(Watches ME3 trailer) It's Shai-Hulud! The Great Worm will save us from the Reapers!

Sorry for the wait; was pouring all of my focus into "Recurring Nightmare", and I'll be starting work on the outline for my next story soon, as well.

Please check out and – if you so choose – update/add to the trope page.

One last thing: for those of you thinking this story will stay as another "canon with extras" story, don't worry. I've got something big planned for the finish, something billions of years in the making…

MY PERSONAL FANON ADULT KOTARŌ VOICE: Ian James Corlett (Cheetor)

BLAHBLAHBLAH NEGI VOICE: Sean Schemmel (Goku)

-CHAPTER START-

"Pactio~!"

There was the usual flash of light as Kaede Nagase became another of Negi's Ministrae. As the light faded, the card appeared, and the kunoichi pulled Negi into a (somewhat intimate-looking) hug, Teana leaned against a nearby wall just outside, eyes closed in thought as she ignored the other girls rushing in as soon as the Contract was done. The memory-film Jack Rakan had just shown them all was fresh in her memory. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Arika was Negi's mother. What really caught Teana's attention, though, were the subtle references to Asuna. Cross Mirage had detected a well-hidden and extremely complex spell that was magically preventing the other viewers from making the connection. Mirage had promptly independently devised the counter-spell for his Master, allowing Teana to see what was hidden in sight (Teana had been quite suspicious of Asuna's past for some time, especially after her attempts back on MSN-Earth to dig up data on her background). She was also able to figure out that Negi had already known by observing the boy's reactions to different things said and done in the film.

As a chase ensued between Haruna and Kū Fei, Chisame walked up to Teana.

"You're thinking about Asuna-san?" Teana muttered to Chisame; the glasses-clad girl nodded.

"How come nobody else figured it out?" Chisame whispered.

"There's a perception inhibition spell that is magically preventing them from making the connection, similar to the one that prevents mundanes from accepting the existence of magic. I found out about it because Mirage detected and neutralized it."

"But how did I avoid being affected?"

Teana sighed. "Chisame… I've discovered that you never had a chance for a "normal", magic-free life. I say this because you have a one-in-a-billion inborn total immunity to all perception inhibition magic. That's why you've always been able to tell weird things were happening when no-one else could, even before you learned about magic. The ability to see through the obfuscation spells that keep magic hidden is part of you… and it can't be turned off."

Chisame almost collapsed, her legs feeling weak and shaky. She leaned against a wall for support. All the bizarre things that, over the course of her life, she had seen and no-one else had batted an eyelash at made sense now. Her hard-fought attempt at a normal life… had been utterly doomed from the start.

"When you look at the friends you have now, though," Teana said, "all the things you've seen, the power you now possess… is it really all bad?"

Chisame went still. The power of an electronic goddess… Getting to fight alongside the Sangheili Alliance, a Dark Templar, a Jedi, and an honest-to-goodness Spartan who was in fact talking to her right now… Having, for the first time in years, people she could actually trust…

"I… guess not…"

"Come on" Teana said with a smile. "I'll show you some of the underlying mathematical mechanics of Midchildan magic. With your math scores, you'll no doubt be able to make sense of them. Maybe you'll even figure out on your own how to perform a few basic Midchilda-system spells."

As the two walked away down the hall, Asuna hid in a corner, watching them with a smile. At least, on the outside…

'A person with immunity to obfuscation spells, and a spell system based on math?' "Shiori" thought. 'Interesting…'

-SCENE BREAK-

Several days later

Chisame, Kotarō, Chamo, and the seven girls of Gamma Team gathered near Negi on a cliff-edge overlooking a collection of hundreds of gigantic floating hunks of rock that spanned for kilometers – wreckage from the literal fall of Old Ostia. Apparently, Negi wanted to show them his first "trump card" for the fight against Jack Rakan.

"You all might want to pay attention" he said as he turned to them. "This… is the most powerful spell in the entire Vetus system of magic."

And now he had their undivided attention, distracting view be damned.

"I'm not 100% sure I can pull this off without risk of failure yet, and at the moment it takes me too long to charge up to be practical in an actual fight, but I should improve my success rate and reduce my casting time by the time of the actual match… I hope. If I screw this up, I'm sorry for wasting your time here. But if I can pull it off… See that huge chunk of rock out there? The one about 100 meters in size, with the two smaller ones orbiting it? That's my target."

He bit his thumb, drawing blood, and then slammed that hand palm-down onto the ground, as if using the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The outline of a very complex magical rune formed around and beneath him, and it then lit up with a white light as Negi tapped into his magical reserves. He pointed his other palm at the target.

"To Sumbolaion Diakoneto Moi, Basileu Ouranionion…"

Several humongous magical circles sprang up surrounding the rock, their light faint but growing in intensity.

