COUNTDOWN TO DIMENSIONAL DISTORTION
180 MINUTES REMAINING
Within the hospital walls, the general atmosphere was quite subdued in comparison to the chaos and madness going on outside. At the perimeter, mutants of all shapes and sizes were lurching out through the doors in a mad rush, spurred on by Grylmark's magic, whilst the re-activated force field prevented any unwanted visitors from gaining entry. Since the barrier's magic was only active on one side, there was nothing to stop the hordes of deformed monsters from passing through into the rest of Uminari City and rampaing to their heart's desire.
With the Bureau currently unable to make any further progress against the hospital's defences, and the last of the monsters now released into the outside world, a form of temporary peace had fallen upon the wards and corridors of the interior. It was quiet, but not a form of quiet that anyone would be quick to embrace. No, it was closer to an unnatural silence which spoke of the precious minutes that remained before the real storm came crashing through to tear everything apart...
At the north-eastern side of the building, a controlled field of time magic was wrapped protectively around a large section of the ceiling. The matrix of mana quivered and hummed with energy as it worked to rapidly repair the damage done to the main structure. It was here that Srethis and Ungore had dramatically crashed through in hybrid form, prompting a retaliation which had been almost instantaneous.
The hybrid was no more, but the same fate had not befallen its occupants. The lizard and alien were lying at opposite ends of the main corridor, groaning as Oguba's time magic rapidly withdrew from their bodies in plentiful amounts. After the last of Grylmark's additional power had been exhausted, the two creatures had been forcibly separated into their initial forms again. Above them, time magic quivered slightly across the sealed-up ceiling to continue the repair process.
"Ugh," Ungore muttered, struggling to rise to their feet amidst a fresh wave of pain. There were no physical wounds that were visible on their body, but the damage from Hayate's spells had had a detrimental effect on the alien nonetheless. "What...what happened? Where are we?"
Srethis let out a pained hiss, almost too crippled from its fall to move at all. "We musst be dead," the lizard murmured. "We could not have ssurvived ssuch an impact. Hayate wass too sstrong..."
"Hayate, you say?" came a man's voice from the faint darkness of the corridor ahead. "How unexpected. How very interesting of you to say so, Srethis."
Cold footsteps sounded in front of the two dazed creatures, hard and blunt against the metallic floor of the hospital. Slowly, and with great apprehension, the lizard and the alien raised themselves up to see the figure of an old man framed in the doorway. It was no ordinary old man who walked upon this earth, but an ancient summoner that wielded Oguba's magic with potent energy that burned at his fingertips.
From the look on his face, he was not exactly thrilled to see them.
"I am currently having a very bad day," Grylmark said with icy menace. Curtly, he pulled his robes tightly around himself whilst continuing to drain excess time magic out of Srethis' and Ungore's bodies. "You will scarcely believe this, but you two have surpassed my greatest expectations so far. Expectations for failure, that is. Let me commend you, Srethis and Ungore, for successfully making everything worse for all of us!"
Srethis swallowed and quickly lay back down on the ground again. It was probably a good time to pretend to be unconscious.
"As you both know, Yagami withdrew all of her support from this facility last night," the summoner said in a dangerous tone. "I had been relying on the resources of her assassins to aid our escape from this universe, but that plan has now backfired. I failed to take into account the unstable nature of Yagami's own character, as well as her opinions towards men in particular. Considering the volatile environment of the House of Yagami at that time, I considered myself lucky to get any money out of her at all. As a result, we are on our own here."
His baleful glare burned into the two of them. "Srethis and Ungore, you understand that in these circumstances I have virtually run out of trustworthy allies. A lot of them have a tendency to die very quickly. Instead, I have been forced to rely on both of you to assist me with your skills and abilities, as questionable as that may seem."
