Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha - Ai Hazard

by Memor-X

4 Years after the JS Incident Nanoha and Fate have finally confessed their feelings for one another before Fate left to become a Mobile Enforcer. With Fate's return a year later as a full fledged Mobile Enforcer Riot Force 6 has came back together. Yet the peaceful family life Nanoha had hoped for may not last as a light it shone to reveal the truths behind the myths. [Ch.8 is up]

10. Ch8 Shinto Claw Which Grips the Earth

Chapter 8: The Shinto Claw Which Grips the Earth
[17th December 0081, 12:22 AM - Portfall Memorial Garden Mid-Childa] - Stand by her side

The Summer heat was well entrenched into the weather and with no breeze the air heated up and baked the surroundings. The only reprieve one could find was either inside an air conditioned building or under the shade of a large tree.

Lucky for those that came to the Portfall Memorial Garden in the Erusea District there were a large number of large evergreen trees for patrons to seek shelter from the weather, rain or shine.

One woman sat beneath a tree on her knees, her hands clasped together in prayer in front of a gravestone. Engraved on it read,

'Aerial Tactical Instructor Corps, Capital Air Force Captain,

Tiida Lanster.

Beloved Bother. May his soul find peace.
0048 - 0069'

Teana had accomplished her older brother's dream of becoming an Enforcer however she wanted to prove, without a doubt, the strength and conviction she and her brother had by becoming a Mobile Enforcer like Fate.

There was one thing holding her back though and that was her distrust of the TSAB. since her brother's death Teana was always sceptical of the TSAB with how the higher ups dragged her brother's name through the mud, all because he failed his mission despite the fact he died.

After finishing her prayer Teana got up brushing the dirt off her knees and proceeded deeper into the area. Teana didn't keep to the regular path opting to follow the connected shadows of trees to escape the heat. She eventually arrived approximately where she wanted to go and leaned her side against the nearby tree as she waited. A bit further ahead was another woman her own age with short cut purple hair. she too was praying at a grave with the engagement reading

'Ground Forces, Warrant Officer,

Quint Nakajima'

"She needed our mother the most" Ginga said and she walked up beside Teana, in her hands she held a large bouquet to lay at the grave ahead however decided to hold off giving Subaru some one-on-one time.
"yeh, she really acts immature at times"
"that's not what I mean" Ginga replied shaking her head "as a child Subaru couldn't cope all too well knowing she was a Combat Cyborg but our mother was there to help her. When she died I had to take her place"

Teana suddenly wished for a redo, her comment was meant as a joke on Subaru's carefree personality however now it sounded like a scornful attack.

"Teana, I want to ask you something personal", Teana pushed off the tree giving Ginga her full attention. It was rare for her to ask personal requests and even rarer to ask someone outside her family. "Please stand by Subaru for me"
"why? What's wrong?"
"it's nothing, just this feeling I have that soon I won't be seeing Subaru for a long time and I'm worried what will happen."

Teana blushed "ca, cant you get someone else?" she stuttered trying to hide her embarrassment
Ginga shook her head "your very close to Subaru and you mean a lot to her. you're the only one I can think of who would stick by her regardless what happened"
"errr, that's because she drags me into her messes"
"of cause" Ginga chuckled to herself

"Hay Tea!" Subaru yelled right next to Teana having finished paying her respects.
"Dam it, don't do that you idiot" she scolded twisting her index finger in her ear trying to do something about the ringing
"well I'll see you two tomorrow at the cathedral" Ginga said farewelling the two women as they went to leave.

After jumping into the passenger side-car of the bike Teana readied herself for Subaru's shooting start, a tendency Subaru developed since she got her bike. She was surprised however when she saw Subaru just sit there.
"Subaru" she asked "are you all right?"
"Yeh, I'm fine. Just missing my mum"
"have you cried yet?" Teana asked
Subaru just shook her head "if I did you'd think I'm a cry baby"

"no I won't" Teana said putting her hand on Subaru's "sometimes I cry when I visit my brother so I wouldn't think you're a cry baby if you cried at your mum's grave"
Subaru felt a little better being confronted by Teana like that and her urge to start crying began to dissipate. After a short while Subaru thanked Teana and started up her bike.

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[18th December 0081, 11:22 PM - Takamachi House Earth] - The Kami from Al-Hazard

Alicia stood at the side of the bed peering over the body which laid within. With Shamal's help Trishia had been stabilized but had not since woken up. Her wound had been bandaged up but her breathing was weak. Alicia chest constricted as her heart tried to tear itself apart, blaming her for Trishia's condition.

She dropped to her knees and laid her upper body on the bed. "I'm sorry" she sobbed, her tears soaking into the blankets, "This is my fault brought upon my own selfishness. I didn't want to see you in a man's body so I had your Linker Core feed back into itself causing you to be weaker. I didn't want you to accept the fate handed to you so I destroyed your resolve and made you question your existence. I should have never came!"

In the lounge room Nanoha, The Harlaown's and the Yagami's gathered waiting for Alicia to return. originally the Harlaown's house was suggested from them to retreat to as the Yagami's would be undefended should they all be called out however Chrono refused, fearing Julia's, Amy's and his children's safety in an attack.

While Nanoha could have been potentially exposing her family and Einheart to unnecessary danger because Suzuka was staying, the combat abilities of her older siblings and as a last resort, Vivio's and Einheart's training, she agreed that her place was probably better defended. Nanoha had arrived first to have her parents help prepare a bed for Trishia and explain the situation to them however was reassured in her assessment thanks to her father.

"You ok?" Fate asked noticing Alicia's depression as she slowly walked into the lounge and slumped on one of the sofas. Her eyes were red from the crying she had been doing for the past 5 minutes. Alicia nodded slowly as she tried to control herself from crying in front of everyone

"I hate to ask this but could you explain what's going on? From what Fate, Nanoha and Hayate have told us it seems you and Trishia know these women who attacked them" Lindy asked.

Alicia nodded once again before pulling out Ballad from her breast pocket and placing him on the table
"Ballad, Personal Files"
"Yes Sir"

Ballad began to glow before emitting a greenish light field mixed of Ballad's yellow glow and what must have been a blue hologram. at first the message 'Connection to Scholar's Library Mainframe Failure' appeared but this soon vanished as 3 faces appeared, one of Dearche, one of Levi and one of Seikou before Seikou's face expanded.

"Seikou Stern, Military Faction, dubbed Lord Marshal of the Material Stars and one of the top Air Marshals of the Military Faction. She never says more than 1 word at a time so only a very select few can understand what she is really saying" Alicia dictated before swiping though the field bring up Levi's Face
"Levi Raisell, Military Faction, dubbed Lord Marshal of the Material Lighting. Despite her title she's not an Air Marshal but rather she's officially listed in the ground forces of the Military Faction. she dislikes ranks so no one bothers to give her one but we can only assume she's a Front Line General"
Alicia swiped again this time showing Dearche's face.

"Lord Dearche"
"seriously, her first name is Lord?" Hayate interrupted
"no, dubbed the Lord of Material Domination. She's arrogant, egotistical, vain, brash and hot-headed. To top it off thinks herself higher than anyone else so always addresses herself with majestic plural. Only those she deems truly worthy of 'her grace' are allowed to call her by her first name. those that aren't who do, well she seems to have some sense that allows her to hear when someone does and launch an attack at them, from anywhere. I could say it now but I rather not risk it in case if it's a legitimate ability of it's just dumb luck"

Alicia pinched though the field causing all 3 girls faces to appear together, Dearche's face was above Seikou's and Levi's and above her face was a symbol none of the girls recognized.
"The 3 of them are one of the Special Operations Tasks Forces; dubbed 'The Material Unit'"

"How is it that you know them?" Nanoha asked taking a sip from her cup
Alicia sighed "while the group I am in, the Hazard Suspension Corp, is mainly associated with the Scholars Faction it's comprised of members from the other Factions. We have Magi, Civilian, Military and Majesty faction members as liaisons to allow our speedy deployment while the factions bicker as to who is at fault and who should clean up the mess. the Material Unit...are our Military Faction Liaison"
"So they're your colleges" Signum pointed out
Alicia nodded once again "yeh, in the Suspension Corp I have authority over them and even with Dearche's personality they used to heed orders, 50% of the time"

"So I take it these 3 are the real target of your mission since your here, how did they get here?" Fate asked
"Tell me, why do you think Al-Hazard is just a myth, why has it no one has ever been able to find it?" Alicia asked but when no one could answer she continued. "What separates Al-Hazard from you is a wall of dimensional space we call the Barrier Veil. Eons ago Al-Hazard was embroiled in war after war after war born of jealousy, hate or even petty indifference; we call it the Infinite Chaos Wars. Al-Hazard could have kept fighting but all our ancestors wanted was peace, peace for Al-Hazard and its people and for the people outside who were caught up in the wars. Al-Hazard faked their destruction and sealed itself behind the impregnable Barrier Veil and there we've remained."

"If it's so impregnable how did the Material Unit get through?" Hayate asked however before Alicia could answer she saw Nanoha shaking her head, "no, they used the Jewel Seeds, right?"

Alicia nodded "In Al-Hazard it's illegal to do any sort of study or research which would lead to trying to breach the Barrier Veil. However a bit over a year ago our government gave their consent to build a ship which could use the Jewel Seeds to breach it"
"Variable Mako" Lindy muttered to herself just loud enough for everyone to here
"hang on, from what we've been told those ships are warships, you planning on attacking us?" Vita argued
"no. mother was the one who petitioned the project because she refused to give up the Jewel Seeds. She wanted to find Fate, to know she was ok and to apologize. But she knew that if she returned to TSAB Space she would be chased down as a criminal and Al-Hazard couldn't protect her with the Barrier Veil in between them. It was for self defence"

Alicia tapped Ballad before a recorded image began to play showing Seikou and Levi attacking a group of guards. "Just when Variable Mako was completed Seikou and Levi attacked the station it was docked at. We were complacent in thinking they couldn't fly the ship, despite their own ranks they would be locked out. We should have known they were obeying Dearche, clearing out the guards so she could take the ship unopposed"

Nanoha thought back to a year ago when she and Fate were investigating the Paradox Hourglass. She remembered a news report about a major Dimensional Quake and shortly after that they picked up the Paradox Hourglass's signal. She also remembered that a Dimensional Quake occurred just as Alicia and Trishia first arrived and figured that the first quake was when the Material Unit must have arrived.

"Fate" Arf yawned as she stumbled down the hall to where she had heard everyone's voices; feeling left out having woken up and found both Nanoha and Fate missing. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes she was about to speak when she saw 2 Fates sitting next to each other. She lowered her stance as she bore her fangs, her fists clenched tight.
"YOU!" with speed almost as equal to Fate's Arf charged and grabbed Alicia by the throat pinning her to the wall and tightened her hold.
"Arf stop! She says she's the real Alicia" Fate pleaded
"I know! call it a gut instinct I know it's really her" Arf replied before returning her attention Alicia "I won't let you or your master get another chance to hurt Fate" she snarled but her gripped loosened when she felt the lack of any resistance from Alicia
"go ahead" Alicia wheezed averting her gaze from Arf. Alicia knew who she was, the loyal Familiar of Fate who probably would hold the most scorn to the Testarossa and right now she wouldn't complain if she died right there and then.

"So you want to die that badly!" Arf yelled before Fate placed her hands on Arf's arm and looked into her pleading eyes. Arf too knew Fate's desire to reconcile with her mother if she was alive but she also didn't want to give her the chance to hurt Fate like she did before. After realizing that she had let her rage and desire to protect Fate cloud her judgement she let go of Alicia. Arf was brought up to speed on what had happened but after hearing what had happened to Trishia she understood Alicia's lack of resistance from a moment ago.

"So why are they here? the Material Unit" Chrono asked
"I don't know" Alicia replied picking Ballad back up "Dearche's got an ego on her but she would never do anything that would jeopardize Seikou and Levi"
"What kind of relationship do they have" Fate asked remembering the intimate kissing Seikou and Levi did during their fights
"Seikou and Levi love each other like how you love Nanoha, but they both love Dearche just as much. Dearche loves them too but her personality prevented her from admitting to it, eventually Seikou and Levi started dating which threw Dearche off the edge thinking she was losing the women she loved but they later confessed to her too. Now they have something like a polygamous relationship. So as you can see if Dearche goes traitor Seikou and Levi will follow without a second thought and Dearche knows that, that's why it makes no sense"

"What about this?" Signum reached around behind her and pulled out an old leather bounded book which Levi had dropped when she rescued Dearche.
"Hang on, I know that book" Hayate exclaimed "it was in the museum here in the city. it was unearthed during maintenance on the Kunōzan Tōshō-gū shrine in Shizuoka and believed to belong to Tokugawa Ieyasu but the carbon dating pre-dates it's age to as far back as Oda Nobunaga"
"Yeh, I remember our classes having a field trip and we was given assignments to make a report on either the Warring States period, or the Tokugawa shogunate" Fate added remembering the joint field trip she, Nanoha and Hayate went on when they was children.

"So before you fought them they must have stolen this, but why" Alicia said to herself after the book was handed to her. The book was very old and due to its age no attempt was made to clean it. inside the written language wasn't Japanese but some else, one of the greatest mysteries was what language it was or if it was in fact coded entries by the writer in case the book fell in the wrong hands.

Alicia flipped through the pages quickly but stopped when she spotted a diagram circling a Magic Circle. "ujanmuyt, lahdnym luhdnumman, lusbydepemedo drnuikr Yuveria [overload, central controller, compatibility through Yuveria]" she recited squinting her eyes as she brought the book very close to her face. She quickly flipped back though the book to the first page and read out the name written at the bottom.

"Izanami"
"who?" Signum asked
"In Al-Hazard, within the Scholars Faction there is a title to those who achieve great feats known as the Sages of Hazard-hime, or just the Hazard Sages. Izanami was one of the greatest Hazard Sages"
"Was?"
"Yeh, she lived thousands of years ago. But that makes even less sense, the Material Unit arrived here a year ago but this book was here before them? And no one has breached the Barrier Veil" Alicia said replying to Signum.

"Nanoha, may I have permission to look in your father's study?" Shamal asked as she got up. Nanoha nodded before getting up herself and escorting Shamal deeper into the house. the 2 later returned with a stack of books which Shamal placed down in front of Alicia and opening up one of them, a Religious text on Shinto

"I am wondering, does the Izanami you know look like this?" she said pointing to an artistic rendition of a Shinto goddess.
Alicia shook her head "I can't answer that based off this image, I need to know the style that was used to create it"
"these other books have other artwork by the same person along with what the artwork was meant to be based off from"

Alicia took a couple of the books and flipped though them, finding matching images before calling on Ballad to compile the style. After the process was complete she had him scan the image in the religious text and display what the original should be based off the assumed style. Rotating around in the holographic field was a young woman who looked to be in her mid 20's with long dark hair.

"Sir, Extrapolated image matches to that of Hazard Sage Izanami no-Mikoto, error margin of 0.52%"
"the woman in that book is the Shinto Goddess of creation, death and the underworld, Izanami-no-Mikoto" Shamal said

Alicia rubbed the bridge of her nose. Not only did the Hazard Sage Izanami share the name of a goddess but the text in the leather book was an old from Al-Hazard Script not used since Izanamai's time. It did not bode well not just for her, but for everyone else sitting with her.
"It'll take me some time to translate this book. you all best retire for the night" she suggested setting herself up to read over the books brought to here

The Yagami's and Harlaown's bid their farewells planning to return tomorrow. As Fate, Nanoha and Arf went to retire themselves Fate looked back to Alicia who was reading though the books, her face very close to the pages as if having a hard time trying to read

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[19th December 0081, 3:13 AM - Takamachi House Earth] - A Mother's heart

Despite being curled up with Fate Nanoha was having a hard time sleeping. Dearche's power was terrifying and she showed no sympathy that she could have killed Trishia, a colleague. She had faced a number of criminals with Riot Force 6 who had no quarries with killing people but just how calmly Dearche acted unnerved her, and made her reconsidered if it was really a good idea for Alicia and Trishia to be near Vivio. Nanoha tried to relax by watching the dancing snowflakes outside the window but it was to no avail

Nanoha slipped out of Fate's warm embrace and headed for the kitchen to get a drink to calm herself. as she drank she proceeded to the lounge room to check up on Alicia, given how early it was she fully expected Alicia to be asleep now, if not she would convince her otherwise.

Books laid sprawled open on the table, sofa and floor, some of which were accompanied by hand written notes. Ballad was on the table but his light had dimmed while Alicia was curled up on her side on the sofa.

Nanoha reached for one of the hand written pages and glossed over it. It was a reproduction of a page from the book Alicia suspected to have came from Al-Hazard with different coloured text written around.

Red writing seemed to be direct translations as it was written above the text.
Green writing with arrows pointing to circled phrases seemed to indicate notes made by Alicia as comments to certain phrases.
The purpose of the blue ticks and crosses at the start of each line however was confusing, at first Nanoha thought it was picking up mistakes but at the bottom of the page Nanoha read

'56% already retained. How much time did we have together to begin with'

Putting the page down Nanoha went to grab a blanket and cover Alicia, as she pulled it over she noticed 2 wet streams from Alicia's eyes.
"Mama" Alicia mumbled as Nanoha let go on the blanket "help, Tishi". Alicia was like a little girl afraid of losing a loved one and called out to her mother, the one person a child believes could do anything in the world.

"I will" Nanoha replied softly as she leaned over Alicia and kissed her on the cheek. as Nanoha had expect Alicia's saddened face brightened up, smiling as she received reassurance from who she thought was her 'mama'. Nanoha knew this would allow Alicia to rest more peaceful as she had done the same with Vivio on those occasions where while she slept Vivio worried about Fate.

Nanoha looked back up the hall to where the room Trishia laid in, Nanoha was still suspicious if Alicia was really who she said she was like everyone else with the exception to Fate, but regardless of that no one should have to go through what she was going though now.

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[19th December 0081, 10:04 AM - Takamachi House Earth] - TALON

Alicia slowly awoke to the sound of sizzling oil. She had half a mind to yell out to her crew to 'shut the hell up' when she remembered that she wasn't in Al-Hazard. She was on a planet called earth, she was inside the house of the parents to her younger sister's girlfriend, and Trishia was down the hall in a coma having almost been killed by Dearche.

"Ahh good morning, errrr, Alicia wasn't it?" an older woman greeted her, given her age she had to be Nanoha's mother
"yes, thank you for your hospitality" Alicia bowed her head as she tried to fix her dishevelled hair before tidying up where she had slept. Alicia could see that everyone who had gathered the night before had returned and was aiding Nanoha's parents in preparing breakfast. While Alicia was offered something to eat she respectfully declined, she didn't feel like eating anything with her stomach in nots remembering what she had done.

After everyone had finished they gathered around in the lounge with Nanoha's family deciding to begin preparations for Christmas in Midori-ya.
"So? What did you find out" Hayate asked beginning their conference
"I get a hangover like migraine if I try any study without my glasses" Alicia replied massaging her temples
"wait, you wear glasses?"
"Yeh. I can correct my vision with Mana which is what I do when I fight but it's a sustained effect and a constant mana drain. Mother probably fixed that with you since I had bad vision in the beginning" Alicia replied to Fate, slightly jealous that Fate's eyes didn't suffer like hers
"I meant with this Izanami" Hayate said trying to steer the conversation back on track

"sorry" Alicia apologized before pulling out a note book from a pile of her notes. "First off Izanami no-Mikoto, The Hazard Sage who lived almost 2000 years ago. When she was in her late 20's she eloped with a man called Izanagi and disappeared however there where those who believed that Izanagi was not the man he presented himself to be. after a couple of decades a force was mounted to try and find Izanami and what they found were hers and Izanagi's children trying to kill one another, split between those who supported Izanami and those who supported Izanagi. Neither side won."

Alicia pulled out an old book and flipped through the pages until she reached the point which detailed the Shinto Creation Myth, "according to the people on this planet, Izanami died and Izanagi tried to bring her back but after seeing her new form fled, they portray Izanami as the bad guy with her vow to kill 1000 innocent people a day. in Al-Hazard from what reports are still around Izanagi plotted domination and was planning on using his children and future children, Izanami was just a baby factory and when he tried to force her those who loved their mother more fought. That's what we called the Bloodline Rebellion"

"So the Kami are real?" Hayate asked remembering what she knew of the creation myth
"no idea. What information we do have from reports made by the no-Mikoto's, one of which was the captain who went to rescue Izanami so there could be some bias. But one thing we agree on is that Izanagi was a bastard"
"sorry for interrupting but how does this relate to Dearche?" Chrono asked
"not entirely sure but I feel as if it's connected. This country or at least how it was in the past has elements of Al-Hazard Society in it, your Kimonos are like our Kotodama, your homes were like our homes, your practices like ours. I get the feeling that when Izanami came here she influenced the natives to create a pseudo Al-Hazard"

Alicia put down the book she was holding and reached for the leather bound book she had been translating while placing Ballad on the table. "this book is an operations manual written by Izanami for the Trans-Dimensional Allocator Logistics and Observation Network otherwise known as the TALON, a Lost Logia"

Lost Logia, a term everyone was all too familiar with. from Fate's and Nanoha's dealing with the Jewel Seeds, Hayate's Book of Darkness to the Relics and Saints Cradle used during the JS Incident, everyone had encountered them. magical items and artefacts of tremendous power that could shake the foundations of civilization if used, but more so when in the wrong hands as demonstrated during the Paradox Hourglass Incident. The term however was normally used for those of collapsed civilizations like Ancient Belka and to extension Al-Hazard.

"You use the term too?" Nanoha asked
"yeh, Al-Hazard may be the oldest most advanced civilization there are things we do not know about. works within Al-Hazard can become Lost Logia as when the workings of Hazard Sages are made public they tend to have created simplified versions of their original work for use in society as a means to control the fruits of their efforts"

Ballad began to glow activating his holographic display, within the bluish-green field spun the image of an object that no one recognized. "Izanami created the TALON. In her old lab is a smaller prototype which was never finished, from what we have studied it seems to generate some sort of field but the theoretical uses of such a field are too numerous. some of my superiors believe that the purpose may have been to move planets"
"what reason could you have to move a planet"
"from what I understood during my school years her desire was to avoid disasters like planet killer meteors, supernovas, dimensional quakes or anything of the like" Alicia replied to Lindy as if stating the obvious. "Anyway, Izanami never finished her work before she eloped, she wasn't even properly ordained as a Hazard Sage but she's still recorded amongst their number. This book doesn't state all the functionality however it shows this"

Alicia pointed to the display, as if listening to her Ballad changed the display to a map of Japan with 4 smaller points and a larger point roughly in the middle of them. One of the 4 smaller dots was where Uminari was and it was closest to the larger dot.

"According to the manual the TALON operates by using 4 relay nodes represented by the smaller points and a central controller represented as a larger one. When activated the central controller pools mana and sends some to the relays which act as anchors of a large magical array. I haven't read to see what kind of spell requires an array this large though".
"Again, how does this relate to Dearche?" Chrono reiterated

Alicia slumped back into the sofa and crossed her arms, "what else could she want?"
"World domination, at least that's what Levi said" Nanoha added
"it's Lost Logia" Alicia replied shaking her head "even if it wasn't designed for it it could be used to dominate"

the one thing that plagued Alicia's mind was just how much did Dearche knew? Did she target Variable Mako just to get to Earth and the TALON? How did she even know it was here? Something felt off and there was some key element, some clue which kept escaping Alicia. If only she could nail it down she could work out Dearche's true plot.

