Amount of hugs needed: 4,479 [(6865+8417+7477+7368+7010+7653)/10 - Round up]

Amount of hugs found: 1,647

Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.

The week passed quickly, and unlike the prior to weeks, it was filled with event after event after event. First was the simple, work that Onii-sama brought her, despite her ability in most subjects, with the amount of work her job entailed she barely was able to make the deadline each day… sleep was lost for several nights. At least this time the lack of sleep was minor, barely a few minutes, but they still took a bit of a toll on her.

Second was her going out for the Jewel Seeds with Scrya-san, those excursions… with the added threat of the Enforcer those skirmishes turned into a lot of property damage, which thankfully didn't translate to damage outside of the barrier Scrya-san set up. That boy was a credible threat, especially whenever he stopped trying to just use knock them out and started using lethal damage… in his defense she couldn't turn her safety restrictions on for some reason, not even counting that Razing Heart seemed to be inactive.

Regardless those battles were quickly becoming a ridiculous and deadly affair, there were buildings falling down every once in a while, several trees or lampposts thrown, a lot of minor injuries and a fair amount of punching/tackling into buildings or trees… at least Fate was on her side whenever he showed up. Over the course of the week four more Jewel Seeds had appeared, three went inactive while the last one turned into a bird… that was a strange fight and more than a little annoying.

Of the four, she had only claimed one of them, an inactive jewel Seed she had 'stolen' from the Enforcer when he thought both of them were out after he swooped in when she and Fate were tired fighting one another. That expression on his face made the pain in her leg worth it as she took off with Fate doing the same. Fate herself had claimed two of the Jewel Seeds, the bird being one of them, the fight they had over that inactive Jewel was very brutal… she'd been hit in the leg by one of the blades the Enforcer used… it hurt far worse than when Fate had broken it.

The last one, went to the Enforcer, both her and Fate had arrived too late to get the Jewel and decided in tandem without any communication that it wasn't worth trying and had left. That left only six Jewel Seeds left from what Scrya-san said. Six more left until there would be a final battle between the three of them to see who would obtain the rest.

And the last major thing she had had this past week was practice, train and experiment with magic, mostly focusing on her shield spell. The results… told her she was just as terrible with shield spells as she was in flight, more so probably given that Scrya-san could break her shield with a simple Shoot Barret… a spell he was not well-versed in.

There were two things she learned from this before focusing on a 'solution', either she could make a shield fast, a few seconds compared to Scrya-san's near-instant, and have it be as fragile as glass, or have it take time, nearly a dozen and a half seconds, and be somewhat sturdy. Given that information, her endurance spell was much better and more practical… however it had limits as was evidenced by every battle she had. Which is why she made a 'better' shield, which essentially made it smaller and more compact than the regular shield she was trying to create… it was certainly sturdier and quicker to create… the fact that it was barely the size of her chest made her question if it would work though.

Then again, she wasn't going to be using her shields like they were supposed to, just like how she wasn't using her shooting spells as projectiles, both were distractions meant for her to slip through and close distance, this shield... she didn't know what it was going to be used for, but it would serve her better than the one she had been using. At the very least it would hold better than the other had, and that on its own made it worth her while to make it.

Then came Sunday, and everything decided to go wrong.

It was cloudy when it started, but the spike of mana and rain cemented that it was Fate's doing, the Enforcer didn't do any magic relating to weather nor did he ever use enough mana to suggest he had enough to cause the storm which made the only option Fate. Quickly she and Scrya-san gathered themselves and their, mainly her, items and headed into the forest for privacy before he teleported them 'near' where the mana spike was… which turned out to be over the middle of the ocean, thankfully with land in sight.

In the direction of the mana spike were 4 waterspouts… likely most of the remaining Jewel Seeds… this wouldn't end well would it? Regardless of that feeling of slight 'dread' she started running forward the funnels with Scrya-san behind her shortly, making out wolf-woman up above monitoring and maintaining the barrier while Fate was battling the Jewel Seeds. She sped up her pace and exploded the platform, her body aimed straight at Fate as she flew, Scrya-san heading up at a slower pace towards the wolf-woman to provide support of some form.

