AN: A longer than average chapter for you guys here. I would like it if you could comment on the fight scenes, as those parts are the bits I'm most unsure about. To be honest, I don't think action is really my forte, I lean more towards descriptive text and convulted plots I believe. Anyway, next chapter should end up in Canada, if nothing gets in the way, so you have the first 'confrontation' to look forward too. I hope you enjoy it!

Beta'd by: NIX'S WARDEN

Chapter 03 – Five Versus Five

Yawning slightly, Harry woke up to find a weight on his chest.

Of course, this wasn't anything new, as Isis did often lay across him when they were asleep, and Reinforce could be quite clingy as well, especially when she had a nightmare.

This time was different to those examples, however, as the weight this time turned out to be Bast in her cat form.

Harry had to raise an eyebrow at that. Not the part about Bast being there, as she 'had to be close if she wanted to protect him' – or so she said – but the fact she wasn't in either her human or hybrid form was a little strange. Saying that, Bast was the one who spent most time in an animal form, as Isis virtually never took any other form than her hybrid one, and Loki only really used his animal form when he was doing a bit of spying or trying to blend in somewhere.

Sitting up, Harry gently picked up the cat, placing her down on his warm pillow instead, before finally climbing out of bed himself, only to realise that neither Isis or Reinforce were there, something that was rather unusual as well.

"Where are those two at?" Harry muttered to himself, reaching out through his connection to her in order to locate Reinforce. "They're not usually up as early as Loki and I am."

He became more concerned when he found he couldn't quite grasp what Reinforce was thinking about. Aside from things such as presents, they were usually completely open with each other, it being rather difficult to obscure their thoughts from one another.

Still, Harry managed to get her location, and his concern got the better of him. He went to where she was, disillusioning himself as he did so. A 'benefit' of Reinforce obscuring her thoughts from him was that she, also, wouldn't be able to see what he was thinking either, so she was unaware of his approach.

xxxxx

Loki, who was with Isis and Reinforce, was the only one who noticed when Harry slipped into the room with them. However, he didn't speak up, believing the conversation Isis and Rein were currently having shouldn't have been hidden from their master.

Besides, Loki's loyalty was first and foremost to Harry. As harsh as it sounded, if it meant Harry remained safe, he would gladly sacrifice himself and any others necessary. When the Knight program was fully implemented, that statement would lose some of its poignancy, as he, Bast, Isis, and any others Harry may or may not add to it in future would be effectively immortal, capable of being brought back so long as Harry himself was still alive.

"I still say they should suffer at least some hardship for what they put him through." Isis huffed, glaring somewhat at Reinforce.

"I never said they shouldn't, we just need to be very careful first. When the truth comes out, and it will, Harry will be in a very tenuous position. I'm sure you're aware of Britain's stance on regular magical creatures, saying nothing of how werewolves, vampires, and other 'dark' creatures are treated, so can you imagine just how Harry's reputation will take a hit from this?" Reinforce shot back.

Loki didn't offer an opinion, and simply sat back and watched the argument between the two females closely, occasionally letting his eyes flicker towards the slightly distorted space where Harry was stood - that disillusionment charm was a good one, barely visible at all.

The two were arguing about the Potters, Harry's parents. Isis believed that they needed to suffer somehow, being of the opinion that Harry's crappy childhood could be laid at their feet. Just what sort of 'suffering' they should be subjected to, she hadn't really said, and Loki doubted she really knew what she would do if she could, or just how she would implement it.

Reinforce, on the other hand, whilst believing that Harry had suffered due to the Potters' choices, thought that they needed to be really careful in how they proceeded. Things will undoubtedly be difficult, the prejudice of the British Magical Society being what it was, and Rein thought that Harry or those connected to him enacting 'revenge' on Lily and James would make things even more difficult than they already were.

Loki thought they both had a point. Isis was right in that the Potters needed to feel the repercussions of their actions, as they'd gotten away scot free so far. Reinforce was right in that any retaliation would make things go from merely rather difficult to something nearing Cu Chulainn's final stand while tied to a pillar.

Harry had obviously realised that Loki, as skilled as he was with stealth-based magic, had noticed him, and leaned against the wall next to his raven familiar. He quietly asked him to explain what was going on, and Loki answered with an equally quiet voice.