"So how do we stop Dearche" Fate said
"the relay nodes. The controller needs them right?" Shamal asked however Alicia could only shrug, she knew next to nothing about how the true TALON worked and she had still yet finish going though Izanami's manual.
"The best we can do is find the nodes"
"then what" Signum asked

Alicia averted her gaze. While most of the group thought she was avoiding them Nanoha noticed that just before she had looked up the hall, she was averting her gaze from where Trishia slept. "Personally I want them destroyed but the Scholar me says that they should be preserved until a proper study can be done. they may be the only complete TALON in existence after all" she said as her arm trembled

"Ok, then we hit each of the nodes and see if we can disrupt Dearche's plan before we make out move on the controller"
"it's needs to be timed" Alicia interjected while Hayate was talking "a couple of years back I was on a mission where there was multiple attack points but once we entered one a barrier blocked all the others. Lucky we had a backup plan but in the off chance the TALON Nodes have similar defence that Dearche will active we need to enter the locations roughly at the same time."

"Hmmm, Toyamachi to the north, Suzu in the north-west and Hiroshima in the south. the longest it's about 15 hours for a perfect drive to Toyamachi but given we can fly and ignore traffic conditions it's much shorter"
"but we don't know what to expect when we arrive so we should limit Mana consumption"
"true. then if we drag out the trip to be 15 hours because of rest breaks and we left say at noon we arrive there about 3 tomorrow morning"

As the group discussed their plan of attack Alicia watched on. from her eyes the people in front of her began to take different more familiar forms while where Fate knelled she could see herself, Nanoha however remained the same making Alicia wish she could just start crying
'I guess, this was to be our last mission together' Alicia thought once again fighting back the urge to cry

"your thoughts?" Alicia was snapped back into reality when Fate spoke
"I'm sorry, I tuned out"
"well we split up into teams of 3, 2 Mages and a Familiar. Each team go to one of the 3 TALON Locations and see what they can find. you remain here with Lindy and Chrono to see if you can find the TALON here and continue translating that manual"
"we leave here soon, arrive tomorrow morning and we meet back here in a couple of days, 22nd or 23rd, regardless what we have learned. Hopefully we have got enough information and prepared enough to deal with Dearche before Christmas on the 24th" Nanoha continued.

Alicia nodded confirming she had no objections. While the numbers where small even in the off chance that Seikou and Levi went to the same place at least one member of the team could fall back and meet with the others not to mention a large group could attract Dearche's attention.

The teams were decided. Fate, Signum and Arf would go north to Toyamachi. Nanoha, Vita and Zafira would go North-West to Suzu and finally, Hayate and Shamal with Rein filling the final Familiar role would head south to Hiroshima. The women all gathered in the backyard where they could take to the sky without drawing any attention.

"Mama!" Vivio ran out of the house and wrapped her arms around Nanoha hoping to hold on "you can't leave, you'll miss Christmas"
"don't worry we won't" Nanoha replied gently helping Vivio remove her arms
"if we don't deal with the bad guys now they'll ruin Christmas" Fate said picking Vivio up "we'll beat them up and be back before Santa comes"

Nanoha and Fate kissed Vivio's cheeks before Fate set her down. Seeing Einheart who had followed Vivio but was waiting at the door Nanoha motioned her to come forward, "you look after Vivio while we're gone ok" she asked patting Einheart on the head, Einheart nodded but there was no need for her to agree to Nanoha's request as she was going to do it anyway.

Belkan and Mid-Childan Devices sounded off as each Mage went to cast the spell they needed to enable flight before shooting strait up into the air and going in either one of 3 directions. As her mothers began to fade from sight Vivio clasped her hand together and held them close to her chest. This wasn't the first time her mothers had both left to fight and like every other time Vivio prayed for both to return safely.

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[19th December 0081, 2:41 PM - Takamachi House Earth] - Fond yet painful memories

Alicia laid down on the couch, upon the table next to her sat a lit up gem nothing like a Device like Ballad but a blue semi-sphere with small squares floating around with one remaining stationary at the very top. The squares were of multiple colours and seemed to be miniaturized photos as the stationary one was currently displayed in front of Alicia, hovering above her face.

The photo was of 2 women, one wore a black Academic dress with Royal Purple trim and a mortarboard with a gold Graduation tassel hanging down the back. in one hand she held a thin almost glass like plate, while the image was not large enough to read the text the red seal that was displayed on it seemed to be some sort of official baring. The woman's other hand was held by the second woman with dark waist length hair, while she was smiling at the same time she seemed to also be distant.

"you reciprocated my love but knowing what the future held you were never allowed to express yourself" Alicia sighed "and now"
Alicia closed her eyes and used her arm to cover them as she felt the urge to cry yet not a tear was wept. She had been crying inside and out since last night, no doubt she had run out of tears.

"you make a lovely couple" Lindy commented as she took a seat nearby
"how is she"
"still unresponsive but she's alive and not going downhill so there's still hope"

that was small comfort. With her weak breathing and low vital signs at any moment Trishia could take a turn for the worse, that would be the end of her and Alicia knew it. Maybe it was because she looked so much like her own daughter but Lindy couldn't stand seeing Alicia depressed like this but there was very little she could do, she wasn't proficient in healing magic like Shamal and even if she was Shamal had already did everything she could.

Alicia tapped the sphere changing the photo which was displayed, taken roughly at the same time this photo had Alicia resting her head of Trishia's shoulder while Trishia kissed her, however each photo Alicia stared at only made her depressed more so. It wasn't just sadness taking it hold on her heart but also fear, fear that these memories would very soon be only that, memories.

"I'm sorry to ask this now but how is the translation going" Lindy asked wearying. There was a pause where Alicia laid there silently but before long she tapped the sphere but this time with 2 fingers causing it to power down before sitting up.

"This book was not meant for anyone to read. Izanami seems to have just jotted down what she was thinking at the time" she commented massaging the bridge of her nose
"so if the TALON activated you wouldn't be able to stop it"
"I don't know. Izanami was still expected to become a Hazard Sage and those that are normally start protecting their fruits of their research. I suspect Izanami set up some sort of failsafe to stop it. Weather we will discover it or not is another thing"

Lindy wanted to change the subject and thought deeply on what to ask her, something that they could talk at great length of to take Alicia out of her depression. After think of it for a while Lindy could only think of one thing.

"So what is your home like?"

Alicia was silent at first before she reached over and put away the gem that was on the table. "as I said it much like what this country was like in the past is much like modern day Al-Hazard"
"I find that very hard to believe" Lindy remarked
"it's kind of a trick where our technology and magic exists in the background of our society, hard to see from just the outside. in the ancient past there was those who misjudged Al-Hazard by its 'primitive' cover but learned their error when their attacks were repelled and fleets of warships forced them out of orbit"
"still hard to imagine"
"it probably is without seeing it for yourself."

"What about these Factions you mentioned last night?" Lindy asked
"everything in Al-Hazard Society is divided up by the Factions. The Magi Faction who deal with Magic, The Civilian Faction who deal with the everyday lives of the populace, The Military Faction who handles our military forces, The Scholars Faction who deal with research and study and The Majesty Faction, our governing body made up of nobles and rulers."
"Isn't there conflict between them in terms of responsibility?"
"A lot off the time the factions work together. The Police are joint Military and Civilian, Fire and Disaster relief are joint Civilian and Magi, Research and Development of new magic are joint Magi and Scholars. of cause when something goes wrong they're quick to blame one another and sometimes their internal situation response units can be a bit slow to deploy, which is where the Hazard Suspension Corp can come into play"

When Alicia began to talk about Hazard Suspension Corp her expression darkened, just a moment ago the reality facing her was far away but as she remembered her friends and the times she spent with Trishia her depression began to sink back in. Alicia lay back down and rolled to her side showing her back to Lindy before curling up,
"is everything ok?"
"Yeh, I just want Trish to wake up" Alicia sobbed

"she'll wake up" Lindy reassured as she stroked Alicia tenderly. Alicia needed her mother here to truly comfort her but for now Lindy would have to surface.

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[19th December 0081, 10:04 PM - Uminari Museum Earth] - Secrets buried beneath

the silent halls of the Uminari Museum were washed under moonlight and darkness. it wasn't strange to not hear a single peep inside however this night was the opposite as deeper within was the sound of a couple of girls giggling and being hushed.

"it's so exhilarating being in here late at night, I'm getting excited in more ways than one"
"your just a goody-two-shoes who wants to be bad"
"you said it yourself, I'm attracted to bad girls"

Arisa pulled Suzuka by the arm into her and traced her index finger down from Suzuka's chin, "maybe you want me to do something to you right here" Arisa said seductively as her finger hooked the top of Suzuka's shirt
"ohhh Ari-chan" Suzuka cooed "please clam yourself, Alicia is here with us"
"I don't care"

Alicia dismissed Suzuka's comment and continued walking. Her heart no longer ached for the comatose Trishia back at the Takamachi's house, no, the pain had numbed it so and her tears had dried up from all her sobbing. All Alicia had left was an encroaching loneliness, a premonition of her future without the woman she loved.

Arisa and Suzuka chased after the single minded Alicia. Originally Lindy and Chrono were going to go with her when she wanted to go to the Museum Izanami's journal was taken from; however Julia had a sudden violent fit which always worried Amy so Chrono went to be by her side while Lindy aided Melly leaving Arisa and Suzuka to take up the job.

As the 3 of them entered the exhibit where the book was out on display Suzuka and Arisa were shocked with what they saw.
"That's not possible" Suzuka commented, her eyes fixated on the untouched display case with an old leather bound book inside. Arisa's eyes drifted down the side of Alicia confirming that she was still holding onto the same book they could see still inside the display.

Alicia held out her hand. From it an invisible force of mana passed through the display causing the air to begin to wave. The space twisted and dissolved revealing not an untouched display but an utterly destroyed case. The dissolving extended down to the floor unveiling the broken glass and up to the ceiling where a hole opened up allowing the moon light to pour in.

"Levi's picked up a new trick. Didn't think that spell could be used on anything but herself" Alicia blankly commented
"why cover it up though?" Arisa proposed
"'to lessen the burden on our lord having to deal with the peasants' or something like that" Alicia replied attempting to mimic Levi before beginning to look around the room

"you think there's something here?" Suzuka asked watching Arisa join in the search
"from what I have deciphered Izanami had placed one of the TALON in here"
"how? this museum wouldn't have been around during her time"
"if you want to hide something away for centuries you'd make sure that even if the land is cleared away what you hid adapts and remain hidden. for a Hazard Sage that's child's play"

the girls continued to look around the place, Arisa and Suzuka relied on their memories from field trips to look for anything that was out of place while Alicia searched for subtle signs of magical interference. Arisa's attention was drawn to a painting she felt was watching her, as she moved side to side she watched the eyes of the figure and while there didn't seem to be any movement she still got the feeling it was looking at her.

"What's wrong Ari-chan?" Suzuka ask as she noticed Arisa's awkward strafing
"is it just me or is this painting creepy"

Alicia watched the 2 girls from afar staring at the painting as they moved around, perplexed at their focus of what she believed to be a regular painting. Arisa went to touch the painting but the moment her finger came into contact with the canvas it sank it. With a yelp of surprise she pulled her hand back watching the painting ripple like the freshly broken service of a pool of water.

Witnessing the event Alicia came over to inspect the painting. With her hand out almost touching the painting and her eyes closed Alicia began to hone her senses, feeling out for any mana that was currently in flux in the area. Alicia opened her eyes sharply and reached for the painting taking it off the wall. She gently touched the now bare wall and just like when Arisa touched the painting the wall rippled like water.

"There's a pocket dimension gateway here, but the seal which stops just anyone entering is failing. We got lucky" Alicia commented bluntly before stepping through the wall. Arisa and Suzuka were hesitant at first however they proceeded to follow Alicia through the wall.

As they come out they was met with a room lined with stone etched in strange symbols. The room was bathed in a warm and gentle teal and turquoise glow but with no evident lights it almost seemed that the symbols were lighting the room. In front of them to where Alicia was walking was a stone door with what Arisa and Suzuka could identify as a Magic Circle however it was different from the ones they had seen Nanoha, Fate and Hayate use in the past.

Alicia stared at the circle and realizing what it was placed her hand on it with a similar circle appearing beneath her. The light of the room around Alicia began to change as her own magic circle glowed with its yellow light.

"Eh so hysa Alicia Testarossa, E raat dra hysa uv Izanami no-Mikoto yht pacaalr oui du knyhd sa ahdno [In my name Alicia Testarossa, I heed the name of Izanami no-Mikoto and beseech you to grant me entry]"

Alicia's voice echoed in an unearthly tone as she recited what the other 2 girls could only assume was an incantation. The 2 circles glowed and hummed in sync with one another before the circle in front of Alicia faded away. The room rumbled as the stone door slowly ground against the wall as it retracted into it. Suzuka and Arisa followed behind Alicia who continued forward.

The 3 women entered into a large circular room tiled with the same kind of stones as in the previous room. in the centre was a statue of a man, his right arm up high as if reaching for something, a dragon curled around his body following his arm as if too was trying to each what the man was after. surrounding the statue was a large circular stone bench covered in chips and scratches which appeared to have been used to work from however there were no tools anywhere in the room and the room itself was surprisingly clean for something that was thought to have not been entered in thousands of years.

Alicia jumped over the bench and headed straight for the statue, crouching down and began her examination. Suzuka and Arisa sat on the bench behind her and waited patiently. Suzuka couch sight of Alicia's hand becoming clenched, holding in the anger building within her. Alicia stood up and looked around the room, her clenched hand trembling.

"So, this was your workshop" she commented grating her teeth. Suzuka remembered a line Alicia said in the morning

'personally I want them destroyed but the Scholar inside me says that they should be preserved'

Alicia had some buried anger towards Izanami, a figure who should be nothing but a topic in a history book to her yet somehow her anger seemed personal.

"Is this the TALON?" Arisa asked
Alicia nodded looking back at the statue "yes, this is one of the 4 nodes but there is little I can do with it, at least not until I fully translate that book to ensure there isn't an operations guide within it. failing that I can return later and apply some sort of mana interference but since this thing is in a pocket dimension there must be some sort of stream emulation to allow the transfer into it and interference may be a bad idea"

most of what she said went over Suzuka's and Arisa's heads as they didn't bother to try and understand magic, hell, Arisa found it hard to even understand Suzuka's own powers and she had the advantage of being intimately close to her.

Alicia walked passed them as she headed for the exit "in any case there's nothing we can do here at the moment but at least I know the general locations I gave Nanoha, Fate and Hayate aren't inaccurate"

After the three of them exited the stone room Alicia hung the painting back where it originally was. As they headed out of the museum from within the shadows another figure watched them leave and when the close was clear exited from the darkness. A young woman wearing a white haori and red hakama stood in front of the painting and touched it watching the ripples flow. She turned around and threw 3 paper charms to the ground. The charms rearranged themselves into a triangle before the image of another woman, just a bit older but wearing the same outfit, appeared within the triangle.

"report" the older woman asked, her static voice like that of an old recording
"it seems the seal is failing, it won't be long before the staff here realizing something is off and discover Izanami's Atelier"
"is there any evidence that it has been discovered thus far?"
"Yes, I have spotted 3 women enter and leave. One I believe is a Magic User"
"I will report this to Amara-onee-sama. Reinforce the seal for the time being until I receive orders on how to proceed"
"Onee-sama, I can only reinforce the seal to cover up visual anomalies, the purpose of it was to stop others from entering which is beyond my power."
"that is fine for now, Amara-onee-sama has the arts to properly fix the seal"

the older woman's image faded away just as the 3 paper charms suddenly combusted leaving not even a trace of ash on the floor

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[20th December 0081, 10:14 AM - Saint Church Grand Cathedral Mid-Childa] - Completed Family

It was the time for the yearly Christmas party hosted by the Saint Church in the Grand Cathedral. An open celebration to the public but mainly a party for those who worked within its halls tirelessly for the past year. people came dressed in however they wanted, some in very formal gowns and suits to very laid back casual, some came in cliché Christmas themed costumes while some didn't even both to change out of their pyjamas.

3 women stood separate from the festive crowds watching from afar with no interest in partaking, mainly because 2 of them felt as if they didn't belong while the third just wanted to remain by the side of one of them. The first one wore a white tuxedo and pants with the purple hair she draped down her back tied together into a single tail. Next to her was a stern looking woman with short purple hair, the tallest of the 3, wearing a purple cocktail dress with blue transparent chiffon which hanged from bellow her bust. At the end, short from touching the woman next to her the last woman wore a heavy ball gown which matched her Salmon pink coloured hair.

"Oi! What are you three doing?" Cinque yelled from across the hall making her way to the women, she too wore all white however her usual black eye-patch was replaced with another styled as if a Rose was blooming from her eye.

Cinque stood there with her arms crossed tapping her foot waiting for one of them to reply before Uno finally spoke
"we've only worked here for just over a week"
"so? The public are also allowed to join in so just consider yourselves apart of the public then"

as the women remained silent Cinque sighed. She was just like them in the beginning too, trying to find any excuse to avoid saying they felt like they didn't belong here with all these 'humans' about. Unlike back then however there was more Combat Cyborgs about which Uno, Tre and Sette could relate to. Cinque grabbed Uno's and Tre's hands and dragged them along behind her knowing full well Sette would follow Tre.

As they approached a very large table capable of seating 20 people Uno and Tre could see there were already 2 others sitting. one was Dieci who upon seeing the approaching group gave a slight welcoming nod, she wasn't wearing her bow letting her long hair free while the bow was used like a band with either end tied up in a small bow in each of the bangs she left down on either side of her face with the bow hidden beneath the fringe.

the other who was at the table with Dieci was someone Uno regretted in seeing, slumped over on the table playing with a couple of forks sat Lutecia wearing a dress similar to her usual Dark purple and Magenta trim skirt but reaching down further covering her legs while the ribbons she normally had in her hair was tied around the white bow on her chest.

Cinque insisted on Uno and Tre to sit down and once Tre had sat down Sette took her seat and shuffled closer to Tre causing her to blush slightly.
"She's really attached to you" Dieci said
"yeh, while I don't mind it I wish she'd tone it down a little bit when we're working"

as they talked Tre began to realize just how different Dieci was since they were with the Doctor, while not overly evident she hinted at smiling on occasion and seemed a bit more open. As they talked Cinque notice Uno trying to avoid looking at Lutecia
"it's better to say something now, if your fears are right the worst case scenario has already occurred and what you say won't make a difference" Cinque whispered to her.

Uno braced herself however just as she took a breath in ready to talk Lutecia interrupted her
"don't bother"

'I knew it' Uno thought to herself, as she turned away dejected Lutecia put down the forks she was playing with

"look, I know what you're thinking, 'Scaglietti used her and I supported him, I am just as bad' but you're not. you looked out for me at least"
Despite Lutecia's word Uno didn't feel any better, because Lutecia's past with her during the JS Incident was not what was causing her guilt

"your wrong Lu-ojou-sama. The past few months and what happened to you, I knew about the clone and I helped the doctor contact Quattro"

Lutecia placed her hand on her stomach; despite any damage having been healed she still had the memories of that ordeal, "I only really blame Scaglietti for that too. it was a ticking time bomb ready to go off and for that I'm glad it happened when it did so it could be dealt with, who know what could have happened if..."

As she passed by Caro, who was wearing a dress similar to her own barrier jacket, plugged Lutecia's mouth with a prawn from one of the plates she was carrying. Lutecia grabbed the prawn with her hand and ripped it in half with her teeth as she pulled it out, "don't do that when I'm talking, I could have chocked on it" she said chewing on what was in her mouth
"no you wouldn't, I made sure that given the size of your mouth the prawn I used was small enough as to not reach your throat"
"it's kinda weird you know that"
"I had time to study its size when I fed you" Caro replied sitting next to Lutecia and placing a plate of food in front of her. She was joined by the other Numbers and Erio who had all went to gather plates for everyone, including Uno, Tre and Sette who was expected to be with them.

As Erio went to walk past Caro grabbed him as she got out of her chair "dam it, now many times" she complained as she fussed with his tie. Erio came in just his regular clothing which annoyed Caro who wanted him to dress formally. Having been a repeated thing Caro had brought a tie with her and forced Erio to wear it. with her fussing finished Erio was free to return to his seat between Lutecia and Cinque, sitting down he leaned over to Lutecia and whispered "thanks for allowing Caro to mother you while you was recovering, now I have to deal with it until Fate gets back from Earth"
"what was that?" Caro asked hearing Erio whisper
"nothing sis"
"he was complain about you 'mothering' him" Lutecia smirked
"oh, well in that case he can get up and give us his speech"
"what sp..."
"speech speech speech speech" Wendi chanted

"I hope you weren't going to make one while we were away" Teana said as her and Subaru finally arrive "sorry we're late, someone wanted to take the scenic route from the hotel"
"you don't get many comfortable summer days like today where you can just enjoy a relaxing ride like that"
"I have to admit you're right, it was relaxing, but you could have woken up earlier so we had time"

While late the 2 of them was still expected by the group to join and Deed and Otto had already prepared their plates. Every waited patiently for Erio's non-existent speech and caving into the pressure Erio relented.

"Well, I suppose we should just have a toast to those who aren't with us now and those who, for whatever reason, won't be able to join us for Christmas at Section 6. so lets us wish them now a peaceful Christmas" Every held up a cup with Erio as a part of their toast before he finished, "especially to our friends and family who are right now relaxing on Earth"

despite the background noise and music there was a slight silence with the group before all at once, with the exception to Uno, Tre and Sette, everyone started to laugh
"knowing Nanoha she would be working in her family's shop and Fate would be busy training with Signum" Nove laughed
"not to mention they both be as tense as hell trying to explain their relationship to Nanoha's parents" Erio added sitting back in his seat

Uno and Tre knew their comments weren't malicious or anything but couldn't really understand why everyone was laughing, was it so weird that those were their methods of relaxation?

As everyone continued eating and chatting amongst themselves Erio was somewhat distracted, constantly flipping open his phone to check someone before closing it and setting it on the table.
"What are you checking?" Teana asked
"just a job me and Caro sign up for every year at this time"
"aren't you supposed to be on vacation now?"
"Yeh but we volunteer regardless"

Caro looked to Erio, without saying a word Erio knew what Caro would have said and shook his head. Caro's face sunk with worry as she played around with the food on her plate
"what job is it that's get you so down?" Lutecia asked
"Christmas was never a time of celebrating on Alzas"

Alzas, home world of the Ru-Lushe, a tribe of Dragon Summoners and also Caro's former tribe before the elders banished her when she was six for fear of her rare summoning talents as she had trouble controlling her powers and feared the misfortune she would bring. Not only could she summon Friedrich who was already quite power but she could also summon Voltaire, Alzas' Guardian Dragon.