Grylmark increased the flow of time magic returning to his hands, swinging around to face each of the creatures in turn. "Ungore. It was I who saved you from the land of limbo before its inevitable destruction. Srethis. It was I who took you away from the Metaworld before it could consume your body and soul. If not for my intervention, the two of you would be facing a fate worse than death. As it stands, you are in my debt and bound to follow my orders.
"Now, I have a little question for both of you. It isn't very difficult to do as you're told, is it? The pair of you have already acknowledged to me that you are satisfied with our arrangement, so what exactly is the problem here? You don't have to think. You don't have to use your brains. All you have to do is follow my orders properly and everything will go just fine." The muscles of his face tightened in anger. "Could either of you shed some light on why you are having so much trouble in doing that?"
Srethis tried to muster some kind of defence, but the pain was still too intense for them to sit up properly. Every muscle in their body hurt, and the lizard could do little more but grunt in response. Fortunately, their one-armed companion was quite capable of speaking up instead.
"You have no right to blame us, Grylmark!" Ungore growled, managing to stand up at last. The alien had braced themselves against the wall of the corridor as they panted for breath. "We've followed every last one of your orders up to now! What did we do wrong? We didn't have anything to do with - "
"Yes, Ungore, what indeed?" the old man snapped with rapidly waning patience. "What did you do, exactly? Let's see." He began to pace up and down angrily in a circle around the two creatures. "I entrusted part of my magic to the two of you, hoping that you might be able to make some proper use of it in eradicating the executors from the general area. I see now that I overestimated your capabilities for common sense!"
Angrily, he gestured sharply with one hand towards the ceiling of the hospital. "For reasons that I can only guess at, you and Srethis decided to combine into a powerful hybrid form and go berserk across Uminari City. You didn't need to. It was quite unnecessary. Of course, the two of you were ill-equipped to deal with such power, just as most lowly mages would be, and you lost control and made a great big hole right over there! There were two Guardian Knights in full view of the whole spectacle, for crying out loud. I had to drain some of my reserve power just to seal it up again!"
The summoner ground his heel against the metallic floor, taking no notice as the lizard and alien cowered away from him. "The opening you made was big enough for anyone to gain access to this hospital," he said. "Certainly large enough to accommodate a great many high-ranking Bureau mages! You're lucky I sealed up the hole before Nanoha was able to make a move on us. Perhaps the Bureau didn't attack us because they were simply so stunned by the sight of you ripping a hole in the one building you're supposed to be defending." He clasped his hands tightly together, the withdrawal of time magic into his own body now complete. "Good job on screwing that one up!"
Seething, Srethis had lifted themselves up on their elbows in a half-seated position, now that the bulk of the pain had eased away. "That was not our fault," the lizard said defensively. "The force field around the facility sshould have prevented us from falling sso far. One of the Bureau magess must have deactivated it beforehand - "
"Absolutely, Srethis." The summoner clapped his hands mockingly. "That still fails to explain why the two of you were behaving in such a way. Perhaps you were just trying to show off? Ungore, I understand that your hatred for humans has taken you over a little in the past few days, but there is a war going on. There is no shortage of prey for you."
"You don't understand, Grylmark!" the alien yelled, flaring up at that. "Do you think we would use that kind of power without good reason? We ran into Hayate on our way back! That's why we had to transform, not that it did us much good! She had no trouble beating us on her own!"
"Ah, yes. Hayate." Grylmark's face darkened. "I confess that I am rather perplexed as to why you are so quick to blame her for your own faults. If you're going to think up an excuse, couldn't you at least think up a better one?" He released the blue threads of Oguba's magic suddenly, and the lizard and alien were knocked to the floor by the ensuing backlash. "Hayate is long dead, you morons! I allowed her to escape from here last night so that the executors could finish her off. Naturally, she would have not lasted long, not in the middle of curfew, and would have been taken away into the Harlaown Program for immediate processing. There is no possibility that you could have met her out there - "
His voice trailed off suddenly when he saw the looks on their faces. Srethis and Ungore were both staring at him with a mix of bitter reproach and open hostility, a twin death-glare in reaction to how he had spoken to them. There was no indication of any lie in their eyes, no sudden defensiveness or willingness to back down and squirm out of it. For all appearances, the lizard and alien seemed to be telling the truth.
