Nanoha StrikerS: Pursuit of Perfection 11

"Okay, here's one." Soran polished off a piece of chicken marinara. "If you were one Gundam, what would it be? Any series."

"A Gundam?" Erio put his fork down.

"Didn't think you were into the Anime scene, Soran." Tea took a slurp of her drink. "I guess I'd go with Dynames or Buster."

"Sniper units, no surprise there." Soran yawned.

"I guess Altron or Shenron for me." Erio scratched his head. "The lance and speed really go with my style."

"BAAAAAKURETSU GOTTO FINGAH!" Subaru got up and punched the air.

"God Gundam, also no surprise. How about you, little princess?"

"Um… I don't know. I never watched the shows really. Maybe a strategic or backup unit?"

"Blitz then maybe." Tea pointed her chopstick.

"I think Throne Drei would work better." Soran interrupted.

"The Thrones weren't Gundams. They were using false GN Drives. If you counted that, then the GN-X is also a Gundam, and that was a grunt suit that they skimped on the animation of."

"The GN-X couldn't cast a Stealth Field like Drei though. That thing had a lot of particle emission, which enabled the other suits to use their strengths. Remember the Hi-Mega-Launcher combination? Basically the Drei is just like Caro, just without the dragon."

"Reeeah." Fried squeaked.

"No offense to you of course."

"So which one are you then, Soran-kun?" Subaru finally sat down after her ridiculous pose.

"I was thinking about that for a while actually. At first I was going to say Strike Freedom, but Nanoha-daicho has that one already. Fate-daicho is Infinite Justice so that's out too. I don't have any bits like Legend or Providence, so I guess I'd have to go with Destiny, since it has a multi-weapon platform. Though it relies on melee weaponry a bit more than I like."

"Then why don't you go with Kyrios? Speed and long range weaponry, with additional weapons options depending on the loadout. Plus you've got that transforming shield weapon."

"Mmm, that one might work too, but I'm holding out to see what Season 2 has for the shuttlecock suit." Everyone at the table blushed. "What? I can't say shuttlecock?"

"How's it going with the search, you two?" Ginga entered the library, where Arf and Yuuno were floating around, checking records every which way.

"No good here." Yuuno flipped upsidedown, his ponytail pointing towards the older teen. "Most of the material on Perseus was lost in the war, and anything on singularity weaponry is classified up the wazoo. So much so that I doubt even Fate-chan could get through. How's it looking on your end, Arf?"

"Nothing in system data or scientific reports. I'm going to try the video archive. I'll be right back." Arf flew through a door.

"Why are we obsessing about this professor anyway?" Yuuno flipped rightside up as he landed.

"Because he knew the most about Casters. Someone is out to get Soran-kun, and I have a feeling the motive is Caster driven. We need to find out more about these weapons, and the people most involved with them to find a connection."

"You guys! I found something!" Arf dove for the floor, a beautiful blue crystal in her hand. "I found an old Persean video encyclopedia with a record of a Gene Starwind. Have a look." She pulled up a terminal and shoved the crystal in the access port.

A man displayed on the screen, with dark red hair, green eyes, and a cocky smile on his battle-scarred face. "Gene Starwind, a name that will be heralded by our planet forever, starting in this, his first ever entry into the Persean Global Encyclopedia. It was two years ago that this scientist and mage appeared seemingly out of the blue, claiming to be able to solve the mystery of the Casters. And solve them he did. The first ever successful test firing was of a number 1 shell during a mining rescue, shown here." Starwind pointed his cannon at a large pile of rock, and a spiral of black and purple wind shot forth from the staff, burrowing into it. "As you can see, the number 1 shell successfully burrowed through 100 feet of solid rock, leaving all the unmined Casters in the area, and the people trapped inside unharmed."

"Incredible." Ginga was awestruck. "The type 1's function must have been to eliminate a specified type of matter."

"A year ago, Honorary Professor Starwind proposed the Theory of Dimensional Fissures to the Persean Scientific Panel."

"We, as a people, discovered a great power that requires great wisdom and responsibility to manipulate. It was not created by our own hands, but given to us by the stars. The Caster can be a gift, and it can be a curse. Far too many have lost their lives in applying the great power within the shells. I believe that misuse of that power brought the Casters to us through dimensional space! I believe that the most dangerous of the shells, the Type 9, destroyed not only a planet, but a dimension. And when I am finished here today, I believe you will all agree with me when I say that we should ban the use of the Type 9 Shell!"

