A/N: I wasn't going to finish this chapter until tomorrow, but I enjoyed writing the fight scene enough that I could get it done by today. And for some reason, whenever I write about Subaru, she ends up acting like an idiot. I don't know why. Maybe it's the shounen stereotype thing with main characters who become a really powerful baka.
I feel I ended up making Tiana more "heroic" in this fic as a whole by having her constantly face off with Grylmark. I think StrikerS as a show tries hard to put Subaru as the main character (when we're really just watching for Nanoha and Fate really) but putting Tiana in a more heroic position is a different touch for me.
But why am I talking about that. She's not even in this chapter. That's next chapter.
Also, thank you all so much for everyone who keeps reviewing this fic. It really makes me happy to read all your comments, or to know anyone's reading it. =)
The Metaworld Sector had always sparked a great sense of yearning and delight within Grylmark, from the moment that he had heard that such a place existed. Like anyone deeply bonded with research and academia as he was with his own experiments, the opportunity to explore new horizons and discover new things that the world, the universe had never seen...was what he lived for. Time travel had been only the first gift, and still not as great as he had imagined. It was more of a tool, a means to an end with which he could unlock the potential of far greater secrets.
Grylmark had been led to believe that the Metaworld Sector was a brand new universe populated with a sea of thriving civilisations and modern technology, as yet another source of knowledge from which he could reap his continued successes. True, he had no one to blame for such inaccurate information but his own desire to see only what he wanted to see, but it had still hurt when the summoner had stood there to witness the finished product.
That was a long time ago, the old man mused, his body moving swiftly through time and space at a speed of his own choosing. Disappointments in life are for the young. Despite its name, the Metaworld is no "world", no planet brimming with wealth and glory and intelligence. No, it is far less than that. What a fool I used to be in the years before, thinking ambition was about exploring the vastness of the unknown universe. No, I know better now. The end result I crave will lie within the roots of Mid-childa. Time and space are merely methods to reach that goal.
For the Metaworld Sector was simply a box, a dimension of space which could never be entered from outside. A pocket of isolation for its inhabitants, a prison in itself...it was a container of infinite time. Those contained inside the Metaworld would never age, for time would not pass for them. A dying soul would live forever within such a place, but no one could stay for too long without succumbing to madness. To be engulfed in eternal nothingness would cause many to lose their sense of self and drift away from life altogether, until they became just another fragment of lost time dragged into the void.
It was far from the paradise of knowledge that Grylmark had desired it to be. Not that that mattered to him any more – he only needed to make one last journey here. He had a mission to fulfil.
Though the existence of the Metaworld itself meant that no one could enter from the outside, you could still enter from the inside. It created a paradox of its own, but it was possible in such a place where time existed eternally. To do so, however, would require expert use of time magic. Grylmark had been impressed to hear that Exoria possessed such skill, which had posed the small problem that the Legion might turn up and ruin everything. Fortunately, the Bureau had turned up on their little waste of a rescue mission, and had been a formidable distraction for the majority of Red Scorpion.
Grylmark smiled inwardly, thinking about how well everything had gone so far. The Guardian Knight, Vita. Did the fools really think her sickness had been natural? She was a living program, after all. Programs could be altered. His main problem had been the Legion, but the cyborg was at a woeful disadvantage when time magic was involved, and had been quite easy to dispatch. Even with prior warning of Grylmark's plans. it was not going to be able to arrive in time to stop him. He would be long gone by then.
The only other real problem had been that sharpshooter, Tiana...the old man frowned in great annoyance at the thought. A mage of her age and limited abilities should not be able to beat his Manticore so easily and so many times. Fortunately, the Greater Manticore should have sorted her out. She was doubtlessly now lying dead in a crater in this timeless world.
Confident in his own actions, the summoner fast-forwarded through time and stepped directly into the Metaworld Sector.
"GRYLMARK!"
The voice of the superior program was a peal of thunder around him; bold and intimidating as usual, and probably ready to dish out another set of orders to the members of Red Scorpion.
The summoner felt dislike rising up inside him towards the machine, and relished in the feeling, knowing that it would make the final blow feel so much sweeter in the end. He had never liked the superior program from the moment of their first encounter. The old man felt pure derision for such a creation to be put in charge of Red Scorpion; it was annoying and patronising for the superior program to have no real face or form in reality, with their voice booming from the sky above in multiple colours everytime they spoke. It was a tactic designed to keep lesser people in check, to make them worship you like a god, and Grylmark was quite sure that he prayed to no one.
He stepped down onto a living ground, an earth which vibrated and stirred at his touch. Already, the atmosphere within the Metaworld was beginning to affect him and make him uncomfortable. It would be unwise to spend too much time here. Despite how some had viewed his experiments with the Manticore and the like back on his world, Grylmark liked to think that he had a good grip on reality, and had no wish to part with any of it.
"I hear that Red Scorpion is to regroup here in the Metaworld," Grylmark said pleasantly, ignoring the blatant hostility from his sole audience. He spread his arms wide mockingly. "And here I am."
The superior program wasn't very impressive in her physical form. Grylmark had never expected her to be. Here, she was no longer connected to the world of limbo. Her voice didn't blaze down from the heavens every time she spoke. There were no flashy lights sparkling in the sky to accentuate her mood, like there used to be. She wasn't even hooked into a massive tower of energy like the Superuser, her backup program, had been.