For an instant, uncertainty flashed across the summoner's features. Had he made a mistake?
"This is no lie, Grylmark," Srethis hissed. "Hayate wass there. She fought uss. It wass her sspell that ssent uss crashing through the roof! Yess, Grylmark, we losst control of the hybrid form at first, but we were ssoon able to work together and usse our power properly! Hayate was the one who did thiss to uss!"
Stubbornly, the old man refused to trust the lizard's word completely. These two were the last members of Red Scorpions, after all. He would be a fool to believe every single thing they said.
"Hayate," he said fervently, "could not have survived in the middle of Uminari City at the eve of curfew with executors combing the area. You are telling me that she somehow found shelter and a roof under her head, despite being blind, and that she was still wandering around the city this morning? And able to fight the two of you single-handed in magical combat? Do not make me laugh! She would have needed help of some kind just to get that far!"
Ungore grunted in response. "She had help, Grylmark," the alien said darkly. "Oh, she definitely had help." The one-armed creature met his gaze squarely. "Exoria and the Legion were with her. They were on her side. We defeated them easily enough, but we had no chance against the Mistress of the Night Sky herself."
The summoner's face drained of colour. "Exoria...?" he repeated. "And the Legion? With Hayate?"
"That's right." If the alien had been able to do, they would have folded their arms smugly. "Now do you believe us?"
Grylmark had turned away from the two creatures distractedly, his mind racing to think of something. This wasn't what was supposed to happen at all. None of this had been part of the plan that he'd spent so long preparing for over the years...Had Hayate really survived up to now by enlisting the help of Exoria and the Legion? How on earth had she even managed to persuade them to join her? If she had succeeded in getting through to Exoria of all people – Exoria, who had seemed so filled with hate and listened to no one but herself – then she was probably capable of doing the same with anyone...
No, the summoner told himself firmly. That's not the important issue here. Perhaps Hayate intends to join her other friends at the Bureau and take us on with everything they've got. Perhaps she's simply wandering around the city aimlessly because she's lost and doesn't know where to go. It doesn't matter. Even with the combined might of the Bureau against me, they're nothing compared to the power of Oguba! In three hours, all of Mid-childa will be sent to oblivion and there isn't a single thing that anyone can do about it. By then, I will have escaped from this universe and the Bureau will be left here to perish along with all of humanity. Even Yagami and her assassins can't save her now! I'm the only one who knows the way out of here!
Still, Grylmark was slightly unnerved as to how Nanoha and her allies had gotten their act together so quickly. The Bureau's journey through the wormhole would have caused their group to be separated all over Mid-childa, leaving them leaderless and disorientated at the very least; in fact, Grylmark had even made doubly sure of this by taking Subaru and Caro prisoner, and keeping them locked up within the depths of this facility. With things like this, the TSAB would be missing one of their best combat fighters, and there would be no annoying summoning of dragons to mess everything up.
Yes, he had been convinced that he had everything in hand. And yet...
When Srethis and Ungore had crashed through the ceiling of the hospital, Grylmark had seen Guardian Knights waiting outside. Signum and Shamal, if he remembered correctly. If two members of the Wolkenritter were already with each other, then it was likely that a lot of the remaining Bureau mages were with them as well. How had they managed to regroup so quickly like that, in less than a day? The Bureau was supposed to be scattered around the continent, unable to fight back by themselves! Instead, they were uniting together against him, with the end of the world only a few hours away!
Again, it does not matter, the old man thought, forcing himself to stay in control. None of this presents a real problem for my primary ambitions. With Oguba's magic running through my veins, I am untouchable as ever. I will not make the mistakes that Scaglietti made! Lust for power and immortality only leads to one's downfall, and things like that are already attained on the road to infinite knowledge. Let the Bureau come! They have no way of escaping this universe before the dimensional distortion consumes them all!
