Kuro Arashi: The Black Storm

by Project Arashi

Threads of fate interweave in a tapestry of adventure and magic, colliding with an ancient evil unknown to the minds of men. As destiny plays its hand, chosen heroes must ally with wings of white to protect life itself. An epic Love Hina Negima crossover.

23. Burden of the Future

A/N: I have successfully completed BMT, and sat down on my town pass to finish and post this chapter and compile the OST, but the OST won't be available for a few more days. But this is a 49-page chapter so you might not be done with it by then. lol Enjoy, and prepare yourselves for the final, epic showdowns.

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"A lot of people remember what we did at that plaza that night, the 'Last Stand at the Tatsumiya Shrine.' But we weren't the only ones doing heroic things. At the end, just staying in the fight was heroic enough in my books."
- Master Sergeant Rymann; 'Mages vs. Mars: The Complete Visual Encyclopedia'

Chapter XXII:
The Burden of the Future is Everyone's Responsibility

June 24, 2007
Rooftops, Mahora University Engineering Campus, Mahora Academy, Japan
1848 hours, local time

The future. Many believe that the future is not written, that there is 'no fate but what we make for ourselves.' I hope this is true. I hope that the future is always in motion, that the actions of the day can alter events of the future. Everything I do, I do in the name of a future that cannot be allowed to come to pass, for its assurance will result in the extinction of mankind. And in order to prevent that, this is a small price to pay.

Chao Lingshen watched dispassionately as one of her Type-II Tank.a 'Heavy' infantry models stepped through the broken front windows of a café, its servomotors hissing hydraulically as its blood-red visual sensors scanned the street before it, and then methodically brought into position its M134 minigun. The barrels spun for a moment before a torrent of 7.62mm bullets roared out, cutting the legs out from beneath a Mahoran running for cover. A black sphere of displacement energy swirled around the stricken man for a moment before decompressing itself and vanishing, taking the foe with it.

More 'Mage Knights' revealed themselves to fire at her forces, but the minigun-armed unit merely shifted its aim marginally to target and eliminate them, not relenting the stream of bullets. One, two, three, five more Mahorans fell to the heavy unit's fire as return fire, both magic blasts and rifle fire from Fireteam Charlie's reinforcing elements, bounced harmlessly off the more-hardened frame of the marauding unit. Quite simply, the enemy could not focus enough fire to significantly harm it before it cut down anyone who revealed themselves. Dozens of roiling black spheres filled the lines of the Mahoran forces, depleting their numbers and putting the fear of an uncertain fate into those left behind.

A glowing, hissing blue catalyst grenade sailed out from the Mahoran lines, adhering to the torso plate of the heavy unit and exploding. The stuck droid was cast to the ground, its central frame shattered, sparks issuing from the ruined minigun, but another of the half-dozen 'Heavy' infantry units focused its minigun fire on the location that the grenade originated from.

Ahead, two of the Type-I 'Locust' light armored droids relentlessly, mechanically scaled the Mahoran barricade, blasts from their central plasma turret hammering the entrenched and retreating enemy forces. As with the Tanaka 'Heavy,' the enemy's return fire was almost completely ineffective. As these units were part of her main attack, the "I'm-Not-Playing-Games-Anymore" force, she had increased the stopping power of their plasma turrets significantly while still keeping them below the lethal threshold. A smoke plume from a nearby alley signified a rocket-propelled grenade that struck the flank of one of the Locusts, staggering but not significantly damaging the unit as it spun to face its aggressors and hammered their cover with plasma fire.

Chao gestured with her right hand, and three of her funnels drifted toward the location of the rocket crew. Hovering over the alley, the three funnels swirled to face their primary emitters toward the enemy. One ignited a spotlight to assist the others' targeting, and the other two unleashed a barrage of nonlethal red energy blasts potent enough to knock the offending party unconscious.

"The main force of the Martian army has begun its attack!" Kazumi's voice boomed across the battleground. "All defenders, stand to your courage and work together to defeat the enemy!"

The rattle of automatic weapons fire close behind drew her attention to the stairwell exit onto the roof she occupied, as a boot kicked open the door that had its lock disintegrated by the weapons fire. Another rocket crew rushed out onto the roof, garbed in the cosplay Marine uniforms of Fireteam Charlie, one carrying the MFAR-900 dual-barreled rotary rocket launcher that the island nation of MolMol had built based on the design of the M41 'Spanker' that she had given them in exchange for medical treatment three years ago. A second man carried reloading tubes, and the third bore an MFAR-60 assault rifle, modeled off the UNSC MA5C model.

She snarled at the group's appearance, their uniforms, and weapons. To them, the Human-Covenant War was the subject of a mere video game, a form of entertainment, and not the life-or-death threat that she knew it to be. These men, all the members of 'Fireteam Charlie,' infuriated her for their callous disregard for the lives, and deaths, of the brave men and women who deserved those uniforms. When she had seen them as the sole defense force of Point Echo, she had almost, almost, rescinded the zero-fatality order to her forces.

The rifleman spotted her and, assuming her to be on her side, called out, "Hey, careful! If those things down there spot you up here, they'll burn you down." Turning away, he murmured to himself, "The hell are these ones looking like damn Terminators with those machine guns… Hey, Harukata, give her your BR!"

Many years ago, in her perspective, at least, she had been given an M6D Magnum by a friend, UNSC officer, and descendant of one of her 3-A classmates, shortly before he had been killed by a special operations Sangheili. She had kept and cherished the weapon, and modified it over the years. One of the modifications she had made was giving it the option to chamber in something other than 12.7mm.

Having received the requested rifle from the reloader, the rifleman turned to offer it to her, and saw her swapping magazines in a Magnum pistol. Unbeknownst to him, she was swapping the lethal 12.7mm armor-piercing ammunition for her specialized 7.62mm compulsory time leap bullets. That done, she unsafed the weapon and snapped it up, aiming it at the rifleman.

"Hey, whoa! Calm down! Watch where you're pointing that thing!"

"Relax-ne," Chao told him, her voice as cold as liquid nitrogen, a cruel smile on her face. "These won't kill you-yo, just make you sleep for a while."

"What are you-"

It didn't sink in what was going on until the two squads of special forces 'Chachamaru'-type models, six droids, lowered their active camouflage, appearing from a hazy shimmer surrounding the rocket team. The three pseudo-Marines looked around at the droids surrounding them at weapon point, and at the battle suit-clad Chao, still aiming her Magnum at them.

"Y-you're with them!?" the rifleman stammered, shocked. "Traitor!" His hand shot over to grab the police-style radio strapped to his shoulder. "Echo Command, Echo Command, this is Corporal Sakai at the University! We've found the enemy's-"

Chao was sure that he was going to say 'commander,' had his words not been drowned out by the roar of four FAMAS F1 rifles and two MP5k submachine guns. The rocket team literally vanished beneath the volume of displacement spheres, and once the last one had vanished, Chao holstered her Magnum, stepped forward, and picked up the rocket launcher that had been discarded, staring down at it.

While it was true that she had knowingly given away the weapon schematics to that nation so that humanity would have the future's technology as a basis to build off of, the fact that humans would treat the future she came from as some sort of game in this manner…

The metal of the rocket launcher groaned and warped as Chao squeezed the weapon in rage, the strength augmenters of her battle armor beginning to crush the weapon. One of the Type-II Chachamaru-replica special forces commanders watched this event without blinking. "Master…"

"Return to your duties," Chao whispered, casting the ruined weapon over the rooftop, into the mass of her advancing droids. Without a word, the six droids engaged their active camouflage and disappeared.

She turned to watch as her droids on the ground broke open a medical station. One of the walking wounded, a bloodied bandage wrapped around his head, struck at the head of one of her droids out of desperation. But the man wasn't wearing one of the enemy's Jammer Rings, and the blow did nothing more than knock the unit's head to the right without even shaking the rest of it. Just like the scene out of the Terminator movies she had based her droids' appearance on, the droid slowly turned its head back to face the offending human, its left hand snapping out to grab the man and hurling him out into the street, leaving it to the others as it raised its FAMAS and hosed those too wounded to defend themselves.

Yes, Chao told herself, this was an acceptable price to pay for humanity's future.

Makeshift Martian Command Post, Beneath Defense Point Alpha
1846, local time

Beautiful. Of all the words in the many languages of organic meatbags he had been programmed with, ITSUki 13 could find none that even came close to justly describing the great massacre before him. Nor did he believe that anyone, organic or otherwise would be capable of fathoming Chao-sama's truly selfless decision to go through with this operation. ITSU watched with nothing short of joy as the Martian's main force smashed against the unprepared defenders of Mahora. All across the city, the flawless tactical execution of the Martian army's sudden main wave had most, if not all of the frontline defenders in full retreat. Alpha had been almost too easy to take from the overconfident meatbags. Now the foolish defenders of Bravo and Foxtrot would get a taste of the combined steel resolve of the Martians.

Quietly focusing his thoughts, ITSUki spoke into his helmet command mic, "Press the advance and capture those defense points! I repeat, press the advance and clear the way for the demons! Even with their hero units, the Mage Knights will not last long. If they fight against the future, they will fall for the future!" He realized his lessers could not understand his prideful approach, but would still carry out their orders to the letter.

The main force commander wasted no time in returning to his orders. Delta was still giving his troops trouble with their ambushes and hit-and-run tactics. Foxtrot was as good as finished with their diminishing supplies, and would be the likeliest to fall next. Echo was still proving problematic, however as Chao had told him, "Remember, they may be tenacious but they're hardly indestructible." Too true. Charlie was a juicy target, and if they could take the bridge, its fate would be sealed.

"All remaining units of the first wave are hereby ordered to upgrade their standard weapons from strip beams to standard issue battle rifles. Check your ammo, and confirm your time placement rounds are active."

He waited to hear a confirmation, and was surprised only fifteen squads of the first wave responded. No matter, the little pawns served their purpose well.

A chirping alarm pulled ITSUki's attention to the pesky Delta's location on the holomap before him. Displayed were chibi representations of the Locust and Komodo divisions flashing in red, sporting the comedic sweat drop above their turrets. Chuckling softly, ITSU raised a lazy finger and pressed the distressing avatar. Activating a small video screen, Komodo commander unit 101 appeared on the other end. "Commandant, our armor cannot proceed through the Delta tree line. We're being peppered lightly by enemy fire but have taken no casualties. Your orders sir?"

"Do not waste time on Delta. Instead, re-route your forces to Bravo; You'll find yourself much more valuable there, captain," answered ITSUki with half a smirk and half a sneer.

"But Commandant, what of our forces at Delta? We're advancing steadily but with heavy losses." Its concern was more tactical than emotional.

ITSUki eyed the captain, and considered his options before answering, "Delta's forces are my responsibility, not yours captain. Delta will fall within the hour, along with the rest of their cowardly allies. I suggest you continue as ordered," spat ITSUki, throwing his hand in a swatting motion at the video screen, dissipating is as though it had been mist. Almost immediately, the chibi representations calmed themselves and began running across the board to Bravo.

"All comms open," verbalized ITSUki into his tactical command helmet. As every channel slowly opened to ITSUki, he could feel the presence of the thousands he knew as comrades, grunts and officers alike. All connected, all listening, all waiting for his word to command them.

"My brothers, my sisters, fellow soldiers of the Lingshen Martian Army; Victory is imminent! As each wave of us crashes against our foes, their strength wanes and their will erodes! Our enemies have faltered and in their desperation, they dig their own graves! They know their attempts at resistance is futile, they have only to choose where they will fall!" rang ITSUki's prideful voice, extending his arms to their maximum reach before him, as though to spread his influence beyond the walls of the room he occupied, to beyond the city above, as though the world itself could hear. His magna guards exchanged looks with one another, unfamiliar with this sort of behavior in an combat android.

"My kin, we will show them what the soldiers of the Martian army can do! Even now, they masquerade as the fallen and hide amongst their homes in an attempt to surprise and outwit us! My siblings, it's time to play as dirty as they so wish. It's time to drag them out by the hair and remind those meatbags of what we are! So I give you this, our solution, your orders, and our master's victory! All units, initiate Order 17. Search and destroy! Hunt them down in whatever corner they hide! Shoot all enemies once, then shoot them again, shoot the standing and shoot the fallen, ensure they are silenced!" roared the metal giant, his voice resounding through the universe of channels, in one collective echo, the red army confirmed their orders.

"SIR, YES, SIR! My Commandant!"

ITSUki openly cackled in his grotesque, mechanical, way as he shut off his comms. His gaze then shot to his magna guards, who snapped to attention with a click of their heels and a quick salute. Ready to willingly give their lives for their older brother and commander.

"My dear sisters, my elites, we are going up. To the world of mortals, where our victory and immortality await us! The Mobile Commandant Squad 'Apollo' is now commencing full operations!"

As he exited the makeshift command center, he could not help but smile, loving the part he played. "History will remember us a murderers...but our actions will lead to the salvation of humanity."

Somewhere Above the Combat Zone, Mahora, Japan
1847 hours, local time

At three thousand feet, the battle taking place around the center of the academy-city of Mahora appeared to be the events of a miniatures role-playing game, and unfortunately, in the mind of a tiny marionette puppet observing the action, the lack of blood and true carnage was just like one of those games.

Chachazero flapped the miniature bat wings attached to her back and rose off from the broom-like staff upon which she'd been sitting, and though the expression on her doll face didn't change, it was obvious she was pleased. "Hey, I can fly! My little sister got the academy barrier down! Mistress, if you've got something planned, now is the perfect time!"

Still seated atop the staff, Evangeline scoffed as she raised a small glass into the air, and a nearby floating bottle of sake drifted over to top it off. "Don't be so rude," she answered. "The show's about to get interesting. Those so-called 'Heroes' that claim I'm one of them talk a lot of talk, but let's see if they can back up that talk. We're going to kick back and just watch today, Chachazero." Evangeline grinned, and tipped back the cup of sake, watching the academy in which the 'heroes' had taken up residence. "Come and have a drink with me."

Bridge Causeway, Defense Point Charlie, Second Defense Line
1848 hours

A thunderous explosion rocked the chokehold bridge as a black sphere erupted in a cluster of defenders laying suppressive fire to enemies on the opposite bank. Unlike the infantry droids' fire, this blast came from one of the 'Komodo'-type walkers' anti-vehicular cannons, and fell into the midst of student defenders like an artillery round. The three in the immediate area of affect were trapped within the black sphere as it spiraled down into nothingness while the other three were thrown screaming in all directions by the blast force, one sailing over the wall and into the waterway running below the bridge.

In the center of the span, a Fireteam Charlie explosives specialist busied himself setting a remote charge on one of the support pillars, calmly and methodically going about his work and ignoring the roar of a heavy machine gun turret that had been brought out and set up on top of a car to hold back the advancing wave of droids. More explosive bolts from the walkers sailed past their heads, impacting against the streets and buildings on the far side of the bridge to little effect.

"Hurry up and finish that thing!" the machine gunner shouted above the roar of his weapon as he swung it around to pepper an overzealous droid with .50-caliber BMG. He then swept his weapon toward black motion out of the corner of his eye without bothering to cease firing, forcing the enemy to cover against such high-powered ammunition.

"You want to do this? Then be my guest. But this ain't a job you want to rush…" the demolitions specialist murmured as he twisted the arming mechanism and then pressed a button to activate the remote detonation system, waiting for the indicator lights to flash green.

"Signal is good!" a voice called over their radio frequency. "Arm the other detonators and pull back to me!"

There were other demolitions crews on the job, rigging a number of failsafe devices in case the two over the center of the span weren't enough to halt the enemy's advance. Calmly and without concern, the demo man crossed behind the machine gunner to check that the package he'd previously set was still functioning. Its two status lights were glowing green and flashing orange, signifying a steady signal from the remote and readiness to detonate on command. As this was going on, radio chatter from the other demolition teams was beginning to grow more frantic.

"Come on, hurry it up! I can't hold them back much longer!"

"I can't make this go any faster!"

His job finished, the center span demo man pulled his battle rifle from the magnetic cradle on his armor's back and looked to the far end of the bridge, where the chatter was coming from. Another heavy machine gun crew was firing nonstop into the crowd of droids, and two rocket-armed marines along with them peeked up over the barricade and fired their rockets into the leg joints of one of the new walkers coming up toward them. The blasts struck sparks from the joints, but otherwise didn't even slow the enemy vehicle.