She heard the wolf-woman shout something, but couldn't make out what with all the noise she was in, high speeds plus unobstructed wind equaled a lot of noise apparently, she could however see the result as Fate turned her head in time to look at her just as she was about to pass by. She twirled as gracefully as her situation could amount to, a respectable amount, and landed feet-first into a platform behind Fate, hand quickly reaching out and grabbing Fate by the back of her cloak. A pivot saw her throwing Fate straight upwards, and a continuation of that pivot saw her fist clash with the… 'lightning' that made up this Jewel Seed's form that had tried to sneak up on Fate with her distracted.

She won the contest of strength, the bolt of 'lightning' dying with another replacing it closer to the Jewel Seed, and proceeded to fall off her platform towards the Jewel. It sent its 'lightning' at her, she tore them apart with a single hit from fist or blade each, twisting mid-air to avoid those she couldn't destroy and crashed down on the Jewel Seed with a plume of water. The waterspout it was in fell apart shortly after she hit the Jewel Seed, the thing not acting out anymore but still active and willing to cause issues.

A look back up saw that Fate had took her tag-in from the 'duel' in stride, immediately going over to another waterspout and beginning to dance with it in another 'duel', as well as the wolf-woman coming down on the second waterspout as Scrya-san took over maintaining a barrier. That left the third waterspout to her, and she happily obliged the Jewel Seed in a duel of its own, though the duel lasted barely a minute with her brute-forcing the Jewel Seed to 'sleep'.

The other two were finished by the time she dealing with the Jewel, which left them floating above the ocean with fo- … make that six Jewel Seeds, a heavily breathing Fate and a very protective and concerned wolf-woman. Scrya-san was floating lower to their level as the Jewel Seeds were herded together from their positions, and it appeared they would either have a polite, if strained, conversation for once.

Of course, her earlier feeling of 'dread' decided to rear itself and show why the feeling was brought about before conversation could start.

Another, lighter, spike of mana heralded the Enforcer appeared in his black, spike-covered 'glory', causing all four of them to turn in near-sync at the bane of their hunts… and then came the second 'heavier' spike. The figure that appeared was… not what one expected for a person entering into a battlefield, a blue uniform with coattails and a few insignias strewn about, white pants, black dress shoes, white gloves, her green hair tied into a waist-length ponytail, green eyes half-closed in bliss as she sipped from a teacup. Who in their right mind would bring a teacup to a battlefield?

All four of them tensed at the sight of her, then became puzzled as she brought up her left hand and held one finger up in a gesture that should mean 'one moment'… maybe… it was that or 'no, no, no'. Considering she didn't move and the Enforcer had a hand to his face, she assumed it was 'one moment', which let her to have her polite conversation with Fate and wolf-woman, though not on the topic she would want. "How many of them can you seal at once Fate?"

The other girl glanced over at her before turning back to the strange woman and Enforcer, taking a few moments to think before she replied, "Four, four sealings and I'll be out for a short period of time." She gave a small nod at that, that left both Scrya-san and wolf-woman left, and both of their roles were easy to put together.

"I'll get the rest then. Scrya-san, can you prepare a teleport back to the city?" She received a wary nod from him, still after a week of skirmishes he wasn't comfortable fighting the TSAB, but that was fine, he wasn't the one fighting. As for the teleport's justification, Fate was tired and would be a liability in a fight if she tried to join in, and there were two opponents this time, they had trouble enough with just the Enforcer with how he teleported after they were done 'clearing' the Jewel Seed. Which left the wolf-woman and herself in the worst position. "Wolf-woman, we're the rearguard."

The currently wolf looked at her strangely before shifting to her human-ish form and cracked her knuckles, before she turned her full attention back to the TSAB mages… the woman still drinking from her teacup even after that short bit of planning. After the third minute of drinking, tension turned to disbelief as the woman showed no sign of stopping… a teacup shouldn't have that much tea. At least they were allowed a short reprieve that let them get their breath back due to the.

Finally, after the fourth minute the woman opened her eyes fully and lowered the teacup, a wide smile in place as she looked over them… why did she get a worse dread as that gaze passed over her? The woman's eyes closed and her smile turned 'innocent', head tilting to the side shortly after… this was wrong… so very, very wrong. And then she spoke, a light voice saying words that made almost no sense to say in this situation. "What polite children you four are, it's been so long since someone let me finish my tea in the field, much politer than even my Chrono."