"Around this time Alzas has very bad snowstorms and every year the TSAB prepares a detachment for the recovery effort. This year there's a risk of an avalanche destroying the tribe"
"not a risk, it's going to happen but we don't know when"
"so this is outside the Wildlife Preservation Corps' regular duties" Teana mumbled to herself with her fork in her mouth. Caro nodded; even though she was banished her family was still there. Erio hoped that maybe this year she would be accepted back into her family now that her powers under her control. Lutecia on the other hand, who had volunteered to go with them, sense that Caro was still hiding something.

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[20th December 0081, 1:57 PM - Aki Grand Hotel, Hiroshima Earth] - Entry Team Yagami

Hayate, Shamal and Rein arrived in Hiroshima via the Higashi Ward early in the morning, as there was no sign of any TALON booby trap that Alicia had expressed a concern for the 3 decided that there was a possibility that no such trap existed however it was better to be prepared for one anyway.

To conserve their mana and to rest the 3 decided to take buses to travel around Hiroshima looking for any sighs on magical activity, each stop Shamal would cast a spell before the headed for their next location. Despite having spent half the day they had barely searched the city but their end goal was to reach the Aki Grand Hotel which Hayate had called the day before during one of their breaks and made a booking for them. While there was plenty of hotels they could have stayed at Hayate liked to get a seaside balcony and the view of the nearly untouched Itsukushima Island was relaxing

as neither of them had had a bath or shower since they left Uminari City Hayate figured it was high time they had one before continuing their investigation. While getting out clothes for herself and Rein she noticed Shamal playing around with a Glyph she had set up. "What are you up to?" she asked closing up her bag

Shamal brought up a screen showing a map of Hiroshima and tapped on one of the glowing lights which floated above the glyph, on the map a small dome appeared briefly before it faded. "The spells I cast when we were off the buses get trigger on this glyph. They send out a wave on mana so weak that anything magical will dispel it"
"like a sonar" Hayate exclaimed
Shamal nodded proudly "hopefully I can deploy the spell in a few more places and the entire region can be monitored so even if the TALON activated we'll know exactly where it is"

"remember this is Al-Hazard Technology" Rein pointed out now sitting on the bed in just her underwear "we can't apply our logic that easily to something made by a civilization that's existed for eons"
"but we can track the Material Unit" Hayate said "that Dearche thinks little of our magical capabilities and probably would ignore out tracking attempts"

Shamal touched the lights on the Glyph in sequence testing out the readings while Hayate began to undress ready for her shower. Just as she was about to take off her bra she crept up close to Shamal and admired her heard work. Within the Wolkenritter Shamal was the weakest in terms of offensive capabilities however aside from a talented healer she excelled in logistics support and very hard working.

Hayate climbed onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Shamal resting her chin on Shamal's shoulder watching the screen in front of them "you know you need to wash up too before we get to work"
"I know, but I just want to make sure that ev..."

Shamal stopped talking and tapped a particular light a few more times, Hayate leaning in noticing what Shamal saw. Zoomed in at one particular location when the wave of mana washed over one spot the mana just disappeared, as if something was negating it. Shamal brought up a second screen and compared the coordinates.

"Hirayamahachiman Shrine?" Shamal muttered to herself
"well, they say Miko have special powers, maybe it's true and your picking that up" Rein commented landing on Hayate's shoulder
"but if that were the case how come no other Shrine is doing the same thing?"

"it's an Area Field" Hayate said "someone's deployed an Area Field to hide that Shrine from magic, and if what Alicia says is correct then Shinto's origins seem to be connected to Al-Hazard. I was actually thinking to begin our investigation by looking into that"
"you think the TALON is there" Shamal asked
"maybe, but if it isn't something is being hidden there"

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[20th December 0081, 3:29 PM - Hirayamahachiman Shrine, Hiroshima Earth] - Hidden in plain sight

after having a shower Hayate, Shamal and Rein took the bus to Hirayamahachiman Shrine. The shrine was hidden amongst some trees and the only clear entrance was the only road in. the moment the 3 took a step past the 2 stone formations out the front they could feel something strange in the air.

since it was currently the school holidays there was only a couple of young teenage girls employed as Miko or Shrine Maidens to help maintain the shrine and work the gift shop, all of whom wore the traditional white haori and red hakama.

Hayate inquired with one of the Miko sweeping out front about who was in charge of the shrine and after putting her broom down the young girl escorted Hayate and Shamal around the shrine with Rein hidden under Hayate's brown leather jacket.

"Amara-onee-sama, please forgive my but these women would like to talk to you" the girl said bowing after she had slid open the door. At the other end of the room sat a woman who looked to be in her late 20's with long black hair. She wore the same white haori but her hakama was black matching her hair. The woman had her eyes closed and after the Miko as finish speaking she held out her hand her gesturing Hayate and Shamal to enter.

"I am Amara; I look after the Miko who work here. How may I help you" she said calmly. They way she spoke gave off an aura of transcendence which seemed to also carry the feel that she was far older than she looked.
"Yes, me and my assistant here work for a magazine column and we have been tasked with writing up an article on Shinto's influence on regional development" Shamal replied as she and Hayate sat opposite Amara. Before arriving at the shrine the two of them had worked on a cover story to try and hide that they were looking for the TALON, they couldn't be sure if the people they talked to were working with Dearche.

"There are plenty of books in the libraries in the city but I suppose you've read those. We do have a collection of historical records for this shrine, private to the public however I can allow you to read them here in the shrine and I'll inquire at the other shrines if you can be given permission"

Hayate and Shamal bowed their heads thanking Amara. Their gamble had paid off, Hayate had a feeling that there were some private records stored here and with an excuse to be here they could attempt to covertly snoop around for either the source of the Area Field, or what it was trying to hide.

"There is another thing. while we was interviewing people some told us of a strange motif that we have never heard of and we did find in it some books in a library we visited" Hayate said.
"What kind of motif?"
"a foot or claw, like one on a bird"
it was a long shot but so far an Al-Hazard Sage shared the name of a Shinto Kami, Izanagi, another Shinto Kami to was also known in Al-Hazard and with the Area Field over the shrine it seems too much of a coincidence. Hayate had hoped that maybe the TALON was connected to Shinto as well and maybe someone may have seen a reference to it. What Hayate saw from Amara however was not what she was expecting; it wasn't a helpful hint nor a dumbfounded look.

Amara opened her eyes, her previous calm demeanour gone as her gaze on them was like that of one confirming foes. "Get out"
Shamal and Hayate was taken aback and Hayate quickly bowed her head "forgive me, if I have said something to offend you I deeply apologize. The books we read weren't attributed properly and all the people we spoke to about this were in the same are..."
"if you were truly did not wish to offend you would have cut the lies by now" Amara interrupted "you do not work for a magazine, you are looking for Izanami's TALON"

Amara seemed to knew about the TALON but the moment Hayate had went to question her, her friendliness suddenly disappeared. But if Amara knew of the TALON, they had to ask here where it was and warn her about Dearche.
"This makes things simpler, we need to ask..."
"I said leave" Amara commanded snapping her fingers, the panels either side and behind her opened up. Hayate and Shamal got up, they were surrounded by Miko and every one of them had a sword, their hands ready to draw it at a moment's notice. "If you do not, I will have to command the use of force"

Rein stuck her head out of Hayate's jacket and pleaded with Amara "please, you have to listen to us!"
Amara snapped her fingers again, the Miko around them drew their weapons and readied themselves to charge. Hayate and Shamal began to retreat back, they didn't want to fight if they didn't need to but in the chance they were forced into one they knew next to nothing about the Area Field they were in nor the sort of effects it would have on their magic.

After Hayate and Shamal left the room a couple of the Miko followed them out, hiding their weapons from view and making sure they left the shrine. After they returned Amara sighed with relief and gave an affirmative nod to the other Miko that they were free to stand down. Another Miko, wearing a Green hakama, approached Amara and knelled next to her presenting her with a clay cup with green tea.

"What is your report" Amara asked before taking a sip from her tea
"I have confirmed the previous report. Himiya Shrine was attacked, the Miko there was able to drive the attacker off however a couple of civilians were in the immediate area during the attack"
"damage?"
"Just a destroyed statue"
"and the civilians?"
"Gone, we believed unharmed however they were the ones who pushed the statue over allowing them to escape during the attack."

The girl hesitated to continue before Amara opened one of her eyes and looked at her, urging her to continue. "The abandoned Hachiman Shrine in Toyako has been breached. One of our Miko engaged with a woman who was accompanied by 2 others. The woman she engaged, according to the report, is a fox"

Amara leaned against her elbow and took another sip from her drink. "Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu and Seiryū. The moment we received word about people snooping around the Seiryū Unit in Uminari and Izanami's Workshop I had a feeling it won't be long before the other units were in danger"
Amara stopped and held out her cup allowing the woman beside her refill it "but the Americans stole the Ouryu Controller? the TALON is useless without it" the woman said gently putting the put down

Amara swirled her cup mixing the cooled tea that was already in the cup with the steaming hot, freshly poured tea "it returned to Japanese soil almost a week ago." Amara replied closing her eyes "for just a moment I saw it but since then I have been blind to it. Tokyo Tower has also been engulfed in a shadow I could see through"
"why?" the woman asked encouraging Amara
"I can't look through because...because I'm scared." Amara said as she put down her cup and held her arms shivering "I can feel him. I don't know what he seeks from the TALON, maybe he just wants to defile it to further Izanami's tortured soul, but his presence is at Tokyo Tower."

After calming down and finishing her tea Amara got up, the sleeves of her haori draping passed her hands while her hakama dragged along the ground "I'm going to return to Itsukushima, I'll inform our sisters to relocate the Genbu Unit and have our sisters in Tokyo prepare to attack the tower once reinforcements arrives"

"Amara-onee-sama!" the woman said as she got up reaching for Amara, "if you leave now, it'll be dark by the time you arrive at Itsukushima unless you rush and we rather not see that. Please stay here the night"

Amara turned to the woman and smiled gently "thank you for your concern. you have never steered me in the wrong direction before so I supposed I'll take you up on this offer"
"thank you onee-sama" the woman bowed "and by dawn the day after tomorrow the three who visited you will be gone from this city"

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[20th December 0081, 10:00 PM - Aki Grand Hotel, Hiroshima Earth] - Mother and Daughter

Hayate leaned back in her chair on the balcony snuggling up into her dressing gown. Having gone for a second shower to follow her daily routine Hayate was relaxing on the attached balcony to their room, enjoying the kiss of winter's night air on her still damp body. It wasn't overly cold but Hayate loved the feeling of a warm fluffy dressing gown which is only amplified in a situation like this.

Despite having been kicked out of the Hirayamahachiman Shrine by Amara and unable to discover the purpose of the Area Field they did discover Amara knew of the TALON. When armed Miko appeared by Amara's command they saw a new side to Shinto which seemed to further the shared assumption. The Kami of creation and death, Izanami, was from Al-Hazard. What seemed to elude Hayate was as to why Izanami had such a woeful tale? She died at child birth and went to the underworld, when Izanagi saw what she looked like and fled to then block the entrance to the underworld she vowed to bring death.

On one hand one could pity Izanami as Izanagi had said he would remain with her but was abandoned by him when he saw what became of her appearance, on the other hand according to Alicia Izanagi was the villain from the beginning and only used Izanami, it was as if the roles had been swapped. Still, they had tomorrow to investigate before they needed to head back and rendezvous with Nanoha's and Fate's teams.

Hayate's attention was suddenly drawn to the little dress floating from the bed to her. Rein's nightgown was twice her size in terms of the length of the main body as the arms were still the right size, however as Rein always flew and rarely walked especially in her nightgown Hayate's chose to get it tailored like that on purpose.

"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" Rein asked as she landed on the balcony's railing
"not yet, it's rare to get clear winter nights at this time of the year in Japan"
"well don't be up too late, we have to be ready to fight if Seikou or Levi"

Hayate resumed her drink however stopped shortly after noticing Rein looking downcast, when she would look up the moment she saw Hayate looking at her Rein looked back down unable to look at her. "What's the matter?" Hayate asked putting her drink down
"do...do you hate me" Rein said almost choking on her words as she held back her sobs
Hayate was shocked "no of cause not, who the hell said I do!"
"But I can see it, you miss Reinforce and I look just like her. You must hate me because every time you see me you remember her"

Hayate took the necklace she had around her neck in her hand, the Standby Form and symbol of her Device, Reinforce. From it the Tome of the Night Sky, Schwertkreuz and her Knight Clothes would be formed. Rein was right, Hayate missed Reinforce, not the device but the will of it, the will of the Book of Darkness who, to prevent the regeneration of the Book of Darkness's Defence Program NachtWal, chose to destroy herself.

For years Hayate always had an upbeat nature and joked about relationships, at first the Wolkenritter thought it was just her trying to avoid commitment however they began to suspect Hayate's heart had been broken the day Reinforce died and had yet to heal. Hayate always tried to be strong and didn't want to let it show but now it was obvious as she held the necklace to her heart a tear began to form in the corner of her eye. Despite it having looked like she had been convinced on that day Hayate didn't want Reinforce to sacrifice herself and at that night her heart broke.

"Tell me Rein, how are babies made?" Hayate asked
Rein dried her eyes "when a mommy and daddy love one another they have sexual intercourse, this can lead to the mommy becoming impregnated by the daddy to which when successful, roughly 9 months later a baby is born". It was a very typical answer from Rein leaving very little to the imagination.
"Then think about the child's conception like this. When a mommy and daddy love one another the daddy leaves his essence with the mommy who then uses that essence to make their baby"

Rein though for a moment, Hayate's somewhat romantic definition was still accurate but didn't understand why she could come up with it in the first place. as Hayate saw Rein trying to think hard on it she resumed "maybe I was a child and didn't know what love really was but I loved Reinforce and it hurt so very much when she died. When she took to the sky I read her lips words meant for me, 'I love you'", Hayate held out her necklace in front of Rein "she left behind her essence to me and I made you from it. I chose to make you look like Reinforce because, you're her daughter, as you are also my daughter"

Rein just stared at Hayate. She knew she could refer to Reinforce as her mother but always referred to Hayate has her Master. Now knowing how Hayate saw conception, Reinforce was technically her father and Hayate was in fact her mother. Rein's past flashed through her mind, all the moments she believed she was spoiled by her Lord it was in fact how Hayate as a mother treated her daughter.

There was something Rein wanted to ask Hayate from the very first moment she woke but seeing her as her Lord felt it was wrong to ask such a thing but now, after hearing Hayate's explanation she had to ask.

"Hayate, can I call you mommy?"

Hayate just nodded, she wanted for so long to have Rein call her mommy but was afraid that by asking her she would do so as a part of her nature as a Unison Device, she wanted Rein to call her mommy because she saw her as her mother and not her master. Rein flew off the railing and into Hayate's chest burying her face as her joy overflowed from her eyes.

Shamal, who had woken up, silently slipped out of the room as Hayate gently held Reins small body close to her. Shamal gripped her chest as with her trembling free hand quickly dialled a number on her phone, after the call connected she didn't bother to confirm who it was on the other end. "It's me" she sobbed "I can't do this anymore!"

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[21st December 0081, 2:01 PM - Gust Akimiyajima, Hiroshima Earth] - Fair Warning

As morning broke Hayate, Rein and Shamal got to work. Shamal suggested this time they split up and investigate other shrines to discover if they too had any links to the TALON. Shamal however had something else in mind while separated from Hayate and Rein, she didn't want them around when she would check out the Hirayamahachiman Shrine again. as she arrived however there was something missing in the area and triggering the spell she deployed the day before revealed that Area Field was no longer at the shrine and rather than having been dispelled it had been moved, and was still moving.

Under the guise of a jogger and even finding an old iPhone case to hide her terminal Shamal kept track of the moving Area Field. since the Glyph needed to maintain an Area Field had to be engraved Shamal was looking for an escort and given the slow movement it didn't seem to be carried in a moving truck however Shamal couldn't a clear view of whatever the Area Field's Glyph was engraved into.

"I'm telling you it's the perfect place to go"
"you know I don't like going out at night"
"then I'll take you myself when you next have the night free. Come on, you got to get out sometimes"

Shamal waited for 2 women to pass her by as she sat on the side of the garden bed by the car park of a restaurant. Before arriving here Shamal had followed the Area Field to the Ferry Docks just up the road, as she had jogged passed she tried to get another look but all she could see was a group of Miko talking to one another. Maybe they were innocent or maybe they were acting but Shamal couldn't see anything suspicious.

Once Shamal couldn't hear the women's voices she looked around the corner to make sure they were totally out of sight. She took out the terminal and triggered the nearby spell she had deployed to see where the Area Field was now, the radiating dome once again shaped around where the field was, now between the main land and Itsukushima.

'we must have spooked them' Shamal thought to herself. The large Itsukushima Shrine was located on that island and if Shinto was deeply connected to Izanami and the TALON then given the size of the place that Shamal could gauge from photos it could be a base of operations, and the perfect place to hide the TALON Unit.

Shamal went into the Gust Akimiyajima to make an order to take away, while she loved to cook she loved it more if it was for her family, sure she had Hayate and Rein to cater for but without Signum, Vita and Zafira it wasn't the same. The walk back to the Aki Grand Hotel was only about 15 minutes so Shamal didn't hold back in getting a hearty meal.

'It cost me a bit but they are worth it' Shamal smiled to herself as she started on her way back to the hotel.

"Seriously, I thought the rules were clear"
"there's exceptions but they're a case by case basis"
"he, he, I don't have to worry"
"well duh. You can skirt around the rules"
"hay! you make it sound like I'm a cheat"

Walking down the street Shamal heard a couple of familiar voices, turning her slightly to get the source of the voices in the corner of her vision but not so much as to show she could see them. She recognised the women who passed her when she was sitting outside.

'strange, I don't remember passing them.'

at the next intersection Shamal turned off her route and crossed the pedestrian rail crossing, lucky for her the food she brought could be warmed up in a microwave. the women for before were still behind her so at the next intersection she turned right yet still the women followed behind, talking as if unaware. There had been too many coincidences in the past few days and she very much doubted that she just happened to be going the same way these women were.

Shamal stopped at the next intersection and took out her terminal and pretended to operate it as a navigator.

"Hmmm, I must have made a wrong turn back there" she said to herself and she held up her iPhone disguised terminal. As she spun around she caught a glimpse of the 2 women who were still talking to one another but had slowed down.

"ahhh, I can go though here and get back onto the right route" she said before putting her terminal away and taking the right turn, crossing the railway tracks at the end of the street.

She started to slow down when she entered the car park, the women still behind her talking as if nothing was wrong. there's no way it would be by pure chance they were going the same way as Shamal had just ended up a minute of two down from the intersection she first turned.

"Oh yeh, I forgot to ask you. What are you planning on doing for Christmas"
"the usual"

Shamal quickly turned as she heard the sounds of footsteps running towards her and the grinding of a blade from its sheath, "taking out the enemies of Amara-onee-sama!"
"Selbstschutz, Luft Schutz [Auto Guard, Wind Shield]"

Klarwind activated her Auto-Guard to defend Shamal from the attack. The resulting whirlwind repelled the attack and flung the woman back giving Shamal a chance to ready herself for battle.

"Anfang [Start]"
Shamal's White and Green Knight Clothing materialized on her body, aside from its combat advantage it was designed by Hayate and wearing it felt as if Hayate was right beside her, fighting with her. Shamal had limited offensive spells and mainly was a support Mage but feeling Hayate by her side gave her the confidence to stand her ground.

The woman she had flung got back up and charged at her again. Shamal deployed her shield again but this time redirected the wind current to throw the woman to one side.

"Fureimu Reizā [Flame Laser]", Shamal quickly turned her attention to the second woman who was holding up a slip of paper between her index and middle fingers. From its centre a high temperature beam shot out, Shamal instinctively rolled out of the way but didn't stop to think about the beam hitting any homes behind her. Shamal turned around and to her relief there was no houses but instead the beam didn't go pass the exit to the car park rather it struck a barrier which seemed to have encased the entire car park.

The rapid tapping of footsteps circling around her caused Shamal to change the focus of her attention, trying to anticipate where the attack would come in from. Narrowing avoiding the blade thrust into to her face Shamal leaned backwards almost losing her balance and stance, being so close she could see it was a cross guard-less Katana. With perfect control the woman stopped the blade and turned it so the edge was now horizontal before she went for a horizontal slash. Shamal ducked down however with the same effortless perfect control the woman held the katana still and twisted the blade in her hands so it edge now lined with her following attack.

"Luft Schutz [Wind Shield]"
each missed attack the woman would suddenly follow through with another, not stopping even once. Shamal was having a hard time dodging every attack and had no choice but to deploy her shield, hopefully disrupting the woman's stance when her blade was carried away by the wind of Shamal's shield. Despite her hopes the woman still retained her posture and her total control of her katana's movements. With her forced on the defensive by the flurry of attacks Shamal had a feeling that the woman's partner was probably getting her next spell prepared.

Each time the katana contacted with Shamal's shield she let out a burst of wind, more than what she needed to, hoping Hayate or Rein could sense the Mana usage. With another attack Shamal pushed back the woman with a burst of wind from her shield. The woman's feet skidded along the ground and held her sword out of her right, "you can give it a rest. My friend deployed a barrier which will keep all magic contained in it. In the off chance your friends could find us they'll see nothing from the outside"

'tsk, that means I'm on my...'
before Shamal could finish her thought she saw the flutter of paper coming from the direction of the 2nd woman.

"Luft Schutz [Wind Shield]", "Fīnikkusu Rein [Phoenix Rain!]"
Shamal held her ground as the pieces of paper which littered the air burned up and turned into birds diving right at her. One armed with a sword and one specializing at ranged magic, and with Shamal's very lacking offensive capabilities she was in the worst situation.

'I won't, let Hayate-chan down!'
Shamal release a massive blast of wind from her shield dispelling it but snuffing out the bird shaped flames, however the woman with the katana didn't waste any time and seeing the opening in her partner's attack as she began to rush in to keep Shamal's focus on her and not her friend.

Shamal too saw the opening but her plan wasn't to attack the caster but rather to take advantage of the small window of being uninterrupted and change her plan of attack. despite the close combat ability she couldn't switch Klarwind to Pendelform as the woman with the blade was dangerous enough close range, instead she closed her index and middle fingers together, curled up her other 2 finger and stuck out her thumb, her hand now looking like a gun a child would make.

"Mana Kanone [Mana Shooter]", the blue jewel on Klarwind's index ring glowed as a blue aura formed around Shamal's closed fingers. It was an incredibly basic shooting spell that all Mid-Childan children would learn but it was the only offensive spell Shamal knew. She pointed her fingers at the approaching woman and began to fire small blast of mana from the aura surrounding her fingers, firing 4 shots a second.

The woman continued her charge. the shots that didn't miss her she would either block, bat away or cut down, her charge unfazed however the closer she got the more she was forced to block the attacks. Up close to Shamal once again she resumed her sword assault however every moment Shamal got after dodging an attack she fired her Mana shot at the woman. The previous fluid control the woman had was now broken up as she had to abandon follow up attacks to block.