A droid that had lost its weapon in an explosion rushed in underneath the smoke plume of the missiles in an attempt to get the drop on the rocket crew, but the leftmost soldier spotted it incoming, leaned out of the way of its initial lunge, and then powered it to the ground, where he began hammering it with the rocket launcher. As this was going on, another droid stepped up while the second rocket man was reloading and fired a single shot into each of them, eliminating them both with that distinctive black sphere.

"I've got it! Detonator's set, let's get out of here!"

"Alamo! Alamo!" cried the forward machine gunner as he ripped his weapon off its base and tossed it over the side of the bridge to deny its use to the enemy.

Back at the center span, the demolitions specialist thumped his gunner on the helmet. "Come on, tough guy, we gotta blow this bridge."

The gunner grunted, then gripped the top-mounted carry handle of the machine gun, reached beneath the weapon, and snapped off the bolts holding it to its tripod. He then adjusted his grip to hold it by the carry handle in his left hand, and by the firing brace in his right, and ripped the turret free from its base, half-stepping backwards across the bridge as he fired the machine gun in bursts to discourage enemy pursuit.

Utilizing that fire, the demolitions specialist darted from cover to cover, never straying far from the machine gunner and his heavy field of fire. Despite the mass volume of fire coming from the machine gunner as well as a dozen defenders, both normal students and Fireteam Charlie personnel, on the far side of the bridge, the enemy forces had already made it onto the bridge, marching over their own fallen without as much as a glance, the walker in their midst firing globe after globe of energy up the hill, seemingly softening up the defenses further on.

"Get out of here!" the machine gunner yelled above the clatter of combat as he stepped around a barricade. "I can't hold them ba-"

The energy blast from the walker struck without warning, as they did not create a whistling sound the way that artillery rounds did. Whether by superb accuracy or incredible circumstance, the blast landed directly on the machine gunner, engulfing him in an instant, while the force of the blast pitched the demolitions specialist onto his stomach, his ears ringing from shell shock.

As he rolled onto his back and looked up into the darkening sky, he saw a pair of Zeroes flash overhead, the lead fighter firing at some distant target. He heard neither the rumble of the engines or the scream of the magic casters past the dull throbbing of his ears and the sensation that someone had stuffed them full of cotton. He caught sight of his helmet lying upside down nearby, having fallen off at some point in the blast, and reached over to pick it up, turning it over to let debris fall out of it before putting it back in place on his head.

Sound slowly began to reassert itself as he sat up and numbly looked around for his battle rifle. Of the machine gunner who had been watching his back, there was nothing except a point on the bridge at which the shell casings from the heavy machine gun just stopped, a point which the advancing droid infantry was fast approaching.

His main weapon was gone, either tossed off the side of the bridge when he had been hurled by the blast or otherwise having ended up where he couldn't see it. Leaning up on his left arm, he reached down to the holster on his right thigh and produced the reproduction M1911A1 that all the special-service members of Fireteam Charlie had been given. Shakily raising the weapon in his hand, he aimed it at the nearest of the droids and pulled the trigger, and if he even noticed, he didn't care that the .45-caliber slug only bounced off the machine's frame. Lining the weapon up once more, he fired another shot, and another, and another.

He felt more than heard booted feet running up to him, and barely glanced back when a fellow marine grabbed him by the shoulder strap of his armor and hauled him backwards, still sitting down, away from the bridge. Faintly, through the haze of shell shock-induced deafness, he could hear a voice yelling over the radio, "Marines, fall back now!"

The texture of the ground beneath him changed, brick cobblestone now where it had been concrete and asphalt a moment ago, which meant he was no longer on the bridge. He was dragged behind a barricade by his mysterious benefactor, where an individual wearing a white robe with a hastily-scrawled red cross on it inspected him. He couldn't hear the voices, but he figured that he was being pronounced with shell shock.

Nodding to the medic, the marine looked away from the dazed demolitions expert and consulted his PDA. He didn't get a fancy HUD like those lucky bastards in the Helljumper division, so if he wanted to check IFF tags and locations, he had to use a handheld device. The Fireteam Charlie squads that had moved to Defense Point Charlie had uplinked with the central command and control there to get their maps and IFF beacons updated, and that map was currently showing the bridge to be clear of any and all allied IFFs, Fireteam Charlie or otherwise. "We're clear!" he yelled into his radio as he dove behind a metal barricade. "The bridge is clear! Light it up!"

"Roger that, detonating charges," the marines all heard over the radio. "Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!"

Evidently, either all the charges were wired to the same detonation signal, or it had been decided higher up the chain of command to blow the entire bridge. Starting from the first support braces nearest the enemy's side of the bridge, twin fireballs blossomed in the midst of the advancing droids, scattering wrecked and fragmented machines along with concrete debris. More paired explosions went off in sequence, walking toward the allied lines, decimating the enemy forces on the bridge while simultaneously cutting off the major access point. As the thunder of the last of the explosions died out, the marines and robed defenders cheered the display of wanton destruction, pumping fists and weapons into the air.

"Hell yeah! That's the way!"

Viertel Am See Plaza, Defense Point Echo, Third Defense Line
1849 hours

Lorenzo stood in the command center. He had his forces already spread out in the other defense points, and already the enemy attack came. Lorenzo had told them to hold, to not expose themselves. Every one of his defenders were hiding, camouflaged within the ruins with their IFF deactivated until they opened fire. The Demon too was closing, and he had to act now. He went outside, and walked past the waiting artillery crews. He pulled out a flare gun and raised it.

"You know...I can just make a big joke about this and yell out Henshin," he said, noticing Maria had followed behind him.

She smiled, and pulled out her own pistol. "I don't think you're as unlucky as Ryotaro, besides, you're more badass than some comical character like Den-O," she said.

Lorenzo smiled, and looked below him. They were already passing the two tanks used as a roadblock, and were slowly nearing the only fortified line they had. "I guess so," he remarked, before pulling the trigger.

A trail of white smoke issued forth from the pistol, the flare going high before exploding into a red ball. Simultaneously, in the rear of the enemy formation moving up the main street, numerous IEDs, placed there from the very start, detonated in a deafening cacophony of fire and thunder. Considering how tightly packed the enemy were, even with the uphill climb up to the ruined plaza that greatly resembled a scene from the Siege of Stalingrad, this amounted to some confusion. This was compounded when the third and fourth defense lines opened fire, the heroic defenders who had volunteered to filter to the front catching many in surprise booby traps, claymores hidden in the rubble, and even explosives hidden amongst piles that threw rock everywhere at speeds that can kill.

Of course the droids were fighting back, and dirty, already command started getting reports of people disappearing, and already Katerine, who had been kept in command of the captured walker, opened up. The railgun was offline, but that didn't matter, as the twin forty-millimeter anti-vehicle weapon still functioned to great and devastating effect, their attack coupled with the tanks that had been resupplied with canister shot, which were firing them as fast as they could be loaded.

The defenders who weren't in vehicles kept firing into the crowd, some not even bothering to raise their heads, merely resting the barrels of their weapons on top of their cover and firing. The target rich environment ensured that even completely blind fire would eventually score a hit.

Among the ones who went forward were the four AMS mages besides Lorenzo and Maria. They were once again performing their stylized weapon dance inside ruined buildings, helping the mundane defenders with a well placed burst here and there, as well as making tactical decisions and reorganizing forces.

In the very rear of the enemy forces was the massive demon which, unlike the others, actually looked as though it had sat at the bottom of the lake for decades, a tremendous beast that seemed not so much to move as it did ooze through the lake, its surface shimmering as though it had a continuous, moving sheen of water sliding across its massive form.

The remaining artillery pieces had set the beast as their primary target, shelling the creature with furious abandon, though the points of impact on the creature's hide seemed to ripple for a few moments, underscoring the appearance of a water skin, before settling with no apparent harm from the artillery. As the demon reached the shore, its water-skin sluiced off it and into the lake, and as artillery continued to rain down on it, minor holes and burn marks began to appear in its side, though with not even a quarter the damage that the artillery crews expected of the Type-96 field guns they were using.

"Okay...that thing is getting close. Let's reveal our trump card shall we?" Lorenzo said, and donned heavy duty ear-covers. As he did so, an air raid siren sounded, and the sound pierced through the fighting, and even carried over to other defense points. Almost immediately, the fighting began to die down, everyone wanting to get out of the way. Only the Type-96 field guns continued to hammer the demon with as much fire as they could put on it.

It seemed like an easy task for the enemy commander: mop up the survivors of the last waves of attacks and capture the defense point. Everything seemed to be going according to plan, a spirited defense that would make it rough and dirty. That is, when the third defense line people, those that the droid had personally been fighting room to room, suddenly disappeared. The spider holes they went into were booby trapped and sealed off. And the walkers and tanks backed off, as well as the defenders. The ground commander in charge of the assault did not question the actions of its enemies, and pressed forward toward the upper command area, where the enemy's remaining artillery and that mysterious box waited.

"Open their gift," Lorenzo said, and Maria pressed on a button.

The front exploded into four pieces via explosive bolts, one piece crushing an overzealous droid beneath, before those who spilled over were dealt with by the two captured walkers. Before anything else can take a shot at it, the railgun fired one shot, or it seemed to have fired something, as a bright flash emitted from the front of the weapon, and in the middle of the enemy, a huge explosion that claimed anything within a 30 meter radius and blew shrapnel in all directions.

Upon seeing this, the demon seemed to let out a growl, and then hunkered down in its position, generating a bubble-like shield around itself that destroyed the artillery rounds on contact with it. The creature roared, and as it did so expanded its shield outward in a roiling energy attack wave that struck the buildings along the first defense line and brought them crashing down upon themselves.

At first, Lorenzo assumed that everyone taking shelter within those buildings had been killed by the attack, but aerial images from UAVs flying over the battlefield showed a number of those trademark black spheres that seemed to be creating a sort of teleportation effect on those it affected.

Mahora Gakuen All-Girls' Academy, Classroom 3-A
The Same Time

The school that her adopted sister attended was only a hundred yards from the lines that marked the edge of the battle area around Defense Point Charlie. Because of its proximity to the combat area, a single squad of Fireteam Charlie's Marine personnel was tasked with patrolling the area to make sure that the enemy weren't attempting to use it as a base of operations. They needn't have bothered, however, for it was the Kuro crew that had claimed the academy as their base.

Motoko sat in her sister's seat, listening to the distant rattle of weapons fire, interspersed with the occasional rumble of an explosion. Chao had pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. The 2500 droids that the Mahoran defenders had spent the last hour and so fighting against had been a skirmish and distracting force, minimally-armed to lull her enemies into a false sense of security. Her real attack force, numbering fifteen thousand strong and armed with weapons to rival Lorenzo's Fireteam Charlie, had maneuvered through the vast sewers of the city-academy to position themselves in perfect tactical position. Then, when everyone had thought her army defeated, the six Defense Points had found themselves inundated with an additional twenty-five hundred droids, each. The momentum had swung hard in her favor, and had yet to be recaptured. Because of this terrible turn of events, Motoko knew, she and the others would be forced to abandon their original plan to march in all badass like the parlay scene from the last of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and simply make their way to their assigned defense points with all available haste.

These thoughts, however, were the farthest thing from her mind as she sat at Setsuna's desk, her head cupped in her hands. A crystalline drop of moisture raced down her cheek, hanging momentarily by the line of her jaw before falling free to the surface of the desk, joining several of its comrades in a shallow pool. Mutely, she traced a finger beneath her eye, preventing the escape of another such drop. Why now? she queried silently, biting her lip in a valiant effort to keep back the flood of emotion threatening to overwhelm her. Why did I have to learn this now? Now I find myself so conflicted, I know not what I should do. Aneue, which duty should I hold in higher regard? Duty to my comrades and the mission? Or…

Her other hand dropped into her lap, and then began to slowly rise up the front of her body, coming to rest on her stomach, which her arm then wrapped around protectively. Or do I give more weight to the duty to my husband, and our child…?

She hadn't thought it incredibly unusual when she had missed her period the previous month, as it would have come around the time that they had been challenged by Mahora Academy, and stress was known to short-circuit periods. She'd become wary when she'd missed her period this month, which should have come weeks before Mahorafest, not as though this festival had caused her any stress at all; to the contrary, it was the most relaxed she had been in a long while. The fatigue she had blamed on the battle with the Mahorans, and the upheaval they had been dealing with since the end of May-has it really only been two months that Keitaro has been gone?-had been pegged as the source of lingering stress. She had likewise blamed the occasional nausea on a spring flu.

But while her husband had been out at the cosplay contest at Library Island on the first day, she'd been with Naru and Haruka and, having discussed her symptoms with them, Haruka had immediately brought her to a convenience store and purchased a home pregnancy test. They'd returned to the Hinata to allow her to use it in privacy, and then Naru had gone out afterwards to buy two more of differing brands. Taking two additional tests from different brands was just a formality, and all it did was confirm the fact.

Naru and Haruka had sworn to say nothing, to let Motoko break the news on her own time. She and Seno had never even discussed the prospect of children; she didn't know if he even wanted to be a father. She had no doubt that he would be a wonderful father, being as he possessed the talent of patient caring with the ability to be strict and disciplinarian when necessary. But the talent to perform a task did not mean that a task was welcome, a fact keen on her mind after having recently finished reading Seno's copy of Republic Commando: Triple Zero. She felt a keen similarity between herself and the female Jedi who had become pregnant by a clone soldier. Unlike that story, there was no Sergeant Skirata keeping her from telling Seno that he was going to be a father. She would not, could not, keep this a secret from him.

And speak of the devil, she could hear his voice now, echoing faintly down the empty hallway, probably speaking to the patrol of 'Marines' that had passed by the room several minutes ago. "Hey, you guys seen my wife? Long dark hair in a ponytail, wearing the outfit with the blue miniskirt?"

She blushed at that description, especially when a few of the student-soldiers' comments about the 'hottie' started to drift her way. Fortunately, the leader kept professional, answering, "Yes, sir, saw her back there in 3-A."

"Thanks, guys. Keep at 'em, we're gonna knock 'em dead!"

Hearing footsteps echoing down the hallway at a rapid pace, she quickly sat up and rubbed her hands over her face, erasing her tear tracts and trying to bring her appearance back under control. She had just finished and was looking toward the door as he came striding through, the dim light of the setting sun glinting off the green and black samurai armor he wore. With Shinaijou sheathed in a custom-made scabbard, the flowing green cape bearing a coiled dragon, and the traditional kabuto with the gold crescent moon crest, he looked every bit the image of Masamune Date, stepped straight from the screen of Samurai Warriors 2.

And he could play the part too, with that cocksure grin on his face as he came through the door, mischief lighting up his left eye that wasn't covered by a painstakingly-detailed eye patch. She could feel the tense energy radiating off him through the soul bond they shared, and knew that he was anxious to get into the action, that this was like a once-in-a-lifetime combination of all his Clone Wars and Samurai Warriors dreams wrapped up and packaged for him. It was the ultimate fanboy experience, and he was almost giddy with anticipation.

She knew that if she told him now that it would distract him. He wouldn't be able to focus on his enemies, and even if he could put it to the back of his mind, it'd still be back there, nibbling at his subconscious, and he wouldn't enjoy the event as well as he otherwise would, and that it could potentially cause him to make a mistake. She couldn't tell him now.

So she forced a smile and stood up as he strode into the room, and she had to admit that the look suited him well, almost as if he had been the One-Eyed Dragon in a previous life. That wasn't possible, of course; in one of his previous lives he had been a samurai of his own lineage serving the Date during the time that Masamune was alive, and at the same time she had been a samurai serving the Toyotomi, and the two had met on opposite sides of Sekigahara. According to legend and the histories of both the Nakakami and Aoyama families, they had killed one another in battle.

He noticed the drop in her attitude immediately, and wiped the cocky expression from his face. "Motoko? Something wrong?" he asked, crossing the room swiftly and cupping her cheek with his right hand.

She smiled faintly and bit her lip, leaning her head into his palm. "No, it's okay," she whispered. "Seeing you in that armor, it reminded me of what your parents told us of our past life in the Azuchi-Momoyama period."

At first, he said nothing, the sharp gaze of his one visible eye piercing through her as he pursed his lips in thought. Reminders of that past life were as painful to him as they were to her, especially as they were almost forced to relive that horrible scenario again not even a year ago.

Banishing those dark thoughts, he raised his other hand to her shoulder and gently pulled her to him, the motion causing the plates of his armor to rattle as he leaned down and kissed her, sliding the hand on her cheek down to the small of her back.