"While his knowledge of Casters is unprecedented, his past and education remain a mystery. This encyclopedia was unable to obtain any information before the publishing date. We apologize for the lack of information and will attempt to rectify it next issue. Starwind is an active researcher at the Perseus Military Academy, and lives with his wife Melfina and unborn son." The video switched over to a still image of Starwind and his wife, a woman with long black hair and a sad look in her eyes, obviously near due.

"She's very pretty." Arf commented.

"How lucky. Wish I had a family like that." Ginga mused. The other two looked at her strangely. "Sorry, I guess I'm a little jealous of Subaru. If she and Soran get any more serious, I'll wind up being an aunt before she does." She joked.

Alarms blared at Section 6 HQ. "All personnel to emergency stations. This is not a drill. All personnel to emergency stations." The forwards looked up from their respective duties, and they broke into a run. They met up with each other on the way to the situation room.

"So they're skidding through interdimensional space out of control?" Hayate gasped.

"Yes." Chrono Harlown spoke from his position aboard his ship. "They were trying to send me some vital data, but something went wrong and we lost contact. The captain must have ordered the ship to pull this maneuver to get us the information regardless of the risk. It must have been clipped by a fold in the dimensional slipstream while trying to exit. Now it's being battered around."

The sub-commanders entered and joined the ranks. "And it's only an Aeris-class research vessel."

"Ah. It won't last very long in Slipstream. Commander Yagami, Section Six will send out their rescue squad immediately. Your mission is to retrieve the crew, by either saving the ship or evacuation. You will be using my vessel to enter Slipstream, so I will stand by for transport."

"Understood. I will be there shortly." She cut the transmission. "Shari, I want estimations on that craft. How long is it going to last, and what are we looking at in the slipstream conditions ahead?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Shamal, get the medical units up to the ship. I want full triage and emergency units set up."

"Ma'am."

"Zaphila, Vice. You two are on maintenance. Grab anything you can think of that can repair that ship and get them out of there."

"Ou."

"We'll need my bike too if we're hitting the halls." Teana said quickly.

"Make that two." Soran added. "I'm a pretty good driver myself." Vice nodded before he rushed off.

"Commander, I estimate about three hours until the ship's shields start to buckle." Shari finished her calculations. "There are going to be some rough seas ahead. They picked a bad time to get stuck between dimensions."

"Tch." Hayate bit her lip before turning to the ranks behind her. "Forwards, this is scenario B-14, secure and prepare for evacuation. Most likely we won't be able to save the ship in the timeframe they need, so everyone needs to be at the designated evacuation zones highlighted on this map." A viewer appeared with glowing hotspots on the hull of the ship. "Each of you has a different section to cover. Subaru, you're aft, including the engine room. Erio, you're starboard. Caro, you're port, which includes the medical bay. Teana, you'll stay in the central decks. Soran, you'll be at the bow, this also includes the bridge and science units."

"Ma'am!"

"Nanoha, Fate, and I will remain on standby on the ship. We will sortie in the event we must switch to plan C-99." Nanoha and Fate began whispering to each other. "If switching to C-99, Teana will relieve Soran in his section and the others will expand their coverage to match. Soran, you will assist the Commanders in C-99 operations."

"Understood."

"Operation start!"

They all filed out of the door in a dash, heading for the transport room. They entered just as Shamal and the medical crew disappeared from the pad. "Teleport us directly to their bridge."

"Ma'am." A magic circle appeared in the center of the room, and they all got on it. Within seconds the scenery changed, and they were on a battleship bridge, looking out into space.

"As prompt as usual, Hayate." Chrono stood and shook her hand.

"Chrono-cancho. Our engineering team should be coming soon. Once they are aboard we will be ready to leave."

"Understood. You heard her everyone! Chart a course for slipstream entry and prepare for launch!"

"We'll get into position at the entry points." Teana and the forwards saluted before turning to the door. "Oi, Soran, what are you doing?!"

He was flipping rapidly through his manual. "I don't see it."

"Soran!"

"Uh? Oh!" He caught up with them quickly. "Sorry about that. Do any of you know what C-99 is? My manual didn't have it listed."

"Good question." Subaru answered as she paralleled him. "My book only covers up to the B's."

"Hmm…." Soran closed his eyes for a second. 'Commanders, are one of you there?'

'Harlown.' Fate answered.

'What is operation C-99?'

