as a mage; on how the young girl relied on the Intelligent Device to initiate spells when she could not. "Perhaps after a time I'll upgrade them to Intelligent Devices, but as they have no plan to join TSAB officially, I'm not too concerned about it."

"Let's just hope they don't destroy them with too much magic input," Shamal said.

"I doubt it will be case with those two," Lindy countered.

"Shamal…what are you doing?" Signum asked cautiously.

"I'm making dinner," the Knight of the Lake said sweetly from where she stood beside the stove.

More like trying to poison us was the collective thought. Despite Hayate's best efforts to teach, Shamal was far from being material for any rank of chef; come to think of it, most of what the Knight of the Lake managed to do was create charcoal.

Well, at least she didn't burn water anymore.

"Phew, all done."

In Namimori Middle's infirmary, Gokudera had just finished folding the last of paper airplanes. He had yet to fully land a hit on the fragile flyers, but thanks to that girl Suzuka's suggestion, he had come close several times.

"Oi Shamal, wake up," Gokudera said to the sleeping form on one of the beds.

Said man groaned as he sat up. "What are you doing folding paper airplanes?"

"Wha?" Gokudera snapped with a mix of irritation at the man's laziness and shock at the question. "It's for training! I still haven't landed a single shot!"

"You don't need any more training, kid," the doctor said. "The attack is fine with the way it is."

"No thanks to you," the teen mumbled.

Shamal sighed. "Listen. I've known many folks in my life, many who got killed because of their idiocy, and those that are still around haven't amounted much to anything. If you aren't careful, you'll end up burned out. Don't you remember what that pint-sized redhead told you?"

"Of course I remember!" Gokudera shouted.

"Then remember that it's just like flirting," Shamal said with a smug grin. "There isn't a world where just effort will get you by." He quickly dodged the book thrown at him.

"Shut up!" Gokudera shouted.

"Now now," Shamal said passively. "Still, if you don't think that you're ready for tonight, it'd be best if you don't fight at all."

Gokudera stared.

"Your opponent, that Belphegor," Shamal said with a grave voice, "is supposedly the Varia's number one genius."

"You're spying again, Mammon."

The being the question was directed to settled on a metal air conditioner unit, hidden from public sight in an alley somewhere in the small town. A lifeless body of a former assassin was laid out on the cold floor before the cloaked baby and the Varia Storm Candidate; the bright red color of life hung in long patches on the brick buildings and the concrete.

"You shouldn't kill every single assassin at the scene each time you're on the job, Bel," Mammon admonished in his monotone. "The higher ups will be furious."

"Ushishishi, I don't care about Mafia politics," Belphegor grinned madly. "Because I'm a Prince." His attention was then moved to the older brother of the assassin that he had just finished off; not surprising, these were two very close assassin brothers.

"Va…VARIA!" The man shouted in rage, reaching into his jacket. "How dare you do that to my little brother! DIE!"

Belphegor easily evaded the strikes of the man's barbed rod. "What a letdown you are," he mused. No sooner had the teenager brandished a trio of small blades, the attacking assassin was rent into several pieces of flesh.

"How gruesome," Mammon complimented. Someone would have to come clean this up later, meaning that he'd have less money than before. Honestly, he wasn't a bottomless cauldron, nor was he a leprechaun; the last person to call him that was left in a very bad mental state.

"Boring," Belphegor yawned. "Isn't there any good peasant for the Prince to play with?"

"You should report back," Mammon said pointedly. "The Battle for the Storm Ring is tonight, after all."

Belphegor merely laughed as he turned to leave the alley; he'd leave the mess to the grunts. As his head turned, the prince stopped short, noticed by his smaller companion.

"What is it, Belphegor?" Mammon asked before he too turned to look in the teen's direction.

