Hayate hovered a few feet above the ground, the white aura of her own magic bathing her in a warm incandescent glow. She gazed down at the silver-haired girl waving up at her excitedly, who was still holding the black balloon like a little mascot. The whole premise didn't exactly agree with her, really. Recovering her sight once and for all whilst defeating Srethis and Ungore in the process had given the Bureau mage a great boost of confidence in herself, so that she felt she could take on the entire world if she wanted to. Nevertheless, Hayate still couldn't help feeling a little worried about Elsie's behaviour towards her and what she was really expected to do.
"Yagami!" Elsie Labinnac crowed, twirling her balloon around in a loop with one hand. "Play with me! You promised!"
The commander of Riot Force 6 wasn't entirely sure that she had. She didn't remember promising anything to any mystical little girls with silver hair, and this one had literally met her only five minutes ago. Why did they have to fight? All Hayate wanted to do was find out if Exoria and the Legion were all right, and then use her powers to locate Nanoha and the rest of her friends at last. Now that she had recovered her sight completely and was able to fly as high as she wanted to, for as long as necessary, finding the rest of the Bureau should be a piece of cake.
"Can you please stop calling me Yagami?" she asked painfully. "It's Hayate. And I'm sorry to disappoint you, Elsie, but I don't really have any reason to fight you. You're just a little girl - "
She stopped when she saw that there was a massive icicle forming in the air around Elsie's free hand, revolving round and round until it closely resembled the shape of a jagged torpedo. The silver-haired girl whistled and balanced the icicle on the top of her finger.
There's a lot of magical energy concentrated in the air around her. How is she able to manipulate it so easily like that? That shouldn't be possible at such a young age...
"Play with me, Yagami," Elsie said again with a note of pleading in her voice. "Pretty please? If I don't play, I can't have fun. If I can't have fun, then I'll have nothing left to do except eat. And I can't eat, because Kagura onee-chan's not back yet."
Hayate's eyes flickered from the dangerous icicle in her hand to the forlorn expression on the little girl's face. Maybe they could just solve the main problem, then. "You're hungry? Do you just want some food to eat?"
Elsie nodded her head up and down rapidly.
"There has to be food somewhere here in Uminari City," the Bureau mage reasoned. "If you want me to get some back for you - "
"No!" The exclamation was a single, high-pitched yell which sprang from the silver girl's throat in desperation. The icicle in her grasp burned with an energy of its own, quivering in the air before her. "I can't. Don't you understand? I'm a Sister of the House of Labinnac, and there are some foods I absolutely mustn't eat. If you knew about my sister Felicity, then you'd know what I mean." She inclined her head over to one side, letting her silver locks shift across her shoulder, and her face dropped. "Oh. You don't know about Felicity, do you? That means you can't be Yagami after all. That's sad."
"I've been trying to tell you that I'm not her," Hayate said patiently. She pressed forward, keeping her eyes on the missile in Elsie's hands. "What do you mean, there are some foods that you can't eat? Do you mean you're allergic to them?"
The little girl laughed softly in response and shook her head. "You're not from this world, are you?"
"Not exactly, no."
"Then you won't understand. There's no point trying to tell you, because talking just makes me hungry. In fact, I'm already even more hungry." Elsie sighed, and the giant icicle rose up into the air above her head, pointing right at the Bureau mage. "Hayate, was it? You have to play with me, you know. You really do. Because otherwise, I'll go from hungry to starving, and then I'll go from starving to dying, and then I'll have to start eating stuff that I really shouldn't eat. And that would be bad for everyone, you know?" A sudden grin lit up the girl's silver face. "So play with me, Hayate! I've never understoodd why people suddenly stop playing when they grow up. Why would anyone stop? Playtime is just so much FUN!"
At her command, the frozen missile suddenly shot upwards in the sky, spinning longitudinally as it flew towards Hayate with bullet-like speed. Instinctively, the mage brought up her staff to protect herself, forming a light shield of her own magic in the air before her. A split second later, the icicle slammed into the protective array and exploded upon impact, raining countless shards of sharp crystals down upon her. As her shield broke apart, Hayate threw herself backwards to avoid the harmful projectiles, quickly gaining extra altitude to put her out of range of another of Elsie's attacks.
I guess I don't have any other choice, she thought, powering up a spell of her own in retaliation. I don't know what Elsie is, but she is definitely not the innocent little girl she appears to be. That attack she just used on me is on par with an A-rank mage of the TSAB! How did she cast it without draining too much of her own energy?
It surprised her that her opponent was capable of wielding such high-power spells at such a young age. Then again, Nanoha had performed greater feats when she had first started using magic, even being able to master levitation after a few minutes of wielding her own device. Was it a similar case here, or was Elsie something completely different?
I shouldn't get too serious with her in case I cause any permanent damage, the short-haired mage decided, flying around to her opponent's unprotected side. Even if that's a Barrier Jacket she's wearing, it can't be a very strong one, and she's probably pretty fragile underneath that tough exterior. It should be fine if I just knock Elsie out as quickly as possible. Otherwise, she might start using those crazy powers to cause some real trouble.
"Hayate!" the silver-haired little girl called out to her, leaping up and down on the ground upon the balls of her feet. "This isn't how you play catch! You're not supposed to miss the ball when I throw it to you! Maybe you want to play a different game?"
She darted forward and swung one leg around in an elegant pirouette, and the air around her rippled and vibrated in response. The Labinnac danced on the tip of her other foot, bouncing from one side to another until she had traced out a crude pattern upon the ground from her passing. A burning red coil of magic rose up from she had come into contact with the earth, shooting upwards into a deadly pillar of white-hot fire.
"Jack and Jill went up the hill," the little girl sang, "to fetch a pale of water..."
She twirled around the column of flames and continued dancing on the ground right just ahead of it. Sparks flew from her feet to ignite the spell at her command, and a second fiery pillar sprang up behind her. As Elsie ran directly underneath Hayate's position, another blaze of magical fire shot up across the trail she was leaving, and then another, and another...
"Jack fell down and broke his crown..."
Quickly, the Bureau mage flew down skilfully to manoeuvre between the incendiary columns before they could trap her completely. As she drew near, however, the searing heat was so intense that it almost set her own clothes alight, and Hayate was forced to back off. More and more fiery columns rose up in an impenetrable circle around her; the only way out of this was to go even higher. She had to stay out of range, or risk being burned to a crisp in the process.
As the mage climbed in altitude, however, another huge icicle appeared from her blind side and exploded violently against the side of her Barrier Jacket. The impact caused Hayate to plummet towards the circle of flames, desperately trying to form a spell. The whole technique had been a trap to lure her into getting hit!
"...and Jill came tumbling after!"
No time to unleash any of her powerful spells. All she could do was react by instinct.
"Holding Net!" Hayate cried.
A protective array made up of purple and white magic sprouted forth below her, serving more to give her extra time than to actually break her fall. It wasn't quite as big as it might have been under Nanoha's guidance, but size wasn't what Hayate was concerned with in these circumstances. Already, the fire was cutting through the corners of the net and threatening to corner her for good...