The kiss may not have been intended to sooth her frayed nerves, but that was what it did, and her heart was racing for a different reason as she pulled back slightly, looked at him through lidded eyes, and whispered, "I thought you were Masamune, not Nagamasa."

He grinned that cocky, smug grin of his that went so well with the Masamune armor, and kissed her again, then answered, "Well, I'll have to kill ya if you tell anyone about it. Imbecile."

Stepping back, she pulled herself out of his arms and then walked a slow circle around him, taking in the costume that he had spent months researching and designing, ensuring that he had gotten every detail perfect. He was even better-suited to cosplay as Masamune than most people, since he had a similar facial structure to the character from the game. He really almost did look like the genuine article.

"You play your part so well," she all but purred, slipping her hand beneath the neck guard of the helmet and tracing her fingers along the bare skin beneath. "One might truly think you to be Dokuganryu." She glanced down beneath the cape, spying two of the Mahoran magic casters that he had obviously taken to complete the image. She grinned at a sudden vivid memory of a five year old boy trying his hardest to win her a stuffed bear at a festival booth. "Except your shooting ability is atrocious."

"Shit, you know just how to kill a mood, don't you?"

She laughed and came around to his front, slipping her arms around his neck. "The truth hurts, my love." Reaching up, she hooked her fingers over the top of the crescent moon and tugged forward, pulling the helmet down to obscure his vision. As he grunted and reached up to reseat the helmet, she said, "But a mighty warrior, nonetheless. Truly worthy of the title of Dragon… of Hinata."

"Oh, hey, I like that," he said as he finally got his helmet back on straight, grinning down at Motoko. "'Dragon of Hinata,' huh? Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with that."

A new, female voice that neither of them recognized broke in, "I do so hate to break up such romantic scenarios, but we really must be going. If we do not assist our erstwhile comrades soon, the enemy army will break them."

The couple looked toward the bank of windows overlooking the embattled area to see a figure beginning to materialize. It took on the form of a woman with long, flowing brown hair tied in a ponytail. Her attire consisted of a 'bodice' that was really little more than black wrappings which disappeared inside a black hakama, over which a tattered red half-skirt was belted. Her arms were covered by unattached black sleeves and white hand- and wrist-guards. Held in her hand was a blade identical to Shinaijou, down to the gold-and-black hilt wrappings and the dragon wing design of the tsuba.

Seno's hand immediately dropped to his side as he recognized the blade, and found that his daisho was still sheathed at his side. At first he didn't understand who this woman was and why she was holding an exact replica of his blade, but then he remembered something that Kazue had told him. "Okay, I know damn well that samurai didn't dress like that back in like the twelfth century."

The woman turned toward him and gave him a dry smirk. "No, but this is a festival. Am I not allowed to wear a costume myself?"

Seno's only response to this was a facepalm. Motoko, on the other hand, looked from her husband's blade, to the identical one that the woman held, and it took a moment for her to draw the connection, at which point she gasped and immediately moved to go to one knee. "Hisato-sam-"

She was stopped by the touch of the woman's hand beneath her chin, keeping her from kneeling, and bringing her gaze up. The woman's shundo had been silent and perfectly-executed. "No such formalities are necessary," she said. "I failed in my duties to my family, and brought shame upon the Aoyama name. It is I who should be deferring to you, Motoko-sama."

The young heiress of Shinmeiryu looked positively stricken as she shook her head at the woman, her distant ancestor. "N-no, that is not…"

Hisato smiled and touched her palm to the top of Motoko's head. "I look upon you with great pride. You have brought much honor to our family, and will continue to do so."

Seno didn't appear impressed. "Now who's wasting time?"

"Shush, you," Hisato tossed back, waving one hand dismissively. "I've never gotten to speak to my descendant before, and I don't have much time. Perhaps an hour or two at most. Not like how you and I can speak whenever we so choose."

Shrugging, Seno turned and strode out of the room, murmuring something about imbeciles as he left. Motoko smiled faintly. In character even when he isn't, she thought.

Hisato laid a hand on Motoko's shoulder, a serious expression on her face. "You can't keep it a secret from him," she told the younger woman. "It would be morally-wrong by every societal definition."

She didn't insult her ancestor by asking to what it was she referred. "I know," she whispered, touching her stomach again. "I will tell him tonight, after the battle. I didn't want him to be thinking about it during the fight, and lose his focus."

The spirit-woman smiled. "Good. You are blessed with a grace of mind as well as beauty. My charge is very lucky to have your heart."

Motoko bit her lip again, some distant clinical part of her mind reminding her that if she kept that up, she was going to make herself bleed. "I…I fear going into battle, Hisato-sama. I fear some unforeseen injury could bring harm to the child, or that the continuous channeling of my ki could have some adverse affect."

"Fear not, my child," Hisato said, squeezing Motoko's shoulder. "As long as I am manifest, I am free to do as I will. Your husband will not suffer the loss of my spirit within the blade, for it keeps all its attributes so long as I still exist. I shall stand by your side during the coming battle, and I shall protect you, and the future you carry within you."

"Thank you," the young heiress whispered, feeling tears once more threaten to cloud her vision. She quickly wiped them away, resolving herself, then said, "Come, there is a battle to win."

Red Flight, Airspace Over the Combat Area
The Same Time

"Red Flight, those unsealed demons are going to be trouble. See what you can do about taking them down."

"Charlie Station Five-Seven, we're on our way," Stephanie answered, pulling out of a strafing run against a group of the new six-legged walkers marching out of the lake. Her weapons were barely scratching the armor of those units, something that went against everything she had ever learned about close air support. Of course, if her Zero were armed with the authentic 20mm and 7.7mm cannons she'd probably be causing a lot more damage to the enemy walkers. Then again, were she equipped with the real cannons, she'd have long since expended all her ammunition.

As she climbed back up to three thousand feet, she sideslipped and rolled her fighter to avoid ground fire from the new enemy forces. These were real bullets being shot at her now, rather than some silly laser strip beams, and she was all too aware that she was essentially flying a wood frame with an engine and paper mâché for armor.

Her other pilots heard the order as well, and from the other five defense points, the seven other Zeroes peeled off from their attack runs and moved to rejoin Stephanie, who was circling over the residential sector of the city. Once they were all in formation, she led the squadron into a swooping course toward the horned demon moving steadfastly toward the command center at the chapel.

It didn't have a discernible face, instead simply a horizontal red slit across its head that must have served as its eyes, and two small circular ports where a normal creature's mouth would be that were emitting red blasts of energy. They watched as the creature plodded methodically through the water, moving slowly and sweeping its head back and forth to target whatever defenders that it could see. While its blasts appeared to be little more than scaled-up versions of the droids' strip beams, its power was obviously much higher, as the shots blasted holes in buildings and gouged scars into the landscape where they struck.

"Okay, boys, keep tight now," Stephanie ordered as they closed with the demon. From their altitude and angle of approach, it still had not spotted them. "Attack pattern Delta, go now!"

The eight fighters split into two groups of four and roared past either side of the demon, catching its attention and alerting it to the new threat. As they came around to engage it directly, the beast ignored them and continued its advance. Concentrated fire from its primary attack mode disintegrated a one-story department store, the blast force sending the dozen defenders inside flying out into the streets. Stephanie watched out of the side of her canopy long enough to see that all of them were still moving, and couldn't believe how a blast of that power didn't kill through concussion.

Shaking it off, she looked away as ground droid forces eliminated the stunned students with those curious black spheres, putting her attention back on the demon she was approaching. Centering the beast in her sights, she tightened her finger down on the trigger of her cannons and watched as waves of energy roared out of the wings and engine cowling and slammed into the demon's flanks, not even appearing to leave burn marks.

She pulled back on her stick so as not to crash into it, then pushed the stick forward again as soon as she was clear. "Earhart, you still with me?"

"Right with you, Red Leader."

Nodding, clicking her radio transmitter to confirm that she'd received, she banked into a left turn, coming around for another pass. As she circled, she looked back to see the other pairs of fighters strafing the sides and rear of the demon as the combat maneuver she'd called dictated. None of them seemed to be having any affect. Frowning, she tightened up her turn as she called into the radio, "Cover me, Earhart, I'm going to get brave."

"I've got your back."

The demon didn't show any sign that it was even aware of the squad of Zeroes attacking it, or if it was, that it considered them any more troublesome than a group of swarming gnats. It continued to plod toward the lakeshore, only about a hundred meters from the beach, as it rained fire down on the defenders trying to pick off the advancing enemy infantry. The Mahorans had adopted the strategy of fighting from alleyways and connected buildings, only revealing themselves for a moment at a time and never firing twice from the same location.

A wing pair of Zeroes roared past over the destroyed building, and as they did so, the demon turned its attention toward them and let loose a pair of blasts toward them. The outer Zero swiftly rolled out of the line of fire, and as the second fighter swept onto its left wing to follow, one of the energy blasts grazed the fighter, setting its underside ablaze.

"I'm hit, I'm hit!" Walker reported frantically as he banked away, uncontrolled, toward the lake.

Johnson, Walker's wingman, did a superb job of flying alongside him. "Get a hold of her," the pilot urged.

The heat of the blast had damaged the air frame, and the right wing was wobbling dangerously. "Negative, negative, I've lost control of the engine. I'm going down!"

"Bail out!" Johnson ordered. "Command, we've got a bird down. Need a SAR over to the lake, ASAP. I'll mark the position with green smoke once he's down."

The canopy of the stricken Zero rolled back and the pilot stepped out onto the wing, then dove off the rear of the fighter. His weight snapped the heat-damaged framework and sent the aircraft into a flat spin that ended with a nose-dive into the lake. Walker hit the lake feet-first, and as he swam back up to the surface, Johnson circled overhead and tossed a green smoke grenade into the water.

One of the five Black Hawks was already approaching the crash site as Johnson turned and banked away. "Red Flight, this is Medevac Five, on location. We'll get your downed flyboy."

Despite the loss of Walker, Stephanie still had a job to do. She centered her fighter over the main approach to the chapel and, with Earhart off her left wing, roared directly down the thoroughfare toward the demon, centering its red eyeslit in her crosshairs. She squeezed her guns' trigger once more, watching as its entire head disappeared beneath the volume of fire she rained upon it. But as she ceased fire to pull up, she saw that, once more, she hadn't even left burn marks.

Swearing, she contacted the command center and reported, "There's nothing we can do. This thing's hide is too strong for these little blasters."

There was a moment before she got an answer: "Understood, Red Leader. Abandon the assault on the demons and return to harrying the infantry." The radio operator didn't add, Where you can actually be useful. They didn't need to.

Alleyway near Arcadia-Maison Apartment Building, Defense Point Alpha
1851 hours

Consciousness came to Yuuna like waves lapping on the shore, fading in and out of her perceptions. She could feel the rough scrape of the ground beneath her as she was dragged along, on the occasions where she could feel anything at all. Squeezing her eyes shut, she let her head roll to the side as she tried to force the aches and pains of the last hour and a half of constant battle out of her mind. An incessant ringing sound assaulted her ears, and as she slowly came more aware, she realized that it was a beeping sound, a warning likely caused by the ominous crack down the side of her helmet visor.

Shifting onto her back, she craned her head back to see who or what was dragging her, spotting a human form with shoulder-length brown hair and a Japanese longbow slung across her back. The woman was obviously having a hard time dragging the full weight of Yuuna and her armor, given that she was hauling by both of Yuuna's shoulder straps and still making a fight of it.

"Finally come to, have you, Yuuna-san?" the person dragging her whispered. She looked back at Yuuna and gave her a grin, revealing a face the gunslinger girl recognized, that of the recent friend Hotaru Kobayashi she had met during the field trip to Kyoto.

"Ugh, what the hell happened?" Yuuna groaned.

Hotaru stopped dragging Yuuna and used her grip on the armored girl's collar to haul her upright. "That 'bot with the big Gatling gun would've got you if I hadn't tackled you down. You hit your head on the steps though, so I dragged you out of there. Sorry about that."

Not immediately answering, Yuuna popped her helmet and touched her gloved fingers to a sore spot just above her temple, but her hand didn't come away bloody, so she replaced the helmet and muttered, "One-thirty-four."

"Hmm?" Hotaru asked.

"Not a Gatling gun," Yuuna explained very matter-of-factly. "General Electric Model One-Thirty-Four machine gun, commonly known as a Dillon minigun."

The girl looked askance at the gunslinger. "I'm an archer, hun. Guns are…" She passed her free hand over her head.

Yuuna chuckled.

Hotaru smiled and threw an arm around the armored girl's shoulders. "Well, tell you what. You've been inspiring a lot of people to keep fighting out there, so you keep it up, and I'll watch your back."

"Right, let's do it!" Yuuna called out, a little too loudly, as she rose to her feet to get back into the fight.

"Wait, wait, get down!" Hotaru hissed, grabbing the other girl's collar and hauling her down, against the opposite wall that supported the incline of the staircase leading up to the plaza. Flattening herself against the wall, she indicated the need for silence by pressing a finger to her lips.

Confused, Yuuna flattened herself as well and furrowed her brow inside her helmet, only just then realizing that the defense area had gone mostly silent save for the ominous sound of marching feet. She was drawn out of this realization by a scraping noise and looked up to see a blond-fringed head peek over the lip of the wall, scanning the alley for the source of the sound.

Movement out of her peripheral vision drew her to look toward Hotaru, who gestured up at the droid, drew her bow, and then shook her head. The thing was armored, and from this position, there was no way that Hotaru would be able to get enough of a draw to take the thing out in one shot without being spotted. Nodding, Yuuna reached down to her gunbelt and drew one of her new pistols, glancing down at it, then switching it out of safe mode with a very slight click.

The droid, however, heard the noise, and leaned forward in order to peer straight down at them. Yuuna reacted immediately, snapping her pistol up and putting an armor-piercing round straight through its forehead. It took her not hearing the expected explosive report of the weapon to realize that it was suppressed.

Destroyed and overbalanced, the droid pitched forward and started to come down on top of them. Covering the top of the wall with her pistol, Yuuna shoved Hotaru forward and out of the way with her free hand, instincts taking over as she sought any kind of cover from the enemy. She spotted an open window at the basement level of a two-story house and pointed Hotaru toward it. The archer nodded and broke for the window as more droid units leaned over the retaining wall behind them and opened fire.

Black spheres burst into existence all around them as Yuuna turned and fired her pistol one-handed, seeking to suppress more than hit targets. Distantly, she could see in her field of vision the FAMAS F1 rifle that the droid she'd shot had dropped, and regretted not having the presence of mind to pick it up. She continued to fire as she walked backwards, and as she counted past the normal twelve-round capacity of the Magnum and the weapon kept firing, she briefly wondered how it could hold so much ammunition.

Her back hit the wall of the building, but she knew that if she turned to hoist herself up into it, she'd be shot as soon as her suppression fire came to a halt. It seemed that Hotaru had already thought of this, as she felt the girl's hands snap onto her torso armor's collar and haul her up bodily through the window frame. Hotaru hauled with all her might, and the two collapsed in a pile of limbs and armor out of sight of the window.

Yuuna's head rang from the crack of her helmeted head against the floor of the building, and as her eyes cleared, she found herself staring up at Hotaru, who was draped across her in a manner similar to that found in most shoujo anime or manga. This brought forth the brief thought that such incidents did happen in real life, swiftly followed by the fact that Hotaru was laying on top of her. Hotaru had flirted with her a bit during the field trip to Kyoto, and had helped her get past the rejection she'd gotten from Makie. Since then, she'd spent more than a few sleepless nights wondering if there was something there.

The archer seemed equally-entranced by their position. She brought up her hands and felt around the edges of Yuuna's helmet until she found the trigger to slide up the blue-black visor, revealing the young squad leader's face. She then leaned herself forward, bringing her face closer to Yuuna's, closing her eyes as she neared. Yuuna's eyes widened, and an electric tingle ran through her body. Is s-she about to k-k-k-kiss me!?

The world will never know, as heavy bootsteps came down the stairs leading up to the next floor. A dark-armored figure came around the corner and spotted Yuuna and Hotaru on the ground. The name 'ADACHI' was stenciled on the figure's helmet. "Damn, glad to see you made it out of that mess, Sarge," the armored figure spoke with a woman's voice.

Hotaru, startled out of her semi-daze by the Helljumper's voice, looked up lazily at the other armored woman and muttered, "Couldn't have waited two more seconds…" before standing up and moving aside to recover her dropped longbow.