No, the superior program at her core was basically a bunch of of wires linking together a network of bulky supercomputers, each of which was no bigger than a living person. The whole thing was connected into a living structure which had molded itself into the fabric of the Metaworld itself – which was never a clever thing to do, but the superior program would of course be unaffected by the concept of eternal time. Such a being was built only to compute, analyze, and evaluate.
Grylmark stared up at the quivering mound as millions of streams of data fed in and out of each enclosed terminal, his face twisting with disgust at the sight. He felt like he had wasted his time coming here at all. His weakest Manticore could crush the superior program by accidentally walking into it. There were no shields or defences of any kind that he could see – the current leader of Red Scorpion was completely vulnerable before his eyes.
"Do not play games, Grylmark," the voice of the superior program uttered from the terminals. "You have no right to be here. I initiated you into Red Scorpion following Oguba's recommendation, but you have not attended a single gathering of the organisation. This is the first time you have shown your face to me since joining us!"
The summoner shrugged, not really caring. "I see no reason to show my face to someone like you who has never had a face."
"Perspective, Grylmark. You lack perspective." The superior program was holding nothing back as she lashed out verbally. "The real problem we have here, however, is trust. Trust is essential in this organisation, as Yagami-sama has always taught us. We knew that from the beginning. If we cannot trust you, Grylmark, we cannot count you as one of us. It was already decided among us that you would be expelled from Red Scorpion!"
There was a strangled hiss from the great electrical contraption, and for a moment the summoner was startled. But then he saw something crawl out from behind the superior program. A lizard, mortally wounded as it nursed its injuries next to the machine.
Srethis? Srethis came through the portal after all? Grylmark's expression turned wild, thinking that everything had come to naught after all. If Srethis, the weakest member of Red Scorpion, had made it to the Metaworld...would the Legion also follow suit?
That lizard would probably be dead by now, with wounds like that. But by passing into the Metaworld, they have been embraced by the curse of eternal time and can continue to live. How unfortunate you are, Srethis. Your obstinacy to cling to life will surely be your downfall.
He turned back to the superior program with a tight smile concealing his inner thoughts. "I came here to help out, Superior-san. If you do not wish to accept my help, then that's perfectly fine. With the numbers of Red Scorpion dwindling by the minute, and with the Bureau hard on your heels, not to mention that only one of you is capable of utilising Oguba's powers properly, I'm sure you aren't too desperate for any outside assistance." He started to turn away, keeping up the act solidly as the summoner made as if to leave via a portal of his own. "It would be unfortunate if your organisation fell apart now, when I could solve all your problems so easily..."
If he were dealing with a human, Grylmark would have given it a few seconds before the other person cracked and begged him to help them. It was a simple manipulation. With machines, however...it was even easier.
"Our problems are multiplying," the superior program said immediately. "Even one of your esteemed abilities could not hope to solve them all sufficiently. It would be better to wait for the Legion or Ungore to come through first before rushing to - "
Grylmark's face hardened at that, the brief memory of the runesword impaling Ungore into the ground flashing up before him. He quickly dismissed it. "But they're not coming, are they?" he said in a reasonable tone. "Tell me these problems of yours. I promise that they will soon plague you no more."
He winced at the feel of the Metaworld against him, and concentrated on keeping everything together. Losing his mind at a time like this would not convince the superior program that he was trustworthy, not when he was so close. Of course, he didn't really need the information that it was about to supply him, but it would be an added bonus. The summoner glanced towards Srethis and instantly regretted it, feeling a sick feeling in his gut at the sight. The poor creature had been in here much longer than he had – it must truly be suffering internally.
"Very well," the female voice of the superior program said at last, rather reluctantly. "Perhaps you are aware that we of Red Scorpion were able to capture one of the Guardian Knights of the Bureau - "
"Vita-chan," Srethis muttered, sounding delirious.
The superior program ignored the creature. "Our client gave us strict orders that we were to keep this Guardian Knight alive. At the same time, the Bureau would soon be coming after us to rescue her. We decided to escape here to the Metaworld – with the Guardian Knight – where the Bureua would not be able to follow us. From here, we would be able to continue our operations.
"However, as you can see, Srethis is the only one who has arrived, and has done so in exceedingly bad shape. The Guardian Knight was supposed to be with them, as well as Ungore. The Legion was supposed to arrive later, followed by Exoria, since she was the one creating the gate to the Metaworld in the first place." The screens flashed momentarily upon the numerous monitors of the superior program. "Usually, my back-up program, the Superuser, would be able to give me a detailed analysis of the situation in such an emergency...but there-in lies another problem."
Grylmark listened intently, having lazily skipped over the first part. He knew most of this already. "And that is?"
"The Superuser is not responding to my requests for information, nor am I able to form a communication uplink with it in any way. It is my hypothesis that my back-up program has been destroyed by Fate Testarossa." The superior program seemed only mildly disconcerted at the thought. "There is no possibility that the Bureau will catch up to us. The fact that they are still above ground proves that."
"Indeed," the summoner said with a vacant smile, betraying nothing.
"Our main problem is that many of the members of Red Scorpion have not yet appeared here in the Metaworld. I am quite sure that the reason for this is simply because they are unable to. Soon after Srethis emerged here, I felt Exoria's portal collapse on the other side." The superior program made no attempt to hide its disapproval that the lizard was there at all. "I do not know the reasons for this, but until Exoria is able to rebuild her portal, Ungore and the Legion will be stuck on the other side.