Standing at the mouth of the alley, apparently frozen at the gruesome sight, was a girl close to Belphegor's age, maybe even younger. She was garbed in a school uniform—which Mammon recognized to be from the same school as the other candidates—with light brown hair that fell freely say for two small pigtails on the sides of her head. Her eyes, a dark olive green, were currently wide in horror at the sight before her.

For what seemed like eternity, the three only stared at each other. Then Belphegor's face broke out into his iconic grin.

"Ushishishi…Has a new peasant come to play with the Prince?"

The girl, whether she had heard or not, took off down the currently vacant road.

Belphegor wasn't deterred. "Tag it is then. Ushishishishi…"

What was I thinking?! Alisa cursed as she ran down the street. Her breath came out in heavy breaths, her heart was pounding in her ear, and each step seemed to echo as it struck the pavement. I shouldn't have looked down that alley!

She really should have walked home with the others, but the last few days had been nothing but full of questions without answers—even though she didn't outwardly show it to the others—and Alisa had really needed the time alone to get her thoughts straight; she wasn't having much luck. Nothing of what she had seen made sense, especially when it concerned him. Alisa hadn't been able to ponder her inner turmoil for long as she had reached the half way point to the apartment complex when the pulsing of strong energy alerted the young trainee to a shadowy alley between two buildings.

Now normally, Alisa wouldn't have bothered to glance down dark alleys, but the strange energy she had sensed brought about the thought of a Jewel Seed hiding there. So, without even thinking of informing the others about her suspicions, Alisa had strolled to the front of the alley to find the magical relic.

What she found was no Jewel Seed. Oh no, it was much worse than a relic of another dimension and time.

It was two of them standing over the bodies of two men who had no doubt been killed by one or both of the pair. Blood was everywhere and one of the bodies was clearly sliced apart, yet neither was carrying a weapon large enough to amputate cleanly like that.

Alisa, a scream caught in her throat at the trauma-inducing sight, had started to move back out of the alley, hoping to not catch the two perpetrators attention. Then the older boy had turned to leave and made eye-contact. At least Alisa thought he did; it was difficult to tell with those bangs. In any case, the baby soon had caught on and the pair had starred as Alisa returned the gesture.

Then that boy…He grinned and asked something about 'play' and Alisa was in no conscious mind to remain and find out what he meant by that. So now, here she was, praying that she had lost the pair for good as she turned down another not so populated street. Honestly, why were the streets always empty in situations like this?

I need to ask Signum to teach me teleportation, Alisa silently vowed. That would certainly be handy right about now!

Alisa again didn't ponder on the thought for long, as something screamed at her to stop then. Thank goodness she listened, because several small knives then impaled the ground that she would have passed over; Alisa struggled to suppress the shudder of the thought of the damage caused if she hadn't heeded her women's intuition.

"Ushishishi…Not bad peasant." At the voice, Alisa glanced up to the top of one of the store buildings, where the two from the alley stood. Her first thought was how they managed to keep up on her; the second was if the boy's face was frozen with that stupid Cheshire grin. Honestly, it was causing more of a headache than fear now.

"Does your definition of play include throwing knives at people?" Alisa growled in reference to his previous statement in the alley.

The reply was more of the knives being sent in her direction, forcing Alisa to jump out of the way. "Ushishishi, peasants shouldn't speak against a prince."

Alisa's left eye twitched. Prince? Seriously? What is this? The Middle Ages?

"As much as I'd like to stay and play "The Prince and the Pauper" with you," Alisa said nonchalantly. "I have places to be, so see ya." She turned to take off down another street.

Unfortunately, Alisa's attempt again was stopped with the boy landed in front of her; the baby perched on his shoulder. Alisa quickly made a decision then: This boy wasn't normal by any standards.

"Ushishishi…" Alisa struggled to suppress the coming twitch at that laugh. "The Prince doesn't like being ignored, peasant."