"Epigenetheto, Aithalous Keraune Hos Titenas Phetheirein…"

The rune-circles, now glowing intensely, crackled with lightning energy.

"Ekatontakis Kai Khilias Astrapsato…"

Negi gritted his teeth and raised his arm. Each of the many magical circles surrounding circles were brimming with lighting magic. Negi took a breath… and swung his hand down.

"Κιλιπλ Αστραπη {Khilipl Astrape} {Thousand Thunderbolts}!-!"

All at once, the rune-circles unleashed their payload: a seemingly-endless cascade of tremendous and obscenely-powerful bolts of lightning-magic. The observers shielded their eyes from the near-blinding light, and planted their feet as the shockwave hit. The tremendous sound continued as the attack continued to blast at the 100-meter rock. Finally, after several seconds, it died down. The observers opened their eyes… and stared in slack-jawed amazement.

"Spell power at boundary between SS+ and SSS" Cross Mirage reported.

The rock was gone. The vast majority of it had been utterly vaporized; small chunks of rock remained, completely liquefied into lava, slowly falling to the ground far below.

"We… We might actually be able to do it" Chamo remarked. "Even Rakan can't come out of that much power intact…"

"But… Didn't Jack actually take that attack from Nagi-san in the memory-film?" Mai asked.

"I won't be using it as a straight-up attack" Negi replied.

"Your Magia Erebea…" Shion said. "If you charged yourself up with that much power…"

"…Your power level should be multiplied by at least five times!" Marie finished. "You'll flatten him!"

"Not a chance!"

Everyone turned at the sudden interruption, seeing…

"No way…." Kotarō said. "How the Hell is she even here?"

"I can see it written all over your face" the interrupter said to Negi. "You don't even have faith in this plan yourself, so you tell it to your friends and try to encourage yourself by getting their approval… Don't worry; I can't honestly say I dislike this kind of futile struggle. It can't exactly be helped. You're up against Rakan; the man who's broken all the rules in the book so many times that the book might as well not exist."

"M-Master?-!"

"How in the Void are you even here, Evangeline-san?" Shion said.

"You'd have to be a complete idiot to even try fighting someone like that" Evangeline continued to Negi, ignoring the others. "Why don't you just cut your losses and give up on this one? I couldn't fault you for it, and Akira & Natsumi's new masters don't seem to treat them too badly…"

Teana growled, her Mangekyō active.

"Don't bother, girl. I'm not even here. This is a duplication of me, similar to your Shadow Clones but more."

"…Sorry if you came all this way to tell us that, Eva-chan…" Kotarō said, "but this is one fight that there is no running away from. Rakan-san told Negi 'Let's do this'. Face-to-face, no screwing around, a flat-out challenge. What that means is that he's acknowledged Negi as a man in his own right."

"Still," the Eva-Copy said, "You don't stand a chance at winning. It's not like that thick-headed brute actually thinks these things through. This contest is meaningless."

"That may or may not be true, but…" Negi clenched a fist. "My father's best friend has finally acknowledged me as a man… Running away from something like that is absolutely not an option!"

"Well then, allow me to provide some assistance" a new voice said.

Everyone looked over, seeing a robed woman with large, light-colored, curved horns sprouting from her head, holding a rolled-up scroll in her hand.

"Princess Theodora of Hellas…" Kaede F. muttered.

There were five other girls with her: Nodoka, Asuna, Konoka… and Yūna & Makie.

After the two long-lost girls fangirled and fretted over Negi (the former made more intense by Theodora casually confirming to them that the Thousand Master was Negi's dad), they caught sight of Gamma Team. Teana and Ahsoka, in particular, got fangirled particularly badly, such that they barely managed to catch the short yet revealing conversation between Negi and Theodora.

However, there was no missing the arrival of the loud, boisterous man with pointy hair and a nice suit, or of Seras, the commander of the Ariadne Knights. One (rather loud) conversation later, and Negi & Kotarō had four trainers, as well as a temporally-displaced training realm where 10 days passed for every one day in the outside realm. As the boys discussed things with the three adults, Teana walked up to the duplicate of Evangeline.

"What do you want from me, off-worlder?" Evangeline asked her.

Teana's response was to-the-point: "Teach me how to perform magic-based flight."

Evangeline raised an eyebrow: "That's all? That's not much to ask for…"

"And yet you haven't taught Negi yet."

"Because he hasn't asked. …Alright, we got 30 days. I'll have you defying gravity in 10."

"Can I teach Marie after I get it nailed down?"

"Knock yourself out."

"Cool."

-SCENE BREAK-

Three Days (Outside the Training Realm) Later – The Arena

"Duplex… Complexio!"