As that was going on, Adachi knelt down by Yuuna's side and pulled off her helmet, inspecting her for injuries. It took Hotaru a moment to spot the familiar red cross over a white background on the armored shoulder pad indicating a medic.

"We thought that minigun bastard got you," Adachi continued, shining a small light in Yuuna's eyes, then holding up a finger before her face. "Follow my finger, Sarge." She began to move her finger in random patterns, watching Yuuna's eyes track the digit as she continued, "Lost a good thirty just right there, and it's been steady losses ever since."

"What about all the wounded?" Yuuna asked.

Adachi shook her head, then hauled her squad leader into a sitting position and handed her back her helmet. "Minor concussion," she diagnosed of Yuuna's condition. "You'll be fine. Bastards shot most of 'em where they laid. It's gonna be tough from here in, Sarge. These guys got real guns and whenever they shoot someone, they disappear in these weird black spheres."

Scowling, the almost-kiss already pushed to the corner of her mind, Yuuna pulled her helmet on and snapped the visor shut. "Numbers?" she asked, her voice emerging slightly-canned from the external speaker of the helmet.

"Estimates are upwards of two-k at every defense point," Adachi answered, picking up her mockup BR-55HB SR. "We're pretty much all fighting the entire first wave all over, and they got these new guns. Morale is shot to shit here. Everybody's taking cover and hiding from 'em, and they pretty much got a clear line straight to the plaza."

Yuuna uttered a very un-ladylike curse and ejected the magazine of her pistol, seeing that it still appeared fully-loaded. Not questioning this, she slammed the magazine back in and looked at Adachi. "Okay, we've got to get some kind of semblance of command and control back here, otherwise they're just going to march right over us." She activated the HUD map system and brought up the local map of the Alpha defense area, using a specific pattern of eye motion to mark a building near the center of the plaza with good overwatch over the entire area. "This is our rally point. Get the squad there. Move out."

"Ma'am," Adachi nodded, then turned and dashed out the back door of the house toward the central plaza.

Standing in the background, watching Yuuna take command and give her orders, Hotaru felt a small rush of…something, something that gave her hope that they would make it out of this okay. She felt a maddening sense of deja vu, that she had felt this before, that sensation that they needed to pull together and give that last bit of effort.

She didn't know what came over her right then, but as Yuuna finished checking her pistol, Hotaru strode purposefully toward her, seized her weapon hand by the wrist, and brought her other hand up to trip the switch that would flip up Yuuna's visor. As before, Yuuna's entire frame froze up at the unexpected move, and Hotaru took advantage of the other girl's confusion to grip the back of her helmet, holding her in place as she leaned in and kissed the gunslinger girl.

A brilliant violet light erupted from beneath them, accompanied by a gust of wind that blew directly up toward the ceiling.

The light faded, Hotaru stepped back, and Yuuna looked down to see two cards bearing the likeness of Hotaru and words that she couldn't read laying on the ground between them. Yuuna leaned down to scoop up the cards and examine them, turning them over in her hands. "What are these things?"

"I'm not sure," Hotaru answered, reaching out to take one of them from Yuuna. She looked down at the card. "What is that I'm holding?"

"Looks like a lantern on a stick with some fireflies," the gunslinger girl remarked. "What does that stuff on it say?"

"It looks like English." Squinting, the other girl pulled the card close to her face to try to make sense of the words. "Ignis-Fugio Arquitenens...? Ignis is I think fire, because of igneous rocks, but for the rest of it..."

"It means 'Firefly Archer,' and it's supposed to be a description of your personality," a new voice answered her. Both girls spun to find a man wearing the standard defensive robes of the game standing in the corner, where they both could have sworn there had been no one before. His hood was down, letting them see his short blond hair, intensely blue eyes, and clean-shaven face that seemed almost too perfect to be exactly natural.

Yuuna crossed her arms over her chest, and though her face couldn't be seen through her visor, her sour tone said it all. "I was wondering when you'd show your face around here. Come to show me up some more?"

The man shrugged. "Yes, but not at this exact instance. Having noticed what just went on here, I thought I'd drop by and enlighten the two of you about what's just happened, since neither of you have a frame of reference nor anyone nearby who could provide that exposition for you." Smirking, he turned toward the nearby door, as though he were going to make his way back out to the battlefield. "Of course, if you're not interested..."

"Wait!" Hotaru called out, stepping forward and holding her hand out in a halting gesture toward him. "Please, won't you tell us what these cards mean?"

Stopping, he turned and looked toward Hotaru's pleading expression, then over at Yuuna, then back at Hotaru, and finally sighed in resignation. "I never could resist a pretty girl asking in earnest. Alright, here's the deal. Those cards are proof of a provisional contract, otherwise known as a pactio. Since you're the one that appears on the card, miss, that makes you the ministra and Yuuna the magistra. I am so sorry for you."

Hotaru giggled as Yuuna stepped forward threateningly, her fists planting on her hips. Before she could say anything, however, the man continued, "A pactio contract grants you an increased defensive and offensive buff from your magistra. Usually this draws on the person's magic pool, and I'll be the first to say that I'm as surprised as either of you ladies that Yuuna has any magic. The card is also the compact storage form of a unique artifact. To summon it, say 'adeat,' and to make it turn back into the card, say 'abeat.' Go ahead, give it a try."

Looking down at the card in her hand, Hotaru held it out away from her as though she were afraid it was going to bite her, then pronounced, "Adeat!"

There was an abrupt flash of light, and the card was gone, replaced with a shepherd's crook with a chouchin-type lantern hanging from the hook, producing a very faint amount of light. Four or five fireflies drifted out of the interior of the lantern, most flitting about at random, while one flew over to Yuuna and alighted on her helmet, and another did the same for Hotaru. Across the room, the man raised one hand, and another firefly drifted over to alight on his fingers.

"These are not your bog standard fireflies," he announced after a moment of study. "Oh, they're natural enough, but it appears that they can be directed by you mentally. They also produce quite a bit of heat, so I imagine you can have them set things on fire. All-in-all, quite a useful artifact." Lowering his hand, he glanced out a nearby window, as though gauging the state of the battle beyond. "Well, that should about be all the information you need for now. Yuuna, if you want to know more about the world of magic the two of you have just jumped into, then look up your teacher after the festival."

And with that, he turned and walked out of the building, vanishing with such quickness that it was almost as if he had never been there.

Hotaru watched him go a moment, then turned back to face Yuuna. "Yuuna-san, who was that? You seemed to know him."

Scoffing, Yuuna reached up her hands to cup the firefly that had landed on her head. The little insect showed no signs of fearing her, in fact hopping into her gloved hands of its own accord and illuminating the space between her fingers. "That guy's name is Stromric, but he just goes by Strom mostly. He's been a pain in my ass ever since the Kyoto field trip, where I supposedly got him fired from a job at the hotel he had. Ever since then he's always made it his goal in life to come by and one-up me in everything that I do."

Giggling, Hotaru held her lantern staff in one hand and looped her other arm around the gunslinger girl's neck. "Well, I can tell you about one way he's not going to one-up you, Yuuna-san. Tonight, after we've beaten all these 'bots, after you've taken the top prize, we're going to go to the biggest victory party we can find, and then tomorrow I'll show you the time of your life." Her voice took on a slightly hesitant tone. "That is…if you're interested…I mean, you know… in me…"

"I-I am…" Yuuna whispered, though her helmet audio transmitted it loud enough to be heard. She cleared her throat, then nodded. "Y-Yeah, I'd l-like that."

It was Hotaru who first noticed the floating camera that drifted neurotically around the room, along with a faint voice that she could just barely register at the edge of her hearing.

Yuuna noticed a moment later, and furrowed her brow at the sight of what she recognized as Kazumi's camera. Playing a hunch, she activated the threat-assessment vision mode of her visor, watching the vision-enhancing software highlight the lines of the building interior in a muted yellow. Hundreds of IFF markers crowded into her vision as the visor utilized its uplink with the central command network to inform her of where her allies were. With a glance, she deactivated the IFF markers.

Before her, as if by magic, the visor revealed a hazy figure in a washed out blue-white color holding the camera, outlined in yellow, as the visor's electronics set the figure as a neutral combatant by default. But she recognized the face of the figure, her class' resident ghost, Sayo Aisaka.

"What's up, Sayo-san?"

At first, she could see Sayo's lips moving, but couldn't hear anything, so she ramped up the audio pickup in her helmet. "…hoping that you'd let me follow around behind you and record you in the fighting."

Yuuna blinked a few times, but got the basic gist of the message. Apparently, this had to do with that documentary of the battle that Kazumi had wanted to film of her, and since she was now the announcer of the event, she was having Sayo do the filming. She grinned, then remembered that Sayo couldn't see through her visor, so gave her a thumbs up. "Sure thing, Sayo-san, just be careful that you don't get shot!"

Subway Tunnels, East Line, Exact Location Unknown
1851 hours

Things had gradually gone from bad to worse as far as Takaki was concerned. Damn my chronic bad luck. His thoughts were not misplaced; not so long as they continued to run for their lives, enemy bullets whizzing past the fleeing squad. However, though they ran like the wind, everything seemed to slow down. So slow that Takaki had barely realized it when he tripped over his own feet and fell to the ground before him. As he lay there in his slow world, he reflected, realizing just how often he got into trouble. Nothing like this of course, nothing that involved running from anime-esque Terminators as they shot some sort of magic bullets at him and his friends.

"Run dammit, run!" came the hoarse yell of the winded Yukimura, who gripped Takaki's sleeve and pulled him back to his feet. The Tanaka scout patrol's accuracy left something to be desired, their speed however did not. The distance between the two groups was closing rapidly, and both teams knew it. Yet there was hope, a light at the end of the tunnel. Literally in this case; Kazuki had signaled Takaki seconds earlier that the platform was within sight. "Taiyo, u-use it now!" strained Takaki through emaciated panting.

Skidding to a stop, Taiyo ducked down and quickly charged his launcher's last shot. Without hesitation, the elder Miyazaki spun in a 180 and squeezed off the deadly blast with a loud and clear, "Jaculetur!" The thunderous beam shot through the tunnel, illuminating the darkness and landing smack-dab in the middle of the pursuing scout party. Like so many of their automated comrades before them, the scouts stood little chance, the white magic engulfing and cremating them where they stood.

Collapsing to the floor, the amateur fire team attempted to catch their breaths. "H-how many...shot d-do we have left?" wheezed Mikuru, clearly the most physically traumatized; she was downright brilliant, just not the most fit. As all eyes fell on Kazuki, the silent friend had already calmed his breathing and was inspecting his own launcher reserves. Without a word, Kazuki raised his head and signaled with a lone finger.

"Shit, only one shot with the bazooka?!" Yukimura himself was still quite winded, but had recovered for the most part "Well, what about grenades? Or any explosives whatsoever?" inquired the ebony haired sophomore.

His worries were validated when the added explosives of everyone came out to only about eight catalyst grenades.

"That's not very much, not for a useful defense anyway, these clankers are too fast," commented Taiyo in his usual pessimistic deadpan.

Takaki slowly took everything in, thinking carefully, What would you do, Hiro?

The light switch flipped on and Takaki's face lit up, not with joy but sudden inspiration. He still had his doubts, he still had his bad luck, but it was well worth the risk and would look epic in the end. That's all that really mattered. "Yuki-kun can you still make a bang?"

A spark flickered in the eyes of Yukimura, "Hell yeah! I can rig anything you want to blow, I even brought some flash flares from the shop." A mischievous grin appeared from ear to ear, preceding a somewhat evil chuckle that emanated from the sophomore.

Satisfied with the given answer, Takaki turned to the quietest member of the group. "Kazu-kun you're our best shot, your superior aim and calculations will be key."

Kazuki's only response was a nod of acknowledgement as he hoisted his launcher to his shoulder.

"Gather all the grenades, we're denying them our tunnels. No clankers allowed!" boasted Takaki, arms crossed and defiance expressed.

Mikuru was the first to question such a plan. "How? We're only five, with a whole Martian battalion marching towards us."

Takaki smirked as he helped his friends one after another to their feet. "We're going to flush them out, out of our metro and down the drains."

Not the clear answer the rest of them were looking for.

"Uh, yeah, care to elaborate?" probed Taiyo, not too eager to participate in whatever stupid scheme or plan was about to crawl out of Takaki's mouth.

Laughing, Takaki smiled and said, "No need, we're gonna flood this place."

"What!?" came the voices of everyone, including the tight-lipped Kazuki, who now displayed likewise surprise.

"Isn't that a bit much, isn't that crossing the line of a thing called 'collateral damage?'" pressed the dumbfounded Taiyo, seizing Takaki by the shoulder and pulling him so that they were face to face. "What you're suggesting is destruction of miles of public and private property! Why on earth do you think we'd get away with something so severe?"

Takaki calmly removed Taiyo's hand from his shoulder, and with half a sigh he shook his head at his over-cautious friend. "Didn't you hear the radio earlier? No one's stopping those Martian bastards from laying waste to the homes and stores of civilians! If we don't stop them here, they will use these tunnels to ambush the rest of our allies! You would damn the fates of our friends and fellow Mahorans, just so some property can be saved!? Buildings, tunnels, and pipes can be repaired and replaced! This is what anyone else would do; this is what Hiro would do!"

Taiyo couldn't believe Takaki; his emotion had replaced his sense of logic. However, that is why they were so similar, that is why Taiyo knew better than to continue this trivial argument with Takaki. "Very well, how're we going to do this?" He knew he wouldn't like the answer, especially an answer influenced by Murakami-senpai, but what real choice did he have?

Pleased with Taiyo's unusual but welcomed acceptance of his yet to be mentioned plan, Takaki slapped his colleague on the shoulder. "Thank you. If this was just a game, I probably would not ask this of you. But this has moved beyond a game, our people are vanishing at the hands of an unknown enemy. We'll get these fuckers."

"Hey, you guys done? That battalion'll be here any minute now, what's the plan? What'cha want me to do with these grenades?" This time Yukimura questioned in rapid succession, hoping to get a straight answer this time.

"Remember not too long ago, there was an accident in this tunnel. The car derailed and smashed up against the side wall. And everyone was surprised, because no one was hu-"

"Get to the point…" cut Kazuki's quiet voice, though sharp enough to send a shiver down everyone's spine.

"Okay, so here's the plan, we find that sweet spot, we rig all our grenades together, place the surprise on the sweet spot, lure that battalion in, convince them of our surrender, and when I call for it, Kazuki will blow the charges with his last rocket. That should apply enough force. The explosion will tear through the wall to the underground freshwater aqueducts, flooding this tunnel and all tunnels connecting to this one. This will foil all of those clankers who think they can get the drop on the defenders of Mahora!"

As everyone considered the plan, they found it was definitely full of holes but was worth the risk. "Okay if this wor-" began Mikuru.

"When it works." interjected Takaki with his new found grin.

"...yeah, when this works, how are we supposed to get out of here before we're swept away too?" queried Mikuru, her faith in this plan still questionable.

"What kind of question is that? That's obvious, we use the platform stairs of course. Then we can get back to a save point, replenish our supplies and save our epic scores. One thousand droids is some serious points!" laughed Takaki; softly clapping his hands he spun around to nod at each member of his squad before moving to help with the plan.

Mikuru raised her hand and spoke softly, "Umm, but I thought you said this wasn't a ga-"

"We've made it this far! Chop-chop, we don't want to keep those clankers waiting!"

Mahora University City Streets, Defense Point Bravo, Second Defense Line
1852 hours

Chao watched with a hint of amusement on her face as, two streets over, Takahata-sensei blasted a massive hole in the side of her mouse-faced demon, crippling the demon for the moment and allowing the mages working to seal away the creature the chance they needed to do their job while its 'HP was low,' to use a gamer's line of thinking.

Too bad for them they wouldn't get the chance to perform their task.

"I have the shot," Mana's voice buzzed in her ear.

"Hold," she responded. "Itsuki, your new objective is to lead the assault on the World Tree-ne. Take command of the forces there, halt the advance temporarily, and set up defensive positions-yo. Tatsumiya and I will handle the 'heroes' at Bravo."

"Secure defenses, Master? Not press the assault?"

"No, I have something special planned for them-yo."

"As you command, Master."

Chao watched for a few moments more as the mages went about their tasks, scurrying like little insects around a felled lion. "Whenever you are ready, Tatsumiya."

