AN: A reply to menosay, I will be blunt in saying for these bits of language currently written, I won't translate them, the major point against doing it, aside from my stated reasons are simple: They aren't important. Every bit that was said is either cryptic to the point that I have to look over notes or recall multiple times to recall what they mean, a little poem that is going to be said in English later on, don't mean anything at all when compared to everything else or finally, can be inferred slightly from the actions surrounding what happens later.

Moving back to the word count, I will break down the last chapter, Fanfiction said that it was 6.9k words roughly, the actual content was only 6.37k roughly, my ANs were 365 words, the line-breaks count as roughly 50 words per, adding the translations put another roughly 125 words to that, so in essence roughly 700 words, give or take a few tens, not part of the actual story, which would have been about a tenth of the chapter proper.

As for the non-translated parts that actually are important that come out later on, I will figure out a way to translate them in the story proper without adding additional words.

Amount of hugs needed: 6,941

Amount of hugs found: 2,773

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

She always watched over her child, what mother wouldn't?

Though illness struck her body and forced her to send her youngest daughter instead of herself, she watched over her, always waiting to see if she needed to help save her beloved daughter. She never had to… not until today by the look of things.

Her Fate fought against the indirect murderers of her elder daughter and a Monster… there was no other way to describe that 'girl' than with that title. She'd watched each of her battles, ever since the first battle Fate had with 'Nanoha'… the sheer lengths that 'girl' went to just to fight and claim one of the Lost Logias… it was unnatural, and she'd once thought herself and her daughter willing to do anything.

She felt pride in seeing her Fate perform the Phalanx Shift as it was meant to be used, and then felt rage course through her veins at seeing the other two children 'gang up' on her daughter… but she calmed herself and the sparks dancing alongside her staff… It was still too early to interfere, still too early before she could let them know where their home was…

She felt confusion when the Monster began speaking things that made little sense, then more as the Monster rose above the clouds, there was terribly wrong with that 'girl'… Fear welled again in her heart when that 'girl' descended from the clouds and smashed into her Fate and sent both into the ocean… and then relief formed when she saw her daughter rise from the water with only a few minor wounds.

Her daughter's familiar… her third, adopted daughter nervously watched the battle between the Monster, the Enforcer and Fate with her… they needed to wait… but preparations could be made in the mean-time. "Arf." The wolf-woman turned and gave her attention to her, though she kept glancing back at the image… what caring daughters she had, truly she was blessed… "Go get Rinith, quickly. Have her prepare a teleport to Fate's location and back here." Arf gave a nod of her head before she was rushing down the halls to find her own familiar… how she wished this illness of hers didn't nearly sever her bond to Rinith…

She watched as the Monster was sent into a building, saw the result leaving the 'girl' impaled on a rebar… and though she felt sadness for her daughter and the 'girl' she'd helped kill, she was relieved that her daughter was safe from the Monster. After that 'Nanoha' was beaten, she felt only confidence in her daughter being able to beat the Enforcer, she'd managed to stay out of the thick of much of the fighting, and been hit the least times by the 'Monster' before her fall.

… And then everything went wrong in a single instant… just like before…

The Monster rose from the ocean on wings of light only a few minutes later, and had she known less she'd have said she was an Angel rather than a Monster… but after everything she'd seen, everything that Fate had told her… that was no Angel, nor was it human. Rinith and Arf entered the 'throne room' running just in time for them to see the 'Angel' unfurl its wings, the former immediately setting to work making her calculations under her breath while the latter returned to watching the battle unfold. Herself…

She began channeling mana from the reactor to herself, now was the time to act, or else she may lose her second daughter to the Monster. A whisper escaped her lips, barely audible over the crackling of lightning gripping her stave, but something she was sure both Rinith and Arf heard, judging mostly by the latter's ears twitching. "Stay safe… Fate."

She watched over her child… she should be out there protecting him.

Nanoha… they'd thought that was the end of her when they'd captured her… they'd thought the only ones left to face were the boy and the girl and her familiar… They'd thought wrong.

The first thing was how the girl had gotten out, she'd busted off her restraints, chain binds of all things, and rammed the door until the metal was broken… and from the drops of blood she'd went through it despite being injured by the door. The second was that she apparently was capable of using magic without aid from a device… and judging from the way she seemed to be using her magic… she was using body augments on herself… those spells were outlawed in Administered Space for a reason.

This girl… she was suicidal with the way she was fighting… there was no other way to describe how she fought and acted… You don't immediately escape from a 'jail' and then immediately fight in a battle when over half of your body is in bad condition, such a thing was beyond stupid and likely to get you killed… "Admiral?" She turned and offered a cold eye at the man who brought Bob to her, said man flinching in response before she accepted the teacup and immediately set it into its active state and donned her Jacket, she had to be serious now, at least until she was sure Chrono was safe.

"How long before the teleporter is operational again?" Her voice was colder than it was usually was, and one of the technicians visibly shuddered in response before looking in her direction and giving her an estimate.

"Around fourteen more minutes Captain, and it'll be operating smoothly again, that girl only dislocated the power supply and wiped the last coordinates." She gave a nod before turning back to the screens showing the battle unfolding on the world ahead of them, an audible gasp of shock and slight horror resounding through the bridge as the girl they'd held was impaled.

