Author's Note: I am sorry about how long this has taken to get out. Unfortunately, my hours at work have gotten amped up again, and as a result my per-day output has dropped from 'five pages of new material every day' to 'maybe two, if I'm not too tired to write at all'. I've been in this state of energy before. It sucked then, it sucks now.
Still, I'm plodding along, and hey! At least I'm not totally unable to update! That's something, right?
… Right?
Ah, well. Either way, happy Independence Day to all my readers from the USA (And I suppose the ones from outside it... its not really a holiday to you, but you can still have a happy day, right?). Have some fireworks, on me.
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The King of the Clouds
Susanoo went flying into the padded training center wall hard enough to dent the plaster beneath, the training device rolling from numb fingers.
"Pathetic," rumbled the trainer, his voice like an earthquake in progress.
"The routine..." Susanoo muttered, rising to his hands and knees. "The routine... was solid. Big sister said..."
A foot the size of a decently-sized dinner roast wrapped in a combat boot made of more leather than some chairs slammed onto his back, forcing him face-first into the mat. "The tactic was fine, but for a unit like you, tactics are often not the most effective means of first approach. Amaterasu has the speed and reflexes to use a ploy like this, you do not without the benefit of enhancement magic. In your case, a different approach is needed.
"Now stand up, and stop fighting like a child. I can spare only two weeks from the front to handle this absurd training, and I will do it properly. Hold nothing back, and strike with all your power as if you intend to kill me."
Susanoo blinked. "This is supposed to be training!"
"Training or live fire, it doesn't matter. You are a heavy combat model, specialized for all-out mass destruction. Hold. Nothing. Back. For you, this is the ideal maneuver, always. Remember this, Susanoo, for it is the key to the Hazardi's individual superiority, and the key to your creation: there is a certain level of raw power against which no tactic can be successful. The Hazardi Thought Lords are this to our magi. Your duty is to be that to them.
"Now stand up. And no mercy."
It was early afternoon, and the sky was blacker than pitch. Barrier Jackets, by their nature, provided a great deal of support to the wearer, including very effective night vision; between this and light that magical battle tended to create, being able to see was not an issue.
Fate was not comforted by this, because what she saw was in no way comforting.
Susanoo was gleaming visibly, wreathed in black-tinged sparks of blue energy leaping between the plates of the black plate armor his final drive had transformed his Barrier Jacket into. The axe in his hands had gotten smaller, oddly: the shaft had retracted enough to allow him to hold it in one hand, and both blades had shifted around to become parallel to each other on the same side of the weapon. The rest of the team looked very, very wary, and they should have been, because Fate could feel the electricity. In the clouds, in the air, in Susa himself. Her entire body tingled in sympathy with the captured lightning all through the battlefield.
Be cautious, Signum sent telepathically. I am familiar with the concept behind that weapon. The two blades so close together are intended to create wounds that are more difficult to seal. They...
Susanoo raised his weapon, and a rapidly oscillating wave of blue light appeared in between the twin blades, leaving the axe glowing brilliantly and buzzing like a swarm of wasps.
Or, Chrono sent telepathically, his tone somewhat numb, this form is to allow his device to more easily become a chainsaw made of lightning.
Or that, Signum admitted.
"Are you ready, Raijin?" Susanoo asked, his tone incredibly mild. Fate had never heard him sound so bored, and it was honestly disturbing to her... almost as much as the device's reply. Raijin had always been... loud. Exuberant, childish. Far more so than even her owner, despite her gleeful sadism.
Now, the device said, in the voice of a cool, mature woman, her tone glacially calm and almost sultry, "Yeah, let's go. No mercy, your highness."
Susanoo nodded, his eyes empty of any emotion, and he charged.
Fate was the fastest person she knew, and had the reflexes to match. While in Sonic Form, she could see bullets in flight and, if needed, dodge or even swat them out of the air with trivial effort. And so it was that she was able to follow Susanoo's movements, when he went for her throat.
Judging by the wide eyes of her friends, though, she was the only one.
"I hate this form," he said conversationally as the energy blade on his device struck her own Zanber, and began to dig into it, the blue light slicing into the golden blade nearly an inch before stopping. Fate's eyes widened, both at the sheer force of the blow, and the sight of her most powerful weapon form dissolving like soft rubber under a knife. "It's not like my sisters. I don't get stronger or anything. It just becomes easier to control. My power is focused, refined, brought into my total command. Speed, attack power, spells of enhancement are as easy as breathing..."
He twisted his weapon, the shrieking of the energy blade growing almost unbearable as it ripped into the golden sword further, the lightning of Fate's blade sparking furiously as it tried to fight back and lost. "It makes things so boring."