'C-99 is the operational code for all S+ rank mages to use full power attacks. Most likely Yagami-daicho is thinking we might have to forcibly flatten the dimensional waves.'

"EH?!" He said it out loud, drawing looks from his comrades. 'Unfold a dimension by force… is that even possible?!'

'I don't know, but the point is we'll have to try.'

'Egh… understood.' Soran shook his head.

"Well?"

"Classified info apparently. Sorry."

They made it to the starboard airlocks, where Vice already had Tea's red bike set up with a sidecar. He was working on attaching a sidecar to a blue bike right next to it. "All hands, prepare to enter slipstream!"

The entire world stretched out in front of Soran's eyes, then snapped back to normal like a rubber band. "Woah." He had to kneel down and recover.

"That was your first slipstream jump, huh?" Teana asked.

"Yeah." Soran winced. "Everything keeps wobbling."

"We were introduced to it early in the academy, but since you skipped that phase, you haven't gotten a taste of it until now."

Shamal pressed a hypo to his neck. "This should get you back on your feet."

"Thanks, Shamal-sensei." He rubbed the spot he was injected in and then stood slowly. He went crosseyed for a second then blinked it away. "It still feels like everything is in motion, but it's not as bad."

"Set up, boss."

"Uh? Barrage?"

"Set up. We can help."

"It's not a bad idea to do that anyway. We'll be diving headfirst into this mission soon after all." Tea nodded.

She put Cross Mirage's card forward. Mach Caliber's pendant, Strada's watch, Kercleyon's bells, and the Dark Trinity keys joined it in the center. "Get ready."

"Forwards, set up!" In a circle, all of their gear materialized on their bodies.

Without asking, a visor spread over Soran's eyes. "Hey, it stopped shaking! Thanks Barrage!"

"Our pleasure." Soran mounted the staff on his back.

Viewscreens appeared on the hull, becoming windows to the outside. Looking at it, it was like galaxies were passing over them, casting waves of bright light across the slipstream tube. "It's beautiful."

"There she is." Zaphila switched to his humanoid form as he zoomed in on the ship that was still slightly ahead. "She's in bad shape. Vice, take a look at this."

"I don't believe this! One of her engines was sheared right off!"

"It's too clean to be a wave's sideswipe though."

"An Aeris-class wasn't made for slipstream. Probably used up all her power just to make the jump, and the portal closed up on her engine. Which explains why she can't maneuver."

"Can we fix it?"

"Maybe, if we can set up a levitation generator, we can at least get some maneuvering. But she's not going to make a jump on her own. The key factor is time. How much do we have right now?"

"Two hours, 32 minutes. Give or take."

"Well, we can try. But that's cutting it close."

"We're coming up on her port side." Tea said as she mounted her bike. "I'll take Subaru and Erio to their respective areas. Soran, you take Caro and Shamal. Caro, secure the evac sliders to the ship."

"You got it." Soran mounted his bike and revved the engine.

Hayate's voice echoed through their heads. 'We're going to extend our shield over theirs for a moment so you can get on board without turbulence. We can't keep it up long term though.' A wave hit the smaller ship, and it jumped. Everyone watching winced. 'There's a calm section coming up. Get ready.'

The hatch opened. "Wing Road." Mach Caliber's magical scrawl reached from airlock to airlock.

"This is Stars 1, Stars 2, and Lightning 3. Commencing boarding." Tea gunned the throttle and went up the ramp.

"Darkwing 5, with Lightning 4 and Dove. Breaking through!" Soran cranked his grip and followed.

"Revolver Knuckle!" Subaru punched through the airlock door with ease, and the two bikes tore into the darkened hallway.

Soran screeched to a halt as Tea peeled off. Caro jumped out of the sidecar and attached a magical generator to the airlock. "Kerkcleon, activate Evac Slider." Her gloves blinked and the generator cast a white cylindrical bridge to the opposite end. "Capture complete."

Soran nodded and hit the throttle again, racing through the halls, taking note of the signs, hitting hard turns. Once he saw the Medical Bay doors, he slammed the brakes and screeched to a halt. Shamal nodded and rushed in as he tore away towards the bridge. "I'm from Section 6 Rescue Command! Where's your head doctor?" She cried as she entered the room, filled with wounded people moaning in pain.

"He's dead. He and the head nurse were stuck in surgery when they made the jump." A young girl in a medical uniform, blood on her fingers and blouse answered.