She saw Elsie dancing in the flames, miraculously unhurt by the simmering heat, and then sensed the presence of another icicle approaching from overhead. Her enemy's strategy seemed all too clear now: now that Hayate had been brought down to ground, she was an easy target for the icy projectiles which would come raining down at her from above. The impact of the missiles would either cripple her or force her into the heat of the fire, assuring an easy victory for her enemy either way.
Hayate looked up at the icicle falling down towards her, thinking fast. The last pieces of the Holding Net had now been burned to shreds by the incredible heat, leaving her hovering above the ground with no other quick-acting magic to aid her. She watched the projectile approach at a terrifying speed, whilst literally baking inside her own outfit, and noticed the one flaw in Elsie's plan.
Trap me with fire and destroy me with ice? Isn't it supposed to be the other way round?
The giant icicle smashed down into the centre of the fiery circle as she swerved out of the way, steeling her own magic into a temporary shield. As the inevitable explosion rang out, the surrounding inferno was choked by the storm of frozen crystals, allowing the temperature to be brought down to a barely tolerable level. Ice had been brought into the fire; it was only a slight change, but for Hayate it was more than enough.
As her shield shattered again beneath the onslaught, the Bureau mage threw herself into the cooling flames as fast as she could. The pain was only momentary as she passed through them in an instant, charging right into Elsie's dancing figure and taking her opponent by surprise.
"How did you - "
The silver-haired girl cried out in alarm as Hayate repelled her away from her and into a heap on the ground. Magical fire surged up from beneath the Labinnac, but it was mysteriously sucked away by an unseen force which left Elsie unharmed. With her concentration disrupted, however, the spell terminated; without any internal magic to keep them burning, the incendiary columns gradually died away until only ash remained on the ground.
Whew. That was a close one.
Before Elsie could react with another devastating attack, Hayate flew up into the air as high as she could, determined to put as much distance between herself and her opponent as possible. The mage didn't stop going until she was almost in the clouds, the air thinning and making her light-headed with such incredible altitude. It was necessary, however; as long as she could stay out of range, she would have enough time to prepare a proper means of fighting back. Hayate hadn't intended to fight seriously, but she knew now that she had underestimated Elsie badly: that little girl had almost burned her to death with a mere thought...
"Come forth, the wind of snow," she said, "and become the fletchling which falls from the heavens! Hraesvaelgr!"
But then she saw Elsie emerge from below, flying up through the air towards her without any effort at all. The girl's slender arms were bathed in a pulsing green light which had extended into whip-like tendrils, moving with a life of their own. Her opponent could fly as well? The Bureau mage hadn't betted on this...
It was too late to rethink her attack now. Hayate's spell had already erupted with full power, blasting towards the silver-haired girl in multiple beams of intense white energy which hit her head-on. There was a look of furious concentration on Elsie's face for a moment, and then she was wiped out completely as the wide-scale attack drove her all the way back down to the ground. There was no conceivable way for anyone to defend against such a powerful spell from the Tome of the Night Sky. At this range, the impact would surely cause Elsie's body to disintegrate.
But as the little girl fell, the black balloon in her other hand flashed once and changed to a deep crimson colour. Something stirred from within its interior, slowly seeping out through the thin rubber lining...
Far above, Hayate felt a sharp prickle of worry pass across the back of her neck. Something was wrong here. The nature of the energies of her opponent had split into two different people...
"Daemon Release," Elsie said, a harsh gutteral growl coming from her throat which did not sound like her at all. "Defensive State, Controlled Invocation!"
The beams of the Hraesvelgr spell continued to rip into her with tremendous power, but the little girl was no longer being driven back. Instead of being blown to pieces, she had adopted a stationary position in the air with her head thrown back, seemingly absorbing the energy of the lasers that pummelled her. A dark airless vacuum appeared in the air before her, sucking away the last remnants of Hayate's spell and minimising damage to her own body. Gradually, the last remaining beams of Hraesvaelgr died away in entirety.
Elsie whipped her arms across one another, a strangled gasp sounding deep within her throat, and the vacuum in front of her body disappeared. The balloon in her hand faded back to its initial black colour, and her voice returned to normal again.
"I'm really not supposed to do that," she whispered, panting hard with the exertion as she flew back up to the Bureau mage's height again. "My daemon doesn't usually intervene. Forget you saw any of that, okay?"
What is she? Hayate thought in stunned silence. Elsie didn't appear to have been sustained much damage at all. She just absorbed one of my most powerful spells. Is she going to do that every time I try to use that kind of attack?
It was taking a lot out of the mage to cast such a mighty spell, and she'd already used a few similar attacks against Srethis and Ungore just minutes ago. Combined with the required power of the Tome of the Night Sky, and the significant cost of her own energy reserves, Hayate's body was beginning to feel the strain of using such large-scale spells. This wasn't good. If she exhausted herself to use an even more powerful spell, and Elsie just absorbed it again...
No, think about strategy. That balloon she's holding – it did something to help her nullify my attack, somehow. It's definitely not an ordinary balloon, because it changed colour just a moment ago and did something to Elsie's body in the process. Maybe I should try targeting that instead.
"You're not a TSAB mage," Hayate said, drained from the use of such high concentration and magical output. "Even though you're using magic, it's a very different fighting style from myself and the rest of the Bureau. You're not human, are you?"
The silver-haired girl sniffed. "Of course I'm human," she retorted loftily, seeming quite insulted. "Just because I'm five hundred years old and still going strong doesn't mean you have to be like that! If you're going to say such mean things to me, Hayate, I don't see why I should play nice any more!"
"But you can't - "
"I'm a Sister of the Labinnac Family. A human who shares my abilities with a daemon." Elsie drew herself up and twirled the balloon around her fingers. "I only wanted to play with you! What's wrong with that?"
She flew towards Hayate with a sudden burst of speed, the green light around her arms rapidly hardening into the edge of a laser blade. The Bureau mage reactively threw up Panzerschild with one hand and blocked Elsie's second attack on her other arm, whirling the staff of Reinforce upward and out towards the girl. Breathing hard from the exertion of close combat, Hayate dropped down to a lower altitude, feeling the saw-like edge scythe the air above her head. She had to get her sights on that balloon. Could it be popped, or was that too much to hope for?
"Holding Net!" she shouted.
The protective net gathered about Hayate a second time as Elsie stabbed down at her again. This time, however, the Bureau mage had not cast the spell for her own protection, but for something else entirely. The melee attack chopped through the nearest side of the net, bringing Elsie in close towards it.
In that instant, Hayate hooked through the opposite site of the net with her staff and brought it around to the other side of Elsie's body, effectively wrapping the whole thing around her opponent several times in the form of a cage. She released a small dosage of her own white magic to fix the severed ends together, locking the web of mana tightly to bind Elsie securely. Binding spells weren't something that Hayate was greatly proficient in, but manipulating support magic was probably the next best step.
"Hey!" the silver-haired girl protested, struggling against her binds. "No fair! Do you want me to be mean to you as well?" She squeezed her eyes shut, starting to sing again. "There was a little girl, and she had a little curl...right in the middle of her forehead..."
Her hair began to wriggle and squirm in response, coming alive as if possessed. For a moment, it seemed like it was simply standing on end from the high concentration of magic around her, but then there came a great hissing and spitting from the upper portion of Elsie's face...