… There was something wrong with this woman… something very, very, very wrong, even the Enforcer thought so since his hand was still on his face and he was shaking his head. Seeing that none of them were going to respond, either because of confusion or not wanting to speak, the woman let out a sigh and continued, shaking her head and opening her eyes as she did. "No banter? I'm disappointed, I haven't had a good banter on the battlefield in several years, everyone just tends to run away at the sight of me."

Another period of silence, now just made from confusion as none of them knew what to even try and say to the strange woman, before she again sighed and shook her head, "You four are no fun. No fun at all. Haa… Might as well start then at this rate." The woman glowed a light green for a few moments before the glow shattered and revealed… a mostly unchanged, strange woman. There were the obvious changes, there was armor covering her chest, her shoulders and hips, there was only one coattail and the insignias were gone and her shoes were replaced by dark cyan boots. Aside from those changes and a single earring on her right ear, she stayed the exact same as she had before she donned her Jacket.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the teacup… the teacup had become a warhammer… a 2 meter long warhammer made of iron and gold, the handle one long grip from head to gold pommel, the head roughly… 40cm by 60cm by 40cm by random guess. None of them were expecting that, who would expect a teacup to be a warhammer? And then the strange woman's strange device deigned to speak… in a British accent…

"I am the Ladyship's Hammer of Head-patting, the Disciplinarian of the Arthra, the wre- no they're too young for that one… moving on, the magnificent Teahammer of the Admiral, Bob."

… What?

Firstly, who names their weapon Bob? Next, who has a Device's default state be a teacup? And lastly, why did it have a British accent… why even have an accent? Everyone else appeared to be even more dumbfounded than she was and that was before the woman chimed in cheerfully, smile in place like her own was despite the mass confusion. "Now for my introduction~. Admiral Lindy Harlaown, Captain of the Arthra and Connoisseur of fine Tea, a pleasure to face you all." … Was the last bit really necessary?

Even the Enforcer was looking at this crazy… or was it eccentric in this case… probably both, Admiral as if she wasn't making sense… which she wasn't but the point stood. Well, there wasn't anything they could do but go along with it and hope this idea would work… she doubted it would but who knew at this rate?

Fate's device shifted to its sealing mode, and both her and the wolf-woman were off, her temporary partner flying at the Enforcer, herself at the Admiral… she felt that she got the short end of the stick for some reason. She crossed the gap between them, quicker than the wolf-woman did with the Enforcer she noted idly, and was instantly almost hit by the woman's hammer, the thing was far faster than it appeared. A quick twist saw her ducking under the hammer's head, the slash she sent in return blocked by the handle and sent careening away with a push… well, this wouldn't be an easy fight.

The Admiral carried through with the motion of her push, the pommel of her warhammer almost whipping into her face were it not for a quick backstep and deflection with her blade. Quickly she made her platform explode underneath her and send her into another a bit above the Admiral, watching as the woman's swing passed through where she'd been a moment earlier. Just as quickly she made her new platform detonate her at the woman, the Admiral's weapon in no position to block or parry with it nearly behind her back in a short recovery.

She went to strike, and was blocked by a green circle of mana that was made instantly in response… it didn't even crack from her blow…

In response, she received the hammer to her chest, a gasp let out from the force of the blow amidst a miniscule crack of bones, an audible 'My apologies Madam.' being the last thing heard before she was sent away from the woman. She caught herself after losing the momentum from the swing, sliding along a long platform until she finally was brought to a stop, looking back at her opponent only to find her still smiling like she was, face the picture of innocence and the warhammer lounging on both shoulders.

Thunder sparked behind her, her smile brightening minutely while her opponent's fell slightly, the hammer falling from its place and taking up a more 'normal' relaxed stance, right hand holding the hammer near the head while the left held nothing, the rest of the handle sticking into the air behind the woman. Fate was sealing the Jewel Seeds, it was almost time to leave, just hold off the Admiral for a little longer, just delay a bit longer… there was no need to win this fight.

The woman made to fly towards Fate and Scrya-san, orbs of mana manifesting for a moment before she went back to do her self-given task, her opponent's attention turning to her before the shooting spells shot at her. Spells pinged off of her, something that was fast becoming a normal staple of battles, as she ran towards the Admiral, the platform giving out on her before she reached the woman and letting her dodge the far too fast swing, an augment maybe or just a momentary spell? Didn't matter now, what mattered was making it out of her alive, conscious and not captured.