"You, Grylmark." The female voice slipped back into its commanding tone. "You are far more gifted with Oguba's powers than any of us. You asked what you could do to help. What you can do is to return to the others of Red Scorpion and use your own time magic to rebuild the portal with Exoria. If anything has happened, or if you encounter trouble, or if the Bureau somehow arrive beyond all possible odds...you are to return here immediately and report to me." Next to one of the monitors, Srethis hissed and spat towards the shifting ground, mumbling small syllables and sounds that nobody would hear. They might as well have been invisible. "Is that understood?"
The old summoner looked up at the array of supercomputers, constantly calculating, re-calculating and delving through billions of tiny little pieces of data. It was a marvellous little creation, the superior program of Red Scorpion, but it wasn't perfect. Yagami must have imbued it with a tiny fragment of humanity, though not one that belonged to her. Humanity. Trust. Emotions. Why build a machine on feelings? Feelings allowed mistakes.
Grylmark stepped forward towards the vast network of data in front of him, tracing his hand over the monitors slowly until his fingers found the central wires leading directly into the heart of the program. He squeezed slowly around them, a black light glowing around his fist.
"Of course I understand," he said calmly. "I have always understood. Always." He raised his face to gaze upon the multiple screen of the superior program. "But there's one thing you've carelessly forgotten, Superior-san."
The female voice was ringed with metallic suspicion. "And what would that be?"
"Me. My presence." Grylmark couldn't help but chuckle. "My existence. Look at your data, Superior-san, your masses of information, your charts and your graphs, and tell me what you think."
It took only a moment, just a single electrical signal passing from one computer to the other, yet the drastic change was immediate.
"Impossible," the superior said, columns of data whizzing past on each screen uselessly. "My information tells me...that you are on the other side of the portal. In the land of limbo. And that you are also here...in the Metaworld Sector..." Its voice rose in pitch. "How can you possibly be in two places at the same ti - "
Without speaking, Grylmark twisted his wrist round and unleashed a mass of Oguba's time energy directly into the central wiring.
In a massive surge of power, the blackness from his palm churned within the network, fleshing out to spread like a virus through the system. Whatever it touched was consumed in an instant as data was wiped from each monitor, soon numbering in the billions as the energy went out of control. The superior program quaked and shuddered, inhuman sounds coming from its external speakers.
"What...what is..." The program's voice was going in and out of focus, seeming simultaneously far-away and close to hand. Smoke poured from its circuits as one of the supercomputers began to explode from the inside, taken over by the infiltrating virus. "My...my data...Red Scorpion...Yagami-sama..."
The monitors were going berserk. Countless error messages flew past on the screen, dissolving into a mixture of gibberish and computer code...and then changed into nothing but foreign blue symbols, row after row of them. Oguba. Oguba. Oguba. The voice of the program changed into a chant as Grylmark squeezed the central wires tighter, pouring more and more of Oguba's magic into the machine with a satisfied grin. Oguba.
"I...I am...I am not one of..." The superior program would have screamed if it were human, as its entire world of information was slowly bled dry from inside it. A second supercomputer burst into flames and crashed to the ground, breaking up and dissolving as the time energy fed on its physical components. The Metaworld swirled around it, almost hungrily, then joined in to consume it. A third supercomputer crumbled to dust, meeting a similar fate.
"Grylmark..." The program cried out, its voice beginning to break up. "What are you...doing?...What have you done?"
The summoner twisted the wires around and ripped them in two savagely. "What I've been meaning to do all along," he said vengefully. "I am on a mission to end your existence, Superior of Red Scorpion." His grin was filled with malice and disgust. "It was extremely foolish of you to expose yourself like this. Even now, the Bureau are finishing off the rest of your so-called assassins, just as was intended. Rest assured that none of them will be able to come to your aid."
Even if the Legion did suddenly arrive to intervene, Grylmark thought, the damage to the superior program right now was already fatal. She was on the path to slow destruction. All the repair programs and healing magic in the world could not restore her devastated circuits. It was agony for the program, but Grylmark saw no reason why she should be given a quick end. The woman who had given him the mission, after all, was not the merciful type.
I would never have joined Red Scorpion. I am not an assassin. I am a wielder of Time, a summoner, an illusionist, a master mage...but I am not a killer. I am not one of you. Perish at my hands, and let Red Scorpion die forever, just like she intended!
Grylmark brought his other hand up, burning black with time energy and thrust it into the internal circuits of the superior program again as Srethis cowered in the corner, covering its head with both webbed hands, fearful of what was going on. Everything began to break up, the superior program desperately trying in vain to salvage what remained even as it felt itself burn...
Signum had not expected Ungore's trail of magic to end so abruptly. For just a few minutes, she had been following it towards its source in order to detain the alien and prevent them from obstructing the rescue mission with Vita any further. The fact that she had not managed to make any contact with Subaru or Erio ever since Grylmark had shoved them down into his hole had only given her greater cause to worry. Now wasn't the time to worry about that, however. In order to increase the chances of bringing Vita back in one piece, she just had to -
The alien's magical field had been strong, gaining more power with every step. The bizarre transformation had obviously made it more of a formidable adversary. Yet now, just beyond the room ahead...Signum slowed from a run to a simple walk. She could sense that Ungore had not managed to go any further.
There were traces of a darker magic in the air, too faint for her to pinpoint exactly, but they were undeniably there. Signum hesitated, wondering what she would find. Would the trail lead to a dead end? Had Ungore managed to open up a portal of their own and escape through there?
