Disclaimer: Mahou Sensei Negima, Dungeons & Dragons, Forgotten Realms, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple, Mass Effect (Technology), and (possible) miscellaneous cameo characters are created and owned by their respective creators, not me. I write this for entertainment for the masses and to improve myself.

Part 4: Apocalypse, Rescue Operation, Revenge Opportunity, Disaster

"Whoo, that was fun! In fact, I haven't that much fun since the Dinosaur Zoo Breakout of '93! Hehe, Boneless wouldn't shut up about how cool his cousins were. Remember that, Boneless?"

The rubber chicken didn't say a word.

"Yes, you were!"

The rest of the party, still intact despite the Road of Random Accidents, were exhausted. Not from physical fatigue, but mental. This road had been a cavalcade of disasters, practical jokes, accidents, and things left unsuited to describe. But they had made it. They reached the end of that treacherous and unpredictable route to a cave entrance with an elaborate door. They were pooped, save two.

"Thank you, Cheese," said Fashtar as he dusted himself off. Fashtar was covered in scratches and soft bruises, but he was more or less intact. "That was… an experience."

"Well, I can certainly add that to my autobiography once I decide to write it down," said the other. Jarlaxle was still as clean as ever and all he had to do was readjust his big hat.

"So, are we even now, Fashy-bashy?" Cheese Sandwich asked.

"Yes, Cheese. We're even now. You can go home in your own fashion."

"Good." With that, the pony flipped open a sewer grate that wasn't there before and jumped in. "See ya!"

And then he was gone.

"How did you even-"

"I do not want to talk about it," Fashtar repeated. "Now let's just pop through this door so we can get what we need."

"More like what you need, boss," Huelun corrected. "I know I'm exhausted. I'm gonna rest here a bit. Catch my breath. You can go do your… wizard thing."

"Same here," Thorgar said from his part of the pile they were forming.

Nailbrain grunted in agreement.

"Sorry, Fashtar, but it seems we're not going with you this time," said Gorim, sitting down next to the pile, sweating like crazy because of his armor.

Fashtar observed his team for a moment, then… "Jarlaxle, do you need a breather?"

"Oh no, I can cope. We can do this together. Besides, you might need an assistant with whatever we're gonna do."

Fashtar shook his head and opened the door. That was surprisingly easy. "Let's go then."

"So what are we doing here?"

When the two were alone, Fashtar spoke. "I got the word that there is a combination altar here set with gemstones. By setting the stones in a specific order, one can open a portal between worlds."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. I spent the last few years looking into it and I had to hire tons of people to look for the documents verifying its location. And then I had to consult Outsiders for information on how to access the altar, and how to place the gems in the right order to get to our chosen destination.

"All in all, this whole endeavor has cost me more than a few pretty pennies," Fashtar explained.

"So chances are, we're actually losing money on this? Is that staff you're making really worth it?"

"...Yes."

"Why?"

"You'll know in the end. And I'm the one losing money here so you're covered. Now," Fashtar picked out a parchment with a list of gems set in a row of orders. "What was the order I needed for this again?"

Um, can we get back to Asuna? Like, what's going on there?

Honya-chan.

She was the Enemy. But… how? What the hell? How come she had the skull of this dimension's Asuna? What happened to the others?

Where are the others?

No. No, nonononono. This… this was a dream. A bad dream. Asuna could be in a coma induced by that goo she fell into when she, Saber, and Shakuras rescued Honya-chan back in her dimension.

But what the-

"What the fuck did this?" She asked aloud to this Honya. She noted this was the first time she ever said the word "fuck". Goddamnit, that Fashtar jerk had really turned their lives upside down.

"A...suna...san," Honya called through gritted teeth. Now that Asuna had a proper look, she had done a really awful job on her. She had twisted an arm out of shape and smashed Honya's foot. Her friend looked like an absolute wreck. And Asuna was responsible.

Asuna wanted to pull back. She tried, but then Honya grabbed her with her remaining functional arm and dragged her close.

She hugged Asuna, despite what she had done. "Honya-chan…" Asuna tried to speak, but she couldn't find the words. "Wha-?"

"Thank goodness, there might just be some hope," Honya said cryptically. The black robes began to melt away, revealing Honya's Treasure Hunter outfit underneath. "Asuna-san… it's good to see you again. Even if you're not-"

"Your, Asuna," Asuna finished for her and the two locked gazes. Honya did look in pain, but she could still manage a smile. "Honya-chan… what's going on here?"

"Its name is Drinde," Honya began. "That's the real Enemy. It's a collection of the souls of dead mages on this planet who felt the rage and anger towards the githyanki for events that happened long ago.

"When I came here and used magic, they saw their chance. I was easy prey for them. I got dominated and made into their host body. All that you have seen… is what they did to take revenge."

Asuna looked back on events. All the Tyranids, the demons, the colossal environmental destruction that made Mordor in the films look like a simple forest fire. This... Drinde was responsible for all that? And they made Honya do it?

"How-?"

"You," Honya responded. "Your magic cancel is nullifying their dominion over me… but not for long. I can't… I can't hold them off forever."

"Then… we'll get help. We can stop him, them, it, whatever," said Asuna with a little hope. "We'll get them out of you and then-" Honya put her hand on Asuna's mouth and shook her head.

"Too late. You know how the guys in black from Lord of the Rings were corrupted, right? How they wore Rings of Power and they turned evil the longer they wore them?"

"No. No, no, no. No no no no no." Asuna didn't want to believe that. She refused to believe that.

"That is me," Honya confirmed.

"No," Asuna snapped. "You're not like that, you're not! You can't be!"

"Asuna." Saber put a hand on her shoulder from behind and Asuna could see in the Servant's eyes that it was true. Asuna didn't want it to be true… and yet it was. Her cheeks began to feel wet. And then they were wet.

"Asuna-san," Honya called her attention. "It's okay. There's still hope for your world, at least. Drinde wants this to happen across all the timelines where I wound up here. But you can stop that."

"How?" Asuna asked with tears in her eyes. "I can't do anything like what you can, Honya-chan. I'm not… smart like you, I'm not intuitive about these things like Yue-chan. I can't do anything without Negi, not with something like this. I'm just a dummy, I can't-"

Again, Honya hugged her. It didn't stop the tears, but Asuna felt some happiness in being comforted. "Now you are being a dummy. You don't have to be like Negi-sensei or Yue. You just have to be you. What are you good at, Asuna?"

Honya let go and stood up as best she could. Asuna tried to stand up as well, getting support from Saber. "Asuna, if you need to know more," she pointed directly at the horizon from the balcony. "You'll find it about 13 kilometers in that direction, about 500 meters above sea level."

"Ah?" Aerie-san said at the back.

"That precise?"

"Seen it many times and studied its location accurately," Honya explained. "But, before you go… there is one last thing that needs to be done."

"Eh?"

"Asuna-san… there's literally only one way to stop Drinde."

What? What did she mean b-

...no.

"No… no. Nononononononononononono," was all Asuna could say, trying to back away, but Saber held her in place. "I can't do that. I cannot do that. Not to you, Honya."

"It's what needs to be done."

"But why?"

"...I'm too far gone, already."

"No! I'll stay with you! We'll keep it in check. Besides, if they just eradicate the githyanki, why would they stay around after that?"

"A collection of power-hungry mages, driven mad by revenge, and eager to summon demons and world-eating monsters?" Saber asked a hard question. "You sure they'll just go away after achieving just one goal?"

"But that's insane!"

"They are insane," Honya confirmed. "They genuinely can't see the distinction anymore. The destruction they have caused is only proof of that."

"But what about-"

"Negi-sensei?"

Asuna couldn't even nod or shake her head. Honya-chan did have the powers of mind-reading, yet the book wasn't out. "I do want to see him. Really. But… Drinde already knows. They know about home. And once they're done…"

"...oh come on. That's not fair…" Asuna wanted to fight the logic on this. But what could she do? She was just a dummy. She couldn't find the angle. "I don't want to…"

"I get that, Asuna," said Honya. "But if it's not done, then they will come back. And then they'll finish the job. Besides, their last act was a call for help. Even now, their monsters are on their way here."

Shakuras went out on the balcony to observe and then… "We have more incoming this way. Tens of thousands."

Asuna swallowed. This was an unfair situation. If she didn't, then the monsters would come back and kill them. And then Drinde would go to Mahora to exact its revenge there. But if she did…

...it would be the worst betrayal of everything she held dear. And it was Honya-chan. Why her? Fate was much stronger, why couldn't they have picked him? He was a more logical choice to make.

"I can't… do this…" Asuna weakly claimed. "I'm supposed to save you, not…"

"Asuna." Asuna could barely look her in the eyes. "By doing this, you would save me. Not just me, but everyone else who can still be saved. And I want this."

"Well, I don't want this!" Asuna snapped. "This isn't fair! THIS ISN'T FAIR! IT'S NOT HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO GO!"

"Asuna," Saber tried to, but Honya stopped her.

"Let her, she needs this."

"WHY DID IT ALL GO WRONG?! WE WERE SUPPOSED TO ATTEND SCHOOL, HAVE FUN TOGETHER, GRADUATE TOGETHER! WHY DID THAT GUY HAVE TO COME TO US!? WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE YOU!? YOU WERE GONNA GET YOUR CONFESSION HEARD! NEGI WAS GONNA REPLY! YOU TWO WERE GONNA GO OUT, BE BOYFRIEND AND GIRLFRIEND! YOU-"

The tears were about to flow freely. The dam was about to break. "...you were supposed to get a happy ending, Nodoka."

Then the screeching came from the distance and Asuna knew that Drinde was going to come back. What's more, there were more of them throughout the building. They were gonna come up the stairs and trap them.

Asuna was going to hate herself for this. It wasn't fair, but that was the shit show they had on their hands.

"Asuna," Honya said one last time and smiled at her. "It's going to be okay from this point on."

That did it for her. Asuna pulled back her sword, took aim, closed her eyes, and then swung.

There was no resistance. She may have been cutting thin air. All she knew to confirm it was that one little thump came, followed by a larger.

And then a hiss of smoke emerged. Black smoke that was filled with dead faces. Skulls, entrapped souls, and some faces of the mages that composed of Drinde. Asuna focused her gaze on them. They looked at her with horror and fear. One said a word she didn't know, but the meaning was clear: "Why?"

Asuna grew enraged, readjusted her grip, and swung again. "BECAUSE FUCK YOU!"

The smoke was cut and then it reacted in pain. Drinde shriveled, cloven in two, and shrank into… nothing. The one thing left of them was two tiny specks that caught fire in the end.

And that was it. Drinde was dead. In this timeline, at least.

Asuna started breathing again. Outside, sounds of screeching and fighting began. Shakuras told them that the hordes were turning on themselves, consuming and killing randomly. Demons had lost their tether to the material realm and faded into nothing. Others were assaulted and hacked into pieces by the Tyranids, which cared for nothing as they went feral.

Within moments, the horde would be consumed by itself, until stragglers remained, roaming the planet until something killed them.

"So is this a bad time to point out-?" Deadpool started to ask and then-

"Plane Shift," said Aerie, and a portal opened next to the mercenary, which Minsc then shoved him through. And then the portal closed. And that was Deadpool gone.

"You couldn't have done that earlier?" Saber asked.

"He served a purpose here, yes?" Aerie asked. "I'd say that purpose is fulfilled now."

Asuna didn't say a word. She had turned her back on what she had done. She didn't want to see it. "So… we should get moving. Aerie-san, you can teleport now, right?"

"Asuna," Aerie said softly. And then she walked slowly to the redheaded girl.

"Look, the answers we need are there, and we got the coordinates, right? We should go, now. Can't afford to waste any-"

"Asuna," Aerie said sternly now and stood in front of her. Aerie grabbed her shoulders and turned her around…

...to show the decapitated head and body of what used to be Miyazaki Nodoka. Her pactio card lay in the right hand, now depowered and dead.

A crack in the dam appeared. "Ah," said Asuna as she took a step forward. Another crack. "Aah." Asuna took another step. "Aaah." Yet another crack. "Aaaah." She knelt down. She reached out and put her hand on Nodoka's face. The eyes were closed. More cracks.

And she was still smiling. "Aaaaah," Asuna cried as she took the head and the body in her embrace. It was proof of what had been done. "Aaaaaah."

Of what she had done.

And when the dam finally burst, it came crashing down with a roar. And the scream was just another sound in the distance as the hordes consumed each other.

Uh, hey, let's check on Negi-kun, shall we?

The chains cuffed to his arms and neck were specifically made to tamper with magic. The whole room was built to contain a powerful magic blast from the inside, preventing escape and a nine-layered barrier enclosed the door, doubling that integrity.

Whoever planned this knew exactly what they were doing.

Negi struggled nonetheless, but it was pointless. With his Magia Erebea gone, he was reduced to just a boy again with his magic sealed off. Admittedly a very strong boy, but these chains were made of a specific material to compensate for its design. It was stronger than steel, at minimum.

The others were there as well. Takane was trapped against the wall, arms apart and unable to move. She had been stripped down to her underwear and her forced posture was emphasizing her bust. She too was struggling against her chains.

Alicia-san and her classmate Nanoha-san were chained against the opposite wall and, while dressed, they were gagged. Whoever was doing this didn't care about anyone else getting hurt. And to drag someone not involved with magic at was… was just reckless.

...then again, he probably didn't have room to talk.

At any rate, he was caught completely off guard. His staff was gone, they'd taken his ring, his Pactio cards, and the girls' equipment. They weren't taking any risks with keeping them captive. Even Alicia's Lochaber was gone.

And there was no point in keeping Nanoha-san a captive like this, either. She was innocent, not active in the magic circles, either. She was a bystander, someone who wasn't involved with magic at all. To keep her captive with magic and involve her like this was beyond cruel.

The door opened. "I'd ask, but… we both know the answer, don't we?"

A Megalo-mesembrian Senator. His clothes gave him away. He was flanked by the Heavy Guards like those Kurt Godel had back in Ostia. His face was obscured thanks to his cloak and the guards were armed with their weapons. This was a bad situation.

"I believe we haven't been introduced, Negi-kun," said the senator. "But all you really need to know is that I'm of a certain group of people who intend to rid the world of the true chaotic nature your blood brings."

"What?"

"Most of the Senate think that you are a hero for averting the rewrite of the world by calming the currents and stopping the Cosmo Entelecheia. But we know the truth. You're just like the rest of that wretched family of yours. The son of the Queen of Calamity cannot be allowed to continue being, as things stand."

!?

"So we shall simply arrange for your disappearance on this day, Negi Springfield."

"Hold on," Negi protested. "What is the point of this?! It's one thing to go after me, but to take students as well-"

"You have some form of a protective streak of students, do you not?" the senator argued. "We did need you to be compliant. The house of Entheofushia may have been monsters, but they did rule well for their part."

Now Nanoha-san stopped struggling against the chains and paid attention.

"Oh, don't worry, we have prepared for this moment. Once you are off the board, specialized magic to erase all memory of you has been prepared. It's designed to target those who stand close to you and anyone who's had interactions with you over the past month. In short, everyone who's ever remembered you here will forget about you. Saves them the pain of grieving over you. All in all-"

"Hold it," Takane spoke up. "You talk about how Negi-sensei is a monster, but how can you justify that? He's been nothing but faithful to our ways of dedicating our duty to becoming Magister Magi, despite a few setbacks. He is a fine example of a man and a proper hero recognized-"

"Don't be fooled. His blood is tainted with insanity and violence. Can you not see that wherever he has gone, disaster has followed in his wake? Kyoto was just one event. Then the attack on Megalomesembria Port. Followed by the battle of Ostia."

"You can't blame him for that!"

"Oh, but he is guilty of all that. His family is nothing but catalysts for destruction, mayhem, and all that is evil in this world." The senator now addressed Negi directly. "Your mother brought down her own kingdom and sold the refugees into slavery. She murdered her own father, which goes to show just how worse she was than those before her."

"That's a lie and you know it!"

"It's the truth. What the Thousand Master saw in her was merely fiction, a pretty lie to help her stay alive so that she could ensure the destruction of everything we hold sacred to our community.

"But now, we can rectify that. This has been coming ever since Ostia. It's high time that monstrous bloodline was eradicated, for good." The senator turned to leave. "We're done here."

"Senator," Negi said, catching the man's attention. "Listen to me when I say that all I wanted was to spend my time peacefully with my students, become a Magister Magi through hard effort, and then work on the issue resolving Mundus Magicus. If I wanted to be what you think me to be, don't you think I would have been that, instead?"

"Hmph, you always were like that." With that, the Senator left.

Quite likely, this was the worst scenario. Tactically speaking, that is.

Springfield and three others were taken prisoner underground and held prisoner by a mad mage who intended to see the boy executed, along with those who knew of this. Well, technically speaking, the execution would only be the one for the boy, but memory erasure would technically kill the others in a sense, as it would render them as regular people.

The mage in question was under some belief that Springfield's mother was the one responsible for everything that had gone wrong for the Senate. And since she was nowhere to be found, it made sense for them to eradicate her son and heir, Negi instead.

Good grief, this logic was based on nothing but the assumption of assuming anyone who isn't them is a foe. It made sense for Drow, as Drow are little more than selfish creatures who rose to their position of strength by ensuring that they alone became strong, not with the aid of someone else. But this was a human making the assumption that someone should be blamed for the actions of someone who is merely related to them, not their own actions.

Gromph grunted. This was a waste of time, really.

It was easy for him to scout the whole underground complex. They had chosen an obvious spot in the catacombs beneath the academy, where Chao Lingshen had stored her army of weapons and automatons. Gromph had deduced that much, given the size of her army during the Festival. The great hall was now housing a cage, covered by a large cloth and containing something dangerous within.

No doubt they were going to use a large animal with which to perform the execution. A circle of magic was in front of the entrance of the cage, designated both to activate the memory erasure and be a marked spot for Negi to stand on for the beast to see him.

Guards had been placed at key locations, allowing entry at two places, and their whole operation was contained within. And these were Senatorial guards, which meant they were much stronger than regular guards of that city Megalomesembria.

If he had the time, he could simply call on Osyrimon's army and they could storm the place. Or he could contact Oblodra and the two of them could sneak in and get Springfield out of there. Although that might hurt the girls captured alongside him. Shame Hune was occupied elsewhere with his own assignment.

Then again, why was he bothering with this? All he had to do was-

"No."

Someone stood in front of him. His clothing was identical to his own robe of the Archmage and his formal regalia as a wizard, only they were colored white. His face was the same as his and his posture mirrored his when he was himself, not when he was this… Robert Lucaenus persona. Based on previous conversations, he knew exactly who this was.

His Good side. He was amazed he actually had one.

"When you say no, what do you mean?" He asked the imagination.

"You really intend to stand by and let a person you have been learning about for the past few years die like that?"

"Why should I do anything?" He responded. "I care little for the affairs of humans, anyway. If it happens, it happens. This is a local matter and I have nothing to do with it."

"I disagree," said Good. "I find this to be of deep connection to us."

"In what regard?"

Good merely glared at him and then Gromph worked it out.

"You presume that I have gone soft because of the girl?"

