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Legendary Witches 3: Cross World Battle
Chapter 21: Vi Et Animo
Chapter Quote: "With heart and soul - Strength with Courage"
-April 21st, 1953-
The air raid siren at the base sounded with ferocity as a large Neuroi force appeared on radar from the south east.
Zen's voice came over the PA system. "This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill. All available fighters assemble in the hangar and prepare for battle!"
Rei and Kamiko were sitting in the infirmary with Yoshika and Kye. The latter pair were able to move their hands, but still couldn't move much else.
Rei and Kamiko bolted out of the room.
"Gaia, go," Yoshika said. "Kye and I can't fight, so you and Joey need to fight in our place."
"No can do," Gaia said.
"We'll protect you two here," Joey added. "Rei and Kamiko know what they're doing."
"They are right, Yoshika," Kye said. "If they go fight, we'll be left vulnerable."
"Okay."
Everyone met up in the hangar and quickly changed into their SFS units.
"511th, don't hold anything back!" Bell commanded.
"Same goes for the Neuri Teams!" Xala added.
Several others followed suit and soon everyone was cheering.
"We cannot allow the Neuroi to win," Zen said with an authoritative voice. "I know better than anyone the power of evil, having been there myself. Here we stand, here we fight. Here we fight with heart and soul." He raised his fight up in the air. "Strength with courage!"
Everyone knew the Latin phrase Zen was hinting at. They raised their hands in the air and shouted, "Vi Et Animo!"
"Ad victorium (To Victory)!" Zen bellowed before taking to the sky in an explosive display of his power of darkness.
"He sure knows how to hype you up," Bell mused quietly before taking off after him, soon followed by the remaining fighters.
Lead by Zen, the standby team sensed the incoming Neuroi force fifty kilometers southeast of the base and stopped.
"Enemy force dead ahead," Sanya's great grandson, Major Vitaliy Gedeon Kistanov, reported. "Distance is twenty-five thousand."
"Meters or feet?" Shirley's descendant, Captain Jaden Ventus, asked.
"Stop being stupid." Jaden's older sister, Lieutenant Colonel Allison Ventus, bonked him on the head. "You know which."
"Save the antics for another time," Colonel Valterri Iilvari Virtanen, Eila's descendant, ordered. "We have a mission at hand."
"As I was saying..." Vitaliy continued. "Distance is twenty-five thousand. We were flying at roughly the same speed, so if we continue now, expect interception in twelve-point-five."
"Confirmed," Brigadier General Heidemarie W. Schnaufer added.
"I see them," General Adolfine Galland said while using her Magic Eye to visually confirm the Neuroi force. "Mein gott..."
Minna's descendants, Lieutenant Colonel Johan Wilcke and First Lieutenant Alina Wilcke II, and Kiyoko Akiyama, who is a shared descendant of Mio Sakamoto, Perrine H. Clostermann, and Takeko Katou, flew up to Adolfine and gestured for Heidemarie to join them. The three joined hands, with one touching Adolfine's arm, and another holding Heidemarie's hand. The three activated their magic and instructed Adolfine and Heidemarie to focus on the Neuroi force.
"Whoa... "Mein gott" indeed," Johan mumbled.
"The enemy number-" Kiyoko started.
"-is over twenty thousand," Alina finished. "And that's not counting drones."
"What?" Bell asked urgently. "That's easily twice the number of the first hive and the base we destroyed."
The younger witches among the 511th and 516th grew visibly frightened.
"This changes nothing," Rei said adamantly. "They know that Mom and Yoshika are out of commission. They are our best fighters, so it's only natural that the enemy would bring an incredible force to insure they are successful. What they don't realize-" she summoned Tenrai and Tenshi, Twin Blades of the Divine Angel, "-is that they must first face the Goddess of Light."
"Getting serious are we?" Zen asked with a grin. "Good. The God of Darkness will as well."
Ren smirked while seeing her cousin and father stand their ground, albeit being in midair. She, Aero, and Aira flew up next to Rei and Zen. "Don't forget about us!"