She didn't give a visible reaction, though she felt a twinge of regret in response to that… she didn't like these kinds of takedowns… but in this case, it had to happen… and as she saw the girl fall into the she had a thought immediately turn to the girl in charge of monitoring the battle. "Amy, keep a screen dedicated to that girl." She got a few looks for that, but none of them were willing to question her decision, and then she turned back to the technicians and gave a second order to them. "Have the teleporter ready for a jump in five minutes."

Those men and woman on the other hand, gave her a look and the one to speak before gave a serious, near deadpan reply, "If you want it to send you anywhere within seventy kilometers of the original point and be able to get you and Chrono back, you'll have to wait eight. If you want it to be a one-way trip, we can get you down there in three with a deviation of five meters, however the teleporter will be down for another hour after that and you'll be in free-fall."

She acknowledged the 'complaint' of sorts with a nod before turning her head back to the screens and watching Chrono battle the other girl, with the former being battered around by the latter with a ludicrous amount of bombardment spells shot at him. "You have your orders, get it working in five minutes." The man nodded and got back to work with the other two, and she went back to watching. Her hands gripped her Device's shaft tightly as she watched her son get blasted with impunity by the younger girl, before alarms began blaring on the one screen dedicated to Nanoha.

"Huge mana signature coming from the area the girl fell into! Two- no, Three million, seven hundred thousand units!" Her head whipped over to the shivering girl alongside most of the bridge… Three million… almost four… She was right to be wary of that girl, but even so she wasn't prepared for that much of a jump in mana, at most she'd expected reaching two million, two and an eighth like the other girl… three times her original amount was insane. She didn't stay and question her subordinate, immediately making for the teleporter just as the technicians stepped away, the one who kept speaking stopping her just as she reached the edge.

"It's powering up, two minutes for a charge, and you and Enforcer Chrono will be on your own."

She gave a sidelong glance at the man, giving him a nod of acknowledgement, a moment passing in quiet noise before deciding to answer him verbally. "With the way this seems to be going, that's probably for the best. Now get this thing together before I let Bob tell everyone here one of his 'grand' stories." A tense, near fearful silence followed in those words' wake before work began again, the technicians making final adjustments and the bridge crew continuing to monitor the situation at hand. Things just kept getting better and better didn't they…

She could only wait… and hope to the Saint King that Chrono managed to survive with most of his bones and life intact by the time she arrived.

Her first memory had been of her on the floor being hugged by her sister, their mother watching with a happy smile and kind eyes, right before her sister kissed her on the lips. Those were days of bliss, learning about her sister and mother, playing with her sister in the fields around their home, being taught magic by mother… sister had been grouchy for a long time when she passed her in magic, something mother had openly giggled over.

She wasn't normal, her, mother and sister knew that from the bottom of their hearts, yet they still loved her, and she loved them with all her heart in turn. She didn't age normally, not like sister did, but then she was born looking like this, a child rather than a baby. Sister didn't mind though, especially since she seemed to age physically a bit slower as well, though her growth was about two years behind her actual age compared to her being that age when she was only born, and barely aging a day for months.

Her and sister were very little alike, though they looked nearly identical, if it weren't for sister being shorter than her. She was shy, never speaking to anyone but mother and sister, calm, having put up with sister's and occasionally mother's antics, protective, keeping the other children from hurting her elder sister and keeping her sister from hurting herself. Sister was outgoing, always exuberant and bringing her along on random 'adventures', she was excitable, becoming interested in the slightest thing and laughing as they went on their business, clingy… Alicia had used her as a pillow so many times it had become natural to sleep like that.

They lived happily, mother worked for the Time-Space Administrative Bureau in making something she and sister couldn't explain or understand too well… though mother always made sure to have enough time to spend with her and sister. There were always picnics in the flower fields outside their home and mother would make her and sister flower circlets, and when mother wasn't there she and sister would go play amidst the white flowers, watch the sky, play hide and seek in the house… it really depended on sister.

"Fate!" She only had a moment before she was tackled into the grass yet again by her sister, laughing cheerfully as they rolled before they stopped with her on the bottom, smiling gently up at her sister. A bit of sister's mischief rose in her and she moved her head up, lightly pecking sister's forehead with a kiss before settling back down, immediately resisting the urge to laugh as Alicia jumped away and blushed severely in response. She did giggle at the sight before she sat up again and gave an innocent smile. "Fateee! You're not supposed to do that until after we're married!"

And then she was blushing from that remark… Alicia, upon seeing her the first time, had immediately been set upon marrying her… for some reason… something mother chuckled over at times and did nothing to stop… not that she really minded… Alicia was nice and quite pretty. She shook her head of that thought and immediately tackled her sister through the grass again… and somehow managed to end up on the bottom again… and then sister pecked her on the lips, grinned cheekily despite the blush on both their faces and snuggled with her. Mother's giggling could be heard in the distance as she walked towards them…

This was bliss.

"Fate! She's so cute~!"

Those had been Alicia's first words upon meeting her familiar, and the third sister of their family, somehow combining the better of both her and Alicia's traits with a few of her own, cheerful and ready to play when needed, shy and clingy when not, protective of them and mother, she was the perfect little sister. Mother had found her on Mid-Childa while on a business trip, little Arf had been sick and was dying, she'd forced herself to read about familiars to save her… and she'd succeeded, though she was exhausted by the end.

