Lyrical Nanoha: Time Destruction

by HimeChaos

A new evil and a new enemy confronts Nanoha and her friends when Scaglietti is found dead in his cell. Elements of time-travel and an addition to the StrikerS timeline for everyone. Action-heavy plus NanoFate, with a wide range of characters to progress the story.

50. Chaos

A/N: There's a reason why this chapter is longer and why it took longer to write. And it's Hayate's fault. Yes. I'm blaming her.

The seconds ticked by at a painfully slow pace as Signum maintained her vigil at the edge of the northern district of Uminari City, watching the great hospital intently. Ever since she had split up from the others, the Velka Knight had constantly been on the lookout for any suspicious activity on the ground around the facility, anything at all to indicate a change in Vita's overall situation. It wasn't easy to keep herself in check, not now she knew for certain that the last member of the Wolkenritter was being kept inside that building, but Signum had already given Zafira her promise that she would hold back from taking any real action. That is, at least until Nanoha had heard about what was going on.

So far, however, time had passed in eventless silence for too long for her liking. Nothing of note was happening at all, leaving the pink-haired swordswoman with mixed feelings of frustration and near-helplessness as she paced restlessly. The lack of activity meant that Vita's plight hopefully wasn't getting any worse, but Signum's patience was beginning to wear thin, to the point that she might have welcomed an excuse to bust in there and get her friend out. Just what was going on down there? If it was Grylmark's illusion magic secreted within the force field, then why didn't he seem to be doing anything? Was he even there at all?

I could have gotten Vita out by myself by now, the tall Guardian Knight thought to herself. But she didn't know that for sure, just like she didn't know what manner of enemies might be waiting for the Bureau inside such a huge facility, nor how many there would be. The size of the hospital suggested that there would probably be a very large number housed within, but would that be too many for Nanoha and the rest of the TSAB to deal with? There were only a limited number of Bureau mages here in this world, so if the weight of numbers turned out to be against them, they would find it difficult to break through...

Signum took another look at the situation on the ground. She could only see the southern side in great detail from here, given that the facility was so vast in size, but there was still no sign of activity whatsoever. Not a sound, not the slightest movement, not even the signs of a single executor...if she didn't know better, the Velka Knight would have thought that the whole place had been extinguished of life. She'd already been to one dead planet without having to experience the same feeling of isolation all over again.

Curiously, she wondered if all the real action might be taking place at the other perimeters of the hospital. Each of them were at least five minutes of extra flight away from here. If Signum had been able to risk moving from her position, she might have thought to check them out. Just her luck to pick the side which was dead.

With rapidly waning patience, the swordswoman tightened her grip around Laevatein's hilt and gritted her teeth. Signum wasn't one to lose her cool in any situation, but the sense of urgency had now become quite acute. How long had Zafira and Erio been gone now? They should have reached Nanoha by now, so what exactly was keeping them? Anything could be happening to Vita in that hospital...

For Signum, the thought of standing by and doing nothing whilst one of her closest friends was potentially suffering was physically painful to her. The Velka Knight had been making cursory checks across the area every now and then just to check that Vita was still there, that she hadn't been moved somewhere else. Her efforts had yielded relatively satisfactory results, showing that Vita didn't seem to have moved at all in so many minutes. That had seemed rather suspicious to Signum, however, since Vita was usually the kind of person who wouldn't be able to sit still for very long...

I have to do something, she thought. She had been thinking that ever since she had known Vita was there, but being alone often prevented you from doing everything that you wanted to achieve. I've been monitoring the hospital for ages now and there's a complete lack of any activity. There's no danger in the area, the rebellion's already moved off into the rest of the city, and the signs of life are minimal at best. I could take down the force field right now without fear of retaliation.

At that, the swordswoman felt doubt begin to creep up on her, a combination of her strong feelings to rescue Vita and the unease that the consequences of such actions could be disastrous. She could dispel the magical barrier if she wanted to, but Signum had promised Zafira not to take any action by herself. It would not be honourable for her to go back on her word, especially not to a fellow member of the Wolkenritter.

Any attack that would alert Grylmark and his allies would be risky to some extent – they all knew that. But as things stood now, Signum didn't know when Nanoha would come back to advise her on their next step. If worst came to the worst and she ended up patrolling this dead area forever whilst something horrible happened to Vita inside that facility...no. The thought was too much to bear, and made up her mind for her.

Zafira, I will keep my promise with you, the Guardian Knight thought to herself solemnly, raising her sword in both hands. I will take no direct action of my own to rescue Vita until Nanoha arrives, but I will not just stand here doing nothing. That would be asking too much of me as a Velka Knight. I don't sense any enemies or traps on this side of the facility: whatever opponents we may face will lie inside the hospital. It should be safe enough to remove the magical barrier by myself, in preparation for when the rest of the Bureau arrives.

Initially, Signum had decided that dispelling the force-field would draw the attention of the occupants of the hospital and of Grylmark in particular. Whatever enemies lay within would treat it like an open attack and were likely to retaliate in kind, and she still couldn't see much of what was happening on the other sides of the facility. But now that she had been viewing the surrounds of the great building for some time, Signum didn't think that was going to be a problem. She was hundreds of metres above the ground of Uminari City – whatever tricks Grylmark had up his sleeve weren't going to be able to reach her. What was he going to do about it, anyway? Fire anti-aircraft missiles at her or summon one of his Manticores to destroy her?

Well, that was a good point now that she thought about it, but Grylmark would still have to reveal himself in order to do either. There weren't any hidden weapons in place around the building, not even under the small layer of illusion magic. Whatever Grylmark might try to do in response, Signum was well out of range of any attack from the facility.

The force-field uses up an enormous amount of energy. There isn't enough magic left to conceal any secret weapons or anything like that. I'm safe enough up here.

Nevertheless, she braced herself for the response that she was likely to receive as a result. If she took the shield down fast enough, Grylmark and his allies might even think the barrier had malfunctioned and shut down by itself. She just had to be quicker on her toes than they were.

"Bow Form!" the swordswoman cried.

Immediately, Laevatein's sword and scabbard changed shape within her hands and combined into a single weapon of long-range abilities, a perfect adaptation for the attack she had in mind. Within the device, an arrow of solid metal formed at will, glowing brightly in response as the Velka Knight began to infuse it with a steady concentration of mana. The arrow shone brighter and brighter with purple light, seeming to soak up the magical residue all around her as it grew in power, and Signum pulled back on the magic bow to take aim at the centre of the force-field. Her eyes narrowed as she watched out for any sign of movement below her, anything that might suggest that someone could be anticipating her attack...but there was nothing.

Satisfied, Signum finished charging the arrow up to maximum and let it fly, straight and true...

"Storm Falcon!"

The shimmering projectile sang through the air at blinding speed, sending streaks of violet and white magic soaring forth in its wake, and plunged right into the middle of the magical barrier protecting the hospital. Upon impact, the arrow exploded heavily to unleash a concentrated amount of destructive energy over a wide area and tore through the centre of the shield with devastating results. The entire force-field shuddered dramatically as a whole and buckled inwards, rocked by the multiple shockwaves that rippled through its exterior, and attempteed to regenerate the energy it had lost. For a few precious moments, it seemed that the barrier would be able to absorb the attack and remain standing, but Signum knew better: even from here, she could make out the sizeable hole in the shield where the arrow had made its mark. She had already made it through.

The force-field flickered on and off with the last attempts of a dying creature, struggling to keep itself online; from the looks of it, the shield appeared to be trying to draw reserve mana from the other sides of the facility, but there was simply too much power required to keep it going. Vast amounts of precious magical power were already draining out through the hole that Signum had made.

Seconds later, the force-field fizzled out and shut down completely. The barrier around the hospital had been de-activated, unable to cope with the severe drain upon its power, permitting the Velka Knight complete and unbridled access to whatever lay within. Signum permitted herself a smile, knowing that this rescue mission had only just begun.

That wasn't too hard.

Despite her small victory, however, she knew it wouldn't be wise to press any further into the hospital itself until Nanoha had arrived with the rest of the Wolkenritter to back her up. Signum knew when to keep her distance, and this was one of those times. Even now, her body was tensing up in preparation for the retaliating attack that she had been expecting...

Here it comes, the Velka Knight thought tensely. Grylmark's seen the force-field go down. He'll have noticed my attack, but he won't be able to pinpoint my position unless he reveals himself in person. Let's see what he does.

The next few minutes were incredibly melodramatic. There was no answering attack from the facility, nor any sign of movement to show that anyone had noticed anything. Frowning, Signum flew over to one side to check out the hospital grounds more carefully, decreasing her altitude in mid-air in the process. The magical barrier was gone, but nothing else had really changed. Perhaps it hadn't been enough to get Grylmark's attention.

"This is going to be easier than I thought," Signum muttered. "Now maybe I should - "

There was a tremendous crash off in the distance, the presence of a force of great enough magnitude to shake the ground below her. The Velka Knight stiffened and turned towards the noise, unsure from which direction it had come from exactly. Seconds later, another great crash sounded throughout Uminari City; this time, it was much louder and accompanied by a series of strangled hisses and rattles. Whatever the creature was, it was getting closer to her.

What was that?

The thunderous impact slammed into the ground barely a hundred yards from her position, and Signum almost lost her altitude in the sky. Quickly, she pulled herself together and prepared to confront the unseen enemy. It wasn't coming from the hospital, that much was for sure. Was it another enemy completely?

Without warning, the beast that was Srethis and Ungore's combined form rose up from the ground and slammed into Signum with full force. The hybrid's appearance had changed considerably since its initial creation in front of Exoria and Hayate, for it had now become an unrecognisable chaotic mess of mutated limbs, fangs and twisted magic. As the Velka Knight staggered back from the attack, the nameless horror whipped around with its tail and smashed into the side of her Barrier Jacket, sending her flying at a downward angle. Pain exploded across Signum's body as Laevatein was dashed from her hands, and she felt herself hurtling towards the ground of Uminari City at a death-defying speed...

"Gone," Ungore's head hissed, darting forth out of the monstrosity which reared before her. "Fallen. All is...chaos!"

Desperately, Signum tried to slow her descent; at hundreds of metres up in the air, a fall from this height would cause critical damage at least. To her horror, however, the Velka Knight discovered that her levitation magic was no longer working. What was going on here? The beast's surrounding magical field was unnatural and unknown: had it affected her flight magic negatively in some way? There wasn't anything holding her up in the sky anymore, ensuring that she was plunging down to earth faster and faster, unable to stop...

The air drastically changed above her. A whirlpool of fluids surrounded Srethis and Ungore's individual heads – the two heads, somehow, remained constant in form – and merged within one another whilst solidifying, so that you could no longer tell what was solid or liquid anymore. The mutated being rose up into the air again, moving within a tornado of firestorms that lashed out in all directions at once. Another agonised roar split the air above it, and the beast threw itself down into the ground uncontrollably, sustaining partial damage in the process.

