Amount of hugs needed: 8057
Amount of hugs found: 3,031
Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original.
Being the 'Seraph of Blades' had been… strange.
At that time, she'd felt… right, as if she was meant to be and feel like she had from the day she'd been born, yet at the same time… it wasn't her. She was used to being considered a Monster, or at the least unnatural, and she'd felt a bit of… something creep into her body as she had fought the Enforcer and Fate, something that made her say, think and feel different than normal. The Seraph... the Seraph was something else entirely.
It had felt like she had stepped back and let something else take her place after realizing she wasn't her anymore, and now there was a strange 'nipping' at the back of her mind that was quite uncomfortable. Whatever it was, it didn't feel wrong, just… annoying and a bit painful.
Razing Heart, or whatever her name was, had remained silent since her last words, whether that was due to not wanting to talk or she was resting, she didn't know, nor did she want to ask. After allowing her to continue fighting, and the ability to complete her job, the Device had earned the right to remain silent for the rest of today, not tomorrow though, she had a lot to learn still. There was the history of the 'Seraphs' of old, there was learning about why she had something gnawing at her and the spells used to make and aid her.
Until then though, she made do with the few bits of knowledge she knew, 'Razing Heart' was a name given to her by today's society, she served royalty at some point, and she was the weapon of the 'Seraphs'. Hmm… Scrya-san had said something about Kings and Queens in the Ancient Belkan era… that would explain the language barrier…
Scrya-san… he looked rather ragged compared to usual, looking tired and not too much alert, though he was a bit more forceful compared to what she was used to Lindy… was he unwell? Did something happen to him while she was captured? She hoped not… he was a nice employer and had given her a lot in exchange for collecting and fighting for him, and if something happened while she wasn't there for him she'd feel a bit worse.
That said, he had appeared… relieved? Yes… maybe, 'relieved' at having her around again, so maybe it was just because she had been away from him that he was a little worse off than normal… wasn't she supposed to feel something for worrying others? Maybe being the Seraph had knocked something loose in her head, that or one of Lindy's hammer blows… it probably didn't matter.
What did matter was his decision to 'partner' with the TSAB forces that she'd been fighting, which meant she was no longer against them or they against her. She didn't care much about working with the Admiral and Enforcer, neither of them had any more of the Jewel Seeds so there wasn't any reason to fight them, and apparently they hadn't even come with the intent to get them... his fault for dropping in on her fight over a Jewel. The only real thing to come of this deal was neither of them would be considered criminals, or rather they'd be pardoned of any crimes they'd committed in exchange for the Jewel Seeds being locked up when they were done.
Still, it felt a bit strange to willingly let herself be teleported back into the place she'd just escaped, but that could easily be ignored to focus on Scrya-san and Lindy… and the Enforcer, whose name she'd now found to be Chrono, as well. The boy really should just go to the infirmary on this ship to get his arm looked at rather than argue with his mother about him needing to continue. "-ine, I'll go get a check-up the moment the operation is done."
They'd been going for about… seven minutes now and neither wanted to budge an inch, it was both annoying because of the wait and amusing for something you'd expect of a normal family, minus the topic they were speaking about. "No, you're not, you got hit with several bombardment spells, slammed into several things of concrete and had your arm torn off, you are not going into another combat zone." Chrono and Lindy stared at one another for a moment in silence again before the latter gave a sigh and placed a hand on her face. "If you go, I'll get you a prosthetic to replace it within a month, and you can do whatever you want to it."
Another moment of silence, a small, near-invisible smile appearing on the boy's face as he registered the words before immediately giving a nod and walking off towards the door… what was so great about a prosthetic arm? "Haa… there goes my paycheck." Her gaze went back to Lindy as she shook her head and turned back to the screens, it didn't sound like she was disappointed or whatever other emotion it could be, but she wouldn't really know. "Nanoha?"
She focused back on the Admiral when her name was called, finding her having not moved a single muscle as she stared at the… giant floating mountain studded with random lights… was this a common occurrence? "Would you mind introducing your companion to me, or would he like to do so when he wakes up?" She wasn't allowed to answer that, if an employer wanted their name to be known, they would say it themselves or specifically tell her to say their name, Scrya-san hadn't said he wanted her to, so she'd stay quiet.
A few moments of awkward silence followed before the Admiral once again held her hand up to her face, sighing softly before muttering, "Of course you remain silent, you don't say anything unless it's something trivial and kind of meaningless." Another sigh was uttered amidst her shaking her head, stopping only after she took a breath and looked back at her, and Scrya-san sleeping soundly while hanging onto her shoulders. "… I believe you need to put him down so he can sleep, Nanoha… kun?"
Likely, she should, except she didn't know where any rooms were… also, her smile twitched the barest amount at the breaking of her name, the honorific she'd used was wrong. "Nanoha-san or Nanoha-chan, kun is for boys." Another pause, before Lindy slapped her face loud enough to make a sound… she needed a lot more practice before he was ready to talk to someone else, anyway she continued on, "I don't know where the nearest bed is."
That was a simple thing to admit… it wasn't like she'd searched the place when she broke out, nor did she even know where she'd been held was… a downside to her just listening to Razing Heart's whispering rather than searching the hard way. Lindy took a moment to remove her hand and slowly nod once, looking thoughtful for a moment before walking down the stairs towards the door, lazily waving her free hand in some gesture she didn't understand.
The Admiral stopped at the door when she didn't get whatever the gesture was supposed to signal, looking back up at her with a bit of amusement laid on her smile, "Come along Nanoha-chan, might as well drop off your companion to a bed as we wait on the coordinates to be set." She set off after Lindy after those words were said, the older woman moving again when she reached her and proceeding to lead them somewhere. They kept to a sedate pace with only the light taps of the Admiral's hammer giving life to the deserted hallways, oh, there was the dent in the wall, she'd gone this way before.
Roughly a minute into their 'journey', the speakers came alive and blared, a bit too loudly, a simple statement, "Coordinates for the Garden of Time locked. All combat personnel report to the main teleporter. Mana expenditure high, expect heavy resistance." Well, that certainly made their calm journey a bit more rushed… though Lindy merely sped up to a fast walk rather than running, and Scrya-san stirred slightly with the loud noise.