Harry gave an exasperated sigh, dropping his disillusionment charm as he did so. Isis and Rein, as into their argument as they were, didn't notice.

Deciding to leave the two alone until they'd got it out of their system, Harry conjured up a chessboard and pieces that hovered in the air between himself and Loki. The raven familiar shrugged, before moving levitating a white pawn forwards two spaces.

Harry responded in kind, sending a pawn of his own forwards two spaces.

This was a magical control exercise that Harry had come up with himself, along with a few others. The first part of it was the conjuration, the most difficult classification of spell that falls under Transfiguration – the manipulation of matter – and Harry had to focus on creating the board and pieces as best he could. Initially, he could only create the pieces as wooden discs with a symbol scratched into the surface, but as his control improved, he could make better and better pieces to play with.

The second part of the 'exercise' was the levitation charm on the board. Now, levitation by itself isn't that difficult, it's amongst the simplest spells in charms, and one any first year can cast. However, rather than having the board bobbing up and down, or moving smoothly through the air, as a levitation charm usually would, he had to keep the flow of mana constant and equal, while also making sure the board didn't rotate or tilt in any direction. It was more difficult than it sounded.

The next part of the exercise, or at least the magical part, was twofold. First, he had to levitate the pieces across the board, whilst maintaining the minor sticking spells keeping the pieces from slipping all over the places. Of course, this meant the game could be played upside down or perpendicular to the ground, and Harry had done just that to make sure his control was up to scratch.

He also had to 'feel' when his opponent's magic began to interact with one of the pieces, letting him know which one to release from the sticking spell so it could move. On top of all that, he then had to focus on the game itself, and with a strategic game such as chess, the mental focus was an exercise all of its own.

Taking that into account, it was probably not so surprising that Harry's focus switched from the argument between Isis and Reinforce to the chess game he was having with Loki. It is also something of note that when Bast brushed against him in cat form, he didn't drop the chess pieces all over the floor.

Granted, the board they were playing on dropped a foot before he managed to catch it and bring it back up, but it was still better than some previous blunders had been.

Loki smirked slightly at that little lapse of attention, earning him a slight pout from Harry, before tilting his head towards the still arguing females. That they still hadn't noticed the two of them playing chess not five feet away was quite telling about how focused on their disagreement they were.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Loki asked in a low voice once Bast had settled herself – adorably in his opinion – on top of Harry's head, her eyes following the chess pieces as they levitated across the floating board between the two males.

"Well, Lindy did book that training ground for that group spar the girls wanted, and they did make sure Chrono and Yuuno would be available as well, so I guess we've got that to look forward to." Harry cocked his head to one side in thought. "Fawkes did agree to take us to Mid-Childa as well, I think he likes the place, so transport isn't an issue."

"Ah, that." Loki nodded. "I've collected as much information on those five as I can, as you know, and I believe our chances are good against them."

"Care to explain, and is there any plans you've thought up?" Harry asked.

"Well, all five of them follow Mid-Childan standards as far as they're magic is concerned. Normally, mages fight in a style that resembles a duel, or perhaps a 'shoot out', with various advantages and disadvantages on each side. Nanoha is a magical cannon, with a fairly rapid rate of fire with everything except her 'big guns', though beware her binds, lest she keep you in place while she charges up something big." Loki went over his notes for the other four.

"Fate is a speedster with minimal armour, so a good blow on her will hurt. However, she is rather adept at dodging ranged shots, and close quarters is her speciality. Hayate is an even bigger cannon than Nanoha, with many large-scale spells available, though her aim, though improving, is atrocious." Loki described the other two females they'd be facing off against later.

"And how about the guys? Chrono and Yuuno, neither of which I know as well as the girls." Harry queried.

"Chrono is a professional. His capacity for both magic and damage isn't in the same league as the girls, but he makes efficient use of what he has, and he thinks more tactically than they do. I believe he, along with Yuuno, will prove our biggest obstacles in the match." Loki admitted. "Yuuno, compared to the other four, isn't a damage dealer. He's like their version of our Isis, specialising in Barriers and Binds. One thing of note, however, is that he is rather good at large scale ritual spells if he has the time to set them up and activate them."