Shamal's opponent back flipped just as Shamal began to feel a chill down her back. "Aisu banishā [Ice Banisher!]" with only moment to spare Shamal rolled as the spot she was standing froze up, but there was no ice as what froze was the mana

'had I been standing there my magic would have been sealed'

Shamal's opponent returned and from holding her katana above her head brought it down.
"Selbstschutz, Luft Schutz [Auto Guard, Wind Shield]"
As the woman's blade cut though Shamal shield the wind moved it just enough to miss her. Shamal had begun to charge her Mana Shot. Apart from redirecting the attack Shamal's shield had also sped up the blade's decent causing it to stab into the ground. Unable to pull the katana out Shamal fired her charged shot at the woman's temple; the force of the shot threw her across the car park rolling along the ground.

With Shamal's now undivided attention trained at the second combatant 2 white haori sleeves extended out from her clothing with slips of paper pouring out.
"Ījisumagika [Aegis Magica]" Shamal started to run towards the woman firing at her as the paper floated up and formed a wall repelling Shamal's attacks, but that didn't deter her and she continued to fire. When she was in range Shamal swiped her leg high cutting though the paper like, paper. As the wall collapsed Shamal aimed side on and fired at the woman continuously pushing her back. a quick glance at the katana wielding woman to confirm she was still down before facing the caster and holding her firing hand in the plan of her free hand, charging her spell ready to fire.

*thump*. Shamal's vision wavered as she felt something hit the back of her neck before collapsing to the ground. When her vision stabilized she turned around only to suddenly stop as a Katana was aimed at her neck, the tip just millimetres from her skin. She could see 2 things; one was the Katana wielding woman she was fighting before just starting to get up but directly in front of her was a Green hakama.

The blade pressed against her chin forcing her to look up. She could now see the face which the legs belonged to. Shamal recognized the woman as one of the Miko who were summoned by Amara yesterday however she was now wearing a long black jacket over her white haori and Green hakama.

"you ok?" she asked the Katana wielding woman was staggered to her
"yeh, my head is killing me though"
"we'll get onee-sama to look at that, kinda scared seeing you get shot in the temple like that. What about you?" the Miko asked the caster
"I, I'm, I'm fine onee-sama. my apologies for, for, for worry you" the caster replied timidly, her previous determine air non-existent
"never mind that, so long as you ok"

the Miko trained her sight down the blade at Shamal before looking up to the timid caster and nodding. The caster took Shamal's hand and slid off one of Klarwind's two green jewelled rings off her ring finger and handed it to the Miko.
"At a glance one would say it's an enchanted ring, but the magic used is..."
"Alien?" Shamal interrupted "like the TALON Node"
"hardly, this ring is nowhere near as old or advance"
"so you've seen the TALON?"

The woman lifted the blade straining Shamal's neck "Amara-onee-sama didn't sleep well last night. When she doesn't sleep well, I don't sleep well. I can't see her sleeping tonight either"

the Miko handed the ring back to the timid girl to put back onto Shamal and let her blade drop slightly reliving the tension in Shamal's neck. She waited until both women were by her side with the timid one pulling out slips of paper from her sleeves.

"You have until tomorrow morning to leave the city and return to where ever you came from. And please take the warning, the Aki Grand Hotel has such fond memories for us and I don't want to be the one responsible for launching an attack, forcefully dragging you and your friends out of there."

As the Miko finished speaking the paper between the fingers of the caster fluttered out and began to multiply. The cloud of paper swirled around obscuring Shamal's vision before the wind died down and where the 3 women stood there was now nothing.

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[21st December 0081, 9:23 PM - Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima Earth] - The Miko Corp

Hayate stood at the edge of the forest outside Hokokujinjahonden, her gaze firmly set on the torii gate which looked to float on the water, a sigh they were almost at their destination. When Shamal returned she was surprised when the instant Hayate saw her she began to fuse over her asking a million questions at a time, Shamal hadn't noticed the tiny cuts and bruises she sustained from her earlier fight and when she explained what had happened Hayate's expression changed.

"Hayate-chan, we're leaving in the morning anyway" Shamal said as she approached Hayate from behind "there's no need to be so wo..."
"It's a matter of principle" Hayate interjected "they threaten to drag you and my daughter out by force. I won't let anyone lay a hand on my family even if it's just a threat"

Shamal sighed "but is an all out assault the only way"
"I'm not closed to negotiations but they have one chance"

With Rein in Hayate's breast pocket of her Knight Clothes she and Shamal jumped down off the small cliff and cautiously make their way down the street to the left entrance to the Shrine. The entrance was left unguarded and as they continued into the shrine they found no one, not even a security guard.

"Mommy, something is wrong" Rein said as she hid her head in Hayate's pocket when they entered an open area. Just as the group stopped they could hear the thunderous sound of footsteps all round them, converging on their location. Miko spilled out and surrounded them, all of whom held sword while some held slips of paper between their fingers.

"I'm glad I don't have to attack the Aki Grand Hotel" walking out from the direction of the museum was another Miko wearing a Green hakama while she was flanked by 2 others wearing dark blue. "However you seem to not grasp the meaning of my warning"

Hayate looked towards Shamal and with her affirmative nod Hayate glared at the woman who threaten to harm her family "look, we are not here to fight. There are people who are planning on using the TALON and we want to stop them. Before we can do that though we need to know what they are planning and finding out what the TALON does is a step towards it"
"you are wasting the precious little time I gave you. Normally any who discover the TALON we deal with but you're free to go without any harm"
"you threaten my family!" Hayate yelled, if anything Hayate was more passionate about protecting the family she loved dearly and any harm or threats of was a personal attack on Hayate.

The 3 women drew their blades "a threat I had hoped not to carry out"
"stop!"

The Miko that surrounded Hayate and Shamal all looked towards where the Miko in the Green hakama stood as she turned around before stepping aside. Approaching them was Amara, her long black hakama dragging on the ground.

"I will not have blood spilled on sacred soil"
"but, Amara-onee-sama"

Hayate and Shamal breathed a sigh of relief but just as they did a familiar presence engulfed them.
'The Area Field' Hayate thought to herself 'why are we only sensing it now?'

Amara stepped past the Miko and continued to approach Hayate and Shamal. A long red ribbon flew out of the sleeves of her haori and floated in front of her in the form of a Magic Circle, "I will not risk my precious sisters. I'll deal with them myself"

from the ribbon drawn circle and entire area was bathed in a brilliant and blinding white light.

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[21st December 0081, ?:? ? - ? ?] - Kami of the Sun

As the light faded Hayate and Shamal found themselves in a field of flowers. Floating small islands surrounded them but beyond that there was only clouds bathed in an afternoon glow and a sun which hung in the sky.

Rein flew out of Hayate's pocket and hovered looking all around her "this isn't right"
"what do you mean?" Hayate asked
"I can feel we're still in Earth but the reality here is different"
"like a Reality with a Reali..." Shamal suddenly stopped as her mind had come to a sudden epiphany "a Reality Frame?"

The Reality Frame was a highly advance and powerful spell. Only a select few had the possible talent to cast it and Hayate counted among their numbers, yet to her knowledge there was no living person today who could, even Hayate had trouble failing many times.

"But how was she able to cast it without even an Aria" Hayate pondered
"the Area Field, it laid the ground work. We were wrong in thinking that the spell was engraved on an object to prevent its detection. Amara had it cast on herself ready to cast a Reality Frame and that's why my spells were negated, the altered reality."
"I always thought Nanoha was the most powerful and talented Mage born on Earth. Who is this Amara?"
"I have gone by many names in the past"

The women looked to the sky. Descending down onto them was Amara, her imposing gaze set upon them. Her robes now much longer then before and held a ceremonial feel to their appearance while the ribbon she had pulled out before now floated around her shoulders and arms. Amara's decent stopped before the 3 women were struck by the immense presence of mana which came from her.

"I have changed my name with the time to avoid suspicious, however deep in my heart I shall never forget my true name. I am Amaterasu no-Mikoto, Daughter of Izanami no-Mikoto"
Hayate was taken aback, "you're real!"
"You have no hope to escape from this realm"
"wait, please! Listen to us, the TALON is in danger"
"and I will defend it so long I draw breath. all outsiders who know of it shall not see the light of day"

The sun behind Amaterasu began to shine brighter as Hayate could feel the heat intensify however she knew of a more prevalent danger, holding Rein close and grabbing Shamal she cast her Dimensional Transfer to try and escape. Just as the 3 disappeared the field of flowered suddenly combusted as a towering infernal took hold of the main island.

The group reappeared on one of the small islands and shook off their initial shock with the Tome of the Night Sky and Schwertkreuz appearing before Hayate while Rein unisoned with her. Without a moment's rest fireballs shot though the inferno forcing Hayate and Shamal to take evasive action and fly.

The fire died down with Amaterasu having not moved an inch holding her hand up high, calling forth fire bolts which began to rain down from the twilight sky.
"Luft Schutz [Wind Shield]" "Yew Pfeil [Yew arrow]", Shamal shielded herself and Hayate from the attack while Hayate attempted to counter however as each arrow she fired reached Amaterasu swatted them away with her bare hands

"dam it, is she really a god?" Hayate said as within her mind herself and Rein tried to think of another plan since frontal assaults wasn't going to help them
"magic aside she said she changed her name to avoid suspicion, you don't suppose she's actually a few centuries old?"
"If she was then her magic is that more terrifying" Hayate replied before the two flew apart to avoid a high temperature beam that was fired. Amaterasu appeared beside Shamal with her arm bathed in flames, her speed great enough that Klarwind's Auto Guard couldn't deploy in time to protect Shamal from the full force of Amaterasu's attack as she struck her sending her flying into the ground of the main island.

"Claíomh Solais", Hayate summoned a volley of swords and fired them at Amaterasu covering her descent to the main island
"Shamal! Are you ok?"
"Yeh" Shamal replied painfully "my Knight Clothing still protected me"

As Hayate helped Shamal up while, from within Rein activated a barrier shielding them from the incoming fireballs.
"Mana Kanone Zwei [Mana Shooter 2]", Shamal pointed her fingers like guns to Amaterasu, her index and middle fingers on each hand became cloaked in a blue aura and the moment Rein's shield went down she began to shoot at Amaterasu, first aiming at the fireballs she shot before trying to hit Amaterasu herself however any shot that did reach her seemly bounced off her.

Fireballs Shamal missed exploded close to Hayate however she was deep in focused, the Tome of the Night Sky opened and floating in-front of her and in unison with Rein the two began to chant. "O' ruler of the white snow, with silver wings turn all the earth in vision into ice!". Hayate held Schwertkreuz in front between herself and the tome. Four icy-blue cubes appeared from its head and circled around it moving further and further away until they circled Hayate.

"Come forth, breath of frost!"
"Atem des Eises", Both Rein and Hayate felt a slight sting as the inorganic voice echoed from Reinforce, buried under it, the tiniest hint of a lost mother and love who no longer lived brought back something painful. The cubes shot forth shooting the incoming attacks making quicker work of them than Shamal's attack. Amaterasu held out her hand to stop one of the cubes but a second smashed into her shoulder as it flew by freezing it while the cube she held began to freeze her hand.

The other 2 cubes got into position and created a wide-area freezing effect freezing Amaterasu. Her frozen body began to fall before smashing to the ground shattering not only the ice but her body as well. Amaterasu shot up from the flower field behind the women and just as they turned to cover their flank another Amaterasu shot up. One by one more and more Amaterasus' appeared surrounding them before firing.

"Luft Schutz [Wind Shield]" Shamal attempted to block the attacks but the sheer number of Amaterasu of firing would have overwhelmed her, her saving grace was that they wasn't firing in unison so she had a slight window to reposition her shields but she couldn't block them all, those that got past Hayate blocked with Schwertkreuz but they were pinned down.

"Which one is the real one?"
"It's none of them. I can't feel any mana coming from them when they cast, not even the one we just fought" Rein replied to Shamal using a telepathic link though Hayate

'there's something not right about this place' Hayate thought to herself, with the beaming sun above them she felt not the stinging of it burning her skin. Hayate closed her eyes once more as the Tome of the Night Sky opened up and flipped though until it reached where Hayate wanted.

"Tridents of Poseidon, gather from the sea! Sighs of the silver sn..." one of the shots passed Hayate's leg cutting her and for a brief moment she dropped to her knee, she pushed though the pain and stood back up before resuming her aria. "Sighs of the silver snow, come from yonder! Skein of surges, gather in the sky!"

As she chanted dew from the flowers evaporated and the vapour gathered in a giant Belkan magic sigil which appeared above the sun. The vapour began to solidify as a giant iceberg suspended by the sigil running though the middle. when at long as the iceberg was at Hayate's desired size she gripped Schwertkreuz in both hands and swung in down in front of her

"Heimdall!" she yelled, the sigil expanded as if releasing the iceberg from its grip and allowed gravity to send it plummeting into the sun. As the berg got closer vast amount of steam bellowed from it as the sun began to melt it quickly yet even then Hayate couldn't feel the temperature increase while the Amaterasus' had stopped moving.

Only half it size the berg finally began to sink into the sun, the surface of which ripped before it exploded like a ball of water freed from its containment. The world around them suddenly went dark with the exception of the tip of the berg which shone the brightest.

'that's where you were' Hayate thought as she identified the light was the real Amaterasu, her white haori radiating a brilliant glow. Amaterasu was slowly being pushed down by the berg before she fired a high temperature laser though it shattering it. As the prices of ice rained down around her she pointed where the women now stood alone, the remains of the iceberg rotated around and rained down on them. Shamal floated off the ground slight as she flew backwards keeping the icicles in her sight as she weaved between them.

Just as Amaterasu was about to attacked she realised only one was escaping her previous reversal and the second had vanished, trying to find the woman with the book and staff she could feel a huge surge of mana approaching from above.

Hayate flew in from above hard and fast with Schwertkreuz held out to her side, Rein mimicking Hayate's arm movement within, mana formed around Schwertkreuz forming the shape of a spear.
"Gungnir!" Hayate and Rein yelled as Hayate threw the spear that had formed around Schwertkreuz.

Amaterasu could only hold out her hands as the spear hurtled towards her, doing nothing to stay its speed as it struck her and continued its flight taking Amaterasu with it. The spear struck the centre island and broke through it, the shock breaking the land apart. Whatever kept it suspended in that space was lost as the broken landmass began to fall into a blinding light that began to radiate from the spear where Amaterasu was, engulfing everything.

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[21st December 0081, 9:35 PM - Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima Earth] - Gate of Yomi

Hayate and Shamal could just start seeing through the light as it began to fade. They were back on earth right where they had been standing before and not even a second had passed since Amaterasu activated the Reality Frame. It wasn't unheard of for a Reality Frame to separate time however to do so needed an incredible amount of skill and magic.

Despite not even a second passing however there were differences. Shamal and Hayate looked weathered and Hayate's hair still blonde from her unison with Rein. Amaterasu white haori however began to develop a growing red stain, she stood there wearing a pained expression as she tried to hold something in. Red trickles slithered down from the corners of her mouth as she kept her mouth as tightly closed however a slight coughed stilled escaped from her lips coating them a deeper red.

"Onee-sama!" the Miko in the Green hakama yelled out as she ran to Amaterasu who had began to fall back, catching her before gently guiding her to the ground
"onee-sama, onee-sama!" the Miko cried before gritting her teeth, her eyes burning with rage aimed at the 2 outsiders.

"How could you do this to our onee-sama" she sobbed as she slowly reached for her katana "I'LL KILL YOU!"
Just as the Miko was about to charge at them Amaterasu held back the Miko's shoulder and shook her head

"onee-sama please, we'll get you help, just..."
"No" Amaterasu interrupted "it's time"
the Miko knelled back down and shook her head "no, no! we're not ready we don't want you to go!"
"I, have been, *cough* preparing you for this." Amaterasu said coughing up more blood. "Make sure they are shown Suzaku"

the Miko followed Amaterasu's gaze and frowned "you, the blonde one!" she called out signalling Hayate to approach. As she slowly made her way to the Miko and Amaterasu Hayate could see some of the Miko watching her every move while others stood silently looking as if they were about to burst into tears

The Miko holding Amaterasu shifted her body away from Hayate as she knelled down. Amaterasu slowly placed one hand on her chest and the other on Hayate as she started to spend the last traces of energy her body had left. Hayate felt a warmness entering into her from Amaterasu's glowing hand.

When Amaterasu pulled her hand away floating just in front of Hayate's chest was a Magic Circle. The outer ring of the circle consisted of 4 ringed circles within each was the Japanese Kanji of North, South, East and West with North in the top most circle. The outer ring of each of the kanji circles consisted of the Magic Loop that was typically found in all Magic Circles. Slightly inwards from the outer ring of the main circle contained 2 more circles each with the Magic Loop however each rotated in opposite directions. Further in 4 triangles rotated around the inner most circle which at first glance looked like your typical 12 point star however because of how lines overlapped it was in fact 4 overlapping triangles which remained perfectly still.

"All those who *cough* who fought in Twilight Sky Garden never figured out...where I truly hid" Amaterasu wheezed as the magic circle disappeared into Hayate. "You are clever, and strong. One day you will learn *cough* *cough* to use the magic I have given you."

Hayate stood back up and stepped back when Amaterasu turned her head to the Miko she rested upon figuring she would want to speak to her a bit more privately.

"Midori"
"onee-sama?"
"Belief in Shinto has been waning over the decades. However *cough* however *cough* cough*"
"please onee-sama" the Miko pleaded "save your strength" however Amaterasu ignored her and continued
"however our belief is not our core. We have been a sanctuary, for those who sought freedom from abuse, freedom from life's stress, freedom from the burdens, of the current world. You must *cough* keep our work alive"
"no onee-sama, I want you to help me"
"you was not raised, to be selfish like that"
"but!"

Tears streamed down the Miko's cheeks as she chocked back her words trying to stop herself crying, the tears falling upon Amaterasu face. Amaterasu smiled warmly like a loving mother "I have wanted this for centuries, yet when others *cough* have, done the, same as you, it was, different." Amaterasu closed her eyes "this *cough* *cough* is the, first *cough* and *cough* last time, I felt, warm tears, *cough* *cough* *cough* of *cough* love"

Amaterasu's body began to glow and small lights began to float out of her body "for your sisters with you now, who will grieve for many months, for your sisters yet to arrive, who still suffer out there, and for your sister, still yet to enter this unjust world, help and protect them"

from Amaterasu's feet her body began to fade away as the little lights left her body. All around Miko were affected; some stood there and held back tears while others lent their shoulders to others who openly wept. As Amaterasu's body faded the Miko who held her finally started to cry herself. Amaterasu used the every ounce of energy to lift her arm and just touched the Miko's face however there was enough energy in her body to hold it there, but just as her hand started to slip the Miko held it in place.

Amaterasu body had all but faded with only her head and the hand which the Miko held close. With the last of the strength she had she parted her lips but she didn't have the strength to muster her full voice. the Miko leaned in closer, her ear close to Amaterasu's lips and closed her eyes and Amaterasu spent her final breath before Amaterasu faded away completely, the glow carried away by the last of the light that disappeared into the black sky.

The Miko stood up and wiped her eyes, "This night our Onee-sama has passed away. as to her will I shall take up what she has left for us." the Miko announced as she sheathed her sword "I will understand if some of you wish to take some time but I must ask that you make sure that there is someone to cover your work"

the Miko that surrounded Hayate and Shamal began to dissipate. feeling the danger was over the 2 returned their Devices to Standby Form while Rein deunisoned from Hayate and reverted her Tome of the Azure Sky back to its Standby Form which was the same as that of Hayate's Reinforce. The Miko in the Green hakama and the 2 in dark blue hakamas turned to enter the museum but the one in the Green hakama looked over her shoulder and with her head motioned Hayate, Shamal and Rein to follow them.

In the back of the museum a wall opened up revealing a hidden staircase. The Miko in the Green hakama entered first while the 2 in dark blue waited for Hayate, Shamal and Rein to enter before they took up the rear.

"My name is Midori Shinoto." the Miko in front introduced herself, "behind you, the one who looks nervous is Kari Saiso and the other is Ayano Kenarashi. We are Amaterasu-onee-sama's second and third in com..." Midori paused before correcting herself "no, I'm the leader of the Miko now and they are my second in command"
"you know who Amaterasu really is?"
"Yes, she is Izanami's daughter. My family for generations have served her faithful. Today appears to have been the last day"
"I'm sorry" Hayate apologized
"don't be. Amaterasu-onee-sama wanted to die"

Midori stopped. The stair case seemed to continue further down however there was not even the tiniest flicker of light. Midori, Kari and Ayano all took a torch from the wall before they continued.

"when Amaterasu-onee-sama sleeps her body regenerates, not fully but enough for her to live 80 years but only have a body that's 50 years old. When she gets to a certain age she falls into a coma and wakes only when her body has regenerated to the age of 17. I heard from my grandparents that at some point Amaterasu-onee-sama expressed she would like to die one day"

the women stopped, behind them one could just barely see the lights they had past. The girls in the back took out a slip of paper from the sleeves of their haori and placed it above the extinguished touches before lighting them with the ones they held. The kanji on the paper glowed as they seemed to keep the flames in checked before Midori began to lead the group again.

"So why did she want to die?"
"Amaterasu-onee-sama is almost immortal. To see all the people you care about die when you can't, we could never understand how that would feel."
"Almost immortal?" Shamal asked
"yes, she can't die from old age but she can die from a wound. Of cause she couldn't commit suicide because of the effect it would leave to all of the Miko who look up to her. she is our beloved onee-sama after all, regardless of her name"

"Amaterasu-onee-sama tricked you...and us" Kari said from behind "of cause that's not to say she went easy on you but I assume Twilight Epitaph was never evoked was it?"
"Twilight Epitaph?" Rein asked as she floated backwards looking at Kari and Ayano
"it's her ultimate spell. every new year after the fireworks those of us here would see her cast it over the floating Torii Gate."
"It's very beautiful, stirs the heart to encourage one to make life changing decisions" Ayano said, for a brief moment Kari's nervousness lifted as she smiled before realizing where she was.

"That's not to say it isn't deadly. There was this abusive husband whose wife came to one of our shrines. He claimed she dishonoured him by sleeping with another guy. She said that she was drugged and the man she was with was paid by her husband so he had dirt on her but she had no proof of that so the husband went to drag her off. Amaterasu-onee-sama pulled him into her world and I was there and I saw Twilight Epitaph destroy him."
"So why didn't she use it on us?" Hayate asked "I thought you said she didn't go easy on us"
"she only uses it to destroy those who she really, really hates. Of cause if she just kept using Twilight Epitaph no one would ever kill her. I think she was looking for someone strong enough to match her but someone who wouldn't bring harm to the rest of us. When she first saw you yesterday she must have known that if she lost to you we would still be safe"

the women continued down the staircase, occasionally stopping to light torches along the way. They continued to walk, and walk, and walk, endlessly walking down deeper and deeper. Rein pointed out to Hayate and Shamal that they had been walking for well over an hour and it was then Shamal reminded Hayate of one thing in Shinto, the world in which the dead went, the same place where Izanami went when she died and was later imprisoned by Izanagi. The Underworld, Yomi.