After turning three corners, the Admiral opened a seemingly random door and ushered her inside… lots of bonsai trees… Regardless she went inside and laid Scrya-san on the only soft surface that she could see, a mat next to an umbrella that could seat maybe four people, before turning around to leave and follow Lindy to wherever they were going.
Another long, long walk through dim red-lit corridors, roughly seven or so minutes, and they reached a room that looked mostly the same as the corridors with no other entrances and a strange circle at the far end. The room was filled with men and women garbed in simple robes and breastplates with pauldrons and a neckguard, most of them holding a staff with a two-pronged gold head and blue orb, though there were a few wielding swords.
Lindy cleared her throat, not a loud sound but it made the entirety of the small army of... mages? turn and stand at attention to await whatever the woman was going to say. "Our mission is a simple one, we go in, seal a few Lost Logia and beat up whoever tries to stop us. That said expect whatever is there to be waiting on us, and at least three combatants to be above your level." Silence greeted those words, but the majority of them gained a determined glint in their eye… the rest of them had something strange instead… the only thing that came close was 'hunger'.
"Moving on, lethal force is allowed only if they fire something lethal first at one of you, otherwise you're allowed free reign of yourselves to get to your objective. Don't be stupid and get yourselves killed, retreat if things get too rough, and lastly have fun, we don't get to fight as often as we used to and it pays to stretch your legs every once in a while." A rumble of amusement passed through the crowd, before one last statement was given by a smiling Lindy. "We're leaving shortly, you'll get your assignment the moment we get there, as Allex said, expect this to be about as bad as the last Faurus incident."
Another salute and they made an aisle for their Admiral as she strode towards the circle, herself walking a bit behind with a hand on her blade's hilt. None of them batted an eye at seeing her, though a few looked… annoyed with her presence… maybe they'd been the ones she had gone through on her breakout? Regardless, it didn't matter as the moment she and Lindy reached the circle, it glowed bright blue and overpowered the rest of the weak lighting.
And then they were gone, to Fate's home.
They had only a short amount of time left before the Bureau and Nanoha arrived and they made the most of it.
Puppet Soldiers were moved around the Garden at Rinith's command, the Golems were moved to the stairwell leading up to the Reactor while Soldiers, Gargoyles and Berserkers were positioned in various room able to hold them. Traps and ambushes were made, mostly just from the Puppet Soldiers since Mother wanted all of them near her when she activated the eleven Jewel Seeds they'd gathered. She and Arf were still allowed to go out and fight anywhere from Mother's room to the gate, but nowhere else, which left Rinith's Golem and other puppets to take care of anything going after the Reactor.
She still wasn't in… good shape after fighting with Chrono and Nanoha, her mana was only a bit above a third of what it normally was and while she was better than the Enforcer had been, she still wasn't fine physically. So with those in mind, she opted to remain around the hallway to Mother's room, waiting for the intruders to come while Arf stalked the further corridors.
A beacon of mana went up outside, there were only a few things left she could do… a few isolated spells coupled with some delayed would work. She hurried to her work, needing to be done quickly so that she could still ambush as well, the battle was nearly upon them.
They arrived along a landing of sorts, pillars rising from the floor to hold up nothing, the 'sky' was a mixture of violet black and blue that hurt to look at, a massive door in the near distance, and several strange colored spheres dotting the floor and mountain… it didn't look much like a Garden. Lindy began walking towards the door as the last of the light surrounding them faded, herself moving quickly after while drawing her blade.
Aside from the rustling of metal, light thuds of feet falling and the 'loud' taps of the Admiral's Device, there wasn't any noise in this place… kind of like home, which was probably why she felt 'at peace' yet alert, just because it was like home didn't mean there weren't things set to kill them. Fire blossomed into being with a sudden roar, almost startling her with the sudden spell before Lindy was in front of the door and swinging. An explosion, smoke, wind and a door went flying in response, and their path was laid bare as a decently lit hallway lined with statues.
… It didn't feel right.
The smoke cleared fully after a few seconds and showed Lindy taking in the corridor, a light hiss sounding out as the hammer's pommel popped out about 25cm, showing metal littered with holes that sprayed white steam out for two seconds before slamming shut… That was a vent? That was very, very strange… though there was nothing she could do to put one in her weapon, at least she didn't think so.
They walked along the hallway at a sedate, cautious pace and she suddenly felt… 'dwarfed' by the sheer size of the statues, each of them were over three times her size at least, made of what looked like bronze or something colored like it, each with a shield and some form of weapon, though most common was a sword. None of them had any actual features etched into them, just massive suits of armor with weapons scaled to their size and capes that looked like actual cloth. And then there was the two statues that dwarfed even the other statues, roughly double in height than the others and holding axes as big as they were.
There was a trap here… there had to be, and yet nothing happened as they crossed the room and reached the next door. Regardless everyone was on edge by the time they reached the door, and once again Lindy blew it open with an explosion… that was a neat little spell, far easier than just using her 'steng-' "Macht." Macht spell to bash thing open. … Wait, why did Razing Heart decide to name it that?
She thought for a moment before shrugging mentally when she received no answer and came up with too many options, it honestly didn't matter at all, she trusted Razing Heart's judgement, besides she was terrible with naming things. An idle thought crossed her mind about what the other spells she'd made were going to be named before it was tossed away as Lindy's form reappeared amidst the smoke, and then they were off again.
This time they entered a massive circular room draped in green cloth, with numerous doorways leading every which way, though only their door and the opposite door had red carpet between the two… why was this place called a Garden again? What was strange about the room though was that winged suits of green-ish armor crouched on little parapets above the doors, polearms held in their hands ranging from simple spears to halberds, and below them, standing in the doorways, stood more of the regular suits of armor without their shields.
… If this wasn't a trap their opponents either had no idea how to defend places, or they were hiding traps behind other traps, she hoped for the former just so this was over with, she needed to get to school or she'd run out of sick days and cause Otou-sama trouble.
By the middle of the room the feeling of wrongness had consumed her, sending a glance around at the one of the many suits of armor every few steps until they reached the middle, and one of the 'Enforcers' shouted out a panicked "Incoming!" Immediately she turned and was greeted to a crash and plume of smoke erupting at the side of their group, there was the trap. Another crash and smoke cloud popped up, followed by three more before she understood what was causing them, several of the winged suits of armor had stood up on their perches and thrown their polearms at them, effective and unexpected.