Fate snapped her sword back, breaking out of the weapon lock before he cut completely through it. She had no idea what was up with that bizarre weapon, but the energy in it was clearly an order of magnitude above the that in her own. She dodged back, flying so quickly the world was a blur before her eyes, but he was not as much slower than her as she'd hoped, following right in her slipstream and using her own mass a shield against wind resistance to keep up with her. He swung as he lunged, bringing his weapon up in an arc aimed to cut her in half at the waist. Fate winced inwardly (she did not have the time to make the expression in real life) and thought, He's trying to force me to block so he can destroy my sword, or...
He wouldn't try to kill her. She had to believe that he wouldn't go that far, or she'd have to make the unfortunate connection that he simply was beyond saving, whatever Nanoha said. Or worse, didn't think he needed to be saved from anything at all...
The glowing axe slammed into her sword, and once again began to slice into it, before being forcibly stopped by a metal blade joining her own in resisting. "Back, Testarossa! You can't be crossing swords when a single blow could kill you!" Signum snapped, flame running down the length of Laevateinn and flickering madly where the electric energy touched it.
"I did it with you!" Fate shouted back, forcing mana into the blade, another cartridge loading and making her blade grow in brightness, the chunks cut out of it beginning to regenerate.
Susanoo smiled slightly, an expression with no humor in it. "Such a poor apprentice. If you don't listen to your elders...
"You won't grow up to be one."
"Fang of the Storm Dragon." Raijin said, the buzzsaw of energy along her blade turning jet black, and growing, before...
Something hard and warm slammed around Fate's stomach, and her vision was obstructed just before a thick wave of superheated air slammed into her, the scent of ozone thick on it, followed by a thunderclap so loud it made her ears numb. She couldn't hear, couldn't see clearly, but she caught the wave of coruscating, electric energy out of the corner of her eye even as she was tumbled helplessly...
After what seemed like forever, but was likely only a few nauseating seconds, Fate found herself right-side-up, and clutched to Signum's chest by the Wolkenritter's free hand. Are you all right, Testarossa? she asked, her mental voice steady, but thick with pain.
Fate began to reply out loud, realizing belatedly that she could not hear her own voice over the ringing in her ears. Yes, I didn't take the hit, but you...! she replied telepathically, stepping out of Signum's grasp to take her first look at the older woman.
Signum's knight armor was seared and blackened in an arc going across her back from her right shoulder all the way down to her waist. The metal bracer on her right arm was gone, and the tie holding her hair in its ponytail had been cut loose, leaving the magenta mane falling across her back and face. It's fine. Better than it looks. I think he was aiming at you, so the blow was only glancing to me, Signum thought, before wincing slightly as the muscles in her back shifted.
That said, it does not feel good, she admitted, chagrin in her tone. My Knight Armor was penetrated, with a single blow... I should have invoked a defensive magic, but there was just no time.
Fate winced. There wasn't much doubt this one was her fault, Signum had pulled her out of an attack she would probably have died to, and taken the hit doing it.
But then, the blade that was diving in at the older woman's back told her that now was not the time to think about that.
Fate spun past Signum, her own weapon slicing a path through the air as it snapped up to meet the descending Raijin. For the third time, the energy blades met and clashed, and again the blade of the Zanber began to dissolve as the axe ate into it.
"I told you to keep your guard up..." Susanoo chided her.
Susanoo and Tsukuyomi followed Amaterasu through central command. Only one of them was skipping. Who this was... shall be left to the imagination.
"I know it doesn't seem like much, dears, but I'm afraid a month is all we have to spare for your training. We need you field-ready now, and as cute as you are, war waits for no man," Amaterasu said. Susa and Tsuku did not reply. Even one month had been enough to get them used to the fact that Ammy was a bit too interested in biological functions that she did not have any practical need for. "So today, you get your combat devices and your first orders. I'm so proud of you! My little caska-pups are all grown up and baring their fangs! We'll have to meet up and celebrate later, just the three of us. Somewhere private."
"No, thank you." Tsukuyomi said.
"You're still creepy, sis!" Susanoo said cheerfully.
Amaterasu sighed. "When I meet the dolt who decided to program in a sibling relationship... did they not see what a waste that was? Ah, well, I'm sure we'll be able to work around that programming in time. For now, though..." she keyed in her access code to the armory door, "... Big Sis has a present for you."
Two sealed devices stood ready; one a small, piece of jagged metal, like someone had sharpened a piece of shrapnel. The other a small, smooth turquoise gemstone that gently glowed with a soft silver aura.