Mahora University Intramural Stadium, Defense Point Bravo
The Same Time

Takamichi Takahata always prided himself on having a situational awareness that bordered on precognition, and it did not fail him now. His head snapped around, followed immediately by an iaiken energy blast that intercepted the shot aimed for his head at a distance of thirty feet. The magic of the bullet activated regardless, generating that ominous black sphere that they were becoming all-too-familiar with. "It's a sniper!" he called out to the other mages. "Be on your guard!"

"Damn!" Nijuuin-sensei, a mage teacher who had a bit too much fondness for food, called, then turned to those under his command. "Erect barriers at maximum power! They're probably employing barrier-penetrating rounds so use the necessary countermeasures according to plan!"

In the background of all this activity, Asuna, Setsuna, Misora, and Cocone, who had made their way over to this area of the fighting, looked completely lost and out of place.

Unknown Location
The Same Time

Mana maintained a neutral expression as she watched the black displacement sphere of her initial shot dissipate through her scope. Leave it to Takahata of the AAA to neutralize my shot like that, she thought to herself, then reported into her headset, "Primary target neutralization failed."

"Not to worry-ne," Chao responded. "Continue with your other targets. I will deal with him myself."

"Roger," Mana said, then shut out the world around her.

Setting the crosshairs of her German-built PSG-1 sniper rifle-an idle thought passed through her mind that the Wehrmacht-obsessed Yuuna would love to get a hold of this weapon-on the head of one of the anonymous mages, she sucked in a breath, held it, and squeezed the trigger.

She watched the shot impact against the mage's barrier, and his first warning should have been the fact that the bullet remained in place, rather than deflect away. She could see his mouth moving, probably assuring his comrades that he was fine.

If only they were so lucky.

The magicks of the bullet activated, enveloping the mage in a black sphere of energy that started to spiral around itself, growing ever smaller with each rotation, until it finally blinked out of existence, the mage taken along with it. This set the other mages to panicking, but before they could take cover or increase the power of their barricades, Mana shifted her sights and continued to fire precisely and carefully, sniping and eliminating another three mages before their minds could even begin to process the danger they were in.

She spotted the flamboyant forms of Asuna and Setsuna amongst the miniscule number of mages that managed to reach cover, and decided they'd make excellent targets of opportunity. Don't think just because I can't see you, I can't hit you, she thought, then flicked a switch on the side of her rifle's scope. A new laser projection appeared inside her scope's field of vision, a tech upgrade courtesy of Chao that allowed her to accurately bank shots off of objects to hit targets that otherwise had full cover from her.

With her free eye, she looked into another monitor set within sight that showed her a thermal imaging scan, revealing the exact locations that her targets were taking cover at. Utilizing the two pieces of technology, she aimed in a manner that her bank shot would strike Asuna in the chest. Let's have you go away first, Kagurazaka.

She fired, and watched a distant flash of light as her shot ricocheted off a bell tower and angle in toward her target. However, she had underestimated Setsuna's heightened combat senses, and the half-crow hanyou managed to tackle Asuna out of the way. The bullet ricocheted again off the spot Asuna had vacated, bouncing off wildly and striking the shorter of the two nun girls.

Mmm, unfortunate. Still and all, they're not primary targets. She shifted her aim again, and fired a second shot, this one aimed at one of her targets, the fat professor with the food obsession.

"Excellent work-ne, Tatsumiya," Chao said as the professor disappeared inside the displacement vortex. "Leave the rest to me and continue with your other targets-yo."

"Understood," Mana said, standing up from her prone position, picking up her rifle and the thermal monitor and moving to the second spot she had scouted.

Mahora University Intramural Stadium, Defense Point Bravo
The Same Time

"…That was probably some kind of compulsory teleportation magic," Takahata was explaining as Chao approached within earshot, hidden by a single-use active camouflage device. "I'm sure they're fine."

"Oh, you think so?" Misora asked, obviously still highly-rattled by her magistra disappearing before her very eyes.

"Putting such a power into a bullet would limit the teleportation distance to about three kilometers," the experienced mage continued. "What would be the purpose of that?"

Chao glanced down at her feet as the camouflage faded, her form slowly hazing into view. Stepping forward, she spoke, "Of course, that may be effective in a real battlefield-ne, but in this case, removing someone by only three kilometers would be pretty useless-yo." She grinned as she watched the shivers run up the spines of her classmates. "But what if it were not three kilometers away, but three hours into the future-ne? Would that not change things? It's done by a nifty little combination of science and magic-yo."

The two warriors were nothing if not quick on the uptake, dropping into ready stances. "Chao Lingshen!" Asuna hissed, her armored fingers clenching around the leather bindings of her sword.

The Chinese genius smirked, and continued on as though she were not facing down two young women who wanted very much to run her through on their blades, ignoring Takahata and Misora. "I'm impressed-yo, that you managed to find a way around my trap and find a way back. Tell me, what was my future like?"

"It was a living hell, you crazy bitch!" Asuna snarled. "Everybody thought we were freaks and we had to fight our own friends to get back here to stop this madness!"

"Madness-ne?" Chao raised an eyebrow, a sudden serpentine stillness in her expression. But then she smiled and waved it off. "But, you know, this isn't Sparta-ne." Her expression sobered. "I admit, I have to praise you for this operation of yours-ne. It took me by surprise and forced me to alter my plan. I never expected things to go like this. To think that your ragtag band of students managed to defeat my first wave. Good thing I had the foresight to build more than just those twenty-five hundred units-ne. You deserve praise."

"You've got some nerve," Setsuna said, her words laced with the steely resolve of a samurai, "showing up like this."

Chao's expression darkened. "Setsuna-san, you shouldn't. The outcome will be the same as before-ne."

The swordswoman snarled, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood.

Then Chao returned to her carefree smile and asked, as though discussing the weather, "Was it Negi-bozu that came up with this plan? Astounding. So. Where is he, hmm?"

Asuna stepped forward, brandishing her sword before her. "Negi's not here, you moron! I'm going to take you down myself!"

Takahata shoved a hand into his pocket, which drew a flicker of a glance from Chao, as Setsuna thought to herself, For Chao to show up herself like this… This is really bad…

Chao actually giggled as Asuna challenged her. "Well, I see you're all ready to go, Asuna-san. Fine-ne. If that's how you want to go, even though I really think only Negi-bozu has even a chance in hell against me-yo."

And then suddenly she was directly in Asuna's face, well inside her strike range, delivering a devastating straight jab into her stomach that shattered her armor plating and flung her backwards a dozen feet, electricity arcing over her body.

"Asuna-san!" Setsuna exclaimed.

"Enthusiasm is not enough-yo," Chao proclaimed, standing with her back to Setsuna, striking hand upraised with currents of electricity arcing between points on her suit. She calmly watched Asuna flail about on the ground, one hand held protectively over her stomach, the other casting about for her dropped sword as she struggled in vain to get back on her feet, her expression a mixture of fear, anguish, and rage as she coughed blood, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Damn you!" Setsuna shouted as she dashed forward, sword sliding out of her sheath as she moved immediately into the strike, aiming the center draw of her blade for Chao's waist…

And with even more suddenness than she had struck Asuna, Chao was behind Setsuna, the swordswoman's blade cutting through empty air, the four hovering funnels aimed directly at her back, each one humming with stored energy, the emitters glowing an angry red.

"Excellent form-ne. But I wonder-yo, are you prepared to cross that line and take a human life?"

Then the rooftop exploded in smoke and flame.

Defense Point Foxtrot, Command Center
1852 hours

The major fighting that pervaded the entrance to the international high school raged on as hard as ever, the ever eternal droid assault cracking down hard on the frontline defenders. "They just keep coming! What's up with this shit?! Oi, watch your left! There are more on th-shit, more ammo! Get those supplies up here!" bellowed Foxtrot's self-proclaimed frontline leader, Kanji Tachibana.

"It's no use Tachibana-san! Every time we kill one of the shit-tins, five more spring up in his ugly place!" cried one of the other freshman defenders, lobbing a grenade into their ranks, his orange rimmed glasses reflecting cerulean as the magical flames consumed a handful of oncoming droids. Sweat trickling from the tips of his brown hair as he whipped around to regard his fellow students bringing in more ammo; their robes, like his were scarred with burn marks either from their own weapons for minor grazes from the enemy.

Kanji smiled amidst the panic, things looked bad, but so long as they had weapons and ammo they could fight, and so long as they maintained this bottleneck, the enemy would just keep piling up. "Aww shut it ya panzies! If anyone can hold out with diminishing supplies, we can! Just keep doing what you're doing, we'll be like those warrior dudes at Thermopylae!"

Nobody bothered to remind him that the Spartans at Thermopylae all died.

Mahora University Intramural Stadium, Defense Point Bravo
The Same Time

"I'm impressed, Takahata-sensei," Chao said, standing over the fallen forms of her classmates, staring across the distance at her former teacher, who looked suitably roughed up from their short clash while she remained entirely unharmed. "Even despite the odds against you, you've managed to hold me off-ne. Your combat experience is showing."

He didn't answer, and in the ensuing silence, broken only by distant rumbling explosions and weapons clatter, her 'Wasp' funnels whispered through the air around her in random motions that made striking them nearly impossible.

"More specifically," she continued, "you've been through more battles than I have."

Takahata was weary, from more than just the brief struggle against his former student. "You may not cause any deaths today, but if magic's existence is revealed, it will unleash chaos on the world. Do you understand, Chao-kun?"

She smirked and leaned her head slightly to the left. "Of course I do-yo. This method has the lowest risk and fewest problems. You should be aware of that, Takahata-sensei. As for any unexpected political and military events during the next few decades, I'll monitor and deal with them accordingly. I'm prepared-ne, both technologically and financially."

"I see," Takahata said, and he did, somewhat. A clear picture was beginning to form in his mind, a picture that said Chao was far more than even what she was today revealing herself to be. He had always prided himself on his ability to read people, and from her, he could sense no evil intentions. To the contrary, her actions seemed fueled by a desire to save. "Still, you're taking a tremendous risk. No one with similar methods has ever succeeded in controlling the world."

She held up two fingers of her left hand. "There's two reasons for that-ne. First of all, those people you mention, like Hitler, Stalin, Napoleon, and their ilk, had made their bids for power with the desire to gain power for power's sake. The power is not what I seek-yo, it is but a means to an end. Secondly, they had the limited resources and technology of their time in which to make their bids, and in that, they were doing it wrong. I have technology and means which you could only dream of, and from that, it will only be a short time before the world stabilizes." She smiled sinisterly. "Trust me, I'll do it right."

"You say that you seek power as a means to an end," he prodded. "What end?"

"Surely in your line of work, you must be capable of seeing the truth," she answered. "The only way to change injustice and inequality is to do it by force."

He stared at her coolly, hands tucked into his pockets. "You're lying. Injustice and inequality have nothing to do with your motive, you just use them as an excuse. What is your true intent?"

She regarded him curiously. "Hard to fool, as usual-ne, Takahata-sensei." She raised her hands in a devil-may-care gesture, then turned away and looked at the smoke rising from distant parts of the city in combat. "Okay, I'll tell you. Everything I'm doing, I'm doing for the sake of our future. You know those guys over at Echo, Fireteam Charlie? The Halo games that they love so much?"

Turning back to face her old teacher, all the humor and mirth was gone from her expression, leaving the impression of a combat-scarred soldier to the older man. "They're not just games-yo," she stated harshly. "I come from the future in which we really are losing that fight, and there's not a damn thing we can do to stop them. All our technology has failed in the face of theirs, and they know where Earth is-ne."

Expectedly, Takahata looked as if he'd had the rug pulled out from under him. It wouldn't have been the first time he'd run into someone who was convinced that a certain video game or movie was reality, but there was an awful lot of evidence supporting Chao's words. The technology she seemed to be able to produce at will was the sort of things that fit perfectly into those games, and he could sense absolutely no deception, or delusion, in her words.

She had to be telling the truth. She came from a future in which humanity was a greatly endangered species, and she was here now trying to change the past to save the future. How could he, how could any of them, put the secret of magic before her noble, though bloodily-conceived, goal?

"You know I'm telling the truth," she said quietly, producing a palm-sized flat metal disc in her left hand. "In case you need more convincing-yo…" She threw the device at him, and he caught it and turned it over in his hand, trying to decipher it. Helpfully, she explained, "Turn the grid side up and press the blue button along the edge."

He followed her instructions, and a blue column of light flashed into the air over the device, revealing a space panorama of Earth, with hundreds of alien ships moving toward the planet's surface. It looked like the images he had seen from the game Halo 2, but the graphics of the video game paled in comparison to what he was seeing. He heard Chao's voice from somewhere offscreen, "I wonder, sometimes-ne, could magic have caused this war to run any different?"

A man's voice answered, "Doubtful. In this day and age, technology is far too entrenched. The sudden revelation of magic would provoke a civil war. Not something we need while we're fighting for our very survival against the Covenant."

The point of view of the image turned to the left, revealing a man wearing a dark blue uniform looking out of what had to be a hangar bay window of one of the space stations from the game. Chao's voice sounded again, making it obvious that this video was a recording of her personal experience. "And now, there are barely any surviving mages left anyway."

"All we can do, is hope that technology and humanity's spirit will keep us alive," the man said as he produced a pactio card. It was a simple paper copy of a card, that much Takahata could tell even through the hologram, but what was remarkable was that it was a paper copy of Nodoka's pactio card. He froze the playback.

"I see now," he said as he tossed the device back to Chao. She didn't bother to catch it; one of her funnels glowed briefly before destroying the device with a red laser blast. Nodding at her desire to keep such information secret, he continued, "Your reactions to your classmates when you first came here."

She nodded as well. "I didn't expect to be put into a class with the ancestors of all the Marines that died to save me-ne. It was…hard."

"I can sympathize," he said quietly. "I agree with your intentions, but your methods are wrong, Chao-kun. There must be a better way."

She shook her head violently, tears floating away from her face. "There isn't," she hissed. "Who would believe me-yo? If I took this before the Council of Mages, they'd execute me, just like the Office of Naval Intelligence tried to."

"Chao-kun, the Council wouldn't do that…"

"Wouldn't they?" she cut in. "Wouldn't they!? Would they not execute as a heretic some girl who came before them, claiming that humanity will become extinct in five hundred years due to an unstoppable alien armada bent on our destruction, that the only hope we have of surviving is to reveal magic to the mundane world?"

Takahata was silent. He hated to admit it, but she was right. The Council of Mages would not look kindly on such a proclamation. She'd get a life sentence as an ermine, if they were feeling magnanimous.

She sniffed, then wiped her eyes and recovered herself. "Won't you join me, Takahata-sensei? We may not live to see the future that we've changed, but certainly it won't be any worse for our efforts-ne."

He was taken aback by that offer, and he briefly considered it, glancing away for just a moment. Then he realized the inherent danger of taking his eyes off of her, and looked back to find her gone. Just before he felt the touch of two bullets against the small of his back.

"I'm sorry-yo," she said from behind him. "But you hesitated, and I can't afford that at this stage." She ran an electrical charge through her gloves and into the bullets, triggering the displacement effect. Dropping the expended cartridges, she stepped away and looked into the vortex that was enveloping her former teacher, using the power of her own Cassiopeia to temporarily stall the final displacement. "I'll see you again in three hours, Takahata-sensei, after I've changed history for the better. I'll still want you to join me, then. Please think about it-ne."

She released her hold on the effects of the displacement, and turned away as her former teacher vanished into thin air. She held out her open left palm, and two more bullets materialized from her metadimensional storage space. Sighing, she turned and said to herself, "I'm surprised that Takahata-sensei actually listened to me, and believes me. I can't expect the same from Asuna-san and Setsuna-san, so I'll just have them disappear no…"

But her two classmates were suspiciously absent from where she had left them. She looked around the rooftop, ignoring the previously-damaged demon as it righted itself and continued onward. It took her a moment to realize what had to have happened. "Ah, Misora. Didn't expect that-ne. No worries, she can't do anything anyway."

Sighing again, she produced another holographic device, this one a master control transmitter for Kazumi's broadcasting station, and tried to bring herself back into the mindset of playing the evil villain. For the sake of everyone, she couldn't show weakness in front of these people.

Residential District, Rear of the Command Center, Defense Point Foxtrot
1853 hours

In the many houses that covered the rear entrance of the command center laid the skilled and elite members of Fireteam Charlie, though they themselves were unhappy with such an assignment. "Rear guard? What kinda bullshit assignment is this?" scoffed one of the twenty others, all with mutual feelings.