The hybrid snarled from both of its heads, shapeshifted into a bloodied mass of tentacles and claws, and released a void of time magic from the base of its neck. Falling under gravity like this, there was no way for the Guardian Knight to dodge the attack, and she was blasted backwards at another angle completely. Her mind went blank from the closeness of it all, and Signum instinctively held her hands out in front of her defensively, bracing herself for the hard impact that was coming...

"Please...help us," Srethis whispered, the lizard's voice echoing out through the first of two heads that was squirming out through a mass of shattered darkness. "Please..."

She stared upwards at the chaotic mutation in bewilderment, not knowing how to react. The ghastly creature suddenly twitched and shuddered violently, and then reeled backwards as if suffering from great physical pain. If she hadn't been fighting so hard to stay alive right there, the Guardian Knight might have noticed a dark stain rising up from the monster's chest; through the harshness of multiple transformations, it had become wounded internally.

A beastly howl sounded from the twin heads, and then the hybrid took to the skies once more, leaving Signum wounded as she continued to fall at an unstoppable speed. The monster disappeared off into the outermost districts of the city, crashing into the earth again and again to spread devastation with every trace of its passing...

---

The chill of the wind was a light shiver across Fate's back, permeating through the barrier surrounding the mansion roof where the two blonde mages faced one another in silence. Within the boundaries of the House of Testarossa, the cold was only a slight discomfort; it was nothing compared to the shock felt by the Enforcer now as she gazed upon the revelation laid bare before her. An overwhelming wave of numbness had spread throughout her mind and nerves, her words dying in her throat. This couldn't possibly be real.

Alicia. It's Alicia. My sister.

I.C., Lady Testarossa, mistress of the House of Testarossa...all of the multiple names that the veiled woman had gone by over the years, titles which drove fear into the hearts of all who heard powerful mage who had kept Fate locked up within the mansion, written that questionable letter to her, terrified her into escaping, torn Nanoha away from her so brutally for her own ends, and then had brought her back here against her will. It was her.

Fate gazed into the dark pools of her mirror image with troubled eyes, barely able to believe what she was seeing. The face of the woman under the veil was none other than Alicia Testarossa. Her twin sister, deceased prior to Fate's own birth, from whom Fate had been cloned as part of Precia's wish to save her own daughter. In technical terms, the Enforcer was the success of Scaglietti's decades-spanning experiment, Project Fate, and Alicia had been the original product. Time seemed to stand still as the two twin sisters met eye-to-eye, facing each other at exactly the same height in their first true encounter.

My own sister, the Enforcer thought, a mixture of panic and numb terror rushing through her head. This...this can't be true. Alicia's been dead for many years, along with Mother and Linith. The Testarossa family doesn't live on anymore. Lady Testarossa has to be someone else, another clone that was made of the real Alicia, anything like that...

But she knew deep down that that wasn't the case. In an alternate universe of Mid-childa, events had escalated in a very different fashion to change almost every person she had known throughout her life. In the circumstances, a different version of history had rendered some of her loved ones to number among the deceased, and effectively brought other individuals back to life. The Fate in this world had supposedly died when she was a child, leaving Alicia to go on and survive by herself. It was the reverse situation to the life she had known with Nanoha and the rest of the Bureau.

Even after all these years, Fate still retained her earliest memories. They were memories of what Alicia and Precia had shared together from long ago, memories that she had believed in and thought to be real. It was only later with Nanoha and Chrono that the truth had come out, and Fate had discovered with horror that she wasn't the one with Precia in those dreams, that she had actually never experienced any of those precious moments firsthand. They were all Alicia's memories implanted into her mind by Precia, all for the purpose of making her act and behave as close to Alicia as possible...

Because of those memories, I know what the Alicia in my world was like before she died, just like I know what Mother used to be like before she changed. I still remember how I used to lie awake some nights and imagine what it would be like to meet my sister in person, to talk to and understand her with all my heart. But even then I knew...that she would be nothing like this.

No, the Alicia in this world was so dark and sinister on the inside, barely a shell of the sister that Fate knew of. Her own actions betrayed the depth of her inner thoughts. Fate had witnessed how her sister had turned a large fraction of Uminari City into a dead ruin just to get her attention, completely disparaging of the worth of human lives. There was a heightened fervour about Alicia's behaviour, a warning sign that she was prepared to go to extremes to get whatever she wanted. Ambition, pride and an almost obsessive single-mindedness to dominate in the nature of things...it was all there.

Fate didn't understand it, however. It didn't make any sense. Alicia shouldn't be like this at all, not the sister that she'd seen smiling and laughing in her memories. Why would her sister do such things – what would make her even contemplate it? It was true that no matter where you went in the world, there existed people who were capable of horrible, cruel acts of evil in their lifetime, simply because that was their nature. Fate didn't want to believe that the true was same of Alicia. Had something really dreadful happened to make her into this kind of person?

Standing this close to her sister, the Enforcer could trace every movement and sign of body language that passed across Alicia's face. She was absolutely identical to her in every aspect of her appearance – if not for their vastly different armours, you might have difficulty telling them apart from a distance – but the other Testarossa sister seemed so hollow, so lacking in many different emotions.

There was no hate, anger, bitterness or loathing in Alicia's eyes, nothing of the sort that Fate would have recognised before in another enemy of hers. No, there was something worse than that, something which seemed filled with pure and passionate devotion in a twisted, tangled kind of way...Love, too. Love and adoration. That was the disturbing thing: that Alicia might behave in the same way as another hate-filled enemy of the TSAB, but that she did so with the opposite in mind, whatever that might be. It was difficult to define unless you saw it for yourself, but it was in no way anything that Fate wanted to be associated with...

What happened to you, Alicia? the Enforcer whispered in the depths of her mind. She watched her twin breathe in deeply at the air around her, looking quite content. What happened to make you like this?

"Fate, why do you look so unhappy?" Alicia said softly. She reached out and drew the other mage close to plant a sweet kiss on her forehead. A tremor that ran through Fate's face as her sister made contact, but Alicia ignored it. "Don't feel like that, sister. I promise you that it won't be much longer before the two of us are united again. I've waited for this moment my entire life, and now you're here to partake in my happiness with me." Her eyes shone passionately, and she came forward to grip Bureau mage's hands tightly. "Fate...it will be just wonderful. You really have no idea, do you? Don't worry. You'll see what I mean soon enough, after the Cult of Neopocalypticon has imbued the real Fate's memories into you. By that point, you'll be yourself again. We won't need to believe in angels any more."

She was talking more excitedly now, the words pouring out of her in a rush of open emotion. Now that she had revealed her identity to Fate, Alicia seemed much more relaxed and at ease with the way she said things; her face was lit up by an inner euphoria, empty of the previous aggression and hostility that she had shown towards Nanoha. Seeing and hearing her speak like this didn't make Fate feel any better.

"I know you skipped out on dinner with me last night, Fate," Alicia went on. "But that's fine. I'm not angry at you anymore. We can have it today instead, after the last ritual is complete and everything is finally as it should be. We'll leave behind all of the broken humanities which have burdened us all this time, like pain and suffering and all the other ills of this world...oh, Fate, it will be just bliss!" She smiled happily. "Don't you see? It's a cause for celebration! A feast to your grand resurrection, Fate."

But I'm not dead, Fate thought, trying to push herself away from her sister. This wasn't right. I already have the memories of another Fate running through my head, because that's what I am: a clone of Alicia. When I look at this woman, my twin from another universe... I don't see my sister. Not Alicia.

"You're not her," the Enforcer breathed, a note of defiance carrying in her words. "You're not any sister of mine that I ever knew."

Alicia looked towards her wryly, a taunt already on her tongue. "Really, Fate? After I went to such lengths to refresh your memory, you don't even believe me? Sometimes I start to wonder whether the decade-long struggle was worth it. But then I look at you, Fate, and I think...yes. For my sister, the world is more than enough."

With an effort, Fate shook herself free from the other woman's influential words. Her jaw tightened angrily. "I don't know who you are or why you claim to be her, but you are not Alicia Testarossa," she said. "If you're trying to impersonate her, then you are doing a poor impression. My sister died a long time ago."

"Different universe, Fate," Alicia replied, quite unperturbed. "Different circumstances. You should understand that well enough."

"I wasn't referring to my world. I was talking about this one."

"Really?" Alicia curled a single lock of her golden hair around her finger, caressing it. It felt strange to watch your own twin move like that in such a similar way to yourself, and the sight served only to raise Fate's unease further. "Is my skin really so cold and lifeless? Am I dead to you, Fate? Believe me, I'm no stranger to that feeling." Her eyes narrowed suddenly, an unexpected edge coming into her words. "Do you know why the Family of Testarossa collapsed all those years ago? It was because of you, Fate. It was your fault for dying. Mother couldn't take it, and died in exactly the same way as you did, just a few weeks later. I was left all alone. But, really...some of us thrive when we're not surrounded by people, don't we? We get our energy and comfort from a lack of life in the world."

She sighed wistfully. "The truth is, Fate, I enjoy being alone. Even so, it's not quite the same without you by my side. I'm strong enough now to bring the House of Testarossa back to full power by myself, because the Cult of Neopocalypticon lent me their power and gave me strength, but I didn't want to do it alone. I could have started the elimination process already, wiping out all of the other Mid-Childan Houses one by one along with the rest of the competition, but I didn't. I wanted you to be with me when I did it. Don't you feel honoured to be a part of it, Fate?"

Her clothes shifted and turned incorporeal, making the mage's body transparent for a few moments, and then Alicia reverted to normal again as if nothing had happened. The two strange electrical devices clamped to her cheeks continued to whirr and hum, amplifying the Testarossa sister's magical energy to an overwhelming level.

It wasn't Alicia as Fate remembered her. This version of her didn't seem remotely human; either that, or something else had damaged her mind in some way. Those strange devices attached to the sides of her face, constantly renewing the power of her magical field, combined with those mysterious garments she wore...Fate suspected that either of them were the reason why Alicia never gave off any magical residue, why she could not be tracked or detected by ordinary means. In a way, her sister was virtually invisible on the radar of any Bureau mage.

Alicia's body is being flooded with a tremendous amount of magic right now, Fate thought. It's so potent that I'm feeling light-headed from standing so close to her. That level of concentrated mana in one body would become toxic over long periods of time. Even if it didn't drive you insane, it would be extremely unhealthy for any magic-user. Your body would be damaged in other, non-physical ways if you didn't start getting rid of all of the excess mana before long...

From the looks of it, however, Alicia didn't seem to be suffering at all; she seemed quite happy as she talked at Fate and laughed occasionally. Nevertheless, the Enforcer couldn't see how her sister could possibly sustain such a high flow of magic for so long. You'd need to be some kind of monster to hold all that in and not use it – the stream of magic would be constantly flowing back and forth, doubling back on itself, until it became more and more congested. Before long it would be clogged up with impurities and would cause damage to the user internally.