"Forget about Hayate," he said in a perfectly calm voice. "She can fire all her spells against my mutants outside and exhaust herself. Just like the rest of the Bureau, she won't be able to touch us."
"That iss not all," Srethis replied. The lizard was sitting up on the floor now, able to take in deeper breaths. "Her blindness iss no more. In the heat of the battle, Hayate's sight was resstored, so she iss now back at full power. That iss how sshe was able to defeat uss."
Grylmark cursed under his breath upon hearing that. Should he have expected something like this? Hayate's blindness had been directly caused by an application of his own magic here in the hospital, and the only thing capable of neutralising it was a counter-magic from the same source. Unknowing of this little fact, he had given the same kind of magic to Srethis and Ungore earlier, thinking only of giving them some extra strength to aid them. If he had thought for a single instance that there was any chance that Hayate was still alive, and that she would take advantage of such tools to aid her own predicament...
"We cannot help that now," he said between gritted teeth. "Regardless, do not worry about Hayate. She poses a clear threat, but that means nothing if she isn't able to reach us. By the time she is able to make it past my creations into the innermost chambers of the facility, we will be long gone from this universe. It will be impossible for a single soul to be able to follow us."
The old man's gaze moved back to Srethis and Ungore as they watched him warily from either side of the hospital corridor. The time for contemplation for the future had passed: it was action for the present that Grylmark was concerned with now.
"I believe there is one last thing to deal with here," he said, his tone becoming brisk and impatient. "When I parted company with the two of you earlier, I left to acquire a new ally to join us. She should be here by now..." He let out a long sigh. "But she is not. I admit that I expected this, but even so one of you will have to go back into the city to fetch her."
"Who?" the alien enquired suspiciously.
The old man smiled. "She is none other than Elsie Labinnac." He saw the shock and surprise in their faces, and took some particular pleasure in that. "I would have asked Kagura to come, but she was unavailable and we have no time to wait for her. Instead, her little sister will be joining us to defend against the Bureau's forces."
"Grylmark," Ungore said harshly. "You recruited a Labinnac Sister to fight with us? Are you out of your mind?"
"My mind is in perfectly good condition, Ungore," the summoner snapped, "which is more than I could say for some. In this world, the Labinnac Family were once the most revered House of Mid-childa of all, rising high above the Houses of Yagami and even Testarossa. The wars have depleted their numbers over the centuries, but the surviving Sisters remain as powerful as ever. I know that Elsie's strength will be a great asset to the three of us."
"It iss unwise to bring a Labinnac here," Srethis said uneasily, their green eyes shifting across the walls of the corridor. "The Sissters have very sspecific diets, and if they are not fed properly - "
Grylmark waved the lizard's protests away with one hand, not really paying attention to what they had to say. "I do not care about any of that, you fool. As long as Elsie is able to fight alongside the rest of you, everything else will go smoothly. Now. You have rested there long enough!" He lashed out at the seated creature with one foot, ignoring their cry of pain. "Get up, Srethis! Go to Elsie and tell her to come here at once, before the Bureau mounts their attack. There will not be another chance to reach her after that."
"We saw her, actually," Ungore mused, as Srethis reluctantly rose to their feet with a grimace. "Elsie was in the area when we were fighting with Hayate. She might still be there..."
"Good. So you know where she is." Grylmark pointed a finger at the lizard in a short stabbing motion. "I expect you to bring her back without fail, Srethis. With a Labinnac Sister on our side, the Bureau will have no hope of stopping us now!"
The reptilian creature opened their mouth to argue. "But what if I can't - "
He cut them off with a sharp gesture, not giving them a chance to protest further. "I don't care how you do it, Srethis. If you can't get Elsie over here within the next ten minutes or so, then you and Ungore will have to deal with the Bureau by yourselves! Your survival depends on how well you can stall Nanoha and her allies, so I suggest you hurry."