Harry tapped a finger on the edge of the chess board. "So, when the match starts, we need to prevent ourselves being immediately taken out with a bombardment spell. My 'Fog of War' could be useful there, especially coupled with disillusionment charms."

"Your Fog of War can hamper us just as much as it can our opponents. Unless you can 'hook' us all into your Beelzebub Network, we'll be restricted in what we can do too." Loki interjected.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You think I hadn't realised that? Besides, after the beating they took off you, Beelzebub won't be regenerated and recharged for a few days." He reached into a pocket and withdrew several pairs of what looked like aviator goggles. "These are set to the opposite frequency of my Fog card, so you'll at least be able to see through it."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "And what happens if an enemy gets their hands on these and replicates them? That would take away one of your best abilities."

"The goggles are, let's just say, heavily enchanted. Unless I was the one who gave you them, and not under duress, then the consequences of trying to wear them would be... unpleasant to say the least. Aside from that, they have Portkey spells on them to return to me if called, and if worst comes to worst, then I'll just shift the signature of my 'Fog of War' up or down a little." Harry replied. "I do take precautions, you know."

"I'm not saying you don't..." Loki raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Yeah, yeah." Harry chuckled. "Now, after that, I think we could..."

xxxxx

A trill of beautiful birdsong is what finally interrupted both Isis' argument with Reinforce and Harry's discussion with Loki. It was also right then when the two females realised that Harry was now in the same room of them. The faces they made when they found out that he had heard at least a little of what they'd been discussing were quite the picture.

"H-Harry, I-I was just-" Isis stuttered out eventually, not entirely sure what to say.

"I know." Harry replied. "I know what the two of you were arguing about and... you both have a point. Yes, I did have a rather... unfortunate childhood due to their actions, but it's also because of them I even have a life. I know this doesn't excuse their 'negligence', and Loki has found evidence that I'm not the only one to suffer because of them."

He then turned to Reinforce. "You are also right, Rein, causing trouble would be trouble for me. I need to tread carefully, and even the slightest misstep could cause everything to blow up in my face. Aside from what the general public will think and do, there's also how the Press will spin things to consider, I've read several articles by one Rita Skeeter, and I have to say that she seems to enjoy spinning things as badly as she can, though she is far from alone in this regard."

"Sometimes I wonder if it isn't best to just leave them be, and let things play out as they will." Harry frowned. "But... but I want to expose them to the world. I- I feel that they've hidden from their problems, run away from them, and they need to face things head on, or... I don't know, I haven't a clue how to describe how I'm feeling right now." He trailed off, confusion clear in his voice.

Loki laid a hand on his should, just as Bast patted him on he head with her paw. "Betrayed may be a good word for what you're feeling. Children, all of them, look to their parents first, the ones who raised them. It might be an answer based on emotion rather than logic, but that doesn't make the decision a bad one. Sometimes we have to go with our hearts over our heads, else we never be satisfied with our choices."

Harry smiled slightly. "Thanks, Loki." He muttered.

"No thanks necessary, my master." He replied. "Now that it's a reasonable hour, and Fawkes is here, shall we go and collect everyone and head to Mid-Childa? I don't know about you, but I find myself rather eager for a little fight."

"Yeah, let's do that." Harry agreed. "And thanks again, Loki."

"Once more, no thanks are necessary." Loki waved him off. "Everything I am and have is yours, my loyalty is complete and unshakeable, I am behind and with you no matter what happens. I think we've talked enough though, to the Midori-ya!"

He followed a smiling Harry out the door, accompanied by the females also bound to Harry.

xxxxx

Lindy looked at the monitors hovering in mid-air in front of her. Beside her were the Wolkenritter, Arf, and Nanoha's Parents. All of them were there to watch the match between the two groups, Reinforce, Harry, and his three familiars on one side, with Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Chrono, and Yuuno on the other side.

"How do you think this is going to go, Signum?" Shamal asked the flaming general, as she was the most experienced one there.

"It's difficult to say." Signum replied. "It depends, almost totally, on the 'Bureau' team."

"Oh, what makes you say that?" Lindy asked, though her eyes remained on the screens as the last thirty seconds before the match began were counting down.