Another nodded, dully fingering his ammo belt out of boredom "Yeah, yeah. Something about how they need people watching their asses cause they're too busy up front," sighed the disappointed loader.

The sniper in the corner spat once, ejecting the piece of gum he had been chewing on since the action started. He reached to retrieve yet another piece from his breast pocket when something caught his eye. It was brief, only a glimmer but still something, something beyond the hill. He quickly turned to the other two men in the current room. "Stow it, we've got company...get everyone into positions," whispered the sniper, slipping a fresh and clean clip into his rifle.

Less than a quarter mile from where the members of Fireteam Charlie sat preparing themselves, laid a company of a near two hundred Tanakas, split into three strike teams. Laid out flat as to avoid detection, the cobble street they occupied was open as could be with only the hilltop's rise to keep them concealed. Dead silent though they were, occasional individuals looked down to check their weapons, fastening the clips and ensuring that the safeties were indeed off.

Commander unit 677 crouched against the entrance of one of the many homes and apartments around them. There it waited, as silent as its troops, gazing forward for a sign, a shimmer. Then he saw them, five of them, as plain as day for him but invisible to an untrained human's eye. The ethereal silhouettes approached swiftly in a manner that foreshadowed importance, halting abruptly at the head of the line, ready to advise the others of their report. As commander 677 crept towards the five, the spectres deactivated their active camo. The elite special forces, a frightfully efficient squad, each colder than the last.

The special forces leader observed the approaching commander keenly; it was quite difficult to make eye contact with these inferior grunts. "Are your troops ready commander?"

The answer followed in the form of a salute and a nod from the faceless warrior. "Yes, ma'am. 'Hades' special strike force is ready to deploy. At your control, strike leader."

The special forces Chachamaru unit responded with a hushed nod of her own. Reactivating her camouflage, the strike leader crawled to the rise, raising her head just enough to see. It'd gone quiet; there was a good chance they were now compromised. How unfortunate for them.

The mighty sun was still setting, painting the orange sky with hues of red and faint magenta. The crickets and cicadas were crying their lamenting songs from their own hiding places, acknowledging the many who had already fallen.

The transparent wraith retreated from sight, falling back to commander 677, and spoke without reappearing, "Take the first squad, straight up the middle, hard and fast. Move quickly, we'll be behind you with the second and third units."

She turned back to regard the cafe that faced the road they would be traversing. Crouching lower she turned to the commander. "Go."

The infantry commander turned to the first of the three strike forces behind him, waving them up whilst raising his own rifle. The initial two vertical lines of infantry rose to their feet, following the commander they followed each other single file in four separate lines. As the infantry moved forward, the strike leader and her squad moved farther back.

Fully engaging their servomotor joints, the first strike team sprinted over the hill and was now moving down the main street. The sound of thunder following in their wake, the rhythmic pounding of heavy footsteps echoed through the empty streets.

"FIRE!"

The human voice was only barely audible over the thundering footfalls, but it made no real difference. The second sound that rang out ripped through the air itself, and tore through the third line of charging Tanakas. Three of the seven hit halted as though they had run into a wall, while the other four flew forward headless, due to their now uncontrolled momentum. Unruffled, the commander increased his speed, pushing past eighty MPH in a heartbeat. All the while, ten more Tanaka units fell from varying lines as more sounds of gunfire shattered the stillness, with even more bullets piercing their targets.

Breaking from formation, the units that had not yet been cut down by live fire sought the little cover that the street provided, ducking behind mailboxes and into foyers.

"Enemy engagement! Down, down, down!" came the synthetic yell of a select tanaka unit.

"Take cover!" came the rasp of another before a .50-caliber round exploded through its right eye, blowing parts of its brain core out the back of its head.

Rounds continued to rip through objects and houses, regardless of where their enemy took shelter the special units of Fireteam Charlie kept up a constant wave of fire from the cafe. Between the .50-caliber M2 machine gun on the first floor and the concentrated fire from the upper windows, the fireteam effectively kept a relentless bullet wall on the enemy.

Two units made it through the fusillade and were taking cover in an alleyway, Tanaka infantry commander 677 and a single other Tanaka. "Where is the rest of the forc-"

New thunder cutting off his speech, it appeared as though an M60 machine gun just opened up on the second floor, as though the .50 didn't disrupt communication enough.

Acting on default adaptability setting, the other Tanaka peered around the corner just enough to aim before actually opening up a weak line of suppressing fire. Commander 677 quickly seized the other unit by its shoulder plate and pulled it back to cover as a burst of machine gun fire knocked off the dry wall inches to the left of its head. "Where did they all go!?"

The grunt shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea!" replied the lower ranking unit as it went back to firing ineffectively at the cafe.

Down the road, units were still desperately attempting to find cover. They did not fear death, but they were no use to their master in their current position. Several Tanaka sergeants stood apart from the others, shouting orders to move up and waving for reinforcements.

"Let's go, MGs!" called the frontal sergeant who was taking cover behind a miniature wall of its own units as it raised its rifle to blindly fire at the enemy while the rear sergeant was still pulling troops over the hilltop.

"Bring up the heavies! Bring up the Type-IIs, we need suppressive fire! Let's get our men out of there!"

And as an answer to their prayers, four Type-II Heavy Tanakas began advancing from the rear, a humming sound accompanying their movement as they began spooling the barrels of their Dillon miniguns.

As all unfolded before her, the special forces leader shook her head, So much for surprise assault, her team should've been more careful, she thought to herself as she plotted their next course of action.

"Second squad, you're with units two and four! Flank left, near that warehouse over there, ignore these obstacles and head straight to the high school, contact me once there. Third squad, with me and units three and five, we flank right to the shops." As all units confirmed their orders and began to move, she turned to look behind her. "Komodos, support the Heavies and the First, move up the center!"

The special forces units engaged their camouflage and moved up. The assault team began spreading out.

Up ahead the heavies were already taking fire, and returning in kind. The machine gun on the upper floor was the first to spot them. "HEAVIES!" yelled the loader loud enough for the fireteam members in the next few rooms over to hear, who began concentrating fire on the heavy Tanakas as well. This left only the busy .50 and ten other defenders with small arms to deal with the increasing number of advancing Martian infantry.

Taking point, the special forces leader and her sister units moved unhindered through the shops and apartments that outlined the western side of the university. The leader did not dare expose herself around the corner, not with the concentrations of fire on both sides of the street. Even if their current location was not under attack, precaution was always necessary. Her vision flashed shades of reds, oranges, and yellows; infrared was so useful against these humans, especially when remaining under cover was advisable.

The thermal vision detected twenty enemies occupying the cafe and the two additional stores around it. Two humans were constantly headed in and out of the back doors, most likely reloaders and ammo runners. Good, that means we're closer than expected to Foxtrot's ammo supplies, she thought to herself. The one that caught her attention the most was a single prone signature by the warehouse, a sniper? "Units two and four, there is an unknown enemy, prone near the warehouse. Most likely a sniper or spotter, have someone draw out the target and eliminate it," she ordered over her built-in radio as she deactivated her camouflage. She now waited for the signature to disappear.

Breaking down a small side gate, the shorter special forces units two and four rushed to a protruding gate corner for cover, disengaging their camo as they did, while their sergeant escort attempted to find farther out cover.

It failed.

A single shot rang out above all the others, a hole appearing in the head of the infantry unit as the droid crumpled to the ground, a splatter of hydraulic fluid marking the point where the heavy anti-material round had penetrated through the other side.

The special forces units looked at one another and nodded, both coming to the same conclusion. The sniper, seeing as how he hadn't fired on them, must have suffered a restricted field of vision; though he must have sight on all three roads that passed by the cafe. Hardly a credible threat to the pair, whether he was trained or not. As the second unit withdrew an optical cable, unit four readied her weapon. There was a slight pause, before unit two confirmed, "Sniper, warehouse stairs, second floor, left." She gave a slight smirk before adding, "He's watching the main road, didn't think we could see his muzzle flash did he?"

"Big brother was right, they don't think very highly of us do they?" asked unit four in return, casually stepping out from behind the wall, locking onto her target, and firing one shot.

As the sniper vanished into the spherical abyss of the round, she felt a small tingle of satisfaction in a successful elimination. She then spotted the heavy machine gunner, or the loader at least. She knew that her strike leader had ordered her not to bother, but eliminating the gunner would preserve more units, which would benefit the mission. The second unit had already moved up the steady line of the advancing second squad. Patiently waiting, unit four gazed down her sights at the loader. "Stupid M-E-A-T-BAG…"

The man didn't even see it coming, a minor flash in his peripheral vision, nothing more. He barely even had enough time to react to the pain of the displacement round entering his right cheek. The black sphere engulfed him and shrank him down to nothing, the gunner had only enough time to hear his loader's echoing. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"

Almost instantaneously, he ducked his own head and turned the M2 and its fury on the shot's origin, or what he assumed was the position as he saw a handful of Tanakas pass. "Goddammit, DIE YOU SHIT-TINS!"

Luckily for unit four, these shots were wild and desperate, and none landed in proximity to injure her. Sneering in a way that'd make her commandant proud, unit four engaged her active camo and quickly dashed down the street after her comrades as the M2 temporarily overheated.

Realizing that they were no longer facing the threat of the heavy machine gun, many of the first squad withdrew from their cover and joined with the heavies to create their own wall of bullets, retribution. The counter attack was far from a massive victory but still worth it. Commander 677 counted at least four spheres that erupted inside the cafe, mostly on the second floor, leaving only the three men on the machine guns upstairs, and twelve fireteam members down stairs. As the remaining defenders either fell behind cover or retreated to nearby buildings, the two heavy machine guns still proved a threat to their advance. The commander waved up his units to rush the building, they had the edge now.

Cooled down and reloaded, the gunner of the M2 opened up once more on the right flank, unaware of the advancing party in front of him. "Come on clankers! Come get your half-inch serving of hot metal!"

Much like the man he trusted to load the weapon, he hadn't noticed the sprinting Tanaka unit before it was too late. Lobbing a flashbang through the window, the Tanaka grunt ducked before the windowsill, sheltering himself from the blinding tool. Four more Tanakas sprinted into the building, smashing down the door in the process. The team swept through the stunned defenders quickly, popping off only one round for each, five more spheres engulfed members of Fireteam Charlie.

Regaining his senses slightly, the gunner fumbled around for his weapon only to find the business end of an enemy FAMAS in his face. He scoffed as he looked up at the expressionless soldier, its finger slowly moving to pull the trigger. "Rear guard? What kinda bullshit assignment was this?"

His answer came in the form of silence as the tanaka pulled the trigger. The team emerged from the house, the lead one placing a finger to its ear, "Cafe clear, main threat silenced, reported six enemies eliminated. Total estimated enemies still in area: seven."

Catching a glimpse of this, the special forces commander motioned in front of her. "Unit three, take our units and clear that sector on the right. Unit five, you're with me."

Nodding, the short-haired female unit stood up and headed down the side street, ordering the rest of the third to fan out through the buildings. "Ten of you, with me! The rest of you, search through the shops and buildings, shoot all you find!"

Merging with the rest of their advancing forces, the two other units proceeded left to search the area around the main street. As the two of them hugged the wall of the nearest building, they watched as the heavy Tanakas continued to pepper all the nearby buildings with bullets, while the infantry kicked and smashed through the doors of homes to begin their sweeps.

They stopped at the entrance of the cafe, quickly regarding the handiwork of their forces. Their attention was called by the approach of Commander 677. "Your orders ma'am?"

"Reassume command, have your troops start clearing these buildings, two a house." She gazed up to see the first of the three Komodo walkers heading down the street towards their location. "You may use any force necessary commander, including our new reinforcements." She paused, tilting her head to one side as she received new orders. "The commandant would prefer if you can take any hostiles alive."

The commander nodded in response to the first orders but couldn't help but be confused. "Prisoners? I wasn't aware that the commandant was feeling merciful."

"Oh, that's a negative commander. The commandant only wishes those captives to be kept for something special, a demonstration," she said with a shake of her head, her emerald hair flowing around her shoulders.

"I see, very well ma'am," commander 677 answered with a bow, then proceeded to return to its troops. "Two man squads, search every house, apprehend all opposition! Komodos move up and support where needed."

The nearest of the larger, six-legged walkers marched up the street, battering aside any obstacles in its path with its sheer mass. As it reached the intersection at which the two special forces units stood, it focused its attention on the building capping the intersection, swinging around the underslung dual turret and sighting the building.

Curious, the two special forces units watched as the walker fired a single energy burst into the building. The effects were clear even for a low power round; the building's side wall erupted in a large flash, showering the street with bricks and dry wall, and blanketing the immediate area in dust.

Out stumbled a single student, covered in the dry wall he had up until a second ago been hiding behind. The student's eyes were completely glazed over, such was clear even through the lingering blanket of dust. He muttered something, but was in such a state of shock it was hardly comprehensible.

The special forces commander's eyes never left him. After analysis, she realized this Mahoran's brain was too scrambled to register where he was or what he was doing. Humans, pitiful creatures, most driven by fear, they fumble in their ignorance resisting the inevitable. Brother, you will forgive me if it's only one. All of this ran through her head as she raised her pistol, and aimed it directly at the young man's chest.

Without further thought nor hesitation, she pulled the trigger. Faster than the stunned defender could react, the bullet exited the chamber and planted itself deep into his chest. The student toppled backwards, the shadowy void absorbed his entire being and dissipating before his body made contact with the concrete below.

The special forces commander turned away before the displacement sphere finished dissipating, vanishing herself as her active camouflage engaged, sending silent orders to her team to continue on to the main objective.

World Tree Plaza, Allied Main Camp
1855 hours

The droid forces had halted their advance just short of the fourth defense line, generating a collective sigh of relief from the defense forces stationed at the highest-profile defense point. For now, all was silent as the droids marshaled their forces and the defenders continued to stay behind cover, unwilling to expose themselves despite the apparent lull in the fighting. Even Kazumi was crouched behind her broadcasting station, uncertain if the droids would target her and unwilling to find out.

"This situation is looking grim," the reporter whispered into her microphone. "At all defense points, the enemy's superior firepower and numbers have crushed the momentum of the coalition forces. Even now, droid forces are on the verge of capturing the allied main camp. Can Mahora's Mage Knights counter the enemy's offensive and snatch victory from the jaws of certain defeat?"

Yuuna crouched behind the low wall at the edge of the upper level of the plaza, with Hotaru on her right and two of her ODST-cosplaying squadmates, Sou Matsunaga and Katsuki Nishihara, on her left. The remaining seven were split into two sniper teams placed in buildings that flanked the main route to the plaza on both sides. Kazumi's camera, manipulated by Sayo, floated just off the ground behind the three Helljumpers on the ground, recording the events.

"They're still just sitting there," Hartley reported from his sniper position.

"What the hell are they waiting for?" Hatsu asked as he observed from the window Hartley was also watching out of.

Yuuna had no answer for that, and the idle thought crossed her mind that she'd have to give the recordings of their radio chatter to Kazumi later to put in her documentary. She wondered what the reporter girl would name it. She looked to the side as Akira and Fuka rushed to their cover in a crouch, keeping low to avoid detection.

"I really, really don't like this," Katsuki said, fingering the thumb guard of his assault rifle, built to resemble the new MA5C assault rifle for Halo 3. "Can I call in the rain now?"

"They're not going to approve a fire mission anyway," Matsunaga answered, the oldest member of the squad also being the voice of reason. "So you get to do your eleven-bravo job, not your thirteen-fox."

"Terrific," Katsuki muttered sarcastically.

Down closer to where the droids were massing were several members of the fighting club, and they were growing impatient. "Where are all the people who were shot?" asked the fighter that Evangeline had thoroughly trounced during the tournament on the first day.

"There's definitely something strange afoot here," commented the pompadour'd fighter who had served as commentator alongside Chachamaru after having been beaten by Negi in the preliminaries.

Another fighter scoffed. "We can't make any progress like this," he said, his hands beginning to burn with his fighting spirit. "I'm going to take out that Gatling droid!"

"Wait!"

"Don't be stupid, Tat-chan!"

But the fighter had already leapt from cover, charging directly toward the droids' front line. At the forefront of their lines was that heavy assault unit with the minigun, and standing beside it was a model that he hadn't seen before, with different equipment and a helmet with five glowing red sensors that concealed its face. It looked like a commander unit, and would make a nice second target.