"Well?" Amaterasu said. "They're yours. Talk to them."
Tsukuyomi picked up the gem, and said, "Hullo. How are you?"
"Suijin, systems online. Stand by, ready."
Susanoo, following her example, picked up his own device with a big grin and said, "Hey there! I guess we're partners."
"No way!" The small razor said in a petulant, childish whine.
The silence was deafening.
"No way I'm working with someone like you! That stupid kiddie friendliness? That big idiotic smile? You'll get me killed! I'm staying here." The device said.
Susanoo blinked. "I think mine's broken."
"That's absurd. I tested it myself, and it was perfectly functional," Amaterasu said. Sure, intelligent devices sometimes had minor personality conflicts with their programmed owners, but nothing like this.
"I am functional!" the device said. "I just don't trust this guy!"
"... Well. Leave it here for now, Susa. We'll wipe it's memory, and get it back to you in a few hours," Amaterasu said, deciding that falling back on threats was probably safest at this point. She didn't like the device's tone.
Susa chuckled. "Wait, wait. I kinda like it. It has personality. What's your name, little mouthy thing?"
"Designation: Raijin... you giant doofus."
"Okay, okay. Raijin, if you don't come with me and help out, they're just gonna scrap you, and I don't think you want that. So how about we do it this way?" Susanoo asked. "You work with me, but you can question me as much as you want and even insult me the whole time. You have to help, not be my friend. We're just like... business partners."
"... Acceptable. Catch?"
Susa smiled. "The catch is that when I do earn your respect... and I will, you cheap piece of tin... you have to call me 'your highness' from then on! Because we still won't be friends, I'll be your king and you have to do what I say forever!"
"Pfffffffft." the device said, probably the first time any such device had made that sound in recent memory. Or any memory. "Such an outcome is impossible."
Susanoo smirked. "We'll see about that... partner."
Chrono sighed in annoyance as he and Yuuno flew.
This was the problem with being the 'skilled but not strong one.' He would bet his ability in single combat against any particular person he cared to name, and he would win that bet more often than not. But sometimes the problem wasn't a fight. Sometimes the problem was that the fight had moved away from him just... way too fast for him.
"Can't you do something about this?!" Chrono snarled at his flight partner. "You're the support network!"
"I'm a defensive specialist and a medic!" Yuuno snapped back. "I don't know any speed enhancements, Chrono!"
"Then what do we keep you around for?!"
"I thought it was to be a librarian, but lately I'm starting to wonder if I'm the group's whipping boy," Yuuno sighed.
"You volunteered, as I recall!"
"For the field work, not the abuse!"
"It's not that much abuse, wimp," Chrono said. "Okay, I have something. Struggle bind on my mark, 0.7 kilometers ahead on our right."
Yuuno blinked. "They're still moving around too fast, Chrono. I can't aim a binding that specifically from this distance..."
"Durandal can, so tie your spell to mine and cast where I do. Lightning leaves a streamer of electrons. I have a computer lock on the stronger of the two electric trails. Fate can catch him, Signum can at least keep up, but the two of us need to slow him down. Let's do that. Target lock, and binding in five... four... three... two... mark!"
"Freezing Chain," Durandal said, its soothing artificial tone seemingly unaware it was in a high-speed chase under a giant artificial lightning storm.
"Struggle Bind!" Yuuno shouted, extending one glowing hand.
As one, azure and emerald chains burst into being around the streaks of light in the distance. Even as Susanoo drew back his blade to slam against Signum's guard, the binds of light snapped around his weapon hand, holding it back.
Susanoo sighed, raising one armored hand to intercept the woman's sword, the burning blade striking up sparks as it tore into the metal. "Oh, look. The kids are here."
He swung his weapon back, the chains shattering as he clamped his hand onto Laevateinn, the shriek of metal on metal deafening, and flung Signum over his shoulder before bringing the blade swinging down in an overhand chop in Yuuno and Chrono's general direction...
"Break!" Chrono shouted, turning a hard right and praying Yuuno had the sense to turn left before they were both-
"Claw of the Storm Dragon."
A pillar of lightning tore down from the skies and struck the axe, becoming a scythelike beam of descending energy, so bright that Chrono was blinded even though he was not looking at it...
Signum had to blink a few times to clear her eyes after that one, and did it just in time to catch the incoming blade before it took her head off.
"Sorry," Susanoo said flatly as his weapon shrieked against Laevateinn, trying to tear into the metal of the sword just from being pressed against it. "In general, the ideal tactic when facing a group in combat is to take out the weakest opponent first, but I've never been much for that. If you break the most dangerous one, the others just fall apart..."