Forgetting for a brief moment that the male in front of her could easily kill her, focusing more on how she wanted to just be alone, Alisa marched forward and began prodding the boy in the chest hard. "Listen you! I have no intention of being some form of amusement for you! I got enough problems that I don't need you wanting to play target practice on me! Take your sick games with you and leave me alone! Better yet, tell Him to go back to whatever place he has been all these years!"

As soon as the words left Alisa's mouth, she realized too late that she had made a great mistake, her finger frozen in mid prod. The boy, his grin fallen slightly at her moment of boldness, glanced momentarily at the formerly offending finger before looking back up with his grin returned.

"Ushishishi…Who's this 'Him' you speak of, peasant?"

"N-None of your business!" Alisa shouted. Blast it, why can't she learn to control herself during these outbursts; where was Suzuka or Nanoha when you needed them? Better yet, where was anyone when you needed them?

"Mu," the baby said then, clearly not having any interest in what Alisa said, or so the girl hoped. "This is going to take a while. I'm heading back. Don't be late, Belphegor." With that, the infant disappeared in a whirl of purple mist.

He can teleport! Alisa was sure the baby wasn't a mage, so then how did he..?

"Ushishishi…" Alisa was then brought back to the current situation at hand. The boy, now known as Belphegor, was cackling with that grin of his.

"Ready to play, peasant?"

Alisa didn't take time to register what had been said. Her body instead instinctively tore away from the personal space of Belphegor as said boy swiped at her with one of his knives, only managing to remove thin strands of hair from her locks.

That was too close, Alisa thought as she landed a good few feet from her attacker. She didn't stay in that place for long as handfuls of the small knives were being continually thrown in her direction. The spacing was tight, but Alisa managed to somewhat successfully slip between them, light cuts appearing where otherwise possible fatal injuries could have occurred.

Thank goodness for those dodging lessons, Alisa thought as she ducked to avoid being struck in the eye. She decided to thank one retired Admiral when she got out of this mess.

The cackling of the boy brought Alisa out of her thoughts as another wave of knives came her way. "Not bad, peasant," Belphegor jeered. "But this game is going to get boring if you keep dodging. The Prince wants to see more blood."

"I told you I'm not playing!" Alisa shouted, cursing under her breath as a knife came close to slicing her right arm. She knew that she couldn't keep this up for long and the fact that her attacker wasn't showing any strain was beginning to irk her.

"No can do, peasant," Belphegor said. "The Prince is having too much fun."

Alisa snarled. Avoiding another blade, Alisa looked for an opening that would allow a hasty escape. The second, or perhaps less than, one appeared, she bolted out of the storm of knives.

"Ushishishi…Nice try, peasant." Out of the corner of her eye, Alisa saw Belphegor come up on her side with insane speed, a knife in his hand. This guy is definitely not normal!

Everything slowed as Belphegor, with his crazy grin, approached ready to strike. Alisa turned to face her opponent, hand outstretched as if attempting to catch the knife. Instead, a bright orange-red erupted between the two bodies and a blast echoed throughout the clearing, bringing up a thick cloud of dust and debris.

If she had been any dumber, Alisa would have stopped to wonder what had just happened. Thankfully she wasn't and took off down the street, hoping to finally lose the deranged boy as she added a boost to her speed via magic.

Back at the dust cloud, Belphegor was laughing.

"Looks like the Prince has found an interesting peasant."

"Are you sure you're okay, Basil-kun?" Tsuna asked as he walked beside the boy with Reborn walking along the wall of houses. Night had come and, after a successful day at training, the trio was heading to the school to witness the battle for the Storm Ring. The training hadn't been easy on either Tsuna or Basil, though the latter's sway was more evident.

"Don't worry," Basil said reassuringly. "It's merely exhaustion from using the Hyper Dying Will Mode for the first time."

Tsuna nodded before changing the topic of discussion. "It's finally time for Gokudera-kun's match. If it's him, I'm sure Gokudera-kun will be fine."