The sound of shallow breathing came to her ears as the Velka Knight entered the room. She scoured the place briefly for danger and found none. The source of the breathing, of course, was from the creature impaled on a black runesword in the corner of the room, hate-filled eyes glaring towards her.
With a trace of sympathy, Signum walked over to where Ungore lay twitching on the floor. One clawed hand was trying to grapple towards the sword in its stomach, but without any success. There was some substantial bleeding around that region of the alien's body, but not very much. In fact, the creature didn't even seem to be in that much pain, looking more furious than hurt.
"You," Ungore growled, still struggling to clasp at the weapon holding its body down. "Help me! Get this thing out of me!"
Signum took a moment to examine the sword impaling the creature. A dark-hilted runesword of blackness, surely constructed by magic from the opposite side of the spectrum. Definitely not something she wanted to be close to – such weapons could poison you with their magic over even a small amount of time. She wondered who it belonged to – and who would have attacked Ungore like this. Surely not another member of Red Scorpion? And yet...who else could be down here?
"If that's your arm, I'm not touching it," she said flatly.
The alien looked like it was going to explode with fury. "Pull it out!" Ungore demanded. "I have to get to Srethis, now!"
"If I do pull it out of your body, then what happens?" Signum asked, taking a step back from the ominous blade. "You're just going to start attacking me again, aren't you?"
The alien scowled and didn't reply.
"Grylmark has betrayed us," they said in a low rasp. "He is the one who did this to me. He could have killed me, but he didn't. For some reason he just wanted me to stay down. But I'm not going to do that, oh no. I'm going to have my claws around his throat faster than he can scream." Ungore's eyes bored into hers furiously. "Are you going to free me or not, Guardian Knight?"
"No," Signum replied. "Why should I?"
The creature's hooked arm sank back down on the ground in defeat. Its shoulders slumped as it looked back up at the ceiling.
"Firstly, I don't want to touch your disgusting arm, even if Grylmark has turned it into a sword," the Velka Knight explained. "Secondly, it's embedded so deeply into the floor that I would need to expend some magic to get it out at all. By that time, you would be free, I would be weakened, you would have escaped, and I would be an idiot. Thirdly...that sword seems to be healing you at the same time."
"But I can't move!"
"Good." Inwardly, Signum felt a pang of disappointment that she hadn't been able to apprehend Ungore by her own skill alone. Perhaps she lacked the training or experience, which was something she didn't like the sound of considering how often she was in the field with Vita. But the main thing was that Ungore was down for the count, increasing the chances of getting a Vita. That was what was important right now. "Ungore, I am placing you under arrest by the Time-Space Administration Bureau for crimes including assault against Bureau members, trespassing on Bureau grounds, infiltration into - "
Ungore swore under their breath. "Spare me this much. What're you going to do? Arrest me in the middle of a timeless world?"
The Velka Knight shrugged. "Just making it official. You can sit tight until the rest of my group arrive to take you into custody." Assuming they're even around here any more, she thought darkly. Where were they? If they somehow managed to get out of this in one piece and Ungore escaped before she could find anyone to guard them, she was going to feel very embarrassed. "If you tell me where Vita is right now, or any other useful information, I might be able to make your sentence more lenient back at the Bureau."
"Why would I give you any help?" the alien spat. A few moments later, however, as the impact of its predicament began to set in, along with Signum's earnest attitude towards them, Ungore's face showed a trace of doubt. They glanced up at the Velka Knight, seeing no falsity in the pink-haired mage's expression, and reluctantly gave in. "All right, all right," Ungore snapped. "It's not going to help you much, but your friend is being transported through a portal to the Metaworld Sector, along with the rest of Red Scorpion. At least, that's the plan."
A portal? So Grylmark was telling partly the truth when he told us we didn't have much time before Vita was lost to us. Signum's mood turned grim, realising she may have wasted too much time. Was it too late? "Where is she?"
The alien gestured with their head at one of the passages leading downwards. "You're not going to beat us, Guardian Knight," it warned, laying itself down on the rocky floor again. "We have Oguba on our side."
"You're the one with your own arm stuck in your stomach," Signum pointed out lazily, as she turned to leave, "so I wouldn't talk if I were you. Until we meet again at your tribunal, Ungore."
She rushed down the widening corridor once more, feeling the trace of magic link back into her own as she caught up with another trail. Was it Vita, at long last? Whatever it was, it was tremendously powerful. Signum increased her speed, the fatigue from the previous battles fading away. The knowledge that time may have already run out spurred her on tirelessly as she focused upon her destination.
The scene was one of conflicting emotions, depending on whose perspective you were seeing it from. Vita stood in the middle of a great puddle of broken ice and foundation magic, fully transformed with Graf Eisen prepared in Raketenform, eager to get her own back now that she was finally free. To the other side, Subaru was only lightly damaged from the brief scuffle with the Legion after the explosion had stolen the attention of both of them. Excitement and relief filled her eyes at the sight of the Velka Knight.
"Vita, you're all right!" she cried happily. In less pressing circumstances, she would have tried to embrace the other mage. Vita wasn't the type who liked that kind of thing, though, and would probably have dissuaded her. "How did you manage to escape?"
"I would like to know the answer to that myself," the Legion rumbled, fixing the Velka Knight with a steely gaze. There was a familiar sense of bewilderment in its expression. "Your prison was encased with powerful shielding spells both internally and externally. The only way of breaking the barrier was to disable the magic wards from the outside and the inside at the same time."