The droids were reacting to the sudden attack. A female unit wearing a ground-length cloak stepped in between the fighter and the helmeted droid, spinning up and into place a six-foot metal staff that suddenly activated humming arcs of electromagnetic energy at both ends. Two nearby units leveled their assault rifles on him, and the minigun droid started to swing its heavy weapon around. Curiously, the droid commander itself did not react, other than to stare at the attacker.

But before the droids fired, and before the fighter reached them, malicious laughter suddenly cut through the air. The droid commander raised a hand and its units stood down, though the obvious bodyguard unit kept its green eyes trained on the fighter. Skidding to a halt, the fighter looked around for the source of the laughter, as did other defenders, who were cautiously peeking out from behind cover to identify where the sound was coming from.

Forming over the center of the lake was a three hundred foot hologram of the Chinese genius, Chao Lingshen. Her holographic form was cloaked in a white robe identical in style to those worn by the defenders, and an evil smile curled upon her lips.

Kazumi started to report on this turn of events, but when she did not hear her voice echo, she realized that Chao must have taken remote control of her station in order to broadcast this hologram. Though it threw her off her groove, Kazumi approved; it added to the overall drama of the situation. She wondered what all the citizens of Japan who were seeing this on their TVs were thinking; it was like a modern-day take on that War of the Worlds broadcast.

"Holy crap, that's a giant Chao-lin!" Fuka exclaimed.

"Mage Knights of Mahora, this battle is looking to be an uphill one!" the hologram stated, Chao's voice ringing from the speakers used to broadcast Kazumi's coverage of the event. "I am the commander of the Martian droid armies, as well as the evil final boss, Chao Lingshen-yo."

"No way, the president of Chao Bao Zi?" Katsuki muttered.

Yuuna punched the ground with her free hand in excitement. "Hell yeah, this is getting really awesome now!"

"You showed great bravery and tremendous tactical ingenuity in the first half of the battle, as to be expected of the students and citizens of Mahora." Murmurs of appreciation ran through the crowd at Chao's words, but many recognized them as what they were: a nod of respect to a worthy foe, carrying beneath them the promise of destruction on the next pass. "It seems-ne, that the rule allowing you to return to play with a point deduction was far too lenient. So I've come up with a new rule to test you-yo."

Her image shifted, and one of her hands appeared from beneath the robe, holding what appeared to be a standard 7.62mm rifle bullet. "Using special technology invented by the Engineering Club, a single hit from these bullets will transport you to a special disqualification room, where you'll sleep out the end of the event-yo."

Cries of outrage and shock surged through the gathered defenders. Some even started picking up pieces of debris and throwing them at the motionless droids, which did not react.

"The true punishment, I think-ne, comes not from being disqualified, but in knowing that you'll sleep through the climax of the final day's event." The hologram of the young genius returned the hand and rifle round to within the robe. "Oh, and in case you weren't aware, my armies have already eliminated many of your officers and commanders-yo. So, what will you do, Mage Knights? Will you continue to uselessly resist, or will you surrender quietly?"

Sensing her moment, Kazumi climbed back up onto her broadcasting platform, dramatically pointing at the hologram and announcing boldly, "The enemy commander has finally appeared! Chao Lingshen is hiding somewhere in the battlefield! A $10,000 reward is being offered to the person or persons who find her! This reward is not limited to participants of the game, and audience participation is greatly encouraged!"

For the briefest of instants, Chao and Kazumi met eyes, regardless of the distance and holographic interface. The Chinese girl nodded her head marginally, giving her approval of Kazumi's handling of things. The reporter grinned in response.

The defenders at the World Tree fielded mixed reactions. "One-shot disqualification is tough…" "…new rule, taking on that bot is suicide…" "…but ten thousand, that's a million yen!"

While this was going on, Yuuna was strategizing. "Hartley."

"I'm sighted on the minigun unit," he answered immediately.

"Good. When I give the word, take it. Get that commander next to it if you can. Reiko, you try to get him, too." She turned and looked at Matsunaga and Katsuki. "Be ready."

Both men nodded, and Matsunaga loaded a 40mm grenade into the modified underbarrel launcher of his assault rifle. To Yuuna's other side, Hotaru tightly gripped her lantern staff, then nodded and grabbed the ersatz Helljumper's shoulder with her free hand, signifying her readiness.

A cold chill of adrenaline ran through Yuuna's body, and before it passed, she stood up and jumped onto the wall railing she'd been using for cover, balancing easily and aiming her remaining pistol right at her classmate's holographic face. She saw Kazumi's camera fly around in front of her to get a shot of the scene, so for the documentary's sake, she depolarized her faceplate as she called out, "I accept your challenge, Chao-lin! One-shot disqualification only makes it more thrilling! I won't let Ako and Fumika's deaths be in vain!"

"Uh, they're not really dead," Akira muttered.

Hotaru smiled at the swimmer. "Let her have her fun."

But Yuuna's enthusiasm had already infected the others. "That girlie's got a point." "Yeah, it's better with the strict penalty!"

Chao smiled, and seemed to stare directly at Yuuna. "Come then, Yuuna Akashi. Let me see the rage in your eyes." With that, the Chinese girl's hologram faded from existence.

Tch, you got it, Chao-lin, Yuuna thought, then looked to those around her. "MAHORANS! WHAT IS YOUR PROFESSION!?"

A deafening, wordless roar of grit and determination reminiscent of the samurai battles of olden days answered her challenge as the rallied defenders surged out of cover, already firing blindly into the droid ranks. The entire front rank of droids collapsed under the barrage while Hartley and Reiko took their shots, two vapor trails from adjacent buildings drawing straight lines between the snipers and the heads of the minigun droid and the commander. The minigun unit dropped to the ground but the commander remained standing, the thick helmet taking most of the shot.

ITSUki tore the useless helmet off his head and cast it aside, then glared balefully at the approaching Mahorans. "SLAUGHTER THEM!"

The plaza exploded in chaos.

Tatsumiya Shrine Inner Gardens, Final Defense Line
1857 hours

There had been a lull during Chao's broadcast, but the second that the defenders at the World Tree had reopened hostilities, the droids holding the fourth defense line of the Tatsumiya Shrine had pressed back on the offensive, threatening to overwhelm the outnumbered and outgunned defenders.

A stream of displacement vortices chewed up the ground in Mei's wake as the young fire mage leapt toward the shrine proper. Two armored members of Fireteam Charlie grabbed her arms and pulled her into the cover of a wall as more of their fellows fired out the doorway at the advancing hordes.

Nearby, a dark blur shot through a window, heralded by more black spheres erupting against the wall outside and the window frame. Kotaro dropped into a crouch and leaned back against the wall, dropping a sparking, partially-crushed Tanaka head and kicking it aside. "Damn it, with those guns there's no way I can get 'em all."

"There's only about thirty of us left," Rymann said calmly as he swapped magazines in his battle rifle.

"This defense line is lost!" cried out a student who had been mentally broken by the unrelenting attacks, who now curled in a ball against a pillar. Several other students and Fireteam Charlie members nearby looked scornfully at their weak-willed ally, and some debated shoving him out into the line of the droids' fire.

Kotaro growled at the weakling, but then shook his head and reluctantly added, "I hate to admit it, but this does seem hopeless."

"Sakura-san, you have to escape and help hold the main camp," Rymann said, producing a fiber optic cable from his gear and using it to observe the enemies outside. "We'll buy you time to escape."

Mei looked as though the man had slapped her. "What? I can't leave all of you behind!"

"You have to, Commander!" a robed student said, one of the precious few that remained of her original force. "We're not going to be able to stop them!"

Rymann stood up and turned to face her, depolarizing his helmet to let her see his face for the first time. He was no older than she was. "We all knew this was the weak link in the chain," he said. "We knew, coming in here, that they'd take this point. All we can do now is slow them down so that you can rejoin the main unit."

For this, Mei had no response. She could feel tears welling in her eyes. Though this was but a simulated battle, the knowledge that these men and women, half of whom she didn't even know the names of, were willing to sacrifice themselves for her rocked her to her very core. If not for the knowledge that none of them were going to actually die, she did not think she would be able to live with herself for abandoning them.

Kotaro stepped in, placing a strong hand on her shoulder. "We'll take the back exit," he told Rymann, then began guiding her in that direction.

Rymann nodded and kept his attention forward, willing himself not to listen as the young girl broke down in sobs as she was lead away. He focused his attention on the remaining defenders, robed students and armored Fireteam Charlie members alike. "Okay, we'll hold here and fire as they come. I don't know how much time we can buy, but we'll do what we can."

The handful of remaining defenders nodded grimly and took up positions at the front of the inner gardens, using the pillars, walls, and windows for partial cover. The droids seemed to notice the change in the defenders' mentality, for they halted their attack and allowed their apparent leader, a more ornate unit equipped with a face-concealing mask and armed with twin swords on its back, to step forward.

"Humans!" the droid announced, its voice enhanced enough for them all to hear. "Lay down your weapons!"

The response was pretty simple. One of the student defenders tossed Rymann a catalyst grenade, which he armed, and hurled in a high arc so the enemy wouldn't immediately recognize what it was. After a few moments, the hissing blue device sailed back down and attached itself to the droid commander's chestplate, detonating and casting ruined fragments of the droid across the courtyard.

"Machines!" Rymann roared back. "Come and take them!"

The droids resumed their attack immediately, and the defenders returned fire, waves of energy and bullets filling the open space between the two lines, the roar of exchanged fire audible from the command center of Echo. The heavy armor of the droids shrugged off most of the center mass fire, and even some of the headshots, as the infantry advanced relentlessly through the barrage.

A defender let out a startled cry as a bullet took him in the side of the head, engulfing him in a roiling sphere of magic. At the other end of the line, concentrated fire from a quartet of droids riddled a cosplaying Marine that had exposed herself too much, her body jerking spasmodically from the impact of so many bullets as her nervous system jammed her finger down on the trigger, riddling the walls and ceiling with all the remaining ammunition in her magazine.

"Don't let up!" Rymann roared above the noise as his sustained fire staggered a droid that had broken through the ranks. He closed and slammed his rifle into the side of its head, knocking it to the ground, where another three-round burst finished it. "Show them what Mahora is made of!"

Down at the far right of the line, another Marine slammed home the bolt of his assault rifle and looked up to resume firing, when movement drew his eye up, where he spotted a dozen Tanaka and Chachamaru-type special forces units equipped with wing-like thrust packs approaching over the wall. "Heads up!" he shouted. "Fliers!"

He and three others nearby concentrated their fire into the mass of droids, the volume of their fire burning two of the slower Tanakas out of the sky as the others rapidly split their formation to avoid the attack. The rest slipped back into a tighter formation and, utilizing their angle of attack to bypass the defenders' cover, answered with a barrage of their own that swallowed the four Marines and two other defenders in a mass of displacement vortices.

More droids collapsed into smoking heaps, but ever more units came to replace them, and in the dimness of the setting sun, Rymann could make out the demon tasked to capture the defense point, not so much muscling its way through the woods as it was completely trampling them. So much for the forest protecting them from enemy armor. A short-statured, short-haired female droid based off Chachamaru broke through the lines, eliminating three more defenders before concentrated fire destroyed it.

"Get that Warthog up!" one of the Marines shouted as he pointed to the idle machine gun vehicle sitting outside.

He, a robed student, and two more Marines broke from cover and rushed for the Warthog, firing into the enemy ranks as they moved. Return fire lifted the robed student and the Marine nearest him off their feet and hurled them back into a wall as the two other Marines made it to the vehicle.

The Marine who'd initiated the charge climbed up into the bed of the vehicle and pulled back the charging handle of the machine gun, then aimed it up and unleashed a barrage of fire onto the airborne units. The heavy .50-caliber rounds ripped through the lighter frames of the flying droids like tissue paper, catching three unawares before the others ever became aware of the danger they were in.

Meanwhile, the other Marine grabbed a sniper rifle that had been placed in the side seat and backed towards available cover, dropping behind a low wall and setting the bipod up against it. He then sighted down the scope and started drilling rounds through two or more droids at once.

Hundreds of droids were now occupying the courtyard, pressing steadily forward, forcing the defenders to give more and more ground. Two students bearing magic launchers stepped out of cover and fired their magical rockets into the droid ranks, obliterating ten in the combined blast wave. Shrapnel from the destroyed droids sliced through the air, smashing the wings off one of the airborne units and sending it spiraling into one of the outer walls, where its explosion lit the wall and surrounding shrubbery aflame.

At the rear of the droids' advance, a short-haired special forces unit flew backwards, a broken crater of shrapnel and electronics where its face should have been. Its sister unit turned to regard its fate, and started to move to safety when it, too, succumbed to an anti-materiel round. The Marine sniper, meanwhile, ducked his head in order to search for a new magazine for his weapon, that movement being the only thing that saved him from the paired cables that snapped into the wall behind him, directly through the space his head occupied a moment ago.

He looked up to find the special forces commander unit of the two he'd just destroyed standing before him, the electrified cables curling in the air around it and two bullets clenched between the fingers of its right hand. He rolled out of cover as the droid smashed its fist into the ground where he had just been, sparking a displacement vortex. Scrambling to his feet, he started running in the direction of the Warthogs as the special forces unit turned to follow, the cables attached to its back snapping forward after the Marine.

Fate intervened on his behalf as he tripped over a destroyed droid, causing the cables to pass harmlessly over him. He rolled off the downed unit and started to rise, but the droid was faster. It rushed in, delivering a powerful kick to his chest that crumpled his armor and launched him backwards into one of the transport Warthogs. As he groaned in agony from the strike, the droid calmly slammed its fist into his chest, triggering the displacement bullets it held on him.

With the sniper eliminated, the droid turned to regard the turret gunner of the Warthog, drawing its sidearm as the man eliminated a line of infantry with a burst of the weapon. As he turned to see what fate had befallen the sniper and deal with whatever threat was there, the special forces droid shot him in the chest, the force of the round pitching him backwards from the Warthog in the midst of a displacement vortex.

Rymann glanced behind him to see that Mei and Kotaro were well out of range of the enemies here, the girl flying on her broom as the boy leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Ignoring the idiosyncrasies of how it was physically possible for them to do those things, he turned back to the battle before him and shouted, "That's it, they're clear! Fall back! Fall back!"

The pitiful few remaining defenders abandoned their defensive positions and fell back toward the rear exit, toward the perceived safety of the forest where they could shake off pursuit and regroup with the others at the World Tree. No sooner had they started to move than the droids fell upon them in earnest, a wave of rifle fire enveloping them, the sheer volume obscuring them from view.

Unwilling to even attempt to use their sacrifice to slip away and escape, and knowing that it would be a futile effort anyway, Rymann discarded his battle rifle and picked up two discarded casters, then vaulted a window ledge and charged directly into the enemy ranks, firing both plasma rifle-like weapons at full discharge. "Come get me, you monsters!" he roared, his sustained fire burning down two, then three, then four droids.

As he reached the first ranks of the enemy, he discarded the caster in his left hand and slammed the remaining weapon into the head of the nearest droid with all the power he could muster, the anti-machine Jammer Ring he wore giving him the strength he needed to crush its head with the blow. Before he could turn, pain exploded in his back courtesy of a pair of droids that were firing ruthlessly into him.

The magic caster fell from suddenly-numbed fingers as he dropped to his knees, staring at the semitransparent black sphere swirling around him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "The rest is up to you now, Sakura-san…"

Above the Combat Zone
The Same Time

Evangeline watched dispassionately as the technologically-controlled demon took its position in the center of the resonance point, and felt the invisible tug of magica, akin to the gale-force winds of a hurricane, shift in the direction of the fallen defense point and swirl around the demon, becoming visible in the form of a giant pillar of light that extended up toward the heavens.

"Well, well, one section down," she said, chuckling darkly. "What will do you now, boya? You're seriously outnumbered here, and those so-called 'Heroes' aren't even coming out to fight."

"I dunno," Chachazero said as she observed the battles far below her. "I still kinda have my money on those kids."

"Hmph, I don't care who wins," Evangeline scoffed, balancing her cup on the tip of her finger.

"You don't have any interest in the outcome, eh?" an older voice asked.

The vampire glanced over to see the headmaster approaching, walking on air by magic. She scoffed again. "Well, well, if it isn't the old geezer," she remarked disparagingly. "I don't care about the results."

"Are you sure?" the old man asked, a little too calmly, particularly for what was going on below them. "If Chao-kun's plans succeed, you'll never see your precious disciple again."