Mana coursed through her as she let Macht and her 'spe-' "Geschwindigkeit." … she was not pronouncing that yet… and 'endu-' "Ausdauer." … Ausdauer spells manifest, Razing Heart didn't like her not having nameless spells it seemed, she'd have to ask what they meant later. A grinding noise caught her attention and made her look to her right, managing to see a grey blur pass centimeters from her head right before it went past her, one of her shi- "Ablenkschutz." … could she at least finish before Razing Heart interrupted her? "Nein."
… Alright. Either way, she looked through the shield and saw one of the winged armors standing upon its perch before it decided to actually fly and try to dive-bomb her. That worked out poorly for it, seeing as it got hit by a flaming hammer and shattered into pieces, it felt strange having another person fighting with her that she, hopefully, didn't have to look out for backstabbing her. Time to make herself useful.
A platform was made and detonated to send her above the recovering Enforcers at one of the winged armors, barreling into the metal and throwing it off its planned flight. Both her and it flew over the Enforcers' heads and landed a couple dozen meters away with a screech of metal, she wasted no time and quickly recovered as the armor tried to push itself up, only to stop its attempt when she ripped off its helm.
A look to the side showed one of the polearms the armors had thrown, likely the one belonging to the now-'dead' armor, another shout amidst the spellfire and explosions from the direction of her allies made her look back towards them, only to find several of the non-winged 'statues' had decided to wake up and were slowly lumbering towards them while two of the winged armors still floated in the sky…
… She should probably roll away now.
Doing exactly that in the direction of the polearm, she escaped the massive claymore brought down directly on the 'dead' armor's body, her katana placed between her teeth as she placed her hands on the polearm and wrenched it out of the ground. Surprisingly, the thing was far lighter than she expected it to be, it weighted about the same as her katana did despite the massive difference in length, so either this was terrible quality or it was excellent. Whichever it was, she'd find out quickly enough.
She brought the spear back as the lumbering giant of armor pulled its blade up with the other suit still trapped on it. And with a step forward she threw the spear right at the thing's chest… and somehow missed the chest and impaled it through its dominant arm at the shoulder. That certainly worked as well. Her blade returned to its proper place in her hand as the armor jerkily tried to raise its weapon, she put it out of its misery with a single plat- "Luftschritt." Luftschritt placed at her feet sending her to cleave its head in half.
Another Luftschritt was made directly afterwards, poised to send her back towards the group of Enforcers and Lindy until she got bashed in the head with a slab of metal… no make that a literal shield. … Wait, none of the ones here had any shields, which meant the ones in the hallway triggered after the ones in here, clever. She didn't get knocked away far, just a few meters back into the corpses until she hit the spear… the spear would probably be about as good as a tree in this situation, so she wrenched it out of the 'corpse' with one hand and threw it directly at the new armor.
It punctured through the thing's shield and became stuck, upon which the… there had to be a better name than suit of armor… thing threw its shield away and charged her rather than lumber like the rest of its kind did. A roll towards it let her avoid the oversized sword striking the ground, finally letting her last augment, "… Aufgeladene Klinge." … that was harder to say then the other one, manifest around her blade before she cut its legs out from under it. This time she looked around before making a Luftschritt, seeing that nothing else was moving towards her and only two of the landbound suits were still up.
The unused Luftschritt awaited her still, so she stepped upon it and let it do its job, detonating and sending her into the air before another sent her hurtling into the close of the two armors, smashing into its arm to stagger it before tearing off said arm and tossing it aside. It tried its best to whirl around and bash her with its shield, but simply being near her spelled its end as her katana passed through its empty helm and hit the red lights mimicking eyes, twisting and stabbing again and again until the armor fell forward and she leapt off.
The last of the armors exploded into fragments courtesy of the Admiral, and then they were left in a calm, deathly silence. "Status?" Lindy's voice was cold, weary and professional all at the same time as she strode back towards the group, her device clicking against the ground until the carpet was reached where she looked around at the group, several bandaging others up while the rest either were unmoving, leaning against their weaponry or in various bloody pieces.
One of the Enforcers, a woman with blue-violet hair and black eyes sporting a small gash across her chest and another along her arm, leaned against her stave as she answered, "Seven dead, three in critical condition, two of us without and injuries and the remaining twelve sporting minor wounds." … That was a lot of casualties from just the first trap… and these weren't difficult enemies to deal with, then again, she was augmented and they weren't so her position was innately better.
Lindy apparently didn't take well to that news, her face darkening as her smile fell, a mutter coming out that she barely caught before she was calmly thinking. "Puppet Soldiers, an Ace's toy set, a common soldier's worst nightmare." She heard a click of teeth before the woman looked upon her soldiers and addressed them. "Split into two groups, one group's taking the severely wounded out of here, the other group's after the Reactor. Spells get set to Lethal with no exceptions. If the second group hits anything moving that's bigger than one of the Soldiers, you run as if the Saint-king is about to drag you to hell. Are your orders clear?"
A resounding "Yes Ma'am!" echoed in the room, but by that point she was already wandering along the carpet towards the doorway, why should she care about their plans? She was only here to get the Jewel Seeds for Scrya-san and fight anything that got in her way, she didn't answer to Lindy nor did she have to follow her orders… so why bother waiting?
She heard clanking and rustling behind her, followed by a pause before Lindy's 'worried' voice echoed behind her "… Where did she go?" She wasn't going to answer that, not because she didn't trust her… though she didn't yet, seeing as this was the first time they'd fought together and she was still rightfully paranoid, but because that'd give away where she was, and another trap could be triggered.
Silence enveloped her in a gentle embrace, broken only by distant bangs from what she assumed was explosions or metal hitting metal, and after roughly two minutes she finally found something aside from carpet, torches and the odd door, a pair of Puppet Soldiers with swords drawn and ready barring her path. Something felt wrong again, so she did the smart thing and rolled to the side just as something near-silently crashed right where she'd been. Smoke obscured whatever it was from her, whether it was a person, another kind of Puppet Soldier or just a thrown weapon… so much for not triggering a trap.
She didn't wait for the cloud to clear, immediately charging the Puppet Soldiers first to get rid of them before whatever was in the cloud leapt at her, smashing into her body and sending it into the wall, and then she heard an annoyingly cheerful voice that was somewhat familiar. "Well lookie here, we have a little kiddo deciding she wants to try and take on my Master and Mother by herself. Guess I'll have to beat that idea out of her skull." Hello again Wolf-woman… this time isn't like the one before.