"Never," Zen said calmly before raising his voice authoritatively over the radio. "All forces, we will wait here. Prepare for battle! I want to see only your absolute best!"
In response to her uncle, Rei flared up her Light Aura and took it a step beyond to her Ultimate Magic Aura. Her Ultimate Light Aura was nigh identical to her normal Light Aura with one distinct difference. It now had golden sparks of energy jumping around her aura similar to lightning.
Zen responded in kind, erupting to life his own advanced Dark Aura complete with sparks of black energy. "Rei, although you are the mortal Rei Miyafuji at the moment, you do have your complete memories as Rei Akari, right?"
She answered, "Yes," in an almost monotone voice.
"I think a good welcoming gift for the enemy would be the Infinite Spears spell."
"Agreed."
"At this rate, we'll be able to complete the spell by the time they reach us."
"Then let's begin."
As they joined hands, Rei with her right and Zen with his left, the two started chanting together the incantation for their spell.
"Reach the depth of darkness,
"Oust the root of evil."
"Let shine the brightest light,
"That cast the darkest shadow."
"Chastity and Lust,
"Temperance and Gluttony,
"Charity and Greed,
"Diligence and Sloth,
"Patience and Wrath,
"Kindness and Envy,
"Humility and Pride,
"Virtue and Sin."
"Open the Hand of Light."
"Open the Hand of Darkness."
Rei held her left hand to her left and Zen held his right hand to his right, each glowing with their respective power. As they recited the incantation spears of darkness clad in the power of light appeared throughout the airspace in their general vicinity. Toward the beginning, they only appeared a few at a time, numbering around twenty in total before reciting the virtues and sins, but as they reached the middle more started forming with each line of the incantation. Soon, over one hundred had appeared. When they reached the "Hand of Light" and "Hand of Darkness" chants, the number of spears doubled every second for ten seconds.
Well over one thousand darklight spears had formed by the time they finished. Just as they finished, the impressive Neuroi force entered engaging range.
Rei and Zen spoke the name of the spell together as they willed forward the scores of darklight spears. "Infinite Spears of the Gods Light and Darkness."
Simultaneously, the darklight spears numbering in four digits rushed forward into the unprepared mass of Neuroi. Some attempted to raise energy barriers to block them, but the darklight spears tore through them as if nothing were in their path.
Each spear penetrating its target and continued beyond. The Neuroi numbers were thinned out at an astonishing rate.
Joining hands with Vitaliy, Kiyoko reported the drastic decrease of the enemy number. "Six thousand seven hundred and forty-five enemy units have been dispatched. Several of these units were high class Neuroi! In addition, over five hundred larger Neuroi have been severely damaged and seem to be unable to regenerate!"
"Dark Witches," Zen said between two heavy breaths, "each Team Leader has appropriate authority in this battle. All other units present will follow their respective commanders. Engage at will!"
"You heard him, people!" Bell said. "Engage!"
The scores of witches, wizards, and Neuri Tribe warriors alike charged forth into battle, some shouting their own battle cries.
Bell and Kamiko stayed behind with Rei and Zen. They had noticed that the two were spent and had to use their remaining power to stay afloat in the sky.
"As impressive as that spell was, do you believe it was a good idea to take yourselves out of the battle?" Bell asked.
"We just cut the opposition by little over a third," Zen said. "It was worth it."
"Yeah," Rei agreed. "We took out several times our fair share and even thinned out the Neuroi's higher ranks."
Bell smiled. "As long as you'll be okay. I'm heading into battle."
"Roger that," Kamiko said. "I'll remain here as their defense."
"Okay. Be well." Bell flew off toward the bullet and beam filled battlefield.
Neuroi after Neuroi fell to the witch forces. Each team switched between systematically targeting and eliminating difficult enemies and taking out masses of drones and weak Neuroi.
Every witch, even the new witches from the alternate future who were one year too young to participate in the alternate future's Third Neuroi War, racked up kills well into the triple digits. A few of the most experienced fighters were quickly approaching the four digit mark.