Alicia adored Arf for the short time their family included the little wolf pup, always hugging the pup or her human form, much to the latter's embarrassment, whenever she had the chance. And then had come Rinith when mother was forced to work more often, she wasn't as adorable as their little sister, but she was another caring mother in their admittedly kind of strange family. Life was well, she learned magic, sister used her as a pillow and occasional ride, Arf also used her as a pillow whenever she herself wasn't used as Alicia's teddy bear and Rinith took care of them in mother's stead.

… And then everything went wrong in a single instant.

They'd been just about ready to head to bed, mother had been late again so Rinith was walking them to their bed… and then she had felt a flare of mana, and everything was suddenly on fire and everything hurt… Mother was over her… tears were brimming at her eyes… so she quietly wiped them away… and then mother was crying and hugging her tightly…

Mother picked her up, cradling her in her arms like she was only a newborn… she looked around… and saw nothing but a sea of flames… she was scared… where were Alicia, Arf and Rinith? "Fate… don't leave me… please, don't leave me…" Tears brimmed in her own eyes… and she was crying too… she felt for her magic, and found a connection… and she gingerly brushed against it, feeling more pain… and she took it all from her little sister… That's what big sisters did… right?

"Alicia…" And with that single word she snapped mother out of her… something… and immediately they were off looking for their family…

They found Rinith first, burned in multiple places and lying on the ground breathing hard… Mother healed her and helped her up, draping the familiar's arm around her shoulder and moving through the hell… They continued stumbling through the flames… past the ruins of structures until they came across Arf, burned but moving and in tears… she had a body in her arms… Alicia… What little strength she had in her frame left her at the sight… Rinith and Arf were little better… Mother managed to reign her strength in though.

Mother was strong enough, both magically and mentally, to prepare a mass teleport, and they were gone from their old home…

Mother cut ties with TSAB after that event… and the mood of the family quickly deteriorated in the wake the disaster, mother because she'd lost one of her precious daughters, Rinith for the same reason, Arf for losing a big sister and one of the two people she swore to protect… herself for losing the single most important person to her… She trained in magic with a fervor after that, mother wouldn't let Alicia simply remain dead… no she'd find a way to bring her back so that they'd be a loving family again, and she'd do everything she could to let her big sister live again.

And so, it was that mother went and researched about the various methods, and she trained to be on par with mother, tutored by Rinith and training with Arf… the latter was hard since her body wasn't suited to fighting physically, not like Arf. Still she tried her best, and continued to get up, time, after time, after time until her body couldn't handle it anymore and she collapsed to the ground. She tried her best… but her best left her after several years only at a level of being able to fend off Arf in close combat… though her magic aptitude was only a few levels below mother as a result.

They had to move only once, and mother decided to take their home with them into the Dimensional Space… mother was beyond her prime and sick, yet she still managed to do things that were far beyond her. Their home was somber, Rinith continued to raise her and Arf, mother was always researching and sending her off after anything that could hopefully bring Alicia back, and she and Arf tried to keep their minds off the lack of a person in their games and studies.

None of the things mother found never worked… not until mother had stumbled upon the Jewel Seeds in a missive from the Scrya clan to the Bureau. Mother had destroyed the ship in-route to the Bureau with a single spell, and then had sent her and Arf after the Jewel Seeds, which after numerous battles, Jewels and surprises led to this moment, where she was completely and utterly terrified of the Monstrous Angel floating before her and Chrono.

… She was nowhere near where she needed to be to physically and magically to fight whatever had become of Nanoha… she'd been hoping the Phalanx Shift would knock out or at least injure the Enforcer or Nanoha, and had put a lot of what remained of her mana into it… Her reserves were running low… and while she was certainly better than the boy floating next to her, she was hurt rather badly… Mother help her… please… she'd hold out as long as she could… but in the face of this… she doubted her chances… she doubted Arf's chances.

And then the device started speaking something, leaving her confused and a bit more confident when the Angel didn't react at all to whatever language it chose to speak… that lasted until the thing's eyes landed on her and those words were uttered. Terror replaced the confidence and confusion, and with a single beat of her wings and explosion of whatever kept her flying she was gone…

Immediately she looked over at her other opponent… and found only the Seraph waiting there. Faintly she heard the crash of water in the background, barely registering that as Chrono until her mind caught up a moment later and she saw the Seraph pulling her free hand back to her side… She… she… she went fast enough to go seventy meters in a second from rest… and didn't even look uncomfortable about that speed.

Her mind stopped as the Seraph looked over at her… there was nothing in that face… no light in her eyes nor any emotion… just nothingness… She barely noticed that she'd brought Bardiche up and had leveled his head at the woman until the first Photon Lancer was in the air and fired… and she watched as a pink shield formed in the air in the way of her shot… it wasn't circular… it was tiny… and it wasn't facing her shot.

Her spell hit the shield barely large enough to even cover its caster's torso and shattered it in a single shot… and somehow went behind the Seraph… and she didn't even react at all, though her Device spouted off something else in the meanwhile. "Abwurf, Nachbearbeitung von Berechnungen." Another Photon Lancer was launched, another tiny, triangular shield was made… facing even more away from her bolt.