Prying herself from the wall with deliberate slowness, she fell back to the floor with grace and looked at Arf with a bored smile, an action that wiped the happy grin off her opponent's face and replaced it with a snarl, perfect. A side-step dodged the woman's fist trying to plant itself into her face and let her lash out with a kick, a light pulse of mana strengthening Macht before the blow landed, a light crack heard along with a gasp before she sent the woman away.
Immediately she hopped back to avoid the claymore of one Soldier, a Luftschritt manifesting under her and detonating to make the following sweep from the same sword pass harmlessly below her. Something pinged off her skin before she shot towards the armor's helm with aid from another platform, slamming into the metal with a crash and stumbling Soldier before she started pummeling the thing in its 'face' with a single hand. After the fifth hit it tumbled to the ground, another two punches made before she ended its suffering and stabbed it through the helm… and then she was hit presumably by Arf towards the second Soldier who hadn't moved yet.
Once again, she was bashed with an oversized shield, though this time the weapon carried her into the wall again, a Luftschritt made and exploded above her making the sword miss impaling her as well as bringing her face to face with Arf again. Another pulse of mana preceded the woman's blow, meant to reinforce Ausdauer as much as possible before the blow connected, while she swung her blade in response. She ignored the light pain from her chest and continued her swing, cutting deeply across the wolf-woman's chest as she jumped away and swiftly fled… and then came the giant sword on top of her.
A Ablenkschutz slowed the blade down enough for her to step to the side, a cloud of dust covering her for a moment before her sword darted out, and a harsh wail echoed before the larger sword shattered just above the hilt. She heard the thing stumble back with the lack of weight, and immediately stooped down and picked up the still intact piece of metal, before hurling it at the Soldier's 'face', needless to say, it fell to the ground lifeless after that.
Well, that went far better than the last time they had fought… then again, the last time they fought was roughly three weeks ago, so she was bound to have improved enough to fight her… still to immediately leave on getting wounded was a bit strange. Maybe she was leaving to recover, or to set up another ambush, that made more sense so she'd go with one of the two. Either way she continued making her way down the absurdly long hallway, ducking randomly the moment she heard a high whistling and letting a spear miss her completely… she couldn't even see the Puppet Soldier that threw that.
And then came a volley of the projectiles, thankfully deflected by a series of Ablenkschutz with the exception of one that she managed to catch, though the effort forced her back a few meters. A Luftschritt appeared under her the moment she stopped sliding, the caught halberd brought to her side before she sent herself into the air, and begin running along her platforms rather than the floor. Nobody should remember that she could do that seeing as the only time she used it with others around was against Fate the second time, and even then she made use of the explosions more often.
The halberd she'd 'borrowed' was brought up and twirled once to have it reversed before she threw it down the hallway in the direction she'd been going, continued to run even as she heard the screech of something being torn apart… she actually hit something. Eventually after another roughly two minutes she found the Soldiers that had attacked her, six winged ones standing around with a seventh on the ground with a leg lying meters away. Without their weapons, they lasted only two blows each, and didn't even try and defend themselves… that only made her confused.
Not even a half-minute later she found a door at the very end of the hallway, locked and barred with a giant set of doors… how did Arf manage to get past that without making a racket? Rattling chains drew her attention, a shield forming and immediately shattering as orange chains came from above amidst the shadowed ceiling, only one of the four biting into her shoulder before scraping off. Of course, that made more sens-
Something struck her in the back, and unlike most of what had hit her today, it hurt quite drastically and tore her skin open before sending her back down the hallway. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings kiddo, you can't just miss a ten-meter-tall Puppet standing in the corner!" Wolf-woman's voice was becoming annoying very quickly, very, very annoying. Picking herself up from the ground, she turned around and looked back at what decided to hit her… that thing was tall and much more rounded than the other Soldiers or winged-armors, huge, wielding an axe in both hands that was likely the same size it as, and having two 'eyes' in addition to the three red lights. … Apparently, she was either too durable, or it couldn't hit hard despite its size, since the axe's blades were bigger than her… she bet more on the former.
"Meine Seraph ... Tanz in Asche." She heard Razing Heart's words, and though she couldn't understand them as usual, she felt something help 'guide' her blade up and tug her mana towards Razing Heart, she allowed it. The wolf-woman was barely visible in the darkness above, some spell charging in her hands while the armor lumbered towards her at a leisurely gait, every step taken shaking the ground as it pulled its axe up. She waited as mana coursed through her blade, waited as Arf created a spear of orange light tinged with purple lightning before throwing it at her, waited as the axe started its descent.
And suddenly the 'guiding hand' was gone, Razing Heart intoning a simple "Welle-Schrägstrich." in her head as her blade fell and let a black-tinged, pink wave fly at the giant armor.
Metal screamed as it rent apart under the force of whatever Razing Heart had named this spell, the pink-black wave slowly splitting both the axe and the armor wielding it in two. A Ablenkschutz formed without her notice, a bit bigger than the ones she was used to but still quick enough to be formed before the wolf-woman's spell slammed into her. Her shield shattered on impact with the spell, but it proved enough to divert the orange lance far enough away that she wasn't hit by it or the following explosion.
She looked up at Arf as the armor clattered against the ground with a resounding crash and banging, idly watching the still moving wave kept moving forward… that much mana reduced its speed drastically for power it would seem. Her attention returned just as the wolf-woman decided to start charging at her, a swift decision being made before she replied in kind with a simple detonation at her feet. They rammed into one another with all the subtlety of bulls, each holding their 'ground' for two seconds before the woman gave out when she pushed more mana into her augments and detonated another Luftschritt to keep her afloat.
She swung upwards with her blade, carving a thin line along Arf's chest before immediately ducking under a countering fist and lashing out with her own a moment later. The wolf-woman stumbled a step back, and her blade darted out eager for blood, stabbing once through Arf's shoulder before being treated to a blow to the face… strangely it didn't hurt too much. From there, it simply went downhill for the woman, catching three more slashes of her katana and two hits from her hands and feet while only dealing another single, easily shrugged-off hit to her chest.