"Gokudera's opponent is Belphegor," Reborn pointed out. "He's also known as 'Prince the Ripper'."

"Prince the Ripper?" Tsuna asked confused.

"It means 'Slasher Prince'," Reborn explained to Tsuna's shock. "He is obviously of royal blood, but it's strange that someone uncommon as him would have extra battle sense. He is a strange one who joined the Varia from his own choice."

Basil nodded in agreement. "I heard from the Master that, in terms of fighting ability alone, the most talented one of the Varia is Belphegor."

Tsuna gulped nervously. "Gokudera-kun is fighting such a fearsome person…"

"Looks like it will be a tough battle," Reborn stated as he jumped off the wall.

"Yo," Yamamoto's voice greeted the trio as they reached the gate of the school.

"Yamamoto! Oni-san!" Tsuna greeted the pair, taking note of the additional bandages to Ryohei's head and shoulder. Had the attack really been that bad? "Huh? Gokudera-kun isn't here yet then?" he added, looking around.

"Actually," Yamamoto admitted, "we thought that he was coming with you guys."

"He isn't here yet," Ryohei put in.

"It's possible that Shamal refused to let Gokudera participate," Reborn said, taking a seat upon Yamamoto's shoulder, "if the new move isn't ready."

"I hope everything is okay," a new voice said then.

"Hayate-chan?" Tsuna exclaimed. "And Rein-chan?"

Both girls were out of their school uniforms, with Hayate garbed in a black sweater, brown shirt, and casual jeans; around her neck hung a gold cross of some design. Rein was garbed similarly though she sported a bulkier coat.

"Hiya, Tsuna~," Rein greeted with a big smile as she waved in greeting to the boy. "We came to watch the fight tonight."

"But what about Yagami-san?" Tsuna asked, puzzled. "Didn't you get punished for going out on your own, Rein-chan?"

Rein blinked a couple times before giggling. "It's okay~! Kā-san was mad, but she said I could watch the rest of the matches as long as I go with someone like Hayate-chan or Yamamoto-kun."

What kind of mother allows that? Tsuna couldn't help but wonder as he entered the school.

Signum sneezed violently.

"Everything okay, Signum?" Shamal asked with concern.

"…Yes."

"Search complete. No Jewel Seeds detected. Proceed to next sector." Nanoha sighed in exhaustion as another search had turned up empty. She along with Vita had been searching this woodland area for the last two hours and yet was unable to turn up anything related to the Jewel Seeds. By now, the sun had set hours ago, with the lights of the city in the far distance.

"ARGH! This is so boring!" her red-haired companion loudly complained, swinging her Armed Device in the air as she complained. "I'd rather be watching the fight than hunting for the Jewel Seeds!"

"Vita-chan…" Nanoha sighed nervously before her face focused. In truth, Nanoha wished to do the same; besides Fate, she had yet to witness a match between the group of boys she had befriended a few weeks prior and the group of trained killers.

Gokudera-kun is supposed to fight tonight, the young mage mused. I wonder if he managed to succeed with his training.

Nanoha shook her head to clear it; they had a job to do and it couldn't be pushed aside just for to watch the fights. If anyone with a strong emotion got a hold of a Jewel Seed, the situation would turn bad. She could still freshly remember the time that a tree had started growing over the town because of the strong emotion between two people; it was a miracle that no one investigated the phenomenon.

"Master." Raising Heart said then. "Strange energy signals accumulating one-point-five miles from our current location."

"Is it a Jewel Seed?" Vita asked with eagerness befitting the Iron Knight.

"Energy readings are similar to those of a Jewel Seed. There is also an unknown signal as well."

"What do you say?" Vita asked, slinging her Armed Device over her shoulders. "Want to go check it out?"

"Might as well," Nanoha managed to say as the pair took off.

"Ah…Onii-san, are you okay?" Tsuna asked as the group began the ascent to reach where the designated battleground would be. Ryohei had slightly stumbled on the first few steps, indicating to Tsuna that one of the boxer's legs had been injured as well in the attack last night.