Signum gave a small, tight smile without any humor to it. "I am fortunate, then, that Wolkenritter do not break."
Stepping back and sliding her sword out of the locked weapons, she let Susanoo's force carry him forward and off balance. Slipping a hand to her hip, she grasped the sword's sheathe and whipped it forward like a club, firmly intending to bash his skull in with it if she could. He brought his own hand up, the sheathe slamming into his armor with a hollow clang, but it was good enough. He had only one hand on his weapon, and Raijin was much heavier than Laevateinn even in this new, smaller form. It couldn't maneuver as well at short ranges. Slipping her sword up one-handed through the newly made hole in his guard, she went for the throat.
Hayate would perhaps not approve, but this was not a fight for mercy. Susanoo's last attack had left the battlefield a chaotic mess of ash and smoke, and she couldn't even be sure that Chrono and Yuuno were alive since there was no way to tell if it had been a direct hit or not. Someone needed to take him down, now, and as the warrior on the battlefield with the highest direct attack power, she was the obvious choice.
Susanoo did not agree.
Snapping his head to one side, the sword struck lower than expected, striking the armor of his right shoulder instead of the vulnerable flesh of his jugular. It skittered along the black plate before finally finding a seam and diving in, blood spurting bright red from beneath the armor.
And then she tried to pull it out, and found it stuck.
"Excellent swordsmanship," Susanoo said, as though a blade were not buried three inches into his shoulder. His muscles were tensed, the combination of this and the plates of his armor contracting holding the sword fast in his body. "I see why even Amaterasu had trouble with you. You really are something of a monster. And unlike the others, you tried to kill me without hesitation. I can respect that."
"It's not something to respect," Signum growled. "The Mistress of the Night Sky would be looking on me with shame right now, if she could see the depths I sink to. But I am a Knight of Belka, a Wolkenritter. I will defend my comrades, even if I must do so with disgust in my heart."
Susanoo blinked, his expression shifting almost imperceptibly. "Such an ignorant title."
"Wh-?"
He snapped his weapon up, holding the axe to the heavens. With his free hand, he grabbed onto her sword by the blade, blood flowing from beneath his gauntlet, and ripped it out of his shoulder to throw her back across the skies. "You talk about the Mistress of the Night Sky like such a thing could exist. Pay attention, you little speck. I am the god of thunder, Susanoo the Storm Emperor.
"Day or night, the lord of the sky is always me."
"Crying Heavens: Izanagi."
The skies opened, pillars of blinding azure force striking down from the clouds...
But not at Signum.
The Wolkenritter watched in horror as the bolts of energy slammed home amid the cloud of dust, once more sending the maelstrom whirling. As if on cue, Fate and Chrono exploded out of the cloud, each dodging in their own way to avoid being roasted alive.
Signum's eyes widened as Susanoo's smile grew. "Like I said: target the most dangerous first."
"Wings of the Storm Dragon." Raijin said. Susanoo's black armor took on a brilliant azure aura, a crackling tingle of electricity that surrounded him and made him gleam like the heart of a thunderstorm. Stunning light, illuminating pitch black...
And then he was gone, leaving only the blood on her blade and a streamer of electricity in the air as he took off at speed she could barely perceive.
Signum cursed under her breath, working out what he meant in the space of half a second and wondering if that was already far too long to stop him. After all, of the two of them here, Signum had overmatched him... but she had never managed a decisive victory.
Only one of them had pulled that off.
In her mind, she screamed on a wide-band telepathic broadcast, unconcerned if the enemy could pick it up, He's targeting Chrono!
Chrono wished he could have been shocked by that, but honestly? It was about how his life went these days. Of course he was the target, he was simultaneously the greatest threat and the weakest; lacking the durability of Yuuno or Signum, or the speed and agility of Fate, but possessing at least one high-tier spell that could have ended the fight in a second if it hit.
Never should have used Eternal Coffin on him. It's too memorable. Everyone remembers it and then boom, right for me with the axe they come. Chrono thought in irritation, trying his best to adjust his vision. He still had spots in his vision from all of the ridiculously bright flashes going around the field today, and most of what he could see was dust, so he extended his senses, searching for...
CRAP! He thought, snapping up his staff and projecting a shield roughly half a nanosecond before the big damn axe took his face off.
He was then left equal parts humiliated and horrified when the blade in question smashed his shield like it was made of glass, slammed home into Durandal's primary shaft...