Vita stretched out her cramped muscles for a moment, trying to get the circulation going. They ached from being confined for so long. "Then I guess that's exactly what happened," she remarked. She could see that if she wanted to find out any information, she needed to do right now; the Legion's stance suggested it was on the verge of attacking again, and Vita didn't need to sense the cyborg's mana field to know that it was a formidable opponent. Careful not to make any sudden moves or gestures, she inclined her head towards her other ally in the room. "Subaru, who else is with you? Nanoha, Fate, Hayate...we could really do with some of their help. Are they here?"
The blue-haired mage shook her head. "Hayate isn't here, but - "
Almost unnoticed by the other three, Exoria's eyes had flicked open, filled with fury. "Don't talk about Hayate!" she raged, a flicker of Oguba's magic seeping from her knuckles. "If she had any guts, she'd have come here to fight me! She's ruined everything I've ever lived for!"
Vita stared at her in amazement. "Hayate's never even met you. What are you talking about?"
But the Time Mage had already forced her eyes shut, going back to her incantation as the portal to the Metaworld grew just a little more focused. It flickered in and out, not quite there yet as Exoria went back to concentrating on her spell, a tear trickling down her cheek. She wiped it away as if it were nothing and continued chanting.
"Forget her," the Guardian Knight muttered. "We'll find out the answers from her later. Subaru?"
"Yes, Vita-chan," the forward said. "Nanoha, Fate, Tiana, Signum and Erio are all here. I'm sorry, but we had to travel through a time portal to get here and we couldn't take many more people - "
"You can make time portals now?" Vita said in astonishment. She wished everything didn't keep changing everytime she fell ill or was knocked unconscious or was captured by the enemy...it was getting really hard for her to keep track of things. Just how much more had happened? Regardless, she had a better idea of the situation now. It helped to know that there were still members of the Bureau in the area who would be able to aid herself and Subaru against Red Scorpion, but it was still a little too vague. "All right," she decided. "I would usually wait for back-up, but it's important that we disrupt Exoria's portal. It shouldn't be too hard."
I still don't really get what's going on, Vita grumbled to herself. She didn't understand any of this about time travel or portals, or who on in the world Oguba was, or what planet she was on, or why the Bureau was able to do such things. She'd worked out who Red Scorpion were just from being amongst them all this time and listening to Ungore boast, and knew enough to know that they were not exactly the most easygoing people she had ever been acquainted with. What she did know was that these portals were trouble.
"The plan has changed," the Legion stated, coming forward one step and sinking one metal foot partway into the earth. From the looks of it, the cyborg had been evidently doing some re-calculations of its own. "The Guardian Knight is to be recaptured and taken to the Metaworld with the rest of Red Scorpion to meet with the superior program. Exoria, how much longer until the portal is ready for re-entry?"
The dark-haired girl gave a strangled mixture of hisses and curses in answer.
"Exoria, that kind of language is not translatable by either of my internal cognitive programs. I must ask you to rephrase your answer."
"Seven and a half minutes," the Time Mage managed, blood flowing from her lip as she bit down savagely. She gritted her teeth and squeezed another tear from her other eye, breathing in sharply as she did so. "I am trying...to concentrate. Concentrate." One hand clasped at the side of her head, nails pressing against her temple as her voice dropped down to a dangerous whisper. "I am so close...so close. If anyone talks to me again, if anyone touches me...I will be gone from here. Yagami-sama will see me at her side again, just as it should be. You will not disturb me."
Vita exchanged glances with Subaru. Maybe it would be easier to disrupt the portal then either of them had thought. Exoria was obviously unhinged to the point that they only had to knock her down within seven and a half minutes. Surely, with the two of them, they could get around the Legion and do just that.
"Vita-chan?" Subaru called out to her, eyes wide, looking up towards her even though the Velka Knight barely reached up to her chest. "What's the plan?"
Vita moved to position herself to the right-hand side of their enemy, focusing on the Legion's great metal arms. Close combat: her favourite way of fighting. "We'll attack from both sides. Just like we practised together on the field, Subaru. In fact..." She frowned, standing back as another thought came to mind. "You know what? I won't attack yet. You try taking a swing first at that cyborg by yourself. Show me how much you've improved."
"What?" The blue-haired girl's face filled with panic. "But...but..." She backed away as the Legion started to advance on the two of them. "I don't know if I can do it by myself! Vita-chan, now that you're able to fight, shouldn't you - "
"Subaru, you're going to have to learn how to do it by yourself," the Velka Knight said patiently. "If I somehow get defeated by an enemy one day, and the only thing you do is whimper over my dead body before dramatically running away into the horizon in a fit of terror, you'd better hope that there isn't an afterlife. Because if there is, I'm going to be very embarrassed. This isn't what you trained for."
The Legion wasn't wasting time on fancy spells. It was lowering its head and shoulders to make a full-body charge directly at Subaru, intending to take out the person it deemed the weaker of the two. The cyborg began to pick up speed, faints cracks appearing in the ground as it stamped down powerfully.
"Relax," Vita reassured the other mage. "Believe in yourself and your own abilities. If you get into trouble, I'll help you out of it. And not just because you came to my aid when I was stuck in that cage. Pull yourself together, Subaru. You know you're good enough!"