"No. I say that the girl needs the boy alive in order to stay strong."

"That's pathetic."

"It's not. It is a bond between him and her. A connection to her that lets her have the courage to go on with her life. She knows her place, but to accept it, she needs an anchor."

Gromph raised an eyebrow.

"It's love."

"Huh?"

"You saw her memories. You have seen her write it down in her regular diary. The way she lights up when she stops to think about him. When she sneaks off for a little privacy between your lessons and Quenthel's treatment."

"You tell me that is love and not desire?"

"They are in some ways the same, but the intent is different. You cannot know."

"Because we have no word for it, remember?" Gromph asked his aspect. "We are Drow. We do not engage in such frivolous matters. You cannot presume that I should care about what the girl thinks of him, as long as she adheres to her studies."

"Yet you presume that she should cast him aside simply because she is your apprentice?"

Gromph stopped thinking.

"I shall be blunt," said his Good aspect. "Nodoka is deeply concerned for her home, for her family, for the person she loves in all her knowledge of existence. She is trapped worlds away, cannot see him, hear of him. She can only imagine. Now, you will imagine."

Gromph tilted his head.

"Let's say that you do nothing. No one would blame you for it, it's perfectly understandable. You are Drow, you do not care for the opinions of others and you have no sympathy for those who cannot aid you. You take what you want and give as little as is necessary in return. Now, you have taken much knowledge from both the girl regarding the Pactio system and the boy and from the boy from whom you have exchanged theoretical ideas and possibilities. You could argue that you owe them nothing. But they have given so much to you. And help freely given is no help at all, as we say."

"You are stalling."

"I am getting there. Now, I want you to imagine Nodoka's reaction. Because as that Senator said, the spell cast following the boy's death will erase the memory of those who have had interactions with him over the past month. Nodoka isn't covered by that timescale, as she has had no interaction with him for the last ten years. So her memory will remain intact. So what do you think her reaction is going to be when she learns that Negi Springfield, her True Master, and anchor of her hope, is dead?"

He could see her standing in a dark room with a light illuminating her and her Pactio card decidedly dead.

"Negi-sensei…?" her fingers would go numb, letting it slip through her fingers. "No… no…"

First, the light goes out, covering her in the dark, then she fades into it, leaving only one thing visible. "No…"

The empty Pactio Card cluttering down to the floor.

Gromph saw his Good Aspect starting through him. Through him.

"Of course," Good said at least, "you don't have to do anything. This is a local matter, after all. His other partners and allies could find out and they'll come rescue the boy. They'll certainly handle it and you won't have to do anything."

"That would be preferable."

"But then… who knows if they'll make it in time. They certainly have the skills for it, but would you know for certain that they'll succeed? Even if you did tell them yourself, things might just progress too hastily for them to prevail. But hey, not your problem, right?"

"Is there a point to this line of thought?"

"Simply this one: regardless of your reasons, could you really stand by and do nothing with all this going on?" With that, his Good aspect faded.

"Logic, if you have something to say-"

"No. I don't."

…

Damn that girl.

In town, with the shopping troop

By Lolth, these girls were carefree. And full of energy.

Quenthel has spent very little time with the girls of Miyazaki's class, specifically, she was currently with the cheerleaders and the sports girls, but they were so different from her. There was a large variety of them and they brought their own kind of energy.

How Nodoka had lasted this long with this bunch was beyond her. Maybe it was just a youth thing. As someone who had lived for centuries, Quenthel could not relate.

And why would she? Her own life had been filled with danger, intrigue, and politics ever since she was born. She had been blessed by Lolth from birth, and despite having died once, she was still in her blessing. In her afterlife, she had been one of the Spider Queen's chosen. She had had a much more intense life than Miyazaki had.

These girls were so childlike, eyes full of wonder and fun, not bothered with chores or studies. In their free time, it was a carnival they were visiting every day, not heading off to have more chores handed to them when they got back.

By contrast, Nodoka and her close friends would spend time in the library. Nodoka seemed to prefer reading books to seeing boys before meeting Springfield. A mother worried over her daughter would approve, but-

What the hell?

Since when did Quenthel look after Miyazaki as a daughter? Didn't she have her own mother? The one she visited for the winter holiday? Why should Quenthel have to consider looking after her like that in the first place? Why should she be a mother figure to a human girl?

"When Miyazaki came here, she had no such important figure in her life to look to, and since you are the one who leads this house and holds authority over the rest, she came to view you as one she could trust to look after her, if not protect her from danger."

"You are the bedrock of her new life and you don't seem to do a good job of being a decent role model for her. You may have taken her in, given her clothes, and fed her, but that's not being a family caretaker. That's looking out for someone you want to get rid of as soon as possible."

The words stung because they were true. But Miyazaki wasn't there to live permanently in Menzoberranzan, to begin with. She was only going to be with them for another four years before leaving. And Quenthel didn't believe in pampering someone who was not family. Nor in ensuring that someone who was weak should stay weak.

Still, this whole expedition was to ensure her getting stronger with knowledge from her own world so she could compete with the Averruncus figure and the other monsters that were out to get her. So maybe something from here could help. But what?

This was no market that sold magical goods nor weapons of any sort. What could she buy for her that would be of use?

"What are you thinking about, Melissa-san?" The question shook her back to her surroundings, and the proximity of the one who asked made her step back inadvertently, causing her to fall down. "A-are you okay?"

The girl in question, Ako Izumi, was leaning over the raven-haired older woman, reaching out a hand. Quenthel had to remember to be her disguise again and accepted the help.

"Yes, I'm fine," Melissa replied once she stood up. "I was just lost in thought."

"Oh?" Another one, Sakurako, accompanied by her friends Misa Kakizaki and Madoka Kugi-something, asked. "What about?"

Melissa had to appear the thoughtful mother now, thinking of a good enough excuse, which coincidentally wasn't far from the truth. "Well… the truth is, I'm looking for something to buy for my daughter. I know this is all nice being in the Old World and all, but I did promise her a souvenir from wherever I was."

"Heeeeeeeeh."

"The problem is, she's gonna leave home in a few years to be an adventurer, so I'm having trouble deciding what kind of present to give her. It's hard being a parent when they grow up and leave home." Technically true, for the most part.

"Well, we can give some tips," Misa replied, "what kind of person is she?"

Oh, dear. What kind of person was Miyazaki again?

"Mireille is… well, she's a bit of a book lover. She's always loved reading and I'd usually find her asleep at a desk with her nose in one." Which was cause for Quenthel to punish the human because vellum books are expensive and she'd be creasing them like that. "But she's also a brave person. I've seen her stand her ground against bullies and whatnot for being mean to her cousins." Actually, said cousins were said bullies, but they backed down from her regardless. "She's not used to violence, but she's willing to go through with it if she must. Mireille used to be so timid as a child, so her decision to be an adventurer is a very bold choice to be out of doors for a girl like her."

It was painful for her to admit this about Miyazaki, but that was the positive impression she was giving out to Quenthel. The more naive impressions were best left unsaid at this time because she didn't want to give away the lie that she didn't love the girl, but to leave the impression of a caring mother.

"Sounds a lot like Honya-chan, doesn't it?"

Huh?

"Yeah, it kinda does. They sound nearly identical in personality."

What.

"Yeah, no doubt."

Quenthel froze up. Was she being discovered right now?

"Should be easy to get Mireille-chan something when we know that."

Eh?

"Now let's see, a bookworm who wants to be an adventurer… does she have any equipment?" Ako asked as they headed for the stores.

"What the-?" Melissa caught up with them. "Are you sure it's okay to talk about this in public?"

"We're fine. People will think we're just LARPing if it comes to it. Besides, you should have seen the wargames during the Mahora Sports Festival last year. That was fun," Misa said in response.

"Says you," said Ako.

"Says me, Yuuna, Tatsumiya, and Haruna-chan when she partook."

… maaaaybe these girls weren't so carefree as expected.

"At any rate, Melissa-san, does Mireille-chan have anything on her?"

"Um, well… she has some outdoor camping gear, the standard adventurer's sword, and spellbooks for her magic. But I don't know anything beyond that."

"Sounds like a complete amateur," said Madoka. "Any basic tools?"

"Uh, maybe? I should be keeping track of these things, shouldn't I?" Melissa replied.

"Ah, then I got just the thing." Sakurako went off to a hardware store. About three minutes later, she came back with something small and red. "Here, your bog-standard Swiss Army Knife."

"Swiss… Army… Knife?" Melissa inspected the thing. It was so small she had trouble believing it was a knife. The unfolding blade was tiny compared to most she had seen, but… it had so many other features on it.

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, you don't really need much else when camping. You just need this and creativity. Should suit Mireille-chan perfectly, wouldn't you say?" Sakurako inquired.

"Yeah," said Ako. "But she might need a first aid kit, too. Something to help her patch up, as well."

"Right? Honya-chan used to have one, too. We should totally get Mireille one like that as well," said Misa.

"Whoa, whoawhoawhoa," Melissa interrupted. "You girls want to help someone you don't even know?" The whole idea utterly baffled her. "...why?"

It was then that Sasaki Makie and Akashi Yuuna stepped forward, along with Madoka. "Truth is, we kinda screwed up a while back with-"

"I know the story with Miyazaki-chan," Melissa interrupted. "Negi-kun told me back at the bath."

"Right, and uh… the other day or so, I kinda saw her mom in the street and she approached me," Makie continued, "She asked me how Honya-chan was doing in our class, what she was up to, and if she had made any progress with Negi-kun." That got Quenthel's attention. "The thing is… she doesn't know what's happened and it hurts. It hurts that we can't tell her. Worse still, I had to…"

Madoka stepped forward. "The guys who took her were… good. They were cruel and harsh, but they were good. I mean, they used me as a hostage to get away. It sucks that we have to continue on with this crap that everything is peachy and lie to Miyazaki-san but if we don't stop that… well," she took a deep breath first before saying, "then we can't focus, you know? You're a mom yourself, and your daughter is going to head out into the world where she'll be out of touch with you. You got a chance to send her off well and prepared. Wouldn't you want that, at least?"

Quenthel had to take a step back again. A jolt of some unknown feeling shot through her. When you're in pain, you try to hide it. The loss of one of their… comrades must hurt more than a hundred stab wounds. And yet they carry on and train… because…

"Is that why you train, every day?" She asked. "To go get her back?"

They all looked at her like it was the dumbest thing to say. Then Yuuna gave her a thumbs-up. "Well, duh. Honya-chan's one of us and she's been with Negi-kun the longest, save Asuna. No jerk from outer space is just gonna come take her like that and not expect some frickin' payback."

"I want payback too," said Madoka. "No one drops me off a building and gets away with it."

"Honestly, it's not the same without her being in class," said Ako. "Negi-kun's hurting the most, and he keeps at it every day. What kind of friends and partners would we be if we didn't help him with this?"

Probably some of the most unreliable ones out there, Quenthel thought to herself.

"So we're helping you get stuff for Mireille-chan because we are not letting someone's kid get out into the big world without proper protection," said Misa. "Not if we can help it."

Quenthel suddenly had a tremendous amount of respect for these girls. They kept going because they had a goal in their eyes as a team. And they were gonna help others where they could because they could.

If only Nodoka knew about this…

She had one last look at the Army Knife in her hand before a smile encroached on her. She convinced herself that it was part of the disguise. "Er, come to think of it, maybe I should get some more stuff for Mireille. Some books, a backpack, and some other things. I can make a first aid kit back home, but… some Old World stuff to help her out in her travels wouldn't hurt, right?"

This cheered the girls up and dragged Melissa off to a store to get a decent camping backpack for a start.

But really? They haven't told her mother?

Back to Asuna

"Waah!" Asuna woke up with a jolt. When did she fall asleep?

"Ah, you are awake," said Shakuras to her side. Asuna noted that they were still in the same room as… the same room as before.

"How long?"

"About ten hours or so. You were that exhausted," said Saber, over at the balcony. The weather was clearing, the sun was rising, and… there was silence. No outside sounds of the monsters and demons, yet no birds singing either. "Shortly after your scream, you fell unconscious. Exhaustion and guilt caused you to shut down. Just as well, because Aerie had to restock on her spells for the day and none of us weren't eager to move so soon."

And then Asuna remembered. "Honya-chan!?"

Aerie waved her hand to a body wrapped in cloth. The cloth wrap covered the body completely, and some of Honya's gear was nearby, along with her shoes placed neatly next to her body. Her Pactio card, the Comptina Daemonia, her magic earpiece, a small satchel with a book inside, her little practice wand, an unexplained knife, the bell-skull, and the black staff, all lay neatly arrayed next to the body.

Asuna was overcome with guilt again, but she wouldn't cry. What's done is done. And she would never have to do so again. Of that, she was going to make sure for the rest of her days.

Aerie approached with a sad expression. "Usually, we tend to take things we can use from the deceased, but I thought you might take offense if we were to simply-"

"It's okay, I get it." Asuna's answer was terse. She didn't want to overthink this. "A dead man's junk is another man's treasure, right?" Still, she wouldn't let them take whatever. It simply. Wasn't. Done. Not to Honya, at least.

Asuna stepped to examine the items, at least. First up was the satchel with the book. Honya loved reading books. Asuna never admitted it, but she actually admired her for being able to read so much. She took out the book and opened it up. It was Latin, so she couldn't understand a word of it, but- wait… if she looked closely, the book was…

"This is a beginner's book for magic where we're from," Asuna explained and flipped through the pages. It was filled with much of the basic stuff needed for anyone starting to practice the magic of their world. She noticed another in the satchel, too. That turned out to be Honya-chan's study notes on magic in Japanese. Easier for her to read, at least.

Then she put the books back in and handed the satchel to Aerie. "These are commonplace where we live. Just keep it maintained and you should be good." She also gave Aerie the practice wand. "You need a focus, as well."

Next on the items list was the knife. Asuna took it for herself. Setsuna and Mana had both told her that while her sword was a good weapon, it never hurt to have a backup. She was anti-magic and yet she could sense the potency in that thing. She also took the skull with the bells, if only to find the Asuna in this dimension so it could be returned. It seemed fair and it's what she would want if it ever happened to her.

The earpiece and the Comptina were more difficult to figure out what to do with. The earpiece could only telepathically transmit written words to the bearer and it was quite common back in the Magic World, but it was Honya-chan's. Sure, she was… no more, but it didn't feel right to take it now that she didn't need it. Same with the ring. Honya had found it, she had earned it and it was advantageous for her. And yet…

Asuna put the ring and the earpiece inside the body wrap. The Pactio card was placed on the outside to mark who it was.

Finally, there was the staff. Asuna picked it up and examined it. The gem was an exquisite and polished onyx on top of the knob of a hand-carved, straight handle with runes going all over it. The silent hum indicated it was charged with magic and it probably released said magic if it was destroyed. That was the impression Asuna got from it.

"I have never seen this thing before," she stated about it and that was true. So she simply gave it to Aerie as well. Honya-chan's gear was mostly made for mages, anyway. Might as well let their spellcaster have the stuff. But the personal things stayed with Nodoka.

They had to stay with her.

"Okay," Asuna said after a moment of contemplation. "I think we've been here too long, already. Now, can we please teleport out of here to the place Honya-chan described?"

"Of course," Aerie replied. Minsc moved to pick up Honya… wait, why did they need to bring her? "You know what to do, right?" She asked the others as she prepared the spell.

Saber put a hand gently on Aerie's shoulder and clasped a hand with Shakuras. Shakuras extended a hand to Asuna, and they joined. Minsc had his hands full at the moment and so Asuna put her free hand on Minsc's shoulder. He nodded in gratitude.

The teleport was swift and not easy on Asuna's stomach. She had been teleported before, but this was a different teleport from the Pactio ports that Negi used on her. It felt like her bones were vibrating. "Oooooh. Ohhhhhh."

"You okay?" Saber asked at the front.

"Yeah, give me a second," Asuna replied and started stretching. Stretching was helpful. Also helped make sure all the parts of the body she intended to use were okay.

"Now, what is this?" Minsc asked while stretching happened. He was looking elsewhere at the time.

"Where are we at, now?" Shakuras expanded on that line of thought, looking in the same direction.

"So what n-" Asuna froze upon seeing the sight. And she just… what. "Oh, come on."

At a nearby train station

Sakura Mei was planning to head back to the dorms and wait for Onee-sama.

Takane-onee-sama had some business to take up with Negi-sensei, something about the events of their last sports festival. Geez, if she would just admit she liked the boy, maybe things wouldn't be so bad.

Heh. Maybe.

Mei was more for Kotarou-kun. The dog-boy was always kind to her in his own way. He still thought more about being reliable in a fight than having a good time in peace. Then again, to him, being in a fight was having a good time. He always insisted on seeing Negi-sensei about a sparring match or some kind of competition.

Geez, could he pay some attention to how Negi-sensei felt about this whole thing? Especially after that Fashtar-san had taken Miyazaki-san away back in January. Mei was there. She had seen the guy.

Fashtar-san was… he was different from the bad guys they had stood up against before. He was charismatic, he was clever, and frankly, he was unknown to them. In some ways he was what was expected of a classic villain, and yet…

No, wait. He was very much a classic villain. Fashtar-san had come and kidnapped one of their own, poisoned Negi-sensei with something, and forced them to pull back, letting him take away Miyazaki-san. He was… very experienced at being a villain.

He had introduced himself as a student of alien biology, but anyone could tell that was a lie. Not even Asuna-san had bought that. No, there was something else to him. No doubt a wizard himself. No one else could muster that kind of defense against Negi-sensei's Magia Erebea.

But why come here? There were plenty of other magic associations around the world, so why come to-

Thoom!

The noise, along with the bright light that preceded it drew a crowd. Magic used in the open? Mei went to check it out and pushed herself through the crowd to have a look.

Two grown men had collapsed on the ground, and other students were already taking pictures with their cellphones. One of them had a big flamboyant hat with a feather in it along with some remarkably good color-coordinated clothes that displayed he had a good physique. Which reminded Mei of Negi-sensei's grown-up form.

The other one was wearing a bright red cloak over himself which covered his form and held an iron-clad staff in his clawed hand. If it weren't for his face, Mei would have assumed his long hair would have given him away as a woman.

The real thing was that neither of them looked remotely human. The first man had obsidian black skin and pointy ears. The other guy looked like he was one of those aliens who showed up back in Janua-

...

That eyepatch. No way…

The black man took a look around the crowd with a nervous look. "Uh, boss? I don't think we are where we're supposed to be."

"You sure?" the other guy asked and that voice sounded somehow familiar. "Dark place, stars everywhere, waves of weaving everywhere we walk?"

"Pretty sure," said the first one. "There's people, for one."

"What?" The other guy adjusted his position and Mei got a better look at him. No way. "Uh, damn. Guess I got the sequence wrong. We ne-"

And then he and Mei made eye contact. He froze. She froze. They knew who the other one was. Mei didn't need to jog her memory on this. This was the guy. That was him. He was back.

It.

Was.

"You."

"Crap."

Negi's execution

The senator had spared no expense.