Durandal was a piece of precision engineering, and indeed a lethally effective weapon in the hands of a skilled mage, allowing manipulation of frost and ice on a scale that was normally impossible even for the highest-ranked magi. To Crono, the device was a stunningly perfect match, perfectly complimenting his strengths and turning his skill into the perfect weapon.
The downside to this, sadly, was that having it properly fortified and upgraded with a cartridge system had proven to be technically almost impossible.
Raijin struck the staff's primary shaft, and sliced through the metal cleanly before continuing straight for his chest without so much as a pause.
Chrono had just enough time (which was to say, about a millisecond) for a final thought. The sad thing was, the only one that could come to mind was, And I thought 'saved by his mommy' was a bad thing to have on my first Captain-ranked mission report. 'Bisected' is going to look so much worse...
The blade was so close he could practically feel it burning through his barrier jacket when a glowing blade of energy slammed into the side of the incoming weapon, sending it mostly off-course. Mostly because, as screaming agony ran up his left side like fire injected into his blood, the weapon still bit into his chest, just between the second and third ribs, and oh my it was unpleasant...
He fell, for what seemed like forever but was probably only about three seconds, and landed on something... not exactly soft, but yielding. At the very least it didn't leave any broken bones, which considering he probably had third-degree electrical burns on his ribs, was a relief in and of itself. His skeleton did not need any more surprises. He opened his eyes, and when the blurriness was gone, a soft green glow filled them. He sighed in annoyance. Yuuno had saved his life? He'd never hear the end of this.
No, wait, there had been a sword of light, too. So Yuuno and Fate had saved him, which was okay. You didn't have to feel bad about being in debt to family, and besides Fate was not the sort of person who would ever use her saving of your life against you. She had morals, unlike Yuuno.
Chrono had, perhaps, a skewed concept of how Yuuno actually operated. In fairness, this was mostly due to them being such good friends. Everyone has at least one dear old friend they generally just can't stand, and for Yuuno and Chrono, this was each other. They were Best Enemies Forever.
Susanoo rolled his eyes, fending off Fate's counterattack, even as he watched Chrono's fall being broken. It wasn't ideal, but he was out of the match for now. And this was interesting... Fate's weapon, normally a pale and easily broken yellow, had taken on a light green hue. He examined it, and from what he could tell, it showed no signs of breaking despite going nearly thirty (they were both, at this point, moving very very fast) exchanges with Raijin. The energy blade on his device was a compressed attack spell of immense power, designed intentionally as a device-breaker. He'd have wagered even one as solid as Signum's sword was starting to feel it after holding locked with him for a few seconds; there was no way that Fate's should have been able to stand up to him intact, unless...
Enhancement magic. The kid who repelled the Colossus gave your blade a little polish, I see, Susanoo thought at her, smiling despite himself. The communication had to be psychic; both of them were moving at near the speed of sound at this point.
I couldn't stand on my own. My friends helped me, Fate thought firmly, slashing aside his axe and whirling to cut down through his shoulder, but hitting only empty air. She banked right as hard as she could, feeling his counter take a few strands of her hair. This part is all me, though.
She went into a dive, feeling the sound barrier part around her as she poured every bit of energy she had into speed, golden wings igniting on her back, her wrists, her ankles. Susanoo followed in her wake, using her slipstream to keep up as before.
This was unwise of him.
Fate poured that tiny little bit of speed on, and the sonic boom went off directly in his face.
A sonic boom is not a horribly dangerous thing under most circumstances. It is, after all, just a really loud noise. If one happens in the sky above you, you'd probably assume it was just fireworks or something similar.
This does, however, imply that the source of the sonic boom is, as they almost always are, thousands of feet away from you. After all, how could you possibly be any closer to a supersonic vehicle? By their very nature, they almost have to be in the open sky, so as to avoid ramming very fast into something solid and exploding. When Fate broke the sound barrier, however, she was roughly, oh, thirty feet in front of Susanoo.
Hearing anything from that close up is going to make it a lot, lot louder.
The knight fell back, clutching his ears as an almost physical wave of sound slammed into him, followed rapidly by all sound, everywhere, devolving into a kind of aimless ringing. He spiraled down, slamming hard into dirt and skidding to a long stop on his hands and knees, the trail behind him smoking.
He sighed, and though he couldn't hear his own words, took the time to say out loud, "Annoyed now."
He snapped his weapon up, intercepting the descending Laevateinn as Signum re-entered the fray, the detonation from her blade slamming him downward so hard the ground shattered beneath his feet.
She said something, but he couldn't hear it. He chose to settle for just drawing lightning into his blade and swinging...