As the Neuroi Super-Carrier became a problem, a team of four consisting of Bell, Lion, Fried, and Rose banded together to take down the monstrosity. After getting the core location from Mei Akiyama, Lion and Rose simultaneously flared their Strength Magic Auras and pounded the colossal Neuroi with the Trümmerschlag technique. The force of their attack shattered an incredible chunk of the monster.
Fried followed up their attack by hitting the Neuroi with a Großer Zauberschlag. His technique tore a hole clean through to the other side, and landed a hit on the core, but the core managed to survive the blast.
The Neuroi responded by charging up and firing several thick, powerful beams at the fighters, but they curved before they could even reach the shields that would have blocked them. They all curved and were drawn in to Bell's location.
She held out her glaive and pulled in the power of all the hostile energy attacks. Once they were gathered up, she compressed them into a single, large ball of energy at the tip of her glaive, and poured her own power in on top of it.
"Großer Gegenschlag," she said quietly as she pointed her glaive toward the core of the enemy and launched an incredibly powerful energy beam that completely disintegrated the core and all parts of the monstrosity that it touched, as well as erasing all hostiles beyond her target. The beam stretched out an impressive ten kilometers before it finally withered away into nothing.
"So we finally get to see the fabled Großer Gegenschlag technique developed by our own Isabel Hartmann II," Lion said with a smirk.
"What better time to pull out such a technique than to eradicate such a monster?" she cheerfully asked with a smile.
"You remind me of a certain anime character," Rosalie said. "Chiffon Fairchild, the Unmatched Smiling Monster, from Freezing."
"Is that so? I happen to be a fan of Miss Chiffon." Bell's expression suddenly turned serious and her eyes narrowed as a humanoid Neuroi, different from the rest, appeared in front of the group. She immediately knew what it was and quickly spoke over the radio. "All witches with Magic Antenna abilities, listen carefully and respond in haste. The enemy commander has appeared, and we are no match for her. Relay this to our attack force in the northwest immediately."
"That was fast." The commander eyed Bell. "You have great leadership qualities."
"I do what I must."
"I am High Commander Mavis. I overlook the forces of the northwest hive. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"I'd like to say I'm pleased as well, but I have a more appropriate word in mind."
"Oh? What's that?"
"Screwed."
"Ah." The Neuroi nodded. "Indeed. Fear not yet. I have no interest in indiscriminately slaughtering your forces. That's much too boring, and there is no honor in that. I would much rather search for one that can stand up to me... Or at least the one that can come closest.
"I see. Unfortunately, our strongest are currently unable to fight."
"Yes, I know of the Prodigal Witch and the mortal form of the Seven Stars Goddess." The Neuroi sighed, as one does. "I would have preferred to fight either of them, but I do have orders from Lord Mavet. Those orders are to eliminate those two while they lie helplessly in bed, as dishonorable as that is. However, I can at least allow you to produce your next best combatant."
"An oddity you are, but I respect that," Bell said calmly, her expression easing. "I'm afraid our next best fighters are currently too exhausted to fight. You would easily defeat them."
"Is there none that can fill the position?"
"None better than the few in front of you, and I'm afraid we are no match for you. Not even close."
"That's unfortunate." Mavis raised her arm and began to charge an attack. "If you can, I suggest you survive this."
"Wait!" Kamiko shouted as she flew up between Bell and Maris. "Bell, I will fight."
Mavis adjusted her aim toward Kamiko. "Then you will be recipient of my attention. Survive this please."
Kamiko only gave Mavis a blank expression before summoning her Legendary Weapon, Kouten, and activating the same Light Aura with golden sparks that her mother had used earlier.
"At your current level, you still do not have enough power to stand against my attack," Mavis said.
"Hit me with your best shot," Kamiko said in a monotone voice.
Mavis released her small, but intense blast of energy.