Takane recognized the hall as well Kasuga had claimed to have seen Chao Lingshen's army of robots, only for it to be empty. The whole room was now hosting a large cage containing some kind of ravenous beast, with guards keeping a safe distance from it.

Takane, Alicia, and Nanoha had been chained up specifically to view the event from a safe distance, and at least she had been allowed to put her clothes on. The Senator had reprimanded those who had stripped her down to her underwear.

"This is a special occasion," said the Senator. "We brought this in all the way from the Cerberus Canyon, the place where your mother was supposedly executed. I figured it would be fitting for this."

The cage had been unveiled to reveal a monstrous black beast that made the Black Beast of ARRRRRGH either jealous or terrified. The monster was of a specific subcategory of monsters that specialized in sniffing out magic and consuming it, making their kind the most dangerous kind of magical beasts out there for a mage to encounter.

Takane had only read about them prior to this but never seen one before. Of course, why would she? It's a mage killer beast, it'd be insanity to fight one, let alone willingly seek it out.

And this senator brought one out to Mahora just to murder Negi-sensei?!

Takane was very much disgusted with this man. Magic existed to serve and protect humanity, and yes, to sacrifice was part of the goal to become a Magister Magi like Negi-sensei's father. But the Senate, according to certain notes from the Ala Alba, was corrupt who saw Negi-sensei's mother as the root of the evil plaguing the worlds and as such, he needed to go. Where was the logic? Evil should be based on the individual. Just look at McDowell.

And Negi-sensei had earned his place as a Magister, regardless of what the Senate thought. Takane admired the boy for becoming one so fast, so soon. He was an ideal to look up to, but this madman certainly wasn't convinced of any of that.

"Senator," Negi-sensei tried again to talk to them, "you only want me to deal with, but let the girls go. They have nothing to do with this."

The senator said nothing, and Takane couldn't see his expression but she could see Negi's as he went pale and wide-eyed. "I'm afraid I can't do that," the senator finally responded and Takane went pale herself. "They have seen too much at this point and well… can't have them talking, you know?"

Takane's blood froze and she looked at the two younger girls. One was the adopted daughter of the great immortal leader of the Spartan Hounds, the finest mercenary/bounty hunter company of the magic world, the other was just a schoolgirl in Mahora who had just been introduced to magic. Her teeth ground against each other and she could taste blood as her fear turned to rage.

"You despicable son of a bitch," she muttered, and no one save the girls heard her. She was enraged and it showed on her face, no doubt.

"Alright, enough of this. Open the cage!"

The guards hesitantly removed a central pin on the cage door and then ran. The beast pushed it open with brute force and scanned the whole room. Takane was terrified. These things were restricted to the Cerberus Canyon for a reason because they were too dangerous to wander the plains and deserts for anyone to feel safe.

The beast could sense magic on its own and Negi-sensei was right in front of it like a bonfire. It focused on him and took a step forward.

"Negi-sensei!" Nanoha cried out and pulled against her chains. "You let him go!"

"Negi-san!" Alicia struggled against her own. "Negi-san!"

Negi gritted his teeth and tried to break loose while the monster prepared to lounge.

Takane didn't want to look but she couldn't turn away. "NEGI-SENSEI!"

Then a bright blue light.

And then, Negi-sensei wasn't there.

Huh?

Gromph had decided to do away with keeping his own magic style hidden from them. He'd keep his disguise but keeping Springfield alive took priority now. And he would start by killing that beast.

Admittedly, it was a challenge, but he had made the right preparations for it and he hadn't been a complete fool when preparing his own little toolbox. The gift of foresight was his as well, so he knew which spells to have prepared and which to use.

"Do you want to get away?" he first asked Negi telepathically.

"Yes."

Then he had cast his first spell. Benign Transposition was a simple spell that Nodoka had learned back in Greenwood's and it allowed for two willing subjects, including the caster, to switch places. He had gotten himself to the appropriate range before he had asked and he had timed it perfectly, swapping his position for Negi's.

This had put the boy out of harm's way, and put Gromph right in front of the antimagic monster. But he had planned for that as well. Because he had deduced one thing about this kind of beast:

They might consume magic, but they didn't resist it more so than other great monsters. It didn't care that its intended target had disappeared, a new meal had appeared, soaking in its favorite… food? Spice? Whatever, it lounged itself at Gromph…

...and activated the Contingency he had prepared for this. Something bigger than him came at him was in for a nasty surprise as the opaque barrier formed in between the two.

The beast slammed hard against his impenetrable Wall of Force, chipping a couple of teeth. And it was now that the mad senator reacted.

"WHAT?!" He cried, and his guards reacted by forming up around him. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Gromph ignored him. He had something else to cast as the beast scraped itself against the barrier. Negi could handle himself. Chained up as he was, there was a wand of Knock where he was standing with a note that gave him the command word for its usage so he could get loose. It was against every principle for Gromph to let someone else use his items and knowledge, but he knew he couldn't handle these guys alone. But right now, he needed to kill that monster. And he had two spells meant for that.

"Come forth from the abyss, and wield your might against my foes," he spoke and flung a little candle behind him. The Abyss was home to demons, which he frequently used against his foes and those who thought themselves better than him. Demons were simple and honest with themselves, thirsting for power and the thrill of carnage. And then there were those who took the forms of animals. They simply loved to fight for the thrill of it.

And this one was a doozy. First time he ever used that word, he could thank his apprentice for that.

Unlike on Earth, dinosaurs were not extinct on Toril. They were few, but they were alive, they were powerful game to hunt and they were dangerous in open fields. Especially this one.

Its two strong hind legs gave it a powerful gait as it would charge its prey. Its tail wasn't a whip, but a massive trunk that crushed armor in its wake. And its great jaw was by far the strongest in existence. Drow had no name for it, but the surface humans called it Tyrannosaurus. Nodoka had abbreviated it once to T-rex when the two discussed those. Gromph liked that name because it was short.

And on top of that, it was from the Abyss. So it wasn't your average T-rex, either. Not like the one in that film she had once watched with Negi one evening, thanks to her friend Saotome's meddling. Where that one had subtle brown and green colors, this one was black and pulsating red veins that glowed as it flexed its muscles.

It stood proudly and roared at the black beast, drawing its attention away from Gromph. The beast roared back at the T-rex, its attention now set on a new challenger.

Perfect.

Gromph had bought something a while ago from a wizard of another drow city. It was a black rod, specifically meant to quicken any spell of his choosing. And for a beast like this, there was one appropriate spell. With its attention elsewhere, it wouldn't even know what hit it. He scraped his finger along the rod and let loose the spell.

The mouth was the first to go, followed by its eyes and then its brain. Now it was dead. But then the rest of it turned from flesh and blood… into finely ground dust. His black sphere had fired off into the roof where it just kept on going upward.

Oops. The Black Sphere of Ultimate Destruction might not have been the best choice for this. Still, at least it had a short duration.

Sakurako had always counted herself lucky. In fact, she was banned from playing the official lotteries because the last four times she played, she won the jackpot.

She counted herself lucky to have good friends like Misa and Madoka. They were nice. They balanced each other out. She was the cute one, Misa was the sexy one, and Madoka was the tomboy. All three tended to be pretty popular with guys, especially since their debut at the Mahora Festival.

Sakurako also counted herself lucky to be able to beat the odds against something no matter what.

So she definitely counted herself lucky when a featureless black sphere that ate through the concrete ground and shot towards her friends and her.

She noticed it, she saw it coming, Misa was caught off guard when it was out of the ground. So Sakurako pushed Misa out the way, only to be caught in its path herself.

And then, it was gone as it made contact with her. Seeing as how it had erased her top as it faded, she considered being alive a fair trade.

And of course, the cameras were out in force today.

"Wha- who the-" The senator was incensed now. "Who the hell are you and what do you think you're doing?!"

Negi had only now gotten himself loose from the chains, thanks to the magic wand. He didn't know how that had happened, but he had traded places with his savior and now he was a little busy making his way over to where he needed to be.

"I the hell am someone who witnessed your kidnapping and decided your attempted murder was not in the best interest of everyone not part of the Senate," said the savior. Wait, that was Master Lucaenus. "I'd rather see Springfield alive."

"You think that son of monsters will be someone special?"

"Before he is a spawn of monsters, he is a young boy of merely eleven years," Lucaenus pointed out while Negi snuck around behind. "I just don't see why such raw power should be squandered."

Eh? He didn't talk like this back at Master's resort. What's going on?

While the senator and Lucaenus talked, he made his way to his equipment and possessions and the girls' as well. Negi had learned how to do an armlock on someone to knock them unconscious. Normally that would take time, but he could supplement that with a quick strike to a specific point on the throat, thanks to Aristodemus-san had shown him. The guard watching his possessions didn't stand a chance against Negi's power, now that he was out of those manacles. With his stuff back, he got to the girls now.

Negi tapped Takane lightly on the shoulder and shushed her before she could react to him. She took the hint and stayed quiet as he undid her locks, while Lucaenus had their attention. The T-rex took a step forward to help with that.

"Such raw power cannot be allowed to be out of control!" The senator argued.

"You mean, YOUR control," Lucaenus corrected.

"You do not know what we have to do to keep our society safe."

"I can imagine."

Negi undid Alicia's chain and she placed them quietly on the ground before taking back her two things.

"I will have no more of this debacle," the senator declared. "Bring me-" He had turned around and saw Negi along with the freed girls and their equipment. He froze. Negi fixed him with a stare that did not signal he was going to forgive this.

That was when the T-rex charged.

The guards reacted and let loose a fire barrage on it, which it shrugged off with ease. The senator ran to the side, and Negi pulled all three girls with him in an instant movement that got them out of harm's way immediately. That T-rex swatted the guards away with his tail and ate at least a couple with its massive jaws.

Negi hated the sight of that. As much as they wanted him- no, they didn't want him dead. They were just following orders of someone who wanted him dead. They didn't deserve this. Lucaenus was helping him, but he was going overboard.

Alicia patted him on the shoulder to get his attention. "I got this. Lochaber?"

"Aye, ma Liege?"

"Let's play." Alicia rushed forward against the T-rex, which noted her presence. It saw a threat, so it responded in kind.

"Alicia-chan!" Nanoha screamed and wanted to get her out of there, but Takane held her back. Negi wanted to rush in too, but he knew Alicia. She could handle this.

And she did. She got Lochaber out and just as the T-rex was close to crushing her in its size, she slid underneath at the last second and used her ax's blade to slice the dino's lower jaw and then took a quick cheap shot at its right leg.

The T-rex collapsed from a loss of balance and landed on its back. It seemed quite unhappy.

"What the-?!" Nanoha exclaimed with blank white eyes. "What?!"

And then Alicia turned on her armor as the rex pulled itself up on its feet again.

The other guards focused on Negi, Takane, and Nanoha while Lucaenus focused on the Senator. The two mages reacted immediately, with Negi punching and kicking them at high speeds while Takane got her shadow puppets out. She pulled Nanoha close to her for safety.

Lucaenus used his strange magic to keep the whole field confused with smoke, grease on the ground, and summoned monsters. Alicia was occupied with the T-rex. Takane was matching the guards' numbers for numbers with her shadow puppets. Nanoha wasn't combat trained so she wasn't fighting.

And Negi was being fast, using his speed and mobility to keep the hostiles confused. But he was frankly confused about Lucaenus. Who was he?

And then Alicia killed the T-rex. Lochaber pierced into its throat and the dinosaur disappeared in a cloud of smoke. That left the heavy hitter free to engage something else. She chose to help Takane and Nanoha. Negi would have wanted her to do so, anyway. He made his way to Lucaenus.

Lucaenus wasn't too upset over the loss of the T-rex, he seemed more focused on controlling the battle flow. The senator had disappeared, though his shouting and ramblings were heard across the field. Lucaenus had also summoned something akin to an undead ghoul to stand guard for him while he prepared his magic. A clever backup to not having a partner, Negi thought.

Ignoring the ghoul entirely, Negi landed next to him. "Master Lucaenus."

"Hm?"

"You're not from the Magic World, are you?"

Lucaenus looked like he just got slapped in the face. And that gave Negi a chance to continue. "You have good manners and observations, but you gave away a few things. First off, no one addresses each other as "Master" all the time, even between wizards. It's respectful, but it's out of date. You also chose specific words for your activation key and for a veteran, your magic skill was impressive but too focused on the simpler spells. I don't know the language for your key, but I can recognize speech patterns to identify what makes a word.

"Finally, you came from the southern Hellas Empire, according to your profile, hence where I couldn't place you, but it would have made more sense to come from the border regions where both humans and demi-humans live together, whereas, in the empire, demi-humans are more predominant. Humans don't have much land, never mind titles, due to post-Schismatic War relations between north and south. So your appearance as a human, while impressive, isn't fully planned out."

Lucaenus froze for a moment before regaining his composure. "Can we talk about this later? Preferably when we're not in a fight."

"Grrr, Kill them!" The senator screamed when his side began to form up after the loss of the T-rex. "Kill them all! We'll handle the memory charm another time!"

"Lucaenus-san, I'm going after the senator. I'll leave the rear defense to you." Negi took off and sent telepathic instructions to the girls. "Alicia-san, you need to go on the offensive, the guards are still regrouping."

"Yes, Negi-san."

"Takane-san, I need you to summon as many shadows as you can maintain with cohesion. Don't worry about firepower, we have that covered."

"Yes, Negi-sensei."

"Nanoha-san?"

"Sensei! What's going on? I don't know what's happening right now. Well, I can see, but I don't get it. Like, why is Alicia-chan in a heavy combat suit?!"

"Nanoha-san," he told her calmly. "There'll be a time for explanations later, but right now, it's best to focus. I know you don't have any combat skills, but your classmates have noted you have a good pair of eyes. I can get you to a good spot where you can see everything. Can I count on you for that, Nanoha-san?"

She didn't even hesitate. Negi transported her up to a safe vantage point first before joining the fray again. He noted that Lucaenus sent her something. "For self-defense," it was explained.

Negi and Alicia went on the offensive against the guards and faced little resistance. Negi had been undergoing intense combat training under Eva and Aristodemus, making him probably one of the fastest on Earth. Furthermore, he had pushed himself. He pushed himself because of what that man had done.

What Fashtar-san had done.

He wanted to ensure that did not happen again.

And where Negi was speed and precision, Alicia was brute force and toughness. Her father had given her one hell of a birthday present and she was already an expert pilot of what the maker Karl Gestr-san had dubbed the "Tactical Dreadnought Combat Mechsuit", a high-class magical item that not only protected the pilot inside but also drew mana from the surrounding area passively in order to amplify strength and toughness. Alicia was using that to her advantage to smash through the guards' defense spells before Negi rushed in and split up their formations, allowing Takane's puppets to rush in for the advantage.

Finally, the guards broke and ran. "What are you doing?!" The Senator cried as they dragged him along down some hallway where they had an escape route planned. "Noo, stand and fight!"

"Sir, we can't hold them!"

"Get off me, sniveling fools!" The senator managed to get one hand free and pointed it at the little group of heroes. "Dispulsatio Missam!"

Their morale was broken, so the guards had no real cause to stay and fight any longer, but that spell could have turned the tide if they had the chance.

A wave shot forth and Negi's armament magic disappeared. Alicia's mech suit ceased to function and she collapsed due to unstable footing. Takane's shadow summons disappeared and melted back into the shadows.

And then Lucaenus' illusionary form shattered like glass, revealing his real form.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ako heard Melissa-san ask when Sakurako got up on her feet to cover her bare torso, and then something shattered from her direction.

When Ako and the others turned to look, Melissa-san… was not Melissa-san. Instead, she was this black-skinned, white-haired woman with red eyes, a sharp contrast to her former appearance. And she wore something akin to a black crown on her head.

"Huh?"

Ela was alone in the library when her illusion shattered on its own. "What the hell?"

Kimmuriel was at the cash register for a bookstore when his broke.

Osyrimon lost his when he was overlooking the sports fields of the school.

The same occurred across town. Pixel-esque shapes around people cracked and then shattered like glass, revealing what they actually were and what they really wore. They weren't people like your average citizen, and they weren't clothed in the fashion you would expect undercover agents to wear.

Stuntmen in a ridiculous B-movie, maybe, but the scale of unveiling was too vast to make it look like a B-movie production and there were no cameras about.

They look like black cloaked individuals or soldiers in body armor that were in a variety of prismatic colors, be it dual, triplicate, or a multitude of the colors altogether.

One thing was for certain: They were armed with guns, and they weren't on any scheduled event. There was no holiday close enough for it to be a thing that the school would prepare.

"Melissa-san?" Ako asked as the fear started to set in.

Melissa was focused on her hand at first, then her hair until her finger touched the crown. She was silent for a moment and then focused on Ako, then Yuuna, then the cheerleaders, all forgetting Sakurako's clothes issue. Ako was scared. Here, instead of the patient and considerate mother who wanted gifts for her daughter, now there was an intimidating figure who didn't seem considerate at all, much less a mother asking for gifts.

Then her eyes narrowed. "And here I was hoping for a silent extraction."

That was when the explosions started.

Secret's out then, Gromph thought to himself as he saw his own hand turn back to his former self. He had been busy maintaining the disguises for his whole retinue and the hidden troops they had placed strategically within the Mahora city. The plan originally was to go in, get the materials needed, then get out again with no one the wiser. Of course, there was going to be some room for adaptation, but the mad Senator had thrown that out of what little room there was for that.

Now Gromph was going to have to resort to the backup of the plan in case they were discovered. It would sour relations in the long run, but in the end, he supposed that was the inevitable outcome between humans and drow. One side cannot tolerate the other.

Negi landed in front of him, with an expression that said he wasn't expecting what he was seeing. "Lucaenus-san?"

Gromph wasn't going to tell him the whole truth. He couldn't tell the whole truth. If he did, Negi might-

Negi pulled out the pactio card he made with his wife Theodora and then inserted Nodoka's card into his own artifact. No good, he couldn't afford to have his mind read. Luckily for him, Negi didn't have the same things Nodoka had to achieve what she wanted. "Who are you-"

Gromph still had his rod that quickened his magic and he always had the all-time Disintegrate spell on hand. It was useful. But he didn't target Negi. He targeted the book.

It didn't stand a chance. It turned to dust almost instantly. Items always crumbled before that spell. Gromph had the worry that Negi would have thought ahead, but judging by the look on his face, he didn't. "I can't afford to let that happen," he said. "I didn't come here to get my mind read by that thing."

"You knew what the book was," Negi accused.

...Oh.

"You knew who I was before we met."

Oh.

"And you knew exactly where to find me."

Well, fuck. The boy's a lot smarter than anticipated.

"Don't tell me-"

A rumble from up above shook the room. Gromph took advantage by touching Negi on the chest. "Grow tired," he spoke, and then Negi started breathing heavily. Even falling to his knees. The Touch of Fatigue cantrip was a useful one, taking someone's energy away so they couldn't run or fight, without getting exhausted. "I have what I came for, and you're still alive. I'd rather we keep each other at a distance for now," Gromph explained.

"Negi-sensei!" Takane came at him with her newly summoned puppets flanking her. Alicia soon thereafter with her mech suit was right behind them.