Respect was due where it was deserved, and she gave Lindy Harlaown plenty of respect in the short minute they dueled despite the eccentricity she held. Not a single hit was made on the woman's skin or Jacket, everything blocked or sent away with the Device known as Bob or blocked with a potent shield that resisted everything she could throw at it. The woman though had landed three more hits, most had been dodged or deflected but she still made mistakes, an unexpected thrust to her left hip that sent pain shooting through her leg, and a pommel strike whipping her in the face before the head smashed into her chest again… she would be sore by the end…

Still, she managed to survive the unceasing barrage of strikes and occasional shooting spell, those were more… probing than dangerous and not much of a threat, and was still able to move. She backed away, keeping close enough to be a threat while remaining out of reach of that strange device… it apologized every time it hit her, it deserved strange at the least. It certainly fit its owner… wielder… whichever it was, quite well.

The woman got back into a relaxed stance, rolling her shoulders twice before switching to her neck and stopping, a content smile on her face when she finally stopped gave a happy sigh. "It's been a long time since I've had such a good warm-up~." … That was not promising in the lea… And that thought was immediately discarded as she ducked under the Enforcer… somehow being used as an impromptu wrecking ball with an orange chain… she didn't want to know what was going on with him and wolf-woman…

And the Admiral merely stepped to the side to avoid the Enforcer, seemingly amused by the act even as the Enforcer was thrown down into the roiling ocean with a flick of the chains. And then came Scrya-san's shout, and with barely a glance at the eccentric admiral she turned and went flying towards the two remaining Jewel Seeds with a shattering of glass, idly hearing Fate call out "Arf" before watching the wolf-woman immediately move back to the girl… simple name. Quickly the incantation for a sealing was said as she neared them, lashing out and catching one before skidding along her platform, turning around and preparing for the other before noting something rather vital.

Namely how fast the Admiral would react and give chase…

If there was one thing she was allowed to be annoyed or mad at, it was the fact that she could only seal one Jewel Seed at a time. Maybe it was because of how she envisioned the Device, maybe it was Razing Heart, or it could just be the spell itself, but while her version was fast, it was unable to do quantity, which was the single reason she had Fate seal those Jewels at once and leave herself vulnerable.

But she didn't have time to be annoyed, not getting hit by the warhammer and getting the Jewel Seed was more important than cursing, much more important. She quickly swung herself to the side off her platform to avoid the Admiral, another platform receiving her before giving its life to send her at the remaining Jewel Seed as the woman recovered and banked around for another swing.

Though her sealing spell was quick to cast and quick to realize, she still needed bit of distance or a bit more time to make use of it, which brought her to the second stupid idea thought up this evening, grabbing the Jewel Seed with her bare hand. Scrya-san shouted her name, the woman slowed down and stared in shocked surprise, even the completely drenched Enforcer just rising from the waves looked at her like she was crazy. Well they had reason to, she was gritting her teeth at the pain her right arm held from containing the active Jewel, and there were bloody furrows being marked into her skin the longer she held it.

She poured her mana into it, trying to quell the thing even as she turned around to look towards Scrya-san, Fate and the wolf-woman/Arf, seeing shock, and what looked like fear from Scrya-san, in their face and posture… she didn't understand the reason for the latter from Scrya-san, it was just another wound among many. The Jewel lashed back at the attempt to bind it, she kept binding despite the pain, and through gritted teeth she looked at Scrya-san and shouted a single pain-tinged order at him.

"Go!"

He hesitated, looking at her then to the Enforcer that was turning in his direction before making his decision and disappearing with their 'allies' in a teleport. She would be the rearguard for a while longer it seemed… Ha… haha…

She couldn't have gone with Scrya-san, Fate and Arf in the teleport, the active Jewel Seed would have disrupted the teleport, so she'd made the decision to stay behind with the almost certain chance she'd die or be captured. Despite the pain and likely fate awaiting her, she let out a laugh, despite the bloody wounds etched in her hand and forearm, she allowed her hollow laughter to ring out, despite the two foes surrounding her, both of whom could take her out by themselves, she prepared for an end.