That was when Lindy finally arrived with flaming hammer in hand and a ring of green fiery orbs surrounding her at the waist, leisurely walking along the carpet with said hammer resting on both shoulders while seemingly humming something. A look of both amusement and elation passed across her face the moment she looked up and saw them, her smile coming alive again as her hammer was returned to a 'proper' position, "Nanoha-chan! Don't go running off next time, you could have gone and hurt yourself!" … She was just going to ignore that, since the only thing so far that she'd had trouble with today was Fate, Chrono and Lindy herself… Arf wasn't providing much issue for some reason.
Speaking of the wolf-woman, she'd retreated again, though this time she fled up above into the darkness where even the pale light of mana failed to bring sight more than a meter away. She would be back, that was a certainty she felt in her aching bones and the wolf-woman would almost certainly be ambushing them whenever Fate fought them. She let herself drop back to the floor with a light thud, Lindy passing by her continuing to hum whatever it was, the fire coating her hammer flaring up in response to a random high note before the Admiral brought her hammer back and smashed it into the door.
Smoke spread from the impact point to cover the bent door and the Admiral, another resounding bang carrying along with more smoke before a sharp hiss played. Five seconds passed before the smoke and dust cleared enough for her to see the damage, a dent at the door's center made it possible to get through… but unlike the first door, this one managed to remain intact and still in place. Lindy just took it in stride, ducking down to get through the small opening while still humming, after a few seconds of just standing still she shook her head slightly before following the Admiral.
She would never understand Lindy, but at least that woman made things amusing when she wasn't beating her up.
The next room was similar to the prior room they'd been in, with the sole exception of the cloth drapes being yellow instead of green, there were four more of the huge armors, already active and staring in their direction, while several of the winged ones perched on parapets and the regular soldiers faced them. In the middle of the small army of Puppet Soldiers, dwarfed by every single thing there, stood Fate with her usual blank look, eyes tinged with just a bit of 'resentment', and behind her a smaller, more ornate door.
"Quite the challenge we have, wouldn't you say Nanoha-chan?" Lindy's sudden comment made her pause, look over the arrayed forces before them, think clearly and shake her head in the span of three seconds. None of the Puppets were that difficult to deal with, at most they were annoying and only wasted time, with the only one managing to hurt her being the big ones so far, so that only left Fate. And Fate in this enclosed space meant a far easier fight for her, that was what she'd learned over the course of some half-a-dozen skirmishes.
She got a shrug in response for that, along with an amused "If you're so sure Nanoha-chan, go on and get her." ... Suddenly she felt less secure about her analysis of the situation, but she was still confident it wouldn't be bad enough to warrant Lindy's aid.
Without much thought, she sent herself soaring into the air to get a better look at her surroundings, watching idly as a spear rocketed at her before being deflected by a Ablenkschutz… they really should know better by now. She heard a sharp ping behind her, and turned her gaze in time to see a bolt of yellow streak past her, a bit more letting her see motes of pink dissolving in the air… it seemed like her shield did well in the hands of someone that knew what to do with a tiny shield. Her focus returned with another polearm trying to drill through her chest only to meet another of her shields.
She counted some twenty-four Soldiers, half that of the winged armors, and the four massive Giants surrounding Fate. Time to go to work.
Hopping off the platform, she started to plummet down towards the army of Soldiers… only to immediately catch her arm on something and nearly tear the limb off, leaving her looking up to see what had caught her in the middle of the air. … A yellow, sparking ring bound her forearm in place and refused to let go, she chose the easy option and wrenched her hand out of its grasp, shattering it in the process. And she fell again, only to set off another spell that caught her foot, that time though it shattered upon her trying to stop her momentum and simply left her out of control.
Finally, she managed to land, crashing through the helm and neck of a Soldier by complete accident, immediately getting up and lashing out with her blade to slice through another's knee, bringing the metal giant down close until a green flame plowed into its side and exploded the thing. She didn't bother with it at that point, ducking under its collapsing frame and running at the next suit, dodging its attempt at bashing her with a shield and proceeding to rip its leg off with simple brute force. An explosion sounded somewhere to her left, probably Lindy dealing with another Soldier or one of the Giants, she didn't bother thinking about it and instead tore off her current target's helm.
Lumbering steps shook the ground as she ducked under a flying spear, a step back avoiding the axe that likely wouldn't have split her in half, another step forward taken to grasp the axeblade before yanking it and its wielder down at her. Bolts pinged off her skin and shields, with the rare one managed to score a scorch mark and bruise her muscles, not that it bothered her at all as she thrust her blade into the black maw that stared at her. Wrenching it out, she immediately hopped back a few steps to avoid the winged armor crashing down where she'd been.
Her hand reached out and grasped a spear at her side, pulling it out of the stone and carpet before hurling it directly at the rising armor, nailing it directly in the chest and carrying the armor with the flying spear into a Soldier. Said Soldier bashed the flying 'corpse' aside with its shield before lumbering toward her, leveling its glaive at her before thrusting the weapon forward. She ran forward in response, a shield made for her sheared in half by the polearm as she stepped around the massive weapon, the ground behind her cracking as it received the bladed head before she severed the armor's leg from under it, a light hmm escaping her before she cut the rest of the Soldier in half.
Lightning sparked above her, she paid it no mind as she sidestepped a claymore and hurled her blade into the Soldier's 'face', immediately grasping the falling blade in her hands before swinging the massive weapon and tossing it at another of the Giants. She skipped over to her blade and wrenched it out of the Soldier's helm, a roar sounding overhead before she felt pain course through her entire body again for a brief two seconds.
Then it was over, and all she felt was numbness and heat, both of which she ignored in favor of hopping onto the shaft of a halberd and be taken on a ride to the now-injured Giant, leaping off the polearm and smashing into the metal. She punched until the armor bent, then proceeded to rip apart the armor piece by piece, tearing its hands off when it tried to pry her off before continuing until something clanged against the floor behind her.
She felt the same feeling as she had this morning envelop her for some reason, though… there was something missing from before though, or maybe something was different. Yes, something was different this time around, she wasn't getting hurt, she wasn't being strained to her limits even with Fate throwing lightning at her. This was something that simply made her more and more giddy with every suit of armor she 'killed', yet calming and made her simply want to dance and kill.
It felt amazing.