Gromph raised a hand to cast his Chain Missile, but then a bolt of silver slammed into his hand, fizzling the spell. Then the pain came, and he had to take a look at who did that. Then again, it was easy, he gave her the wand. Takamachi… wait, she could make the shot from that distance?

A summoner, a warrior, a sniper, and Springfield. He was outmatched. He had to flee. He had another backup which should buy him time.

A preserved puffball mushroom was in his back pocket. He threw that on the ground and it spewed out smoke that obscured their vision and his own. But he didn't need to see.

"Perhaps another time, Negi-kun," he called out, and then, he teleported. Back to the gate where they had originally emerged at Mahora. He had work to do.

"Negi-sensei!"

"Negi-san!"

Takane and Alicia came up to him and Negi had to collect his breath. What was he hit with? It seems like it was a simple spell, yet he couldn't resist it. He didn't even get the chance.

But even more aggravating…

He was gone. He had answers and he got away.

He knew about Nodoka-san.

Negi had to find that man again. If he knew about Nodoka-san, he had to find that man, there was no other alternative. This was the best opportunity he ever had to possibly see her again.

And then Yuuna called him. "Negi-kun! Trouble!"

"Yuuna-san? What's going on?"

"Melissa-san and Robert-san, they're not what they seem! They've brought an army, too! It's an enemy attack!"

"What?!" A rumble from above merely confirmed it. Lucaenus had been the spearhead of an enemy attack on Mahora. They had let Ala Alba get their guard down and now with them all separated, they were making their move. It was a logical conclusion. No other option made sense.

In a world of more than a thousand unique cities, what matters the loss of one?

Asuna once again

The Great Paru-sama Mk 2 had crashed into the ground, damaged beyond the repair of what they could do. The hull was intact, but the nose was too far into the ground for them to pull out the damn thing. The Ala Alba sign was scarred, almost shredded beyond recognition to the point Asuna only knew it was there because she knew it was there. Furthermore, there were rends and holes everywhere, evidence of intense battle. Whatever had downed the goldfish had managed to puncture both shields, then pierced the engine, and then gone to town on the GPS while it was still airborne. If it was still airborne.

Asuna had gone ahead of the others on this, telling them to stay back in case of something. If her own skull was anything to go by, whoever was living in here now, if they did, they weren't going to take kindly to strangers.

"Okay, here we go," Asuna told herself quietly and then knocked on the door three times.

Silence. Asuna felt a bit stupid to knock on the door, but it was a precaution. If there was a response, someone was there. If there was no response, then it was empty. It was going to take a while so Asuna was going to wait five minutes before signaling the others the coast was clear.

Okay, since I'm waiting, might as well think, Asuna thought to herself. Drinde is a collection of dead magic users who came back from the past to take control of Honya-chan because they couldn't get over the fact they were dead. Or rather, they had a serious grudge against the githyanki rulers of this planet. Furthermore, they got probable contact with their alternate selves across timelines and dimensions, meaning they want to eradicate the very concept of the githyanki all across the multiverse.

It sounded a lot like what Kosmo Entelecheia wanted to achieve. But Kosmo believed more in sending people off to the Eternal Garden if such a place existed. Fate Averruncus once said he had heard it was a beautiful place, only he had never seen it. So how could he know it was a beautiful place if he had never actually been there?

The logic here could apply: How would Drinde know for certain that they would be able to exterminate the githyanki altogether?

Saber had talked before about the dimension theory of reality: the basic tenet stated that for every decision made, the alternatives are played out in an alternate reality or rather, an alternative timeline. So let's run the base scenario where Drinde comes to life as timeline 1. In timeline 1, Drinde comes to life and makes a break for Honya-chan. One of two things happens: Either Drinde takes control of Honya-chan and uses her to summon monsters and demons to fulfill their goal, or Drinde fails to take control.

Asuna was going to call her own reality timeline 1, where Drinde first failed to take control. But from what she could tell of what Honya-chan of this timeline, timeline 2, timeline 1 has yet to deliver a definitive result.

But in timeline 2, Drinde succeeded. They took control and summoned their Hordes. This leads to further timelines being opened. If Ala Alba met with Drinde post-possession, then the timelines split into more: timeline 2, where Ala Alba failed and met total disaster, timeline 3, where they succeeded and brought Honya-chan back home, and timelines 4 and 5, where either Honya-chan died in the first encounter, or they defeated Drinde but took losses. Timeline 5 was open to which losses were felt, but that is not the main focus here.

This was timeline 2, where Ala Alba faced disaster and at least Asuna had died. Here, the assumption is that most of Ala Alba was dead and/or incapacitated to continue fighting. They didn't have the means to get back home, and they had failed the original mission.

Asuna didn't even want to imagine how the others felt back home in this timeline.

But Drinde kept her skull on their person…

To keep Asuna's skull on their person, meant that Drinde knew of the danger she presented. A swordswoman with Magic Cancel that negated all offensive magic. That would mean Asuna is the bane of Drinde. Same as she is to the power of the Lifemaker, according to theory. Which in turn meant that in order to achieve full domination of Honya-chan, Drinde needed to kill Asuna.

Well, I'm not gonna let that happen in my timeline, Asuna thought to herself. Now she just needed-

A knock on the door. Asuna went for the door and gave two knocks to verify. Then came a series of knocks. Shave and a haircut.

Two bits, was the response to that one. Then the door was unbolted and opened up to reveal the person inside.

Akira Ookouchi had seen better days. She had a recent eyepatch from a wound that occurred days ago and bandages over her left arm. She sported the same shotgun as Asuna had been using herself these past several hours. And her outfit was torn all over the place. And she looked shocked to see Asuna.

"Akira-san…"

"Asuna," Akira said in response and touched Asuna to verify it was her. "But… I saw… you… you're actually… but you're…"

"Long story," Asuna replied. And then Akira's eyes swelled. "Come here."

It was a hug they both needed. Akira was glad to see a dead friend come back to life, even if it wasn't her friend. Asuna was in need of emotional support from a classmate who was like a big sister to so many others in their group. Akira was cool like that. But even big sisters need someone they can rely on, themselves.

"I, uh," Asuna started after a moment of hugging. "I brought some friends, can we come inside?"

Akira nodded and let go. Asuna waved to the others that it was clear. Akira led them inside.

Asuna saw the others in the big room with the sofas. Well, everyone who was left, that is. Emily Sevensheep, Du Chat, Von Katze, Chizuru, and their recent ship engineer, Andreas. Emily's armor was torn and buckled. The two cats were okay. Andreas was missing his right arm. Chizuru had some kind of facemask along with missing two fingers on her right hand.

"Is this everyone?" Asuna asked. She didn't see Setsuna, Yue, Haruna, or even Konoka. She knew about herself, but the others?

"No," Emily responded after a moment of shock. "Konoka-san and Fate-san are downstairs in the engine room."

Asuna first walked up to Chizuru. "Chizuru-san, what happened to you?"

Chizuru didn't answer. Instead, she used her left hand to grasp hold of Asuna's lower jaw. "Um, okay?" Asuna asked. Then Chizuru removed the hand, keeping the jaw's formation, and then flung the hand away.

It took less than a second for Asuna to connect the dots. "Oh. Oh." She wanted to throw up.

"Not a pretty sight, I assure you," Andreas confirmed.

"Yeah, okay," Asuna wheezed out.

"And you, Andreas-san?"

"Took a tumble in the crash landing," Andreas told her. "My arm was stuck in the wrong place."

"Okay, I think I'll see the others now," Asuna told them. Andreas moved for the engine room first, gesturing for her to follow.

"Minsc, go with her," Aerie instructed her protector. "I'm going to see what I can do here."

Asuna and Minsc, still carrying Honya's body, followed Andreas down to the engine room. The ship was dead, there was no hum from the engines and there was next to no lighting. It felt wrong. It felt… alien to her.

They reached the core and Asuna saw Konoka and Fate. Konoka lay on her back, with her head in Fate's lap, and the latter had his hands on her forehead. Both were glowing in tandem with the ship's damaged core, which pulsated faintly. Neither of them was responsive.

"When the engine crashed, the Valkyrie squadron began running low on energy," Andreas explained. "We lost Collet first. She used her own mana to save the others. After that, Konoe and Averruncus resolved to use their energies more efficiently. She's now the power battery that powers the girls, he's the sieve that refines that energy so nothing is going to waste. I'm trying to get an auxiliary battery working so we can fix the core and possibly get airborne. Could also take the pressure off them, in theory."

"What's the problem?" Minsc asked.

"I have yet to find a single intact battery."

Asuna stroked Konoka's cheek. She was still warm, and breathing, but… "How long?"

"Too long if you ask me."

Asuna looked at Andreas with the unspoken question hanging in the air. The engineer got the hint and walked over to a secluded spot in the engine room. "Here."

Coffins. Coffins that were filled and in a row next to each other. And a few that were still open. Minsc hanged back while Asuna went to inspect them. The dead Pactio cards were taped on the lids.

"Setsuna-san," Asuna approached the first one.

"First to fall," Andreas told her. "Ambushed from above and took a hit in the throat. Never stood a chance."

"Yue-chan."

"Held up our rearguard in the air for as long as she could to help us try and escape. Never seen spell-craft like that before. Hell of a last stand."

"Haruna."

"Broke her neck in the crash."

"And… me."

"You told us to get the hell out of dodge, your words. Last we saw you alive, you were fending off so many. Took Akira two days to retrieve your body, but she couldn't find-"

"This?" Asuna held up her own skull with the bells. Then she opened the coffin and saw her own corpse. It was surreal in a fashion. The body was a mangled mess in the armor Gestr-san had prepared for her, and it was in no better shape, either. Her own suit was punctured and knackered. Andreas back in timeline 1 was going to have a few words for her.

Asuna put the skull where it should be, and then closed the coffin. She didn't shed any tears. She had done enough of that back at Drinde's tower.

The last coffin didn't have a Pactio card, but Asuna could deduce. "Beatrix-san?"

"Went down with Yue. First of the two to go and not in a pretty fashion."

Asuna took his word on that. Then she saw an empty coffin resting against the wall. It seemed the right size. She took that one, placed it next to Beatrix, and then gestured to Minsc. He came up with Honya's body, placed it inside and the two of them placed the lid on top and nailed it together. Asuna taped on her Pactio Card on top for last.

"You…" Asuna started but had trouble finding the words. "You said, that things were going to be okay from now on. But I can't see it. I can't see how things will be okay from here on out. I don't… I don't see a good ending from all of this. I, I, I, I don't know… how things will progress from here. I mean… you're not going to see Negi again. Neither will I, nor... will most of us. Mission's failed here. How… do things get better from here?"

There was no answer from the coffin. Asuna hated that. She was an optimist at heart. She didn't want things to end like this. Still, what mattered was that she could get back home to prevent this from happening.

Timeline 2 must not happen again. "Goodbye, Honya."

She, Minsc, and Andreas returned to the living quarters and- did Chizuru smile with her face fully intact, again?

And Akira's eye was better and she was removing bandages from her arm. She was also smiling. Like, she was smiling as if hope had just been restored.

Aerie was getting hugs from the other girls at the time as thank-yous for healing them. "Aerie-san?" Asuna asked.

"Hm?"

"You could… you really could heal them?"

"I did wonder why old man Rufus summoned me to this world," Aerie replied. "I may be a powerful spellcaster and described by many as a devastating angel of war magic, but I don't like that. I like the little things. The kinder things. I'd prefer to be a healer than a destroyer.

"And now I think I understand why he wanted me here."

"Aerie-san?"

"Asuna, I am unable to save your friends here, but I have friends, contacts, and allies. I know now why I am here, with my protector. And I understand what must be done before they can return home," Aerie explained.

"Aerie." Minsc approached his witch and ally. "Do you mean-?"

"Yes," Aerie answered with confidence, "I am going to bring this ship and everyone on board to a place where they can be returned to life and restored to normal. It will cost me, but seeing the shape of this, I cannot turn a blind eye."

"Aerie-san," Akira said softly. Chizuru echoed it.

Asuna felt a surge of hope for timeline 2. Aerie-san was a powerful healer in her own right. And she had other friends. She could bring people back to life, too? Jesus. When she first came to this timeline, Asuna had felt despair at the destruction. When she had to kill Honya-chan, she felt anguish and grief to the point she thought she'd die from it.

But now? With Aerie-san intent on bringing everyone back to life, and they could actually go on after that… Asuna felt joy. It was a really good feeling. She almost shed tears over how happy she was feeling. She walked up to Aerie-san and hugged her as the tears started flowing. "Thank you…"

"Asuna. I do believe you have another path ahead of you, rather than the one I have before me."

Now, Asuna scoffed. "Okay, but where exactly should I go? How exactly do I get ba-" She stopped herself there. This whole time she neglected one thing: How was she going to get back to timeline 1?

"Asuna-san," Chizuru addressed her this time. "How did you get here to start with?"

And then it clicked. Asuna didn't know for certain, but she was going to give it a try. But first things first…

"Hey, Aerie-san, can I ask you one last favor?"

"Yes?"

"Are you able to send telepathic messages to anyone? Regardless of distance?"

"I can. I don't know how long, but let's assume that the range is infinite," Aerie replied. "Though there might be a small chance it might not work."

"I'll take that chance," Asuna told her. "Emily-san, you can scan memories and take pictures from them, right? I need a picture of Negi for this to work."

Seconds later, Asuna had a picture of Negi from Emily for Aerie to use, with his name on the back. "A quick message to this boy in this timeline to let him know what's happened, is all I'm asking."

"There's a limit on how much I can say," Aerie warned her. "Twenty-five words only."

"Just twenty-five?" Asuna looked around for some paper before Akira handed her a page with a pen. With these in hand, Asuna wrote down the message for timeline 2's Negi.

"Springfield. Mission hit a snag, but finally successful. Return home delayed, don't worry about us. Taking a side-trip before coming home for good. From Asuna."

"There, that should do it. I counted the words," Asuna told Aerie while handing the paper. "Do you really think it would work?"

"You tell me that now?" Aerie asked her. "I will try. As soon as I get the chance, I will try."

Asuna hugged her again, then gave the others a hug as well and shook hands with Minsc. "Good luck, guys."

"And you, Asuna," Akira replied. "You're gonna be great back home."

"Be sure to stop this," Chizuru told her. "For all of us."

"You bet," Asuna replied to them. With Shakuras and Saber in tow, she ran outside the GPS and called to the Sky.

"Hey, Rufus!"

The battle of Mahora

The explosions sent people panicking at the train station. Mei was caught off guard by the one close by and the screaming. Fashtar was just as surprised by the explosions, but his actions were a lot quicker. As were those of his companion with the fancy hat.

They got up on their feet faster than Mei could register at first, but then she regained her composure as a battle-hardened mage of St. Johnson's School for Wizards and a veteran of the Battle of Ostia. She got her artifact out and prepared for combat.

"Maple Napl-"

Thunk!

It jutted out of her chest, a small knife handle, right in the middle of her torso. She could only register that for a moment before looking at the thrower.

The man with the hat had his hand out, meaning he had the knife in his hand the whole time. She didn't even know it was there. As people around them ran for cover and thus ignored them, he rushed up to her. Probably to finish her off.

"Sorry about that, sweetie," he said and laid her down on the ground, "but we can't stay around for that." Mei reached for the knife, but he stopped her. "No. Don't. It's currently keeping the blood inside. Wait for help instead, you'll stand a better chance of surviving that."

Fashtar stood over her now. God, he looked somewhat terrifying in this angle. Lying on the ground, Mei couldn't mount a defense against him now. And he would surely know if she sent a telepathic message out. He knelt down.

"Let me reassure you I have nothing to do with these events," he said. "I am simply passing through this time. So you have nothing to worry about. Well, you at least."

He stood up. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

His companion clasped her hand and put it over the knife wound, not the handle. "Keep pressure on that, sweetie." With that, he left with Fashtar to join the coming fray.

Even at Ostia, Mei had never felt so helpless as when she was right then and there.

The ensuing battle had become a chaotic mixture with civilians caught in the middle. The absolute worst kind of battle known to the modern day.

The alien soldiers did try to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but in the confusion and the panic that civilians had when suddenly caught up in a firefight and not knowing where to hide, casualties were always going to be a factor.

The defenders of Mahora, though well trained for a small district, were both scattered and caught off-guard, meaning response was slow initially. The majority were still caught in the open and trying their best to stem off the invaders, but they were isolated from communications for at least half an hour. Such a long time was perilous in urban combat.

Conversely, the attackers had deliberately positioned their fireteams and specialists separate on purpose, though their goal was not conquest, but evacuation. The idea was primarily to sow destruction and confusion in their wake, forcing the defenders to focus more on protecting civilians while they escaped. Of course, the drow contingents saw no distinction between civilians and combatants while the majority forces, the githyanki, forced them to at least focus on the combatants at first while pulling covered retreats to their designated recall point.

All over Mahora, isolated bouts of combat and exchanges of projectiles were occurring between quickly organized defenders and the attackers providing covering fire for their retreating comrades. Even at quick response, it would take time for better coordinated defenders and reinforcements to come to downtown and push the invaders off.

That being said, certains actions taken by certain individuals were not overlooked.

Quenthel threw Yuuna, the last one, into the group before saying her prayer to Lolth. It was meant to create a safe zone, anyway, so the Sanctuary miracle created a haven for those girls in that narrow alley.

"There. You girls should be safe now. Stay here until it is over," she told them before turning to head back into the fight. But she found herself blocked.

By Ako, of all people. "Ako. Move."

"No," was the defiant answer from the nurse girl.

"It was not a request."

"And it was not an order," Ako countered. "You don't get to tell me what to do."

So now the little bitch was showing some backbone. Quenthel wanted to hurt her, make her get out of the way, but that would end the spell. Yuuna was right behind her with her firearms and Kugimiya had a vicious warhammer. Makie was also a close range fighter with a ribbon that could extend to any length, forcing her to remain in place. So attacking was not an option.

Only one thing for it, then. "What do you want?"

Ka-click.

"Put that down, Akashi," she told Yuuna without turning around. "This barrier won't let you shoot, anyway."

"Grr," Yuuna growled.

Ako took a deep breath and then asked. "Why? Why do all this? We helped you, bought you things and now, this." To empathize her point, an explosion set off in the distance. "You can't be serious."

Quenthel looked at her as if she was the most naive person in existence. Nodoka was naive, too, but brave. This girl didn't have that same courage. Then again, it took courage to try and bar her way.

"This wasn't supposed to be how it goes," Quenthel finally told them. "It was meant to be quiet, a simple infiltration. In and out with no one the wiser. With your setup of how your commander trained the troops, appearing as volunteers was easy. We simply took advantage of your hospitality."

"You bitch," Yuuna cursed.

"So you lied about your daughter?" Kakizaki questioned.

"We helped pick out those things for you," Kugimiya accused her of ingratitude.

"You were given that stuff at our expense," Makie continued.

Sakurako was still a bit out thanks to her clothing damage experience to focus on Quenthel. Plus, she was looking down the alley to see if anyone would come up behind her.

"Curse me, hate me, scorn me all you like," Quenthel shot them down. "You children know nothing of the real hardships of war and what it means to be in this world. I'm just ahead of the curve."