"…Hmph. Perfect timing, hero." The barely-conscious teen-form Kotarō managed to raise his hand, which was tagged by the crackling figure that walked past him.

"Thank you"

Negi, in his teen form, stood before Jack. The bloody wound on his chest had stopped bleeding, and the rest of his wounds had seemingly vanished. He stood, his body enveloped in the white lightning aura similar to his new Raiten Taisō form, except even larger, now crackling with secondary bursts of bluish lightning energy. His hair had lengthened greatly, trailing off into part of his aura.

In the stands, the group watched in awe.

"So… much… power…" Teana barely choked out, her Sharingan taking in the details. To her eyes, which could see chakra and magical energy, Negi looked as bright as a star.

"You can actually hold two of those inside you at once…" Rakan said. "That's incredible, kid. Is this the last trump-card you got?"

"Who can say?" Negi replied. "The official name of this form is "Ταστλαπα Υπερ Ουρανου Μεγα Δυναμενε" {"Tastrape Hyper Ouranou Mega Dunamene"} {"Twin Vigor of the Thunderous Sky"}, but that's a mouthful. Let's just call it "Raiten Sōsō"."

"Our mighty combatants – Jack Rakan and Nagi the Second – stare each other down in the center of the arena!" the announcer shouted. "With both of their partners effectively eliminated, is a one-on-one showdown between these two the only way to end this? Kagetarō has been pinned by Kojirō's Beast Form's attacks! Meanwhile, Kojirō himself has been thoroughly beaten down by Rakan!"

With literally lightning speed, Negi struck, a supercharged elbow blow to Rakan's midsection.

"Kakuda Chōchū!" ("Beckoning Strike Pinnacle Elbow")

The blow sent Rakan hurtling through the air, with Negi in hot pursuit. He began landing blows on the still-airborne Rakan, bouncing him about.

"Jōji Ikazuchi-Ka" Kaede F. remarked.

"Huh?" Marie asked.

"Perpetual Lightning Form" Teana replied. "In addition to providing a further boost in strength and speed, it speeds up Negi-kun's neural activity, so that his mind can now keep up with his body. Plus, he can now change direction mid-jump, further helping him avoid any of Rakan's counterattacks."

"One problem, though" Mai said. "He may be able to move faster than Rakan…"

After Negi's combo finished, Jack Rakan stood, looking little the worse for wear.

"…but he still doesn't have the power to break through Rakan's chakra-enhanced defense and strike a decisive blow."

"Ya done yet, kid?" Rakan said. "You've gotta be at your limit now. You did your best, but if that was your final trump card… you can't win this?"

"…Who ever said this was my last one?"

"Hm?"

"You've walked right into our trap."

A pool of entangling shadow formed beneath Rakan's feet, latching onto his legs and holding him in place.

"Gotcha, you living game-breaker" Kotarō remarked, hand extended.

Negi flashed away, taking position on the other end of the arena. He held his hands out, each holding a different Lightning-type spell… and then clapped the hands – and spells – together, forming a gigantic spear of lightning held aloft in his right hand, cocked back and ready to throw.

"Διος Λογχη: Τιτανο-κτονον!" {"Dios Logche: Titano-Ktonon!"} {"Raijinsō: Kyojin-Koroshi!"} {Lightning-God Spear: Titan-Slayer!"}

"You're tough," Negi said, "but you're not invincible. When I used my point-blank Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens earlier, you managed to divert its course a little at the critical moment to avoid taking the full force. That's all the proof I need: just as long as I surpass your limit, I can damage you. Here it comes!"

"A synthesized original SSS-rank spell?" Rakan remarked. "Just how much of a prodigy are you?-! And anyway…"

Rakan pulled his right fist back, channeling power into it.

"If all you wanted was a contest of pure strength, you didn't have to trap me! I'll always be more than happy to oblige!-!"

"This is, like, planet-shattering power here, or something!" Marie shouted to be heard over the noise of two top-level attacks being readied simultaneously.

"The power these two wield…" Shion muttered. "On par with the likes of Adun, Sankt-Kaiser Olivie, Pain, the higher-end Tailed Beasts… We are witnessing a clash between living gods…"

"Rakan… IMPACT!-!-!"

'…Wait…' Rakan thought after he released his attack. 'He can use the Hama no Tsurugi whenever he wants… If he has that, he doesn't need to make this a contest of strength…'

Surprising everyone, Negi lowered the hand holding the spear, and stretched out his free hand as if to catch the incoming Rakan Impact. In a flash of light, a very large, complex, multi-layered magical rune sprang up beneath Negi.

"Circuli Absorptionis!" {"Tekidan Kyūshūjin!"}

The energy beam reached Negi… and stopped. To the astonishment of even Rakan and the Clone-Evangeline, Negi began to absorb the attack.

"Complexio!-!"