"Having fun Nanoha-chan?" She looked up and behind her when the voice called out next to her, giving a serene smile to Lindy as she stood up from the… 'carnage' that was the mess of a Giant. She looked around in the somehow 'peaceful' room, there was four armors guarding something with a shield wall while six winged ones staying above them, only two of which had their weapons for some reason. 'Surrounding' them were four more Soldiers with heavier weapons and a single Berserker, and strewn about every between them and those Puppet Soldiers was metal, emerald fire and the occasional intact weapon.
It would appear Lindy was just as busy as she was, and she'd been too focused on her own dancing to care. Which just left Fate and a bunch of metal really.
Lindy leaned back and stretched, walking around the heap of metal that once was trying to kill them, happily humming before stepping sideways for whatever reason. "You do realize delays don't work unless you or another mage are able to attack the moment it goes up, right? Especially when a A-rank mage is the intended target." She continued walking forward, and she quickly hopped out the carcass and went to join her, following Razing Heart's whisperings to guide her through whatever Lindy was avoiding.
"I will admit though…" The Admiral continued talking as if Fate was still here and was listening… then again, she could be behind the shield wall and listening to Lindy. "… you have a lot of skill to be casting isolated spells one after another." She didn't understand what the 'isolated spells' she was talking about were, Scrya-san would probably know so she'd ask him about it later... and the Admiral was still talking… "-ely for you, you had to deal with me and little Nanoha-chan."
No response came from Fate, not a verbal one or even one made of spellfire, which was strange given they were only ten meters from the shield wall, even the Soldiers didn't seem to respond for whatever reason. A low groan echoed from above, with both her and Lindy looking up in response before a pebble hit her in the face… it didn't hurt but it certainly didn't bode well for whatever was above them.
Then without warning, a giant rock crushed one of the outlying Soldiers, and it was raining boulders around them until a deafening crash sounded behind… them… That Puppet Soldier was huge… and even Lindy was stunned for a moment. "Great… they have a Golem… Anything else or is that everything?" Whoever was in charge of the Soldiers decided to acknowledge that question, by dropping another one behind the shield wall. "… I should not have asked that." No, no she shouldn't have… well hopefully they'd be as easy as the rest to take down.
Both Golems were huge, dwarfing the Giants by several meters at least and heavier as well given they cratered the ground upon landing, their armor made from something the color of copper, as well as having steel cannons for hands, with another set on their shoulders. Certainly, they were strange compared to the rest of the Puppets, being almost impractically tall and having no actual melee weapon to defend themselves with… but given Lindy's initial reaction, this would be a challenge.
How exciting, finally a challenge in this 'Garden' of Fate's… hopefully.
She didn't wait for either of the Golems to do whatever they were meant to do, creating a Luftschritt at her feet before detonating it at the one in front of the shield wall, continuing to listen to the whispers for guidance through whatever she was avoiding. And then she hit… something translucent surrounding the Golem roughly a meter away from it and bounced off, followed by her foot getting stuck in another yellow ring… wonderful. The ring held her for only two seconds, but it was enough for the Golem to back away three steps and lightning to scorch her back, her skin was charring... but she didn't feel anything.
A platform was waiting for her the moment she fell on her back, upon which she quickly got back to her feet and refocused on the Golem to find all four cannons pointed at her and glowing red… this may hurt? The Luftschritt she was standing on then proceeded to let her fall through it on its own just as the Golem fired, something neither her or the Golem was prepared for.
Thankfully for her a different platform caught her shortly after that, once again landing on her back as four beams of mana soared overhead towards the other Golem. All four crashed into a similar 'bubble' around the second Golem, though the force behind it apparently made the Puppet brace itself until all four beams dissipated. By that point, she knew what she was going to do to get through the Golem's 'bubble'… somewhat.
More bolts of mana pinged off of her skin as she stood back up, an explosion sounding somewhere behind her as Lindy set to 'killing' more of the Puppets again, and with a simple thought she leapt back at the massive suit of armor. She forced mana through her body to fuel Macht as well as sending a bit to Razing Heart to fuel another… "Welle-Schrägstrich." … she'd need to tell Razing Heart thanks after this, it was only fair. The mana coating her katana proceeded to gain little black streaks in it for some reason in response to that, probably just something to do with Razing Heart being awake.
She loosed the spell without any more thought, watching as the crescent of mana slowly ground into the 'bubble' and caused the Golem to guard itself, now to apply more pressure. Another detonation and she slammed into the 'bubble' directly next to her spell shoulder-first, the Golem staggering in response to that, with another Luftschritt sending her away just as one of Fate's spells would have hit her again… why was just using the lightning spell?
Regardless of why, the spell pierced right through the 'bubble' hurtling directly at the Golem and hitting it directly in the chest… nearly 'killing' the armor in one hit… well the only hard part was getting past the 'bubble' then. Explosions sounded behind her amidst the tearing of metal, but she didn't pay attention to it, proceeding to ram the damaged part of the 'bubble' just as her spell gave out and ripped right through it. Only, the Golem decided its best action was the club her into the ground with its cannon… smart of it, though nothing but an annoyance.
She quickly got back to her feet and stepped out of the way of the second cannon slamming down, her hand reaching out and grasping the cannon and holding it as the Golem tried to pull back. She tried to let a little bit of the 'emotion' she'd felt earlier today seep into her expression, a futile action, but she felt it would have been perfect for the moment. … Surprisingly despite its size the Golem wasn't that strong compared to her… which was a disappointment really… and so she tore off its cannon with a simple tug and screech of metal and leapt at the thing like she'd done with the Berserker.
Rip and tear, rip and tear. Metal screaming, a lovely sound to her ears. Did anyone else enjoy the sound as much as she did? Probably not, other people preferred the chirping of birds and the breeze, still nice sounds, but not as lovely. She was hit in the head, it was still 'alive' and trying to get her off, no, no, no…
She wasn't done toying with it just yet.
The cannon was torn off, then a leg before she returned to its chest, lightning seared her back and clambered along her skin… everything was charred and smelled strange, but she continued without paying any heed to it. Its head was left alone, as were the thing's heart, the cannons on its shoulders however were ripped apart for her delight and thrown aside when she bored of them, until something slammed into her back directly into the Puppet's 'heart'. Who would interrupt her fun, and sear her body further?
"Why the hell won't you die!" That sounded like Arf… she was ruining her fun… that wasn't very nice of her. She ignored the wolf-woman as she stood back up, instead moving to the Golem's head and ripping the thing off without a thought, before looking at the person who'd messed with her since she'd gone off on her own. Arf took a step back at seeing her, probably because of how much blackening her skin had gone through, before she looked around at the room around them, there were a lot less Puppet Soldiers, though the other Golem was still up and… never mind, Lindy took care of the last Gargoyle… why did she have fairy wings?