"I'm fine, Sawada," Ryohei grunted. "Like a little ambush would be enough to take me down."

"O…Okay," Tsuna said nervously. "Does Kyoko-chan know you're here?"

"She's over at Hana's house," the box said in a softer tone unlike that of his usual. "She thinks I'm in bed. I left her a note though."

As if a note will work, Tsuna thought in despair. He clearly remembered what had happened during the boxer's match and how much Kyoko had hated him fighting. I'm sorry about this, Kyoko-chan.

"Looks like the fight is indoors tonight," Yamamoto noted as the group reached the uppermost floor of the school, were the Varia and Cervello were already waiting.

"But Gokudera-dono…" Basil began.

"What is that Tako Head doing?" Ryohei questioned out loud.

Yamamoto only smiled. "He'll be here."

Tsuna didn't say anything, casting an unsure glance to the members of the Varia. But Gokudera's opponent is so scary. I wouldn't blame him for not coming.

"Why run away?" Belphegor asked from where he stood with the Varia. "You'll all die anyway."

Die? Hayate thought puzzled. Doesn't Tsuna just lose his chance to inherit?

"When the clock strikes eleven," one of the Cervello said. "Gokudera will be disqualified and Belphegor will win by default."

Time passed slowly then as the seconds ticked by; everyone watching the clock as it came close to striking the hour.

Twenty seconds…

Fifteen seconds…

Ten seconds…

Five seconds…

Four…Three…Two…One…

BOOM! Heads turned to the sound of an explosion that came from behind them. Smoke thickly covered the area, though it did little to muffle the familiar voice of the person they had been waiting on.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Jūdaime." Out from the cover stepped Gokudera, his chest and hands wrapped in white bandages and a black jacket held together by one button sat on his frame and black pants. On his thighs and waists were belts, each carrying several different sticks of dynamite; the Vongola Half Storm Ring hanging from his neck on a silver chain.

"Gokudera present." The bomber said indifferently.

"Gokudera-kun!" Tsuna exclaimed in both relief and surprise.

"Octopus Head!"

"Since you've arrived at the designated time," the first Cervello announced, "the Battle for the Storm Ring can now begin."

"Thank goodness," Hayate sighed in relief as Rein looked on with excitement.

"You had me worried there," Yamamoto said. "Did you exhaust yourself and overslept?"

"That's not it!" Gokudera growled before turning to Tsuna with a smile. "I apologize for being late, Jūdaime. I had some last minute preparation to take care of."

"I…I see…" But…Tsuna glanced over to Belphegor, his smile having not once left his face; Gokudera-kun…The opponent is the Varia's number one genius…

"Is that all you can say?! That you're sorry?!" A new voice yelled and Tsuna was brought back in time to see the aftermath of a fist striking the back of Gokudera's head, the boy clutching his abused head with a yelp of pain. "Honestly, if you didn't want to apologize, you should have planned better! It's all thanks to me that you weren't late, you idiot!"

"Alisa-chan?!" Tsuna gapped at the new arrival.

"Alisa-chan, you came to watch the match too?" Hayate asked.

Alisa snorted. "Not really," she jabbed a finger into Gokudera's back. "I was just making sure that the idiot arrived on time. But might as well since I'm here and all."

Gokudera growled before turning around to slap the offending finger away. "Keep your hands to yourself, woman! And I didn't need your help to get here in time!"

Alisa only hmphed with a scowl; like everyone else, she too was dressed for the weather, but looked slightly uncomfortable in being at the school.

"Hey, Alisa-chan…" Rein began with evident curiosity. "What happened to your face?"

"Hmm? Oh, these," Alisa pointed to her face, where several thin cuts had been bandaged over. "Ask Mr. Cheshire over there. Thanks to him, I had to order a new uniform, and how exactly do I explain that to my folks?" She pointedly glared at the blonde, tiara-wearing teen standing a ways away, an eyebrow twitching slightly. Ugh…doesn't he ever stop grinning like an idiot?