His mind set, the summoner turned on his heel and stalked off down the corridor, his robes flowing easily behind him. "If Elsie seems reluctant to come, then tell her we have food waiting for her here. She seems to like food a lot. Just bring her here and prepare to defend the hospital with everything you've got!"
As the old man's footsteps faded away, Srethis winced and leaned against the wall painfully, trying to focus. The pain of its injuries had eased enough for the reptilian creature to be able to fly properly, but it hadn't done so for quite some time now. Nevertheless, if that was what was required to survive right now...
Hayate iss coming, too, the lizard thought. A friend of Vita. And if the Bureau iss coming, too, all ass friendss of Vita...
"Grylmark," Srethis called out in a strangled whisper. "Srethis wants...Srethis wants to know jusst one thing." They inhaled deeply, trying to put more volume to their voice. "What...what do you intend to do with Vita? Srethis is a friend of Vita, sso...if you are going to causse her harm, any harm to her whatssoever, then Srethis will...not..."
There was no answer from the darkness of the corridor. Grylmark had already departed from the scene, leaving the two creatures alone to act on his orders as they saw fit. As the silence rolled back over them, Srethis' shoulders slumped in a defeatist attitude, knowing glumly that the summoner would probably have chosen to ignore their question anyway. It was the only thing they would have ever asked...
"Don't let it get you down, Srethis," Ungore said, barely glancing towards their companion. "Vita is just another mage of the Bureau that is destined to die by our hands. You'd do well not to associate with such scum." The alien didn't see the anger that flashed through the lizard's eyes in response. "You'd better fly west right now to bring Elsie back. With the Bureau outside, we're going to need all the help we can get."
Nanoha turned around to face the others, her face set in resolute determination. A high-altitude wind blew against her twin ponytails from either side, sweeping her long hair across the top of her shoulders and giving her a more graceful and commanding appearance. Though the chill of the air penetrated through her damaged Barrier Jacket and set into her skin with a shiver, the Ace of Aces barely felt it.
Despite there being so much to take in, the combat mage felt that she was doing surprisingly well so far. At this current time, almost every member of the Bureau was accounted for. Signum and Shamal, waiting for her up north whilst they observed what was happening with Vita's situation; Rein and Agito, continuing their search for Fate around Uminari City; and with her now, Tiana, Zafira, Erio and Yuuno, awaiting the first of her major decisions as to what the Bureau was going to do next...
Three hours. That's all we've got until the dimensional distortion occurs.
Nanoha knew that you could do a lot in three hours. You could fall in love, go on a date, get in a fight, adopt a child who loved you and looked up to you more than anyone else in the world, save one of your friends from certain death, get married to the woman of your dreams...
Well, marriage was definitely on the list with Fate, but that would have to wait until they returned to their own world. Right now, Nanoha had a whole multitude of problems to deal with, and Oguba was only one of the biggest ones.
"Nanoha," Yuuno spoke out from within the artificial time portal. The sides of the gateway around the researcher had been growing more and more transparent throughout the last several minutes. "I have no more information of my own that will be able to help you. If it's all well with you, then...I'm going to break the connection binding me to this world. I can't stay here for much longer, anyway."
"You're going to return to your own time?" the Ace of Aces asked. She had to strain her ears just to hear what Yuuno was saying any more; the amount of static and interference in the air was making communication increasingly difficult. It was a miracle that he had managed to stay with them for so long as it was. "To a Mid-childa five years in our future?"
"Yes. A world where none of you ever made it back. A world that you must seek to change, Nanoha." The researcher gazed back at her through the curtain of fading time magic with earnest green eyes. "If you are successful in defeating Oguba and returning to your own time and universe, then my timeline will no longer exist. I'll be replaced by the Yuuno in your world. The events of the last five years here will be overwritten, and everything will be as it should have been. So...I hope you understand that I mean well, Nanoha, when I say that I don't want our paths to cross ever again."