"It doesn't hurt. Why should I die if nothing hurts?" Words were said from her mouth, she wasn't even aware she even said anything for a moment before the words registered, they sounded right at least. Her blade clinked against the metal as she passed through the wreckage towards Arf, the woman gathering herself from her reply and quickly getting into a stance… did she think they were going to fight again? That was strange and silly, she'd already proven to be stronger twice now, why should she do it a third time?
She passed Arf without a single glance at her, light footsteps of her bare feet left unheard as the Golem fired its cannons at the Admiral with a deafening roar. They missed by a wide margin, seeing as Lindy was now darting around a bit faster than before… and then she got nailed in the back of her leg by the wolf-woman for some reason. Her smile slipped to something she hoped resembled boredom as she looked at Arf, whatever the woman was about to say being stopped with that, and then the ground shook without warning.
She stood her ground, as did the Golem surprisingly, though both Arf and Fate stumbled a step in the tremor's wake… what could shake a mountain-sized piece of rock floating in the middle of nowhere? That was probably important, but she pushed it aside for the more immediate threat of the Golem and kept moving towards it, her smile returning to its prior serenity before she sent herself sailing through the air at the Puppet. Apparently either Lindy had the same idea, or she saw what she was doing, since the woman decided to dart around another volley from Fate and the Golem and charge the latter.
More bolts pinged off her from behind… wolf-woman was annoying her, followed by a single cannon switching to point at her before firing. She avoided that rather easily by making a platform beneath her and detonating it, lifting her enough to only be grazed by the red beam before she resumed her quick journey. Lindy made it to the Golem first unsurprisingly, slamming her hammer into the 'bubble' to the its detriment, cracking the thing where she hit it and making the thing cower and brace.
Then she arrived a few moments later as Lindy pulled back, slamming into the weakened 'bubble' and making the massive armor stumble a step back for some reason before she was struck with lightning again… why was Fate using a spell that didn't even work? A moment was taken to look at her skin, blackened and lightly glowing… that was rather pretty. She shook her head of that thought as the Admiral hurtled past her amidst a sound similar to breaking glass, only a bit deeper, hammer brought back behind her before she smashed it directly into the Golem's chest.
A single moment of silence echoed through the room before metal screeched in response, another explosion among many sounding out alongside ripping metal and cackling flames licking the rent pieces of armor. The Golem stumbled and fell, crashing against the side of the room and slowly sliding down amidst a shower of rubble, both Fate and Lindy retreating to avoid the rocks.
Herself… she disregarded the rubble and shot herself straight at the giant armor flailing in its death throes, it was still 'alive' even being pelted by rocks and cloth so she went to finish the job. Nothing went and pinged off her skin or struck her with lightning, something she was quite happy about since they didn't do anything to her, and after a short-lived flight she crashed into the Golem's neck. A light hum escaped her throat as a boulder fell at her side, almost crushing the armor's leg before ultimately bouncing off.
Rip and tear. It jerked with every piece she tore off, trying to dislodge her… but unfortunately for it, cannons weren't meant to be used to grab things. Then without warning it ceased its struggles… it was probably playing dead, she hadn't ripped off its helm or whatever was inside so it shouldn't be lifeless just yet…
Another tremor wracked the mountain and something light hit her on the head… whatever was rocking the mountain was making it unstable, finding out what was causing the quakes took priority now rather than ripping a corpse apart. A low creak sounded out sharply through the room, her head immediately snapping to the only actual door in the room before making a Luftschritt and sending herself flying towards it.
It was opening, metal groaning as if this door hadn't been used in a long time, before light shined and illuminated two figures walking out the door. The one behind the first was a woman with brown hair and eyes, dressed in something that slightly resembled a brown and white nun's outfit and wielding a simple rod with a gold-colored head. The other woman… she had black hair and violet eyes and was wearing a simple violet dress that pooled at her feet and a black cape that covered her back and left arm, her other hand held a strange stave with an eye at its head, purple mana crackling in front of it, leveled directly at her… and eleven Jewel Seeds glittering in the air around her.
… And unlike the other woman whose face was neutral, if a bit hard, her face was set into a near-rage, eyes alight in hatred as time seemed to slow for a moment, and a low hate-filled whisper. "Come to our Garden and destroy our protectors? Come take our hope away and leave us without a chance to save our beloved Alicia? Try and kill my daughters, who took this path only to bring their sister back and would gladly lay their weapons to rest when we succeeded? You are not welcome here Monster, begone from our home and die."
"Plasma Smasher." With two mechanical, hate-filled words her vision saw nothing but violet tinged with yellow and her body was forced away from the door.
Pain. Pain. Pain. All she felt within that beam of violet was sharp, nerve-burning pain, up until she first tripped on something and was suddenly flying and then slammed into something back-first, before the beam finally stopped and allowed her to drop.
… She heard something break on landing, everything inside was burning and hurt, someone called her name… Her pain began subsiding in time with the voice laced with concern, and bones began cracking again along with other things seemingly 'fixing' themselves in response, her hands twitched minutely before her blade tapped against the floor and helped her up. Stiff bones cracked as she moved her joints, a slow few seconds passing before she was up and looking back at her foes and ally… why were Arf and Fate staring at her like that?
"Die Zahl ist auf zweiundsiebzig eingestellt. Man wird subtrahiert, die nummer ist auf einundsiebzig gesetzt." Razing Heart said something new the moment she was fully up, she'd have to ask what that meant later, she was rather curious and she felt that it was important if Razing Heart decided to say it for the world to hear.
The woman didn't do anything else aside from walking silently towards Fate and Arf, a gentle, loving smile in place as she knelt down beside Fate and lightly brushed her hand against the girl's head. "It's nearly time Fate. For our trip to the land of salvation." The Jewels surrounding the woman glittered and shone with delight for some reason in response to that, and Fate finally had genuine smile cross her face for the first time since they'd beaten Chrono when she heard that. "… The journey though is too dangerous for you, Arf and Rinith, and what mother would I be if I led my children to their death?"