This time when her spell hit the shield, the latter didn't break, instead her shot careened off into the distance while the shield lingered for a second before vanishing. After that, she loosed the rest of the volley at her, and a swarm of shields rose up in response… a short five seconds, and all of her Photon Lancers were deflected sans a single one that struck her face… the Seraph didn't flinch.

The rest of the woman's body turned to face her, while her wings drew back in preparation for another charge, she braced herself and a shield manifested itself in front of her in response… and the wings were thrown forward. She expected the Seraph to slam into her, or swing her blade… she didn't expect feathers of mana to shoot from the wings and impact against her shield… nor did she expect the sheer amount that were launched.

That… 'spell's' bolts struck her shield, and they stuck into the shield… after the first dozen she lost count since her shield broke and she brought her arms up to protect herself… which probably saved her from death as a 'feather' embedded itself into her hand, while the rest hit nearly everywhere else. She felt blood drip from numerous wounds, and slowly brought her arms down… she had so many 'feathers' in her arms… and they were only now fading away…

She immediately flew backwards to get away from the Monster, mana rising up and gathering at her command as she prepared a Thunder Smasher… 'Nanoha' didn't try and chase after her for some reason. Questioning why would have been a waste of time, so she didn't bother and instead aimed up her spell, two seconds passing before she let loose the bombardment.

Once more once of those shields sprung up, and it thankfully failed completely at stopping her Thunder Smasher, with the latter plowing through the shield and into the Seraph and detonate on contact. Smoke obscured her opponent from view, and while she strained to peer through it to see if she'd done any damage, a crash sounded to her side and caught her attention… Chrono was up… in terrible condition, but still up. She looked back just as the cloud cleared… and aside from a few scorch marks along her Jacket's fabric and a scuff mark on her cheek she didn't appear to have been touched by the spell… Wonderful.

"Die Prüfung wurde abgeschlossen. Alle Funktionen arbeiten im Standard von fünf Prozent Fehler."

"Lass dich los und decke deine Flügel in Asche-gefärbtem Blut."

'Nanoha's' Device said something, and then she was flying before pain registered in her abdomen.

A gasp choked its way out of her mouth before she tore along the surface of the water before managing to pull herself up, and immediately slammed back into the water by the woman… or something she sent at her. And then her eyes widened as more of those 'feathers' followed her down… and then she relaxed as they stalled halfway to her… so they weren't fast, that was good to know. Bardiche shifted to his scythe form, igniting in the water around her in a burst of bubbles before she rocketed off further away, the Seraph would likely be waiting at the surface for her, and even if she had a higher acceleration than before, she was still slower than her once she'd reached top speed... hopefully.

She surfaced again and inhaled deeply… before immediately made a shield as a wave of pink nearly crashed into her… followed by her dodging out of the way of Chrono as he flew away from the Seraph. She sent an Arc Saber her way while the Enforcer flipped and sent one of his guided projectiles behind him, her spell smashing into the woman and making her stagger a step… Chrono's spell did nothing to her except ping off.

'Nanoha's' sword swept through the air and another wave was sent after the Enforcer, seemingly ignoring that she'd been the one to stagger her, a shield popping up shortly to take the hit in his stead. She was fine with being the one ignored, and so she set Bardiche back to its regular form and fired a few high-powered Photon Lancers after her, she saw a wing launch a single volley of 'feathers' at the Enforcer… or rather a bit ahead of him… He slowed in response and tried to go below… the Seraph caught up and he turned in response as she lunged at him, one of his mana blades formed above him and fired near-instantly to strike the woman through the chest and for the first time since she rose, spray blood.

The Seraph seemingly didn't even register being hit or the wound, and continued charging directly into Chrono, smashing into him with a wing between them before her blade struck out. A slash across his chest from shoulder to chest and a stab through his left shoulder before her wing pushed him away two steps… and then the other came and ground against his device with a screech. Another stab found the sword in Chrono's abdomen... and then came the first wing and a scream of pain.

Her Thunder Smasher died as she saw part of the boy's arm fall into the ocean… and then an explosion followed that sent the boy careening away. … 'Nanoha' just… She was forced out of her shock without warning by the pain of another of those waves crashing into her… it didn't do nearly as much as she'd expect but it startled her and set her moving again… Of course, a shield had to be made to take the 'feathers' shot at her… she wouldn't be moving fast enough to get away.

Bardiche once more shifted forms and ignited his blade… against the Seraph she had no hope of so much as holding her own in a fight of blades… but she could stall and hope that something came to their rescue, Mother, Arf, or that Lindy woman… anyone was preferred at this point. The shield shattered and another took its place shortly after, which shattered immediately from the Angel crashing through it, Bardiche immediately blocking the first strike and throwing it away. A flare erupted above her and her hopes soa- and then she received a face-full of 'feathers' trying to kill her.

A shield rose and was shattered in an instant, she struck out and scored a hit across the woman's neck… leaving only a light line with a tiny drop of blood dripping down… The Seraph rose her blade up in response… and in dropped Lindy with a hammer that sent the Seraph into the ocean with a plume of rising water. Her prayer was answered for once… wait…

Why was her hammer on fire?