"They will fall back on and rely on the Mid-Childan magic styles in a fight, out of habit if nothing else, whereas Harry's team will mix everything they know up together, and they have a lot of esoteric spells available to them. If the 'Bureau' team want to win, then they're going to have to quickly work out how to react to the strange things Harry will use." Signum explained.

"Not to mention Harry's team is more used to fighting together than the others. One-on-one, Gladiator style, I'd say Nanoha, Fate, and possibly Chrono and Hayate would be able to take them any day." Zafira offered. "Harry's team won't fight like that though, they will strip Nanoha and the others of any advantages they can, improving their chances as much as possible, before systematically taking them out one at a time. That's why I think they will win."

"Look, it's starting!" Vita called out, just as the timer reached zero.

"Aaaaand there goes visuals." Shamal commented, frowning. "Did that fog spell originate from Harry? I had my eyes on Hayate at the time, and then it kinda took over."

"Yes, it did." Signum answered. "I did see, however, all of Harry's side put some sort of goggles on before sight was obscured, and they jumped over the edge instead of into the air like Nanoha's side did."

"Does this mean the match is already over?" Momoko asked. "If one side can see their opponents and the other can't, what can they do?"

"I wouldn't count them out just yet." Signum commented. "They're tough enough to take a few hits, and that fog won't last long spread over such a large area. I think... yes, I think that Harry's side are probably setting up traps and things around the area before the fog dissipates."

True to Signum's words, the fog slowly began to vanish after several minutes. Creating enough of it to completely obscure such a massive area, and the training ground was large enough to be considered a decent sized town, must have been costly, no matter how large your reserves were.

xxxxx

Chrono frowned as he tried to pierce the fog with a glare.

He had landed on a rooftop and had taken refuge behind a water tank, thinking it better to save his mana, not to mention that hovering in mid-air would make him a huge target, and he was smart enough to know that was a supremely stupid idea.

Harry, it seemed, did not fight like anyone he'd fought before. Normally, smoke and fog was only used to hide you when running away, not to support you during a fight. Most mages seemed obsessed with big, flashy spells, like Nanoha's Starlight Breaker.

Not that he thought Nanoha was trying to show off, she simply used stupidly large amounts of power in every one of her spells, beating her foes into the ground with superior 'fire-power'. He didn't have the same capacity she did, and so he learned to ration his own magic usage.

Calming himself, Chrono let his senses drift outwards, looking for danger, checking for anyth-

He dodged sideways, only just avoiding a pencil-thick beam of purplish-black.

'So, they're targeting me? That's odd, most assume it's the others who are more dangerous, what with their large reserves and penchant for bombardment magic.' He thought to himself.

The fact that they viewed him as the greater threat was, in all honestly, a little flattering to Chrono. While he wasn't overlooked, most tended to focus more on the 'big guns', so to speak.

Another purplish-black beam came through the fog, this one just clipping Chrono's shoulder. However, as slight as the contact was, it still managed to completely destroy a large chunk of his barrier jacket, exposing almost half of his chest, not to mention it hurt like hell too.

'That accuracy's crazy!' Chrono mentally screamed. 'Something that small shouldn't be used over such distances, and his visibility must at least be affected by this fog! He's a god damn sniper!'

Chrono rolled off the edge of the building, before swinging around and smashing through a window two floors down. He considered his options in this fight.

Well, he understood why he was being targeted now at least. He wasn't being condescending to the others, but he was simply better at thinking tactically than they were.

Chrono noted that the fog was beginning to thin, and was thankful that handicap was going away at least.

'BOOM!'

The building Chrono was in shook with the shockwave of what felt like a small earthquake going on nearby.

"What the heck was that?!" Chrono cried out, wondering if maybe he should have done a little snooping in regards to what his opponents were capable of.

xxxxx

Harry whistled to himself.

He was standing next to one of his golems, specifically Dante the Cannon.

There was a clunk and ping as one cartridge was ejected and another loaded, before another loud boom echoed around the place as the shot was fired into the distance, where it exploded with teeth-rattling force.

"Hehehe, big gun." Harry couldn't help but chuckle.