"When she was good, she was very very good...but when she was bad, she was HORRID..."
With a start, the Bureau mage realised that Elsie's hair had now been transformed into a mound of silver-skinned venomous snakes. Reptilian fangs opened up malevolently on all sides of the little girl's head, dripping acidic drool onto the restricting net around her body. The corrosive liquid ate through the magical fibres in no time, turning the cage into a crumbling mass of useless wires. Elsie shook herself free from her destroyed prison and opened her eyes again, her singing fading away into the air. The snakes on her head had reverted back to normal human hair once more.
Hayate rubbed her eyes, not sure if she had really wanted to see that. Her enemy had turned her hair into snakes by force of will alone. Was she really human at all? What was this girl, some kind of real-life Medusa?
How am I supposed to combat someone like this? She keeps coming up with something new!
She brought up the staff of Reinforce in self-defence as Elsie suddenly charged at her again, this time without using any visible magic at all. The silver-haired girl was now using the palms of her hands to lay physical blows upon Hayate, chopping sharply through the air in a streamlined attack cycle. Defensively, the Bureau mage whirled her device around to keep Elsie at bay, thwarting and deflecting the movements of her enemy's hands with Reinforce's magic. The little girl was like a beast in herself, driving her further and further back across the sky as she tried to defend herself...
This isn't working, Hayate thought as she blocked another blow aimed at her neck. Reinforce isn't meant to be used for close combat. I have to find a way to hit that balloon!
She dropped down in the sky suddenly, an unexpected move which took Elsie by surprise, and swiftly flew around behind her enemy. Timing her attack accurately, the mage whipped her staff forward in a hard thrust towards the black balloon held in the girl's other hand, hitting it hard enough to fracture any ordinary balloon.
She didn't know what she really expected to happen. Maybe a pop, or a bang? A small explosion, if you wanted to be dramatic...could it be filled with gas?
Elsie's eyes widened when she saw what Hayate was doing, and she desperately tried to drag the balloon back out of reach. Unfortunately, the Bureau mage had already made her mark.
"No!"
The balloon shuddered as the end of Hayate's staff struck against its rubbery surface, a steady vibration rocking across its entire form. It wobbled slightly from side to side, as if it had been filled with a liquid substance of some kind...and then reacted violently in kind. Swiftly, the "balloon" began to grow in size until it was bigger than Hayate's head, expanding into two sharp corners at its edges which formed a vicious, beastlike mouth with gnashing teeth. An evil grin widened across its face, and the living creature shot forward through the air with a savage growl...
What on earth -
Realising that this had been a mistake, the Bureau mage swatted at the living balloon with her staff, releasing a short dosage of Reinforce's magic to evade its attacks. The mouth on its surface moved silently in unspoken syllables, and it changed rapidly in colour once more. Had the balloon really been a monster all this time?
Hayate moved backwards through the air, not knowing what else to do besides dodge. She was feeling at a loss at how to combat this strange of combination of enemies all at once. What was she supposed to do now? If she summoned another powerful spell of her own, it would exhaust her terribly and there was a chance that Elsie would just absorb it again. She'd already tried everything -
"Stop it!" Elsie yelled, pulling at the string on the balloon, much like tugging on the leash on a bloodhound. "Why did you do that, Hayate? My daemon doesn't like being touched! You'll just make him mad!"
The short-haired mage ignored her and dropped down in the sky again, watching as the balloon changed direction and darted straight towards her. Well, at least its movements were predictable enough. Whatever it was, it probably didn't have any human intelligence of its own.
"Panzerschild!" she chanted, extending a minor shield of magic above her head.
She felt the barrier shake as the daemon-balloon was deflected away, injuring itself in the process – how was such a being supposed to feel pain? It was still a balloon, wasn't it? There was a scuffling in the air above her as Elsie attempted to maintain control over the creature, and amazingly the little girl seemed able to gradually force it back into submission. The monstrous teeth receded back into the fabric of the rubbery material at last, and its size shrank back to normal, thus turning it back into an ordinary balloon again. Or at least a less dangerous one, that is.
"There!" Elsie said crossly, tugging the string back to her again as the daemon calmed down again. "Don't upset him like that again, okay? He's the one I'm trying to feed here!" She shoved out her free arm in front of her, shining with green magic. "I'm a bit annoyed at you now, Hayate! Anti-Gravity Field!"
Abruptly, Hayate's levitation magic fizzled out like a flame in a thunderstorm, and she began to fall towards the ground. Her opponent, too, had dropped like a stone in exactly the same manner. Fear gripped the mage's heart for a moment, but she remembered just in time that her flying magic was the only thing disabled; she could still keep herself airborne using other methods.
"Holding Net!"
She couldn't think for the life for her why Elsie had acted in such a way. What was the point of de-activating levitation magic which obviously affected both of them? Wouldn't that put both of them at a disadvantage?
Hayate glanced down at the net of protective magic below her, and then she saw the great icicle of magic coming at her from the same direction. Without being able to fly out of the way, there would be no way to avoid it. That was why her adversary had disabled flying magic for both of them: to prevent her from being able to dodge another attack in the opposite direction of gravity...
"Gotcha!" Elsie yelled triumphantly.
The mage swallowed tensely and formed a magical shield directly between herself and the net itself, landing shakily on it just before the missile could reach her. This was cutting it a little fine, but there was just enough time for her to reach the other side of the net before the icy projectile exploded against the bottom. Shattered shards rained down on her, but Hayate kept her staff up to keep herself safe from harm.
With a rush of relief, she lay back against the protective web, able to take a breather for now. All of this fighting was getting exhausting, but at least some of her own energy was being replenished in the process, allowing her to cast more powerful spells if she only lasted that long.
Next to the safety net, Elsie continued to plummet under gravity, falling past her all the way to the ground. Her opponent had sacrificed her own flying magic in an attempt to bring her down, but it hadn't gone so well for her. Somehow, that didn't seem to add up...surely Elsie wouldn't have done something like that without a back-up plan to cushion her own landing...
She's not going to go down that easily, Hayate thought suspiciously, getting to her feet again. That Anti-Gravity Field technique she used must only last a very short time, because I can already feel my levitation magic coming back. That fall can't possibly have finished her.
She paused for a moment, knowing that she mustn't forget the reason why she had come this far already. She thought about Exoria and Legion, still battered and wounded from the fight before. She thought about Nanoha and the rest of the Bureau, and about Vita and the other members of the Wolkenritter. How many of her friends knew that she was missing? Would anyone come to her aid? As Hayate was right now, she was beginning to reach her limit; there was only so far she could fight without being able to rely on the spells entrusted to her from the Tome of the Night Sky...
I can't think about that now. I have to finish this before any more people get hurt.
The remainder of Hayate's levitation magic had now returned to her, but had still been no sound of Elsie's landing. She suspected that the little girl probably hadn't reached the ground at all. Determinedly, the Mistress of the Night Sky disabled the net around her and flew downwards to finish this.
Fate stood poised in the centre of the roof of the House of Testarossa, bracing herself as the Cult of Neopocalypticon came at her from all sides. The barrier around the mansion had now shrunk to the point that there was barely any space left to manoeuvre, giving rise to greater panic inside at the fear of being crushed completely. The Enforcer didn't need to think twice to work out why the cultists had chosen this method of action: the air here was especially rich in magic, perfect for a combined spell of tremendous power to be unleashed upon a single point. It was likely that they had prepared this in advance, waiting for Alicia to bring her here...