If I were to pull those devices off her face, would that put an end to the flow of magic? But they would have to be secreted quite deeply into her...what if it did more harm than good? I need to find out more about her first. Without knowing anything, I could make a drastic mistake.

"Tell me what happened all those years ago," Fate said quietly. "I'm not the Fate you're trying to bring back. If you don't tell me, Alicia, then I'm not going to understand. Was this what changed you?"

Alicia looked up into the distant sky for a moment with a thoughtful expression on her face, a wistful sigh escaping from her lips. "There is nothing to tell," she said at last. "When the real Fate takes control, she'll remember everything. There's no need to inform you."

"But it sounds like it was really important to you."

"Oh, yes. Yes, it was." Her sister smiled thinly. "Imagine an ordinary, happy family. Just Mother and I, with no Fate in the equation. No one to interfere and take the inheritance of the Testarossa legacy away from me." She saw surprise register in Fate's face at that and pushed forward with greater emphasis. "Do you know how powerful the House of Testarossa was back then, Fate? Can you imagine? Even Yagami paled in comparison to us. We were mighty, fearless and omnipotent in every way. The Mid-childan wars had made us so.

"But then you came to us, Fate. My twin sister. I found out later that Mother had secretly hidden you from me, perhaps hoping that I would never discover your existence. She didn't want me to know about the consequences of us meeting, but that only incensed me further. As I recall, you were brought up in a very different environment."

Alicia interlocked her hands with each other, a contentedly look about her as she reminisced fondly. "I loved you from the moment I set eyes on you, Fate. At the time, you were just another girl for me to play with, except of course that you looked exactly like I did. I'd never had a sister before, let alone a twin, and it was just so fascinating to be around you. But then...I noticed that there was a change going on in the Family. A change in the relationship between myself and Mother." An edge had appeared in the tone of her voice, though there was no accompanying alteration in her face. "I saw that Mother was giving a lot more attention to you, Fate. More than you probably deserved, and a lot more love than she was giving to me...and back then, I resented that. I still loved you, but I put up with it. I told myself I could bear with it.

"And then the question of the Testarossa assets came up. We were both heirs of the House of Testarossa, both entitled to a share of the family fortune. It wasn't just money involved, of course, but strength, resources, influence, worldwide contacts..." A shade of darkness passed across Alicia's eyes. "Mother chose you to take almost everything! Did she really love you so much? I really wasn't happy at all with her decision. I argued with her day after day, pleading with her, but she just told me I'd understand one day. I never did. We were very young back then, but we were old enough to know the value of inheritance!"

As Alicia was speaking, Fate became aware of a slight movement out of the corner of her eye that caught her attention. Something was happening to the barrier surrounding the roof, causing it to shift around slightly in a subtle fashion. Quickly, the Bureau mage turned round to try and pinpoint the source of the movement.

"I don't exactly remember what happened next after that," Alicia said mildly. "My mind becomes a blank space if I try to recall too much. I remember saying some things, and doing some things, but nothing that really stood out. But when I woke up the next day, I couldn't find you anywhere. My only sister had gone missing, and I became really worried about her. Hours later, after searching the entire house in vain, I thought to go into the garden to clear my thoughts." The previous light in her eyes had definitely gone out now. "And that's where I found you, Fate. Hanging limply from the tree.

"At first I thought that one of Mother's soldiers was responsible. We had more people than Yagami did, even if ours weren't quite as professional. But then later I saw Mother crying over you, and realised that everybody was crying. For some reason, I didn't really feel that sad. I knew what death was, and I knew you weren't alive anymore, but it never occurred to me to feel any different. Everyone dies, after all. In the end, I just ended up pretending to cry to fit in with everybody else at the funeral. Perhaps that was because I knew that you would come back one day, Fate...That's what I think."

Fate felt nauseous just listening to her sister talk like this. An iciness had settled inside her stomach, making her shrink away from Alicia's narrative. To hear somebody describe to you how an alternate version of yourself had already died in this lifetime, and in such a horrible fashion...no one wanted to be witness to that. But why had the past Fate died so suddenly? Why would the heir of the Testarossa family take her own life?

Despite hearing all this, the Enforcer still hadn't received the answers she'd been hoping for. There had to be a reason, but even Alicia had said that she couldn't remember what had happened, and there was a strange element of truth to her words. Could it be foul play after all? In this universe, then, Precia was gone as well. Everyone from the Family of Testarossa was gone, so that only Alicia and Linith remained...

"And this is where it ends," Alicia said suddenly. She whirled around and pointed at the Bureau mage with one finger. "I felt responsible for bringing you back again, Fate. You were my sister, my only family left. I knew that if only I could revive you, the two of us could make the House of Testarossa strong again. Many of my standard methods had no hope of succeeding, but my efforts led me to form a close relationship with the Cult of Neopocalypticon. Now they had some very original solutions of their own."

The barrier around the mansion was definitely moving more visibly now, and Fate stiffened in response to it. It was shrinking, in fact, closing in on the centre of the roof where she and Alicia were standing near to each other...

"Who are they, then?" Fate said sharply, moving inwards to the centre of the roof to brace against the closing barrier. "What is this Cult of Neopocalypticon?"

Her twin sister shrugged off the question casually. "Oh, them? They're nothing much. A foolish little sect of people who go around wearing black and putting hoods on. You know the type. I never though they were that important, really, for all the ego they possess; the Cult of Neopocalypticon make themselves so secretive that now they have barely any members at all. As you might expect, they tend to preach a lot about their glorious leader Neopocalypticon, whoever he is, without giving out much about what else they do." She turned round to face the other side of the barrier, her clothes shimmering lightly. "You went into the garden of the mansion, didn't you, Fate? They have a nice little shrine in there that I helped set up for them, something to keep them out of trouble. Maybe you saw it."

The Enforcer recalled doing so the night before, stumbling through the moonlit garden whilst trying to escape from the House of Testarossa. Yes, she remembered now. A group of shadowy figures had been walking around a large statue with torches and chanting out loud, in the guise of a mystical ritual And the statue had been...

"Yes," she said slowly. "I saw it. The "shrine" was a statue of me."

Alicia laughed easily. "No, Fate. It wasn't. I love you to pieces, but I'm not so crazy that I'll go around building statues of my sister when she hasn't even been resurrected yet. It was a statue of me, Fate, constructed long before I made contact with any of the cult's members. Lavish and a little bulky, but it serves its uses."

She snapped her fingers in the air, walking round on the spot as a golden light rose forth from her garments. "I think we've talked enough...fake Fate that you are. The Cult of Neopocalypticon will take over from me now and deal with you for processing. They advised me that I would need a clone of my sister to meet their requirements, and now I have one. You, Fate!"

The magical barrier was shrinking faster and faster now, converging on Fate as she struggled to keep in the centre of the roof. She forced herself not to panic, focusing instead on what she could do. Was there a way to break through the barrier? No, she'd already tried that when she first arrived here, and flying magic had already been disabled. A magic spell of some kind, perhaps? Was there still time for that?

At this distance, the Enforcer could see that there were people hidden behind the outside of the great barrier – tall, hooded figures, dressed in black, just like Alicia had said. They must be the members of the Cult of Neopocalypticon, manipulating the barrier from the outside as they forced it in upon her...

What are they doing? Are they trying to crush me with that thing? No...they're using it to corner me in the centre of the roof. Fear rose in her eyes as she realised what that meant. They're going to forcing me into one single position to concentrate their magic on me. I have to get out of here!

Fate whirled around to confront Alicia, knowing that her sister was also trapped within the barrier. Surely she would be caught by the cultists as well? But then she saw with horror that Alicia's body was turning incorporeal again, becoming see-through and transparent as she gradually began to fade away...

"I've used up a lot of energy getting you here, Fate," Alicia whispered. She was disappearing into a faint outline, her features blurring and becoming more obscure. "I used up just as much energy to deal with that woman you were with. What did you say her name was? Nanoha? Don't worry, Fate. She won't be coming to save you this time. She doesn't have the capacity or the power."

The Bureau mage felt her heart skip a beat. Nanoha?

"What did you do to her, Alicia?" she said in a low voice, marching forward towards her. "If I found out that you've hurt Nanoha in any way..."

But the other woman wasn't even listening to her, choosing to wave away her protest with a simple uncaring gesture. "Sadly, I can't be here to witness your resurrection with my own eyes, Fate," she said in a voice that was barely audible any more. "Thanks to your continuous attempts to elude me and run around the city for no reason, I've found myself running low on my own resources. I will need to recharge for a small amount of time, but I can't do it in a place like this.

"By the time I return, Fate, I won't have to talk to myself anymore. I'll be able to talk to my real sister at last, all because you made it possible for me. So thank you, Fate!" A wild smile spread over her face, a faint shimmer that began to fade away with the rest of her body. "I haven't been talking to you all this time, you know. I've been talking to the real Fate who is waiting for me! I know she'll be a lot happier to see me than you are, Fate! I know that she would rejoice more than anything in the world!"

"Alicia!" the Enforcer yelled, as the blonde woman disappeared completely. "Alicia!"

There was no answer. Her sister was no longer here anymore, having left her here at the mercy of the Cult of Neopcalypticon. The walls of the barrier pressed against the Bureau mage with greater urgency, hemming her into the centre of the roof where the transition would take place, and she found herself being pushed backwards no matter how hard she resisted. They were going to try and force the essence of a long-dead Fate into her, complete with living memories and whatever twisted magic they had used to get it. Every single thing about such a plan screamed madness to her.

With fire in her eyes, Fate whirled around to face the hooded cultists converging towards her on every side. She would not be taken. She wouldn't let them do this to her, not now that she knew Nanoha was out there, so close and yet so far. If she could just find a way to break through that barrier of theirs, and stop them performing that crazy ritual...

"Let's go, Bardiche," she said.

Her magical field came to life in activation of a spell, targeting the closest of the cultists. With grim determination, Fate gripped her weapon and prepared to make her stand.

---

It was common knowledge within the House of Yagami that you did not interrupt the mistress of the mansion when she was in the middle of doing something vitally important. It was also common knowledge that you didn't force yourself into Yagami's chambers holding a gun in each hand after beating up almost every security guard in the house, with blood streaming down your face and body that screamed bloody murder. There wasn't anything written down in the house rules about doing either of these things, but it was understood by the Family that you did not do them.

In fact, there was a mental list of very good reasons why you shouldn't, and if anyone had ever stopped to write them down then they would soon fill out several books by themselves. It wasn't just common knowledge, it was common sense. A basic survival instinct for the residents of the mansion, even.

Unfortunately, Kagura Labinnac did not abide by any of these rules. She considered herself above just about every law that had been put into effect by humankind since the dawn of time, whether it affected her or not. If she could have been bothered to learn magic, it would probably only have been a matter of time before she started rebelling against the natural laws of physics and gravity, just to show that she could.