"Damn it! I'm taking over this operation. You, come with me. Anyone who doesn't have serious leg wounds, head to the portside airlocks! There will be a medical team on the other side to treat you." Her ring lit up and she lifted open an unconscious man's eyelids. "Nurse, tag these people as I say. This one needs cauterization before moving. Severe bloodloss, type AB." She pulled out a bandage from her kit and tied extremely tightly around the man's half-severed arm. She jumped over to another, checking her pulse and breath. She winced and pulled the blanket over the body's head.

"Uuughhh!" Another one started twitching and gasping.

She slid over to him quickly. "Cardiac arrest! Defib!" The nurse handed her the paddles. "Charge 300. Clear!"

Soran leapt off his bike and entered the bridge. "Who's the captain of this boat?" The ship rocked from turbulence. "I'm from Section 6 Rescue Squad."

"I am." A blonde woman with short spiny hair said as she got out of her chair. "Thank you for coming. What's the situation?"

"We currently have rescue personnel combing each section of the ship for survivors. We're going to move all of you to the evacuation points and take you aboard. Our engineering team is trying to get at least some maneuvering back to buy us some time, but they're going to need help."

"Marc, Paul. Engineering." The woman ordered.

"We've got someone in medical doing triage as well, with the rest of her team on the way. I need your crew manifest."

"Tear." She ordered again, and the woman in communications handed him a blue chip.

He slid it into his visor and read the list. "Barrage, send this to the rest of the team."

"RNGH!" Subaru bent open a door. "Is anyone in here? I'm from the Rescue Squad!"

A young man coughed. "Over here."

Subaru rolled over to him and lifted the heavy shelving unit off him. The manifest popped up on a terminal next to her. "S. Kelley? Can you walk?"

"RGH!" Erio propped Strada up. "Hurry!" A man and a woman scrambled out from under the lifted wreckage.

"Hang on, I'll cut through this. Level two, Cross Mirage." Tea's gun spread a beam cutter, and she speared it into a piece of metal, sending sparks flying.

Caro had her eyes tightly shut as she waved her hands over an injured man in triage, just helping to keep him alive until they could operate on him, as Shamal closed the eyes of the man she tried to save earlier. She crossed his name off of the manifest in red ink.

"Now to the heart of the matter." Soran crossed his arms. "You mind telling us why the hell you jumped into Slipstream? You could easily have gotten slingshot halfway across the universe, or been rebounded back!"

"Our communications were down due to dimensional distortion, and we needed to get the message to Commander Harlown as soon as possible. So I deemed the risk necessary. I of course didn't think we'd lose our right engine."

"So what did you find?"

"We came across a dimensional fissure, and a large mass trying to penetrate it. The research data is on the computers two decks below us. We had charted it to enter one of three heavily inhabited dimensions: Earth, Perseus, and Clow. We felt it necessary to warn the fleet before it got any further."

"Dimensional Fissure… ah! You mean like that thing that hit Perseus 20 years ago?!" Soran's eyes went wide.

Suddenly everyone was thrown to the bulkheads as a jarring wave hit the ship. "Commander, she's going to capsize!" One of Chrono's bridge crew gasped.

Tea gritted her teeth as she held onto a man's arm tightly, struggling to keep him from falling into the sharp metal below. 'Vice-kun… if you don't get this ship righted, we're going to die!'

"Zaphila, I don't care if you have to kick that thing, get it running!" Vice grunted as he checked the control terminal backwards.

Metal twisted and groaned. "The anchors! They're breaking!'' Zaphila grunted as he braced himself against the generator.

"I can't do anything." Caro sobbed as she hung onto the doorframe. "I can't summon Voltaire in this place!"

Erio jabbed Strada into a wall. "Hang on, everyone!" He said to the three people gripping it for dear life.

Soran planted his feet firmly on the back wall and pointed Barrage towards the ceiling. A magical triangle appeared below his feet. "Barrier Jacket, cancel backlash protection and activate Active Guard across this deck! All hands, brace yourselves!" He raised his shooting staff above his head. "Elements of destruction!"

"Trinity Buster."

He pointed the ball of energy at the ceiling. "Let these innocents be saved!" The attack tore into and through the ceiling like it was paper and flew back, hitting the opposite wall of the Slipstream. His legs buckled under him as the force of the blast was transferred into the ship. "GWAAAAAAAHHH!" He screamed in pain and pressure.

"Soran-kun!" Nanoha gasped as he heard him over the radio.

"Come on… come on… TURN!" Fate yelled.