Alicia said that the Cult of Neopocalypticon would imbue the essence of the "real" Fate inside me. Even if that succeeded, it would involve reviving a dead version of myself from years and years ago...I can't see how that would be remotely healthy for anyone. It'd be mad to even think of trying such a crazy scheme! What was Alicia thinking, joining forces with such an organisation? But didn't she say she would do anything to get her sister back?
The hooded figures were now closing in on Fate with frightening inevitability. All four of them were slowly pushing forward at the edges of the magical barrier and compressing it from every angle, with only precious seconds remaining before she was caged in completely. Whatever she did, the Enforcer knew that she couldn't let these people corner her, no matter what. If she couldn't find a way out in time, she would be trapped in this crushing web of impenetrable magic, helpless to defend herself against whatever twisted incantation the cultists intended to use on her. Alicia's gloating remarks to her from earlier would soon come to pass, though perhaps not in the way that her sister desired so much...
There wouldn't be a Fate anymore, not with the amount of pressurised mana that was stirring up in the air around her. If they so wished, the cultists would be capable of crushing her to death in that tiny box – they might even resort to doing that if their little "ritual" ended up failing. If she didn't find a way to get out of here right now, or at least halt the progress of that barrier...
There's no time! I have to escape!
Breaking through by force wouldn't work. Fate had already tried that before when she had first been transported to this place, only to discover that Bardiche's attacks had no effect on the surface of the powerful shield whatsoever. As a result, she hadn't managed to escape in time, and had been caught by Alicia instead. Was there time to try a spell, or did she need to use more strength? The cultists were too close now, so if they didn't succeed then she might not get a second chance at all...
Bardiche's entire blade is imbued by magic, and the barrier didn't react at all when I struck it. That means it's unlikely that a spell of pure magic will work by itself. There has to be another way out!
A chill ran down the Enforcer's spine when she saw that the four cultists were only a few metres away from her, inching forward continuously like lifeless drones. Even now, each of them had raised one arm in the air in preparation for a mass spell of their own – a spell that would be used upon her. She needed to act now!
Weak points, Fate thought, frantically trying to think of something, anything. There has to be a weak point somewhere. A gap in the barrier, the tiniest of cracks that I could exploit to break through...maybe something not visible to the naked human eye? No, I didn't detect any inconsistencies in the shield before and there's no reason why there should be any now. But then how was Alicia able to leave on her own, without the barrier being lifted? If there's no opening anywhere, then how did she do it?
The hooded figures were now so close that she could almost see their faces. Human beings, people of varying appearances from one to the other...two men and two women, though she couldn't be entirely sure in the circumstances. The shield shifted in even closer, leaving Fate only a small amount of space to move around at all...
Think!
No more fighting room. The Cult of Neocalypticon had her cornered in the tight box within the centre of the roof, their hands glowing with magic to initiate the beginning of their unknown group spell. There had to be something that even they had missed; a powerful barrier like this couldn't be completely impenetrable...
The shield covers every patch of space around me, from left to right, front to back. I can't go in any of those directions, and I can't go upwards because my flying magic has been drained. The Enforcer's eyes widened in sudden realisation. Wait a second.
The air around her suddenly ignited with purple and red energy as the cultists began chanting around all at once, summoning something dark and sinister. The ritual had begun.
That's it! The only direction left is down!
Simultaneous with the commencement of the cultists' group spell, Fate plunged her sword through the one thing she could still penetrate – the surface of the roof itself. With the aid of her magic, the Enforcer carved a hole right beneath her as the world began to turn red. With her heart in her mouth, she blasted downwards and out in a typhoon of slate and concrete, tunnelling right into the depths of the House of Testarossa...
I'm free!
She tumbled down painfully into a darkly-lit room of the mansion, leaving the frustrated cultists above her on the roof. Angry cries came out from the other end of the hole she'd made, and seconds later Fate felt her levitation magic swiftly return to her. Either she was now clear of the barrier altogether, or the Cult of Neopocalypticon had disabled the shield themselves. With their plans thwarted, they would need to conserve their own energy.
The barrier probably was completely impenetrable from the inside, due to the amount of condensed magic circulating within it. However, it wasn't perfect – it's only a semicircular shield above ground which uses the roof of the mansion as a base, and the roof holds no such resistance. I'm just glad I worked that out in time!
Despite her initial relief, Fate knew that she wasn't out of the woods yet. The cultists' ritual had been disrupted, and they would soon be coming after her to force her back into the same situation. From what Alicia had said, the Cult of Neopcalypticon had been preparing this for years; they were certainly not going to let her go so easily...
And speaking of Alicia...her sister had mentioned that she would be back very soon after recharging, expecting to see the "new" Fate reborn on her return. Somehow, the Enforcer had a feeling that her sister was going to be very disappointed, no matter what the outcome. In any case, it was even more important that she get as far away from the House of Testarossa as possible, before Alicia or the Cult of Neopocalypticon got to her first.
She glanced around the gloomy room around her, gradually adapting to the lack of any real light sourcc; from the looks of it, she had landed right in the attic of the mansion. Fate didn't sense any immediate danger around her, nor in any part of the House of Testarossa itself, and remembered how the place had been virtually deserted of life during her last little exploration. Well, all that meant was that she had found the kind of safety which would last no more than the next ten seconds. Twenty, if she wanted to push her luck.
Still, she had her levitation magic back now, meaning that a fast escape was well within reach. Assuming that the cultists possessed no flying capabilities of their own, the Enforcer only had to take to the skies as quickly as possible...
There was the sound of talking above her suddenly, and Fate quickly pressed herself against the wall of the attic, trying to keep as quiet as possible. She could hear the cultists speaking to one another in hushed voices.
"The specimen has fled," one cultist said, in a high-pitched voice yet also undeniably male. "We must bring her back without delay, and restart the ritual. Lady Testarossa will not be pleased by this delay."
"Affirmative," said a female cultist. "But we must also ensure that she is kept alive. A corpse will be useless for our purposes; the art of necromancy is by no means a stable process." Rustled footsteps sounded around the large opening above Fate's head, drawing near to her hiding place. "The specimen escaped through here. One of us can act as the bait to lure her out into the open, and Father and I can use our paralysis attacks once she emerges."
"Then who's going to go down there?" another voice asked.
"You're the newbie here," said the first cultist. "You can go."
"Me?" The third cultistspluttered in protest. "But – but – what if she's anything like Lady Testarossa? What if she tries to kill me, or drains the blood out of my body, or possesses my mind and my soul, or – or - "
The second cultist snorted in contempt. "This is why I wanted Kagura to be around for this mission. She's always going off on her own."
"Silence, Sister," the first cultist said chillingly. "Initiate, if you still hold fear for the Harlaown girl, do not let such thoughts dissuade you. You are well-received in the eyes of Neopocalypticon, and I shall pray for your safety."
"As shall I," said the female cultist with a healthy dose of sarcasm. "I may pray to a different god and ask him to curse your cowardice."
