[ Saint King Hospital, Northern Mid-Childa / October 1, 0078 12:08 ]

Almost as soon as the transporter rings disappeared, Chrono found himself face to face with a Gadget Drone. Dodging the deadly swing of its sickle arms, he launched into the air, blasting it from above. From this vantage point, he could observe the Hospital knights' position—and it didn't look good at all.

"Chrono, over here!"

Sister Schach Nouera's face was covered in dirt and blood as she waved at him frantically with her good hand from behind a circular barricade on the lawn just inside what was once the Saint King Hospital southern wall. The wall was now a pile of rubble, as waves of Gadget Drones crawled over it, trampling a few bodies lying motionless among the stones and dust. The Gadgets were pouring in, and Church's snipers behind the barricades just didn't have enough firepower to halt them.

With a short dash, he landed next to the nun.

"What's your status, Schach?"

"We've lost the outer wall," her voice was raw. "About fifty knights dead or wounded along the entire perimeter. The rest are spread across five emplacements left and right from here. The drones seem to ignore us for the moment, but if they reach the hospital…"

"Sister Schach!" A panicking face appeared on a screen next to Schach. "Firebase Emil is overrun!"

"Hold your position, Heinrich!" Her fists clenched so hard, Chrono could hear the bones crunching, but the screen flickered off before she finished speaking. She turned to him, her face pale, and said in a very even voice: "Chrono, please protect the hospital."

He paused, looking at her.

"Please… just go," Schach pleaded, looking away.

"We're saved! Thank you, Sister!" The same knight's face appeared again, only this time it was almost exalted.

Both commanders stared at him in confusion.

"What's going on, Heinrich?"

"The mage you sent, she erected a barrier… Firebase Emil is holding!"

"But I didn't…" The nun looked at Chrono in bewilderment.

"Just concentrate on the matters at hand, Schach. I have an idea who that 'she' might be…" He chuckled. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I have a hospital to save."

He took to the air, leaving her to shout orders below. From above, he had a clear view of the battlefield and the rest was simple math. Durandal shuddered lightly as a wall of ice rose just behind the ruins of the hospital wall, freezing any Gadgets that touched it on the spot. S2U was left to deal with the ones that got through.

"Stinger Blade Execution Shift!" He didn't have time to pick them off one by one.

The Gadgets tried to run and hide as the energy blades filled the air. His Device did most of the aiming for him, so he only had to snipe a few stragglers that managed to reach the trees near the closest ward. The cheering roar from the knights' encampments down below was music to his ears.

A glimpse of red caught his eye on the far right. A lone female figure was hovering over the ice wall, looking at the Gadgets swarming below. She never saw him coming.

"Struggle Bind!"

As he flew closer, the mystery woman's mask gave way to a familiar face.

"Ferret Boy. Figured that it would you."

"Well, you got me, Big Man," Yuuno scowled at him, trying to break the binds.

"Never would have guessed that you looked so hot in drag."

"Knock yourself out," he gave up on struggling. "Will you let me go now or what?"

"One question," Chrono released the bind. "Why?"

The Chief Librarian of the Infinity Library looked away.

"Arf," he uttered at last. "I should have been there that day."

"I… OK, but what about the disguise?"

"I didn't want Fate to know. Are you going to tell her?"

"No. But you should… eventually."

Yuuno nodded slowly.