Kamiko didn't move. She muttered a single word, "Awaken," before swatting the beam to the sky with ease. Kamiko's Light Aura with golden sparks was now much more intense. Her aura was now more translucent, the sparks were more defined resembling proper lightning, and a light golden circle appeared on her eye's silver irises.
"Impressive. The Awakened State. This will be a grand battle."
Just as Kamiko and Mavis began their battle, Toshiro and Aya were approaching at an incredible speed of over thirty thousand kilometers per hour. The two were more than determined to reach the battlefield.
Rei could only watch in horror as her daughter fought the overpowered Neuroi. Kamiko's power was incredible on its own, and doubly so with the Awakened State, but she was unable to deal any lasting damage to Mavis.
The two exchanged blow after devastating blow. Due to Kamiko's superior skills, she often was able to land a hit on Mavis, but Mavis's superior power and regeneration virtually negated Kamiko's efforts.
"One minute has passed, Master Kamiko."
"Yes, Kouten. I have a maximum of four minutes remaining."
"I will forcibly shut off the Awakened State five seconds before time is up."
"I know. Thank you."
Kamiko quickly formulated a plan that she hoped would be enough to take down Mavis. She quickly formed a ball of light energy in her free hand, threw it to the right, and successively formed another that she threw to her left. Each ball split apart several times and soon formed a spherical shape out of light orbs.
Mavis glanced around, wondering what Kamiko was up to. Confident that she would come out victorious, she simply floated in place and waited.
Seeing that Mavis became passive, Kamiko kicked it into high gear. She had planned to skip the incantation to the spell she was casting, but with the opportunity to perform it properly, she took a few extra seconds.
"Light from above,
"Light from below."
"Light that shines,
"With golden glow."
"Come forth now,
"The light's bestow."
"I invoke thy power,
"Destroy thy foe!"
As she finished the incantation, the many balls of light joined together in a solid sphere. "Sanctum of the Light Goddess!"
In an instant, the enormous sphere of light contracted upon Mavis, resulting in a bright flash of light. Kamiko didn't even wait to see the results before launching her finishing technique. She held Kouten at arm's length and poured all her power into the blade.
"Seiken no Choushinsei (Supernova of the Holy Sword)!"
Kamiko launched a small blast of light magic toward her enemy, and upon making contact she willed the attack to detonate. The relatively small burst of light exploded with astounding magnitude. The shockwaves generated shook everything within a five kilometer radius as if the air itself was struck by an incredible earthquake.
"Two and a half minutes remaining."
"Thank you, Kouten."
As the light faded, and the dust and vapor cleared from the surrounding area, it seemed as though Kamiko had won. She still sensed Mavis's presence, however, hidden within the remaining cloud of dust and vapor.
"Kousen!" Kamiko launched a powerful beam of light magic from her free hand.
Just as the beam approached its target, the cloud was blown away and Mavis swatted the beam upward into the sky where it harmlessly dissipated.
"One and a half minutes remaining."
"Well done," Mavis praised. "That was a very impressive display. Executing two extremely advanced techniques back to back such as you did is not a feat to laugh at. However," she paused for a moment, "our little game must come to a close. Die with honor, my incredible adversary."
Mavis charged forward, quickly grabbed Kamiko's right wrist before she could react, and pushed her arm around until Kouten pierced Kamiko's chest. Mavis pushed Kouten through her until the guard was pushed up against her left breast.
Kamiko coughed up blood as she fell from the sky.
-Rei's Flashback-
-Five Minutes Prior-
Rei gritted her teeth as she saw the Neuroi commander arrive.
I can't believe the power I'm sensing from that monster. I never imagined that the commander would stray this far from the hive. The commanders that Mom and Yoshika defeated yesterday were strong enough, but this one is on a completely higher level.
Kamiko started to fly off toward the Neuroi, but she was held back when Rei grabbed her hand.
"No!" Rei hissed at her. "You can't go. That one is too strong even with the Awakened State."
"We don't have a choice!" Kamiko jerked her wrist free and took off toward the battlefield.