Fate's smile slowly sank and her face marred itself with confusion at the words… not that she understood any of what that actually meant. "So, I'll be going alone with Alicia, and we'll find our way home." The confusion Fate felt was slowly turning to shock, and tears were brimming in her eyes, similar to what Arf looked like now, and their mother continued with that same gentle smile that her Okaa-sama used to have. "So be a good girl, and wait for us. And when we get back we'll make flower circlets with Alicia again, Arf'll be a big teddy bear for you and Alicia and Rinith will mother all three of you into the ground."
Fate's mother leaned forward and lightly kissed her daughter's forehead before standing up and backing away from her, a coughing fit racking the woman's body for a few seconds before it subsided and she turned back the way she came. Light tapping echoed around the silent room, then footsteps and mana forming sounded as Lindy tried and failed to stop the woman from leaving, courtesy of the nun-looking woman.
The woman kept speaking as she climbed he few steps to the door, the Jewels around her shining now and the ground shaking underneath her, "If I don't come back… cherish the memories we had, me and Alicia will be waiting for you. Now… goodbye my precious little Fate. Get out of here with your sister and mother before our Garden is ripped apart."
Another tremor shook the place and she stumbled along with Arf and Fate, the door closing behind the woman just as a piece of masonry fell and smashed right in front of the door, barring entry even if they had wanted to follow. Lindy took a single moment to think before she turned and calmly planted her Device into the ground, kneeling before a magic circle manifested underneath her and the tremors calmed slightly.
Then she spoke out loud, to who she had no idea, but likely to the bridge crew rather than her and Fate's family, "I need an evacuation for five people now! We have a massive dimensional tremor in-bound, have the Arthra ready to drop out of transit the moment we're on board!" She must have heard a reply since she gave a nod before continuing whatever she was doing.
A tense silence engulfed them and their once-foes, broken only by the slamming of rocks into the ground as the structure slowly tore itself apart… the light was slowly turning dark and strange with 'spots' dotting the walls… those hurt to look at. Slowly but surely she made her way closer to Lindy, something far harder to do for her than for Fate and her family, since she was on the other side of the room and debris was piling up. And seemingly to add on to that the floor decided to give way just as she decided to hop onto a piece of rock, with more of the 'spots' appearing underneath.
"Nanoha! Get over here now!" Lindy was shouting at her… she was making her way over there the safe way… then again, the place was tearing-
A rock hit her in the head to prove that point, followed by a boulder crashing down right in front of her… caution to the wind it was, or however that saying went. Quickly she jumped from debris pile to debris pile, the whispering coming back to guide her for some reason and leading her a ways before a chime silenced them… why was Razing Heart strange like that? She stepped around another newly made hole leading into something that was probably not good for her health.
After another half-minute of clambering over debris, dodging 'spots' popping up underneath her and standing her ground against heavier tremors, she reached the edge of Lindy's circle, the thing cracked with the effort of whatever the Admiral was using. And the moment she stepped foot on the magic circle… a bad idea in hindsight, it shattered into pieces, with Lindy immediately standing back up and her wings dissipating.
Fate and Arf were beside the Admiral, both of them staring at the massive boulder barring the way to the door their mother had gone into, while the other woman had kept the two together and guided them over to Lindy. A fissure quickly snaked its way between her and the rest of those still in the room, something easily crossed before it split wider and showed the thing that hurt to look at. Finally, the moment she reached three meters from Lindy, light gathered and covered her vision before she felt herself dissolve again.
By the time her vision returned to normal and she saw the room with the magic circle at one end, the Admiral was already half-way to the end before she stopped and looked back, pointing at Fate, Arf and Fate's other mother. "You three, either follow me, follow Nanoha or stay here. I may be lenient but I have places to be, you all are technically criminals and things are hectic." And with that Lindy turned back and marched out of the room… why did she trust her with Fate's family?
Meh, she wouldn't understand why Lindy did the things she did, so there was no point in questioning the things she said. Besides that, given the state both Fate and Arf appeared to be in and the events they'd just went through, she doubted they would even follow her. … She wasn't good with comforting others and the new woman seemed to be doing a good enough job that Fate and Arf would be functioning sometime soon, so she just left them quietly in the care of a few battered Enforcers.
A tremor rocked the steel ground under her just as she entered the hallway, surprising and throwing her into the wall... whatever was causing that definitely was far more important to know about later down the line if it hit whatever the 'Arthra' was. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to do anything here, as annoying as it was all she knew how to do as fight, kill and break things, so once she straightened herself out she continued walking towards the only place where she'd be of use, the bonsai room where Scrya-san would be.
Her walk through the halls was leisurely despite the constant aggressive tremors that hounded after them, mostly done that way so that her feet were braced in case any tremor wanted to unbalance her, and barely lasted five minutes before she was outside what she hoped was the room. She turned out to be wrong, and quickly shut the door again… she probably should have remembered the path from there so she didn't walk in on other people sleeping.
Amidst two more tremors she continued searching, checking door after door, most filled with empty bedrooms with the occasional filled one or an entirely strange room, before finally finding the Bonsai room. Surprisingly, every single bonsai was still intact and on its shelf despite the tremors and Scrya-san was still sleeping… though to be fair, she was only gone for an hour, maybe two at the most, and he hadn't slept in a while. Well, at least he'd be well-rested when he woke up, he'd probably need it by the time they were told what was happening.
Until then though, she probably needed a light rest as well, today had been tiring and very fast-paced, so with that thought she settled herself down beside Scrya-san and waited with her eternal smile.
AN: For the reason as to why Nanoha barely felt anything despite all the damage hitting her, her Nociceptors (pain receptors) got fried by repeated lightning and over-usage of her augments, which in turn made her incapable of feeling most 'minor' forms of pain, on top of being durable to begin with. For her behavior in the later parts being as… 'wild' as it was, lingering effects of the Seraph and her own restraints still being somewhat loose was the main reason, she should get better... provided nothing else goes wrong.
As for the Puppet Soldiers, their size is estimated solely on how they compared to the characters in the anime, as well as changing a few things so that they are more… 'realistic' and are able get around with more ease.
The ranking of how they stand up in Mid-Childan ranking are the regular soldiers, those that look like actual armor, are B-rank along with the smaller winged armors that throw polearms, the bigger ones with axes are at a barely A-rank, with the massive cannon-golems being AA-rank, though that's only due to the barrier and bombardment spells, without the barrier they're only an A-rank.