Subaru stared forward as their adversary slowly accelerated towards her, and then nodded quickly, her face changing. "You're right," she breathed, the colour coming back into her face as the familiar determination came back into her eyes. "I can do this! Legion, you're going dow- "
She raised her right arm to attack just a little too late as the heavy cyborg rammed into her stomach and smashed her into the floor. With a yelp, Subaru kicked out helplessly as the Legion picked her up effortlessly and threw her all the way across the room to land in one of the rock pools with an almighty splash, her head ramming against the side and turning her brain into jelly as her everything around her went shaky and out of focus.
"Yagami Loreskill Activate," the Legion said calmly, a mass of writhing purple and white energy emerging with dual openings in the shoulder pads of its body armour, "Bloody Chasm."
Subaru tried to raise an arm to defend herself as the attack surged towards her, spreading out over a vast radius as hostile energy criss-crossed towards her body, cutting everything it touched as if the beam was full of knives. It was no use: her head was still spinning and it was a struggle to get to her feet. Even though she had fully recovered from her ordeal not so long ago, thanks to the repair program, the mental damage had left its mark. She wasn't going to be able to dodge -
"Vita! Help me!"
The violent energy suddenly ceased immediately. Woozily, Subaru looked up to see the Velka Knight standing up in the middle of the Legion's beam attack, deflecting it away with Graf Eisen. It wasn't a casual effort, and her face was strained as she fought to keep it away from the forward. Dazed, Subaru finally picked herself up and rolled out of the line of fire.
With a disgruntled shake of her head, Vita too sprang out of the way as the Legion's beam shot past the two of them and demolished the entire right-hand section of the room.
"All right, I think we have a problem here," the Velka Knight said seriously.
"I know," Subaru said at once, glad that she wasn't going have to fight alone anymore. "The Legion is too powerful, and my attacks aren't - "
"Not with them," Vita said sharply. "The problem is with you, Subaru."
The forward looked at her in astonishment, wondering if she had heard right.
"Me?" she asked fearfully. "But...but what did I do wrong? I've trained hard every day, haven't I?" Panic rose in her expression yet again. "Is it my combat stance? My magic conservation? What is it? Was I spending too much time with Tia in the Bureau and not enough time training with you? Is it the wrong techniques? Is it the - "
"No," the Velka Knight said irritably, "it's something you're doing wrong right now."
Behind them, the Legion's beam attack finally exhausted itself out and the cyborg began to raise its hands for another spell, turning grimly towards Vita this time.
"I don't understand what you're saying, Vita-chan!" Subaru cried, looking thoroughly confused. "What am I doing wrong?"
Vita put one hand on her hip, thinking that she might as well tell her. She wasn't going to get it if they stood here talking about it for a month. Red Scorpion would probably have taken over the world by the time Subaru figured it out.
"Your Gear," she said.
Subaru blinked in continuing bewilderment.
"Your transformation?" Vita tried. She didn't know how to make it any simpler. "Your...level of transformation? Do you see anything wrong with it?"
On the other side of the room, an eerie light began to power up around the Legion's fists, dragging out across its shoulders and back as it gathered in size.
"I'm in Gear Second," Subaru argued. "So? What's wrong with - "
Vita clapped her hands together. "Right. And why are you in Gear Second, Subaru?"
"Because...because..." The blue-haired mage screwed up her face in concentration. "Because it's more powerful than my first form?"
The Velka Knight felt like smacking herself in the forehead. Sometimes you just had to spell it out for her.
"Here's the real question," she explained. "Why are you in Gear Second, Subaru, when you could be in Gear Excelion?"
"I have Gear Excelion?" Subaru repeated dumbly, and then her eyes went wide in comprehension at last. "Oh yeah! I forgot I could do that! Now I remember!..." She braced herself, bringing Mach Calibre up. "Full Drive! Gear Excelion!"
"Antimatter Dispersal!" the Legion chanted imperiously at the same time.
A barrage of curved lightning blades spewed out from the eerie light surrounding the Legion, exploding as they zigzagged towards the other two mages. Vita had just enough time to yell a warning to Subaru and bring up Panzerschild before the attack hit them. With the other girl in front of her, there wasn't enough time for Vita to protect anyone except herself. If Subaru couldn't cope with this on her own, then...
And then, as the assault of projectiles passed by, she saw Subaru's arms raised before her body protectively, completely unharmed as the remainder of the explosions fizzled out and died. Slender wings had lifted on either side of her feet before Mach Calibre's altered appearance. Gear Excelion...Subaru's Full Drive Mode.
"I forgot I could do this!" Subaru exclaimed, looking exhilarated. Her discovery had wiped all trace of fear from her body as she locked her gaze with the Legion. "No wonder I kept losing!"
"How could you forget you had Gear Excelion?" Vita said, appalled. If Subaru hadn't transformed to her highest form at that moment, the Legion's attack may well have put her out of action for good, leaving Vita to fight the Legion all on her own. She really didn't approve of this kind of clumsy-minded strategy. Your life was on the line here. "Haven't you been using it?"
The blue-haired mage shrugged, too caught up in her new surge of power to be too bothered by that now. "Most of the missions Tiana and I do for the Bureau don't require us to go all-out. I haven't used Gear Excelion for a while. And...I panicked earlier. I guess I really forgot I had this." She looked a bit sheepish. "Sorry, Mach Calibre."
"Don't apologise to him! Are you telling me you almost got killed earlier because you forgot to transform?" Vita could not believe what she was hearing. She could have escaped much quicker if Subaru hadn't been fooling around like this. "If we weren't already in the middle of the fight, I'd have beaten you right now just for stupidity!"
"Sorry," Subaru mumbled again.