The newbie muttered at the rest of them bitterly, and Fate wondered curiously why she had only heard three voices. Hadn't there been four people maintaining the barrier before...?
She whirled around as the cultist suddenly leaped down through the hole in the roof, sprawling painfully in a heap on the floor of the attic and causing the whole place to shake with his impact. The man swore under his breath and struggled to get to his feet, wiping dust and soot off his robes.
Before he could react in time to attack her, Fate spun around in a hard kick which should have slammed him against the wall hard enough to knock him out. Instead, her opponent swung in the opposite direction to mirror her exactly, causing both of them to clash in the middle. Undeterred, she followed up by thrusting Bardiche forward for a direct melee attack, but the cultist swiftly lifted the base of his wrist and released a volatile ball of energy from within the sleeve of his black robes.
Taken aback, the Enforcer caught the orb on the blade of her weapon as it flew towards her, and deflected it back towards the man; the mysterious sphere struck him squarely in the chest and turned into a pulsing green core filled with plant-like veins. Her enemy staggered back a few steps and quickly wrenched the core off his body, then crushed it underfoot.
What was that supposed to be? the blonde mage thought, not sure if she wanted to know the answer herself. Is this the kind of magic that Alicia has chosen to ally herself with? It's like a mixture of Bureau spells and unknown alien technology...
Another arm had risen to fire a second energy ball, but Fate had no intention of letting him get that far. Remembering how the cultist had copied her first kick so accurately the first time, the mage moved round in a quick feint before lashing out with her other foot in the other direction. The toe of her boot hit him underneath his chin, sending him into part of the ceiling with a crunch, and in the same movement she brought her heel down sharply onto the joint of his other arm. With a little more force, Fate knew she could probably break it, but she wasn't quite that sadistic. Yet.
As the cultist yelled out in pain, the Enforcer hit him at close range with Bardiche's hilt to knock him out properly. She had to finish this before Alicia returned and realised that everything had gone wrong. Quickly, the blonde mage lifted off into the air to escape from the House of Testarossa at last.
She emerged back onto the roof just in time to see the two other cultists coming at her at a run, alerted by the cries of their fallen companion. The female of the pair was holding two deadly needles in her hands, her head bowed in an aggressive charge as she lunged right at Fate. From the other side, the leading cultist was wielding a great titanium staff in both hands which blazed with power across its entire length...
I thought they said they wanted me alive?
"Plasma Arm!" the Enforcer cried as the female cultist came at her.
Mana was released down her arm and converted into electricity within the space of a few seconds, crackling out from her fist as she punched through the air at high speed. Her opponent leaped upwards at the last second and kicked downwards to parry her attack, but the amount of magical energy in Fate's fist sent the woman off-balance. The cultist was flipped over onto her back painfully, cursing and muttering under her breath. She was up on her feet again almost instantly, and rushed forward brandishing a needle towards Fate's throat. A needle that oozed with a deep murky liquid at its tip...
They were talking about using paralysis attacks on me before. That means...
Quickly, the Enforcer threw herself aside to dodge the needle as best as she could, simultaneously flipping Bardiche round onto the flat of its blade to defend herself. Surely that tiny thing couldn't get through her Barrier Jacket, but she couldn't take any chances. The cultist's arm went over her shoulder, allowing her to seize the woman's wrist with her other hand and slam her down onto the ground. Grimly, Fate raised Plasma Arm above her head to finish her opponent.
The cultist spat back at her vehemently, and threw the other poisoned needle right into her face.
"Round Shield!"
The shield came up just in time to deflect this last attack, but her enemy had already rolled clear during Fate's moment of distraction. An instant later, a blaze of red and white lightning struck the surface of the roof at the mage's feet – this time from behind her.
The first cultist! I lost track of him in the fighting!
The Enforcer rose up several feet into the air as the leading cultist came forward, wielding the titanium staff in his hands. Lightning spiralled around him in a bright spiral of semi-liquid energy, and she hesitated to go back down to engage in combat with him. She didn't need to waste her time fighting here anymore; now that she had her flying magic back again, and with still no sign of Alicia's return as yet, Fate was already free from this place. Besides, the Cult of Neopcalypticon obviously couldn't reach her up here.
"Fate, watch out!" a voice cried out.
She quickly brought up Round Shield again as the other female cultist attacked her again from the ground, hurling needle after needle at her with a battle-lust that was frightening. As Fate steeled herself for another attack, another enemy sprang up through the hole in the roof – it was the newbie cultist that she had knocked out in the attic previously. She was surprised to see him recovered so quickly; this was only going to make things harder...
Who was it who yelled out that warning just now? I can't see anyone else.
"You cannot escape, specimen," the leading cultist said, raising his staff of thunder above his head. He aimed carefully and unleashed another spell. "Anti-Gravity Field!"
Fate's eyes widened in alarm as the spell approached her. This was not happening. It had not been easy to escape that annoying barrier and have her levitation magic returned to her at last, her only lifeline of getting away from this place and finding Nanoha and the others again; it had not been easy at all. Whatever happened, she was not going to let this last opponent take it all away from her again...
The Enforcer accelerated upwards, successfully avoiding the brunt of the technique as it washed through the area in a tide of energy. Despite her best efforts, however, she wasn't able to emerge completely unaffected and her flying capabilities were greatly handicapped as a result. Dismay and frustration built up inside her as Fate felt herself beginning to fall – back towards the mansion.
These people are really getting on my nerves!
Determined to put an end to this as quickly as possible, the Enforcer turned towards the leading cultist to finish him off. If she defeated the caster, then the effects of the annoying spell would shortly be cancelled out and allow for a swift escape. Unfortunately, taking him on had now become a slightly more difficult task, because now his two other companions were in the way...
Three of them, all moving to surround me. The newbie that I fought in the attic, the female opponent with the vicious needles, and the leader with the metal staff of lightning. I can deal with the first of them easily enough, but if they all attack me at once...
There was a sudden shimmer of light above the mansion, and then a fourth dark-robed figure appeared in the sky. It was the missing fourth cultist, come to reveal themselves now so that the entirety of the Cult of Neopocalypticon could take her down with full force. In contrast to their other companions, the last member of the cult appeared to possess flying magic of their own; perhaps that was why they hadn't been detected before...
Now all four of them are here? Fate thought in despair. If I don't beat all of them quickly, they're just going to start up the ritual again! This is the whole reason why the cultists were trying to lure me up here in the first place...
Despite her worsening predicament, however, there was another burning question at the back of her mind which remained unanswered. During the tide of the fighting, someone had called out a warning to her, saving her from a sneak-attack from one of her opponents. That person had helped her. Somewhere in the vicinity of this mansion, Fate had a hidden ally of some kind...but who?
It hadn't been Nanoha or any other member of the Bureau that she would have recognised, that much was for sure. None of her friends had been able to locate where she was being held, it seemed, even if they were trying their best to find her. But who else could it be? The voice which had called out to Fate had sounded really familiar to her, so familiar that it hurt, and the mage knew she really should remember it...