"But why come here?" Ako questioned her. Now she was asking a real question. Let's see if they have the smarts of a proper education. "You could have gone anywhere in this world if you had to come."

Ahh, there it was. "Yes," Quenthel confirmed for Ako, "but we came here. Why do you think that is?"

Quenthel wanted Ako to work it out herself. The little nurse girl was racking her brain, it could be seen on her face that she was working out why the drow and the githyanki had come to Mahora rather than any other magic association group. Quenthel had little time for stupidity.

But before Ako could finish, Quenthel took the opportunity to push her aside gently, rather than being forceful about it. "Just stay here. This alley is a safe zone. As long as you stay put, no harm will come to you."

With that, she left the girls there. No doubt a number of them were angry at her for the deception. Still, she wasn't fully ungrateful.

And Nodoka would certainly appreciate the gifts, even if she didn't know who bought them.

"Come on, then!"

Kotarou was bashing away the invaders with his dog spirits and his fists. This was more like it. No more skulking and hiding.

This was pure combat. Much more his style.

The invaders were too busy fighting him anyway, giving the civilians time to escape the immediate area, thanks to him having set a few dog spirits to lead the way to safety. And he was thrilled that Natsumi-neesan and Ayaka-neesan were safe, too. Natsumi had used her artifact to keep Ayaka and herself hidden. Shame they couldn't take anyone else with them without exposing magic.

Though at this point, magic could be exposed, anyway. Between this and Marbella, things didn't look great for the magic community.

But right now, Kotarou was focused on the events at hand, rather than what was to come. The bad guys had now come to Mahora and feeling pent up and angry over the fact they had taken Nodoka-jouchan, Kotarou could finally vent with his fists against a real foe that wasn't simulated.

Kaede-nee was off as well, handling rooftop foes and getting people out of harm's way, too. She was faster than Natsumi-nee, but Natsumi-nee had to get herself out rather than help people. She wasn't very useful in a fight, anyway.

Then one of the soldiers got a good shot on him.

Ouch! Those things didn't hurt to the point they'd draw blood from him, but they packed a wallop. Bullets are still fast projectiles and they didn't lose their power just because he was one of the strongest fighters on the planet.

Still, that was going to be taken into consideration. So he adjusted to speed for his counterattack.

Then an unseen force slammed him into the ground before he could make his move on them. What the hell?

"So we meet again in combat," said a familiar voice. It sounded like Kevin who he faced back in the resort. It probably was, with the disguises all gone.

He now appeared as his true self, a bald black skinned elf in black clothing, with little stones floating around his head. He had a shopping bag from the local bookstore that Nodoka-jouchan used to go to when she wasn't on duty at Library Island. Wait, what the hell?

"You," Kotarou brushed the bag issue aside and focused on the elf instead. "I take it your name never was Kevin."

"If you want my real name, know that you don't have the right." Kevin was taking the bait.

"Okay, Kevin. If that is your name, Kevin." Kotarou was going to prick Kevin about his false name until he gave up his real name. "I guess you have been really proud of having to hide your face and name, Kevin."

Kevin narrowed his eyes at the dog fighter and he could tell that Kevin wanted him to suffer for the taunting. But he wasn't giving up his real name that easy. No, he would have to endure this with his strength.

"Seems you have good self-control," Kotarou said as he readied his dog spirits for a heavy fight. "But this time… I am not holding back."

Finally, Kevin gave a dry smile, handing the shopping bag to the soldiers who retreated. "Well then, Inugami Kotarou, I shall do you that courtesy, at least."

Fashtar was befuddled. What the hell was going on?

It was an attack, sure, but who was leading it? The tactics seemed like your standard infiltration assault, but something was different. Something didn't add up here.

And what unit would come here to-

...oh. Oh no. Osyrimon was going to be in big trouble when this was over.

His own knowledge of troop deployment led him and Jarlaxle to a squad that was caught up fighting some local martial artists led by a man with a ridiculous pompadour. Despite the bullets, the defenders were holding up pretty well with their chi blasts and surprise moves.

That is, until Fashtar turned up next to them. Pompadour man tried to attack, only to be slammed by the psionic barrier the alien wizard had on him constantly. After that, he was smashed into the ground. Still alive, but he wouldn't be up on his feet again for a while.

The others followed shortly afterward, at least one of them firing chi blasts from the rear.

They all survived. None of them got up again.

Then Fashtar turned on the soldiers. He wasn't thrilled to see them here. He certainly hadn't allowed this deployment. "Lo- Lord Fashtar…"

"What's the plan here?" Fashtar asked them. None of them answered straight away. "Soldiers, I am mad. Of that there is no doubt. But all the reprimanding can wait until after the battle. What is the plan here?"

"Escape," said one soldier.

"Confuse them, get them off our backs so we can escape," said another.

Jarlaxle had a look around. "If this place is what I think it is, not all of us are going to get out of here," he said. "Chances are there are going to be people left behind so the rest can escape."

The words sunk in. That much was true. Soldiers would have to stay behind and give the others time to escape. This meant they would be made prisoners of war. And given how prisoners not covered by the planet's rights were treated…

No one among them was willing to stay.

"We haven't come to that point yet," Fashtar spoke up. "Right now, we get to the extraction point. We pick up stragglers and squads pinned. Sweeping formation until we reach checkpoint 1. No heroics, no glory-seeking. Teamwork matters here. Clear?"

"Yes, sir!" The whole squad acknowledged his orders.

This was bad.

Konoe Konoemon could see the explosions from his office window. Aristodemus was with him. The two were focused on the larger picture. This was one battle, but if done wrong, magic could be exposed here.

The two of them were in intense talks regarding the situation at hand. When the secret was out, what would happen then? Especially with the prospect of hiding the alien invasion was now out the window. Marbella was a global incident now, and this was now a confirmed second attack.

Viral media was already streaming live footage on the attack, and something was emerging on the internet forums. Even if an intervention was made now, what were the chances that magic would stay hidden after this?

Konoemon got on the phone and spoke with a number of fellow leaders of associations across the world. Many were following the trending streams on the internet as well and while many had been in denial before, they weren't now that there actually was an alien invasion coming their way. This was undeniable proof.

The head of the Spanish Asociación Mágica, in particular, was livid. He had gotten the reports of the incident of Marbella after said events had happened and now, the alien creatures that had led that attack were now assaulting Mahora. Some of them blamed Springfield for this trouble, but Konoemon assured them that Negi-kun had nothing to do with them coming here.

At least, that was the best outcome for them.

The spokesperson for the Senate was at least sympathetic, but there was no time to stand on ceremony or wait for a good outcome. Things were going to change with the outcome of this and mages might just become exposed.

The old Spartan wondered if they could really afford to stay put and do nothing while people they're supposed to protect got attacked and killed by something they could protect them from. All mages had a responsibility, one way or another, to help people. Why would they stand idly by and do nothing?

Konoemon had enough.

It was his district in trouble. His people that were dying. His land that was under attack.

His home that was under siege.

He made his choice. If they wanted to punish him for doing what mages were supposed to do, so be it. But right now, he had the strongest mages on the planet living there. He had the greatest heroes of their time with them now. And he had the most terrifying monster living there. It was time he made a decision.

He shut down the barrier suppressing Eva's power.

"Is this as fast as you can go?!" Chisame asked.

"I don't usually carry people my own size on my back, you know!" Misora shouted back as she carried the net idol piggy-back to a safe place.

The two of them were okay, for now. Korone-chan had told Misora to take Chisame with her while she made her way to the church on her own.

Chisame could in theory gain control of the devices the attackers had in order to communicate with each other. If she got to a place where she could be safe, she could use her artifact to hack into them and supply a direct line of comms to the main mages association, letting them know what the enemy was signalling to each other.

Now, in theory, she could just do that anywhere, but if she was going to hack alien software, she wasn't going to bet that they wouldn't notice. Therefore, safe zone required. Preferably a place with Takahata-sensei or any of the teachers keeping tabs on her.

"Uh oh," Misora said as they came up in the open. "Hostile squad up ahead!"

"Keep moving," Chisame instructed. "We got no weapons anyway, they won't shoot at us like that."

At first, it was going as planned. The soldiers noted them, but they didn't open fire. They saw two girls running for cover - albeit, at high speed - with one carrying the other. In this situation, who'd look twice at that?

That was when she saw him.

One of the benefits of magic was memory replay. 3-A, Shinpaku and others had been watching replays of the boarding action that Negi led against the alien spacecraft Miyazaki had been taken in. And they had seen footage of the guy, up close and personal, particularly with Negi and Asuna having faced him one-on-one.

There was no mistaking that eye-patch.

And then their eyes linked with each other. His eye widened just as hers did when she realized that he recognized her as she recognized him. He knew who she was.

Oh, shit.

Misora was coming up on a crossroad, and Chisame made a decision. "Turn, turn, turn, turn!" She even leaned left so that Misora would turn left, like on a horse.

"Whoa Whoa Whoa, what's the rush? What's going on?!"

"Don't ask, just-

Boom!

The shockwave sent her flying. An explosion from behind had occurred shortly after they turned. Did he send some kind of fireball their way?

Chisame had no control of her body as it was flying rapidly through the air. Though she saw the car coming. Oh sh-!

She landed on its front, on her back. She could tell that much from the pain. Then it got numb…

And dark…

The silence was echoing as the sound of gunfire and explosions faded.

What happened to Kasuga?

Yuuna paced back and forth. This Sanctuary spell was amazing, she had to admit, as soldiers could readily see her being ready for battle, but completely ignoring her. At the same time, she couldn't do anything herself. This aggravated her to no end.

Misa had left her jacket to Sakurako and Ako was trembling from having thought out a possible solution as to why these infiltrators had come to Mahora.

Yuuna had thought about it too, and she didn't like the answer:

The black elves had Honya-chan in their grip. Or at the very least, had access to Honya-chan. Last they heard, Honya was okay, and had even managed, unbelievably so, to send Negi-kun chocolate on Valentine's. How she did it was quite funny.

But things had changed since then. The aliens could have sent her over to them, or there was a conflict at first or-

No no no, they were working together here. If there had been a conflict, only the black elves would have been here. The githyanki would not have needed to come.

Yuuna hated this all. She hated her inability to do anything. She hated the fact that she couldn't go outside and leave-

...wait.

She hated that they were here. That they had come back here to hurt their home. And she definitely hated having to wait while she could do something.

"Ako."

"Yes?"

"I need you to juice me up."

"Eh?"

"Juice me up. But I want you to stay here. There's gonna be a need for a medic when this is over," Yuuna told her.

Ako was reluctant, but she brought forth her artifact and gave Yuuna a boost. "But we're safe here. Where are you going?"

Yuuna took out her guns. "To lay some hate."

The Kid leaped out of the Sanctuary, took aim mid-air at the enemy soldiers and opened fire.

Asakura and Sayo weren't expecting a lift. Least of all, from Tatsumiya.

"Tatsumiya-san, I appreciate the lift and all, but don't you think I could be of better use down below?!"

"You'll be alright. I need you as my spotter up here, anyway. Besides, you would want one of the strongest in our class with you in this situation, wouldn't you?"

Asakura had to admit that Tatsumiya had a point there. "Maybe, but we're kinda exposed here."

"Not with my ricocheting bullets," Tatsumiya countered. And Asakura got the hint from there.

With her artifact out, the Oculus Corvinus scattered its drones across the city, allowing for Tatsumiya to have a full visual view of the whole city where the action was taking place. Sayo took off on her own little seated drone to try and find the source of the attackers.

Now they just needed Negi-kun to get back from his date.

"Chisame-chan?"

Ugh, the afterlife is a bit noisy…

"Hasegawa Chisame-chan?"

Wait, why am I in pain from my pain if I'm dead?

"Wake up, Chisame-chan."

Chisame opened her eyes to see someone she didn't expect to see. "Zazie-chan?"

Zazie was in her Demonic Jester outfit, and her claws were out. Wait, did the headmaster shut down the barrier?

Zazie Rainyday was usually not present at the training sessions. Mostly because of her status or whatever she had that belonged in the fantasy section of their everyday lives. When she did attend, the old Spartan was deferring to her and showing her proper respect. Chisame didn't interact much with her because of it, anyway. Zazie-chan was always quiet and distant from the others.

Not for a lack of trying, though. Zazie did open up a bit after Ostia. But this was the first real interaction the two of them had since Ostia.

Chisame tried to get up, only for Zazie to put a hand on her and push her back down gently. "Don't try. Are you in pain?"

Chisame was in obvious pain, but she couldn't feel pain in her-

She couldn't feel her legs.

"I can't feel my legs," she said. "I landed on a car, didn't I?"

"You did. That wizard who shot the fireball came up to you after you landed. I chased him away. He was scared to see me."

"Wait… that guy? He was scared of you?"

"Yes."

Chisame thought that maybe she should start talking with Zazie a bit more in the future. "Hey, where's-"

"I'm here, Chisame-san," said Chachamaru as she landed next to them. "Are you alright?"

"No," Chisame replied sternly. "My legs are bust and my back feels kinda weird. I was trying to get a safe-zo-" And then she remembered that Misora was with her. "Kasuga!?"

"Ow." Misora was lying on an undented car, suggesting that someone had carried her there. "I landed on the street. Scrapes all over, but I'm okay."

"Better than me. I'm gonna have to start hacking them now. But first." She got her Pactio card out to contact Negi. "Hey, Sensei. Negi-sensei?"

In mid-run to the elevator they could reach from their location, Negi stopped at hearing Chisame's voice. "Chisame-san?"

"Huh?" Nanoha stopped alongside him, as did Alicia and Takane. "What is it?"

"Chisame-san, are you alright?"

"No. I'm hurt. But listen, my condition is not important right now-"

"How can it not be important?!"

"LISTEN!" That was louder than usual between the two when they talked. "Look. I'm safe. Chachamaru and Zazie-chan are here with me, but listen. I saw that guy."

"That guy?"

"The guy who took Miyazaki. The eyepatch guy. He's here."

Negi froze. It felt like the very warmth of his blood was stolen. Like that time he saw Rakan get serious in the Ostian tournament. Or when Kosmo Entelecheia first got serious in the battle of Ostia. But this was different.

He was here. He was here… he was leading the attack here. He took Nodoka-san…

"Sensei?" Takane asked.

Then stillness and shock gave way… to unbridled anger. Negi did not have Magia Erebea anymore, but he still had a lot of magical power stored within him. And the anger allowed the power to flow out of him without care. The girls got pushed back by the waves of mana fueled by his rage. Nanoha got pushed up against the wall.

Hate stirred within Negi. They only had one encounter between him yet Negi couldn't bring himself to cool himself when it came to Fashtar. He made their lives what they are now. He took Nodoka-san from them. From… me.

"Fash…..tar…," Negi growled in rage as his emotions got the better of him.

"Sensei," Takane tried to talk to him, but she kept getting pushed back by the enraged waves of mana emanating from him.

Alicia could hold her own ground, but she couldn't get closer to him. What's more, she got scared of what she saw in him right now.

And then Negi got hit in the knee and he fell on them. Nanoha had used her new wand to fire a bolt of silver energy at him. But what he really saw…

Fear. Nanoha-san was terrified of him. Her hands were shaking so badly, he thought the wand would slip out of her grip. Rage gave way to shame.

He was still a teacher. A teacher isn't supposed to scare his students. Nanoha wasn't one of his students, but nonetheless. Negi looked over at Alicia and Takane. They looked nervously at him. He had scared them as well. Takane was a combat veteran, and yet she wasn't looking calm or reserved in this situation.

Alicia may be a pilot of a combat mechsuit and she may have just killed a T-rex, but she was still just a little girl and she was as terrified of him as Nanoha was.

He calmed himself. He couldn't afford to make mistakes now. He wanted to know about Nodoka-san, for certain, but right now, he had more important priorities.

Such as protecting the rest of his students. "Chisame-san?" He asked via telepathy.

No response. She was most likely using her artifact. Negi had to get topside now. If they were going to turn this around, he had to get up top and protect his students. The girls were good, but he wasn't certain that surviving alien invaders was a guarantee.

"Come on," he said, putting a hand on Nanoha's shoulder to calm her down. "We need to get to that elevator so we can get up there and help turn this around."

"Negi-sensei," Takane interrupted, "we mages cannot act out in the open-"

"They don't seem to care about that," Negi countered. "Right now, people are in danger and if we have to give ourselves away in order to protect them… that's quite a cheap price. This isn't about keeping magic a secret. This is about what we can do and what we can't do.

"Takane-san, I get your frustration that we shouldn't work so openly, but right now, can you really stand by and do nothing while you have the power to help people? I know I can't, so I won't try. And I certainly can't do anything while my students are in danger. I screwed up once earlier this year. I am not going to do that again."

"Negi-san…" Alicia said softly.

"Sensei," Nanoha said as well, not looking so afraid anymore.

"I'm good at quick response so I'll be rushing all over the place. Takane-san, you summon soldiers to form defensive lines to protect the civilians. Alicia-san, you have the frontlines. Your suit can take a beating so you take the fight to them," Negi told the two fighters. Then he turned to Nanoha. "Nanoha-san…"

"I can't," Nanoha excused herself. "I may have this," she gestured to her new wand, "but I don't know how much energy it has, and I just got introduced to all this magic, so I won't be good in a fight like this."

"That's fair, Nanoha-san," he replied. "Just get yourself to safety at the church. It's a mage stronghold so if you get there, you'll be fine. Just… please try and help out wherever you can, okay?"

Nanoha blushed softly at being told this. She nodded with reassurance from him. "Okay, sensei, but afterward, you explain everything, okay?"

"Done." With these directives, and with a specific goal in mind, Negi and his group made for the elevator.

It didn't take long for the defenders of Mahora to regain their footing and then start gaining ground.

Scattered across the city, 3-A began regrouping where they could and pushed back against the attackers. The Shinpaku Alliance were alongside, committing ambushes against the gun users and using their superior fighting skills to thoroughly trounce the aliens.

Any who thought the alien threat wasn't real were surely convinced now.

The soldiers for their part, held their ground valiantly, in an organized retreat. They pulled back where they could, sowed destruction for the purposes of causing smokescreens, confusing the defenders, or to create tactical advantages.

That changed with the arrival of the Mahora University's Military Club. Who knew where they got the funding for so many V22s and trained personnel, but no one on the ground was complaining now.

With hostile air support in the air and reinforcements dropping in all over, the attackers had too much on their hands to even bother with an organized retreat.

So it became a full retreat instead. Soldiers abandoned their cover and made a beeline for the rendezvous point, giving only fights to those who obstructed their path.

Unfortunately, the defenders were not the only ones who had magic on their side.

Quenthel got up on a rooftop to see the aircraft overhead and clasped her unholy emblem to the Spider Queen. "Lolth, give me their sky to command. Let me rain your wrath on them."

The skies darkened, storm clouds gathered over the city and lightning and thunder rumbled overhead. The aircraft were caught off guard by the sudden change in weather and tried to evade.