The Legion regarded her with something approaching sympathy and a healthy dose of confusion, or as close to it as you could get with a creature which was still mostly machine.
"I wondered why you failed to attack me before at full power, Subaru Nakajima," the cyborg said curiously. "I had reasoned that your Device was malfunctioning or that you lacked sufficient power. Now I know that the real reason was not that you lacked power, but that you lacked - "
"Would you please give it a rest?" Subaru pleaded. "I forgot to transform. It's a mistake that anyone would have made."
There were a few moments of silence whilst the two other combatants stared at her in an unnerving fashion from two different directions. The blue-haired girl fidgeted and tried to look away.
"No," Vita said finally, "it isn't." She pushed away her annoyance at the forward and tried to focus back on to the task at hand. "Let's forget it for now. I think we had better start getting serious with the Legion. I didn't know that they wielded such high-level attack spells."
"When you say we're going to get serious..." Subaru began. She hesitated and looked at the Velka Knight suspiciously. "You mean you're just going to join in and fight casually whilst I'm forced to go all-out."
Vita shrugged. "Maybe."
"That's not fair, Vita-chan!"
"Subaru, I'm just trying to give you as much experience in the field as possible. I've lived for hundreds of years as a Guardian Knight. You'll thank me later. Besides, one of us is supposed to be aiming for Exoria - "
The Legion shot forward towards her in mid-sentence, its hand reaching out for Graf Eisen. The movement startled Vita and she was pulled off-balance as the cyborg yanked the weapon forward powerfully, dragging the Velka Knight around with it in a circle. Vita found herself getting dizzy very quickly.
"Calculating win-to-loss ratios," the Legion said mechanically, continuing to swing Vita around. "Computing likely opponent strategy: completed. Analyzing opponent weaknesses: completed. Probability of opponent victory: 62.3%. Initiating possible strategies to lower probability: in operation."
The cyborg hurled Vita down as Subaru came round from the other side, lashing out with the blades at the back of her feet to dash them against the Legion's chin, knocking it back several steps. The mage followed up with three hammer-like punches against the creature's chest, denting its armour slightly. The Legion blocked a fourth attack with the underside of one arm and backhanded Subaru back down to the ground, energy curling up in its other fist.
"Reactor Purge!" Subaru cast quickly.
The defence spell was unneeded as Vita leaped up from the ground at the Legion's unprotected side, lunging at the cyborg's neck. The Legion turned at the last second and released the spell meant for Subaru.
"Yagami Loreskill Activate: External Disembowelment."
White streams of magic surged forward to slash at the Velka Knight's body, twice, three times...six times. Vita howled in pain as several of the magic-enhanced blows came through her Panzerschild, and she shook off the last one as she swung Graf Eisen several times through the air, gaining force and speed with every rotation.
"Raketenhammer!" she screamed, and smashed the great hammer directly onto her foe at close range. The Legion's armour shattered before such power, revealing an under-shell of circuits and moving components, just like what lay under Subaru's skin. The cyborg's mind was alight with millions of pain receptors, but it shut them all away as another spell formed between its hands.
"Yagami Loreskill Activate: Healing Orb, Triple A."
A group of three shining red orbs appeared in the air, formed by the spell, and began to circle the Legion's body. Pillars of fire flaked from the edges of each orb as they rose higher, burning anything which got too close. Their opponent was on the defence, retreating to recover whilst the orbs kept the two Bureau mages at bay.
"Subaru," Vita advised, wiping blood off her chin as she dragged herself off the floor, "switch to long-range - "
But then she saw that the forward had already foolishly run straight at the Legion, heedless of the barrier of flame which revolved around at high speed. Then a second later, she saw the blue light of a Divine Buster preparing to fire. She was going to use it close-range? Would that penetrate through the flames, or would it backfire?
"Divine Buster!"
The flames disappeared in an instant, but not because of Subaru's attack; the Legion had recognised that it may not be able to survive against such a spell, and had withdrawn the defence spell, putting its energy into evasion instead. The super-powered energy beam burned through the cyborg's shoulder and almost hit Exoria.
The Legion came to its feet surprisingly quickly; its body armour had been completely destroyed and one of its arms lay disarmed and useless from the Divine Buster. There was nothing wrong with its main body functions, however. The cyborg raised its other arm, which opened out in four different panels to reveal a mechanical set of rolling cylinders. It clenched its fist hard, triggering the cylinders to release a bombardment of lasers and flaming bullets towards Vita and Subaru.
Vita threw up Panzerschild desperately, only to have it blasted to pieces within seconds. Subaru dashed in front of her, absorbing most of the bullets herself yet seeming to suffer only moderate damage. Was it something to do with the composition of a body as a combat cyborg? Vita wondered. Perhaps that could work to their advantage, for the Legion's weapons to have only a small impact on Subaru. Of course, that also worked both ways.
"Revolver Shoot!" Subaru shouted, increasing her speed under Excelion Mode substantially so that the majority of the Legion's projectiles missed her completely. From Mach Calibre came a sonic shockwave which rose to engulf the bulk of the lasers, almost deflecting them completely. The Legion gave up on trying to fire anything else at her and closed in to punch its damaged fist right into the mage's throat. Subaru fell back, gasping and choking.
We can't keep this up forever, Vita thought. We can probably beat the Legion at this rate but it's going to take ages, especially if it keeps pulling more weapons out of its pocket...what about the portal? Exoria! Has it been seven and a half minutes yet? Has she finished creating the portal?