I can't focus on that right now. The four cultists have already surrounded me again, ready to keep me in that cage of magic and restart the ritual. If I can just reach the leader and disrupt the anti-flying spell he used on me -
As her thoughts shifted to battle once more, she saw with surprise that the two weaker cultists had moved around to the opposite corners of the roof. At first, Fate thought that they were doing so in preparation to resume the ritual, and fear gripped her heart just thinking about that. In the next second, however, she realised that it wasn't that after all. The cultists were actually just getting out of the way, seeking refuge from a spell erupting with tremendous power...
"Testarossa Lightning Storm," the leading cultist chanted, pointing his staff directly at her.
A huge array of golden thunderbolts was unleashed on the Enforcer from above, bouncing back and forth between each corner of the roof in a rippling shockwave of high-voltage electricity.
The two lesser cultists had shielded their bodies within an aura of their own magic, protecting themselves from the spell as it surged violently through the air.
Quickly, Fate increased her speed to dodge the worst of the attack, but the dangerous current was moving above the mansion itself and made it difficult to step anywhere without being severely electrocuted. As her options began to run out, she dug Bardiche's blade into the centre of the roof and leaped off from there to engage the cultist in combat. The space immediately around the man was safe from the lancing shockwaves, so if she could only get close enough...
He had used the word "Testarossa" in that spell, and it was undeniably lightning-based like the majority of Fate's moves...but the Enforcer didn't recognise the name or the nature of the spell at all. Was this one of Alicia's techniques, then, perhaps imitating her own style? It didn't seem very likely...
Wait a second. Something's not right here. Alicia said that the Cult of Neopocalypticon had acquired the "essence" of her real sister in this world, the Fate which was intended to replace me. What if that's not all? What if the cultists are using that same essence right now to draw out the other Fate's magical abilities and talents...and using those abilities to fight me? Is this why that spell seemed so familiar?
If her hunch was right, then she could be running into more trouble than she realised. The lead cultist was in possession of spells used by an alternate version of herself – not Alicia specifically, but a Fate which had once lived in this world, a Fate who was at least as strong as she was. However, that was the only advantage that her enemy had over her; he didn't have her endurance, or her stamina, or her expert reaction time, or anything that made her the mage she was today. She could still win out over him.
The titanium staff in the cultist's hands, too...the Enforcer had noticed something strange about that during the course of the fighting, too. Her enemy had been casting all of his spells through that one weapon, leading Fate to suspect that this "essence" of her past version in this world was being manipulated directly through it. If she wanted to get this over quickly and stop him from casting any more of those devastating lightning-type spells – spells meant to be cast by another her – then she would need to do something about that staff...
"Give it up, specimen," the leading cultist said coldly. "Your own fate has already been written in the books of Neopocalypticon himself. You are all alone. Do not test my patience further."
The footsteps of the two other cultists on the roof were fast approaching behind her: the newbie and the needle-wielding woman in combination. Fate felt a hollow feeling in her stomach, knowing that in this her enemy was most likely correct. How long had she been fighting without anyone to aid her? How much further could she go on like this? Even her reunion with Nanoha had been over in minutes...
I am alone, she thought despairingly. It's true. But even so, I keep on pushing myself forward. Even when I find disaster waiting for me at every corner, and find myself drifting further and further away from Nanoha, I just...
"You're not alone, Fate!"
The familiar voice broke through her depressive thoughts and woke something new inside her. The Enforcer lifted her face in astonishment, recognising now who had spoken out. It was the same person who had yelled a warning to her just minutes before...
And then her eyes widened with disbelief. It was the fourth cultist, hovering in the sky above the mansion – the dark-robed figure who formed part of the enemies which had come against her and given her so much grief.
"You're never alone, Fate," the cultist said, lowering themselves down to the roof. "Don't ever forget that, all right? Your friends are waiting for you to come back safe and sound. This isn't the time to give up!"
The cultist...? They're the one who helped me before? But they're an enemy! What's going on here?
"What is the meaning of this?" the leading cultist demanded, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he gazed towards the last of their group. "You aren't one of us! Who are you?"
The fourth cultist dropped her hood to reveal her face for all to see. With a graceful motion of her shoulders and neck, she shook out her long orange hair across her shoulders so that it fell all the way down to her waist, paling to orange at its tip. Her face was markedly feline, sporting two wolf-ears on either side and a fiery nature that burned within. Blue eyes shone with a mixture of determination and love as she gazed upon Fate – and finally, the red jewel in the centre of her forehead marked her out as a familiar.
Arf?
Standing there dressed in the black robes of the other cultists, the familiar had been cast in a very different light. Her body was coiled in preparation to fight, and Arf whirled around to stand back-to-back with Fate.
"There's no time to explain, Fate," the wolf-girl said. "I'm guessing that you know who I am in this universe, but I can't give you the words you need to hear. Before you say anything, I have to tell you this: I'm the Arf of this world, not your own. Along with Lady Alicia and Linith, I'm one of the last living members of the House of Testarossa."
"Arf, what is going on?" the blonde mage said frantically. "Where did you come from? I don't understand how – why – " She spluttered over her words, trying to make some sense out of all this. "Why are you dressed like that? You were one of the cultists!"
"You and me have never met before now, Fate," Arf said, watching as the other cultists began to draw closer with hostile movements. "We're both from different universes, where a different version of events transpired. Even so, I am still your familiar and your friend, and always will be. I disguised myself as a member of the House of Neopocalypticon and infiltrated their ranks because I couldn't stand what had happened to Lady Alicia. I couldn't stand by and let her torture herself further. And when I saw you, Fate...I knew I had to save you."
She swallowed hard, the emotion running through her voice. "I was going to sabotage the ritual by myself, so that you would be able to escape. I didn't know what kind of person you were, Fate. I guessed that there was probably another Arf in your world, one that you might love and care for...but I knew that you were a Fate that didn't have to endure all this. I believed in you, Fate, and I still do. Lady Alicia doesn't need her sister revived. The past should remain the past."
The Enforcer didn't know what to say in response. The last cultist had been Arf in disguise, here to save her? An alternate version of the Arf she knew, one who had been a part of the House of Testarossa the whole time? How had the familiar been able to survive up to now? Linith had been so cold and unemotional before, but Arf...Arf had not changed at all. The love she showed Fate was as encompassing as ever, and it touched her deeply.
"Lady Alicia will be back any minute," the wolf-girl said quickly, tensing her muscles. "Don't worry about the ritual anymore, Fate, because it won't work with only three people. We're still going to have to act fast, though." She smiled in anticipation. "If I take on the two cultists on this side, you can eliminate the leader. Does that sound like a good plan to you?"
Fate hesitated. "You're just like the Arf I know in my world," she said at last. "I know you're a part of the House of Testarossa, but...I don't want anything happen to you. Even if we don't really know one another." She took her deep breath and let it out slowly. "Arf, will you really be all right?"
"I can handle myself." The familiar drew herself up and stepped forward. "Don't worry about what happens to me, Fate. You've already got another Arf waiting for you back home, haven't you? I'm just going to do my best to help you make it there. It's the least I can do after what Lady Alicia did."
The leading cultist slammed the base of his staff on the roof surface angrily, his face turning red with rage. "A traitorous familiar," he whispered. "Without more people, the ritual has been forced into failure! Do you two even understand what you've just done?" Gnarled hands clenched around the titanium staff anew as it powered up with electrical energy. "The life of the specimen is no longer ensured. Kill her and the familiar too! We will not be disgraced by such tools of humanity!" He aimed the staff at Fate's neck. "Testarossa Lightning Cage!"