"I understand, Yuuno."
"Because you know what that would mean, Nanoha, don't you? If we ever saw each other physically as we are now, in the same universe...it would mean that you had not been successful. You would be stranded eternally in my time, Nanoha, with a void of five years and a Bureau changed beyond recognition. You could still continue your life, but it would not be any life that you would want for yourself, nor for anybody else...and it would not be right. Fixing what Oguba has done is only the first part of the problem."
She nodded silently, having already drawn an accurate picture in her head of their overall situation. It would be difficult enough to escape from this universe before the dimensional distortion came to pass, but their destination was equally important. If everything went well – and Nanoha wasn't convinced that nothing else would go wrong at this point – then the next time she saw Yuuno again, it would not be the Yuuno speaking to her now. Instead, it would be a Yuuno from her own time, a Yuuno who would know next to nothing about time travel or Oguba, because those five years would haven't happened yet...
"Thank you for everything you've done, Yuuno," the combat mage said softly. "I know it wasn't easy for you to contact me here. Whatever happens now, whatever we choose to do from this point onwards...we wouldn't have been able to do any of it without your help."
"It hasn't happened yet," he replied with a shy smile. The mist of time magic was obscuring his words with every passing second. "This is where we part, Nanoha. I'm living in a timeline that was never meant to be, and you're trapped in a universe that is disintegrating from the inside. But I know that if anyone can pull this off, you can!" The crackle of static receded slightly, allowing the impact of his words and emotions to reach her. "I'm putting all my faith in you, Nanoha. It's the only thing that I can do anymore. I...I don't have anything else that can help you, no real words of wisdom or anything like that...except to say that you mustn't lose hope when it starts getting tough out there. Don't hold back when the time comes. But you knew that already, didn't you?"
The researcher's gaze shifted downwards as he raised a hand towards the edge of the gateway. "For this last passing moment in time...I wish you the best of luck, Nanoha. End connection."
Then the blue mist of time magic surrounding the portal froze in mid-air for a split second, like a momentary glitch in a computer program. In the next instant, it fizzled out completely as the entire gateway folded in on itself and disappeared. Yuuno's holographic visage had shut down as surely as if it had been switched off at a terminal, and the remaining energies of the artificial portal had dispersed out into the surrounding airspace. The researcher's sole link with the Bureau had been terminated for good.
Yuuno, Nanoha thought, staring at the patch of empty air where the researcher had departed from their universe. I'll remember what you said. Every word.
Zafira was the first to break the silence. "So Yuuno went back to his own world," the Guardian Beast said gruffly. "Looks like we're on our own now." He cast a cursory glance between the other mages of their group. "Anyone got any bright ideas as to what happens next?"
"Nanoha?" Tiana said worriedly, still holding onto the combat mage's arm to keep herself afloat at this height above the city. The orange-haired forward was looking up at her in a plea for guidance, bravely trying to hide her fear. "Nanoha, what do we do now? Where...where do we start?"
The Ace of Aces held her head high, feeling everyone's eyes on her at once. There was so much to keep track of here, so many important factors that she could easily lose sight of in a moment of lapsed concentration; yet for the duration of the next three hours, she could not allow herself to forget a single one. Nobody wanted to take the first major step towards finding a way out of their predicament, and Nanoha couldn't really blame them. Time was quickly slipping through their fingers, and if their next decision turned out to backfire on them and bring about the downfall of the entire Bureau...
But now things were different. She didn't feel that way anymore. She didn't feel lost or confused about what to do, didn't feel stressed or panicky in trying to deal with finding Fate and everyone else who was still missing, didn't need to think about the masses of enemies that still threatened the Bureau or even the durability of her own damaged armour. Up to now, Nanoha's mind had been in a near-constant state of worry about those things exactly...but no more. She knew now that these issues weren't at the heart of the main problem.