When the light faded from her eyes, she was passing through the clouds on a course for the ocean below her… why the barrier decided it wanted to flood the city was beyond her ability to understand so she instead focused on the specks below her. "All safeties disengaged, your ladyship. Igniting." Emerald fire burst into being around Bob's head as he stated those words, in sync with her as she finished moving him behind her. A little vengeance for her Chrono… for whatever had made him scream.

She began the downward swing the moment both 'Nanoha' and the other girl could be made out… and with barely a sound she crashed into the Angel as she was about to lay into the girl. A glimpse was taken of the 'woman's' face before she was sent into the water… blank and lacking any form of pain recognition…

A crash sounded the moment she hit the water… silence reigned for a short while before the woman calmly walked out of the water like it was stairs. …Then she just waited… looking up at them with a passive face and unmoving from her spot, at least that allowed her to get to Chrono and look him over, one she spotted him. Ten long seconds spent searching and she found him dragging himself out of the water onto a surfaced piece of rubble, a quick look sent at the still-unmoving woman staring at her showed what she expected, before she quickly made her way over to him.

He was in pain, that was obvious given he'd just lost his left forearm, and blood was smeared along the concrete leading up to his position… he was in no condition to continue fighting at this point. She landed softly next to him, Bob's fire dimming as a Physical Heal coated the wound and began healing it, it wouldn't lessen the pain, but Chrono wouldn't bleed out. He was going to say something, but was stopped first by a fit of coughing and then by her, and with the second he finally looked up at her and paled, "Enforcer Harlaown. You have been grievously injured and are in no condition to continue fighting."

He didn't say a single word in response to that, there was still more to say… unfortunately for them the teleporter wasn't working and wouldn't be working for a while. "Due to equipment being damaged in the breakout, you aren't able to evacuate the site." His pained grimace grew a bit with that news, color being regained in the wake of her 'business mode'. "Due to this, you are to maintain distance and provide support only when she's focused on me. Understood?"

A quick nod was given, and she helped him up, her healing spell fading away into the fire the moment there wasn't any more bleeding, and with that both of them took back to the air and looked towards the 'Angel'… who was still in the same exact spot and staring at her… At this point it was just creepy and a bit annoying to see that.

'A hero arrives, it's the Admiral of the Arthra. Are they my hero? Are they a hero of heroes, or just another faceless hero?'

'Only a Hero of Heroes may kill a Monster of Monsters. Just as only a Monster of Monsters may kill a Hero of Heroes.' "Which are you Admiral?"

For the first time since she'd risen, 'Nanoha' spoke, addressing her with a question that made absolutely no sense at all. She didn't even get a chance to try and make sense of whatever those words meant, as the other woman decided she was done standing still and, with a beat of her wings and an explosion at her feet, rocketed through the air straight at her. A shield of emerald greeted the woman upon reaching her, and though it cracked upon blocking a fist, it held long enough for her to swing her own hammer… and skid along the much smaller pink shield that formed out of no-where.

That was the smallest shield she'd ever seen… and the first one that was used to deflect rather than block something.

Her thoughts didn't distract her from ducking under the wing that tore through her shield to gouge her neck out, nor did they distract her from back-stepping the following slash sent the other way… it did distract her from the spell sent from the blade. Pink flew for a brief moment and smashed into her with all the strength of a light breeze… she expected something, 'worse' perhaps?

Of course that tempted fate, and fate was quite the giddy child whenever it was tempted. So it decided that she wanted a sword trying to carve out her eye, thankfully a shield stopped that before it as dangerously close, but it still reinforced that she shouldn't have thought that… or it was just a coincidence… either worked. Another wing, the right it looked like, tried to tear her arm off while she thought that… she really needed to focus… Bob's handle sent sparks as the wing ground against it, the appendage barely managing to flit along her skin and draw blood, just a light cut that wouldn't impede her.

She leveled Bob at the Angel's chest, a shield manifesting on her left to block the sword out for blood as she charged up a Blaze Cannon, and with only a bland apology and naming, fired the spell directly into her chest. Emerald light enveloped the woman in a single second and a deafening roar sounded, for seven seconds she had no idea if the spell even worked… apparently, it didn't do anything but put scorch marks and scuff marks on the Seraph... and a little droplet of blood from her mouth.

Then came two volleys from Chrono and the other girl, the latter she only half-expected to still be here, the former sending several Stinger Snipes towards the Seraph, and the other sending a hail of yellow bolts surrounded in purple lighting… she had no idea what spell that was. The latter's spells reached 'Nanoha' first, her shields flaring up enmasse to deflect the shots, thankfully for them, the shields shattered on impact with the unknown bolts and they continued without issue.

Unfortunately for them, the Seraph had time for another set of shields, and about two-thirds of the volley went wide… the other third… The other third tore through the woman's skin and clothing as if it was made of paper, five plumes of blood were sent into the air, three directs hits, another two glancing that were headed at Chrono. Aside from a single step, she didn't react at all to the severe damage the other girl did… she had muscle exposed and bleeding and she wasn't doing anything. And last came Chrono's volley… which pinged off of the Seraph's skin, and even the exposed muscle as if it was metal… well then.