"You fought him, Alisa?" Hayate asked shocked.

"It wasn't my idea!" Alisa shrieked in protest. "He started it by pretending it was a game!"

"Ushishishi…Came to play some more, peasant?" Belphegor asked cheerfully as he leisurely walked toward the teenagers, bringing the group's attention back to the matter at hand.

"Why you…" Alisa growled. Most would take the sudden surge that seemed to occur around the teen was the girl trying to convey with energy her current emotions, showing that she wasn't in a playful mood, but to those who knew, it was a very intimidating aura.

I think I have an idea what Suzuka-chan and Nanoha-chan go through with her, Hayate laughed nervously to herself. I'm kind of wishing that one of them was here right now.

She encountered Belphegor and got away with only a ruined uniform?! Tsuna thought in shock. From how Reborn was describing him earlier, Belphegor wasn't one who let people escape so easily.

Reborn only watched the exchange in silence.

"Ushishishishi," Belphegor said, placing a hand on Gokudera's shoulder, who instantly tensed. "Your shoulders are too stiff. You should relax."

"Bug off," Gokudera snapped, pushing the boy's hand away. The action caused light to momentarily reflect off of something thin, but was gone so quickly that Alisa thought that she had imagined it.

"If you are ready," the first Cervello ceased anymore discussion. "We can now begin by introducing the battlefield. Those who are not participating in the battle, please move to the lower floor. We have set up an observation unit for each side."

"Are you sure this is the spot?" Vita asked as the pair hovered over a dense woodland outside of Namimori. "I don't see anything."

Nanoha nodded, though a little unsure. There didn't seem to be any sign of a battle that had been fought with magic and yet magical energy was covering much of the area in a thick mist. "Maybe they moved on."

"Then how are we going to find it?" Vita asked disgruntled. "It's not like Jewel Seeds have a freaking neon sign saying 'I'm here! Come get me!'!"

"Vita-chan…" Nanoha began with a nervous smile.

"Warning! Incoming attack!" Raising Heart stated then.

"Ausweichmanöver!" Graf Eisen echoed.

"Huh?" Both mage and knight barely had time to understand what the devices had said when a dark form passed right between them, missing direct contact by a mere inch or less.

"Wha-?" Vita shouted as she moved away from where she had been. "A bird?"

It was no normal bird; it resembled some twisted, gigantic version of a prehistoric glider, with a fanged beak like that of a barracuda. No feathers adorned the creature's entire body, and the long tail was equipped a scorpion's stinger. Its large, white eyes were trained in on the two mages and, changing direction of flight came back in for a second run, its large mouth wide open as a massive scream rang across the woodland.

"Curses" was Vita's only remark.

Down on the second floor, both sides of watchers were standing in separate observation stations, complete with screens showing different angles from cameras placed all over the third floor.

"The battlefield tonight consists of the entire third floor, including the buildings connected to this one. Furthermore, the classrooms are also part of the battlefield."

Gokudera silently took the information in; it was just the kind of battlefield he likes: with lots of cover.

"However." Several nearly jumped as a section of wall in front of the bomber was blown away, along with chairs and desks from the classroom were easily sent outside by the mere force.

Rein shriek as she ducked behind Hayate in pure fright, who put a hand on the smaller girl's hair to calm Rein down.

"Throughout the field, we have placed several hurricane generators," the first continued as the second wheeled out a large metal box that resembled a giant air conditioner unit. "It will randomly generate winds equivalent to that of a hurricane. If anyone is caught in the current, they will most likely be thrown outside and therefore disqualified."

"Also," the second added. "There is a fifteen minute timer that is set to cause the units to explode. Therefore, this match is timed."

"EXPLODE!" Alisa and Rein shrieked.