The red-haired assassin shoved herself past Arisa as she climbed the stairs to the next floor where Yagami's chambers were situated. None of the guards on duty dared to bar her path, making haste to get out of the way as fast as they could. It was understood that Kagura had free rein to do however she pleased in the House of Yagami, not that anyone in the Family could do anything about it. If necessary, Arisa could carry out the appropriate procedures to keep the army girl under some degree of control, but the circumstances weren't quite extreme enough for that yet. There was so much more damage that a Labinnac sister could wreck with her own hands.

Kagura whipped her shotgun round and blasted a few shells into the surrounding walls to keep her hands from itching. The last of the security guards around Yagami's doors turned tail and fled before her, leaving her a clean path to her goal.

"Yagami!" she shouted.

She shouldered the shotgun and levelled a hard kick at the doors of the antechamber. They came down in a few well-placed blows, sending a mound of splintered wood into the room beyond.

From within, three faces of high-ranking Family members turned round in reaction to her dramatic entrance. Absolutely none of them were pleased to see her, with the possible exception of Suzuka; the purple-haired steward always seemed to be wearing the same smile no matter the occasion, so Kagura often found it difficult to tell what she was really thinking. Still, none of that really mattered to her. She wasn't here to make friends: she was only here to get paid for eliminating targets. Aside from Elsie, Kagura couldn't remember the last time when anyone had rejoiced at her arrival.

The mistress of the House of Yagami was seated in her wheelchair as always, with Suzuka standing loyally at one side to attend to all her needs. Next to them stood the grey-haired figure of Lideri, the librarian of the Family, who had apparently been engrossed in an important conversation with the other two women. Kagura was surprised to see her here; she had been of the opinion that the old lady rarely left the library at all.

"What is this?" Lideri said quietly, a look of great annoyance present on her face. "Kagura. I am in the middle of a very important meeting with Yagami-sama. We cannot be interrupted."

"Cancel it," the assassin replied uncaringly, hardly bothering to look at the librarian. She stepped into the antechamber, crushing wooden splinters beneath her boots like lesser worms she had felled in the past. "I don't have time to wait for your fucking meetings to end. I'm here for my payment from you, Yagami. Make it quick."

Yagami's hands had been clamped tightly around the sides of her wheelchair, clawing at the thick material which encased it, just like she did whenever she was having extreme difficulty concentrating. The noise caused by Kagura breaking the door down had gone right through her head. As Suzuka laid her comforting hands on her arms and shoulders, however, the murderous rage in Yagami's eyes gradually died down and allowed self-control to take precedent. With great reluctance, the mistress kept a tight rein on her initial instincts and forced herself to calm down; before long, the burning feeling inside her had faded to an icy glimmer.

"Kagura, you do not interrupt me in the middle of my meetings," she whispered in a dangerous tone. "I have given you a lot of privileges that many others would be crucified for. You have been allowed free passage through the mansion. You have been allowed to play with the lives of lesser residents of the House of Yagami as you see fit, so long as the death toll is kept to a moderately low number. But you will not intervene on my thoughts when I am trying to concentrate!"

"Rules," the assassin snapped back venomously. "You and your fucking rules, Yagami. Mid-childa has reached its ideal state now and there are no rules or restrictions. Everyone can now taste freedom – pure absolute freedom." A hungry smile flashed across her features. "Freedom to kill whoever you please without heed of the consequences."

The mistress of the household eyed her with great distaste and had to force down the new wave of fury rushing through her. If anyone else had dared to act in such a way that Kagura did, she would have immediately had them executed. No, in fact she wouldn't have needed to resort to that; Arisa would have already seen to such troubles by herself. The Family's head of security was very resourceful, after all.

Yagami hated having to deal with Kagura like this. She hated having to give her "special treatment" just because the woman happened to be a member of the Family of Labinnac. It was important to preserve good relations with the other Families that they were allied with, but how much longer was this going to last? Look what had happened to Alicia Testarossa, after all. Look how everything had changed in such a short amount of time...

Kagura should not be here at all, the mistress thought to herself angrily. I gave orders to Wyvern to tell her to report to the House of Testarossa for her payment, rather than here. In truth, however, I wasn't really expecting Kagura to comply, not a corrupt Sinner of the likes of her. It pains me to admit it, but her questionable heritage sets her free from any control I might have exerted over her. If not for her sister, Felicity, I would never put up with any of this...an excuse to eliminate Kagura once and for all would be certainly a great relief to all of us.

"We will have to continue our conversation a little later, Lideri," she said in a steely tone. "Once again, Kagura has decided that the universe revolves around her."

The red-haired army girl grinned. "Course it fucking does. Without me, you fools wouldn't be getting half of your contract money. You need me."

No, Kagura, we don't, Yagami seethed in the silence of her mind. I have numerous assassins who could have done any of the high-profile jobs you carried out. I keep you on because you tend to do them more efficiently, and I do so also out of respect for your older sister. Don't start getting ahead of yourself, Sinner.

"So Chrono is dead," she said out loud. "I couldn't help noticing that little fact, Kagura. Perhaps it was the smell of Uminari City going up in flames around me, or the cries of thousands of people dying. I really couldn't tell which."

"That's right," the assassin smiled. "It was so easy, and he deserved it. Now are you going to fucking pay me or not?"

Yagami wondered if Kagura fully grasped the concept of what she had done. With the death of one man, the Harlaown Program had gone down and sent the world into hell. The mistress had surmised from her conversation with Lideri so far that Mid-childa would not survive much longer, and that the House of Yagami would have to make drastic steps of their own. Whatever did Kagura hope to achieve from this? A war-like climate in which she thrived? Was that all she really lived for?

There's a war going on, and all she cares about is...money. There's nothing to stop her marching into the middle of a bank and getting all the cash she needs from there. But then again, I know that the Labinnacs have a strict method of doing certain things. Perhaps this is the only way she knows how to live.

"Suzuka, issue a direct payment to our ferocious female friend here," she said. "I take it that the usual method of receiving it into your electronic account is no longer available, Kagura. Online finances have all been frozen throughout Mid-childa, but the House of Yagami remains independent as ever."

She tightened her grip around one arm of the wheelchair in increasing frustration, feeling time slip further and further away from them. Lideri had good reason to be especially annoyed at Kagura for interrupting their meeting. Today, of all days...the Family didn't need to tolerate freelancers like this Sinner. There were much more pressing issues at state that they had to deal with on the spur of the moment...

Suzuka finished the transaction at last and tore off the receipt at the end to hand over to Kagura. The assassin grabbed it from the steward obnoxiously, her eyes lighting up greedily at the value written there. At the same time, the amount wasn't hugely important to her. So long as it was enough to keep Elsie fed for another year or so, then it would continue to be satisfactory.

"Please see Arisa for the full debited amount," the purple-haired steward explained dutifully. "She will be able to process the receipt for you."

"Good. Very good." Kagura stuffed the slip of paper inside her belt. "Now. Before I go, the question of my next job, Yagami - "

"There is no next job," the woman in the wheelchair said coldly. "The House of Yagami is taking no more contracts."

Surprise glittered in the assassin's green eyes, followed almost immediately by alarm. "What?"

"You heard me, Sinner." Yagami found herself taking a rare kind of satisfaction in this. "By taking the life of Chrono Harlaown and condemning Mid-childa to anarchical chaos, the future of our world has become uncertain. For now, the House of Yagami will focus not on progression, but on survival. You carried out the deed, Kagura. It was you who doomed yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Kagura demanded, readying the shotgun in her hands again. "You can't terminate all the jobs going out just because it's more convenient for you! I have a sister to feed!"

The women in the wheelchair pressed her hands to her temples and closed her eyes. "Don't tell me that you really think you can live to see the end of Mid-childa, Kagura. The amount of money I have already given you will keep you set until then, but I don't see how you can actually use any of it. Those who could trade with you are probably now dead, victims of the rebellion...all by your own hand."

The army girl stared at her in near-shock. Slowly, she pulled the precious receipt out from her belt, the tension shaking through her muscles.

"Why do you worry about money anymore, Kagura?" Yagami said lightly, opening her eyes again. "Your actions have led Mid-childa into total anarchy. In such an environment, gold is now one of the most worthless commodities upon the planet." A thought occurred to her then. "Perhaps you could find a weaponsmith and buy some more bullets for your gun, once you run out of people to kill. You'd like that, wouldn't you, Kagura? I know you would."

Hopelessness and desperation loomed fiercely in the assassin's face, contorting with the mocking tone of the other woman's words. With a cry, she pushed forward a step and levelled her shotgun right at Yagami's head, the tip of her finger mere inches away from the trigger.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't blow your head off right now, Yagami," Kagura hissed, her teeth grinding together in torment. "Give me one fucking reason."

The mistress raised her head and peered curiously into the end of the barrel. She hadn't had the opportunity of looking into the end of a gun for some time now, but nevertheless it turned out to be everything she expected.

"Now, now, Kagura," said Suzuka in a kindly tone, stepping forward towards the assassin unexpectedly. "Let's not be too hasty here. You shouldn't throw your life away like that. You're a lively and energetic young woman, among other things, and I would be sad to see the end of you."

"End of me?" the army girl repeated. "I'm the one holding the gun!"

"Of course you are, Kagura. Of course you are." The steward laid her hands on the side of the shotgun with passive calmness. "Let's see if we can come to some kind of agreement. We'd like you to be able to leave the mansion without getting hurt, if possible."

Kagura glared at the purple-haired woman, finding herself a bit annoyed by the way Suzuka was always constantly smiling. They were probably all brainwashed by Yagami in some twisted fashion, she told herself. That had to be it. Why were they acting like she was the one in danger?

"Forget it," she snapped, pulling the gun away from Yagami. "You're not even worth killing. I don't have time to spend here listening to you!"

"For once, we are in agreement," the mistress said coolly.

"What are you even going to do, Yagami? What the fuck are you going to do without any jobs coming in?" The assassin felt as if everything she had done so far had been for nothing. Yes, she had started the biggest civil war in Mid-childa for centuries, and she'd enjoyed doing that, but... "No contracts, no jobs, no income! How are you going to support the Family without any of that? We all need to live!"

"We will not be staying here much longer," Yagami answered. "The war you have brought upon Mid-childa is eating into our own resources. We have decided to move to another site completely."

Kagura looked as if she were mad. "What do you mean, move? You can't move! The mansion is right here in the ground!"

The grey-haired form of Lideri stepped forward here, clearing her throat to get the woman's attention. "We will be engaging in a time switch, Kagura," the librarian said stiffly. "Transportation in time and space is what I was discussing with Yagami-sama before you so eloquently interrupted us. If you like, we can take you with us when we leave. That way, you'll have a chance of avoiding the catastrophe about to befall Mid-childa once and for all."