It was true though, a standard Belkan cartridge was usually 9.3x62mm in size. The ones Dante was loading were 155x800mm in size. That was a bit more than three and a half thousand times the volume of a regular cartridge, which meant one big bang.

On one knee, with his device in Sniper Mode, Harry was taking shots at the targets he could see. He wasn't very accurate, being so close to the cannon was throwing his aim off and making him only get glancing shots at best. However, a glancing shot was actually quite bad when one took into account just how concentrated his laser beams were.

He paused in his shots and blinked in stupefaction as he saw Hayate prepare a spell of some sort.

~Reinforce, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a Hræsvelgr spell Hayate is casting?~ He telepathically asked Reinforce.

~You're not wrong, Harry... and it looks like she's overpowering it too...~ Reinforce trailed off.

"Everyone go to ground!" Harry yelled out with a magically amplified voice, before doing just that himself. He knew just how bad Hayate's aim was, but if the attack was big enough... did it really matter.

xxxxx

Nanoha stared with wide eyes at Hayate, who was huffing and panting after throwing around so many high-ranking bombardment spells.

"I thought I was supposed to be the cannon on this team?" She pouted lightly, miffed about something and not knowing why. "Still, is this what they call 'carpet bombing' something?"

Nanoha had good reason to ask that, as there didn't seem to be much left of the training ground, with multiple massive craters being scattered everywhere.

"T-Thats... that's... that's me spent." Hayate managed to pant out. "Hehehe, so what if my aim's bad? It doesn't matter when I can hit everything now, does it?"

She grinned at Nanoha, a little maniacally if the truth was told, and was about to say something else when a spell smashed into her at high speed.

She fell out of the air, that one hit managing to take her out after she'd exhausted herself so thoroughly.

xxxxx

Looking at the monitors, Momoko and Shiro didn't know what to say. They'd just seen a barely teen-aged girl level the place better than Hiroshima or Nagasaki. They looked towards Lindy, their eyes silently asking the questions that they simply couldn't vocalise.

Lindy winced. "Power like that isn't too common." She answered, already knowing what was on their minds. "In fact, aside from weapon systems mounted on battleships and the like, the only ones who could possibly match that level of power are out there: Hayate herself, Reinforce, Harry, and not too far behind them are Fate and Nanoha."

"Our daughter, can match that?" Shiro asked incredulously.

"Well, she does use her magic more efficiently than Hayate does, and she can actually aim, but there is a reason the bureau is keeping an eye on her and her friends. There are those on the upper echelons that are... understandably nervous about having power like that out there and not under their control. It's a problem that Harry faces even more than they do, due to the stigma attached to the whole 'Book of Darkness' incident, a stigma that Hayate will have to shake as well." She admitted.

"Well, that's one down at least." Shamal commented, noting that once she had lost consciousness, Hayate's body had been magically teleported out of the training area and into the infirmary. Thankfully, nothing was wrong with her aside from exhaustion, and she'd recover from that quickly enough. "How's everyone else doing?"

Lindy's eyes flickered over the monitoring systems on the still active ones. "Chrono has taken quite a severe hit that almost took him out in one shot, but he's still in the game. Nanoha and Fate were both caught by Harry's ridiculous cannon, but managed to get away from it quick enough that they only took minor damage. Yuuno is... quite the distance away, and he seems to be preparing something."

"And Harry's side?" Signum asked.

"Isis threw up a barrier that stopped the majority of Hayate's bombardment, but it did cost her a lot of mana, and as they all share one mana pool, that's gotta have hit them hard. Loki... well, the systems have lost him, he could be anywhere right now, but his condition seems to be fine. Harry and Bast are together, and the took moderate damage trying to get away from Hayate's bombardment. Reinforce pulled through fine, but she does have plenty of experience behind her." Lindy quickly read off.

"Hayate could have won the match with that spell if she'd been more lucky or accurate." Signum commented. "Let's see how they respond to it, shall we?"

xxxxx

Harry was swearing under his breath, and even he hadn't realised just how much profanity he knew, as he spouted curse after curse into the air. Bast had even gone slightly red after the first few dozen, and her own eyes were wide with shock at what was flowing from her master's mouth.

Eventually, however, Harry ran out of things to say.