They called him a general, but Tsu Kaishin didn't feel like one.
For starters, he had only really ever wanted to be a farmer. His homeworld, Shai Rin, was a lush one, with mineral-rich water fed by a massive ring of volcanoes along the equator that lent itself very well to agriculture (It made traveling between the northern and southern hemispheres an annoyance, of course, but no world was without its quirks). Kaishin had been part of a clan in service to the Third Potentate of the Tzena province, a noble of middling rank. His family had not been wealthy, but they had been well-fed and provided for. His lands were not the largest, but large enough that he had employed a dozen hands to aid him, and productive enough he could pay them a fair wage. Life was difficult often, and full of labor always, but he was content.
Then the Hazardi Thought Lord Ky-Ri Alzai had chosen Shai Rin as the testing ground for what she referred to as "medical experiments." Which was to say she had seeded the atmosphere with massive doses of lethal Akailan Fever, a disease ravaging Hazardi colonies. She had wanted a free source of viral infectees to study the progression of the disease, and to acquire antibody samples from any survivors. Millions had died in the space of a few weeks, both from the disease and from Hazardi warships razing any feeble attempts at armed resistance. Thousands more had survived the symptoms of the disease only to be taken by the Thought Lord's knights to be vivisected for tissue samples in her personal laboratories.
Ky-Ri Alzai successfully synthesized a 90% effective cure for Akailan Fever in the space of less than two years, a result she considered largely successful.
Tsu Kaishin lost his wife, daughter, two sons, and mother. He considered this a reason to become a soldier.
The Alliance against Al Hazard was massive, its one advantage. The Thought Lords and their servitors were the most powerful magical force in all of known creation, and also quite likely the most amoral. Over the course of hundreds of years of abusing the fantastic powers their cruel research had unlocked, they had made enemies of literally hundreds of civilized worlds, and in addition many of their own holdings went had gone into open revolt upon the declaration of war. This made it fairly easy to find a world in which to enlist against them, and Kaishin had found himself unexpectedly good at soldiering, which was to say he had gotten out of several battles alive. This was a rarity, and had led to him being given command of a squad. He had then gotten almost half of them alive out of each engagement they entered, which was nothing less than amazing in a war in which it took upwards of two-hundred of the Alliance's soldiers to bring down a single Hazardi warmech or mage-knight.
And so, after ten years of soldiering, he had been made a general. Alliance generals had almost as short a life-expectancy as the soldiers, given the ease at which the Thought Lords were able to break encryption and the skill of Hazardi assassins, so the Guardian project had been a welcome piece of news to him, as he did not wish to die. But the guardian he got...
"Heya!" Susanoo said. "So, I guess I'm supposed to keep you alive. That ought to be interesting for a first mission!"
General Kaishin's inner circle (a fancy word for the three surviving members of his original squad of thirty, the few who had followed him through all this) looked somewhere between horrified and amused.
"So," Commander Kieros said. "You have never been on a mission before, kid?"
"Don't call me kid," Susanoo pouted. "I've been functional for eight months!"
"You're eight months old?!" Kieros snapped. "Oh Gods and Demons, they sent an infant to watch over the general's transfer?"
"It's not human, Kieros, stop talking to it like one," Lieutenant Davos said with a shrug. "It's just a weapon."
Kieros turned, his jaw dropping. "Davos, he's a kid. Look at him."
"No, it's a defensive drone in human form. Not any different from a Hazardi Black Knight or Star-Breaker. They look humanoid, and there's nothing inside but malice. The brass want it to protect the general, let them. Stars know, we're not likely to survive the trip cross-planet otherwise. Let it do its job."
Kaishin sighed. "Both of you, stop it. This is not the time to be falling on each other," turning to the young man—and gods above, he did look too damn young. Kaishin was more than used to seeing young men and women in his command, anyone of age was from an alliance world tended to be called to service. But most of them had eyes old beyond their years. This Susanoo was not just young. He was a kid, which was not something that Kaishin had seen in a long time. "Look, it's Unit Lightning, right? We should use rank in the field, so I want to be sure."
"Yup yup!" Susanoo said cheerfully, seemingly not bothered by the two officers having a discussion on if he was a person or not. "Though I prefer Susanoo. Or Susa! All my siblings call me that. Er, well... some of them, I guess. Actually, I think just Tsukuyomi. Say, do you know where she was posted? I asked, but the comm officer just told me it wasn't mission-critical, so..."
Kaishin held up a hand. "Look, Lightning. This is war zone. Focus."
"... Of course. Sorry, sir."