The Jewel's light and struggles ceased slowly, her smile turning slightly feral as she sealed it into Razing Heart before she calmed it back to normal, it wouldn't do to be taken out because she got overzealous and overly bloodthirsty. She turned back to her foes, the Enforcer unnerved by the laughter she made while Lindy wasn't by the look on her face, just a bit of wariness beneath the smiling façade.

Her laughter stilled, and she looked over both of them, the boy about to say something before she pivoted, flooded her muscles and bones with mana, and proceeded to run almost as fast as she had the night she'd broken her leg, even though that strained said leg a lot with that amount of force. The woman was after her almost immediately, launching a barrage of green orbs at her that went ignored amidst the flight.

A crack was felt in her other leg as she exploded the platform she was on, flipping once during her rising to send a crescent that was immediately blocked and look back at the two, the Enforcer was further behind than the Admiral, a couple dozen meters roughly, no more than four dozen, while the Admiral was only about ten from her. Hmm… that would work, not a threat at all, but a distraction at the least.

She hit another platform upside down, running along it for four steps before gravity asserted its dominance and forced her to fall, another of her platforms catching her before she started. Motes of her magic flitted off her blade and drifted backwards, an idle flick releasing a small cloud of them that lingered behind her, at best they would slow her pursuers down, at worst… they'd do nothing but waste a tiny amount of mana, a fair trade.

She could see the city rather well now, it wasn't distinctive, but it was still able to be made out, the skyscrapers in particular… even thought they were off-color… a barrier erected by Scrya-san likely. Another two clouds of motes left behind her to hopefully distract her pursuers apparently failed to do anything as a hail of green bolts swept through them, those actual shooting spells took five of her motes to dissipate one shot, well that plan didn't work too we-

And then came a 'gift' from the Enforcer, one of those annoying single-shot spells that homed, that hit her directly in the back of her injured leg. She stumbled and lost her pace, Lindy punished her with a single swing and an apologizing hammer.

She didn't get sent into the ocean… no instead she went through the barrier, something she only understood as not letting anyone incapable of magic inside of it to see magic performed, and sending any magic-users into a space similar to the area was set around, any damage resulting there would be gone by the time the barrier dropped. And through the barrier, she hit a skyscraper… smashed into it and then through it out the other side, into the side of another skyscraper before finally hitting the concrete below.

She tumbled for several meters before eventually slowing to a stop on her back, looking up into the sky at a smiling Lindy leisurely descending from the sky, hammer on both her shoulders with both hands lazily draped over it. The Admiral beamed down at her, though the woman's eyes were without the jovial expression every other part of her face had, looking over her as she raised herself off the ground with the aid of her sword and bleeding arm. "Would you like to reconsider the choices that lead to this or do I need to send you into another building?"

A blank stare was sent at the woman, then turned to regard the lamppost next to her spot on the road, and then again to the Admiral… that answer was very, very obvious. And so, she acted quickly, swinging her sword through the metal, her free bloody hand catching the detached pole and throwing it in one fluid motion. It sailed straight and true, quite fast for an object of its size but still slow enough for the Admiral to react to. A shield was made by the woman, while she made a platform under her feet to send her after her projectile the moment it went down.

The lamppost flew, soaring 'majestically' until it struck the emerald shield with the strength of... something, maybe a bombardment spell, regardless the metal projectile ground against the light for a second, then two before it ricocheted off and went spinning somewhere… great. Then the woman decided to continue talking, and with it she got ready for a beating that probably wouldn't be trumped in her life. "I'll take that as you want to be hit through another building. Ha... kids these days, reminds me of when I was a cadet."

From the sky fell the warhammer-wielding Admiral, but by the time the woman touched the earth she was already moving away further into the city, she could possibly win this, if she did it right, she had next to no confidence she would win, but the chance was still there. There was little she had over this woman, she was weaker than her, her shields were worthless, and she had to push her body to the limit to keep out of reach. Her strength lay in her endurance, her mobility and her willingness to do anything to win, or at least take out her enemies.

Which is why, upon the first alleyway, she immediately set up a platform, ignoring the hail of bolts that the woman really should realize did next to nothing, and shot herself into the alleyway. Lindy slowed her pursuit, a disadvantage that flight spell had compared to hers, having to stop or bank in order to change directions instead of being able to switch directions on a dime, and turned minutely to face the alleyway.