She had lost track of time, but it definitely felt like they had been fighting for more than five minutes. They needed to finish this and take care of Exoria. The Legion was being beaten back enough that they could -
"Yagami Loreskill Activate," the Legion intoned, "Shield of Red Scorpion."
A faint shimmering of light appeared around Exoria and the barely-visible portal, forming into a powerful force-field which separated them from the rest of the room.
Damn it!
Then again, if there was a force-field in the way, how was anyone supposed to enter the portal? If they just focused on beating the Legion, the spell would be deactivated anyway.
Preoccupied with trying to get at Exoria, the Velka Knight didn't see the Legion aim its assortment of weapons right at her face until it was too late.
She felt the air go red around her and threw the Panzerschild back up again, anger rising within her. Her face stung all over, pain coming down to the collar of her neck, but she ignored it and re-cast Panzerschild multiple times as she dashed forward through the deadly maze of bullets and lasers, howling to high heaven as she dashed Graf Eisen down onto the Legion's weapon arm, mutilating it badly. Electricity crackled around the arm's circuits, and the weapons starts misfiring, firing in opposite directions and blocking up completely. Smoke came from the arm and it began to shudder violently, until even Vita decided to stay back from it in case it blew up in her face.
It didn't blow up, but it still went all the way towards her face regardless as the Legion whirled around to swing it hard at the back of her head. The agony drove Vita to her knees as she, enraged, charged her device up with a fistful of mana in one go.
"Tödlichschlag," she growled as the magic-enhanced attack struck from the tip of Graf Eisen's point to hit the Legion at the joint of its shoulder.
In the same instant, Subaru came forward with her own enhanced speed to punch Mach Calibre hard into the Legion's back, her fist already charged up by the shockwave from earlier.
"Revolver Cannon!"
With both arms put out of action and unable to retaliate, the Legion of Red Scorpion was sent flying by the combined attack, the remainder of its armour slowly breaking up. The cyborg hit the edge of the waning force field surrounding Exoria and the portal...and went straight through as the barrier flickered and died, unable to be sustained by its caster's dying power...
Exoria opened her eyes, victorious euphoria alight in her face. "I did it!" she crowed. "The portal's done! Finally!"
The Legion's body went through the barrier and rammed into her. The dark-haired Time Mage gave a muffled cry of surprise as the two of them were knocked against the side of the fragile portal.
The impact was hard enough to shake the entire room. What Subaru and Vita had hit the Legion with had packed as powerful a punch as a moderate amount of dynamite. It was not the kind of force which such a weakly-made portal would be able to sustain for very long.
Pushing the Legion off her, dazed and bleeding, Exoria stared up in utter horror as the portal to the Metaworld Sector faded away out of existence forever, breaking up from the impact of the crash.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Subaru and Vita tensed as one, ready to take her out if needs be. She probably would be a lot easier to defeat than the Legion, but the girl in front of them was on her knees with cuts on her face from where she'd dragged her own nails down. Her hair was in a mess as she clawed at her scalp, her scream dying away as she stared ahead wildly with bloodshot eyes, her expression one of murder.
"That's it," Exoria whispered. "I am done here. I am done with all of you! Do you know how much time and energy that took out of me? It drains the life. It drains the soul to create a portal to the Metaworld of all places. I've had to do it three times!" She gave the Legion's body a furious kick. "And you!"
Miraculously, the cyborg was still able to stir into a sitting position. Enough energy remained in its circuits to allow it to function at a low capacity, though it was no longer in any condition to fight.
"Exoria," the Legion gasped, "you must...rebuild...we must rebuild - "
"Drop dead, worm!" the dark-haired girl spat in disgust. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened her eyes and grinned from ear to ear, looking positively happy for the first time in quite a long time. Her eyes weren't full of madness, but alight with hope and delight. The change was quite hard to comprehend. "I told you I was going back to Yagami-sama after all this, and that's exactly what I'm going to do! I'm drained to the point that I wouldn't even be able to fight Hayate even if she did decide to show her face!"
"You can't..." breathed the cyborg on the ground. "Yagami-sama...will not merciful with you...for failing your mission..." It lurched to its feet, trying to keep itself together. "Exoria, you need to stay here...we must reach the Metaworld at all costs. The superior program is in danger, Grylmark has betra- "
"Chronological Time Switch!"
And a portal of peaceful white light appeared under the influence of Exoria's last spell. Her face shining, she moved towards the gateway, kicking the Legion aside as it tried to stop her.
"That's the last of my magic," she muttered, as if to herself. "Just to go...home. Go home. Yes. To Yagami-sama. I can tell her the Legion is dead. She'll listen to me, she will. Or maybe she'll hurt me. Who knows. Everyone dies." She smiled and lifted one slender arm to touch the light coming out of the portal. "So sweet. Light, my love. Nothing like the Metaworld. Sweet, purifying light. I'll celebrate it with you, Yagami-sama."
As they watched, Exoria disappeared into the strange white portal, leaving nothing behind as it silently sealed itself after her. All that remained were the two Bureau mages, bloodied and battle-worn, and what remained of the Legion as it stood in a daze against the rock walls. The world was still once more.
A/N: Next chapter has Nanoha and Fate.
Also, when I was proof-reading this chapter FFn had removed some underlines and italics from some places for some reason (probably something to do with formatting). I amended what I could, but if any parts aren't underlined properly or something, like spells, then that's why. But it should be mostly okay.