The group finally reach the end of the stairs. Kari and Ayano light a touch on either side of the entry way back into the stairway but the moment they did other touches quickly lit up one after another lighting the cold, dank stone room. At the end of it was a large stone gate and as if barring it from opening as a large statue of Amaterasu with a Giant Fire Bird behind her, its wings opened as if it were her own wings with Amaterasu arm lifted up high.

"The Suzaku Unit" Midori said as she looked towards the statue.

Hayate looked to Shamal and without saying a word Shamal approached the statue and began to investigate. Shamal was a Medic by choice as she could have easily gotten a job as a TSAB Scientist but she felt that it would not only take up too much of her time keeping her away from her family but it would not add nearly as much to her family as a Medic would be.

Kari began to start crying with Ayano letting her cry in her chest. Kari kept repeating Amaterasu-onee-sama as she cried having been reminded by seeing the visage of her.

"it'll be a long time before most Miko fully recover after Amaterasu-onee-sama death"
"I am sorry"
"I said don't be" Midori repeated annoyed at Hayate's repeated apology "apologize again and I'll disappoint Amaterasu-onee-sama and kill you where you stand"

Hayate nervously laughed as she stepped back before Shamal called out to her.

"What did you find?"
"This isn't just a statue, given how advance it looks it has to be the TALON Nodes"
"so? Can't we do something to stop Dearche?"

Shamal shook her head "I wouldn't know where to begin. however remember what Alicia said about it being a large magic circle"
"yeh"
"it's worse, it may be a nationwide spell but if I'm understanding this right it'll effect the entire world!"
"christ"
"but that's not the dangerous part. if any of the TALON Nodes are not in the pre-set location the mana from the Controller will still sent but it'll just be absorbed to the earth and it appears to be the same amount of mana that the Arc-en-ciel uses. That kind of mana is not supposed to be absorbed into the earth so the ecological side effects are unknown but obviously not good. the longer the TALON is active the greater the spread of this 'taint'"
"So Dearche plans to taint the earth by moving the TALON Nodes"
"there's still the TALON's true purpose mommy" Rein reminded
"true but you heard Alicia, there's only an unfinished prototype and that book was stolen just recently"

As Shamal and Rein continued to examine the TALON Hayate approached Midori, there was something on her mind ever since she started to suspect Shinto's connection to Al-Hazard.
"Midori, I'm can't figure out why Amaterasu would portray her mother in the way she is in Shinto scriptures"
"it's simple" Midori replied turning around "if you found something ancient and magical linked to the goddess of death would you fiddle with it? Even if you was seeking to unleash evil upon the world there's no danger then"
"please don't tell me there's more things like the TALON"
Midori sighed "to be honest I don't know. I could have asked but when I was learning about Izanami-no-kami I did detect some sadness in Amaterasu-onee-sama voice so I didn't want to upset her by bring up as past she may have wanted to forget"

Just as Midori finished speaking they both began to her the sound of running footsteps coming from the stairs. As the sounds got closer a Miko appeared from the staircase, panting as she quickly scanned the room for someone.

"Onee-sama! onee-sama!" she called as she ran to Midori
"what are you doing here, you were told that this place is off limits"
"I know and please forgive me but we have a problem"

the Miko moved closer to Midori and whispered into her ear, Hayate couldn't tell what was said but the darkened expression of Midori's face seemed to reveal a lot more.

"when"
"when we got word we debated for about 10 minutes whether or not one of us would follow you down and tell you and I ran all the way here"
"then possible it could have been around half an hour ago" Midori muttered to herself

"what's going on?" Hayate asked
"the Himiya Shrine in Suzu is under attack"
Midori turned around hearing Hayate's gasp "what do you know!" she demanded
"our friend is in Suzu, like us she's looking into how the TALON works so we can try and stop those who are planning on using it"
"However even if the shrine had nothing to do with the TALON Nanoha would lend her assistance" Shamal added pointing our Nanoha's need to always help people.

Midori turned to Kari and Ayano, "when can we deploy"
"even if we mustered some of our sisters to get there quickly we won't get there in time, the best we can do is notify any nearby shrines with combat training to deploy but Amaterasu-onee-sama already called a lot back here ready for the operation at Tokyo Tower"

Midori began to shake as she felt overwhelmed with the current situation. Amaterasu-onee-sama had only just passed away and the Miko in the other shrines wouldn't have known yet but word would spread quickly so she needed to act just quickly to be the supporting pillar for her sisters, just as Amaterasu-onee-sama had wanted.

Hayate placed her hand on Midori's shoulder "don't worry, my friend can't easily be beaten, your sisters will be ok"

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[21st December 0081, 10:19 PM - Tokyo Tower Earth] - Emotional Breaking Point

Alicia stood on the street corner looking up the formally red and white tower now lit up completely in gold for Christmas, shuddering as she felt Dearche's malice emanating from the upper levels and pouring down onto the world bellow.

'she was never like this' Alicia thought to her. Dearche had her faults; her family background was quite prestigious and was probably one of only a very very select few of noble families which weren't affiliated with the Majesty Faction, giving raise to her narcissistic tendencies and her low opinion of others, with the exception of Seikou and Levi. Given that however it didn't feel as she had utter discontent for the very existence of everyone else.

"Sir, you cannot do this"
"I have to" Alicia replied to her Device "if I don't Trish will never wake up"
"that is ridiculous. Trishia coma is not an affliction caused by a Curse that until Lord Dearche is defeated she would not wake form"
"but until I make things right how can she?"
"Sir you are an idiot. Is this what Trishia wants, to have you die"
"but..."
"Quiet! In your current mental state you're not thinking clearly and..."
"So WHAT!" Alicia yelled back on the verge of tears

"Sir, Trishia has been raised that her life is meant for the greater good of all Al-Hazard and to put that ahead of her own desire. Her desire was to protect the woman who she loves and chose to risk that life. Would you waste that sir?"
"No" Alicia replied solemnly "but I don't want to just wait and do nothing while everyone else fights. If I hang around the TALON trying to understand how it works I'm liable to damage it on purpose"
"understood sir, but the damage done Material Unit's trap is still prevalent. If we were in Al-Hazard you would be pulled from duty"

"what was that!?" Alicia quickly turned around as 2 people landed behind her. One was an older woman in her mid 40's while the other was a young man who looked to be in his early 30's.

"Surprised you were able to follow without me detecting you" Alicia sighed having hoped she had gotten away without being noticed.
"Never mind that! Your Device, what's this about damage that you normally being pulled from duty for" Lindy demanded fuming, Alicia was surprised when she recognized a mother's worry in Lindy.
"the trap the Material Unit set which destabilized the portal resulting in the genetic damage that causes Trish's body to become a male if her Linker Core is not in use, well, my own Linker Core as been unstable and showed no signs of healing by itself since we arrived"

"that's not good" Chrono remarked "we need to get that looked at to see what, if anything, we can do"
Alicia shook her head "if I get back to Al-Hazard it can have it fixed and be off on sick leave for a day or so, it's nothing serious"

An unstable Linker Core was linked to a number of conditions in Mages like abnormal increased fatigue or increased difficulty in casting magic even with a Device, in worse case scenarios the Linker Core could rebound magic back at the caster or do internal damage by suddenly expelling Mana within the body. While normally a Linker Core would regenerate, if it didn't it was a more serious problem and even the best healing Mages couldn't fully repair a Linker Core. While Chrono was relieved to hear that it wasn't a serious matter he was still astounded that in Al-Hazard it would be such a trivial matter that one would only take a couple of sick days to recover.

Just as Alicia was about to walk off Lindy reached out and grabbed her shoulder "but your still going to fight Dearche in that condition aren't you". Alicia just stood there waiting for Lindy to let go, she knew the risks in this but she felt she had to do this as a means to make up for everything she has done.

"Ok, but we're still coming with you" Lindy said giving in as she let go of Alicia's shoulder. When Alicia left they had a feeling what she would do and had already readied their Barrier Jackets to help her. If possible they would stop Dearche now and bring this to a close.

Chrono and Lindy followed Alicia as she took flight climbing the tower. After passing the special observation deck they felt space begin to wrap around them as the metal framework began to twist and expand revealing a third open air observation level.

The Mages readied their devices as they landed, greeted by the winter air blowing through the open struts of the deck chilling them to the bone. In front was a statue suspended by wires behind a stone and metal throne. The statue was that of a woman, her arms outstretched either side of her as if she was being crucified.

"We did not expect you to arrive Testarossa". The slender woman appeared from behind the throne, still in the same clothing as she was the last night Alicia saw her. As she walked past the throne Dearche ran her finger along the armrest, "we expected you to be sobbing by the Princess's death bed"
"she isn't dead"
"that is excellent to hear. We can inquire as to her stupidity"
"what stupidity" Alicia retorted tightening her grip on Ballad
"how she could be so foolish as to shield you. Has she forgotten her station"

Alicia remained silent, her stare not going unnoticed by Dearche. "still we must regrettably admit we are perplexed how the Princess could fall for the daughter of the Whore of Testarossa"
"Volt Lancer"

"don't you EVER refer to my mother like that!" Alicia yelled, her teeth grating as she tried to restrain herself from foolishly falling for Dearche's taunts and attacking now.
"It is the truth. Maestro Testarossa is an uncouth cur who whored her position"
"SHUT UP!"

Alicia was about to attack when Chrono grabbed her arm. Dearche smirked seeing Alicia's un-tempered reaction, delighted that she could make Alicia lose focus so easily. Alicia regained her focus and calmed down as she readied her stance.

"You are just as uncouth" Dearche sighed summoning her staff and tome. closing her eyes her tome floated out in front and began to flip though, instinctively holding out her stand before placing it on the tome stopping it exactly where she wanted it

"Dfecdat Kmobr - Mekrdehk [Twisted Glyph - Lighting]"
"Bifrost Shield" recognizing the attack he saw before he arrived in their previous fight Chrono got out in front and stabbed Durandal into the ground causing a wall of ice to rise from it. The dark beam and the lashing lighting fruitlessly tried to destroy the wall only to keep chipping at the seeming unbreakable ice.

"Shade Comet" Swinging Longinus's tip in the air Lindy pooled her mana into dark balls which burst into flames and fired them over and around the wall of ice. As the first one went to hit Dearche she disappeared before repapering a short distance ahead. Lindy redirected the remaining shots to her new position however Dearche disappeared yet again. Each redirection of Lindy's attack Dearche would disappear and reappear as if side stepping as she got closer and closer.

Dearche let go of her staff and allowed it to quickly float behind her catching Alicia's attack from up high. "Pathetic" Dearche spat out as she held her arm, her tome quickly following it.
"Pmywa Lyhhuh [Blaze Cannon]" Alicia quickly flew back narrowing missing the jet of flames that burst from the nearby magic circle which had suddenly appeared.

Dearche spun around grabbing her staff on her way while pirouetting around Chrono's thrust with Durandal. attempting to use her staff as a melee weapon Dearche aimed for Chrono's head however was blocked by S2U, with her staff now tangled with his own Chrono swiped Durandal hoping that he's either get a hit or Dearche would dodge it at the cost of disarming herself of her staff.

Dearche looked apathetic as she jumped up landing on Durandal and pinning it to the ground with her feet before kicking Chrono in the chest, the force sent him flying back into forcefully untangling the 2 staffs while disarming Chrono of Durandal. Dearche stepped off Durandal holding out her staff, the spear lifted up off the ground before flipping around matching the direction of her outstretched staff pointed at Chrono before shooting off. Chrono rolled just as Durandal struck the strut his head was leaning on, exhaling in relief from the narrow miss.

Dearche nimbly stepped back avoiding Lindy's attack from above and continued to effortlessly dodge her follow up attacks slowly walking backwards to the edge of the floor as Lindy unleashed a flurry of thrusts.
"Doph Pelu" Longinus's tip glowed as Lindy trusted again but while Dearche avoided the attack again the path in which Longinus travelled remained glowing, with a second avoidance of her attack Lindy had Dearche trapped at the edge, if Dearche passed though the after images of her previous 2 thrusts she would be hit as if Lindy hadn't missed. Lindy went in high for her third attack so even if Dearche avoided that she'd be boxed in.

"Najanca Cdyn Lindyeh [Reverse Star Curtain]" As Lindy went in to strike a curtain of energy erupted from bellow blocking her attack but with it also passing though the after images Lindy spell recoiled and blasted Longinus out of her hands. Dearche smirked and took a step forward as the unarmed Lindy stepped back slowly keeping her distance.

"Knyjedo Vmiqan [Gravity Fluxer]", metal plates around Dearche lifted up from the ground before shooting towards Lindy. Without her device Lindy tried to avoid the plates hurled towards her knowing full well even the most basic shield spell wouldn't be enough to stop them. Lindy fell forward as one of the plate flew in low and tripped her but before she hit the ground another plate struck her sending her spinning though the air.

Dearche's body turned to paper and scattered as a yellow blade hurtled toward her sliced though. When Ballad's blade reformed Alicia scanned her surroundings trying to find where Dearche disappeared to, she couldn't sense any mana gathering so she wasn't preparing to attack but no matter how much she turned around she couldn't find her.

"Why struggle? We may grant you favour if you bow down before our majesty" Dearche whispered into Alicia's ear. Alicia grit her teeth as she swung Ballad around only for the tip of the blade to suddenly stop just short from touching Dearche's book, it wasn't the attack that had been stopped but Alicia's whole body. Lindy and Chrono flew in on either side of her with their reclaimed devices but without looking Dearche bashed the end of her staff into the ground.

"Dfecdat Kmobr - Vmysa [Twisted Glyph - Flame]", 2 Circles appeared on either side of her and fired 3 twisting streams of flames aimed directly at the pincer attack but even with their devices Auto-Guards Lindy and Chrono were utterly defeated. Dearche lifted her head slightly to look down at Alicia as she pointed her staff at the face of the helpless woman. "Dfecdat Kmobr - Feht [Twisted Glyph - Wind]", the blast threw Alicia up into the air like a rag doll before handing hard on the ground behind Dearche.

Dearche elegantly turned strolled toward the 3 battered and bruised bodies, casually taking her time as they plainly tried to get back up to no avail, her staff humming with the gathering flow of Mana as the head sported an eerie Mauve glow. "Mongrels. You make an attempt on our life yet offer such paltry resistance?"

Dearche smiled as she pointed her staff at her would-be assassins, the pages of her tome flipping through violently as even with their bodies in pain Alicia, Chrono and Lindy could feel the immense mana building before them. "It is rare for us to use this spell but you are special. While not by your own efforts you did survive Majesty of the Lord Testarossa. We grant you the privilege and honour to bear witness to this spell"

Mauve lights flashed through the beams of the upper level, the sound and light hidden away from the rest of the world by the distorted space which cloaked Dearche's throne.

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[20th December 0081, 10:21 AM - Toyakochoakebono Park, Toyamachi Earth] - Entry Team Testarossa

Fate and Arf sat watching the peaceful Toya lake, while Fate's mind was at peace Arf's wasn't. Since she opted to be in Fate's team she had wanted to ask Fate one thing but couldn't find the right time, even now Fate looked at ease and didn't want to disturb her.

"Something on your mind Arf?" Fate asked subconsciously feeling that Arf wanted Fate's attention.
Arf's ears picked up "ahhh, well, there is one thing" she hesitated before taking a deep breath, "after all of this is over and after Christmas, would it be ok I stayed with you?"

"You sure? what about Amy and the twins"
"well the Twins are getting older and even if Amy has any more kids or needs help with the twins her sisters are going to be around from the sounds of it. Of cause if I am still banished..."
"Banished!" Fate yelled out almost falling off her seat "whatever gave you that idea?"
"Well, you just left me on Earth"

Fate felt sick in her stomach. Years ago when everyone came from Mid-Childa with Chrono to see the Twins when they were born Fate snuck off leaving Arf behind. However there was no malice in it as Fate felt that Arf was happier on Earth and the fact Arf never brought it up any other time just reinforced this idea.

Fate took off her shoe and sock and with Arf sitting lower that her began to rub her toes behind Arf's ear "I never banished you. I thought you were happy here. But if you want to come back with me I won't stop you"

Arf smiled not just from Fate saying she could return with her but also because of how Fate was rubbing the back on her ear, something she had long missed. As Fate continued she started to curl her toes and scratch Arf with her toe nails much to Arf's delight, closing her eyes as they rolled back. she couldn't hear Fate's follow up comment about being relieved to have her babysit Vivio at times as she allowed her consciousness to sink deeper and deeper into this long forgotten pleasure.

Arf snapped back into reality when Fate suddenly stopped her treatment, looking to confirm Fate was still sitting where she was originally she then looked towards the sky where Fate was looking as she put her sock and shoe back on. Slowly descending towards them while still remaining out of sight was Signum who Fate and Arf had been waiting on. To confirm whether or not Alicia was right about a trap they decided that they wouldn't all go in at once and would attempt to trigger the said trap.

As Signum's feet touched the ground her knight clothing reverted back into her casual violet trousers and beige top with a matching jacket with a woollen collar and cuffs, while Agito who had landed on Signum's shoulder was wearing almost matching clothes but was wearing a long sleeve shirt rather than a jacket. Since they had both returned it meant that there was no trap set to isolate the team when they all entered the city.

Signum held out a 4 pack of self heating chocolate drinks she picked on their way back, offering one to Fate and Arf. After putting away the left over one the group started to walk up the road. While Signum and Agito had just been flying around they wanted to keep their presence to a minimum in case if Dearche's allies were about.

"So, got any idea where we start?" Signum asked after being the first to start drinking her drink while the others waited until the cans had fully heated
"well I would like to say we look for anything which is out of place, but given how long these TALON things have been on earth I doubt it'll be that easy" Arf said

Signum, Agito and Arf all looked to Fate, stopping her gulping when she noticed their eyes set onto her from the corner of her vision. "Well there is a place I want to check out, Hachiman Shrine"
"a shrine?"
"Yeh. On the way here I couldn't stop thinking on how much of a coincidence this Izanami in Al-Hazard seemed similar to Izanami in Shintoism. So I looked up shrines here and I found Hachiman Shrine"
"what's so special about it?" Agito asked
"well it's dilapidated, abandoned for years. But there was this property developer who wanted to tear it down and was rejected"
"obviously, when shrines are concerned their land is considered sacred" Signum interjected
"yes but there is some leeway when the developer wanted to tear down the shrine to rebuild it"
"and they were still rejected?" Arf asked
Fate nodded "my guess is that there's something there which can't be removed that someone doesn't want seen"

agreeing with Fate Signum began to think aloud "if there is a connection between Al-Hazard and Shintoism then there is a possibility that the TALON, or at very least a clue on it, may be hidden here"
"it's a 30 minute walk but it's also 20 minutes from Lakehouse At Toyako where I've booked us a room"
"man, it's like we're on a vacation" Arf laughed as she walked off ahead of them

as the women continued on their way Fate couldn't help but feel disappointed in all of this. Ideally she had hoped to spend the entire time with Nanoha, making up the time they had lost since her promotion.

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[20th December 0081, 11:06 AM - Hachiman Shrine, Toyamachi Earth] - Dancing Shadow

The Hachiman Shrine was in the very poor state, a result of neglect over the years. With the dying worship of spiritual figures a number of Shinto Shrines around the country had followed a similar path and the only ones left to take care of them were the young girls and women who became Miko.

Fate explained all she discovered regarding the Hachiman Shrine, about how even after appealing the decision to refuse the shrine's renovation the land developer was still refused. Since the purpose was clearly detailed it was very hard to understand the refusal unless there was someone with power wanting to keep people from snooping around the shrine.

The Shrine's dilapidated state made it very unsafe and the area was cornered off with warning tape which the women ignored. What they didn't ignore was the danger and activated their devices, should the shrine collapse their barrier jackets and knight clothes would give them a far better chance at survival.

Plumes of dust rose up as they moved things from tables and chairs to rotted struts and walls, leaving the door and windows open as much as they could were all they could do to stop themselves chocking on the airborne dirt. In the group of 4 only 3 was working with the 4th hiding away in the hair of her master
"come on Agito, you going to let your lord do all the work?" Arf jested as she tried to add some conversation.
"There's cobwebs and big ones at that"
"I never figured you to be scared of spiders Agito"
"just the big ones that would see my small body as prey Signum-dono. and where I can't burn them"

Signum chuckled to herself "if I accidental walk though a spider's web it'll get in my hair first"
Heeding her warning Agito dove into Signum's hair and crawled though it to her ponytail using it as cover as she slid down into Signum's shirt.

Signum froze as she felt Agito crawl around her chest, the patting of her small hands or the rubbing of her body on Signum's bare skin wasn't unpleasant but in fact felt pleasurable but she didn't want to show that to either Arf or Fate, what would they think of her if they knew that Agito against her skin was actually feeling good to her. Agito popped out of the cleavage in Signum's shirt and slid down into her breast pocket, now at ease knowing she was no longer in the path of spider webs.

"Right, I'm going to check out another room" Arf announced dusting off her hands
"be careful" Fate called out however Arf only waved her hand in the air as she headed out hoping to dismiss Fate's concern while feeling flattered from Fate worry for her.

As Arf continued to move the rubble out of her way her separate shoulder and waist cape, normally black, was starting to look grey from all the dirt and dust it had collected from the air. on occasion Arf had to stop and leave the room as she began to chock on the air, adding to her problems the others couldn't smell the stagnant air as well as her sensitive nose could which she had been putting up since they entered, however under that smell was another which she couldn't put her finger on.

Arf went to bend down to lift up a fallen ceiling beam when she started to pick up that second smell again but stronger. Her ears pricked as she could hear the slight sliding of fabric on wood as if someone was trying to minimize noise as they changed their stance. Arf quickly turned around and with a clenched fist struck something that had fallen from the ceiling sending it through a nearby wall. Arf stared at the rubble of the wall seeing if she could spy what she hit before suddenly a small black ball rolled out from under it.

The ball detonated smothering the room in smoke but despite the handicap on her sense of sight and smell within the plume Arf could still hear something move in the rubble followed by the slow chime of metal sliding against metal. Arf ducked the moment she heard the air part as something was thrown through it, someone else was here attacking her but they hadn't realized Arf's keen hearing was allowing her to see in the cloud.

Arf felt around behind her where she heard where what was thrown at her had hit pricking her exposed fingers on something embedded into the wall behind her, whatever it was it was rimmed with spikes around the edge but it had a hole in the centre. finding a second one Arf dug her fingers into the objects and used them has leverage to pull the wall out and threw it in the direction the attack came from, whatever was attacking her jumped out of the way throwing something else at her.

Arf easily dodged it but unlike before it seemed as if the target wasn't her. Arf was alerted to the sudden presence of Mana gathering at where the counter attack hit but had no time to deploy even a basic shield before the room exploded, throwing her out into the hall. Her saving grace was that her clothes were still a Barrier Jacket and protected her from harm.

Now out of the smoke cloud Arf was able to identify her attacker who unlike her had time to escape before being caught in the explosion. The figure before her was dressed in all black including their face with only a small gap to allow one to see through. Arf recognize the manner of dress from cartoons she watched with the twins and was surprised to see one in this day in age.

The figure before her took out a couple of Kunai, each with a piece of paper attached to them. Arf could feel the Mana coming from the paper and recognized it as being what caused the explosion.