She detonated a second platform immediately and tackled the surprised Admiral into the side of a building and into it. The first thing noticed the building had a lot of office equipment, the second was that there weren't any walls aside from the outer walls just two posts holding up the higher floors, and the last was pain as the warhammer swept up and slammed into her chest, lifting her off the ground and into the ceiling. A gasp was bit back as the ceiling crumbled above and then below her, before she hit the second ceiling and fell onto a random desk with a crash, lying there before she heard humming and immediately bolting from the cubicle.

She tried her best to remain quiet as well as quick while running amongst the building's maze of cubicles, but unless one was a master of stealth or from a clan/family of Iga, noise would be made, and she was neither. She was however without any footwear and was used to treading lightly in the woods, both of which aided her in her being undetected by the Admiral, though for how long remained to be seen. Keeping her pace, she managed to reach the outer wall after a few minutes, the cubicles somehow made this a miniature maze and she'd hit a few dead ends, which resulted in lost time and more chance of the woman finding her. Thankfully the latter hadn't happened.

Well, that entire ordeal could have gone better, but it did prove it was possible to hit the Admiral and deal some kind of damage, now though- "Found you~" … That was terrible timing and too … she needed a quick exit the 'easy' way, as well as hope that she wouldn't be too injured after it was over. And with that she turned to the outer wall, braced herself and charged through it… directly into a hail of blue bolts and homing beams, the Enforcer had arrived.

Thankfully the damage he did was minimal and she broke out into an alleyway, immediately allowing her to dart away and around a corner, a random pipe on the side of a building gripped and ripped off its side carried along with her. It wouldn't do any good against the Lindy, not with that shield being as strong as it was, but against the Enforcer… it would do well enough.

At the midway-point between the alley she had come from and the next one over, she pivoted on her foot and brought her pipe-laden hand back and took aim… and saw nothing there… of course he wouldn't be behind her. And with that thought came a confirmation in another hail of bolts from behind her, most pinging off of her skin as she spun around to face the Enforcer, finding him floating above the air amidst a light screen of dissipating smoke… why… no, that was a question for another time, if there was another time.

Without any flourish or unnecessary motion, she sent the pipe flying, and it flew straight, true and far faster than any tree or lamppost she'd done before. The Enforcer brought a shield up, but by then the pipe had already embedded itself into and through the boy's shoulder, payback for the magic-blade a week ago, though less severe than hers. With that she detonated a platform and immediately set to engage the boy, darting above the alleyway and momentarily forgetting why she went into the alleyways to begin with.

She was reminded why with the warhammer sending her into another building straight from floor three to ground floor.

A low groan was let out as she regained her bearings… somewhat, the world kept spinning for some reason… she must have hit her head on something on the way down. There were a few walls that she could see, a broken long table and projector, and a wall with a water cooler against it outside the glass window… what was with all the offices she'd landed in today? Regardless she picked herself off the broken splinters of table and immediately went and jumped through the window the moment she looked up through the hole she had inadvertently made.

She heard a sigh behind her as the person she saw landed and walked after her, "Will you stop already? You're just going to get more hurt the longer you keep at this. Or do you just have a hearing problem when it comes from people you're fighting?" … That woman liked to talk… she liked to talk far too much, and the words she chose made sense only after a bit of thinking on it, so chose to ignore her words and focus on her surroundings, her opponent, and finding a way to at least hurt the Admiral. … And unfortunately, short of bringing the… where were the structural supports located in an office building?

One of her crescents was sent flying at the Admiral, it wouldn't do much, but then again, she never intended it to even when she made it, as she ran away and through a wall. She needed to bust a wall down… which one she had no idea, or if it was just one or more, she just needed to do it if she wanted to hurt the Admiral at all. She barely heard another sigh before she cleared the debris and ran through another wall to the complaint of her bones and muscle, before immediately bracing herself and barging through the door of the closet she found herself in.

Behind her she heard more shattering and splintering and took that as a que to duck, something she could barely hear passing over her head and setting a small pile of what felt like paper on top of her. Quickly she got back to her feet yet again and looked ahead of her, back into the street through the holes made in the wall… the Admiral wasn't holding back anymore it seemed… and judging by the cinderblock and rebar jutting from the wall, those were the supports along with three… no, four pillars placed around the floor, the fourth had been smashed into pieces in whatever volley her opponent used.