Time switch? Catastrophe? The assassin didn't understand anything of what these people they were talking about. First Yagami was stopping the flow of jobs, just because of the lack of government, and now...time travel? What was this? They were all crazy, Kagura told herself. Yagami, Lideri, even Suzuka...they had all gone out of their minds. The only sane person in the room was her.

"Lideri, we can't take her with us," Yagami spoke out. "We only have a set number of Yagami Bracelets for each of us. We can't spare any more for Kagura."

The librarian smiled tightly. "I see. That's a shame." The satisfaction in her voice told a different story than her words. "In that case, Kagura, you'll probably have to find a way to escape on your own. We can't help you any more. This will be the last time that any of us will see you again."

You're crazy, the army girl repeated in her mind, the same two words again and again until it became a drone. You're crazy, you're crazy, you're all fucking insane...

"You're out of your minds," she said in a near snarl, baring her teeth. "All of you. You've lost it! I worked for you for years, Yagami. I already knew you were pretty batty, but now you're talking about stupid shit like time travel and fuck knows what else?" She dragged the shotgun back up to shoulder-level again and began to back away, towards the smashed-in doors. "Don't touch me! Don't a single one of you touch me! I'm getting the fuck out of here. I don't have time to fool around with you lunatics. I have a sister of my own to feed! Don't ever come near me again, Yagami, or I'll kill you! I swear it!"

With the sound of harsh breathing in her throat, the assassin fired one last shell into the ceiling, showering the three Family members with wood and broken plaster to conceal herself from their sight, just for an instant. And then Kagura was gone, running back down the stairs in a bid to get as far away from the House of Yagami as possible, wanting to get away from all of this obvious madness. Her journey here had been a waste of time; the receipt in her hands was useless. All that mattered...well, what mattered anymore? The answer was obvious to her: Family. That's what mattered. That's all she had to care about...

Behind her, Yagami, Suzuka and Lideri watched in silence as the army girl departed from the mansion, a great feeling of relief permeating throughout their group. Not a single one of them had raised their hands to attack her in any way. Without any further comment on the assassin's behaviour, the three women returned to the intellectual conversation about time travel that they had been having just minutes ago...

---

Exoria dropped to the ground and nursed her wounds, glad to be able to take a breather at last. The amount of damage dealt to the surrounding area by Srethis and Ungore's attacks was colossal: cars and armoured vehicles lay smashed up and scattered across the entire street like broken toys, almost every building in sight had now been transformed into an unrecognisable smoking ruin, and the road itself was cracked and split apart from the force of the hybrid's stampede. The three of them were lucky to be alive; if not for Hayate's quick thinking, they might not be standing here at all.

Next to her, the Legion was watching the sky carefully where their enemies had departed so suddenly. The last they'd seen of them, Srethis and Ungore's hybrid form had gone raging out of control before disappearing in a mass of chaotic shadows towards the other city districts. The Time Mage didn't know what kind of corrupt changes could be happening to the two creatures right now; perhaps Srethis and Ungore would end up mutating into something even more bizarre whilst causing additional damage across Uminari City. As long as the hybrid was far away from here, however, Exoria didn't see why she should pay them any more heed. The important thing was that she, Hayate and the Legion had survived.

"We can't stay here," the dark-haired girl panted, holding Hayate up with one arm across the back of her shoulder. She was a little battered and bruised in several places, but her injuries were nothing too serious. "If Srethis and Ungore come back to finish us, we won't stand a chance. Hayate, can you tell if there's anywhere nearby where we can take cover?"

The Legion intervened before the Bureau mage could answer. "Lady Exoria, there are no walls strong enough to protect us from such power," the cyborg said. "From my analysis of the situation so far, taking into account the existence of the civil war and our lack of protection, I estimate our probability of long-time survival to be extremely low. I highly suggest that we find a way of concealing our location before taking any further action."

A distant crash slammed into the earth from somewhere else in Uminari City, and the three of them tensed up in response. The hybrid was already drawing closer to them. Unless they thought of a good plan to fight back, and fast...

Hayate pulled herself upright, knowing instinctively that this was not a good time to be blind in Mid-childa. She couldn't see, couldn't manoeuvre properly, couldn't fly with complete confidence, couldn't aim any of her spells properly...with the loss of such vital functions, the Bureau mage had been rendered helpless in nearly every way possible. It was mind-boggling how much you took certain things for granted, and then broke down when they were taken away from you without warning. Nevertheless, she had been learning to make the best of the situation.

She activated her sensory magic, and almost immediately detected the huge amount of destruction that scarred the earth around them. Srethis and Ungore's attacks had undoubtedly been used on a very large scale, and their small group would be hard-pressed to find anywhere strong enough to protect them. Strength and force of that magnitude, capable of crushing houses and uprooting trees with little effort...where were they supposed to go? Even her Barrier Jacket would be severely damaged if it took a blow like that.

Wait a second. What if we keep heading towards Grylmark's hospital facility, just like we were doing up to now? It sounds crazy, but if we can somehow get inside, then we'll be a lot safer from any similar attacks that Srethis and Ungore try to use upon us. Surely Grylmark would have the facility well-defended...

No, that would create even more problems for the three of them. A lot of extra problems, in fact. From the way Ungore had been talking before, the alien and the lizard had probably come directly from the facility, meaning that going in that direction would threaten to make the current situation even worse. Frustrated, Hayate tried to wrack her brains for a better solution...what about Nanoha and the rest of the Bureau? If only she could contact them in time and -

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by something which sent warning bells ringing through her head. She had been concentrating too much on their plight in general, and not paying enough attention to what was physically going on around her. Right now, Hayate realised she could detect a large body of mass flying towards their position at a very high speed, a life-form that burned with a familiar array of magic and screamed danger in her mind...

"Exoria," she whispered. "We're in trouble."

She only caught a glimpse of the startled look on the Time Mage's face before Srethis and Ungore's combined form re-appeared in the sky above them and literally dive-bombed into into the end of the street with a tremendous, earthshaking crash. Everything in the immediate vicinity was completely obliterated within the space of a single, explosive impact. Hayate and her two companions were instantly thrown off their feet, crying out in alarm.

The end of the road caved in as if devoured by the earth itself, sending a great rolling storm of dust and smoke from the debris that stung across the faces and arms of their group. The Bureau mage managed to shield her own body from the worst of it, holding onto Exoria for balance as she struggled to get to her feet again. A monstrous howl rose up from the great hole in the street: a sound that echoed from two heads at once.

"Oh no," Exoria said, wide-eyed in terror. "They're...they're back. "

The lifeform comprising of Srethis' and Ungore's mutated forms reared to its full height and loomed out of the smoke menacingly, the sound of its approach cracking across the landscape like a roll of thunder. What remained of Grylmark's magic now burned across the creature's colossal fists in a powerful aura that seeped darkness and shadows with every passing ripple of movement. Gone was the uncontrollable chaos from before. Gone was the constant shape-shifting between separate transformations. Instead, the hybrid had taken on a similar appearance to its first form – the heavily muscled purplish torso, rock-like fists, twin heads and deadly swinging tail – only now, its body was ringed by a glowing circle of magic.

They've managed to regain control over Grylmark's magic, Exoria realised, her legs shaking as she fought to stand. What...what happened to them? They look like they became even stronger!

"Hayate," the reptilian head hissed. "You may be a friend of Vita, but Srethis regrets that it can no longer guarantee your safety. Srethis tried to warn you. Your companionss have brought thiss on themsselvess."

A massive mutated foot stomped down into the middle of the road, carving a burning hole into the rocks underneath. The dark shadows danced around the hybrid's body and clung to it like smoke, inflicting gash-like wounds upon everything it touched.

"It's useless to try running now, " the Ungore-head rasped. "There is no longer anywhere for you to go." The orange eye settled its terrible gaze upon Exoria. "We had some teething problems earlier, but no longer! Srethis and I worked together to use up all of Grylmark's excess magic and regain control of this form. Now we have the benefit of magic-enhanced abilities to aid us! You're all dead!"

To her dismay, the Time Mage found herself agreeing with the alien. Their group consisted of a blind girl who needed guidance to aim properly, a combat cyborg who had lost the use of all of its magic, and...herself, with nothing but an average melee weapon and maybe a small attack spell. None of them had anything which would be effective against such a powerful beast, and now that the hybrid had accumulated additional magic of its own...

This is hopeless. We don't stand a chance against this thing!

"Hayate," Exoria said desperately, turning to the one option she had left. "Hayate, please tell me that you've got a plan to get us out of this, okay? Because we really, really need one..."

The Bureau mage only shook her head sadly in response. Even she had run out of ideas.

"Hayate?" the dark-haired girl turned around to look at her strangely. "Please. There's no time left. Don't tell me it's hopeless." Her voice was beginning to rise in pitch, showing faint signs of hysteria. "You...you've saved my life twice three times already. You can do it again, right? Right? Don't...don't tell me that we aren't going to make it - "

Again, Hayate shook her head. "I'm sorry, Exoria," she said quietly in a voice filled with pain. "There isn't enough time for me to be able to fire more than one spell at that creature, and the depth of magical energy coming off it is too strong. Even if I try flying, my levitation magic weakens if I'm not able to concentrate on it, and if I can't see..." She sighed. "I'm all out of ideas. This time, Exoria, you're on your own. I'm sorry that I can't help you any more."

The Legion marched forward to stand in front of the two girls, raising its fists for a fight to the death. The mutant towered over the cyborg, about five times their height, and leered down at them with an ugly smile.

"Lady Exoria," the Legion said urgently. "You should escape from here while you can. I will buy you some time."

The dark-haired girl was staring at Hayate with a complicated expression on her face. It was hard to tell what was reflected in those eyes of hers – betrayal? Shock? A combination of the two? Whatever it was, the Bureau mage was glad that she couldn't see it, because the weight of guilt was slowly crushing her from the inside.

If I could think of something that would work, I would do it, she thought in despair. But there's nothing left to try. I've gone through every possibility here and all of them just end up in failure. The enemy is just too powerful, and my handicap stops me from fighting properly. This time, Exoria...I can't save you.

Another foot burned through the ground as the hybrid advanced steadily towards the Legion, a series of malicious hisses and growls resounding from its two throats. The Time Mage hesitated, and then took a brave step forward to stand next to the cyborg. Her face paled with fear as she looked up at the fearsome beast, but she managed to hold her balance.

"I ...I guess we don't have much choice, then," Exoria said, swallowing hard. Her eyes flashed as she glanced towards Hayate one last time, and then determination hardened her resolve. "We'll fight it together, Legion. You and me. I've depended on others for too long now."

"Exoria?" Hayate said in a surprised voice, not sure she had heard her right. "You – you can't mean - "

"Yes, I do." The dagger in her hand glinted in the dim sunlight, and her jaw tightened in preparation for battle. "I've relied on you this whole time, Hayate. I've put far too much on your shoulders. I've carried you here whilst expecting you to do all the dirty work for me, to defend me, to fight for me, to see that I would be able to make it to redemption...and it was stupid of me. It was really stupid of me, you know? The Legion is my designated guardian, not you, but I chose to ignore that. I know now that I'm not going to make it. Maybe...maybe I never had a chance in the first place..."