"Defenser!" knowing what would come next Arf deployed a barrier just as the figure attacked. the speed they flew through the air took Arf by surprise, as if they were weightless, since the explosion before was Magic the only explanation to their abnormal speed would be that they was made with magic. The Kunai rebounded off Arf's barrier before the papers attached exploded.

Arf could feel the barrier weaken which was odd for it to do so from just that attack. As she dispelled her barrier and tried to fall back away from the smoke the figure lunged through the cloud with a Katana in hand. Blood splattered across the floor and walls as the sword cut across Arf but because of her evasiveness the cut wasn't deep.

"Now you're in for it!" she snarled as she gritted her teeth from the stinging of the cut, bearing her fangs. Arf pushed through the pain and focuses on gathering more Mana she had from her primary source, Fate. Since she started staying on Earth Arf minimized her Mana consumption to the point where one couldn't even tell Fate was maintain a Familiar, even if this move wasn't successful Fate would be alerted from the sudden increased need for Mana on Arf's end and come running.

"Chain Bind!" golden chains of mana shot forth from the Magic Circle which appeared in front of Arf and towards the figure which the figure began to beat back with its katana while attempting to avoid the rest it didn't but Arf remained persistent. She finally won out when one of the chains wrapped around the figure's wrist. Snared in her chain Arf pulled on it causing the figure to miss hitting back another chain and allowing it to wrap around. Arf continued to pull on the latched chains disrupting the figure's defensive attempts and allowing more chains to wrap around before her she was happy her target was bound enough and suspended it from the ceiling.

Arf leaned against the wall covering the cut she received. Normally blood wouldn't show up on black but with her clothes were now soiled with dirt and dust and where her wound was there were now dark wet patches where the blood was mixing with the dirt. From down the hall she could here 2 sets of footsteps running towards her and Fate's voice calling out her name.

As soon as she arrived Fate dropped to her knees seeing Arf's wounds and started to apply some basic healing she had learned. "Seems you got my message" Arf laughed trying to alleviate Fate's concern. After Fate was done she wrapped her arms around Arf and tightly held her as she buried her face into her chest.
"If you're going to do dumb things like this by yourself then you can stay here on Earth and forget every coming back with me"
"come on I'm your Familiar. I'm hardly weak and I'm not that rusty either"

Fate helped Arf up and joined Signum and Agito who was watching Arf's captive.
"A Ninja?" Signum asked trying to confirm that she wasn't seeing things
"yeh, she even attacked me with kunai and smoke bombs" Arf paused as she bent down to pick up one of the Kunai which she was attacked with "however rather than paper bombs this guy had these pieces of paper with some sort of explosion magic on them"

Agito hovered around the Ninja before stopping in front of its face and staring into its eyes "she's kind young"
Signum walked up to the hanging figure and too stared into its eyes trying to confirm Agito's comment "how do you know it's a girl?"
"I can tell by her eyes"

from behind her Signum heard something crack behind her before Fate walked passed her with her fist in her opposite palm. the look on her face was something she had only seen once before, during the JS Incident just before Fate left to confront Scaglietti, it was the piercing stare emanating with animosity of someone hurt by seeing one they cherished get hurt by the hands of another.

Fate took out Bardiche and hooked one end on the chains and pulled the girl down to her eye level, the beams above creaking from the strain of the chains trying to bend them. "You attack someone dear to me and I'm not happy. You best start talking"

the girl just stared silently back at Fate determined not to speak. Fate began to irritably grind her teeth; she wasn't going to let Arf get hurt for nothing. Fate spun the girl around and around before grabbing the chains suddenly at random times and spinning her in the opposite direction. Fate snagged Bardiche into the chains to stop the girl and pulled her back down to eye level, her eyes was somewhat distant as the world around her was still spinning in every which way.

"Why did you attack us!" Fate yelled
"you...trespass on...sacred ground" the girl replied sluggishly
"don't give us that, while it was build on sacred ground this shrine was open to the public. the worst we have done is ignore the hazard warning" Signum confuted

the girl remain silent as she tried to keep herself from getting sick while trying to restore her equilibrium but just before Fate was about to spin her again the girl spoke "the treasure of the Kami are not meant for the hands of outsiders"
Fate

hesitated "Kami? You mean Izanami? Are you referring to the TALON?"

The girl's eyes widened shocked at hearing the word TALON spoken by outsiders before narrowing her eyes. Fate looked down as she was drawn to the sound of fluttering paper. "You won't ever find it. Aisu banishā [Ice Banisher]". A huge cold gust exploded froth from the paper throwing up dust from the ground. The women stepped back instinctively but were shocked to find Arf's Chain Bind has been dispelled and the Ninja girl was free.

The girl threw a small ball at her feet cloaking herself in smoke. Just as Signum was about to go after her she heard a loud thud behind her. Thinking they were about to be attacked she placed her hand on Laevatein.

"Arf!" as Signum turned and didn't find any enemies she saw Fate trying to get Arf up who had just collapsed, deciding to leave Fate behind to pursue the ninja she was about to leave when she felt Agito land on her head
"Signum-dono, something doesn't feel right"
"Warnung, Eingabe Mana Sparmodus [warning, entering Mana conservation mode]"

'conservation mode, why now?' she thought to herself. Mana conservation mode was a subsystem of all Mid-Childan and Belkan Devices, should there be no mana for a Mage to use in the area the Device would greatly limit mana expenditure resulting in some spells becoming significantly weaker while others wouldn't be usable at all. Since they had been in the area for quite some time the only thing Signum could think of which would hinder their ability to use mana would be that cold gust.

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[20th December 0081, 1:06 PM - Lakehouse At Toyako, Toyamachi Earth] - The Path Gone Cold

Signum and Fate found themselves unable to fly and had to walk all the way to the hotel Fate had booked their rooms for the next 2 nights. After predicted food expenses Fate only had the money to get a 2 bed room but it did came with its own bathroom and since Arf would sleep with Fate Signum could use an opened draw and towels to make a small bed for Agito. After making it to the room they were able to do some examinations to figure out what had happened

"mana can freeze?"
"not exactly but it's flow can" Agito replied correcting her lord "mana is energy but it flows though our bodies to and from our Linker Cores much like how blood flows to and from the heart. Whatever that spell did it stopped that flow"

Fate patted Arf who was curled up on the bed next to her. If her flow of mana has been stopped then so was the flow of Mana to Arf keeping her in the world, as a defence to keep her alive her body just shut down.

"Will we recover?" Fate asked concerned of the long term side effects on Arf if the flow wasn't established
"yes, this seem to be as temporary as an AMF"
"what about AMFs? Will Arf get like this if we enter those"

Signum shook her head "no, an AMF renders us incapable of efficiently using our mana when inside the field. You've seen Zafira in an AMF and he's fine"
"the main difference is that in an AMF we can still use our Mana Conversion Affinities, this freezing of the flow of mana prevents even that. I bet you every counter measure we have for AMF will be ineffective by this spell"
"with the exception to physical attack, standard practice for Ancient Belkan Knights" Signum added

Fate was already quite surprised that people like Nanoha, Hayate and the former Admiral Graham who were all born on Earth could use magic, particularly given Hayate's and Nanoha's own skills, but a spell that could freeze the flow of their mana and possibly kill Familiars like that was a scary thought given that it was more than likely the TSAB had no record of such a spell.

"Should we continue the investigation?" Fate asked already knowing the answer.
Signum shook her head "if there was no danger of us being attacked by other Mages then we could but not only did that Ninja use magic but..."
"we haven't ran into Lord Dearche"
"we could get lucky, there's 4 locations where the TALON nodes are located and Dearche only has 2 allies" Agito proudly announced but began to regret it when she saw Fate realizing what he was saying "oh wait, I didn't mean"
"we could get lucky and Dearche remains at Tokyo Tower and no one attacks Uminari City" Fate smiled back

"well it's about lunch time" Signum announced getting off the bed "I'll head out and get us something"
Agito slid down the pillow and onto the edge of the bed eager to follow her lord "I'll come with you"
"no Agito, you remain here and recover" Signum said dismissing her before closing the door behind her. Agito's crimson wings and tail slumped, dejected after being left behind once again. She could understand that Signum was protecting her given her current state but her Lord was in no better state than she was.

Fate took out Bardiche and placed him on the bed side table before a terminal appeared in front of her displaying Fate herself with her arms outstretched. From where Agito was she could just barely see that the image of Fate was wearing what seemed to be armour and by her side was a sword about half her height. Without a moment's hesitation Fate began to type way on the keyboard. Glyphs and formulas appeared around the image of Fate but mainly around the sword, altering its shape.

"Do you think it can be done Bardiche?"
"Sir, current tests performed will be invalidated" Bardiche replied not answering but after a moment's silence of Fate waiting for him to properly reply he continued "the preparation of components will need to be revised. I can provide a status update in appropriately 30 hours"
"don't push yourself"

As the terminal faded away Fate could see the slightest twitching of Arf's ears and resumed to patting her. "Are you feeling better?"
Arf sluggishly slid her body closer to Fate remaining curled up "I'm cold" she said, her body shivering.
Fate held Arf's shoulders and pulled her onto her lap, she was fully aware that her death would result in Arf's but this incident made her she realised that despite their abnormal contract giving Arf total freedom she was still bound to Fate's life, how much more fragile her life was in comparison to everyone else she knew, how much she meant to her, and began to reconsider her decision to let her come with her back to Mid-Childa.

Arf rolled around and nuzzled her face into Fate "I know what you're thinking" she mumbled "weather I live a long life, or it's cut shorter than yours, I want to be there by yours, and Nanoha's side."

As Arf drifted off to sleep Fate saw Agito sitting on her own on the other bed. Fate leaned over and patted the bed to get her attention and held out her hand, "you must be cold too". Agito nodded and walked over the bed onto Fate's hand, she too was shivering if only slightly but Fate had a feeling that it wasn't because of the effects of the spell.

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[20th December 0081, 9:40 PM - Lakehouse At Toyako, Toyamachi Earth] - That which is hidden in the Nights

After Signum returned the group discussed their next move. They only had 2 days in the area before the assigned rendezvous but because of their condition they would lose one day if they just sat around in their hotel room keeping it safe. It was decided between them that Signum would head off into town and do some recon while getting some public source material for Fate to study. While both Fate and Signum had their Device's physical capabilities as weapons to make up any lose of magic Fate was concerned about being attacked by the same magic that had put them in their condition, if it got worse Arf's condition would also worsen and possibly die as a result so she had to stay behind.

throughout most of the day Arf remained curled up trying to keep warm at the end of Fate's bed while after Signum's first return she fixed up a small bed out of an open draw of the middle desk and some towels for Agito. As the day drew to a close their magical abilities had started to return with Agito's flight already returning, if not a bit shaky.

Signum closed her eyes and lounged back in the bathtub, allowing her body to slowly slide into the water. Across the room in the wash basin full of water was Agito enjoying her bath. After becoming her Lord Signum has sought advice from Hayate as to how to procure necessities such as clothing and toiletries for someone as small as Agito, given Hayate's years of experience with Rein. Through her Signum was able to secure a supply of miniatures for Agito to use.

"Make sure you wash yourself properly" Signum said across the room getting the feeling someone was staring at her. she opened her eye ajar and saw Agito pressed against the side of the basin and holding onto the edge as she stared at her, she started to become self conscious from Agito's staring given that from her vantage point she could see her body.

Signum tightened her closed legs "is there something on me?" she asked. Agito's face went red and quickly turned around. she felt around her own chest, she couldn't help but compare herself to her Lord though she didn't have much to compare, not that she'd wish to outdo her Lord in that department. The only thing she was confident with was her combat ability but as of late her Lord was leaving her behind, the thought of her Lord having no use of her began to scare her. If she couldn't be with her Lord who else was there?

As if sensing her feelings Signum rolled over, her body hidden by the side of the bathtub. "Is something on your mind Agito?"
"ahhh, no Signum-dono"
"you sure, I want you to be open with me"

Agito hesitated "...am I no longer useful to you?"
"No of cause not"
"but the way you've been leaving be behind lately"

Signum thought she was doing the right thing in protecting Agito but it seemed it was doing the opposite causing her to worry unnecessary. even if they were unisoned all the time there was still the risk of Agito getting hurt as shortly after Agito joined the Yagami Family Hayate demonstrated to Signum spells she knew that affected most Unison and Mage with the help of a Rein Unisoned Vita, a demonstration that Zest wasn't just special.

Signum climbed out of the bathtub and grabbed her towel, wrapping it around her as she approached Agito "it seems my attempt at keeping you safe just cause you distress and I apologize for that."
"Why are you trying to keep me safe? It's my job is to keep you safe"
"because that is what I am supposed to do...isn't right?" Signum replied.

surprisingly despite the Unisons and the Wolkenritter's shared origin from Belka and the Wolkenritter hundreds of years neither Signum nor the rest of her family knew a thing about Unisons so when a situation arose regarding Agito in which Signum was unsure how to respond she always turned to Hayate.

As Signum gently massaged Agito's scalp foaming up the shampoo in her hair she began to think that maybe Zest's trust in her was misplaced. She was first and foremost a knight and her place was on the front lines of the battle field, while Agito has proven that they make the perfect duo in combat Signum was not suited for the back and so long as she fought in the front lines she would always endanger Agito.

"I lost Zest, I don't want to lose you" Agito said as the water finished trickling down her face after the shampoo was rinsed from her hair
"but unlike Hayate and Rein I will be putting you in danger every time I fight"
"That's fine because something isn't as dangerous when you don't face it alone" Agito smiled just as Signum poured water on-top of her to rinse out the conditioner.

"I understand" Signum said "after this is all over is there anywhere you want to go? Just the two of us?"
"no, it's ok" Agito blushed
"you sure?"
"Yes"
"positive?"
"Yes!" Agito protested causing a small splash storming out of the water but slipping in the attempt. Signum could help but laugh at her antics and seeing her Lord laugh honestly Agito didn't really mind the fact that her entire body was in full view.

"Well if that's the case there is one thing I would like" Signum said passing the small towel to Agito as she climbed out
"yes Signum-dono"
"drop the dono honorific and calling me your Lord. Just call me Signum"
"you sure?" Agito hesitated. since accepting Signum as her Lord 4 years ago Agito had been referring to her with the utmost respect and didn't want to show any sigh of disrespect by being too friendly, however those 4 years also developed a bond between them. At the time when Signum would smile it wasn't in earnest as there was no emotion behind it, more a mechanism she used to blend in, the only time there was emotion behind it was when the smile was in response to someone from her family. But there was one other person outside the Yagami's who could make Signum smile and reveal her emotions, that person was Agito.

Agito looked up to Signum and looking down back to her she smiled rubbing the towel on Agito's head, silently reassuring her that she wouldn't feel disrespected if Agito was more friendly with her.

As the two of them came out of the bathroom Arf's ears pricked up in time with the click of the door's latch opening. They had all recovered enough to cast spells but they we're 100% and out of all of them Arf was feeling it the worse, the walls of her head throbbing hard.

"You look like crap Arf" Agito commented as she uneasily floated towards her draw and dropped onto her bed of towels. Arf just glared at Agito before burring herself under the sheets.

"Agito, don't pick fights"
"sorry Signum"

"Signum?" Fate pondered "no dono at the end?"
Signum shook her head as she placed her toiletries bag by her bed "I can't see how it's surprising, does Arf refer to you as Fate-dono or Lord?" Fate chuckled to herself as she returned to reading her book. "You've been reading all day you should take a break"
"oh, this isn't to do with our investigation" Fate responded, her gaze shifting slighting towards the stack of books on the bedside draw.

Signum picked one of them up and noticed that it and the book under it were not anything she picked up, rather they were books from the hotel's own little library. She quickly skimmed though the book gauging the type of book Fate had picked up.
"Romance novels"
"yeh. When this is all over Nanoha and I can get back to work on our relationship. Making up the year we lost"
"and you thought to get ideas from these?" Signum asked. Fate continued reading giving Signum an affirmative grunt and nod
"from what I am seeing these are all heterosexual couples. No lesbians"
"well since Nanoha thinks of me as her Prince I figure I can just superimpose myself in the male role."

Signum went through the second stack of books, those which Fate hadn't read yet. One of which was a high selling book from about 6 years ago. Signum had read this book out of interest of its contents regarding as to why it become so popular but knowing its contents she knew it was a bad idea for Fate to be blindly accepting idea from these books for her own relationship advice. She skipped to a section she knew would wake Fate to this.

"Unable to see through the blindfold she bit her lip in anticipation at the sound of the whip's hard thud against the bed sheets right beside her. She flinched slightly at the light touch of the whip along her back before finally, SLAP! Despite the burning pain from what the whip struck the euphoria she felt eclipsed it entirely yearning for another."

Fate's eyes widened. By the time Signum had finished the short passage Fate's jaw was on the floor. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, something like that publicly available and so descriptive. Fate covered her ears with her hands and tried to block out the thoughts of her, in the male role, doing those things to Nanoha.

Signum closed the book and placed it back on the stack "it's great that you want to try and better yourself but these books are works of fiction, the expression of people's fantasies. Don't take them as gospel"
"Do people really do that stuff?"
Signum nodded "when it comes to acts like that there has to be a great deal of trust as there is a fine line between intimacy and abuse"
"I'm sure Nanoha trusts me a great deal as I do her but I could never do anything like that to her" she muttered to herself. "could you take that book back down for me?" she asked looking back to the book "I don't think I'll be reading it"

Signum head to the hotels small library but just as she went to put the book back with the other romance novels she instead headed further down the self. She didn't like the book and wouldn't recommend it to anyone so out of spite she hid it amongst a couple of others at the far end where it had an increased likelihood of not being found.

Signum was halfway back to the room when her phone began to vibrate. all the people close to her had their own unique ring tone allowing Signum to know who it was calling her before even reaching for it, and she was expecting this call sooner or later from this caller. She stopped and leaned against the wall as her place the receiver to her ear.

"It's me" the voice sobbed "I can't do this anymore!"
"I'm sorry but you have to be strong" Signum said, her heart aching with each sniffle and hiccup
"but we can't do this to her. Her heart is going to be utterly destroyed!"
"But the alternative is tormenting her for who knows how long"

Signum remained silent as the voice on the other end continued to sob. If she was there in person where would be holding the woman in her arms comforting her since she was the one to convince her to go along with this.

"How can I even look at their faces" the voice resumed after the sobbing subsided
"same way Vita and Zafira do, forget what you know and go about as if it'll never happen. I'll make sure when the time comes our Mistress will not suffer"

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[21st December 0081, 8:19 AM - Lakehouse At Toyako, Toyamachi Earth] - The Forlorn Fate

The room was bathed in an inviting glow from the sun, and idealistic paradise of peace. Vivio and Einheart, tired from the day's events were leaning against one another as they slept peacefully on the couch. Fate on the other hand was on her back, stretched across the opposite couch with her head on Nanoha's lap as she quietly read to herself.

Nanoha's body shuddered as she appeared to let out a slight soundless giggle, caused by Fate lifting up her top and kissing around her belly button. Realising she had been neglecting Fate Nanoha began to stroke Fate's head. Fate curled up against Nanoha and looked down her body towards her large stomach placing a hand on it. Nanoha smiled and put her book away, sliding her body alongside Fate and began to rub Fate's stomach, the two kissing in the processes.

The love Fate was supposed to be feeling however wasn't there but instead there was a bitter ache in her chest as the sky became overcast. She knew that despite how much she wanted it to be none of this was real. The room grew darker and darker until the light had been completely blocked out.

Fate opened her eyes, the ache still remaining in her as she sat up. Signum and Agito were already gone probably to get breakfast while Arf was just coming out of the bathroom, having had the shower she missed the night just passed due to her condition.

Arf immediately could tell Fate wasn't happy, the hollow look in Fate's eyes as if she seemed to stare off into the void. Fate wanted to go back to sleep, she didn't care about the TALON or anything like that anymore and wanted to just sleep off the rest of the time until she could return to Nanoha's arms. This was their first Christmas as a couple, and it was being ruined by one person.

'when this is over I'm going to kill Yuuno', a single irrational thought that always passed though Fate's mind whenever things didn't go her way when it came to Nanoha, such as when she could have spent some time with her at Hotel Augusta while they were on the job.

"Morning Fate" Arf called out but all she did was stare at the wall, unresponsive. "Is anything wrong?" Arf asked as she sat at the end of the bed, unwrapping the towel from around her head.
Fate shook her head "no it's nothing" she replied not wanting to burden Arf with this

Arf started at pat Fate's head "go back to sleep" she said "you were up late reading so maybe you're tired." she knew it wasn't true but if Fate didn't want to talk about it she wasn't going to force her. After she finished combing her hair and put her cape back her she got up ready to grab breakfast "we'll leave when you're ready" she said before leaving the room.

Fate fall back into the bed, her absent stare now fixated on the ceiling. The cabinet beside her began to rumble, her work phone dancing around. She really didn't feel like answering it but it was her work phone, it may be important.

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[21st December 0081, 9:49 AM - Hachiman Shrine, Toyamachi Earth] - Overwatching Shadow

When Arf returned Fate was out of bed, dressed and had a totally different air about her. A complete 360 to what she was just moments before. Full of energy Fate explained to her team what she had learned yesterday while they were recovering. Hachiman Shrine wasn't the only place that a redevelopment was planned but for no reason was rejected.

As Signum and Agito left to check out other sites Fate wanted to check out Hachiman Shrine one last time before she and Arf went to check out the other sites. She wanted to finish searching the place for something, anything that was out of place, anything alien to Earth.

When Fate and Arf arrived they came to learn just how fragile the shrine had become. After their scuffle part of the shrine had collapsed but lucky for them it was only in areas where they had already searched. Wasting no time the 2 began to quickly search, this time Fate had her Barrier Jacket armed and neither were being careful of any more collapses.

As Fate pulled out walls and ripped up tatami mats Arf shape-shifted into a wolf and started to sniff out any unusual Mana sources. They lost a day thank to having their Magic sealed but Fate was determined more than ever. Arf could help but be thankful to whatever happened in that room while she was out.

Arf's nose began to tickle. Visualising the scent she could see the makings of a trail of floating coloured dust and as she followed it with her nose the trail continued forwarded, becoming thicker and thicker as she entered into a room where the scent originated from. She shapeshifted back into her adult human from, with her wolf-like ears pressed against the floor she began to tap the tatami mats listing for any difference in the rebounding sound waves underneath.

She stopped in the corner of the room, after tapping a couple times more Arf clenched her first and smashed it into the floor. the loud crash called out to Fate who came running to the source seeing Arf with her first though a tatami mat

"you know there's better ways to call for me"
"I know, but look at this"

Fate knelled down with Arf and inspected what was under the mat. A stone plate with an unfamiliar magic circle etched into it, at least it was unfamiliar to Fate, Arf had seen it once before.

"That ninja girl's magic paper that this circle on them"

Fate leaned over and placed her hand of the circle and activated it. The moment it lit up Arf's ears pricked. They way her ears twitched worried Fate as Arf just sat there staring at the wall, as if she couldn't see. Fate de-activated the circle and watched her Familiar's ears relax and her eyes fixate properly on the wall.