Just going from prior experience with the trees she used as projectiles, she'd need a lot more strength than normal, which meant pushing herself as badly as she had pushed her leg… this was going to hurt, this was going to hurt a lot. Even still she did it with a smile on her face, strained as it was becoming from pain and weariness, because she'd made a promise never to let her smile die, and promises were as binding as contracts after all.

The first pillar of the three was dealt with quickly and with only the barest hint of effort from her, as the Admiral came after her with her mighty, British warhammer named Bob… that was something she'd never thought she'd think… Anyway, the Admiral swung her warhammer and took care of the pillar she'd set herself next to, easily breaking the concrete into rubble as she scrambled away to the next one and chose the 'easy' way. That is to say, she activated all of her augments, poured mana into 'speed' and 'strength', and detonated a platform to send her into the pillar, it hurt a lot less than she expected it would…

One pillar left, and already the ceiling was beginning to groan and give way, cracks forming along its length as it tried and failed to hold the weight atop it. Dust fell onto her as plaster cracked and ruptured, but she paid no attention to that aside from the faint brush against her skin, she had a hammer to worry about.

Her blade functioned well enough as an anchor for her to stop her forward momentum and as a fulcrum to send her at the last pillar, it served just as well to deflect the hammer's pole enough that she wasn't hit with the Device's head, a random desk instead taking the brunt of the blow. She sent a punch at the woman, fully aware it wouldn't do anything to Lindy as a shield manifested in front of her punch, that wasn't the point though.

Her fist hit the platform she made in front of the shield, and she braced her body as well as she could for the explosion that followed, and sent her flying wildly through the air. She caught the barest hint of a crack in the shield before she heard the cracking of her own back and pieces of wood as she went through several cubicles and into the remains of the inner wall. She landed against a relatively intact piece of the wall, a platform awaiting her landing and sending her hurtling at the last major-looking support for the building.

A hail of bolts pinging off her skin were ignored for the lack of threats they were, at least until they decided they were explosive partway through the volley. Even with that momentary surprise they didn't do much damage or impair her too much, surprisingly they weren't much stronger than any of the other bolts she'd been hit by before. The only issue those spells brought was the smoke that obscured her, something that nearly cost her as again the Admiral's Device came to try and end her token resistance.

Yet again, she deflected the hammer away, ducking under the pole's pommel as best as she could when it swiped at her face and hit the floor running with a jolt. Mana flooded her legs and right arm, and with only a few steps and an even more broken leg barely supported by her brace of mana, she arrived in front of the pillar before Lindy had any time to do more than begin to give chase. She lashed out with her free, bloody hand and struck the concrete with all the force she could muster, pain similar to that which broke her leg shooting up from her curled fingers up to her shoulder as she forced her augment past what it was meant to hold.

Blood welled up from her wounds and ran across her skin, something tore somewhere in her arm and she heard at least one bone crunch, but it was worth it. The pillar cracked where she hit it, fissures marking the concrete as something crashed down behind her, likely a piece of the ceiling, but even with the fissures and all the force she put behind her punch, the pillar didn't crumble into pieces. So she did the obvious solution, rear her fist back and hit it again as hard as possible until it broke apart, an action that actually worked on the first try for some reason… though her arm felt warm and 'fuzzy' when she punched.

She fell through the rubble the moment it was mostly pieces of debris, mostly from her actual endurance finally giving out and demanding she rest for a moment, landing on her hands before rolling onto her back as she heard groaning and cracking above her, letting her see her opponent looking at her in disbelief. Her smile brightened at that, finally she would hurt Lindy, finally she would at least make her distraction somewhat worthwhile, then the woman shook off that disbelief when a section of rubble nearly hit her.

The Admiral looked up at the collapsing ceiling, acknowledging it with a smile before calmly leveling her hammer up as a piece of rubble fell a meter to her side, addressing her Device in a warm and cheery voice that had no place in this situation. "Bob, be a dear and take care of this please." A single moment passed by before an answer of 'As you wish your ladyship. Safety Restriction Sixteen has been lifted.' was given amidst another piece of rubble landing just a few scant centimeters left of her own head.