Another blank look from the Seraph greeted her gaze as the wings stretched forward, then flared back as she simultaneously sent a volley of feathers at both the girl and Chrono and rocketed towards her. She was prepared this time though, and met the stab of the sword with a shield, watching it crack open as she swung Bob around quicker than she'd done prior and clocked the woman in the face with the pommel… that didn't do any damage but-

She immediately regretted that thought as she brought Bob up, blocking first the wing that came to disembowel her, then spinning the hammer around to parry the sword away, then ducking under the other wing and finally dodging away from a sweeping leg. ... Then came the volley of 'feather's burrowing into her clothing and pinging off her meager armor, and more blows… she somehow got out another assault of quick blows and threw one of her own that promptly got deflected by another of her shields… great… Another volley of yellow bolts were cast by the girl, and somehow despite them coming from behind her, another swarm of those damn shields made themselves, and def-

Immediately she ducked to avoid one of those bolts plowing through her head, followed by side-stepping the sword as it tried to slide into her ribs. She forced mana into Bob and let it circulate through him as she dodged a fist that would have broken her ribs, once he had accepted everything she swung again at the Seraph. This time she wasn't thwarted in her attempt by a shield, smashing the spell aside and slamming Bob's head into the woman's arm, and then immediately backed off to avoid both wings keen on taking off her arms.

On, and on they continued fighting for another minute, she dodged, parried and blocked, she took a few wounds and dealt a few in turn. 'Nanoha'… she fought without any sense of swordsmanship or skill, more like she was just swinging and overpowering her, slowly but surely. Two more times she let Bob take the offensive, and another three volleys were sent, he lost track of the amount of times the Seraph swung. On and on, they continued fighting.

A swipe down was parried away, and without warning blood sprayed from the Seraph as a blue blade erupted out of her chest, a bit managed to splash onto her face as the Seraph stumbled a step. That was enough for her to bring her hammer up to clock the woman in the head, an explosion deafened her hearing and smoke obscuring 'Nanoha's' form for a moment as she let off her one actual melee spell, Magnum Corona. It wasn't anything special, just a bunch of mana packed at Bob's head and released upon impact, nothing more, nothing less, that said, it was as strong as a Bombardment spell and didn't have a safety setting, which is why she barely used it.

The smoke cleared as her hammer went back to a ready stance… what she saw was the Seraph looking skyward with only a few scorch marks and bleeding showing any damage to her face, and the Stinger Blade still in her chest. Then despite everything that had happened, she looked back down at her. Passive, blank eyes stared at her for a moment before she looked down at the Stinger Blade in her chest, 'calmly' placing her free hand over the tip protruding and pushing hard enough that the spell flew out and dissipated back into man.

… And then her wounds began healing, as if she were just turning back the clock a minute prior… even her clothing repaired itself to how it was before she'd started fighting… she felt her 'mask' of sorts crack a bit in response to that sheer indifference and bullshit spell. Another whine was made, just for that brief moment and only encompassed four words, but it held most of her displeasure and envy about that little 'spell' of 'Nanoha's'.

"That is so unfair!"

She swore she saw a twitch in her mouth, right before a shield separated them and deflected the sword with a scaping and several cracks, followed by the Angel's fist shattering the remainder of her shield as she ducked under it. Bob was swung in return as her features set themselves back together, grinding against the small pink shields that made every attempted hit miss spectacularly... six tries to get past those shields, and not one got through. A flip made over 'Nanoha' caused another of her slashes to miss, Bob snaking out and smashing through another of the shields and finally delivering another Magnum Corona, and through the smoke she blocked… something that sent her flying out and further towards the sea.

A long few seconds were spent flying before she righted herself and brought up her hammer to block the next swing… only none came as she stayed where she'd defied death and simply stared in her direction. Well, that was nice that the Seraph let her rest a bit… but, why would she do that was the bigger question.

The Seraph looked down at them from her perch amidst the sky, eyes still as blank and lifeless as they were since she'd changed from Nanoha… then she did something strange, she held her free hand out towards them, as if asking them to take it. Her wings… her wings seemed to shift before breaking apart into clumps of mana, and headed for her palm, trailing along her forearm and neck until they flickered like a flame. A moment, then four passed before another set of wings erupted from her back, and a panicked voice echoed into her head.

"Captain! Her mana levels… they just rose to seven point six million!" … She could understand the near-four million… somewhat, now that she'd seen Nanoha in this state. Seven and a half million was beyond what was possible for all but S-ranks or higher, and even then, those S-ranks were normally at their prime. She brought herself back just as all of the wings collected into the 'flame', making it only a bit larger than the original. Then the blade was held out, and the 'flame' put against it before being ground against the metal.

The mana coating the blade grew erratic and flame-like as her hand passed over, and the 'flame' grew smaller and smaller until it faded into the tip and her hand fell back to her side. Which resulted in them looking upon the Seraph, holding a flaming pink blade that went around to scrape against the platform she stood on until she couldn't reach any farther, then a step was taken and the sword scraped back along its prior path. Motes were lifting off like embers from the 'fire' and flitting around their creator... she could call the sight entrancing were she not worried over being hit by an attack.

The sword swept up into the air and the Angel turned with it, a step taking her forward still as her weapon passed above her head, her second hand coming up and taking hold of the handle as well. And then the Seraph stopped, with hands above her head and motes circling her… she thought she saw something faintly glisten along her cheek before flew away from the woman.