"What happens if the match isn't over in fifteen minutes?" Tsuna asked, dread creeping in his stomach.

"Then no one will inherit the Storm Ring."

The group of youth gulped and a few paled.

"What's with the gloomy atmosphere? Did someone die?" a new voice asked and a man with shaggy hair appeared behind the Cervello, an arm draped over each of the woman's shoulders. The man was promptly given a back hand each by the two women, and sent sprawling on the hard floor.

"D-Doctor Shamal?!" Tsuna exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh great," Alisa grumbled. "It's Doctor Don Juan."

If Shamal had heard Alisa's comment, he didn't say anything about it as he stood up and instead turning his attention to Tsuna. "I heard an explosion and came to see if anyone needed medical assistance, but you kids seem to be fine."

"Oi, isn't that..?" Squalo asked in a voice unlike his character across the hall.

Mammon, sitting in Gola Mosca's hand, nodded. "Trident Shamal; rumors say that he was scouted by the Varia years ago, but he turned the offer down."

So he really isn't just a doctor, Hayate thought, having caught the conversation between the two assassins, if he was scouted by those guys.

"If you will," one of the Cervello said, motioning to the area where the teens stood, "we'd like to begin the Battle for the Ring of Storm."

"Schwalbefliegen." A dozen spheres of hot-red iron tore through the skies, exploding as each one collided with the flesh of the Jewel Seed-enhanced creature, causing said beast to scream with pain and increasing its intent to devour one or both mages. Both the Iron Knight and upcoming Ace quickly dove to the side, well out of reach of the creature's gapping maw.

"Honestly," Vita half cursed. "What does it take to bring this thing down?! All it seems to do is get angrier."

"Just keep going, Vita-chan," Nanoha encouraged. "It's bound to get tired soon."

"It or us?" The knight asked just as the creature sent another blast of high-pitched sound waves at the pair. Both avoided the initial blast, but covered their ears as the scream itself threatened to puncture their ear drums.

"Raising Heart!"

"Accel Shooter!" Several magenta spheres shot out of Raising Heart, set on a collision course with the creature. Having learned that small fast ball of light meant pain, the creature quickly brought its wings down to rocket toward the sky; it didn't plan on the spheres to follow it though, and each struck home on the creature's underside.

The creature cried in pain and flailed around aimlessly.

"That's it!" Nanoha said in realization. Its underside was sensitive! The mage quickly sent volley after volley of magenta spheres into the sensitive flesh, giving the creature no chance to counterattack. "Vita-chan!"

"Now, Graf Eisen!" Vita screamed, nearing the creature's head.

Graf Eisen expelled the used cartridges, smoke and the sound of gunshots following the use of the next set.

"Gigantform!" The twin hammer head twisted, metal clanking against each other, transforming the round heads into hexagonal-shaped that grew ten times the previous size.

"Eat this, bird-brain," Vita shouted, swinging the newly resized Graf Eisen onto the creature's head. The force alone sent the creature plummeting into the earth below.

Hope no one heard that, Nanoha thought to the following crash that not only put a giant dent into the forest floor, but sent several acres of trees flying in all directions.

Vita proudly huffed as Graf Eisen returned to its previous form, steam escaping the mallet-shaped weapon.

Little Bookwyrm: Hmm…

Reinforce Zwei: What's wrong?

Little Bookwyrm: Oh nothing, it's just that I feel kind of bad about leaving my readers hanging for over a year.

Reborn: As you should be.

Little Bookwyrm: *glare* Hey, it wasn't my fault that some curve balls got thrown my way!

Reinforce Zwei: Well, is everything okay now?

Little Bookwyrm: We'll see. Anyway, thank you all so much for waiting for this chapter. I was going to go until I finished the fight, but then I realized I was closing in on twenty pages and decided to update to give you guys something to read. See you later.

Next Time: Flying bombs and the Enemy's Goal