And then they got struck from below by a flurry of silver glowing homing missiles. Fashtar had unleashed his power against the aircraft to give his soldiers time to escape. Several of the V22s took bruising from the missiles and the lightning, but then one got hit in the left side rotor.

"We're hit, we're hit! This is 6-21, going down! I repeat, we're going down!"

"6-23, unable to help!"

"6-24, preparing to help, but I can't tell with this storm if we can hold."

"6-21, brace for impact!"

6-21 impacted a lot sooner than expected. Because they weren't hitting the ground. A ramp of ice had risen up and caught the helicopter in mid-air and let it slide down to the ground safely. As a result, the crew and troops inside were safe.

Another helicopter began to crash, only to be caught by a strong individual who had taken to the field. Takahata had been absent for a while, but now the enemy was on his home turf and he wasn't taking kindly to them assaulting his students and fellow citizens. He held the chopper up by his hands and put it firmly down on a roof, allowing the soldiers inside to get out.

Finally, shadow soldiers began appearing, courtesy of one Takane D. Goodman, who had managed to finally get out of the underground tunnels. Her soldiers began blocking the way for the retreating soldiers, forcing them into a slog of intense shootouts and melees, and denying them passage.

Fashtar had taken to the roofs as well, using his own magic to open up pathways and portals to let trapped soldiers get to safety without being bogged down. Of course, he was exposed and subject to defenders' magic barrages as well.

Takane's shadow puppets also carried Alicia and Nanoha on separate flying entities, for the former to get the frontlines faster, the latter to get to safety faster. Alicia found a hotspot of soldiers being bogged down and she engaged them with her mechsuit. But those troops surrendered without a fight when a heavy mech turned up among them.

As for Nanoha, she was more focused on getting out safely, her new wand being practically useless in a long time fight like this. Plus, she was just a child so she didn't know what to do. What mattered, is that she got to the church for safety.

But then she saw someone in the distance. A black woman with glowing hands up in the air. Nanoha need only to have looked at the lightning storm above to work out what she was doing.

Well, that wouldn't do. Nanoha couldn't do much, but that didn't mean she couldn't do anything.

Her new target was about 300 meters away. But she reckoned she could work out how to make the shot. She raised her wand, and spoke the command word.

"Let fly."

The Missile slammed right into Quenthel's face. Where did that come from?

The force of impact, combined with the sloped roof, made her lose her footing and she slid down the roof. She couldn't get a grip on the smooth tiled surface and she fell down, bouncing off a car and landing on the hard tarmac street.

She had no idea where that Missile had come from. And she had lost control of the storm Lolth had given her. Luckily, there was no one else around so she had time to-

Rumble.

The storm clouds hadn't dissipated, like they would when the Control Weather spell had ended. If anything, they seemed to grow stronger in intensity. But no lightning occurred.

Quenthel dared a look upward to the sky. The enemy aircraft were flying overhead as the thunder rumbled over them all.

And then lightning bolts shot straight down, at Quenthel.

She dodged the first one by rolling to her right, then the second one by pivoting left. The third one, she had to dodge by splitting her legs as it struck down right in-between.

She had read voraciously herself on the magic of this world. Merely a handful of wizards, if any, had the power to wield storm clouds themselves, and Springfield had yet to emerge. He could in theory, use the Thousand Lightning spell, but this was too precise. This was… something else.

Or Someone.

The clouds had been divine magic in nature and control…

...oh, shit.

Quenthel got up on her feet as fast as she could and ran. She ran faster than she ever had before. Getting killed again was going to be most unpleasant for her this time. Shadow puppets emerged to stop her, but she dispatched them with the mace on the end of her whip. These summons were weak compared to the demons she was used to controlling, but there were so many of them and they were fully under control. Much more useful than demons.

But there was the lightning to consider. If there was Something controlling the thunder, then it was waiting for the right moment to strike at her. Quenthel wasn't keen on being the specific target of the One using the clouds. And she had few protection spells ready.

But one she did have was a doozy. Argh, curse your linguistics, Miyazaki.

Another lightning bolt was ready to throw itself on her, but she was faster on calling on her own goddess to aid her. The most powerful High Priestess of Lolth pitted herself against the might of the local God with her own Antimagic field.

Kagurazaka was not the only one who could neglect the offensive magic of others. The lightning struck and slammed against her field. Quenthel felt justifiably proud. The might of their God was nothing against the will of Lolth. For once, she had some real power to use against these human mages. And even their God was unable to hurt her.

And then a bullet went through her torso. Quenthel could merely look at the bullet wound on her chest before turning to face the shooter.

Akashi had caught up with her, brandishing her guns and a glare that cut through steel.

So be it.

Quenthel dismissed her antimagic field. It had served its purpose anyway. But if Akashi intended to fight her for real, she was going to get a real taste of what Quenthel could do. She advanced on the schoolgirl, regardless of her injury. Akashi shot her again.

This time, the bullet didn't penetrate. Ha, the first shot had been a fluke, then. Quenthel was going to hurt this girl. She wouldn't kill Akashi. If Nodoka found out about that, it would be bad for her. No, better to just hurt her and leave her for their healers instead.

Quenthel got close to Akashi, close enough to touch and put her hand on the girl's chest and spoke one word. "HARM."

…

…

…

...huh?

Akashi hadn't fallen down in agony, nor was she in pain. In fact, she looked rather confused. As did Quenthel. What?

She tried the same spell again. And nothing happened.

And then it sunk in just what the second bullet had done. The first one was just an accident. It wasn't supposed to hurt her. It was meant to disable her.

And then Akashi shot her again. Eight more times. Then put a hand on Quenthel's chest. "Emittam."

A shot of force pushed Quenthel back, enough to send her flying.

Enough to keep Akashi clear of the lightning strike that followed.

The bolt shot right through Quenthel, and without her own protection spells and the aid of Lolth, every pain sensor in her body that could still emit pain, emitted pain. Her hair frazzled, and her teeth seared like they were on fire.

And then the bolt was gone. But it had done its job. Quenthel couldn't get up on her own.

And Akashi approached, still glaring at her and brandishing her guns.

"Omae wa watashitachi ni subete o hanasu tsumoridesu, meinu," she said with fire in her tone.

Quenthel didn't know what she said. The translation spells were gone so she didn't know what she said. But the last word did sound familiar.

She tried to drag herself away, but she barely had the strength. Akashi wasn't going to kill her, just take her prisoner. If she wanted her dead, she could have just shot her straight away. Guns were very direct like that, she found.

And then a rider on a white horse appeared from behind the gunslinger. The rider brandished a blue glowing sword, but held it by the blade, not the hilt and he hit Akashi on the back of her head with the hilt.

Quenthel got the hint that hilt was for her, so she grabbed it, clumsily, but it was enough. She got hoisted up behind the rider, general Osyrimon. The githyanki general was wearing shining armor and he appeared every inch a-

…

Oh, come on!

"My magic is locked," she told him. She dared glance back to see Akashi fall unconscious behind them. With luck, she won't be any trouble for them any further.

"Well, that's grand," he replied as they swerved to another street. "But we should be close to the underground entrance."

That was when a large block of ice slammed down into his horse, knocking the two off and sliding onto the street.

When Quenthel regained her bearings, she found herself staring up at the most terrifying spellcaster this damned academy had to offer.

The vampire Evangeline McDowell, in her great splendour, and a fun-loving grin on her face.

"Finally, I get some action with the big shots!"

Well… fuck.

Gromph worked hard on the portal they had set up to ensure a quick extraction back to Dead Dragon's Gorge, along with a few other things on the side. All the calibrations had to be done just right otherwise they'd wind up lost on the Astral Seas for a long time. And Osyrimon's troops were actively afraid of those who dwelled among those stars.

All in all, the mission had been a success. There can be no doubt about that. They had acquired what they needed from this place. Admittedly there had been a few hiccups and unexpected events, but those were minor details now.

Springfield was alive, no one in his class was severely hurt, and the school would live on. It wasn't the best condition right now, but the school would certainly recover. Nodoka would approve, given time.

That is what mattered. And she would certainly grow with the knowledge he had gained not just for himself, but also for her. And maybe now he'd be able to read that novice spellbook she had lent him.

Of course, he was technically new to the kind of magic she had brought with her originally, so… that could put a damper on the master-student relationship they had. He had to show that he was the master, not the apprentice. She couldn't be allowed to show him how things are done.

"Well, well, look what we have here, Janos," a voice from behind said. Two tall men, one red clad with guns alongside another armed with blades. From Negi's memories, he recalled them as part of Fate Averruncus' band after he came to Mahora to join forces with Ala Alba against the githyanki.

Raziel and Janos. A vampire and a freelance demon hunter. And their two partners were behind them, Hannah and Laura.

Four to one. And he hadn't made preparations for them.

He allowed himself a smile.

Close to the sewer entrance where the soldiers were rushing in to get to the extraction gate, Kimmuriel landed next to Jarlaxle, not expecting his old boss. "Jarlaxle?"

"Ah, Kimmuriel, I was wondering what was going- what do you have there?"

Kimmuriel had been carrying the unconscious Kotaro dog boy since he defeated him soundly in the rematch. Kotarou was fast and strong and endurable, but he lacked the mental capacity to actually predict how a fight would go.

That, and the ability to read minds. The boy had been an open book before him.

"Just a promising young man who needed a place to rest," he said and threw Kotaro on to the ground. "He should be safe here."

Jarlaxle hummed. It was not like Kimmuriel to be merciful, unless it was a specific job he had to do. And the psion was more concerned with improving his own powers in study and meditation than taking to the field. "So what brought all this on?"

"You'll have to take it up with your brother, Jarlaxle," Kimmuriel replied, "but it has to do with his new apprentice."

"Oh, she's still there? Thought she'd have run away-"

The two of them got slammed by sheer force and knocked back into a guard rail that bent like it was wet mud by their impact. "Okay… I felt that," said Jarlaxle. "What was that?"

Kimmuriel caught sight first and he may as well have turned to stone.

Negi Springfield had taken to the field at last. And he looked enraged. His mind, open to Kimmuriel, was filled with anger, and a determination to get to those who knew about Miyazaki's current condition and whereabouts. Kimmuriel had seen the boy in action, briefly, and he pondered his predictions about how the battle between would end.

Logically, there was only one conclusion for him to do in order to win.

"Nope!"

He opened up a portal that let him cross dimensions and dragged Jarlaxle with him through, back to Dead Dragon's Gorge. Better to be humiliated and safe, than defeated and at risk.

"A!" Negi exclaimed as the two dark elves retreated through a portal. There was no magic involved there at all. Had they been able to do that the whole time?

Or was Kevin just the one person who could?

He scolded himself. Negi had been too enraged at the sight of Kotaro-kun being unconscious to think properly. What mattered to him was to ensure his friend was safe. And now he was…

At the cost of more potential information getting away from him. He felt stupid.

"Negi-kun!"

The cry came from behind. Makie, Ako and the Cheerleaders came up rushing to him.

"Girls?"

"Oh man, we've been worried sick about you," said Misa as Makie hugged Negi with all her remaining might.

"Negi-kun, I wanna ask you so much how your date went, but I figured it can wait right now," Makie told him, releasing him in the process.

Negi had had a look at the whole battlefield. Thanks to Asakura, the defenders had sniper coverage from Tatsumiya and they had gotten real time tactical display on enemy attack squadrons. On top of that, the Military Club and the Mahora Robotics Engineering Club had come to the field as reinforcements, not caring that certain individuals had been using magic. The battle was practically theirs, the attackers were routing.

But as long as he didn't get the information he wanted from Lucaenus or Fashtar, Negi couldn't count this as a victory. Not yet.

"Where's Yuuna-san?" He asked.

"Yuuna went off to fight, haven't seen her since," said Ako with worry written all over her. "We were with Melissa-san when her illusion dropped. I think Yuuna went after her personally."

Negi grimaced. Yuuna was good as a gunslinger, but it was a bad idea to go out alone in a battle like this one. It was a prime place for ambushes.

"Is there anyone else nearby?" He asked. All he received were headshakes. Acknowledging that, he took out his pactio cards to Kaede and Ku Fei. Meanwhile, Ako tended to Kotaro-kun.

Kaede was in a place where attacking soldiers were still resisting, despite their increasingly bad situation. It seemed they had resolved to fight to the very end.

Ku Fei was free, though, rushing her way to reinforce Kaede when she got the call from Negi that he needed to summon her.

"Negi-bozu!" She exclaimed seeing him and glomped him as well. "Where be the bad guys?"

"Down there, apparently." Negi had been observant at least and had seen the enemy soldiers rush their way down into an open sewer entrance under a bridge. Stragglers followed the main wave of troops that had rushed in to take cover.

Negi had stalled enough. "Ako-san, could you give us all a boost?"

"Er, sure, Negi-kun, but I'm probably gonna stay here and look after Kotaro-kun. Besides, Yuuna is around here somewhere," the nurse replied.

Negi nodded.

"Wait, what did you mean by, give us all a boost, Negi-kun?" Misa asked curiously.

Quenthel wanted to run. Yet she couldn't. Her magic was sealed, Lolth could not answer her, her only ally there was a paladin, and before them was the most powerful vampire ― in broad daylight, no less ― in her full power.

All in all, not a good situation to be in.

"You know, I had a little bird whisper to me that you never were as you appeared, Melissa," said Evangeline. "If that is your real name. If so, then you are very much out of place."

Osyrimon tried to get up, but then a flurry of ice surrounded him, rendering him useless. Welp, so much for that.

"Do relax, I won't kill you," said Evangeline. "I'm too curious. Instead, I'm going to do what Akashi back there couldn't, and have you stay here so you can tell us everything."

Quenthel shuddered. She could not afford to stay. House Baenre needed her. Menzoberranzan needed her.

...she was too reliant for others to be a prisoner on another world.

"I'm not staying here," Quenthel said in defiance.

"Wasn't a request~"

And then a shadow moved forward, faster than most of what Quenthel was accustomed to.

Snikt!

It passed by them without breaking pace. And then Eva's head fell off her body and landed roughly on the tarmac.

"Oof!"

Eva's body fell to the ground like a sack of mushrooms.

Quenthel could only look at where the shadow had gone-

Fashtar was here. Oh no, no, no! He was sporting a blade of silver in his right hand while having an elaborate mage's staff in his left. The staff seemed… dormant, or dead.

Why was he here? What was he doing here? Quenthel wasn't ungrateful, but she could tell he only did it because he wanted answers.

"Okay, that one hurt," said Eva. Her head may not be on her shoulder, but she was still alive. "Ow. Ow. Ow. You just wait, asshole, until I regenerate, and then-"

"That's going to take longer than you'd think it would," Fashtar interrupted.

Eva moved her head to see the speaker. "Oh… you." She got to smirking. "You know, Boya's been anxious to meet you again. It's not every day you make it personal by kidnapping one of his favorite students, poisoning him, and then just… taking off to where he can't go after, rubbing it in just how helpless he is in the situation. On top of that, he's worried sick about her."

"Is he, now?" Fashtar asked. "I thought he was of a much sturdier material."

"I guess you hit him in the soft spot," Eva said. "But hey, I gotta know-"

Before she could say anything else, Fashtar picked up her head. "I'm not in the mood to share anything right now. Besides, you're no longer part of the equation."

With that, he flipped Eva's head in the air, took a stance and then kicked her flying…

Towards an open sewer hatch. "BASTARD MOTHER TACO FUCKING-"

Sploosh!

Quenthel's eye was twitching. At this point in her life, the thought occurred to her that she might be out of her league. The further thought occurred, that Fashtar actually had enough influence and power to wipe out her city if need be.

And then he turned on her. "Baenre," he greeted her.

"Fashtar," she returned the courtesy.

"Uh, little help?" Osyrimon asked from his uncomfortable position. Fashtar eyed the general with a level of bitterness, before teleporting him out of the ice.

"General, I expect a full report regarding today's… unauthorized activities," Fashtar told him. "My office, within three days."

Osyrimon looked defeated. "Yes, sir."

"Now, come on. It's time we got down to the portal."

Huwa, huwa, huwa.

Sayo had found the portal gate where the attackers had come from. Her little drone had gone completely unnoticed as it had followed the soldiers and then triangulated a potential position that struck gold on its first try. She had seen the wizard who was preparing the portal for their retreat and now their location was being transmitted back to command. It was up to them if they were going to pursue or let them leave.

But now she was seeing how Raziel and Janos-san and their mages corner the enemy wizard. This was bad. If their retreat was cut off, then the attacker might just stay to inflict maximum damage. It was a bad situation. It would be bad if Raziel-san were to do something. He always was crazed for battle, in the short time they knew him.

And now the wizard was smiling. Why? Why was he smiling? He was cornered four to one and he was smiling? Oh no, oh no, oh no.

"Well? Are we going to stare into each other's eyes, or shall we get to it?" Raziel asked, brandishing his guns in both hands.

And then the situation changed yet again. Now what, thought Sayo as a bright light emerged behind Hannah and Laura.

Three more figures appeared, two githyanki and a dark elf woman in white clothing. Sayo recognized the gith with the eye-patch. It was him! That guy who took Honya-san!

Everything happened in seconds.

Fashtar cut off Laura's head in a swift strike with his hand before she could react. Hannah tried to dodge, but since she was too close, the dark woman grasped her by the neck and then wrenched with her full body weight. Hannah's neck didn't stand a chance. She died almost instantly.

With both their artifacts gone, Janos and Raziel flew into a frenzy, but the first wizard by the portal jammed his hand through the vampire gunslinger, while the second githyanki rushed up against Janos who got a spare bayonet he had in case he couldn't use his artifact.

The bayonet didn't stand a chance against the blue glowing sword. It broke in two and then Janos was cut down in a flash.

Raziel had survived the initial impalement, but he couldn't break free. Then the wizard spoke a word, a spark of orange ignited on his fingertips, he pulled out his arm and then pushed Raziel away from their group. Raziel got up in seconds.

"Okay, what did you do th-"

Ka-boom!

Raziel exploded from within, a delayed fire explosion spell that covered him entirely. Just like that, Raziel was gone.

"Hmph, vampires," said the first wizard. "They think they're immortal, but it's a matter of how you bypass their regular immunities."

"Baenre," Eyepatch greeted him. "You did leave a guard for this portal, yes?"

Sayo froze. She forgot to check for any security down here under the World Tree. But she should be fine, she can hide her presence and the camera drone from them if she concentrates… right?

Someone turned up behind her and the drone. This one appeared like the elves, but she had pale dark skin rather than the black of what they had, normally. She smiled and looked directly at Sayo before yanking her off the drone and grabbing the drone.

"Look what I found~"

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"Hmm, a doll?" Eyepatch asked.

The portal wizard launched a green ray at the drone and it crumbled to dust before Sayo's eyes.

"Not a doll," he said.

"Hmm? Oh, now I see," Eyepatch said and held a hand. Sayo's doll flew towards his hand and she ejected out before she could be held captive. "Ah yes, the ghost of Negi-kun's class."

He knew who she was? He knew all of them?

"Yes, I do."

And he could read minds without a book. Crap.

"Well done, Duskryn," Baenre congratulated the pale elf.