… No… please no… 'Firing Blaze Cannon on your mark.' The Admiral waited a second, another piece of rubble failing and almost touching the hammer's head before she gave the order that 'broke' her. "Fire~"

She saw green erupt from the warhammer, and with it came a deafening roar as a massive beam of mana came forth. It tore apart the falling rubble, random equipment and furniture with a malicious glee that encompassed the entirety of the four falling floors above them both. Lasting only a brief seven seconds, that simple spell of destruction took away all of her hope of even scratching the woman in a brief flash of light. Once the last motes of light faded away, Lindy looked over at her fallen, slightly broken form and gave her a childish smile that somehow looked sad for some reason… she was winning, why was she sad?

"Are you done yet? I can keep going for a while if you want to." … Yes… yes, she was done… her body was exhausted after everything, the strain her spells put on her on top of that made her feel like she was back starting her training with Otou-sama again, not a pleasant feeling at all.

No… there was one last stupid idea she had… and so far, only the stupid ideas seemed to work. At the very least she'd go out with a fight rather than a whimper.

She dragged herself out of the rubble and onto the street, the Admiral following her out at a leisurely pace with the hammer slung on both shoulders, though her face said otherwise of enjoying this… well that was nice to know she wasn't sadistic… not that it did her any good. At this point she had nothing left to try, ambushing worked once, a straight-up fight alone ended poorly, and dropping a building was easily remedied with a single spell… truly this Admiral seemed tailor made to easily best her… or at least the magic she specialized in… If she made it out of this she would be making or learning something that would deal with shields, this was not something she wanted to go through ever again.

"One last chance, surrender now or get hit upside the head and placed under military arrest." She didn't pay attention to the words, they meant nothing and were likely untrue… after everything this past week and today there was no way she wouldn't be under arrest by the Bureau even if she did surrender, she'd just get a lighter sentence when everything was done. So, she chose not to give a verbal reply and did something that was… unexpected in this situation, she performed a 'dance', really nothing more than simple steps and spinning while her katana glided through the air and left motes in its path.

Step right, step back, twirl once and look right, step back, step left, step forward, twirl twice and face the opposite way, step left… And on it continued until she stood amidst a cloud of pink light thick enough that she could barely see outside, and still she continued making a cloud of pink light until even those glimpses of the outside were covered. Just like she lost herself in the sword dances she partook in with Otou-sama, she lost herself in this simplistic dance, though unlike the sword dances she kept herself fully aware of where the Admiral was.

That was more vital than this simple distraction.

A minute passed by, by then she had nearly finished this 'dance' of hers, one last thing to do… one last distraction. Her blade, the only thing aside from the sheathe that she could say she treasured, was thrown straight upwards through the cloud, unfortunately spinning as it went. A second waited before she turned and ran in a seemingly random direction, a platform greeting her wordlessly before sending her hurtling forward out of the cloud, directly into Lindy, the woman having enough time to get a shield halfway formed before she crashed into and shattered it.

It wasn't elegant, nor was it refined… it was simply punching and kicking with all the force she could muster with her 'strength' spell at the fastest speed she was capable of going without breaking her bones with 'speed' spell, and it worked... kind of. Three hits to the Admiral's chest, another two into her side, a jab at the collarbone shifted to the shoulder, two kicks into her legs, a punch to the face and a few missed blows amidst the sound of cracking twice.

And yet despite that the Admiral stood tall, and a single shield blocking her fist heralded the end alongside three of the Enforcer's homing bolts slamming into her back. The woman's hammer came around, its pommel embedded itself into her chest with a somehow sad-filled 'Apologies.' following her gasp for air. The pommel then decided to leave her chest for her head, whipping her cheek while another line was stated, 'Safety Restriction Two released.'

If she had been able, she'd have laughed a hollow, mirthless laugh. As it was she was out of breath… and then the hammer's head came singing through the air towards her head, truly this would be the worst beat-down she would ever experience. The hammer hit her head and she quickly began to lose her sight and thoughts, before that though...

She heard Razing Heart's whispers… gentle and fleeting… she could almost underst-

AN: Jewel Seed count as of the end of this chapter, Nanoha has/had 10, Fate has 10, and Chrono/TSAB has 1.