Her voice shook, and she felt tears well up in the corners of her eyes. "You changed me, Hayate. You changed me for the better, where nothing else could. If not for you, I would have run for my life a long time before now, because I'm a born coward. But now...I don't think I want to do that. I don't want to leave you here to die." Her words began to rise in volume, though her face was still pale with fear at the reality of what she was about to do. "I'm not going to run away anymore, because I've finished with that forever! I've always run from my problems, and it never solved a single thing! This one time, I'm going to try protecting someone for the first time in my useless life!"

"Lady Exoria - " the Legion began, but the dark-haired girl turned on them savagely in an instant.

"Don't give me that kind of talk, Legion! I don't want to hear that from you! I don't want to hear you say my mistress is in danger and this is against my programming. There's no other option, you idiot! The purpose of your main program is to obey my orders. And right now, Legion, I order you to allow me to fight with you, and die with you if that's what it comes to!" Exoria gripped the cyborg's metal arm tightly and slashed at the empty air in front of her with her other hand. "Hayate! Fly away from here as fast as you can whilst we distract Srethis and Ungore. I know you can't see. I know that! But you can make it out of here and find the rest of the Bureau. You can do that as long as we keep this monster busy!"

"Exoria, no!" the Bureau mage cried, her heart breaking inside of her. "Don't do this! You musn't - "

It was too late. The mutated hybrid was too close for either of them to back out now. Twin howls rose from the beast's heads in anticipation as it raised a massive foot to crush the Time Mage and the Legion once and for all. A surge of time energy raced across the length of its muscled legs to fly like a bullet towards their position, the attack which would cripple them before the great fall.

Exoria felt a strange dizziness reside within the inside of her head, just for a few moments. She knew that she'd never actually done this before. She could fight, yes, but never had she found herself fighting to protect the life of another person – someone who would most likely perish without her, someone that she deeply cared about. It was a new, explosive feeling speeding across the edge of her consciousness that Exoria had never experienced before, the sensation of putting her life on the line for a reason that went beyond her own survival...

I've decided, the dark-haired girl thought, her pulse racing. I'm going to show you what I'm made of, Hayate. You better watch me! She hastily amended herself, knowing that technically Hayate wasn't going to see her with her eyes. You know what I mean.

The Time Mage positioned herself into a crouch, watching the tendril of Grylmark's magic dart forward at her, and raised her hand rapidly in response. She knew she couldn't survive for very long against such a monster. However, just this once, she was in her element. The small shard of Grylmark's magic racing towards her was a manifestation of Oguba's power. In other words, it was time magic – and Exoria knew all about time magic.

"Time Destruction!" she cried, and expelled the blaze of black energy in her hand towards the approaching shadows with full force.

The opposing magic split down the middle, rippled and then spit half of the spell back at her in a lash of sparks and darkness. Pain lanced across her forehead as the recoil blasted Exoria backwards by several feet – and then the monster's foot slammed down into where she had been standing before, obliterating the last piece of road remaining. Dazed, Exoria sat up on the ground for a vital moment before realising that she was still alive. She still had a chance.

With renewed vigour, and feeling as if something was finally going right for her for once, the Time Mage hurtled forward with a cry and slashed round in a full circle. The dagger in her hand scythed through the air and raked at the mutant's leg at five different angles, yet barely made a single mark at all. Her weapon evidently wasn't good enough to harm her opponent.

Indignantly, Exoria lunged forth and and buried her dagger deeply in the monster's thick purple flesh with all her strength. There was still no reaction from her enemy at all, nothing to show that it had felt such a tiny pinprick. Quickly, she realised she had made a mistake and tried to pull the weapon out again -

The Legion appeared from the other side and slammed a metal fist into the opposite side of the mutant's trunk-like foot. A hard vibration rang up the hybrid's leg from the force of the cyborg's blow, though not powerful enough to cause any real damage...and then the creature began to lift up its foot again in response.

Oh no, the Time Mage thought in panic as she was raised up off the ground with one arm still furiously attached to the hilt of her dagger. She couldn't let go! The hybrid lifted its leg higher, and the dark-haired girl soon found herself dangling off the side of the monster's heel, nearly a dozen metres above street level. It was a very long way down from here.

"Accelerated Time Destruction!" she cried, blasting the spell against the bare flesh of the creature.

Her opponent definitely felt the attack this time. She could tell by the way the shockwave travelled up the entire length of the hybrid's leg, the cry of alarm and surprise that came from the creature's twin throats, and by the very swift descent that took her down to the ground again. Fear shot through the Time Mage's body with the sheer speed that she was travelling at, and she helplessly braced herself for the terrible impact -

The dagger twisted in her grip and came loose from the mutant's body. Exoria found herself thrust towards the ground at a slightly different angle, her descent slowing down somewhat, and then landed roughly against a moving body of metal. It was the Legion: the cyborg had seen what was happening and made haste to catch her in their arms. She didn't know how she felt about that, but it was definitely preferable to breaking every bone in her body.

Ugh. That didn't go very well.

"Exoria?" Hayate said, stepping towards her unexpectedly from a short distance away. The Bureau mage's face was a picture of anxiety. "Please stop doing this! You're going to get hurt!"

The Time Mage whirled towards her angrily. "Why are you still here, Hayate?" she demanded. "I told you to escape from here! There's no point in us distracting the enemy if you don't survive!"

"No!" the short-haired mage said stubbornly. "I'm not abandoning any of you, not for any reason! I promise you, we're all going to make it out of here, no matter what!"

"EXORIA!"

They all turned at the sound of the enraged roar coming from the hybrid above them. An outpouring of shadows was coming from the small hole that the Time Mage had made in the base of its foot, and green-black blood was pouring out of the wound in an altogether unhealthy amount. The creature was taking in shallow breaths and wheezing in slight pain, no longer trying to stomp them flat with its huge feet.

I actually managed to wound it? the dark-haired thought in surprise. So Time Destruction is effective against them after all! But I need to get really close to use that spell, and I can only summon Oguba's magic a limited amount of times before it starts to really drain my energy...

The hybrid hissed and smashed its thorny tail against the ground angrily, the orange eye of the Ungore-head glaring down at her with pure hatred. One thing was for sure: she'd now succeeded in making them mad.

"Don't try to be smart, Exoria!" the creature cried, raising its muscled arms above its head as it prepared to attack. "You and Legion belong to the forgotten past of Red Scorpion. You have no business with remaining in the present any longer! Do you understand me, Exoria? You're already dead!"

With that, the beast plunged its rocky fist straight towards her, raking her flesh with the burning shadows of Grylmark's magic as she threw herself out of the way with all her might. The earth next to her collapsed inwards on itself, shredded as surely as if a bomb had gone off inside it.

The other fist broke through the ground on the other side, showering her with a fresh wave of dust and stone.

She could smell her clothes burning with the near miss of Grylmark's time magic, and desperately rolled her body over and over to fan away the intense heat. Time magic didn't have any relation to fire by itself, so Srethis and Ungore must have combined it with another technique of their own. As Exoria clawed the smoke away from her body, coughing and choking, the Legion sprang forward and charged at the giant fist in the ground with full speed. A drill extended from a hatch in the cyborg's right hand and penetrated deeply into the thick skin of their opponent.

The hybrid let out another ear-splitting roar and swung around with its spiked tail violently. It hit Exoria a glancing blow which sent her flying backwards for several metres until her body hit the ground with a hard crunch. Pain exploded in the back of her head and black stars flared up before her eyes as her vision began to fade.

No...I can't lose here! Hayate...you have to escape...

Darkness overwhelmed her and Exoria collapsed in a crumpled heap. She thought she caught a glimpse of Hayate running up to her in great alarm, but it was difficult to tell. In the next moment, however, her eyes closed and unconsciousness claimed her completely. There would be no further resistance on her end.

With a delightful howl, the hybrid turned its attention away from Exoria's body and raised its fist to pummel the Legion into the earth. Unfortunately, the beast soon discovered a slight problem: the cyborg was clinging to that same fist, slowly inching its way up the mutated purple arm. The lizard-head narrowed its eyes in irritation at this and tried to swat the Legion away, but it wasn't easy to hit such a relatively small target.

"Legion!" the hybrid cried. "Do you never learn? Get off my arm this instant!"

The cyborg tightened its metal grip onto a chunk of bone about halfway up the mutant's arm, and clamped its free hand onto the underside of the purple limb. The hatch in its wrist from before swivelled around and opened up on both sides, revealing a series of multiple whirring drills which were shoved against the monster's flesh. Dark blood flowed forth as the Legion forced its fist deeper into the hybrid's opening wound, ripping its arm apart from the inside...

Screaming in outright agony, the mutant frantically tried to dislodge the cyborg with its other rocky arm. Unfortunately, the cyborg's metal joints were too small to pick out precisely without a means of detaching onto them with a less bulky weapon, and the Legion easily dodged from its current position.

In growing rage, the beast lowered its two heads downwards to bite the cyborg off its arm. The Ungore-head raised its jaws open wide, revealing two rows of sharp teeth, and darted down threateningly towards the Legion's vulnerable neck.

The cyborg raised its face upwards, sensing an opportunity, and then released its grip on the arm to give itself greater mobility. As the Ungore-head drew closer, the cyborg leaped upwards and slammed its fist into the centre of that enraged, orange eye in the middle of the beast's forehead.

With an inhuman scream, the entire creature reeled backwards from the blow, howling in pain. Strangled curses and threats escaped from its throats as the hybrid whipped its wounded arm upwards and propelled the cyborg high in the air, using enough force to flip them over several times. As the Legion lay helpless in mid-air, the beast hit the cyborg with its other fist at close-range. Sparks flew across the length of the combat cyborg's body upon impact, and it was smashed into one of the many holes burned into the road. The Legion did not rise again.

"Two down," the hybrid hissed, seething from its injuries. "One to go."

Its gaze passed onto Hayate, who was standing next to Exoria's unconscious body and holding her protectively. The Bureau mage was stroking the girl's hair guiltily with tears in her eyes, a wave of her own magic enveloping the two of them as one.

I didn't want this to happen. I didn't want any of this at all. If only I could see again, I could have stopped everything from getting so much worse...

"Run away, Hayate!" the Ungore-head sang mockingly. Stomp, stomp, stomp as the beast advanced towards her with the sound of inevitability. The wound in its foot from before had stopped bleeding during the course of the battle, and seemed to no longer bother the creature. "Run away! You still won't escape, but it'll be much more fun to watch you try to run!"

The commander of Riot Force 6 slowly rose to her feet, the ache of sadness and guilt-wracked frustration threatening to rip her apart from within. Exoria, knocked out cold after she had failed to stop her rushing headlong into battle; the Legion, too, most likely defeated in a similar way...Hayate couldn't help but feel responsible for all of this. She was paying the price now, because now she was left on her own...