"Better," Kaishin said, nodding. "Battle lines have shifted. Earlier this morning, the defense lines around Callista City on Tuvorka broke, and the continent is now Hazardi hands. My command post, as such, needs to move with the retreating forces to the southern continent to set up new lines of defense."
Susanoo wrinkled his nose. "I read the mission briefing, sir."
"Had it downloaded?" Davos drawled.
"Nah, that makes my brain itch," Susanoo said cheerfully. "Don't worry, though. My training was just about the best ever. I'm sure I can get all of you to the western continent alive!"
"Southern."
"Yes, that one."
"We're gonna die, aren't we?" Kieros asked nobody in particular.
"No, no, I'm here to do the opposite thing of that."
Fate danced away through the sky like a black-and-gold ghost, Susanoo's strike cut short by green chains snapping around his arm. Again. Every time he was about to strike a killing blow, the chains came up, and while they shattered like glass, they also held him up for one more strike, dispelled one more enhancement that could have ended the battle faster. Just made things... so tedious.
However, there were some good points to slowing down the battle a bit, Susanoo mused. For one, it was much harder to analyze things at high velocities like the kind Fate preferred. Slowed down and playing defensively, it was so much simpler to work out where all these obnoxious support magics were coming from.
Susanoo leveled his weapon and narrowed his eyes, a ball of solid azure light gathering at the end of the blade. "No more binds, you little brat."
"Roar of the Storm Dragon."
The bolt was as tall as Yuuno himself, and twice as wide; he'd only seen a buster of that level from Nanoha herself, and this one was coming in very fast despite the distance, oh dear...
He held his hands out in front of him, palms facing out, fingers spread and thumbs just barely touching. "Iron Defense!" he snapped, the shield igniting in the air before him. The simple fact was, for Yuuno, if he had three seconds to react, a properly formed shield was simple, a dodge would likely not get him appreciably far from the blast zone. Luckily, my shields aren't half bad. After all, I tanked that big robot...
The bolt hit, then, and while the shield didn't break, it didn't exactly work, either. Lightning ran over the edges, flowing in streams around him, and the impact force pushed him backward at just a little too fast for him to be comfortable, cracks forming in his defense as he slammed into the ground and skidded backwards on his ankles, digging up furrows of earth.
… On the other hand, I did put up a much better shield for the big robot! Yuuno thought, his mind a little squeaky with panic as the lightning began to burn through the barrier, the light beginning to dim and crack at the edges of the circle.
"Diamond Wall."
The wave of light scattered, the pressure on Yuuno's shield suddenly broken as a miniature glacier burst out of the ground in front of him. "Move!" Chrono snarled, holding the mostly-fixed (field repairs were a gift from the heavens, though he had to thank Susanoo for being 'considerate' enough to damage only the solid-metal shaft and not any of the sensitive electronics in the main body) Durandal in his hands, a blue glow surrounding him and icy mist coming off his body. "Won't hold for long!"
Yuuno's greatest power was always his mind, and thus he quickly determined that the statement 'jump out of the way of the crushing energy beam' was probably not a bad plan. He took a flying leap, dropping his shield and pumping the mana into a barrier beneath his feet to press off of for added distance. Behind him, he heard the very worrisome sound of the ice shattering, and the energy bolt scything through the space he had vacated less than a second earlier.
We're even for the last save, Chrono said into his head, his tone noticeably smug at the thought.
I could have stopped that attack if he hadn't surprised me, Yuuno muttered psychically. He hadn't exactly realized there was a contest going on for them to be 'even' in, but he was still not happy to suddenly be informed he wasn't winning it anymore.
Susanoo sighed sadly, watching as Chrono and Yuuno prepared to rejoin the battle, turning slightly to stare down at Fate and Signum as they flew in on another attack run from below, poised to flank him and take him from both sides. "It has been fun. You kids... I shouldn't be. I really shouldn't be. But I am sorry about this.
"It's almost a shame you fell for it."
Abandoning the attack, Susanoo flew straight up, towards his storm. Four bright blue stars ignited among the clouds, lighting up the battlefield more brilliantly than the sun, but each carrying with them the unmistakeable crackle of lightning and a cloyingly thick scent of ozone that washed over the battlefield.
Chrono's eyes widened. "That's... no, it can't be, when did he..."
Oh, God.
"Claw that tears apart the sky, wings that drive a hurricane, fangs that call the storm down to pierce all foes, roar that drives my enemy into panic. Descend, dragon of the skies, and call down the storm that kills gods."
The spells. The spells he's been using this whole time... 'Storm Dragon'...