The little ship fought back against the wave and hit the bottom surface of the slipstream again. Hayate pressed her hand to her heart. "Good work, Soran. That was some quick thinking."

Soran's head slammed into the floor as he fell off the wall. "Itte!" He rolled around in pain for a while before he stumbled to get up. "Barrier Jacket, return to default functions. Yeah, but there's nothing stopping it from happening again." He answered Hayate. "And I don't feel up to risking that again. Unless Zaphila and Vice can get that levitation generator up and running, we should abandon this ship."

'Yeah, about that.' Vice's voice reached his ear. 'We lost the generator. The anchors didn't hold and it fell out through the engine breach.'

'Shit!' Soran slammed his fist into the back of someone's chair. 'Tea, you got that, right? You're the team leader.'

'For once, I agree with you Soran. Get everyone to abandon ship.'

'Unh.' Soran sighed before he looked up. "Everyone, abandon ship. Head to the portside airlocks." He clenched his fist tight. "Sorry, but we can't save her, Captain."

"I understand. But what about the research data?"

"Make sure the science officer that took the readings gets off the ship safely. If we have time, we'll get the data, but your lives come first. Now get going. I need to check for other survivors." Soran ran out of the bridge and hit the ladder for the next floor. "Barrage, Wide Area Search. All humanoid lifeforms." His three other keys glowed and he tossed them forward, each choosing their own separate way to go. Immediately a reading came up on his visor. "Over there, huh?"

"This is turning out to be the worst case scenario." Chrono snarled.

"Please calm down, big brother." Fate squeezed his shoulder gently. "We'll still save everyone we can. That's what's really important."

"Ah!" One of the bridge crew gasped. "Captain, Commander!" Their attention was brought to the main viewer. "Long range sensors have picked up a mass disturbance ahead!"

Chrono stood up, his eyes trembling. "That's not a wave, that's a wall! It'll eat up both ships! Timeframe, now!"

"35 minutes maximum."

"That's not enough!"

"Hayate-chan!" Rein turned towards her.

Hayate narrowed her gaze. "Section 6, begin C-99."

"Uh?!" Soran gasped. "C-99?! Not now! Shit!" Soran tore off the cuff of his jacket and placed it on the wrist of the unconscious girl he was near. 'Tea, Shamal, I need to rendezvous with the others. I found a girl and her familiar on the deck three, but she's too badly hurt to be moved. I put my tracer on her. Garyu is also indicating there's someone on deck five, D section. That's as far as I got.'

'I'll have an EMS team up there ASAP.' Shamal acknowledged, signaling to one of her crew.

'I'll get the person on deck five. Everyone else, expand your search areas as planned. Soran, be careful. If anything happens to you, we can't track you.'

'I understand.' Soran entered the bridge and kicked off through the hole he had made earlier. "Kgh!" He was almost overcome by the turbulence and speed. "Woah!"

"Soran-kun!" Nanoha grabbed his arm and tugged him forward. "Commander Takamachi Nanoha override, Berkt jacket to Active Guard. Increase power to flight unit 50 percent." Soran stabilized and was able to keep up with her. "Soran-kun, gomen! We should have trained you for this long ago, but we forgot all about the fact you weren't in the academy."

"Don't worry about me, Nanoha-san. But why the C-99 all of a sudden?" Fate and Hayate unisoned with Rein entered formation as they pulled away from the ship.

"You'll be able to see it in a few seconds." Fate pointed Bardiche forward.

"I see a little wave coming over the ho…ri…zon…." He slowed down as he saw it get bigger and bigger. "Crap. This one is gonna hurt, isn't it."

"It will hurt us, but not those behind us if we're successful." Nanoha closed her eyes and sighed. "Raising Heart, Burst 3!" She gritted her teeth as her barrier jacket solidified, and her bits appeared as Raising Heart turned into Excellion Form.

"Bardiche, Sonic Form!" Fate's barrier jacket melted away, leaving minimal armor, as Bardiche switched to its twin-bladed Riot Form. She then combined them into her signature giant blade and put it over her shoulder.

"Rein."

"I understand, desu." Hayate opened her book and lifted her cross wand into the air.

Soran's magical triangle appeared below his feet as he twirled Rainbow in his left hand. "I've been wanting to try this one out. I just never had an excuse to do it."

"Divine Judgment Buster." Raising Heart cocked all the cartridges in the clip and ejected it, only to have her shove another in. The device ate those too as all of its points began to glow white hot.