A voice carried along the wind… at odds with the woman they'd been fighting in its gentleness, but they couldn't make out the words…

"Sing for the ash you leave behind…"

"Großartige Verwüstung"

With a howl and downward swing the spell was loosed upon the world.

Each of them ran from the pink wave… no pink wall of light that erupted from the blade, stretching from the clouds into the sea, and while thankfully the wall was narrow, the sheer force pushed everything that wasn't in its path away from it… and kept going. She didn't know how far the spell went, but she did know it lasted four seconds before the spell started falling apart, and it was still moving, and after another six it broke apart and showed them the marred world left in its wake.

The clouds were ripped apart to show the sunlit sky while water was filling in the gaps made in the ocean by the mana. She caught a glimpse of glowing red before the water obscured the ground, before proceeding to look back… at… What was once Nanoha had torn a several of the skyscrapers in half, the material making them up glowing red and looking like slag… and one building still upright in the distance had been carved in half totally… it was just two pillars jutting from the sea to the sky…

After a barely a few seconds spent looking over the devastation she turned to look for her son and tentative ally, finding the latter surveying the damage with slightly wide eyes after a short moment of looking and finding the former… laid against a jutting ruin just above the sea. She resisted the urge to immediately bolt to his side, and the only thing that held her back was another message from Amy ringing in her head, "Designated target… she's at a mana level of ten thousand…" "Acknowledged Amy, keep monitoring."

… She fired a single spell, holding seven point six million units of mana that lasted barely ten seconds… even if her device had been set to safety, that much would have killed someone outright even with a shield, unless the target had unnatural durability like the Seraph herself. At this point… she understood how terribly outmatched they were compared to the Seraph, even so… for Chrono to live and be happy for once, she'd lay her life down.

"Überschüssige Hitze bei hundert und siebenunddreißig Prozent des akzeptierten Wertes. Fehler… Excess Heat at one hundred and thirty-seven percent of accepted value. Error, Venting system not found, unable to vent excess heat."

"Force it elsewhere."

"Acknowledging. Safety restriction, zero point one-five disabled."

And without warning, the Seraph's free hand flew to her mouth and she… coughed, for a solid half-minute she went into a fit, halfway through that her wings 'regrew' themselves and wrapped around themselves around her. So that massive spell she'd launched was detrimental to her health… that was both saddening and a relief. Slowly she stopped and the hand left her face… there were three, glistening red trails marring her face, one on the right falling from the corner of her mouth, and another two 'tears' falling from her left eye… What a sad little girl.

That was when the other girl decided she was done being someone's ally and headed straight after Chrono, both her and the Seraph snapped directly to her and charged… she wouldn't make it… that didn't mean she couldn't hope for the other woman to catch the girl. Of course… just like that day several years ago, fate itself played a cruel blow to her desire.

Lightning sparked for the first time during this entire battle… and down came a bolt of violet that struck the Seraph and paused her pursuit… a second passing before the wings beat again and she continued… she was certain almost nothing could stop that Angel after everything they'd thrown at her.

A flare of mana erupted near the surface of the water, and from the soft yellow light spilled forth the familiar of the girl and another woman… garbed in a white coat trimmed in brown pinned at her waist, brown sleeves with belts at the end, black boots, some kind of suit it looked like covering her legs and torso and a white hat with two brown lines… another accomplice? They were far enough away, and so as she listened to Bob releasing one of the many safeties forced on him, she cast her simplest spell in mass, and let them fill with her mana. Three dozen flickering flames surrounded her, and as the other girl reached her son, she let loose at the newcomers.

They were based on the simple Shoot Barret… just filled with more mana so they'd go faster and hit harder, nothing major yet still enough to warrant it a restriction with the way she'd used it in the past. Vaguely she saw the single Lost Logia Chrono had obtained appear over his body, and then the girl snagged it and was off towards her familiar, with the Seraph almost on her. Her spells found their target immediately after, the shield the familiar brought up shatter after three hits before she wised up and just started dodging… which didn't work at all due to their speed and number. Seven of the thirty-six hit, and shortly after the familiar emerged from the cloud made and charged straight at the Angel…

There was reckless abandon in protecting something, and then there was suicidal determination.

The wolf-woman raised her fist and swung at the Angel… the latter dodging the blow with ease before sending the wolf-woman back without even slowing down… that had been a stupid idea… the chain binds shortly after, better but not enough. That Seraph… she didn't even register the chains as being there since she kept going despite the mana… but they slowed her down enough that the other girl and her familiar reached the unknown woman, another flare of mana took place just before the Seraph would have reached them. And then they were gone.

She stopped and watched the woman smash into the ocean in a spray of water, and then erupt back out a few seconds later, the blank look on her face still there despite the mishap occurring just now… That left only her against a woman that went through buildings, was ridiculously strong and was immune to almost every shooting spell… Saint-King, if you have any control over fate, please save her from a fight that wasn't even needed at this point.

"Nanoha!"

… Saint-King… you are a kind woman… Immediately she looked over in the direction of the voice, off to her left in the direction of the standing buildings. It was that boy that had accompanied Nanoha to each fight before… she didn't have his name but he looked somewhat familiar… Hopefully he'd be able to end this fight, seeing as they no longer had any Lost Logia and didn't want to fight for them, she'd be able to see reason.