Countless threads of interlocking magical fibres shot towards her throat, but the Enforcer was already acting to counter the attack. Reflexively, she flung up her left hand and activated her Thunder Arm spell, severing many of the electrical threads which came at her face. Her enemy's staff was virtually overflowing with energy, however, rapidly generating much more of the mana-induced strands to tighten around her wrist and arm. Eventually, the cage bypassed Fate's defences and locked around the lower part of her left arm in a yellow cocoon, holding her fast.
Behind her, Arf was taking on the other two cultists with a savage fury. The first enemy, the newbie, attacked her head-on with his body, but the familiar threw her black robes at his face in a clever snare. As the man struggled to get the obstructing clothes off his head, Arf transformed into her beast form and charged at him at full speed, catching him in a straight head-butt which sent the cultist flying right off the mansion roof.
"Take that!"
A feral grin spread across her face: one of their foes had been taken care off in such a short time. The familiar turned around to engage the needle-wielding cultist in combat, and the two of them began to exchange blows of their own...
Meanwhile, Fate's left arm had been caught in a cage of mana by the leading cultist. She knew she probably wouldn't be able to break so many threads with just one hand, but there were other ways to deal with capture spells.
Her foe was pulling the staff backward, dragging both Fate and her bound arm along with him as he took advantage of the situation. The Enforcer pulled back in response – and she didn't hold back. The cultist's arms were almost wrenched out of their sockets by her superior physical strength, forcing his body all the way forward as the man tried desperately to gain any ground on her at all. His grip on the titanium staff loosened, and the cultist's eyes widened; with so many electrical strands connected to the staff, he couldn't keep hold of the cage whilst Fate was wrenching so hard in the other direction. He was either going to have to cancel the spell or risk losing the weapon altogether.
A second later, Fate felt the magical cage dismantle around her arm; at least now her enemy had seen that she would not be brought down by a simple capture spell, even if it was one that belonged to another version of herself. So how was he going to act now?...
"Testarossa Lightning Storm!"
Oh, yes. She knew this one.
Bardiche's blade was still embedded in the centre of the roof following her previous strategy, and the Enforcer leaped onto the hilt in a tight crouch as lightning lanced across the rest of the tiles. She quickly saw with surprise that the sword was actually drawing away the violent current of electricity – could the reason for that be to do with the type of spell being used? A Testarossa spell from this universe, drawn towards a "real" Fate in this time and space...
In any case, it sparked an idea in her. The blonde mage sprang up off the magical device and leaped down at the leading cultist, remembering that his only real strong point was the staff he held in his hands. She saw the man look up at her in astonishment, saw him lift the thunderous weapon again to release another blast of lightning which burnt through her body in an instant. Fate gritted her teeth and bore the pain, knowing that no spell like that was going to stop her. At the same time, a pleasant tingling feeling at the back of her neck also told her that the Anti-Gravity Field had worn off.
The leading cultist's eyes widened when he saw that the Enforcer was still headed straight towards him. His best spells had been all but ineffective against her. In a last act of desperation, the man flung up his staff and fired thunderbolt after thunderbolt at her to bring her down, but even this failed. In response, Fate folded her armoured arms tightly around her body to protect herself, so that the spells became only sparks glinting off her Barrier Jacket. Nothing could hurt her now.
With a cry, she kicked the staff from the man's hands and shattered it into pieces. The weapon exploded violently and sent both mage and cultist flying in opposite directions.
She hadn't forgotten that her levitation magic had now returned to her, and flew up in the air to avoid any additional damage. The leading cultist was not so lucky; he took almost the full impact of the blast and was turned into a bloody mess against the roof.
It's over.
Just as she was about to lower her guard, a poisoned needle came whistling through the air at her from below. Losing patience, Fate hit the projectile with Plasma Arm as it approached her and shattered the needle into pieces.
The female cultist was the last one standing upon the roof of the House of Testarossa. Multiple poisoned needles were clutched between her fingers, and blood flowed from countless cuts and grazes on her arms and shoulders where Arf had wounded her. The woman came forward shakily, hissing a curse under her breath.
Arf...? What happened to -
Fate's eyes widened when she saw the body of the orange-haired familiar lying motionless behind the cultist. Blood trickled steadily out of the wolf-girl's mouth, one drop spilled too many. She didn't seem to be moving at all.
ARF! NO!
Another needle came whizzing close to her neck, but the Enforcer barely noticed it. These people had done this to her, mercilessly crushing another piece of her own life and soul that was so precious. Arf had never meant any harm outside of what she had been forced to do, never wanted to do anything except protect and love...her...
Is this what you wanted, Alicia? Is it?
She grabbed the next needle out of thin air and crushed it; the female cultist's attacks were so ineffective at this range that it was almost laughable. The Enforcer breathed in harshly, torn apart by the sea of emotions whirling inside her mind, wanting nothing more than to finish all this right now and leave it all behind. This wasn't the Arf she knew back home, only an alternate version of the familiar who had known her for only a small amount of time, and whatever happened to her didn't affect the real Arf in her universe at all...but that didn't ease any of the pain that was boiling up inside her. Arf had believed in her. She had protected Fate despite knowing what the consequences would be, and if that choice had resulted in the ultimate sacrifice...
Grimly, Fate used both hands to bring Bardiche down in a central slash across the sky.
"Sprite Zanber!"
The ensuing impact sent the needle-wielding cultist sailing over the edge of the roof completely, her body breaking up and disintegrating shortly afterwards. The mage didn't stop to watch what had happened to her opponent; the hollow feeling in her stomach still remained, composed of fear that she would lose Arf completely and be alone again. Arf had always been with her whilst she was growing up, always keeping her company to let her know that someone still cared, long before she had met Nanoha or anyone else...
Arf. Don't die. I won't let you.
Fate flew down to where Arf's body lay, cradling her unresponsive face in the crook of her arm. The blonde mage had faced loss before, but never anything like this. This was different from losing her mother or her sense of identity in the world; Arf had been with her ever since she was a little girl, always there to support her and give her strength when she was in need of it. It was all she could do to mentally repeat the same words through her head over and over again: this isn't the same Arf, not as I really know her. There were subtle differences between the two of them, between all the various Arfs that must surely exist in all the universes out there...but even so, that didn't diminish the pain, not one little bit.
But then the familiar suddenly stirred in her arms, hacking and coughing up blood out of her lungs. She was still alive! Her breathing was alarmingly shallow, and she still seemed so weak, but Arf was alive in her arms. There was still hope yet: Arf was a strong girl on her own, and if there was the slightest chance that she could make it...
"Arf!" Fate whispered, relief overwhelming her. For precious seconds there, she had thought that her childhood companion really had died. "Arf, can you hear me? Can you hear my voice?"
The familiar's blue eyes slowly flickered open and gazed into her own. Groggily, she tried to lift her head upwards towards the Enforcer, but this small action triggered another stream of blood to flow between her cracked lips. The light and strength in her face had faded after her battle with the cultist, and several deep cuts were visible around her neck.
"Fate...?" Arf breathed, her voice so low that the mage could barely hear her. "What happened? Did we...win?"