"That was not a very friendly thing to do in a spar." He commented with a huff. "At least she's worn herself out, she's not going to be doing anything else now." He saw her get knocked out of the air. "And it looks like Isis was the one to finish her off. That just leaves Nanoha, Fate, Chrono, and Yuuno to deal with."

"May I confront the blonde?" Bast asked. "I am not suited to ranged combat, and she is the one with a tendency towards close quarters fighting."

Harry sent a message off. "Right, meet up with Loki, and then you can go after Fate together. She's fast, and she has a more than decent amount of power as well, so she's not going to go down easily."

Bast looked up as pink and purplish-black light began to dance across the sky. Harry followed her eyes and saw what she had caught sight of.

"It looks like Reinforce has decided to go head to head with Nanoha." He muttered. "That'll draw attention away from us, and I'm going to go and try to take Yuuno out, so that leaves Isis to deal with Chrono. Good luck with Fate, and stay safe."

Bast nodded to him, before darting off towards Loki's location.

"Right, time to prepare." Harry muttered to himself, ejecting two cards from his bracers. Dante the Cannon had been taken out in Hayate's bombardment, and Fog of War had been completely used up, to the point where he'd had to augment the card's reserves with his own to cover the entire training ground.

"What should I use." He wondered to himself. "Assassin's Cloak as a support, yes, and perhaps this will be a good test of my Disruption Blast. I think I'll round it out with Draining Cage as well. As for a golem, Vritra the Serpent may work here."

After inserting the cards into his bracers and making sure they were charged, Harry checked his device, which was still in Sniper Rifle form. He shifted into a glaive, a form he was comfortable with, before heading off to find his ferret target.

xxxxx

Yuuno could only face-palm when he saw Nanoha go head to head with Reinforce. That girl meant well, and she was strong, but she also tackled everything head on, usually without really thinking about it. Of course, a tactically minded Nanoha was the stuff of nightmares, ones that heavily featured a lot of light and the colour pink.

Getting back to what he was doing, Yuuno glanced around, knowing that he was going to be targeted sooner or later. Actually, with Chrono taking a hit like he had, he thought that he might have been next, but so far it looked like he was safe, giving him plenty of time to set up his own spells.

Yuuno was out over the surface of the water, with a lot of space on all sides. Around him, there were dozens of Mid-Childan style arrays, each one ready to be fired at a moment's notice. Yuuno was also preparing barrier spells for any shots aimed at himself, and so he wasn't at all caught off guard when several dozen Bloody Daggers were fired his way.

A strong round shield snapped into place, as Yuuno looked over to see Harry with the same black-winged flight spell Reinforce and Hayate used activated.

"Scarlet Dragon Summon!" Harry called out aloud, a magical circle appearing above and behind him, from which said dragon emerged.

"Oh boy." Yuuno muttered to himself, remembering that this spell was one that Reinforce had used as the 'Will of the Book of Darkness' when it had been completed.

A storm of magic erupted from the arrays that Yuuno had prepared, dealing devastating damage to the dragon, actually managing to take it out with just that barrage. He hurriedly switched his attention to Harry, who he was sure would take advantage of his distractio- Who actually hadn't moved and had weathered the attacks Yuuno had sent his way with a coffin shaped shield of some sort.

Why wouldn't Harry have used the distraction his dragon provided? From what Yuuno had been able to find out, Harry thought rather tactically, and wasn't afraid of fighting 'dirty' if it meant getting a win, so why-

Yuuno shot into the air as the water beneath him surged upwards. A glance back down had Yuuno's eyes nearly jumping out of his face.

A massive snake skeleton had apparently been swimming underneath his feet and just had launched itself at him. That was why Harry had summoned the dragon, to capture his attention and get rid of his preparations while the snake thing, he could only assume it was one of Harry's golems, got into position to attack him.

He dodged sideways, avoiding a rain of shots from Harry, who was now above him and firing shots down at him from higher up, forcing him to either dodge sideways, stalling him, or driving him down towards where the skeleton lay in wait.

Another look behind him saw something else that confused Yuuno. The water around the snake skeleton wasn't falling away, but was surrounding it like it was the things flesh. Of course, the fact that the snake seemed to be charging up some sort of ball of energy in its mouth was of greater concern to Yuuno.