The Seraph looked over at the approaching boy… and her face remained unchanged, though she stopped all other movement… a good sign hopefully. Whoever the boy was, he was out of breath and appeared to have gotten little sleep in the past day, though his face lit up with a bit of relief and confusion at the sight of the woman. "Nanoha, you're alright… Oh thank goodness…"

'Nanoha' tilted her head in response to that… that was the first gesture she'd seen the Seraph do that wasn't stare, hit or slash… and it somehow made her look even more 'wrong' than when she hadn't. Still, the boy despite being a little disturbed was far too relieved to care, continuing speaking even when no verbal reply was given that she'd even heard, "The battle's over, so you can stop now and let me handle the rest until the next battle."

The Seraph's head returned to its normal position the moment he finished… and then waited…

'Nanoha? That was the name of the girl she wasn't currently. …There wasn't any reason to fight anymore?'

'Then the Seraph of Blades wasn't needed anymore… so it was time to sleep and let Nanoha take the reins again. She'd be waiting… until it was time to lay waste to everything again.'

Pink light gathered around the woman's body after a minute of silence, while her wings wrapped around herself… then the wings dissolved feather by feather and drifted off into the light breeze, leaving behind a smiling little girl. And then came the device she couldn't understand, saying something in its language before falling silent again. "Die Zahl ist auf siebenundsiebzig eingestellt, fünf werden subtrahiert. Die Zahl ist auf zweiundsiebzig eingestellt." [The number is set to seventy-seven, five are subtracted. The number is set to seventy-two.]

She let out a sigh of relief, making both Nanoha and the boy look over at her as she laid herself out on the building… no more serious mode and fighting… finally. "You sure to-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll set her on you." … Alright, someone was in a bad mood. "I've had five hours of sleep for the past two nights, been worried over Nanoha throughout my time awake, and was extremely late to whatever happened here. Do not say anything implying I took my time." And now it made sense… sort of. Well, she was fine with it so long as she didn't have to fight that juggernaut again… once was enough to last her a lifetime… or seven… yes, seven lifetimes.

And now there was just the issue of the girl and whoever was helping her, which hopefully the bridge crew were tracking the location of… might as well ask since they both were technically enemies with the girl for the moment. "Alright then, seeing as we have no reason to fight anymore and we have a common… 'enemy', do either of you have any complaints with aiding us against the other girl and whoever else is with her so that neither of you get labeled a criminal?" Nanoha gave a shrug before turning to look over at the boy… that was Scrya garb…

The boy took a moment to think over her words, a frown taking over his relieved look before he looked up at her and his face was set in determination, "So long as the Jewel Seeds are brought together and contained in a safe location after this, we'll agree." Jewel Seeds, so that was what these Lost Logia were called… she understood the 'jewel' part… but the 'seed' made no sense to her… Meh, it wasn't her responsibility to decide names, just issue orders and occasionally knock a head or two.

She gave a nod before sighing in relief… then recalled where her son was and immediately bolted over to his thankfully stirring form… another relief-filled sigh left her lips before she got to him and began patching him up. A Boosted Heal gently laid itself over Chrono as the other two children floated, or walked in Nanoha's case, over to them… this wasn't the best place for healing…

A short moment after that thought she tried to get a connection to the Arthra… and after a longer than usual bit of static she found herself looking at Amy… who looked worried and relieved over something, well there would be a time to tease her about Chrono later. With a jovial tone that didn't belong here just yet, she cut Amy off with her usual smile, "Amy, any idea when that teleporter will be up and running." Whatever she was going to say was abandoned as she turned around and called out to the technicians that were hopefully repairing or done repairing the teleporter, before turning back to her.

"Around one more minute Captain." Not that long then, that just left one last thing… "And the coordinates for the other girl and her accomplices?" "Already calculated and inputted into the teleporter, we're waiting on your order and the teleporter being fixed." The smile she received with that very prompt response made her chuckle briefly, a shake of her head ending her bout of laughter and making her almost miss the light reddening of Amy's cheeks. Oh, how precious~

She let the connection die shortly before anything else could occur, a light hum escaping before she turned to look over at her new… 'allies'… children in only name, at least for Nanoha that was true. On one hand, she was happy to have them, Nanoha herself was a force to be reckoned with, and while she didn't know what the boy was capable of, she did know he was the only one that Nanoha would remotely listen to. On the other… she pitied that girl and boy… they took things far too seriously and didn't act like they should have… and there was also a bit of resentment under her facade from the former taking Chrono's hand…

Well… there was nothing that she could do there, not yet at least… which left them in two separate groups each in silence, broken only by Chrono getting up on his own. Things hopefully would be better from here on out… she doubted that but she could hope… she really needed a good cup of tea after this was over.

AN: For those wondering, Alicia's birth was pushed forward in time by ten years, and then her death fourteen years, so she's nine at the time of her death, Fate was 'born' as a seven-year old two years before Alicia's death and her aging process is far slower, resulting in her appearing as a nine-year old despite being the same age as Chrono. Her physical age grows by 'one year' for every seven years.

To put that in perspective, the average age of a human is 79yrs, Fate's average lifespan as of current is 504yrs. On the drawback, while her ability with magic will increase, it'll do it at a lower rate than her canon self.