"You should have fled when you had the chance, Hayate!" the beast taunted her, its thundering footsteps getting closer and closer. "You didn't listen to Exoria, did you? She finally said something smart to you for once, and you ignored it!"

She had to do this. She'd known what Exoria was doing, failed to stop her from sacrificing herself, and had refused to run away. Deep down, Hayate knew she could have never done such a thing. It wasn't so much a question of cowardice, but a question of her imagining what she would do if it had been Nanoha telling her to abandon her in the same situation. No – for Hayate, acting in such a way was completely out of the question. Maybe some people would call it selfish, but she couldn't just leave her friends if they were in trouble, not for any reason.

It's me against whatever monstrosity that Srethis and Ungore have transformed into, the Bureau mage thought, steeling herself for a hard fight. I'm not going to receive any help here, so I'm all alone. Exoria and the Legion have already been taken down. If I don't win, if I can't drive this creature back...my enemy isn't the type who would be merciful to their victims. If I lose here, it's a death sentence for both of my companions...

But what exactly could she do? Her sight had been taken from her. She couldn't see what kind of monster Srethis and Ungore had become, or even where their attacks were headed. Hayate estimated that she might have enough time to charge up one spell before her enemy attacked, so she would need to make that spell count. On top of all that, she wasn't sure of the exact direction to be firing it. Maybe if she used an attack with a wide area of effect...

Could she judge the direction by sensing where Grylmark's magic was? The mark of Oguba was all over the hybrid's body, surging in a powerful wave so that even she could detect it. No, Hayate thought again in frustration. That could go horribly wrong. She didn't know how the time magic would react in response – maybe the energy of the Tome of the Night Sky would have a catastrophic effect on both of them. And what if that one spell didn't take down her enemy in one blow? What if Grylmark's magic protected her enemy and made all her efforts useless? There was more at stake here than she realised...

"I don't abandon my friends," the Bureau mage said quietly, her mind made up. The staff of Reinforce grew in power as she channelled more and more energy into it. "Srethis. I'm sorry that you feel forced to attack me. Ungore. You shouldn't hate humans the way you do."

Fire the spell when they least expect it. I can tell the general direction from where they're coming from because that stomping sound is making so much noise...but I don't know if it'll be enough. I'll just have to do my best...

"Your friends have already pushed ahead of you to the grave," the hybrid rasped maliciously. "There is nothing you can do to save them. To illustrate this fact...why don't we use Grylmark's magic on you directly? Yes, that's what we'll do!" The hybrid's mouths opened and released a steady stream of time magic into the atmosphere around it. "For you, Hayate, we'll honour your death with the use of Oguba's time magic!"

And then the beast rose up off the ground, unknown to her, warping the shadows about its torso into a deadly, quivering spear. The Srethis-head hissed in response and split the remainder of the time magic into a second dagger-like projectile. With a single contraction of its muscled body, the hybrid hurled the first of the deadly missiles straight at her from above.

"Primary technique! Device Nullification!"

The powerful spell that she had been charging up suddenly sputtered and died, completely dispersed by the wave of time magic that rolled over her. Hayate cried out in alarm and panic; that spell had been her last line of action! She didn't have anything else left!

"Secondary technique!"the Ungore-head said gleefully, preparing itself to throw the second, more concentrate spike of Grylmark's magic. "Iris of Haemorrhage!"

The Bureau mage didn't have another chance to fight back now that her pent-up mana had been swept away so abruptly; she didn't even know where the hybrid's attack was coming from until the very last second. Desperately, Hayate tried to bring up a brief shield of magic to defend herself at the very least, but even this shattered in the wake of the hybrid's vicious attack. The shadowy spear flew down towards her at full speed, separating in mid-air into two pieces...and plunged straight through her eyes.

The attack tore through her unlike anything she had ever experienced before. No scream came from her throat, no blood poured from her face; what coursed through her body in that moments was something else entirely. She could feel the missiles of dark energy cut through her head, every inch of them, wrecking through her sockets destructively and laying waste to the streams of her own magic that still remained active...

With a strangled cry, Hayate staggered backwards and clutched at her crippled eyes with both hands. The staff of Reinforce fell to the floor uselessly, no longer of an help to her. The air was squeezed from her chest until she could barely breathe, and the world inside her mind went wild in a mix of insanity and torment-filled images...

My – my head! The time magic...it's growing inside me. I can't...think...

Thousands of alien memories ran through her mind like the pages of a diary, none of which made any sense to her. Among them, Hayate saw familiar faces wandering through a strange, dream-like world, the sights and sounds of which sifted in and out of reality like vapour. She saw a living, breathing planet full of creatures that looked similar in appearance to Srethis' and Ungore's ordinary forms, and judged it to be the home world of the two creatures. She saw Grylmark, standing on a picturesque landscape by himself, moving in another plane of existence that shimmered in and out of focus. She watched as he reached out with his hand towards a small gem floating in the air, a Jewel Seed of some kind...and saw then that the Jewel Seed was erupting with time magic of its own, corrupting and turning into Oguba...

Seconds later, the whirl of memories stopped completely and the chaos in her head came to an end. With a start, Hayate realised that she didn't feel any pain. No agony from the intended erosion inside her, not even any discomfort from the effects of her enemy's spell...somehow, a completely different process was going on inside of her skull. She didn't know what it was, but it was nothing that she'd expected.

What's...what's going on? What's happening to me? The time magic is still there, but it isn't moving anymore. The memories in my head have gone. Something...something else must have changed, but I didn't do anything...

With a surprise, Hayate found herself able to stand again. Even with Grylmark's power swirling around inside of her eye sockets, there didn't seem to be an permanent damage to her Barrier Jacket or her body. Somehow, she didn't think that that had been Srethis and Ungore's intention when they had started using high-level time magic against her. She reached down warily and picked her staff up off the ground, holding it firmly and with confidence.

At the same time, the Bureau mage became aware of a strange force pushing against the backs of her eyes, something which was growing gradually stronger with every passing second. Even now, it was beginning to make the sides of her temples ache slightly, and Hayate felt a cold shiver of unease rush down her spine. The energy surging behind her eyes wasn't any magic of her own, that much was for sure. But if it wasn't her, then what -

A burning sensation spread out across her eyes abruptly, taking Hayate off balance completely. She clutched at her head with one hand as a new wave of pain washed over her senses. All at once, she could see light around her; blinding, beautiful light which stabbed inwards upon her eyelids as Grylmark's magic gushed out of her in a never-ending torrent of shadows...

The time magic – it's being expelled from my body! Something's driving it out!

Two different consistencies of energy, clashing with one another behind her eyes and forcing the time magic out of her head in its entirety. For several seconds, Hayate couldn't understand what in the world was happening inside her. But then she saw that the light around her was growing brighter and brighter, taking on familiar shapes and forms of what must be the outside world around her, and everything came to her in a flash...

I shouldn't be able to see anything at all. I've been in total darkness ever since I woke up this morning! My blindness was caused by Grylmark's magic, and now that the same kind of magic has entered directly into my eyes again...

That was it. The forces of magic inside her were both different varieties of time magic, both formed of Grylmark's energies at alternate moments in time. She didn't see how that should make much of a difference, but an inevitable conflict had arisen as a result. Everything was being expelled through her eyes at once, consuming every little trace of rogue magic that existed on the way out...

And then Hayate felt something give way. The red and orange vapour that had been present within her pupils, witnessed by Vita when she had rescued her from Grylmark's facility and seen that her sight had been lost...the same vapour was beginning to disintegrate under the clash of the two combined powers. Torrents of shadows bled out of her eyes, and the vapour crumbled away in the wake of such disruptive magic.

The light flooding into her eyes was no longer so bright, but had fragmented into visible images and pictures of the outside world. Uminari City. The colossal amount of smoke rising up towards the sky. Rows of destroyed buildings on the street around her. Exoria lying unconscious on the ground. And Srethis and Ungore's hybrid form, confused at what kind of change was taking place within her.

I can see, Hayate realised, tears streaming down her face from her ordeal. Is...is this real? I can see everything again! My sight's been restored!

It was time magic that had caused her to be blinded in the first place, and only the same kind of time magic was capable of bringing her sight back. Now, Hayate's blindness had been permanently destroyed by the energy from the initial source. It had been a magic-induced disability, not one that any normal civilian doctor could cure.

The House of Yagami temporarily cured me the first time, but they chose not to use any magic to do so. That's why my blindness came back the next day. But now things are different: this time, I can tell that all of Grylmark's magic has exited my head completely. When Vita and I escaped the hospital, my eyes were already clogged up with time magic. That was the real reason why I couldn't see, and also why Srethis and Ungore's spell didn't hurt me.

She blinked rapidly, her eyes red and sore from the rush of energy that had erupted outwards, but otherwise in a stable enough condition. The areas around her cheeks were still wet from the moisture of tears. A fierce smile of triumph came over Hayate's face, knowing that this time, she was well and truly back. No more time magic was present in her system. Her blindness was gone for good.

The Bureau mage raised her face up to the hulking form of the giant hybrid that she had been fighting all this time. For the first time, she was seeing her enemy with her own eyes. The shadows of Grylmark's energies were no longer present around its body, so she wouldn't have to worry about their magic anymore. But this was a beast that had made short work of Exoria and the Legion; she still had to be careful.

It's time to fix this.

"What on earth?" the Ungore-head said in amazement. It's orange eye blinked and moved down towards where the last of Grylmark's magic had dispersed. "Srethis! Why isn't she dead? The time magic should have eaten her away from the inside by now!"

The reptilian head gave no answer, its expression unreadable. Perhaps it had already guessed what had happened to Hayate in such a short space of time, but Srethis only watched her silently.

"Something's not right here," the hybrid said suspiciously, turning its body round to the side for another frontal assault. "But no matter: she is still a defenceless, blind girl. Perhaps we should stick to old-fashion physical attacks after all. Let's finish this!"

The heavy spiked tail whirled around and smashed into the ground where Hayate was standing...but the Bureau mage was no longer there. In a flash, the short-haired mage had shot up off the ground with Exoria's unconscious body in her other arm and veered sharply to the right, avoiding the attack. As the tail whipped around from the other side to pursue her, Hayate whirled the staff of Reinforce around in a wide array of magic and deflected the surface closest to her. Without a specific spell, she wouldn't be able to stop the tail's movement, but she could at least slow it down.

She lowered her altitude and dropped down to the ground again, backing away to a safe distance to put Exoria's body down gently. Whatever happened, Hayate was not about to let any further harm befall the Time Mage. This was her battle. She missed flying in the air so freely like this, and her previous handicap had prevented her from doing so to the best of her ability. Already she had felt a huge wave of relief come over her at being able to manoeuvre around properly; finally she would be able to fly where she truly liked. This way, she might be able to save everyone after all!