"You ok?"
"Yeh, for a moment there I couldn't see or hear a thing"

Fate inspected the plate which turned out to be a stone box with the circle etched onto the lid. With some effort she was able to pry off the lid and saw a strange assortment of crystals. Fate activated the circle again noticing a second circle lit up on the underside of the lid but looking back to Arf she didn't seem to be blinded.

Arf picked up one of the crystals and gave it a small sniff "there are filled with Mana" she noted bring it close to the lid Fate held. The Crystal began to emit an eerie light with the circle on the underside beginning to spin. As Arf brought a second and then a third crystal to the circle it began to spin faster and faster while Arf seems to begin to start to go blind.

Fate deactivated the circle "I think I get it. This circle is using some sort of spell to disrupt the mana around here with an immense build-up of Mana that gets released from these crystals. It's like an arcanic AMF"
"ok, so assuming who ever made it knows what an AMF is. Why make one here?"
Fate looked at the large number of crystals inside the stone box "to hide something. Like the TALON perhaps?"
"But it's not here"
Fate shook her head "no, but this was set up for when it was here, if it was here. either way we're on the right track and possibly whoever's hand was forced to prevent redevelopment here didn't want people to find this"

As Fate and Arf left to move to the next location hoping to find another Magic Circle like what they had found to prove Fate's hypothesis they were watched by a slender shadow up in the threes, a shadow who knew they would return here.

Just as she went to draw her kunai a voice echoed in her head staying her hand
"they have not discovered anything that would lead them to us"
"but onee-sama, they found one of the barrier's anchors"
"do not worry, Amara-onee-sama did say that it was about time we stopped using them since we were arousing suspicion with all those denied redevelopment proposition"

The shadow watched Fate and Arf disappear from her sight before she took her hand away from her kunai pouch. With a clicked her tongue she jumped into the leaves, vanishing from sight.

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[21st December 0081, 12:18 PM - East Toya Earth] - Blue Shadow

Signum sat outside a small fish and chip shop, seeming alone to all others, cradled in her breast pocket however was Agito who was reading over a small note pad. Each item in the list was a location and all were crossed off with a tick at the end.

"Something stinks" Agito remarked.
Signum lifted her arm up sniffing from one armpit along to the other "my apologies"
"no not you" Agito corrected "this list"

Signum took a chip from the small tray and traded it for the notepad Agito was holding up. While Agito ate away at the chip Signum studied the list. She had already a brief understanding of what was going on but seeing the list itself cemented it into her mind. When Fate called her to try and find a particular etched stone at each location the results were surprising.

"Every place we have visited in which redevelopment was denied over and over again, hidden somewhere was that magic circle"
"I bet you every place Fate found is going to be the same if they look hard enough. Explains why they don't want any redevelopment"
"the question is who is 'they'?" Signum asked, her mind thinking back to the Ninja who attacked them. It was no coincidence they were attacked but on the list Signum held there was no obvious link between the locations. Some were Shinto Shrines, some were government buildings like schools, there was even a housing estate in the mix.

Their next location was south, while they headed around the eastern side of the lake Fate and Arf would go around the western side until they would meet at the southern most point on their lists. So far Signum and Agito were half way though so at this rate it'll be the end of the day by the time they would meet back up with Fate and Arf.

Agito climbed out of Signum's pocket and began to finish off the chips. while Signum waited something caught her eye, a flash of blue, not just any blue, the same blue she saw that night she encounter look-a-likes of Nanoha, Fate and Hayate.

Guessing the general direction she thought she had saw the figure Signum left not realizing she had left Agito behind following the slight sightings of blue hair. she couldn't see a face or most of the body but she had a but feeling that she was on the right track, that the person she was following was either bad news or would take her to a lead.

The people on the street didn't think anything of a woman with long blue hair and an older woman with a long pink ponytail shadowing her. It was closing onto Christmas so people cosplaying on the streets weren't a rare site in Japan. Despite that however a magic fire fight breaking out in the middle of the day between them was still not a good idea, there was only so much she could do to make it look fake as if they were LARPing but given how little she saw the Material Unit care about collateral damage it was an inevitability that there would be people involved in the cross fire.

Signum arrived at the Somamyoken Shrine. It wasn't on her list but she was sure she saw the blue haired figure enter it. Bowing to the Miko who were working there Signum finally saw the long blue hair of the woman she was following, just standing there, as if she didn't even know Signum was behind her. She slowly made her way up to the woman, her fingers twitched as she visualized the single hand chock hold that would knock her out, but it would only work from the front.

She was so very close, right now she could reach for the woman's shoulder, grab it and throw her back, but she still needed to get closer. Signum reach out ready to turn her around and hold her but just then the woman suddenly turned around.

"Oh, my apologies" Signum said as bowed apologetically. The woman before her wasn't who she thought she was, she had the same blue hair but her face was different. Signum looked around to make sure she didn't miss anyone but there was no one else that stood out. She must have been tailing this woman having only seen the back of her.

Signum went to leave making one last glance, as she left the shrine she finally realized she had left Agito behind and hurried back knowing that if she was too long Agito may start to think that she left her behind, again.

One of the Miko, carrying a large slip of paper approached another who was on the floor wearing a white bandanna polishing silver figures. Seeing the paper in her hands the Miko put the cleaning products down and got up. They bowed to one another before the paper was exchanged between them.

"a message from Amara-onee-sama"
the bandanna wearing Miko read though the paper before folding it and hiding it in her haori, tugging at the strings she was using to keep her sleeves up.

"Onee-sama wants us to move Genbu out, tonight"
"I'll mobilize our sisters from the surrounding area to meet at the Shrine"

as the 2 Miko went to leave thinking none had heard them, they were wrong. Up in the rafters of the shrine out of the view of anyone stood a woman in a kimono with long blue hair, her piecing vermilion eyes reflecting glee in what she had heard.

"My my my, no wonder I couldn't find it" she pondered walking along the struts "work is soooo boring without either of you with me. I'll just have some fun with them to pass the time"

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[21st December 0081, 8:40 PM - Lakehouse At Toyako, Toyamachi Earth] - The Coming Storm

Fate sat on the windowsill reflecting on the day. Just like Signum and Agito all the places she and Arf had went to, hidden somewhere or another was a stone plate with a magic circle etched into it. All were actually a lid to a box full of crystallized mana and none of them providing a location of the TALON.

"I hate to say it but this trip was a bust" Arf complained sprawled on Fate's bed
Fate nodded "we lost a day because of that attack we suffered yesterday. Had it not been for that we would have had more time"
"but we do know there is what seems to be an established Magic system on Earth, or at the very least Japan. The TSAB will have to investigate this further"

Fate watched on towards Nakajima Island in the centre of the Toya Lake, starting to feel bad of how she felt in the morning. Despite wanting to see Nanoha she didn't want to face her as a total failure, she wanted something to show for all her work.

She started to feel at ease when she saw the gathering storm clouds off the horizon. Maybe it was her affinity to lighting but Fate loved storms. The light show, the thunderous clashes and the downpours that followed, even the idea of Nanoha or Vivio being scared and seeking protection in her arms made Fate giddy and the very scent of plasma that would hang in the air would allow her to start to unwind.

Yet Fate wasn't unwinding. The wind was blowing in from the south so the storm would be headed their way but there was no smell of plasma, what's more the stormed didn't seem to be moving.

*BOOM!*

all of the women looked towards the open window, watching the blinding bolt of lightning strike Nakajima Island

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

Again and again the Island found itself besieged by lightning strikes, but having her affinity as such Fate knew full well that it was very unusual for all those strikes to be hitting the island at such quick intervals and at what she could see as the same general area.

"No...How did I not see it before!" Fate jumped off the windowsill and pulled out a map, marking it with each of the locations she, Arf, Agito and Signum visited, the other women watching her work.
"Is everything ok Fate?" Signum asked just as Fate finished marking the map
"I should have noticed it sooner. Each circle was designed to hide something in that location but even if they were meant to hide the TALON why risk moving it between each location?" Fate asked.

When no one responded she drew a circle connecting each of the points she had marked resulting in a near-perfect circle around the lake. Starting from Hachiman Shrine she drew what she remembered about the magic circle she has been seeing in each location; the outer ring of the circle consisting of 4 ringed circles with Japanese Kanji and a 12 point star in the centre, each kanji lined up perfectly with a Shrine.

Fate stepped back revealing what they had all missed, "They are a part of a greater spell meant to mask Nakajima Island" she said before looking over her shoulder watching the continued onslaught of light "and someone's worked that out before us"

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[21st December 0081, 9:04 PM - Nakajima Island Earth] - Princess of the Crescent Moon

the landscape was as if a storm as blown though with trees having been uprooted or broken in half. The sign that this storm wasn't a natural one was that out of the trees that were still standing there were deeps cuts in them like that from a blade, and the ground had been ripped up from something aimed at ground level, not from up high.

Hidden amongst the trees yet to be splintered were Miko, armed with katana and slips of paper with magic circles drawn on them. One of them however stood out as she wasn't wearing the same White Haori and Red Hakama but rather hers were all black. She loved black but didn't like the 'official' robes she had to wear tonight, her normal attire for work clung to her body more. She closed her eye as she placed a slip of paper to her forehead, the circle glowing as her mind connected with that of her sisters.

'wait for my mark' she thought with the voiceless message reaching the Miko still hidden from even her. While her mind was connected her sisters could see her thoughts, her visualization of her target. In the darkness where there is no light one's eyes are useless, in chocking smoke one's nose is useless. To her only sound was true, it couldn't lie nor be blocked and she had trained her ears to pick up even the slightest of sounds, even though the rumbling coming from the dark clouds above them.

There was a tiny rustling of leaves underfoot, each step redraw her mental image of her target's location until.

*snap!*

"Aisu banishā! [Ice Banisher!]" In time with her hidden sisters they all tossed slips of papers, the magic circles glowing blue as they cut through the air like knives. Their quarry smirked, the ground exploded with the resulting plume swallowing the paper as well. As the dust cleared the girl in the black haori observed the aftermath of their attack. Where she expected to see a person encased in ice was instead a bolt of lightning taking that person's place.

A figure floated down and stood atop the pillar of ice, her black and blue cape and kimono blowing in the wind. The woman smirked "too bad I wasn't sitting around doing nothing for an entire year". The woman bashed the end of her scythe into the pillar causing it to crack and explode, hurtling icicles in all directions. The Miko took cover from the attack but many fled to avoid being discovered.

the Miko in black didn't flee, just as soon as she went to draw her katana the blade snapped in half causing what was left of the blade to slide out of the sheathe while she held the hilt. The woman stood in front of her, the blue blade of energy humming in front of the Miko's face.
"Give up. If you fight I might end up killing you, killing leads to blood and I don't like blood"

the Miko lunged at her with her broken katana but was knocked back flying into a tree by a blow to her head from the end of the woman's scythe. The bruised Miko tried to get up causing the woman in front of her to sigh.

"Don't get sick, don't get sick, don't get sick" she chanted covering her mouth as she approached the Miko, her blade poised for the kill. The woman held the scythe up high in one hand and went to bring it down to cleave the head off the Miko's shoulders.

Her scythe jerked as a second one with a yellow blade caught it and pulled it along with its wielder. Before she could react she could feel something coming from above and saw a wolf woman falling towards her, her fist out. the woman wasn't going to defend because she knew there was a third person left unaccounted for, more than likely waiting to strike after this attack broke her defence.

The woman's blue blade disappeared freeing her from the lock and flew out of the way just as the wolf woman's fist smashed into the ground like a meteor crash. she could now see the third combatant but with salmon coloured hair and dragonfly-like flaming wings, different from what she remembered earlier in the day or when she first saw her a couple of nights ago.

The Miko Fate had saved glared at her before fleeing, she wasn't trained for a fight like this but to strike from the shadows, but she also felt that even if she remained she was just going to be an annoyance by getting in the way. Signum landed behind the woman while Arf clenched her fist positing herself between Fate and Signum, the 3 forming a triangle around their target, Levi Raisell.

"Well this is a surprise" Levi said stabbing her Device into the ground and leaning against it "didn't you get our Lord's message?" Fate remained silent as she stared at Levi trying to gauge her strength.

"Well" Levi continued "if your here that means your princess is alive too. Kinda revealed with that" once again Fate had heard Trishia be referred to as 'princess' but she couldn't tell if it was just some nickname or if she was really Al-Hazard Royalty.

"While you're here I'm surprised after that number we did on your girlfriend you're keeping your cool" Levi remarked. 'finally a reaction' she thought to herself seeing Fate's hand clench her device tighter
"what did you do to Nanoha?"
"Nanoha? What are you..." Levi paused before realizing the mistake she made "you're not Alicia, you're the other one". Levi rubbed her head against the pole of her device "one thing that's been bothering me, how do you look so much like Alicia anyway?" she asked
"She's my older sister so to speak" Fate replied. Hearing how Levi had confused her for Alicia gave her some relief knowing she wasn't referring to Nanoha.
"Like hell you are. I know the Testarossa and every woman who runs around that mansion. Even if one was her sister, you ain't one of them"

"you don't seem to know the Testarossa as well as you claim" Fate said smiling to herself "but then again I can't claim I know them myself as well. A portion of my childhood was a lie and I didn't know my Mother's fate until recently"
Levi pushed herself off her device "true, true. if you're telling the truth then I want to know how much alike you really are to Alicia"

Levi pulled her device out of the ground and leapt into the air over Arf towards the lake, as she started to slowly descend a giant blue Al-Hazard Magic circle appeared which acted as a stage for Levi, against the night sky darkened by storm clouds her face was illuminated by the blue glow beneath. Not thinking twice that it could be a trap the 3 woman followed after her, the moment they passed the edge of the circle a barrier erected from the edges keeping them in.

Levi spun her device in front her as a show of strength, its speed blurring the blue blade "Come get it!" she taunted.

"Himmel durchdringend fang [Sky-piercing Fang]" "Blitz Rush" Signum and Fate charged in with Signum taking the lead, Laevatein ablaze thanks to her unison with Agito. Signum went to launch the flaming mana slash but Levi ducked down avoiding before tripping up Signum. Fate suddenly appeared behind but it didn't go unnoticed as her follow up attack was parried by Levi's own scythe.

"Plasma Lancer!" At a distance Arf began to fire at Levi just as Signum got out of the way while Fate kept her attention with close range attacks with her scythe, however at the times Levi wasn't able to block the shots herself her device's Auto Guard kicked in. it's implantation was far smarter than even Bardiche which itself was consider the most advance Intelligence Device in Mid-Childa. Levi's Device only deployed its Auto Guard which appeared to be a Round Shield spell when there were sure hits, a testament to Al-Hazard's technological superiority.

'she's relying on her Auto Guard too much' Signum thought to herself. Regardless of how accurate a Device's detection for using its Auto Guard it was still using it's master's own mana supply and thus something not heavily relied upon and a lot of the time disabled until re-enabled via the Master's subconscious.

"Himmel fang [Sky Fang]" Signum joined the barrage with Arf hoping they could wear Levi out however Levi picked up the sudden increase in her Auto Guard. Parrying Fate's attack she forced Bardiche to the ground and round kicked Fate in the head while using her own device to push off from the ground to get out of the line of fire.

"Bmycsy Nyeh [Plasma Rain]" firing a barrage of incredibly high speed Plasma Lancer like shots Levi targeted Signum and Arf who had to take to the air to avoid the wide spread of the attack while Fate was forced to rely on Bardiche's own Auto Guard.

"Chain Bind!" Arf extended her open palm out towards Levi as the Mid-Childan circle appeared behind her, golden chains short forth of each of the poles around the circles toward Levi.
"Pnyjan Vuns [Braver Form]" Levi floated back giving her space, as the chains reached out to her she slashed her Sword through them causing them to shatter. Arf was forced to expend more mana to recreate the chains but she was surprised that Levi continued destroying them rather than try and stop her, as if toying with her.

"Bogenform" Signum combined Laevatein with its sheath forming a bow twice her height and loaded 3 cartridges into the bolt action system and almost immediately after being loaded up Laevatein spent the 3 cartridges and vented the built up heat. Signum aimed high and gathered the mana between her thumb and fingers forming a long bolt, pulling it as far back as the length of her arm before releasing the built up tension. As it reach its maximum height the bolt began to slow and Agito snapped her fingers, "Sturmfalken" "Mord-Regen" Agito said concluding Signum's sentence.

The Bolt exploded raining smaller bolts down on Levi but she wasn't going to let them touch her. As she weaved through them she felt something snag on her ankle and remembered about Arf's chains. Levi jolted backwards pulling Arf towards her and readied her scythe, as Arf got closer she swung it in front of her but Arf lowered herself and clenched her left fist. Arf lunged forwarded narrowly missing Levi who twisted her body just enough to avoid Arf's fist, twirling her scythe before bashing the end into Arf's chest and sending her up higher and with her chain still on Levi's ankle Levi somersaulted in the air pulling Arf back down and slamming her hard into the solid glyph.

"Schlangeform" Laevatein returned to its sword form before splitting up into a long bladed chain-whip, each segment ablaze with Agito's fire. Signum flew toward Levi and swung Laevatein not at Levi but the chain still connecting her and Arf, severing it to stop Levi pulling Arf back up and using her as a shield. As Signum swung upwards the chain whip followed the path as if the hilt was commanding a snake.

Levi tossed her Scythe in the air and caught it in her opposite hand. "Drihtan Yns [Thunder Arm]" Levi swung her scythe down parrying Laevatein while using her other blocked Fate who has just appeared above her hoping to get Levi in her blind spot. Fate kicked Levi in the head sending her spinning into the barrier wall.
"Brennenkugel" Signum flew towards Levi as her fiery wings flickered releasing balls of fire. Levi shook off her stun and kicked off the wall cutting each ball of fire that would hit her.

"Lnaclahd Cypan [Crescent Saber]" Levi released the blade from her staff and threw it at Signum. Laevatein's chain whip wrapped around the blade and constricted it until it broke but it was a diversion covering Levi's rush as she kneed Signum in the stomach then elbowing her in the back sending her flying into the ground next to Arf.

"Bmycsy Myhlan [Plasma Lancer]" Levi pointed her Device at the downed women and fired volley after volley at them. Just before the first volley hit Fate dropped down between her friends and Levi's attack. With a combination of her Blitz Move spell and Bardiche's Haken form Fate began to repel the blasts knocking them back towards Levi. With no accuracy in the repelled shots Levi got overconfident not even realizing when a couple of the shots, by chance were accurate.

Arf and Signum got up just as Levi crashed to the ground but she wasn't down for long; there was no way she was done, not by a long shot. "Clever but I hope that isn't it" Levi said as she brushed herself off. She slammed the end of her Device into the ground and let go, her staff standing perfectly still without any assistance from her. She outstretched her arms and began to rotate her read stretching it "oh man, sometimes I wish we just have stayed at the castle so I can be a good little housewife. in the kitchen making a Seikou cake presenting it to our Lord wearing a naked apron, the option to clean off Seikou or to have me first" Levi mused, the dirty thoughts making her feel tingly inside.

Levi grabbed her Device and held it so the head of in front of her so she was looking though the crystal. "Kmobr Lrhyka [Glyph Change]" A number of Al-Hazard Magic Circles appeared in Levi's free hand, mainly all yellow. Using her fingers she flipped though them until between her index and middle finger was a white one. She clasped it tight between her fingers and held it in front of the crystal of her Device.

"Luna" she chanted as the circle passed though her fingers and into the crystal turning it white. The head of her Device opened up like a cannon and fired a shot off into the sky parting the storm clouds. "Dam, tonight of all nights and it isn't the right moon. All well it's more than enough to finish you off" Levi said as the clouds began to converge again but the moonlight didn't fade, rather an image of the moon was glowing though them and shining down on Levi.

"Moon Phase, TSUKIHIME!" a column suddenly struck Levi from above, its light too intense for everyone to see with Fate, Arf and Signum blinded. When it dulled down Levi was wearing totally different attire now wearing a regal princess's gown with her kimono on top. Levi's hair had been let down as her ribbons that used to tie it back now formed a bow in her chest. On her back was a giant upturned crescent while on each wrist she had a similar crescent but they matched that to the shape of the moon shining through the clouds above.

Signum lowered her stance and flew towards Levi but despite drawing closer and closer Levi didn't move or even seem interested. just as Laevatein was about to make contact Signum found the scenery drastically changing before slamming into the barrier at the edge of the glyph with Laevatein sliding along the ground next to her as if something knocked it out of her hand. All the while Levi just stood there letting out a prolonged yawn.

Arf charged in next building up momentum, as the distance closed with one step she twisted her body so she was facing her back to Levi while her feet slid across the ground with her arm ready to strike. Sliding into striking range Arf executed her feint and jumped over Levi feeling some sort of breeze pass by as she took to the air but just as she was above Levi and went to strike her from above she felt something hit her gut throwing her into the air before being throwing into the ground hard. Once again all Levi did was stand there.

"Is it my turn yet?" Levi complained before suddenly disappearing as if she was never there to begin with. Fate's instincts kicked it and quickly turned around and parried a crescent blade on Levi's wrist. Levi disappeared again and Fate's instincts screamed for her to block her right but as she did all she saw were sparks coming off Bardiche before it's Auto-Guard activated Levi stabbed both wrist blades into the barrier formed behind Fate, the impact pushing her to the ground. Levi disappeared yet again and at the same something slashed all around Fate, too much for the Auto-Guard Defenser which broke apart as if it tore itself up.

Fate's vision jolted as everything seemed to pass by in an instant; all she could tell was that something had pulled on her hair. There were multiple blue flashes, not even lasting a second as if she was hallucinating and there was some sort of hum. Levi smiled as she watched Fate's body fall through the ring of white bolts, snapping her fingers signalling the bolts to fire before Fate crashed into the ground next to Arf.

"who's...attacking" Arf plainly asked Fate seeing her try and get up
"it's Levi"
"but she...didn't move"
"she did" Fate replied "she's moving so fast that our eyes can't keep up"

"Arf, you think you can cast it?" Fate asked using the telepathy a master had with her familiar
"I can manage" she replied staggering onto her feet

"Blitz Lancer" "Blitz Lancer!" Fate pointed Bardiche to the sky at the same angle Arf had stretched out her arm. the spell was a combination of their Plasma Lancer and Blitz Move but rather the latter being used on them they used it on the former to position the spell almost instantaneously. It only took a couple of seconds for a wall of energy bolts to hang in the sky all pointing strait down. Above the initial wall created by Fate was a second created by Arf with barely a gap between them.

"Blitz Lancer" "Arf!"
As Fate cast a third wall above the second Arf dashed towards the still downed Signum while Levi just looked up in amazement, despite the beating she gave them she was amazed that they could still pull off something like this. Fate continued to create a forth wall of energy bolts above her own all the while keeping an eye on Levi, while there wouldn't be too much she could do if Levi thought to interfere Fate could bring down the shots early to hopefully give Levi pause to think which was more important, attacking Fate or defending herself.

"Fire!" Fate yelled out as the final wall was completed. She quickly flew towards Arf and together they created a barrier shielding them and Signum. The attack was designed to have no escape even for them but with both her and Arf working together they could help one another create the barrier they needed to protect themselves. Levi on other hand was all by herself so even if she could muster a barrier or shield strong enough it would only save her from at most 2 walls of energy bolts with the sheer volume of what would be striking it.