In a flash of light, the Lightning-Spear and the Rakan Impact were both absorbed into Negi via his Magia Erebea. His visible aura tripled in size and intensity, his eyes now glowing white. He crouched forward, like a sprinter bracing himself to start… and then disappeared from sight, the ground beneath him shattering. Rakan took a hyper-charged rising kick to the chin, which rocketed him into the air. Before he could reach the top of the arena, Negi appeared again, striking another devastating blow that sent him toward the ground. And another. And another. Soon, the only visible motion was Rakan being sent careening back and forth, up and down, all over the 100-meter-wide arena space at a very high speed, with a flash of lightning and crack of thunder accompanying each strike.

Negi, inspired by the video that showed the backstories of Gamma Team and the worlds they'd been to, was now taking the Reverse Lotus and turning it up to eleven…hundred.

'I… can't take this much longer…' Rakan thought. 'Kid… You really are Ala Rubra material…'

After about 40 more seconds of pinball, Negi unleashed the power of the absorbed Rakan Impact from right below, blasting Rakan upward. He then flashed up above to meet Jack, and struck downward into his torso with all his might, unleashing the Lightning-God Spear from that hand at the same time.

"RAIKŌ RENGE!-!-!"

The blast wave and column of unleashed lightning energy shattered the protective barrier surrounding the stadium, huge bolts of lightning shooting up into the sky. When the dust finally cleared, Negi, in his normal form, stood at the bottom of a massive crater, in front of the immobile form of Jack Rakan, pinned to the ground by the lightning-spear.

"That was… brilliant, kid…" the barely-conscious Rakan said. "Today, you are a man in my eyes. Be proud and stand tall."

Rakan shakily raised an arm, gave Negi a thumbs-up… and then passed out. The stadium erupted into near-deafening cheers. As soon as the 20-count was reached, Negi promptly keeled over.

-SCENE BREAK-

That Night

That night, the celebratory party was in full swing. Akira and Natsumi, now free of the slave-collars that had been adhered to their necks for over a month, hung out with Makie, Ako, and the two Kaedes, watching an arm-wrestling match between Marie and Yūna. Jack Rakan, still bandaged, talked with Negi out on the balcony. Teana, meanwhile, was sitting outside on the roof, working with Cross Mirage to establish a connection.

"Gamma Actual, this is Gamma-1. Can you hear me?"

There was static for several seconds… that resolved into Colonel Holland's voice.

"…is Gamma Actual. Signal's patchy, but I can hear you, Gamma-1. What is your status?"

Teana let out a sigh of relief. "Thank the Saint! I've been trying to get in contact with you guys for hours, sir! A terrorist group called Cosmo Entelecheia attacked us at the Gateport. They destroyed the gateport and scattered us all over Mundus Magicus. It's been about a month, and we've managed to find everyone except Cocolova and Ayase."

"Come again, Lanstar? Did you say a month? Only seven days have passed here on Earth. Also, we have received reports that the dimensional gateways all over the planet have been severed on the Mundus Magicus end, likely by these terrorists you just mentioned; the two planets are totally cut off. Maybe that's affecting the flow of time over there. Do you require assistance?"

"Possibly, Colonel. These guys are bad news, and they have enough resources and summoned numbers to take on the militaries of this world's sovereign nations."

"Understood. Shipmaster Arum is with me. …As I speak he's ordering the bridge crew to prepare the ship for jump. I guess we'll be heading to you as soon as we can. It may be a while for you, though, due to the time dilation."

"Late help's better than no help, sir. We'll see you when you get here."

"Stay alive, Gamma-1. Holland out."

The connection terminated, and Teana leaned back on the roof, looking up at the stars.

"Do you think we'll be alright, Mirage?" she asked her AI.

"We have survived many seemingly-impossible situations before, Master" Mirage replied. "Our track record suggests this will be no different."

"Let's hope so…"

"You okay?"

Teana sat up as Rex called up to her the balcony below, his helmet off. Teana got to her feet and leapt down to him.

"We've got support coming, Captain. The Starshot is preparing to jump to this realm. …Apparently, all of the gateways between Earth and this world have been severed by Averruncus and his team, and every week that passes on Earth now equals a month here. I just hope they get here in time before things get worse…"

"It's not that bad yet" the clone-captain said. "Did I ever tell you about my time on Umbara? Or on the slaver worlds Zygerria and Kadavo?"

"I don't think you have."

"Right. Well, Umbara wasn't too bad until Master Skywalker got called away and we got some jackass named Krell…"

As Rex got to telling Teana of some of his Clone War adventures, Negi looked up from his own balcony, gazing at the stars and fireworks, trying to ignore the faint throbbing from the runes on his arms…

-CHAPTER END-

Sorry that the chapter's kinda short.