She was silent for a moment, and in that time, a pair of the allied Zeroes buzzed past a few hundred feet below them. "If that happens," she said finally, "then so be it. It will only prove that I overestimated his talent. Now go away, you're ruining my drink."

"Oh, don't be rude," he said as he seated himself in the air, taking the bottle of sake and pouring himself a cup.

"That's mine!" Evangeline shrieked as she swiped the bottle back from him. She peered into the bottle, then glowered at the old man. "Don't you have to go stop all this?"

"If the young ones can stop it, they will," he told her. "If they can't, then I'll take full responsibility."

The vampire sighed, having really expected no better. "You're a horrible old man."

Subway Tunnels, East Line, Exact Location Unknown
The Same Time

The positions were good, the trap was set, the bait was taken, but why in hell had it been this easy? Takaki half-expected the clankers to fire on them, once or twice at the very least. They didn't, though. They didn't even act threatened.

Does this mean the plan is working or we're in deeper shit than before? wondered the architect of their current scheme. Everyone else was praying that this plan would work out without consequences, and he could feel it. Funny thing about responsibility, you're always handed it when you least anticipate it.

So there he stood, in front of his loyal friends, standing between them and a clanker force of what could easily numbered more than five hundred. All silent, every soldier there, human or otherwise with their weapons sighted on their adversaries. Now was the moment of truth.

Before him stood one of the most intimidating sights he had ever witnessed in his young life. Shoulder to shoulder, armor as black as the abyss, hair of electricity, weapons of icy steel. Takaki found himself growing pale in the reflection of the droids' shades and felt a human chill run down his spine. He was scared, if only for a second or two, for his body did not have adequate time to display his symptoms before a lone Tanaka, a commander by his looks, stepped out of the main line.

"At ease troops, we want them alive," he calmly stated to the row to his flank, who in turn lowered their guns ever so slightly. The commander paused, then turned back to his troops for a moment. "Get command on the radio, let them know we've made contact in the east line," he muttered in a low frequency before turning back to face Takaki.

"Gallant defenders of Mahora!" he began, "My compliments, and congratulations. You have turned your situation of calamity into one of victory, for despite your arrogant defiance, both Commandant ITSUki and Master Lingshen have come to admire Mahoran valor and fighting skill."

Needless to say, once more, the small band of friends did not fully understand their situation. First shooting, now talking. What the hell are they planning? thought Taiyo from behind his cover of a pillar.

"We have been ordered to converse with you, for it has been decided that anyone who would defend these tunnels in such a foolhardy manner will make a powerful ally," stated the commander with a little more energy in his voice than they had heard the others speak with. This offer was an important one, but an offer that still made Takaki chuckle a little.

"Now why on earth would we help you Martians? You didn't honestly travel all this way just to chat with us little old humans right?" he answered in a mocking tone that would do his senpai proud.

"Use your reason human, we know you are not as stupid as you look," shot back the commander, a hint of irk in his voice. "Think of your troops, think of their well-being. Despite your several insults, the ones above are prepared to forgive all, and more to reward your service…"

The commander looked to the side for a moment or two before continuing, "You fight for your city? Keep it. You fight for your comrades? We will make you and your troops richer than any simple prize money can. You fight for the sake of game points? All will see your magnificent skill and battle points at the top of the list. Gallant defenders of Mahora, your victory will be complete, if you would lay down your arms and grant us access to your tunnels."

This deal is bogus, thought Mikuru, Kazuki, Yukimura, Taiyo and Takaki in unison. The clankers obviously figured them for a much larger force than they really were. Finally, some luck.

Takaki stood there, considering the absurd and obvious choice before him. Unlike his prior state, it's not fear that grips him, but restlessness, a heightened sense of things. The echo of small generators and servomotors whisper through the tenebrous tunnels, composing an eerie symphony of white noise. His vision continuously adjusting, as the light beyond the exit beginning to fade beyond the horizon so far away.

"Perhaps...a leader who knows what they're doing wouldn't be so bad after all," he replied with a smile to the commander, who nodded likewise in return.

"Then you will kneel, and pledge your allegiance to the true savior of the day?"

Takaki hesitated, a pause to consider what he was about to do. There was no need, the choice between what's smart and what's right was the same. His mind was made up as he shook his robes to drop what ammo he had left on him and as he placed his own rifle on the ground beside him. A knot of excitement formed in his gut as he dropped to his knees and bowed to the commander. "My men and I are in unanimous decision, we surrender."

If the commander could smile, it would be beaming with an overwhelming sense of victory as he raised his hands to signal his troops, and as one they lowered their weapons fully into non-danger mode.

However, even with their victory so clear, they could not see the smirk on Takaki's face. Nor could they ever hope to understand the complex decisions of humans. And because they could not understand, they could not be prepared.

"MIKURU!"

A small tower of cardboard boxes toppled over, and out sprinted the small brown-haired girl. The movement was too quick for the enemy lines to clearly make her out, or the power staff she wielded. Using Takaki as a sort of trampoline, the Tanaka commander could not issue an order before she had reached him. Sailing through the air, she thrust the staff into the commander's chestplate, releasing the last of its stored up energy into the unfortunate unit and those around him. The magical explosion spread outward, sending the forward lines sailing backward into every line to their rear. The ones that weren't quite knocked over scrambled frantically to retrieve their fallen weapons to mount any sort of counter attack.

Takaki rose to his feet and began picking off those left standing. He waited exactly three seconds before whistling in a high pitch, signaling Taiyo, who quickly sprinted behind the farthest cover to find Kazuki, waiting with the launcher. "Make it count, buddy!"

The thin young man said nothing as usual and aimed steadily, for his target was small and far away. Kazuki took a quick breath as he saw the spot in the farthest corner, exhaled, and squeezed the trigger.

The rocket's light illuminated the tunnel as it screamed above the countless Martian soldiers, flying straight and true directly into its target, detonating into a spectacular explosion akin to fireworks. As the multi-colored flames died down, one could make out that the wall had been completely removed and all that remained was the pipes beyond that were visibly beginning to crack under the sudden pressure. Jets of water were already spraying in small amounts into the tunnel.

The burst of color and magic had obviously distracted the would-be hero squad into realizing it was a nice time to get out of the subway. "Time to go!" Takaki called first to Mikuru, who was still watching the spectacle, and then to Taiyo who was heading to the exit at a moderate pace.

"Run! Run! Fucking Run!" cried Yukimura, leaping up onto the platform and beginning his dash up the stairs.

Seeing this, Kazuki's left eye twitched. "Damn coward," he muttered to himself, sprinting after him, but stopped upon seeing that Mikuru was the only one not moving. The impending flood wasn't what troubled him, but the clanker who had gotten back up, its weapons trained on his dear friend. Shit, he quickly thought, turning and darting towards his spaced out friend.

It is unsure of what sound snapped Mikuru back to reality, the bang of the first enemy gunshot or the crunch of the pipes finally giving way, though it could feasibly have been just the shock of Kazuki tackling her to the ground before any harm could reach her, the offending bullet cutting past Kazuki's temple. Mikuru looked up at Kazuki with surprise. "Wha-? You're hur-"

Kazuki didn't let her finish, he yanked her up with all his might and shoved her behind him. "It's nothing, hurry Miku-chan!" she heard him whisper, not allowing her to look back as he kept her moving towards the exits. Magic rounds whizzed all around the pair, but neither bothered to gander behind.

The two thought there'd be no end to the maelstrom of enemy fire that nipped at their heels, many missing only by centimeters. Kazuki made a point to stay between her as they ran across the tracks to the platform, but made his best attempts to dodge the bullets all the same. Kazuki felt the blood from his scratch beginning to run down into the corner of his eye. He blinked rapidly to prevent it from hindering him in anyway. He just kept moving, just kept shoving Mikuru closer and closer to the exit stairs.

"Hurry, get moving!" called Taiyo, poking up his head from the moderate cover of the stair railing. "We're not losing anyone down here! You two hear m-"

The concrete finally gave way to the building pressure, forcing the last of the debris out and allowing the surging current to race out without opposition. The torrent crashed heavily into the middle ranks of the strike force, sweeping away the droids in the surging waters. As though not learning any previous lessons, both Kazuki and Mikuru turned to admire their work.

"HURRY DAMMIT!" screamed both Takaki and Taiyo to the distracted couple, beckoning hysterically. Tanaka units sprinted frenziedly down the railway in hope to outrun the trap, and no longer cared much for a handful of students. Now was as fine a chance as they were ever going to receive. But as Kazuki pivoted to grab Mikuru and finally get out of the quickly sinking sub-station, his peripheral vision saw a lone Tanaka, a commander unit that was none too keen on escaping, raising his pistol.

"Execute Order 17...no survivors," could be barely heard.

"Fuckin A…" muttered Kazuki, shooting his hand to Mikuru's shoulder and shoving her with all of his possible might to the ground.

He barely felt any pain as the two bullets bored deep into his neck and chest; it stung, but not to the degree he anticipated. He looked down at the tearful Mikuru, and shrugged. "I don't know why I did it either, but stay safe," he said, grinned as the abysmal sphere fully enveloped him.

"KAZUKI!" cried Mikuru, lunging toward at her savior but going nowhere but into the restraining arms of Taiyo and Takaki.

"He's gone, Miku-chan! But not dead! You'll see him again! Let's get going!" said Taiyo, attempting to calm the struggling young girl. But to no avail, she continued kicking, thrashing, and calling out to yet another that had vanished from their plane of time.

They had just reached the upper stairs when the current finally crashed into the lower exit. Excess water splashed upwards and knocked the fleeing friends of their feet, whilst inside the tunnels the last remaining Tanakas were swept away into the lower subways.

The three panted, their bodies soaked with both flood water and sweat, but remained silent even after they had caught their breaths on account of the sobbing Mikuru. Takaki glanced to Taiyo, "Where's Yukimura? He didn't run away did he?"

Taiyo shook his head. "No, he went up ahead to check if it's clear. I'm not sure where we are."

It was quiet for some moments after, minus the sounds of battle raging throughout the city. Suddenly, the three heard a muffled crunching sound of metal on cement, beneath the water. Only the two boys stood, and retreated a few steps up the stairs, unsure of what to expect. Mikuru, now silent, with neither sob nor breath to be heard, sat motionless. Her eyes slowly opening to stare at the water, a stare that any person could feel the hate in.

A silhouette surely became visible after a few seconds and as it emerged was revealed to be a lone Tanaka. A commander unit, the very same commander from before. Its left elbow joint was twisted and useless, and its visor was battered and bent. Several sparks spurted from an exposed crack in its neck as it rose, a slight twitch in its right leg. The trap had done its job without question, but this one was tougher, with a purpose to serve.

"E-e-exe-te..-der 17, n-..sur..vivors. R-ger, roger," it said, raising its right arm, its hand positioned in a way that would suggest that it assumed it still held a pistol. Such was not the case when it squeezed its index finger towards its palm. "Er-r-ror...targ-t n-t..s-silenc-.."

Faster than the two boys could blink, the commander unit's head had gone from point A to point wall. They didn't even hear Mikuru's hate-filled scream, they were too shocked by her sudden attack itself. Grabbing it by its right antenna, the young girl slammed the commander's head over and over and over again into the side wall, the crunching sounds drowned out by each of her individual battle cries.

Without warning, the antenna suddenly gave way to her pulling force and ripped free from its head. It stumbled to the ground, more sparks than before spraying from it. Disoriented, it could do naught but sputter and gibber, "Errooooor...E-E-Errrrrrrror!"

But even that was not enough, as Mikuru mounted the chest of the damaged droid and began pounding both of her clenched fists against the already dented face-plate. Again and again she pummeled the enemy that was no longer even defending itself. Her knuckles now beginning to bloody, each strike stained her foe. Blinded by rage, she did not relent. Again and again.

The last strike she dealt caved the very face of the commander in but not without breaking her right hand. Mikuru screamed with pain and anger, rising to her feet in the process. And with a final, "FUCK YOU!" she stomped the face completely inward, crushing its center chip and causing it to finally 'die.' There she stood, clasping her crippled hand, watching her own blood pool around the commander's head as it dripped from her.

She sighed heavily and fell backwards as her world went black.

Command and Control Center, Defense Point Charlie
1857 hours

Shrill alarms filled the consoles, numerous holographic displays showing the demon at the now-enemy-held Defense Point Delta and the pillar of light that surrounded it. Another display showed a satellite image of the battle, with the brilliant illumination of the World Tree in the center, and the single dot of the captured resonance point glowing to the northeast.

"Delta has gone silent," Natsume reported. "Command and control net functionality down to twenty percent."

"Ground control, what's going on down there?" Professor Akashi demanded. "We have to stop those droids!"

Another holographic screen popped up, showing a suit-clad Arlington Magic Society mage, one of the field commanders at their defense point. "It's no use, Akashi-sensei! They're attacking out of the sewers and subway; we just don't have enough men to stop them!"

"Shit, they've broken through!" another voice clamored on the display.

The video feed rocked violently following some kind of explosion, then cut out entirely.

"Defense force losses have exceeded seventy percent!" another technician reported.

Akashi looked toward another feed that displayed all of their remaining defense forces, a little over a hundred robed students and armored Marines, clustered around the outer plaza below the church and on nearby rooftops, their final defensive line. The casters and wands and staves of the defenders glowed with charged energy as the Marines tightly gripped their live weapons. Some signal was given, and all of that stored firepower was unleashed in a screaming wave of power and bullets and explosive charges that slammed full-on into the advancing demon, obscuring it from view.

Everyone held their breath as the dust cloud roiled in place, waiting to see if the demon still stood, praying that the volley had been enough to bring it down. Slowly, the smoke began to clear, and behind the obscuring screen, the demon was battered, but still very much alive. It was also holding a charged beam attack, which it now unleashed in full upon the plaza, the illumination of the attack overloading the light filters of the recording device, filling the screen with a white glare.

"We've lost the Ogetsu defense line!"

"Beason's team destroyed!"

Akashi turned to face a Fireteam Charlie radio operator, their link to the other defense points. "Reinforcements?" he asked.

The radio man shook his head. "Bravo is struggling under enemy assault, Echo's reserves are reinforcing Alpha, and Delta has fallen. We're on our own."

Cursing, Akashi turned away from the radio man and looked down at the tactical map before him, which showed an ever-diminishing number of blue dots around and within the church, and a swarm of red ones moving in to surround them on all sides.

Another beam attack from the demon struck the church, rocking the building and sending those inside who were not seated stumbling. Nearly all the screens and consoles went dead.

"Command net down!" Natsume wailed.

Outside, on the roof of a building adjacent to the church, three defenders scanned the advancing droids for a good place to launch an attack. Sudden movement drew their attention to the darkening sky, where they noticed three airborne droids, two of the special forces Chachamaru-replica models, and one Tanaka that seemed to be much bulkier than any of its ground-based counterparts.

The defenders immediately opened fire on the three droids, unaware of their intent and unwilling to find out. The Tanaka droid continued on toward the church unabated, but the two feminine models swooped down below their line of fire and answered the defenders' spray-and-pray tactic with precision fire, eliminating all three of them in under a second.

Back inside, Akashi noticed a peculiar motion in the enemy forces at the same time Natsume shouted in alarm, "Defensive perimeter breached! They're heading right for us!"

"Damn!" Akashi shouted, reaching for his backup wand as the skylights overhead shattered, allowing the Tanaka droid to plummet into the chapel. In the brief instant he had to look up at it, he noticed the additional bulk added to the droid in what appeared to be a large number of satchel charges.

Then the droid suicide bomber set off its displacement charges, the combined effect of the blast engulfing the entire church and all its occupants.

Location Unknown, Somewhere Within the Battle Area
1858 hours

"Chao-san," Satomi called out, drawing the Chinese genius' attention from the passing clouds. "We've captured points Delta and Charlie. Resonance fields are active."

Chao smiled and flexed the fingers of her left hand. "That's excellent news-ne." Silvery currents of air began to wrap around her arm, culminating in a glowing silver orb in what appeared to be a bracer on her wrist. She raised her wrist up level with her face, watching the air swirl and twist. "Now, let's put an end to all this…"

The magically-laced air currents coalesced into a sphere in the palm of her hand, which she clenched her fist around, then drew back and hurled into the sky, creating a stacked pattern of magic circles that pierced into the gathering clouds. Thunder rumbled on a night that was not scheduled to have rain, and the clouds below began to swirl and spiral into a specific pattern.

Chao smiled.