As the wall came down Levi just smiled. Just as the shots was about to hit her all of a sudden they stopped, not just the wall but everything the clouds, the blowing trees, the rotating glyph beneath her feet. Casually Levi floated up and like a danmaku game she weaved through the smallest gaps, occasionally backtracking when she reached a dead end. when at along last she passed the 4th wall she remained stationary, floating there in the sky as she watched the wall resume its decent and crash into the ground and Fate's and Arf's barrier.

"Oh yeh!" Arf celebrated as the barrier came down "take that you..." she stopped and looked up to the grinning princess looking down on them "how, the, hell?"
"She waited to the last moment and somehow found a gap in the split second she had. just to toy with us" Signum remarked down on her feet but still sore

"Mihyn Myhlan [Lunar Lancer]" from her hand a stream of white energy bolts shot towards the group. While Arf remained behind and held her ground Signum and Fate split off in opposite directions. Their movement didn't go unnoticed as Levi began to shimmer as 2 more streams shot forth. Her body went from shimmering to blurring when more streams appeared trying to control Signum's and Fate's movement.

"Blitz Move" Fate zipped through the streams and got in close but just as she went to attack the crescent blades on Levi's wrists dropped attached to chains of mana and in a single blur Fate felt something hit her on the side and pull her long catching Signum and then throwing both back towards Arf. The streams converged and struck the 2 women as they crashed through Arf's barrier and into her.

Beaten and bruised there seemed to be no hope. Levi was faster than Fate, she could cast a spell with such a speed so many times to create consistent streams, no one was sure if this was Al-Hazard mastery of Magic or just Levi's own skill. What made things worse however was that Levi was just toying with them, she had the capacity and motive to kill them at any time.

"Bardiche, can it be applied"
"yes sir. Alchemy Installation is prepared however current modifications have invalidated previous tests. Current tests indicate compatibility problems with some spells. Advise additional modifications to correct"
"what's the rate of lose"
"estimates from current tests indicate a 30 to 50% lose of current spells"
"but I can regain them correct?"
"Yes sir"

Fate looked away from her staff and to Arf and Signum who were still facing Levi but kept Fate in the corner of their vision. "I need some time"
"and you want us to keep her busy?" Signum asked. When Fate nodded Signum nodded back "we'll do what we can. Right Arf?"
"Don't take too long. there's only so much of a beating I'm willing to take for you Fate"
"if we get out of this alive, I'm treating all of you, including you Agito" Fate replied with Signum relaying Agito's delight

Arf and Signum flew off as Fate's barrier jacket de-materialised. "ID_BARDICHE Alchemy Installation. Start up"

"Thunder Arm!" Energy crackled around both of Arf's clenched fists just as she went to swing at Levi but like a hologram Arf's fist just went through her. Arf spun around with the momentum from her first attack and tried to strike again but again it went though Levi like nothing was there. Arf quickly dropped down to get under and behind Levi but just as she began her decent she felt something clip a couple strands of her hair.

"20%"

Behind Levi Arf went to strike again putting more forward force into it, while her right fist once again went though Levi's unmoving head Arf was already following in with her opposite fist but as before Levi was like a mirage. Arf spun around quickly to strike again as since she could still see Levi there meant that Levi hadn't left to attack Fate. Arf's fist collided suddenly with one of Levi's crescent blades and in a blink of her eyes Arf was struck on the side by the other blade. As Arf fell she felt something wrap around her neck before her body spasmed from the electricity running through her body while she was slammed into either side of the barrier before being let go to fall hard onto the ground.

"40%"

"Schlangeform" Signum flung Laevatein around surrounding Levi, the gaps between the chain whip net too small for even Levi to slip through without harm. Signum closed the net but as Laevatein blocked out Levi's image Levi began to blur while a white disk expanded, sparks flying as fragments from Laevatein's blades flew off

"60%"

"Fliegen Drache Blitz [Flying Dragon Flash]" Laevatein burst into flames and at first it appeared that it was enough to stop the white disk as it pushed it back and compressed the space within. All of a sudden a set of two blades smashed though snapping Laevatein's chain in two and forcing it to revert back into its default sword from. While Signum was able to fly down to avoid the blades Levi suddenly appeared and cast a spell into Signum's stomach before appearing above her and shooting a continuous volley of bolts into her back until she smashed into the ground. As Signum tried to get up Levi flew down and stomped down on her back forcing out the air in her lungs. Signum wheeze has her body laid paralysed from the pain, had it not been for her Knight Clothes the force would have snapped her spine.

"80%"

Signum's hair and Clothes reverted to the usual state as Agito de-unisoned from her getting distance away from Levi before flying back around. Signum wanted to call out to Agito to stop but the pain was overriding every function in her mind.
"Get off my Lord. Bernnenkugel!" Agito fired fireball after fireball in her approach but Levi just stood there with something unseen cutting each fireball just before it hit her. Agito became engulfed in flames as she sped up closing in on Levi.
"Annoying bug" Levi said showing no empathy in her voice as she smacked Agito with such force she slammed into the barrier wall harder than anyone else before. Agito's body slowly slid down leaving behind a trail of blood before her body finally reached the ground and laid there motionless.

"100%"

Bardiche's light dulled. At first Fate thought this was normal but he continued to remain silent as the seconds ticked away. "Bardiche?" Fate called out but there was no response. Looking at her bracelet Bardiche was duller than he was when powered down and Fate began to fear the worst. In their rush something with the installation had went terribly wrong.

When she looked up there was something even worse than the thought of losing her long time partner. Levi, still with her foot on Signum had her arms open as if she was showing someone how big something was, but in the space between her 2 crescent blades rotated around with mana pooling in the middle.

"Not everything goes the way you want it" "Suuhmed Myhlan [Moonlit Smasher]"
"Defenser!" even without Bardiche Fate could cast magic but the problem was that without the extra calculations a device adds to boost and stabilise the mana flow Fate's barrier wouldn't last. She tried to hold her ground when the beam struck but despite her best efforts the barrier shattered. Time slowed down as the beam began to inch its way to Fate, her life about to flash before her eyes when a familiar voice echoed.

"Auto-Guard Defenser"
a new barrier, more powerful than any Fate had seen before appeared and held back the beam. She looked back down to her bracelet and saw Bardiche glowing once more.

"Apologies sir. I did not account for POST modifications"
"I'm just glad you're ok"
"thank you sir"

the beam stopped and with it gone the barrier spell came down. Fate stared Levi down as she clenched her fist "whether or not this is enough for me to beat you it doesn't matter. We're going to end this, right now!"
"Systems all green"
"Bardiche Emperor Knight!"
"Get set"
"Arcus Cultus Aegeas!"
"Standby Ready, Set up"

Fate's clothing dematerialised into a mist leaving in her in her underwear, her bracelet expanded and covered her hand conforming to its shape like a liquid before it solidified forming a gauntlet with a second mirroring the first. After a belt appeared and fastened itself around her waist a set of long gold tinted metal plates grew from the belt yet their number were too few to form a plate skirt. Lightning arced around her body reforming the mist into black fabric which made up her top and long skirt and drew the metal plates to her skirt while a black cape much like the one she used to wear as a child draped itself down her back with her ribbon tying itself to the cape and her shirt.

A frame grew around Bardiche's gem allowing a grip to first attach to the bottom while a revolver barrel sat on the top before both halves of a cross guard slotted into either side locking the grip and barrel into position. Bardiche glowed as mana erupted from the hilt and solidified forming a golden blade but even after this its glow didn't die down until Fate finally took a hold of it.

Levi's body at first began to tremble before she finally broke into unrestrained laughter "ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, look at you! Functionality over fashion whatever were you thinking!"
Levi zipped past Fate but as she went to attack, without any effort Fate parried with her new sword. Levi backed off and tried to go around Fate but almost immediately Fate appeared and blocked the path, slashing in front of her only to narrowly miss.

As Fate lunched forward Levi reached for a long grip that had suddenly grown from her back and pulled out the crescent on her back revealed to be the blade of a scythe. With the curved blade and holding it still Levi was able to redirect Fate's direction, the blades grinding against one another. Levi was able to get behind Fate and with her curved scythe was able to limit Fate's possible escape routes so that she would have to come right to Levi.

"Reaper Mode" Bardiche's blade retracted at the same time as the grip of the hilt extended while the cross-guard rotated around. the energy blade reformed and curved turning Bardiche into a scythe and using the same method as Levi did to her Fate crouched down used her scythe's blade to redirect Levi's, holding her scythe steady as the blades grated against one another going over Fate before she followed up with a counter attack but in a instant Levi had dodged it and was halfway across the field.

As Arf and Signum struggled to get up around them were flashes of gold and blue burst in every direction, Levi and Fate clashed repeatedly at such speed they could barely keep track. At times a blue blur would shoot towards either one of them or the downed Agito only to be struck by a golden blur.

Levi stopped and aimed her scythe at Signum and Arf who, while wasn't standing together they were both in the line of fire. "Mihyn Myhlan [Lunar Lancer]" Arf moved out of the way but Signum couldn't, not because she wasn't able to but because there was a third person in the line of fire and Levi's true target.

"Panzerhindernis" without thinking Signum dived stabbing Laevatein into the ground and cast a barrier protecting her and the unresponsive Agito. Signum's body jerked every time one of the white bolts struck the barrier but using all her strength she kept the barrier up despite not knowing Agito's condition.

"Defenser" Signum felt the impacts stop and turned to see Fate holding her scythe in front of her with the blade braced with her other hand. Signum quickly scooped up Agito's body and got out of the way but despite having been her target Levi kept her focus only on Fate. "That's right keep it up, I can do this all night and the moment your mana is gone your dead!" Levi taunted as she fired more shots redirecting them to hit Fate's barrier in all directions.

Fate moved the hand she used to brace her sword in front of the blade and closed her eyes. In her mind she could her Levi's attacks hit her barrier but in the darkness of her mind she saw them as ripples on the water's surface. While the ripples were white there was also a yellow drop making its own ripples as it dropped into the pool of darkness. With each drop of yellow the resulting ripples lessened until they stopped appearing at all.

"Phantom Lancer" Fate fired off what looked like her Plasma Lancer while her barrier was still erected. normally a mage could not fire though their own protective spell without weakening it, an act which in itself was a double edge sword as if the barrier was weak enough to allow a mage to shoot though it so could their opponent. Seeing the cast spell Levi smirked thinking Fate had given up but Fate's shot passed her barrier as if it was never there.

Hurtling towards her Levi she stopped her attack to defend herself. Suddenly the roles have reversed, Fate was now continuously firing at Levi's barrier while Levi was holding it back however while she could have gotten out of the line of fire she didn't. There was something off about how Fate was attacking, she still had her eyes closed and seemed far to inviting to take advantage of.

In Fate's mind the yellow drops where now the cause of the white ripples but slowly the white was turning yellow as well. "Phantom Short, Shift" Fate opened her eyes, within the stream shots she was casting every short she fired from the moment she opened her eyes passed through Levi's barrier just like they did with her own and struck Levi repeatedly. From the smoke cloud something shot out from it towards Arf but right away Fate appeared and kicked up sending Levi tumbling along the ground.

Levi got up and dropped both of her crescent wrist blades, floating back up and rotated around in front of her pooling mana between them.
"Suuhmed Myhlan [Moonlit Smasher]" "Plasma Smasher"

the two women fired larger beams at one another colliding together but Levi's began to push Fate's back. "Load Cartridge" Bardiche began to expend cartridges with each one spent allowing Fate to push back Levi's attack inch by inch evening the sides.

"GO AHEAD! IT WON'T SAVE YOU!" Levi yelled over the roar of the colliding spells, her spell once again began to overwhelm Fate's and with Bardiche cartridge system being a six-cylinder revolver type it's cartridges soon ran out, Fate couldn't risk swapping out the cylinder in the middle of her attack and twisted her arm around the grip of her scythe as she tried to hold Levi back.

"I won't give up, I can't give up because...because..."
'you have to come back'

Fate could feel Nanoha by her side, her hands on over top Fate's. "I can't give up because I have Nanoha and our daughter waiting for me!" Fate's opposite hand let go of Bardiche, her dominate arm still curled around Bardiche's grip trembled under the pressure of holding back Levi.

'no matter where or how far apart we are'
"our hearts will always connect us" Fate replied to the voice of Nanoha in her head. Sparkling lights of mana gathered in the palm of her upturned free hand. Arf and Signum recognised the mana gathering but couldn't believe what they were seeing. The mana in Fate's hand disappeared into it as she then turned and faced the palm to Levi.

'come home, Feito-chan'
"DIVINE BUSTER!"

From her palm Fate fired a spell than she, Arf and Signum had seen fired by Nanoha on a number of occasions and it wasn't a variation like Subaru's, the look and feel of the beam was identical to Nanoha's. Levi was pre-occupied with her current spell to do anything to stop the oncoming blast. As she was struck by the Divine Buster Fate was able to overpower her attack and strike her a second time, the two beams engulfing Levi.

Fate panted heavily as she stared at where Levi was. When the light and smoke cleared Levi was still standing but worse for wear having reverted to her original from. "I'll KILL YO..." Levi charged at Fate but stopped suddenly and turned around. "No" she said as she shot into the air. The barrier which kept them confined began to open up as Levi left with Fate using what strength she had to chase after her.

Levi continued to climb until she stopped suddenly with almost all of Japan before her, to the south-west where she was looking there was an orange glow. Looking at the glow the colour in Levi's face drained away showing genuine fear of something. Fate was flying towards Levi with her scythe at the ready determined to prevent her escaping. Levi gritted her teeth "piss, off!" she spat out moving out of Fate's way at the nick of time and grabbing her hair before tossing her away and returning to look at the south-western glow. "Don't worry my love" she said as she disappeared in a flash.

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[21st December 0081, 9:45 PM - Nakajima Island Earth] - The Kami's Atelier

Fate slowly floated down to where Arf and Signum were waiting, with Levi gone the glyph they fought on disappeared but by then Arf and Signum had already gotten back onto the island. Just as Fate's feet touched solid land her barrier jacket de-materialized, reverting back to her casual attire, and began to fall forward.

Arf ran to Fate and caught her before repositioning herself to support Fate's weight while helping her walk. Fate had expended all her mana and pushed herself even further, heavily fatigued wanting to sleep and her legs felt weak.

"Signum, is she?" Fate tried to ask as she and Arf approached, Signum's hands cupped with the lifeless body of Agito.
Signum shook her head "she's ok. In a lot of pain but I've healed her to the best of my ability. Shamal will be able to heal her completely"

Fate was relieved to hear that as she initially feared the worse, with the force applied and Agito's size it would have been the equivalent to someone being hit by a loaded truck at full speed.

The three women's attention was drawn to the rustling in the nearby bush before a Miko wearing matching black Haori and Hakama came through. She looked around at first before looking to the women "is that blue haired woman gone?"
Fate nodded "yes, it appears she fled headed for Suzu"
"what!?"
"Fate, are you sure?" Signum said, just as shocked as Arf "isn't that where Nanoha is?"
Fate nodded "aside from the fact I don't have the strength to give chase I have to believe Nanoha can protect herself when I am not there. And it's not like Levi is in any good condition to fight"

The Miko began to scratch her head "man, you beat her that much? Lucky I didn't fight you"
"wait" Arf said sniffing "you're that dam Ninja who attacked us!"
"You say it as if I shouldn't have" she replied shrugging her shoulders. "Anyway I suppose you want to see the TALON?"
"Yes please" Signum said bowing her head
"well can't do that. It's on Kannon Island and Amara-onee-sama has told us that should the TALON be returned there, access becomes restricted. However..."

the Miko was interrupted by the rustling behind her. From the same place she emerged came another Miko wearing the traditional white Haori and red Hakama, visibly upset for some reason. The two talked for a little while keeping their voices down before the second Miko left sobbing.

"it's appears our beloved Amara-onee-sama has passed way" the Miko said solemnly before looking back to the three women, "which one of you is Fate Testarossa?". Arf shrugged the shoulder Fate leaned on waking her up and seeing how neither of the other women spoke up the Miko assumed the women who had fallen asleep was Fate. "A woman named Hayate Yagami had reported to my superiors that you'd be here to help and that I should take you to Amara-onee-sama's Atelier"

The Miko led the mages through the forest to a path. In one direction was the wharf, the only proper way on or off the island. The other lead to a shrine which was where the Miko was taking the mages. As they reached the shrine the Miko stopped just short from passing through the torii and placed her hand on it. "I always wanted to see inside"
"inside what?" Arf asked
"Amara-onee-sama's Atelier"

a slip of paper shot out for the Miko's sleeve and sat between her middle and ring finger. The kanji on the paper began to glow as the space inside the torii warped and glowed with it. The Miko stood there waiting for them to enter, despite her own desire to see inside it was not meant to be for her.

Beyond the portal was a circular stone room, bathed in a warm and gentle teal and turquoise glow emitted from the strange symbols etched into the walls. In the centre of the room was a circular desk with a small gap for a person to enter into. Behind the desk sitting in the dead centre of the room reaching from the floor to the ceiling was a tall bookcase. Aside from the symbols on the walls the room was blank as if no one had ever set foot, even the bookcase was bare. The only foreign object there was a small semi-sphere.

With Arf holding Fate Signum walked towards the sphere, her free hand inched closer to it. just before it touched the sphere reacted and the holographic image of another Miko appeared, seemingly in her late 20's with long black hair and a black hakama but unlike that of the Miko who lead them to this place this Miko's hakama was blacker still, as if an empty void.

"I am Amaterasu no-Mikoto, Daughter of Izanami no-Mikoto and leader of the Miko here in Japan"
"one of the Kami?" Arf said but to her surprise the holographic image of Amaterasu turned its head and faced her
"you can say that. The Kami in Shinto are indeed my brothers and sisters but the fact we are gods is actually incorrect. those with the power of miracles, regardless if it is magic or technology, will be seen as gods by those without such power"

Signum wandered behind the image "did this just reply to you Arf?"
"I don't know" Arf shrugged accidentally waking Fate up again
"I did. The programming behind this pre-recorded message is designed to be interactive. To an extent"
"how so?" Signum asked
the image flickered as the image of Amaterasu changed suddenly to now face Signum "certain queries can be answered but only if the scope is limited" Amaterasu replied.

"tells us everything you know about the TALON" Fate asked wasting no time but the image of Amaterasu flickered twice, once to change the image so she now faced Arf and Fate but again to switch to an animation of her shaking her head "I'm sorry, please refine your scope"
"what does the TALON do?" Fate asked again limiting her question's scope. This time Fate was able to get an answer

"the TALON is my mother's pride and joy though I am afraid I do not understand its workings or purpose" Amaterasu replied
"what about stopping it?"
Amaterasu flickered again now facing Signum and continued to face her as she returned to where Arf and Fate stood. "stopping it is easy; simply remove the controller from its location at Tokyo Tower"
"how does that stop it?"
"The controller interfaces with the core of the TALON. Even if you move the controller and all the nodes so they all remain in the same relative positions from the controller elsewhere in the world the TALON will not activate without the core within the vicinity of the controller. as there is only one core my mother made it so it is near impossible to move the core" Amaterasu replied to Signum's follow up question

"what about when the TALON has already been activated" Arf asked. She had a feeling that in the end they wouldn't be able to stop Dearche activating the TALON so then it would change to stopping its effects, whatever they may be.
Amaterasu shook her head "there is no way except..."
"Except what?"
"I'm sorry, please refine your scope"
"what way is there to stop the TALON after it's been activated?"
"There is no way except..."
"There is no way to deactivate the TALON except what?". Amaterasu repeated her response about removing the controller and every time she tried again Arf only got the same answers making her get more and more frustrated, the interactivity making her easily forget that this was still a pre-recorded message.

"Is there a way to interrupt the ritual?" Fate asked
"yes" Amaterasu replied as her hand hovered above the table top. Beneath her hand an Al-Hazard magic circle appeared and within it a dossier materialised. "This folder describes what one needs to do in order to interrupt the ritual and when and when not this method can be used". After Signum grabbed the folder the image of Amaterasu flickered again before disappearing, the holographic message was meant to deliver the folder and with it taken it had no further use and shut down.

As the women went to leave a new holographic image appeared after Arf and Fate had stepped through the portal out with Signum being the only one left to notice, this time it was much older with the image being of less quality. The woman looked like Amaterasu but older however despite the obvious answer as to the connection between this woman and Amaterasu there was another person who appeared in Signum's mind.

'Trishia?'

"Amaterasu, my little girl. If you are watching this then I must have failed as a mother and left this world before I could impart to you all my knowledge and experience to cope without me. I fear that the cause of my death may in fact be your father and the change I saw in him when I insisted to raise some of our children instead of him was a sign of his true self." the image of Izanami began to weep as she chocked back her words trying to fight back the urge to cry "I am so sorry, I wanted so much to see Ame grow up but I can only hope that Tsuki will be able to fill the void I leave."

After stopping to clear her face Izanami returned to the original feel she gave off when the image first appeared "one day people from my world will come from the TALON. Whether you allow them to take it or not is up to you and you alone, not Tsuki or Ame. But should you decide to hand the TALON over only deal with Jeanne d'Arc. You'll be able to find her by making that very, very dark joke Tsuki made, Jeanne will the only one who laughs. I love you very much"

with those final words the image of Izanami disappeared but there was another thought that went through Signum's mind when she went to leave

'she sounded like Trishia too'

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[21st December 0081, 9:40 PM - Nakajima Island Earth] - The King upon her Throne

Beyond the distorted space which hid the hidden third open air observation level from the rest of the world sat the world's future king sitting on the edge with her feet dangling off. To her the entire deck was her throne not just the stone and metal chair behind her.

Dearche got up and walked over to a sport where she had full view over the north-west. Up until now she had been watching the north having felt Levi enter combat. Because of her speed Dearche felt that she could stare off into her direction before going to find out where Seikou was but then Levi suddenly left headed south towards the north-west of the continent. for the first time in a year Dearche was finding a small sense of enjoyment, after all the planning she had done it was finally coming into fruition, she just needed to wait for the participants of the grand ceremony to take their place.

"Levi, Seikou, do hurry. Our patience run thin and we do wish to go on our honeymoon very soon" She mused watching the glow off the horizon in the direction of Suzu.

Behind her between herself the seat of her new kingdom 3 lifeless shadows swayed in the wind as thick metal chains rattled together.

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Next Chapter...

Dearche: Attention Interlopers. It appears we have underestimated you
Vita: you're just making fun of my size
Nanoha: well if you had a better idea you should have spoken up
Jail: pretend however you want but there's no escaping your destiny
Dearche: We invite you to our Throne so we may end this pitiful farce once and for all
Miko: We march on Tokyo and expel the evil which has taken root there!
Nanoha: my god
Zafira: if they try and stop Dearche it'll be a slaughter
Chinque: I want my onee-sans back! I want to be an imouto again!
Dearche: Watch Faker! Watch as she dies in front of your eyes!
Seikou: Dream...Happiness...Destroy
Alicia: why didn't you say anything! We could have avoided all of this!
Woman in Darkness: you live by the desire of others but what is it you desire
Trishia: I want to be allowed to love Alicia!

Chapter 9 - Wedding of the Bloody King

Voltaire: Kill her and our contract will be void