The other woman nodded excitedly and smiled. "Yes. We beat them, Arf, thanks to you. The Cult of Neopocalypticon won't be bothering us again." She tried to use her own magic to instil calm into the wolf-girl's body and help her move towards some kind of recovery, but had no idea if there was any real change at all. "Just hold on and take it easy, okay? I can take you to Nanoha and the rest of the Bureau – you're going to be all right..."
A shudder passed through the familiar's face, with fear paling her features further. "No, Fate. I'm...I'm not going to make it..."
"What are you talking about?" Fate pushed down the wave of panic rising up inside her, trying to find a way of lifting Arf up without making the bleeding worse. The wounds were so severe that it seemed practically impossible to do such a thing, however. "I've made up my mind. I'm not leaving you behind to die."
Arf tried to swallow, but the cuts in her throat prevented her from doing so. "Fate...I'm sorry," she whispered. "I took too many hits from my opponent, and her weapons...were poisoned. The...the poison's in my bloodstream...and that's what's killing me..." She choked on her own blood again, trying to turn away from the Enforcer as tears ran down her cheeks. "I can't go with you, Fate. I wish I could...but it's already too late for me. Please. You...you have to leave me...and get out of here quickly. Find the one you love and be happy with them, forever. There's still danger, Fate..."
"Arf?" the mage said urgently with rising concern, sensing that she was losing her. "Arf! Arf, keep it together!"
The orange-haired familiar's head dropped down to one side and her eyes closed wearily, but she had not descended into the deep slumber of death itself. A thin breath continued to pass through her lips, and a faint heartbeat remained, but Arf was no longer able to stay conscious. There was still time, Fate thought. If she could find Nanoha and the others, and secure help for the girl...
I'm not leaving you, Arf! It doesn't matter whether you're from my universe or not. I would never give up on you!
But how was she supposed to move her anywhere? With that level of blood loss, the smallest amount of pressure on the familiar's body could take her faster to the grave. Technically, the best thing would be to have a medical mage come to her, instead...but that wasn't a very realistic aspiration...
As Fate knelt by Arf's body, trying to work out what to do next, a whisper of magic passed through the air behind her. At first, the mage barely noticed it. She was so caught up in trying to save Arf's life that she didn't want to notice it. There was no way that she would let the familiar sacrifice herself like this...
"What are you doing, Fate?" the voice of her sister rang out coldly.
The Enforcer froze in place, the familiar feeling of dread returning to her heart. She had achieved so much in such short a time. The Cult of Neopocalypticon had been well and truly defeated; any attempt to bind her magic or keep her on the ground had failed, allowing her to escape whenever she wanted. But even so...at the last hurdle, she had failed in just one thing.
There's still danger, Fate. Arf's last words to her.
"Fate?" Alicia said silkily, hovering in mid-air above the House of Testarossa. "I asked you a question. What are you doing? What...have you done to my ritual?"
Kagura sped away through the districts of Uminari City on her motorbike, her mood darkening after her little detour to the House of Yagami. Even now, she could still barely believe that the purpose of her mission had been a waste of time. No money. No currency. No government. And no further contracts for her, all as a result of the rebellion rising. Yagami might as well have fired her on the spot for all the good it did her, although that would then have been a perfect excuse to go completely berserk on everyone else there.
No money. No food. What's the use of paper money if it doesn't mean a fucking thing anymore?
No one in that house had even seemed that worried; instead, they had started talking about time travel, which was as barmy as anything Kagura had ever heard in her life. In her mind, Lideri and Yagami had commpletely taken leave of their senses. What was all this rubbish about time switches and catastrophes anyway? What catastrophe could be worse than her not having enough money to feed her sister? And why was that her fault? She ground up saliva in her mouth at the thought of being able to put a bullet through Yagami's brain then and there...it wasn't as if any of them could stop her. Sure, Arisa might be a match for her, but...
Did she regret ending Chrono's life? The red-haired assassin barely paid the matter any consideration; of course she didn't. Such a glorious new world had been set in place for Kagura as a result, with endless fighting and constant bloodshed. Why would she ever regret creating something like that? An eternal battlefield was paradise to her.
Who cares? Who fucking cares anymore?
She could still feed Elsie, even without Yagami's resources. It was just going to be a little trickier than normal to find the right balance of nutrients, that was all. Besides, what about Felicity, the last of the Labinnac Sisters? How did Yagami intend to keep her fed once they ran out of money too? Felicity's demands were far more extreme than Elsie's, and if you didn't meet her requirements by a certain time...
The streets were virtually deserted as the assassin drove through them single-mindedly, pausing only to fire at passing groups of deserters and looters. Poverty and homelessness, lives wrecked and destroyed by the tides of war...Kagura had little sympathy for any of them. If they wanted to fight back against her, why didn't they? Why should she let these little worms spoil her fun? That was only part of why she enjoyed seeing them die.
She was almost disappointed that the rebellion had moved over to the other side of Uminari City now. After her anger and frustration towards Yagami, it would have been good to let off some more steam by eliminating a few more squadrons of executors. Even so, Kagura was still in a tearing hurry to get home in the state she was in.
Elsie has to be fed today, no matter what. Even Felicity knows that. Today is a very special day for her indeed, regardless of whatever's going on, and I gave her explicit instructions not to eat anything until I came back for her. Elsie knows what happens to a Labinnac Sister on her five hundredth birthday. She'll wait.
She swerved around the next corner and quickly dialled home on her phone, concerned enough to talk to her sister. It wasn't so much "home" as it was the set base of living accommodations which the Family of Labinnac had been forced into over the centuries. For many years of her life, Kagura had lived out on the street along with the other dregs of society. She'd fought tooth and nail not to be taken by the Harlaown Program...and at long last, she had grown strong enough to the point where that fateful wish had been granted. Perhaps it had taken away more from her than most people might have been comfortable with, but Kagura didn't see it that way. On the contrary, she saw it as a further extension of herself.
The red-haired assassin waited on the phone for several seconds, quickly becoming impatient. No one was picking up, but Kagura had never known her sister to miss a call before. There was no reason why Elsie wouldn't be able to answer; the silver-haired girl had not left the house in many years. It wasn't as if she needed to sleep or anything.
Come on, Elsie. Pick up the phone. What the fuck's taking you so long?
Nearly a minute had passed now, and the dialling tone continued endlessly into her ear. Kagura was beginning to get anxious now, because now she knew that something was desperately wrong. Elsie had never let the phone ring so long before...had something happened to her? Was her sister's daemon acting up like he did whenever he went without proper sustenance for too long?
Two minutes passed. The phone continued to ring.
Shit.
Kagura didn't know what was going on back at home. She didn't know what had happened to Elsie, only that it couldn't be good. Could something have forced her sister to leave the house? It couldn't be the fault of the rebellion, but...who could tell what had happened? Kagura had known her sister for long enough to know that this was not normal behaviour for her.
I have to find Elsie. Fast.
Biting blood against her tongue, the assassin switched off her phone and sped off at full speed towards the western districts, driving through the streets towards the home of the Labinnac Family. It was time to find out what was really going on down there.
A/N: Next chapter will finish off Fate's little side-arc at the House of Testarossa, and progress some other stuff.