'This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.' Yuuno internally grumbled to himself, especially as he saw Harry prepare a large net spell above him.

xxxxx

One member of Harry's team who wasn't doing so well was Isis. She was currently facing off against Chrono, and the only reason she hadn't been taken out yet was because she was using every dirty, sneaky trick she could think of, and using her rather 'developed' body to fluster her opponent, though that wasn't as effective as she thought it would have been.

Isis was feeling a little miffed that she had been the one to face off with Chrono. Say what you want about his smaller capacity for magic, he was a very intelligent young man, and he actually applied that in his fights. Isis would have had an easier time with Nanoha, who would have had a much more extreme reaction to Isis' suggestive remarks.

"Hold still." Chrono growled as Isis bent backwards, folding herself in half to dodge Chrono's attack, before flipping backwards to land on her feet.

"Oh, Chrono-kun, doesn't the chase excite you? I'm not so sure you're so innocent, especially seeing how you keep trying to catch me with a Struggle Bind, you kinky boy." She winked at him. "Sorry, but only Harry's allowed to do those things to me, you're just not the one for me, Chrono-kun."

Chrono twitched at that, and Isis tried to take advantage of the opening. Unfortunately, Chrono wasn't as distracted as she'd hoped he was, and she just barely avoided getting S2U slammed into her gut.

"Come on, hurry up and finish your opponents so you can come and help me!" Isis' muttered under her breath. She knew her chances against Chrono were rather low, and the only way she could see herself winning would be with help from someone else.

xxxxx

Fate wasn't having an easy time of things either. She was currently facing off against Bast, which wasn't the problem really. Bast was tough, and capable of dealing out some heavy blows, but she needed to work on her speed. Fate could literally run rings around Bast if she chose to, so that wasn't the issue, Loki was.

The raven familiar would appear out of thin air, try and cut her, then vanish again just as quickly. Fate, uncharacteristically, was getting rather pissed off. Mentally, she knew the advantage such spells would give someone, but her frustration was building as she couldn't keep track of him, and he was keeping her from taking the cat out of the match.

Bast, for her part, was looking rather beat up. While Fate had not landed a decisive blow on her, she had landed a number of regular hits on her. Her Knight Armour was on its last legs, and there were bruises and cuts on her exposed flesh. She was also tiring, as keeping up with Fate was draining her stamina a lot.

Bast felt Loki pull at the collar she wore around her neck, pulling her away from a slice that could have ended the match. She was surprised however, when she felt him continue to pull her along, before a whisper in her ear told her he had a trap set up to capture Fate.

Fate, seeing her opponent fleeing, thought she had almost beaten the cat-girl – she had after all dealt a more than fair amount of damage to her – and gave chase, determined to take her out.

Bast went around a corner at full pelt, and Fate sped after her, easily keeping up. She prepared bardiche to deal the finishing blow-

-only to run into a net.

Fate blinked in surprise for a moment, instantly taking note of how the net seemed to be anchored to four small cubes that were stuck to the walls on either side of the street.

Thwack!

She received Bast's metal-enclosed fist right in the face, knocking her out.

As she was teleported out of the training ground, the net dissolved into motes of light, and Loki collected up the projectors that had conjured it. The raven familiar was panting heavily, with his hands on his knees, as he tried to catch his breath. Bast was not breathing as heavily, but she was coated in a sheen of sweat.

"I'm spent." Loki eventually spoke up. "I don't know how much more I've got to give."

"Isis." Bast said to him.

"The horny unicorn? What about h- Oh, she's facing off against Chrono, isn't she? She's even less suited to direct combat than I am." Loki sighed in exasperation. "Right, let's go get her out of trouble, shall we?"

Bast nodded, before heading off towards where she knew Isis was.

Loki heaved a sigh before following, grumbling about how Hayate's bombardment had taken out most of his traps he'd set up in the fog.

xxxxx

""Divine Buster!"" Two voices called out in the sky, as two equally powerful beams collided in mid-air.

Reinforce dived downwards, before firing up at Nanoha once again, while the brunette girl rose into the sky, in front of the sun, making looking at her difficult, as she also fired off a spell at Reinforce.