"I can see you," Hayate whispered, flying around towards her enemy's back.

The hybrid whirled around in great surprise and lunged at her with both fists at once. The Bureau mage calmly rose higher into the sky, out of range of the monster's attacks, and raised her staff in her other hand.

"Approach from beyond, mistletoe branches," she chanted, as the spell began to charge up to full power, "and become spears of the silver moon! Pierce it!"

The great mutant bellowed in anger and leapt up in the air to attack her, but there was no time for it to land a solid blow of its own; Hayate's spell had already reached its climax. Six pulsating bolts of brilliant white energy were conjured up in the sky around her to surround the enemy on all sides, giving it no opportunity to break away.

"Stone spears!" she cried, as the twin heads of the monster reared in anger and dismay. "Misteltein!"

The spears of petrification rained down on her airborne enemy and hemmed it down into the earth, piercing it through at multiple angles. Srethis and Ungore howled in agony as the transformation of stone ran through their combined form, unable to do anything but watch as the Bureau mage floated down to the ground before them.

"You've lost Grylmark's magic," Hayate said simply. "You won't be able to hold that hybrid form for much longer as you are. It's only a matter of time before you go back to normal."

The Ungore-head glared balefully at her, rage spreading out across its features.

"You're supposed to be blind, Hayate!" it snarled. "What...what is this? Witchcraft? How did you heal yourself?"

The mage smiled in response. "I didn't. You did it for me. I'm grateful for that."

She started to turn away from them, satisfied that her spell would soon reach its conclusion and resolve all of this mess. Once the hybrid form was completely encased in stone, Srethis and Ungore would be separated into their individual forms. Neither of them, however, would be in any condition to fight.

And then there was a small crack from behind her. It was only the faintest of noises, like the sound of breaking glass...or perhaps the sound of ice being broken.

Slowly, Hayate turned back round again to see the hybrid hovering above the ground, free from its prison and angrier than ever. She had expected something like this to happen, which was why she had left time for another spell up her sleeve -

What the...?

Her eyes widened in amazement when she saw that the spears of stone with which she had trapped her enemy...had not been broken after all. In fact, they were still there on the ground where she'd fired them. How had Srethis and Ungore fought their way out of their prison...without leaving a single mark on the spell itself? That was impossible. The monster had been on the verge of total petrification just seconds ago...

"How did you do tha - "

And then Hayate saw that there was somebody else there.

A little girl, with silver eyes and silver hair, as well as dressed entirely in silver. She was holding a black balloon in one hand, with a slight chill in her eyes as she came closer to the Bureau mage. Her appearance was quite strange to see, but the girl didn't seem to be dangerous at all. What was somebody like her doing here? Was she just a civilian?

"Hello, Yagami," the girl called out cheerfully to her. "I'm here to play! You were all making so much noise, and I was so hungry. Do any of you want to play with me? Pretty please?"

There was a stunned silence for several seconds in which everyone seemed completely speechless. The Bureau mage stared at the newcomer in complete battlement. Had this girl just called her Yagami? She had literally come out of the middle of nowhere. Whoever could she be?

"I'm not Yagami," Hayate said kindly, trying to adjust to this new development. "What's your name, little girl? Are you all by yourself? This isn't a safe place for you to be - "

But then an angry yell from her current opponent cut her off, serving to surprise her even more.

"Elsie!" the hybrid shouted indignantly, stamping onto the earth loudly. "What are you doing here? Don't tell us that you're the one that Grylmark was recruiting!"

Recruiting? Her? What's going on here?

"Aw, come on!" Elsie pouted, waving her balloon in the air. "He might have told me to destroy the Bureau or something. I'm not sure. I wasn't really listening." She blinked suddenly, looking just a little dreamy. "I'm so sorry. What are we doing again? Does anyone have any food?"

"Elsie, go away!" the Ungore-head shouted at her. "We're trying to finish off Hayate! It's a lot harder now that she can see us!"

The litlte girl stung her tongue out at the monster. "Fine, then. You don't want to play with me. I got you out of that tricky spell she fired at you, and you still don't want to play with me? Well we'll just see about - "

She raised one slender arm up and a multitude of giant flaming swords suddenly started falling from the sky where the hybrid was standing. With a frightened cry, the mutant yelled out in agony from the sudden attack, hissing and cursing as it sustained deep gashes and burns from the fiery blades.

"Oops," Elsie said apologetically. "That was an accident. I swear it was an accident." She quickly dropped her hand again, and the rain of swords ceased. "I was just trying to get someone to play with me..."

"I said go away, Elsie!" the Ungore-head repeated, wincing in pain from the burns around its side of the hybrid body. "We're supposed to be on the same side!" It pointed one giant fist at Hayate, shaking slightly from the impact of its wounds. "If you're really here to destroy the Bureau, then start by destroying her!"

The silver girl sighed unhappily. "All right. You're all really, really busy. You're too busy playing with Yagami to bother with me, right?"

"I'm not Yagami," Hayate said again.

Elsie ignored her. "I know what. I'll wait for you guys to finish playing with her. And then I'll play with whichever one of you wins! How about that?" She grinned at everyone at the same time and waved her balloon again. "Won't that be fun?"

Hayate wasn't sure that it would be. By the sounds of it, this girl was linked to Grylmark in some way and was capable of powerful attack magic of her own. She had unleashed a high-level spell on the hybrid by literally lifting a finger, without the use of any visible magical device of her own. The only people who might be capable of such techniques were Nanoha and Fate, and yet this girl seemed so much younger. Had she really been telling the truth about destroying the Bureau? In any case, this girl – Elsie – had chosen to stay out of their battle for the time being. They could worry about her later.

"Don't bother us any more, Elsie," the hybrid hissed. The creature came forward towards the Bureau mage with increasing speed, whirling its tail around to attack. "If you're not going to help, then stay out of the way and just watch!"

It lumbered towards Hayate and drove its fists towards her, whilst swinging the massive thorny tail around to strike her down for good. The short-haired mage watched it approach, noting the gaps in its attacks and the multiple openings available for any attack spell of hers. Hayate looked up at the monstrous beast and felt no fear, no peril to her life at all. With the return of her sight, winning the battle was no longer such a difficult task.

The swinging fists and tail came inches away from her position, and the Bureau mage swiftly propelled herself backwards in mid-air to keep herself at a safe distance. Now that she had had the opportunity to study her enemy's movements in greater detail, Hayate could see that there were a variety of weaknesses to exploit. The hybrid's large mass was just one of them: at such a huge size, her opponent could not move fast enough to catch her. If she wished, she could take as much time as she wanted.

I guess there's no other way. I don't like having to cause more pain than is necessary, but I need to defeat Srethis and Ungore in such a way that minimises damage to any civilians or houses nearby. This part of Uminari City is already in ruins.

Maintaining some distance between her and the raging hybrid that was storming towards her, Hayate began to activate her chosen spell. Multiple sigils were conjured up in the air in front of her, ready to respond to the necessary incantation. Alarm flashed across the beast's faces when it saw what she was doing, and it quickly accelerated towards her at full speed. Hayate kept herself quite calm, however; she knew her opponent would never reach her in time.

"Come forth, the wind of snow," she said softly, "and become the fletchling which falls from the heavens."

The hybrid charged towards her with everything it had, keen to stop her from finishing her attack. Both heads lowered to engage the mage at close range, with the reptilian head readying its sharp horns, and the Ungore-head's jaws opening up to devour her. She locked her gaze with theirs, blue eyes filled with fierce determination as her own magical power mounted. For a single, heart-stopping second, the two heads of the creature were positioned in the direct line of fire.

"HRAESVELGR!" Hayate cried.

The spell ripped forward from her staff, causing the sigils to explode with white beams of concentrated energy that blasted into the mutant's heads and body as one. A sudden look of terror passed across the creature's faces as it struggled to break through, caught in mid-attack. The rocky fists and thorny tail continued no further towards her, shredded and ripped on all sides by the powerful speed. Stubbornly, the monster refused to give up any ground, but then caught fire from the intensity of the blast and was forced backwards through the air. Its two mouths opened wide in a silent scream as it was lifted upwards off the ground and spun backwards over and over. An instant later, the hybrid was catapulted across the sky with smoke curling from its muscled body.

Hayate didn't let up her attack until she heard the resounding crash as her enemy came down to earth in the direction of the hospital facility. The dust cloud created by the terrific impact soon settled without any further disruptions, indicating that the hybrid was well and truly beaten. Only then did she draw her magic back and breathe a sigh of relief. It was over.

Wiping sweat from her brow, the commander of Riot Force 6 smiled up at the sky, just a small celebration of her own. All that remained now was to see that Exoria and the Legion were okay. She didn't think either of them were in a critical state, however.

I did it, Hayate thought. It had been a long time since she had had to fight for her life against such an enemy. I defeated Srethis and Ungore. They won't be bothering us any more.

Lifting her staff back up again, the Bureau mage started to go and help out Exoria and the Legion. It had been tough at first, but the three of them had succeeding in living through this. Now that the threat had been dealt with, maybe now they could finally -

"At last!" a happy voice piped up from behind her.

Hayate's face fell. She recognised that voice.

Reluctantly, she turned around to see the silver-haired girl from earlier beaming up at her and waving her black balloon around madly, almost like a little mascot. It was her again.

"Oh," the Bureau mage said, in a less than thrilled tone. "It's you."

"Yes!" Elsie exclaimed, jumping up and down on the spot excitedly. "Remember what I said? You've finished playing with the purple mutant, so now you can play with me!"

This is not the time, the short-haired mage thought silently. This is really not the time.

"Don't worry," the silver-haired girl said encouragingly. "I'm really weak, though not quite as weak as that purple monster you just got rid of You probably won't have a hard time with me.

My sisters always say how strong you are, Yagami! I guess I really look up to you."

"I already said I'm not Yagami," Hayate said flatly. She sighed, not looking forward to a fight with Elsie of all people. "Is this really necessary? I just wouldn't feel comfortable fighting properly with a young girl like you."

The silver girl shook her head in wonder. "But you're a young girl too, aren't you? I'm just a little older than you, in human terms. And we won't be fighting! We'll be playing. You and me, Yagami." The excitement in her face dropped momentarily. "Aw. You don't know who I am, do you? Kagura onee-chan likes to keep me a secret, doesn't she?"

With a dramatic clearing of her throat, the girl spun herself round dramatically and drew herself up. She turned round a little too quickly, however, and almost hit herself in the face with the balloon.

"I'm Elsie Labinnac, youngest Sister of the House of Labinnac!" she declared. "Grylmark said he would feed me in exchange for my services, but I forgot what he told me to do. Something about the Bureau. It probably wasn't important." The silver girl licked her lips hungrily. "But forget that! What I'm saying is, I'm really looking for food right now. And if you don't play with me properly, Yagami, who knows what might happen! I might start trying to eat you!" The cold smile came back to her face. "So, what do you say?"