"Kamiko!" Rei yelled after her daughter, but her cry fell upon deaf ears.
-Present-
Kamiko struggled to stay conscious, having her own blade ran through her chest. She coughed up blood and her vision blurred. She couldn't distinguish the cries from her comrades or the telepathic cries from Kouten.
The only thing that kept her conscious was the cry from her mother. "KAMIKO!"
Rei screamed as she flew toward her falling daughter. She wasn't the only one. Just before Rei caught up to Kamiko, Aya appeared and caught the girl.
"Aya?!" Rei gasped with tears flowing down the sides of her face.
Toshiro appeared next to them with clenched fists and an expression beyond anger.
"Take her," Aya said as she handed over Kamiko. After Kamiko was safely in Rei's arms, Aya reached for Kouten's hilt, but as she grabbed it, Kari materialized and stopped Aya from pulling out the blade.
"If you do that too quickly, she'll die," Kari said. "Use your healing magic with Magic Drive. Amp it up as much as possible."
"We'll help!" a sixteen year old Fusojin witch said as she flew over with similarly aged Fusojin wizard. Yusu flew over as well.
"I'm Colonel Yoshika "Yusu" Miyafuji II, great granddaughter of Yoshika Miyafuji," Yusu said. "These are Second Lieutenants Rika Miyafuji and Haru Miyafuji, my younger siblings. All three of us are skilled in the same healing magic as Yoshika."
The three simultaneously activated her Healing Magic Auras and blanketed Kamiko in healing magic.
Kari pulled Aya's hand from the blade. "You, too. The blade is piercing her heart. The only thing keeping her alive is her Awakened State. This has to be done before her five minutes are up, or we'll lose her. We have thirty seconds."
Aya activated her Magic Drive and added her healing powers to the pool. Kari slowly pulled out the blade, allowing the healing magic to restore Kamiko's damaged tissue slowly but surely.
"Twenty seconds," Kari said.
She continued to pull the blade. It was almost out when Kouten forcibly cut off the Awakened State. Kari quickly removed the rest of the blade, and blood gushed out of Kamiko's open wound for a split second before the four healers fully repaired the last remaining damage.
Kamiko coughed up more blood and said, "Kaka... (Mama...)" before falling unconscious in Rei's arms, her mother crying.
Yusu breathed a sigh of relief, and Rika and Haru exchanged glances. "That was intense," they said together.
Kouten materialized into her human form, which greatly resembled her master's appearance with the exception of her wearing a light purple battle kimono instead of a light green Striker Flight Suit. Kouten quickly thanked Kamiko's saviors before taking her from Rei's arms.
"Will she be okay?" Rei asked frantically.
Kouten nodded. "Yes. Due to the circumstances, I waited until one second to cut off the Awakened State. If our healing friends were a moment slower or if I had cut it off a second sooner, we would have lost Master Kamiko, but now her body is healed to the point that she's out of fatal danger. Since she spent the full four minutes and fifty-nine seconds in Awakened State, she'll be unconscious for at least two days. I'm taking her away from the battlefield now."
"I'm coming with you."
Mavis smiled, as a Neuroi does, at the scene that had just unfolded and watched as Kouten and Rei flew away with Kamiko. "What a sight. It makes my core tingle inside."
Before she could utter another word, Toshiro and Aya appeared in front of her, using their time dilution magic.
"Well done saving her," Mavis praised. "I may be your enemy, but I have deep respect for what you've just done."
Her words bore no change upon Toshiro's mind, nor Aya's.
Toshiro clenched his left fist and held Oblivion Lost in Mavis's direction. He spoke in a cold, monotone voice. "Don't expect mercy."
Aya held her hand out toward Kari, who took the hand and transformed into Hikarimaru. "That goes double for me."
"I can feel your anger... your rage," Mavis said slowly as she materialized a blade of her own. "Channel that rage at me. Show me what you've got."
Toshiro only grew angrier upon hearing those words. "Kamiko is a dear friend of mine."
"Then avenge her!" Mavis commanded.
"You're dead."