"Execution Zanber." Fate raised her sword into the air as it cocked all of its cartridges. She swung it behind her and loaded another. In that position, the device swallowed them up too, the golden blade crackling with millions of volts.

"Earth-shattering disaster, take form in front of my eyes. Ragnarok!" Hayate and Rein chanted at the same time, and a white magical triangle appeared in front of her, each of its points glowing in an ever increasing gray light.

"Inferno, Glacier, and Lightning, the elements of destruction," Soran closed his eyes as the three energy balls appeared around him. He lifted up the twirling Rainbow, and the magic circle spun faster below him. "Combine with the breath of life and create true chaos!" His cyclone defense swirled around him, sucking up the balls of energy, forcing them together and surrounding them.

"Element Crusher." He grabbed Rainbow Zwei and pulled it down to parallel Barrage Zwei, the ball of writhing elements hovering a few inches in front of the tip of both.

Soran's visor beeped as the wave came into full view. His hair blew in a wave of turbulence as his reticule turned green. All of them cried out. "BREAKEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR!"

Their pent up energies released in fearsome raging bursts, hurtling towards their deadly opponent, made out of existence itself. They gritted their teeth as they fought against the push. It was a force of will versus nature as the wall tried to go forward. "It's not weakening enough desu!"

"We have to keep trying!" Fate grunted.

"Gah!" Nanoha yelped as her skin split on her left arm, a trail of blood flying back. "Something like this…"

"Kgh!" Soran snarled. "Kiryu! Garyu!" They flew out in Flash form, surrounding the emission point. They began to spin rapidly around it, twisting the beam into a giant tornado, which consumed the other weapons.

"What are you doing, Soran?!" Fate gasped.

"He's focusing it!" Hayate gasped.

"You… shall not pass!" Soran's cyclone consumed the wall in energy. After holding it for a good ten seconds, his body slumped, too expended to continue. "Geez." Everyone stopped their attacks. The energy dissipated, and the wave continued forward. "Oh, sure, go ahead and make a liar out of me."

"We halved it desu. Now the rescue ship can survive."

"But we don't have enough time to evacuate the rest of the crew of the Aeris-class. And I don't think any of us have a shot like that in us again." Hayate groaned.

Soran closed his eyes and took a fresh breath. "Yes we do." He outturned his hand to Fate. "My Caster, please."

"Eh?" Fate blinked.

"Damn it, you already know what it is, now give me the damn Caster! It still has energy I can use!" Soran snarled. "You had to have brought it with you!"

"Unh." Fate looked away ashamedly as she placed the golden case in his hand.

"Dark Trinity weapons, full limiter release. Maximum power!"

"Gillium Form!" His weapon turned into the Caster Cannon form. He loaded the case. "Extra shot!"

"Rein, link up. I'll need your help."

"Hayate-chan…." Rein whispered while inside her.

She nodded. "Go ahead." Hayate canceled the unison.

"Unison in!" Rein dove into Soran's chest. His cape turned golden, and his hair turned into a shade of blonde-green. His eyes shifted to bright blue as his battle gear turned a cloudy blue in color.

He closed their eyes and took a deep breath. "Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa." Fate, Hayate, and Nanoha backed away only slightly, fascinated to see the attack up close. The shell glowed inside of Barrage and began to vibrate. The tunnel seemed to get darker, and crackled with electricity.

Countless alarms went up on the bridge. "Captain, something is breaking through the slipstream wall!"

"What?! Why didn't we detect any portal energy?!"

"It's not using a portal! It's forcing its way through physically!"

"That's impossible!"

"The distortion it's creating… it has to be the size of a small moon!"

Chrono fell back into his chair in disbelief. "L-Location! Where's it emerging?!"

"Right above Commander Hayate's party!"

"No!"

A deafening explosion shuddered through the tunnel. Fate, Hayate, and Nanoha covered their ears as they screamed in pain. Soran just floated there, continuing to chant, blood trickling from his ears. The slipstream went dark, and a pitch black piece of rock with golden glowing specks breeched the wall above them. "What?!" Nanoha gasped.

"It's going to tear the Slipstream apart!" Hayate gasped.

"Those lights… they look like…." Fate thought back to the time in the lab. "Soran, stop! Stop chanting! There are millions of Casters in that thing!"

"Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa. Pagua sunfa."

"The explosion deafened him!" Nanoha dove for him and grabbed his head, wrenching it to look above."

"Pa… AHH!" Soran gasped, his staff going down to his side as the giant black rock came for him.