"Good call on assigning me guard duty, master Baenre," said Duskryn, bowing in respect. "And here come the rest of the troops."

Hundreds of soldiers, some of them in black cloaks were pouring in from the tunnel close by, either running in terror or composed, but they were heading for the portal.

"Ah," said Baenre. "Excuse me."

With some words Sayo did not understand, Baenre opened the portal that led elsewhere. Maybe now the school would be safe. The soldiers went first, rushing in while Eyepatch and the elites watched for any pursuers. And Sayo couldn't do anything because if she did, they would label her a threat immediately and most likely dispose of her. She may be a ghost, but she didn't know anything of what they could do.

All she could do was watch. So in effect, she was a prisoner. One of inaction by elimination of choice.

The soldiers finished rushing in, and the sword armed githyanki double-checked. "Some of my men have been left behind."

"It cannot be helped," said Eyepatch. "We'll have to try another time to rescue them."

"My lord?!"

"We don't have the numbers and Mahora mages are too well dug in for us to try anything right now," Eyepatch reasoned. "The troops are lost, we need to get out of here. Sucks, but there you g-'' He flinched and then he erected some kind of barrier in the direction of the tunnel.

An exceptionally large lightning Tempest spell flew straight at them and slammed into the barrier. Eyepatch strained holding it up to protect them from the spell. And it ended quickly, but for its brief time, Eyepatch had been in serious trouble.

Sayo dared to glance at the tunnel, and she saw what Eyepatch saw as well in the distance.

"Oh," they both said, but the tones were different.

"Awesome," said Eyepatch in the tone that was the opposite of when the word was supposed.

"SENSEI!"

They were close now. Negi could practically see them now.

Makie, Ku Fei and the cheerleader girls were all with him on this final stretch. He knew he could rely on all of them. Makie was swift and agile, Ku Fei was a powerhouse, Madoka was remarkably strong thanks to that gift from the Commander for all her troubles, Misa had their backs all the time and Sakurako brought good luck to them and luck was a real factor in a fight like this.

But he saw who he was up against. Lucaenus-san, his sister Melissa - who looked battered - another lady who looked on with uncertainty, Ozzy-san who had tactical knowledge of all of them.

And Fashtar. Negi's blood boiled yet again at the sight of him. Even if Chisame had told him to calm down, it didn't change what Fashtar had done.

He took Nodoka-san.

He hurt Chisame-san.

He's the reason Asuna-san and the others were away to find Nodoka-san.

He's the reason for all of this.

And Fashtar could see him in turn. As could the others.

The only one who looked concerned was Ozzy-san. Melissa-san looked more worried about her own injuries.

And Sayo was there, too. Had she gotten too close? No matter, Negi was going to get some answers now.

"Hey, is that-" Misa asked before Negi charged in with a shundo.

It was too late to try a long-range spell, now. Besides, Negi was stronger at close range.

But Fashtar was faster to the tunnel arch. He appeared right there in an instant and raised his arm up to the roof. A large wall, flurrying with blinding colors of the rainbow appeared between them. Negi stopped before he hit the wall. Ku Fei appeared next to him soon after.

The other girls followed suit. Negi could barely see, but he could hear them up behind him.

"Negi-kun!" cried Makie as she came up beside him.

"You know," a most familiar voice that haunted Negi's dreams said as it stepped through the opaque wall, "I wasn't planning on coming back here so soon, but since I am here, I might as well say hi."

"Fashtar," Negi growled as his eyes readjusted to see the githyanki up close again.

"Hi, Negi-kun. How have you been?" Negi didn't feel like answering that like they were neighbors seeing each other again. "Oh, that mad at me? I guess that is fair. Then again, all I did was take one of your girlfriends."

Negi grew more enraged. He could tell Fashtar was playing him psychologically, but he had a hard time controlling it. He felt a hand on his shoulder and spared a glance. Ku Fei was telling him to calm down in her own fashion.

Fashtar seemed to pick up on this, given his glance at that. "Course, you seem to have a number of them, nowadays. Or is it quantity over quality? Did me taking your bookworm cause such a hole that you had to fill it with more of lesser quality?"

That caught the girls' attention. And they grew enraged, hearing that.

Madoka's thoughts: I never really was interested in Negi-kun that much, but if he's bringing that shit up just to hurt him, I just wanna beat the shit out of this asshole. I get now why Negi-kun hates this guy…

Sakurako's thoughts: Honya-chan may have been closer to Negi-kun than me, but I didn't know it was that much closer. But Negi-kun didn't fill that gap with us. He's got plenty of room for all of us, and he hurts everyday with her not there for him. I feel jealous, sure but I know when I can't do the things she could for him.

Misa's thoughts: Lesser quality?! How the fuck am I lesser quality?! I'm sexy, I got bigger boobs and I know how to engage with boys! Honya-chan may have higher grades and was more lovey-dovey about him, but if I ever decided to take Negi-kun for myself, I definitely would! I'm gonna kick this guy's butt so hard, he'll need a prostate exam every time he's gonna sit down!

Makie's thoughts: Negi-kun and Honya-chan spent a lot of time together lately. I know I'm not as smart as her, but she did say I was cuter if I got serious. I wanna get serious, but it's not fair to Honya-chan. If I wanna win Negi-kun from her, I want it fair and square. This guy doesn't get to decide for us.

Ku Fei's thoughts: I have a self-imposed rule, only marry a man stronger than me. Negi-bozu is stronger, sure, but he is focused on strength of character rather than strength of body. Honya is stronger than me there. I am stronger in the body, she is weaker than me, but she stands up to foes stronger than any of us every time. I cannot win a battle like that with strength alone. Negi-bozu needs her back. And this man has hurt Negi-bozu in spirit. Unforgivable.

Negi didn't know exactly yet how he felt about Nodoka, but he knew how he felt about the way he talked about all of his students and friends now.

"Am I to take your silence as hitting a bullseye, then?" Fashtar asked. "My, young men certainly treat girls-"

"Shut up!" Makie yelled at the alien. "You shut your stupid face, eyepatch! I don't know all that's going on, but I can tell you're just stalling for your buddies back there! I bet you're all running scared of Negi-kun! Why else put up a barrier between us and yourself? And you're wrong! Negi-kun hasn't abandoned Honya-chan! None of us have! You just took her away and now you gloat!?"

"Yeah, you can just shut the hell up about that!" Madoka pitched in. "You don't get to decide for him or us!"

"Go to hell!" Misa chimed in, though a bit weakly, but the point was to defy this asshole. Sakurako merely glared at him.

And Ku Fei sported her staff artifact, ready to strike him.

Negi couldn't help but feel proud of his girls, the way they told Fashtar to shut up. He was able to calm himself with that pride. Fashtar was a terrible person, but right now, the look on his face unable to shoot back at them… was priceless.

"You're right about one thing," Fashtar said after a moment. "This is a delaying action. Let's see if you can-" He had begun heading back into the barrier while talking, but Ku's staff slammed right in his face, knocking him back. "Buwao!"

"Not done yet!" Ku Fei rushed the opaque wall and kicked it as hard as she could.

The wall turned red and enveloped her in a burst of fire. Ku survived, but she fell down to the floor scorched. "Ku-chan!"

"Fine…" Ku groaned out, "but let's not do that again."

Negi still had his artifact, so he brought out Konoka's fans to heal Ku Fei back to her regular self. Meanwhile, Madoka and Sakurako took a closer look at the barrier before them.

"Okay, it turned red when Ku-chan kicked it," said Sakurako.

"Look at the colors," Madoka pointed out, "yellow, blue, orange, violet, green, and indigo."

"And red used to be here." Which meant this barrier had seven layers and now had six. Each one with a nasty surprise. "Negi-kun, do you think you could use Asuna-chan's sword to break down this barrier?"

Having healed Ku Fei up to full strength, Negi took a closer look. "I don't know. Asuna-san could augment her strikes with Magic Cancel, but I don't have that, myself, and I don't know how this barrier works, exactly."

"So our best bet is to break down the barrier piece by piece," Madoka concluded. "Just great."

"Uh…" Sakurako hummed for a moment, then she came up with something. "Negi-kun, get Ako-chan's needle out and give me a double dose. Kugimi, give me your hammer. Misa, could you cheer me on with your artifact?"

"Uh, yeah," Misa said as Madoka gave Sakurako her hammer while Negi got Ako's artifact out for her. "But what are you-"

"I also need you to boost my anti-magic barrier up to maximum, Negi-kun," Sakurako said as she bent over to get the needle in her butt.

"Sakurako-san," Negi implored while giving her the dosage, "what exactly do you intend to do?"

"What's it look like?" Sakurako took a stance with the hammer and readied herself while the barrier went up. "I'm gonna bash it down myself."

"Wait, you're our Goddess of Luck," Misa interjected. "You can't just-" She stopped herself, thinking for a moment. "Actually, that's a great idea. Even if the barrier lashes out, you stand the best chance of breaking it down."

"Ehh!?" Negi exclaimed in shock.

"Trust me, I'll be fine," Sakurako said as her barrier came out. "Alright, here we g-"

"MOOOOOVE!" Aristodemus came flying from behind, slamming into the barrier with his fists, and somehow… breaking the barrier in just one go.

"A" was all Sakurako said, frozen in place.

The Commander-in-Chief landed right next to the group of elite attackers who were quite shocked themselves to see someone completely unknown having smashed through a Prismatic Wall.

And then he glitched purple. "Oh sh-" In a flash of indigo, the Spartan was gone.

"Puuuu!" Fashtar let out a breath of relief. "I don't know who that was, but I'm glad he's out of action."

Sakurako just stood there, her expression frozen, hammer ready, but not moving at all.

"I'm just gonna take this back, okay?" Madoka asked, grabbing her hammer and gently yanking it from Sakurako's hands.

"Kay," said Sakurako, not moving an inch from her position while the others rushed in to take the opportunity.

...her one chance to actually look cool~!

"Hold it!" Negi yelled at them as he rushed at them.

"And now I'm angry, because he did that," Fashtar muttered. "Time to go."

"Agreed," said Lucaenus and stepped through the portal first. Ozzy-san grabbed the pale lady and dove in after.

"Oh sure, leave it to me to hold the rear," Fashtar lamented at the retreaters. Then again, it was his idea that they would leave. He put up another barrier between him and Negi and his girls. "Sorry kids, no time to play with you now."

Negi smashed the barrier down easily. In fact, he broke it down faster than anticipated.

"Okay, time to go. Go, gogogogogogogogogogo!" Fashtar grabbed Melissa-san and made straight for the portal."

"Hold it," Negi repeated.

"Negi-kun, wait!" Madoka yelled and grabbed Negi by the hemline of his clothes. Misa grabbed her free hand.

The two cheerleaders were pulled along in a shundo Negi committed too late for him to stop.

"Sensei!" Sayo floated for the portal, trying to intercept Negi.

Things… happened very quickly. A blinding flash. A thundering roar. A blastwave emanating from the portal.

What exactly happened there is uncertain. What was certain then and there, was that Negi, Madoka, Misa, Sayo, Fashtar and Melissa had gone into the portal. Maybe Negi's magic emittance had caused a conflict with the portal's energies. Or perhaps the portal had a time limit on how long it could remain open.

But the portal was now closed. And now Negi was missing, too.

"Negi-kun!" Makie's cry for him echoed in the vast empty hall…

Somewhere in a distant land, far from either Toril or Earth…

The Breach was quiet today. Well, as quiet as a massive perpetual river of lava could be.

No, it was quiet because there were no reports of any Sunfire Elf activity today.

Commander Gren found it a bit humbling to watch the river. This inhospitable part of the land was a staunch reminder just how much the human kingdoms were the backdrop of the continent compared to Xadia and its magic.

Of course, if the elves really were so great, then what is stopping them?

Human courage.

The courage of Man has always been the greatest weapon against them, regardless of what that mage Viren thinks back at the capital. He and his Dark Magic has been the cause for many a catastrophe lately. Sure, they managed to create an abundance of food, but at what cost? The loss of three queens, including King Harrow's own wife, Sarai.

Surely that can't have been a fair trade.

And now news had recently come that King Harrow had slain the Dragon King and destroyed his egg and sole heir. There was bound to be retribution for that.

So how come-

An explosion to the west startled him and soldiers on patrol of the walls. Something was happening behind the fort and-

It could be what they feared.

"Alert the general!"

Sayo was awake. The others weren't.

They were in an inhospitable land, with lava in the distance and ash in the air. To any regular person, these conditions were very bad for your health.

Negi-sensei wasn't a regular person, but she wasn't sure about Misa-san and Madoka-san. Were they regular in this case or were they protected by Sensei's magic? But even more importantly…

Was this land where Honya-san was residing as a prisoner?

Then Eyepatch man woke up. He looked around first to find Melissa-san next to him and Negi-sensei and the others by his side. And then he saw the environment.

"Oh. Oh no. No, no, no, no!" He yelled, growing more angry with each word.

So this wasn't the place. Something must have gone awry with the transportation magic portal. This was bad. They were in a place that neither party knew. Sayo had to wake Sensei up.

"Sensei, wake up!" She yelled, floating fast towards him. Negi-sensei was moaning in unconsciousness, but it alerted Eyepatch to him. Sayo made a decision: She got close to his ear and yelled at the top of her incorporeal lungs. "NEGI-SENSEI!"

"WAH!" Negi jostled awake, and sat up. "Sayo-san!?"

"Sensei, bad place to be!" Sayo tried her best to be as articulate as possible, given the circumstances. The cheerleader duo woke up, though they were slower to get up.

"Wha-?" Negi asked and looked around, only to find the same volcanic landscape as Sayo had. "Wh- where are we?"

"I tell you where you are not," Eyepatch snarled, slamming his staff into the ground.

"Oh shit!" Misa scrambled up on her feet seeing the tall pissed off alien. Madoka rolled around on the ground once then scrambled to her feet to stand beside Negi.

"Not safe."

Then Eyepatch rushed forward.

And Negi countered with his own charge. The two fighters split from the rest in their own direction at speeds the cheerleaders hadn't seen before. Sayo had seen speeds like that back in the Magic World, with the high intense gladiator fights and the battle of Ostia.

But the trio of girls were left with a bleeding Melissa (if that was her real name) breathing heavily from her bullet wound, on her knees and clutching a whip on her hip (again, that rhymed) close to her.

Sayo noticed Madoka gritting her mouth and clutching her own hammer. She was angry. Angry at the fact that these people had come to their home, sat with them, bathed with them, discussed things with them, and then attacked their home and killed people in their home. "Kugimiya-san?" Sayo asked.

Melissa was staring at Madoka and the hammer with comprehensive eyes. There was no way things would end peacefully between them now. Still, she got up on her feet. "We haven't been properly introduced," she said, catching them off-guard with her tone that, while heavy with breath, was elegant and refined. Then she genuflected perfectly. "I'm Quenthel."

And then Madoka rushed forward, thanks to Ako's power boost.

Weeks of waiting in anguish.

Weeks of having to put up a strong face in public so they wouldn't see the pain.

Weeks of having to deal with the pain.

Weeks of tossing about on the bed alone having to think of… her in trouble.

Weeks spent training in a silent rage that just boiled over and resulted in his power overload.

All leading to this moment.

Fashtar didn't beat him in a straight fight last time. He had resorted to trickery, and for the most part of that fight, he was getting thrashed. Of course back then, Negi had used his Raiten Taisou technique as a powerup. And he had forgotten the real goal: Getting Nodoka-san out of there.

Now though, in this fight, the goal was to make Fashtar pay. And this time, he didn't have Magia Erebea anymore.

But Fashtar wasn't running or getting thrashed. He was holding his own.

And he was putting up a real fight. Negi could tell by the force of impact from his punches. He was no Rakan, or Nagi, but he was way stronger than Takamichi. The first gut-punch almost had Negi puke out his innards.

Even so, he was able to dodge the second punch, roll along Fashtar's side and deliver a vicious elbow strike to the back of the alien's head, followed with a rabbit punch that Takeda-san had shown him. The two blows combined sent Fashtar stumbling, but not tumbling.

Negi tried to take the opportunity to charge in using his blind side, but Fashtar had already regained his footwork and braced against Negi's impact, and then pushed back with psionic force.

Then it was Fashtar's turn to be aggressive. Negi could instantly tell he was a veteran of close quarters combat of many years, possibly decades if not centuries from the first combination, which was a deliberate feint against Negi's face, to conceal a hidden swift to his shin leg that made Negi lose his balance before a third strike connected with Negi's face.

Negi did regain his balance fast and resorted to hit-and-run tactics against the alien, combining multiple ranged attacks at once with him bullrushing his foe and summons to keep him off-balance.

But Fashtar had his own tricks as well. He unleashed an omni-directional psionic blast that obliterated the summons and the magic arrows, leaving just the two combatants out there alone against each other. But he made no moves against Negi at this point.

"Curious," he said, scanning Negi for some reason. "How come you're not- Wait." Fashtar teleported right next to Negi and grabbed his hand, as if he was examining it.

"Hey, let go!" Negi squirmed but couldn't break free of the grip.

"Oh my god," Fashtar said slowly and then met Negi's gaze. "You lost your Dark Magic?"

Now Negi pulled free and got curious by Fashtar's surprise. Ashracai-san had taken it away and-

"Ahh, Ashracai, that makes sense."

Hm?! Was Fashtar a mind-reader as well?! But how would he-

"You may have magic defenses, Negi-kun, but psionics are a different field altogether," Fashtar confirmed for him and Negi was going to look into forming some kind of defense against psionic powers later on. "Still, for him to just take it away… Guess he never could get over his hatred of demons."

Negi wasn't in the mood for storytelling so he was going straight for a direct answer. "Fashtar-san, I only have one question."

"Spoilers."

"What?"

"Yeah, sorry, but I'm not gonna tell you at this point," Fashtar elaborated. "One, I am too pissed off right now to be in an informative-sharing mood (you're not the main cause, though you're a contributor), and two, I'm going to play this little game close to the chest. Besides, if you want to see your bookworm girlfriend so badly, you're gonna have to be a little bit more patient because I'm not done with her yet."

What did he mean, not done with her yet?

...Okay. Since he would not get any new information about Nodoka-san out of him willingly, Negi was going to instead resolve to violence. Then he'd get out his artifact, use Nodoka-san's book to get the information out of him while he was battered and broken.

"I suppose that would work," Fashtar confirmed for him with a chuckle. "But can you pull that off?"

About three minutes later, Negi had proved that yes, he could pull that off. Though Fashtar hadn't been an easy fight with much trickery, nasty combat skills and years of experience, Negi powered through with skill, power and a swift nimble fighting style.

The second-to-last blow of that fight sent Fashtar flying up into the air, high above any rock formation caused by the magma environment. And then Negi followed suit with the last one.

"RAIKAHOUKEN!"

Fashtar was sent crashing down through a rock arch and then he went straight into the lava river.

"Ah!" Negi regretted doing that. He should not have used Raikahouken so close to the river. He stopped himself to look into the river. There might be a sign of… something from Fashtar that he made it. There might be… something. But no - there was nothing. No sign… no cue… no body. Damnit.

Now there was a chance that he wouldn't get the chance to see Nodoka-san sooner than Fashtar had said.