Neither of them were paying much attention to what was going on elsewhere, too focused on exchanging shots with each other as fast and as accurately as they could. It wasn't clear who was winning this particular exchange, as both had received and dealt damage to the other.

"Accel Shooter!" Nanoha called out, firing almost two dozen shots at Reinforce, who defended herself with a strengthened Panzerschild, before replying with a Photon Lancer Genocide Shift, launching literally hundreds of shots at Nanoha.

Nanoha cast a barrier around herself before they all hit her, but she still received quite the brutal beating from the massed attack, emerging from the barrage with far more damage done to her Barrier Jacket, and her reserves being drained trying to keep the shield up under the onslaught.

Of course, Reinforce had spent quite a bit of magic to cast said spell, so it was difficult to say how much it mattered.

Reinforce and Nanoha locked eyes, before once again continuing their dance across the sky.

xxxxx

Bast and Loki hurtled around a corner just in time to see the shaft of S2U connect with Isis' head, knocking her unconscious.

They didn't give Chrono time to breath, despite their own depleted stamina, and immediately engaged him in a furious melee. Loki, with his device Fenrir split into two swords, and Bast with Sekhmet, her device which took the form of metal gauntlets and boots, launched a flurry of rapid attacks against Chrono in an effort to take him out as fast as possible.

Chrono, to his misfortune, was taken out in under thirty seconds due to just having finished fighting Isis, but he did get a good few whacks in against Loki and Bast, bruising the ribs of the former, and taking the latter's legs out from underneath her.

"Just... just Nanoha and Yuuno left." Loki panted, gingerly feeling his ribs, making sure they weren't broken. "There's nothing I can really do to help Reinforce out, blitzing through the air like they are-" A loud roar was heard off to the side, where Yuuno and Harry were facing off. "-and I'd only get in the way of Harry right now."

Bast agreed with Loki regarding Reinforce and Nanoha, but she didn't really hear what he said regarding Harry and Yuuno, as she was focused on the, rather beautiful, sight before her. Vritra the Serpent, Harry's golem based on the skeleton of the basilisk, was looking incredibly beautiful right now.

The water it had been using as flesh had frozen into scales of ice that glittered in the sunlight, colours reflecting and refracting off of it, to make it look like something out of a fairy tale, before its mouth opened wide, gathering energy between its jaws, before letting loose with a cold blue beam that froze everything it touched.

Flying nearby was a partially transformed Harry, part-way turned into his animagus form. His skin had been replaced with scales, his hands with claws, and even though she couldn't see it from this far away, she knew he also sported the slitted eyes of a dragon as well. Powerful, draconic wings emerged from his back, driving him through the air at rather impressive speeds, and with incredible manoeuvrability.

xxxxx

'This is just too weird.' Yuuno thought, as he tried to somehow deal with the giant flying snake of ice, while also fending off the rather skilled Harry at the same time, which had been made all the more difficult due to his transformation. Whatever it was he'd done, it had boosted his strength and resistance to magic, proven when he'd managed to literally tear apart a binding spell that Yuuno thought might have bought him a little breathing room.

Now he had to deal with that damn snake freezing things as well, rather than the generic mana blasts it had been firing off before. Was that a result of its body being formed out of ice or something? Yuuno honestly didn't know, and he was rather curious about it, determining to ask Harry about it later.

A massive explosion came from off to one side, drawing his attention in case it was another attack, only to see Nanoha falling out of the air, unconscious. Though judging from the damage Reinforce had taken, she hadn't gone down easily.

Harry hadn't been distracted by Nanoha being taken out though, and used Yuuno's momentary distraction to rapidly fire his Disruption Blasts at Yuuno. The unstable packets of magic messing with anything they came near, which caused Yuuno's flight spell to falter long enough for Vritra to catch him with an ice beam and win the match.

Thankful the match was finally over, Harry let Vritra return to its card, as he landed heavily on the ground, his draconic transformation reversing itself until he was properly 'human' once more. Reinforce, battered as she was, landed near him, Loki and Bast stumbling their way as well, supporting each other and looking ready to pass out.

Harry looked down for a moment, a little sad that Isis had been taken out, but he soon recovered and grinned up at the ones still there, looking to be as close to passing out as he was.

"Well." He said. "We won!"