The circles grew more brilliant, and Chrono screamed, "He's been setting up a ritual this whole time! Get out of the way, before..."
"Rain of Apocalypse."
The four mystical circles in the sky exploded, and the world followed them.
The rain of lightning made the prior blasts look tiny in comparison. Not a single huge bolt, but dozens, maybe hundreds of individual blasts, each nearly a meter in circumference and tearing massive craters in the ground from their impact, the explosions building on each other into a massive, dome-shaped wall of light that drowned out the entirety of the battlefield...
One by one, mages trying to flee or defend vanished in the light of destruction tearing down from the heavens.
It was several long minutes before the maelstrom ended, and when it did, the calm and silence was eerie; like the massive spell had not merely leveled everything in sight, but sucked the sound from the atmosphere. Not even dust remained on the wind, as Susanoo descended to stand in the center of the scorched crater nearly a mile in diameter, and closed his eyes. Extending his senses, he searched what remained of the battlefield for any sign of movements, and felt nothing. The flickers of magic were still present in among the storm of his power... survivors? That would be impressive. But none of what he could feel was on the move, so most likely nothing much...
A shame. But now I can head to Tsukuyomi and end things once and for all. He thought. It was time to...
Something moved in the wastes, pushing aside rocks and dirt to rise painfully to shaking legs out of the charred dirt.
Susanoo blinked. "I'll say this. If one of you was going to be conscious, I was expecting it to be Signum. But looking back, I guess this makes sense."
Yuuno wiped blood from his mouth, his face set in a determined scowl. "I... have the best defenses. Of anyone I know. Did you think... that would break me?"
"Yes, actually. The total energy was about what a Colossus at... oh, one-third-power puts out. It isn't as concentrated, of course, but you also didn't have time to put up much of a defense before the ritual landed. Ah, well... it's just you, now. Shouldn't be much of a problem." Susanoo said, shrugging.
Yuuno narrowed his eyes. "Don't be so sure. I'm better than people give me credit for," Yuuno said. Inwardly, he thought, I am gonna die. I am gonna die. So much. I'm the support! He's gonna leave me a smear on the rocks!
Susanoo smiled slightly. "You are indeed. The fact you can stand up proves that. But be realistic. I am a child of Al Sethis, little one. The closer it gets to the material plane, the stronger I get. There were four of you, and you couldn't even stand up to the shadow of my full power. I'm only getting stronger, and now you're alone and fatigued. You're a mortal fighting a god, kid. Stand down before you end up dead."
Yuuno tensed, a green aura bursting into life around him. "Not a chance. My friends believed in this fight, and I'm not going to give up until my body gives out on me! So get ready, you big lummox. You might be stronger than me, more experienced than me, bigger than me, and better armed than me. But I'm... um... I'm..."
"Couldn't think of a good way to finish that, huh?" Susanoo asked.
"I... I was hoping to come up with something while I said it," Yuuno admitted.
Nanoha pressed her back against the rock, struggling to catch her breath. She could hear it breathing (of course she could hear it breathing, it had eight faces to draw in air!) but she didn't have the thing in view at this point. She could have, if she'd tried, obviously, but moving around too much to get a clear view of it would have let it see her, and that would have ended badly.
Nanoha was familiar with the legend of the Orochi, of course. She was not particularly happy to discover that it was based in some kind of fact, nor that it was not exaggerating. The creature was a monster, in every sense of the word. One-on-one, she would have hesitated to fight it at her best. It's physical strength was enormous, and in terms of energy combat, its breath was basically a B-ranked buster spell. This normally wouldn't have upset Nanoha, who sent off A-ranked ones the way other people changed their socks, but in this case the Orochi had a small advantage in that it could fire eight of them at once. Worse, it wasn't crushing energy, like her attacks; whatever that poison it dripped from its mouths was, it was extremely flammable.
The teeth made the spark, somehow, and the next thing Nanoha and Vita had known, eight consuming streams of roaring red flame and choking, poisonous smoke were rushing toward them, and it was all they could do to scatter and pray...
She didn't know where Vita was. The explosion had separated them, and going through the smoke and flame the attacks had left behind was impossible until she could get up some kind of atmospheric barrier; just too much poison in both. A single mouthful had made her so dizzy she could barely fly straight in her attempt to get to cover. She suspected that if she got any more in her system before the first dose had cleared, she'd be in danger of losing consciousness.
Much, much too close to her, the Orochi's snarl of hunger made the rocks tremble.
The serpent that ends the world stirs, and prepares to bring disaster to all it surveys. The eternal night begins.
The moon shines down through a haze of venom, gleaming red as blood.