But at least the eyepatched alien was out of the picture.

But then he heard the screams of his friends and he focused back on those he had with him.

"Ma-do-ka! Go Ma-do-ka!"

Misa cheered with her artifact pom-poms to keep Madoka going in the fight against Quenthel. Even if they were trapped in another world, they had each other. Wife and wife, even if it was weird. And Negi-kun was with them too, so they had little to worry about for the immediate situation.

Of course, they had to get back home, but right now they couldn't. And right now, there was an enemy in front of them they had to deal with while Negi-kun took care of the guy responsible for this whole mess.

For having been such an elegantly dressed and powerful spellcaster, Quenthel was such a pushover in a standup fight. She evaded Madoka's swings when she could, but she was tired from her bullet wound and the battering she had surely taken. She side-stepped with minimal energy and great timing on her part and her whip turned out to have vicious living snakeheads on the end so… that had to be considered.

Madoka on the other hand, for her first time in actual combat, was kicking ass. Personal lessons with Setsuna-san and Asuna had taught her and certain sparring matches with Ku-chan and Kotaro-kun had led to her being a handy fighter with her hammer. No clue what it was or what it could do, but Misa wasn't complaining now.

Sayo-chan was being adorable and sending small rocks against Quenthel to throw her off-balance. Well, try to throw her off-balance, those elf ears weren't for show, apparently. But being a ghost unable to touch things was a bit of an issue.

"Go-go! Ma-do-ka! Fight-o! Fight-o! You got this!"

...and Misa was starting to run out of cheering chants. Her Pactio meant she could keep people going longer, but if she was gonna do any cheering at all she had to do the chanting. Couldn't have one without the other, apparently.

Finally, Madoka landed a good hit on Quenthel, sending the elf flying away and landing hard on the rocky terrain. The bullet wound must be exasperating for her right now without any of her other powers locked away. "Yes, that felt good!" Madoka cheered up, hefting her hammer over the shoulder.

"Wooo! Go, Madoka!"

"Alright, you," said the hammer-wielding cheerleader/warrior as she advanced on the black elf, "time to get some real answers."

Quenthel groaned while she advanced. Misa advanced, too. She wanted to hear what the elf had to say. "You know… I really have no reason to tell you children anything. Besides, I already did."

"You didn't tell us crap," Madoka shot back.

"Enough to let you connect the dots," Quenthel defended herself. "Or are you humans in need of simpler words or diaphragms? One word a picture?"

"Shut up!" Madoka shouted and pointed her hammer at the elf's face. "You bastards think you can just waltz into our home and take whoever you want?"

"No," Quenthel shot back. "I just thought I could waltz in and take whatever I needed."

"The hell?"

"There's a difference. Learn it, child."

"Oh really?" Misa now stood over the elf. "Well we have had enough of strangers coming in and doing whatever just to screw with us." She grabbed Quenthel by the collar of her clothes and pulled her in for a closeup. "We wanna know just how you found out how to get into Mahora."

Quenthel raised an eyebrow then rolled her eyes. "I told that little Ako girl. I'm sure by now she's worked it out. You do have working brains, right? Then take what happened earlier this year, let it stew for a moment and then connect the dots. Shouldn't be that hard, even for you."

Madoka seemed to work it out first. She stumbled back in shock at first, covered her mouth and just… stared at nothing. "Madoka?" Misa asked.

"Kugimiya-san?" Sayo-chan asked. Madoka didn't answer either of them. Misa dared a glimpse back at Quenthel who now sported a smirk that the devil would be proud of.

"Oooh, looks like I hit a nerve," she said, which made Madoka twitch. "Did you have something to do with that time? Do you feel responsible?"

"Shut up."

"Didn't last time you told me, why do it now?" Quenthel fired back. "How often have you woken in cold sweat," Misa could tell Madoka was getting more and more angry with each word this bitch was saying, "thinking that you should have done better? Any nightmares?"

"Shut up," Madoka growled. Misa noticed she was readying her hammer for a nasty strike.

"I bet there's one where they blame you for everything. Where she blames you for screwing up. Where you keep thinking back to the events of that night and ask yourself… 'what could I have done differently?', only to be shown what would really have happened, to the extent of your own power."

"Okay, you shut up," Misa now said. Quenthel just spat in her face to make her recoil. "Seriously?!"

Quenthel just ignored her and focused on Madoka. "I know exactly what relation you had with Miyazaki. Non-existent. You just knew she was around. You barely interacted save for doing work in class. And now look at you, mewling and scowling as if she was your sister because they used you to get to her."

"I said shut up."

Sayo just looked as if she was about to cry.

"Are we really feeling guilty here over someone we barely knew?"

"I did know her," Madoka defended herself. "You're blowing our lack of a personal friendship out of proportion."

"Anything for her birthday?" Quenthel asked. "How about the winter holidays? Did you go get food and drinks together, did you go shopping together for clothes? Have you had the courage to tell her mother the truth? Any of you?"

Silence.

"I thought not," Quenthel said. "So you all claim to be her friends… and at the end of the day… it's all just a lie."

"THAT'S IT!" Madoka yelled and raised her hammer for the strike she's been preparing. "Stay back, Misa!"

"No!" Misa did stay back, but she was pleading for Madoka to not do it, because that would mean Quenthel would win. But how? She was battered and broken, just extending a hand to stop the blow. How could she-

The hammer stopped instantly against Quenthel's hand and Misa reeled back in sudden fear. "Oh shit!" Madoka looked very regretful now as the black elf rose up to her feet, still clutching the hammer one handed and putting her other hands over her bullet wound.

"O'goth ussta hery," she said, emitting red light from her eyes. When the light ended, her bullet wound was gone. Quenthel was now smiling. It wasn't a gentle smile or a friendly smile. It was the smile of a spider having caught multiple flies in its web. "About damned time that seal went away."

"You… you-"

"Stalled you long enough to make the seals Akashi put on me fade away," Quenthel said as she tightened her grip to make dents in the hammer. "You had the chance right then and there, and you bodged it."

Then she pulled Madoka close and grasped her face. "You have seen the wonders of this world. Now… let me show you the horrors."

Misa was certain that the ensuing headbutt broke Madoka's nose, and the heel kick definitely pierced right through Madoka's leg. Misa tried to flank her, but Quenthel grabbed her by the throat and hoisted her up. She may have been shorter than Misa, but she was so much stronger. As proven when she threw Misa away from the fracas. Misa didn't land softly.

"Now you've done it, you big bully!" Sayo squeaked out of herself and charged (in the fashion that ghosts can charge) at the elven bully.

But then Quenthel extended her hand that flashed. And Sayo screamed in sheer pain. Or, that was a scream often associated with pain. She could hurt Sayo-chan without touching her?!

Sayo collapsed on the ground but her little charge had bought Madoka time. Her hammer flared up with lightning and she swung it as hard as she could.

Quenthel got hit and spun around on the spot, her face clearly contorted in pain. Misa felt a surge of pride in her best friend.

And then that surge turned into horror as Quenthel turned right around again, this time lashing out her snake-headed whip at Madoka. Out of reflex, Madoka blocked with the hammer, only for a live snakehead to bite her in the arm.

Madoka collapsed in seconds. And writhed in silent agony.

Quenthel healed herself again and straightened up. "Don't worry. You won't die, I give my word. But you certainly made an effort to make me do so." She put a hand on Madoka and glowed yet again. Madoka stopped her squirming, but she wasn't getting up. But then, Quenthel turned on Sayo. "Although… this one is dead, yet not passed on."

Eh?

"I wonder… would it actually be a mercy to help you?" She asked Sayo with an extended hand brandishing a pendant of a spider. "It's bound to happen one day, anyway… I see no reason not to."

Shit, she's going to make Sayo-chan pass on, thought Misa as she tried to get back up on her feet. But what could she do? She was just a cheerleader!

Sayo-chan!

Sayo closed her eyes in fear as the pendant glowed.

That was when Negi slammed straight into Quenthel's side like a tank shell. The priestess flew off yet again and this time slammed into a rock pillar that broke on impact and landed all over her.

"Negi-kun!" Misa cheered as best she could from her position. "She hurt Madoka and Sayo-chan! Kick her ass, sensei!"

Quenthel rose up from the debris of shattered rock. She looked fully knackered with bruises, scrapes and an arm was hanging loose - a dislocated shoulder. She had trouble walking and breathing seemed to hurt. She then threw up the contents of her lunch on the spot.

After everything that had happened, Misa certainly didn't feel sorry for her. If the bitch had died, it wouldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

Quenthel looked at Negi with heavy eyes, then smirked. "Still alive." Then she put a hand on herself and she glowed glistening white for five seconds. Another healing spell, Misa and Negi realized. And then Quenthel stood up as if nothing had happened to her.

"Grrr, I hate combat healers," Misa growled. "They drag it out longer and make it harder for us to beat them."

"Now you know how they feel with Konoka-san," Negi pointed out.

Quenthel spoke a spell in her native tongue again and this time, she emanated energy and strength. She regained her composure and her regal nature, only marred with a sadistic smile and a disposition to inflict pain on her foes. And it just occurred to Misa she really hadn't gone to the bathroom in a while so that was probably why she was clenching her legs in front of this foe.

Negi merely looked at Quenthel and asked, "Can you bring yourself to stand down, or can you not?"

Quenthel's smile vanished and was replaced with confusion. "What?"

That confusion was all he needed, apparently, because Negi slammed right into her stomach, practically taking the wind out of her sails and ending her newfound gusto. This was followed by yet another punch, right in the face. It looked like this was going to be a classic heroic beatdown of the villain.

"WOOOOOO!" Misa cheered with her pom-poms with her own newfound gusto as Negi continued his barrage on the dark elf bitch (her own words). "NEGI-KUN! GO GO, NEGI-KUN! GO GO, NEGI-KUN!" This was the greatest scene in the world and she got front row tickets. She was so excited she could just jump! Nothing could go wrong now!

Now why did you have to say that?

It happened in slow motion. A black shape passed under her as she had jumped. Misa barely noticed until it was too late to land on it. It sported a metal capped staff in hand and rushed up towards Negi and Quenthel. Misa suddenly regretted having front row tickets. "NEGI-KUN!"

Negi turned around to see the black shape. A tall figure in black plated armor and a full encompassing closed helmet with a single glowing right eye. Negi flinched and realized immediately who it was. The plated man punched Negi right in the face. And then Quenthel joined in with new bearing and enough energy to keep going.

It turned into a horror show as the two adults maintained a coordinated assault on the boy. Misa cheered him on, hoping he could turn the tide eventually. They seemed to ignore her, at least. The problem with her artifact is that if she had to keep cheering someone on, she had to share her enthusiasm and good feelings. If the enthusiasm was weak, then it wouldn't work. Stupid trade-off.

"C'mon! Two, four, six, eight! Who do we appreciate? Negi-kun!"

And then the real horror came, with the black figure simply pushing him forward towards Quenthel who laid her hands on him and smiled yet again as she said a single word.

"JIVVIIM."

Misa dropped her pom-poms as black energy surged into Negi, making him yell in pain. It was painful for her to hear, even, and worse still, their chances of victory faded as Negi fell to the ground. Her artifact didn't dissipate so that meant Negi was still alive.

The two evil adults sat down next to each other, catching their breath and not focusing on them right now. Misa could in theory pick up Madoka's hammer and try but she wasn't sure about her chances of beating those two when Negi couldn't. Then again, they were pretty tired from that fight.

The black figure opened his visor, revealing Fashtar's face underneath. He was panting hard and sweating underneath all that armor. Maybe it was the volcanic river nearby that generated a lot of heat for him.

"You know… it's been a long while since anyone managed to force me to get this armor out. I don't think I can remember the last guy who did that," Fashtar said as he inspected Negi. Negi looked all worn out and unable to move, though he glared at Fashtar. "Hey now, don't you even think about it, Negi-kun. You're almost dead in that state. Man, clerics have some very nasty spells of their own. I wouldn't move if I was you right now."

Misa made a small step to Madoka while they talked. Then another. Oh crap, the need to pee was flaring up again.

"What was the point of all this?" Negi asked. "Why did you take Nodoka-san?"

"Still on about that?" Fashtar asked. "I told you, I'm not in the mood to tell you about that."

"So we just had a fight for no reason?"

"Not really, we were on your turf, you don't like us, we shot first, you drove us off, but then you pursued and wouldn't let go and that led us to… wherever here is."

Negi hanged his head. "So that leaves…"

"You and your little trio of girls here, stranded," Fashtar stated bluntly. Misa took the chance to pick up Madoka's hammer and brandish it against the two. That caught Fashtar's attention.

Okay, I think this was a bad idea, thought Misa as she stared him down. He's bigger than me, stronger than me, faster than me and I have just entered the world of combat magic. I am so out of my league here. What can I do? What can I do? What can I do?

"What can you do?" He simply asked.

Misa flinched and realized he was a mind reader, too. "Ah." With that, she let the hammer fall down to the ground. And then her bladder went.

Fashtar sighed. "Rookies."

No doubt the smell of pee was filling the air and Misa felt like she wanted to die out of the embarrassment. There should be magic panties that could handle this sort of thing.

"Come on, Quenthel, we should get going," Fashtar said, standing up. Quenthel followed suit. The two evil adults walked away from the kids and the githyanki opened a portal through a potent spell. Quenthel went through first, and while Fashtar intended to follow suit, he stopped. And then he turned, looking up into the air as if something was watching him.

"Boo."

Misa could only watch on. Then he chuckled, flicked his finger at the sky and went through the portal. The only sound that could be heard after the portal closed was the smoldering of the lava river nearby. Sure, Madoka was breathing and Negi was panting from his position, but right then and there, Misa could only think about how alone they were in a strange new land none of them had heard of before.

Then she heard the familiar noise of hoofbeats nearby. Great.

Dead Dragon's Gorge

It wasn't like him, but Gromph waited. He was waiting for the matron. Quenthel was unpopular, all matrons were unpopular, but she was strong. Her daughter Myrineyl may become the next matron after her, and she was strong, but untested and short-sighted. She was busy plotting pranks and schemes against his disciple.

He would have to make preparations there. The two girls knew of each other and while they didn't show it, it was clear they disliked each other. Only one of them was to the point of attempting to kill the other.

Seeing as how Miyazaki was still alive, the frustration was probably getting to her.

Regardless, the majority of soldiers were back. The sixth and the eighth companies (the companies chosen for this expedition) were mostly intact, but missing a number of soldiers, presumed KIA or taken captive. Oblodra had lost one member of the Bregan D'Aerthe, one of a small consequence. They had left Wysiwyg and her team behind. Wysiwyg was probably stuck in the resort of the vampire. And it had been both a successful, and a disastrous endeavor in the end.

But the worst, by a mile, was that his younger brother was here. "So you came there because of the girl?"

Jarlaxle Baenre was standing next to him, looking none the worse for wear despite having recently been in an armed conflict. The two had been in contact for centuries and still, Gromph found it droll to be in the same presence as him.

"You know… you couldn't have bothered to simply show up as you were and explain the situation to them? Just be honest, talk things out and… no. No, you're not capable of that. Never been."

Gromph's eyebrow twitched. He wasn't going to dignify that with an answer. It was beneath him. With one extraordinary exception - Somewhere on the surface, Drizzt Do'urden sneezed - drow did not coalesce with humans.

Besides, they would have insisted on coming along for a visit and that could have been a hidden ploy to get Miyazaki out of Menzoberranzan and back to Mahora. Beneficial for the girl, but not in the long-run. She needed to be made strong. If that was the caliber of strength they possessed, it became clear that he needed to be tougher on her. His city was on the line. He was its hope of avoiding destruction, yet again.

The portal opened in front of him and Quenthel stepped through first. "Brother."

"Sister."

She then spotted their brother and simply rolled her eyes. "Jarlaxle."

"Why hello, Quenthel. Oh sorry, Matron Quenthel. I just heard what was going on."

Quenthel narrowed her eyes. "I don't see how it is your business," she spoke.

"I simply have an interest in her. No, no, not like that. I find her story too interesting to let it end so far from her home. Although I fail to see how you could call this a success."

Gromph ignored their little brother and asked "What happened?"

"Had to hurt Springfield. She won't be pleased with that. If she finds out."

"If?" Jarlaxle echoed. "She will. And not through me."

Then Fashtar came through, wearing plate armor. He didn't seem pleased. "You know, Jarlaxle and I came there by sheer accident and I have to say I am at the point where I might just blow something up just to let off some steam."

"Please don't blow up our house," Jarlaxle blurted out.

"So! I would very much like to know… why you were there in the first place."

Gromph told him.

"...oh. Well, I suppose that makes some sense. But I don't see anything like what you were after here."

Finally, Gromph smirked. "Mister Hune."

Valas Hune emerged from the shadows, holding a large trunk, filled to the brim with books. "As instructed, Archmage, I took the books we needed for this. And the books you requested. None of them noticed that I was there."

"I did."

Huh?

As if by some odd twist of fate, Evangeline AK Mcdowell, in different clothing than what she wore back in Mahora was wearing, and a knowing smirk on her face, appeared right next to Hune and ensnaring him in strings.

"What the-?!" Fashtar barely got the sentence out before a burst of cold left him encased in a large ice block.

"Okay, now that the playing field is leveled again, allow me to enlighten you alien shits: I am not the Evangeline you met back in Mahora. I am Evangeline of an alternate timeline where things went very differently for Boy and Company. I came to this timeline out of boredom and I was on to you the entire time. I stuck to the shadows, I messed about a little with your men, and I was shocked to see Asuna and Boya's main group of partners absent. So!

"What. The fuck's. Going on. And no mucking about, or I'll turn you all into shaved ice and go on a binge."

Regardless of the condition of Evangeline back in Mahora, this one was outside of the boundaries, which meant that the curse was gone, she was at full power and the act of turning all of them into shaved ice was not hyperbole. Eating all of it might have been, but you never know with vampires.

So Gromph simply told her.

About an hour later, Fashtar and Jarlaxle teleported away from the gorge and back to their original goal.

"Okay, that was an experience."

"How was it encased in ice?" Jarlaxle inquired honestly.

"An experience I hope never to go through again," Fashtar answered and looked around…

...only to find the sign that said "Warning: Random Accidents Ahead" staring at them.

"Oh no… WE'RE BACK WHERE WE STARTED?!"

Jarlaxle stared at the sign as well and then… shrugged. "Well, I guess it was a bit too much to be back with the others. Do you know someone else who owes you a favor?"

"No."

"Do you have any items that could alleviate the passage through?"

"No."

"Okay… is there any possibility this is the work of whomsoever made this road, just to punish us for what happened today?"

"I want to believe that is not the case here, but… I'm having trouble with that bit."

The drow simply adjusted his clothing, fixed his hat in place and stated, "Then we shall simply have to endure the long walk back to our colleagues."

Fashtar sighed and started walking.

"PleasenoRaggedyAnn, pleasenoRaggedyAnn, pleasenoRaggedyAnn…"

…

…

…

"ITAKEITBACKIWANTRAGGEDYANN!"

Next chapter: EPILOGUE.