Now that she'd had time to piece everything together, the combat mage felt a curious sense of understanding come over her. She felt as if she could see almost everything in front of her, as clearly as if this universe was made up of parts of a convoluted jigsaw puzzle, pieces which only needed to be fitted into their proper positions. Yes, it had been a subtle, gradual process at first, sparked by Yuuno's guidance and information to help her link it all together...and Nanoha had found herself capable of retaining the prominent pieces which mattered whilst still remembering not to lose sight of what was really important...
There were still pieces missing from the puzzle, of course – fragments that might not even exist yet in a metaphorical sense, but you couldn't solve such a huge mess like this without taking physical action. Somehow, the Ace of Aces didn't feel too worried about that. Right now, she felt as if she already knew exactly where those pieces were going to go. She'd had enough time to work everything out in her head, and now Nanoha knew which path that the Bureau really should be taking...
Yuuno said that there is only one path we can take which will lead us out of here, one set path that we absolutely must not stray from. One series of decisions will allow us to defeat Oguba, escape from the dimensional distortion and return to our own time and universe. I still don't know the particulars yet, however. I don't know what manner of unseen enemies are waiting for us out there, or if there's enough of us to make it work without suffering permanent casualties, or if there's enough time...I don't even know yet how I'm going to reverse the process of time travel itself in the end.
But there's one thing I do know, and I know this because we've done it in Riot Force 6 for a long time under Hayate...
"First things first," the combat mage said, her eyes bright as she captured everyone's attention. "We need to keep track of where everybody is relative to our own position. Here's the current situation as I understand it: Signum and Shamal are up north at the hospital to keep an eye on Grylmark, and all of you here are with me. From what Yuuno told us, it's possible that Hayate could be somewhere in Mid-childa as well, but we don't have enough people to act on that. Vita, Subaru and Caro are still missing, but we know that Vita at least is being held at the hospital facility under Grylmark. With those exceptions, that just leaves Rein, Agito and Fate as the only Bureau members that we can't immediately locate from here."
Swiftly, Nanoha whirled around to face the Guardian Beast on her right. "Zafira, Erio...when Rein and Agito left the rest of your group to continue the search for for Fate, did they say where they would be returning to afterwards? If we know where they're headed, could we meet them halfway to regroup with everyone else?"
Zafira scratched his head as he considered this. "They gave no specifics," he answered. "But naturally Rein and Agito would be coming back here to report to you, Nanoha, meaning that we should expect to see them here at this position. Perhaps they might try to sense you directly by magic to save time, but that's unlikely."
"Yes," Erio agreed. "When we left earlier with the rest of the Wolkenritter, our group started using too much energy just from casting sensory magic for so long. Zafira and me are fine now, of course, but Rein and Agito will probably be drained from their search by by the time they get back. They won't be using magic to return here."
Unless Fate's with them and chooses to act in that way instead, the Ace of Aces thought. Quickly, she shook herself to try and remove that image from her head: unless Fate was with them? No, Nanoha didn't want there to be any doubt in her mind as to whether the Enforcer was really coming back or not. She knew she had to trust Rein and Agito to find the blonde mage successfully, no matter what. There was too much on her mind already, and if she started getting panicky and going after Fate by herself...
"All right, so it's likely that Fate, Rein and Agito will soon be returning to where we are now," Nanoha said firmly. "If not, then they might be using sensory magic to find their way over to my exact position...but we'll deal with that scenario later. Either way, somebody still has to stay here and keep a lookout for all three of them. Communication is key, and we need to make sure that everyone knows what's happening now so that the Bureau can keep their position."
The white-haired Guardian Beast met her gaze in understanding. "You need someone to stay here?" he said. "That'll be Erio and myself, I take it."
"Yes. I need you two to remain at this spot and meet with Fate, Rein and Agito when they return. Hopefully you shouldn't have to wait too long. Tiana and I will go north to the facility and find out from Signum and Shamal what's really going on with Grylmark." The combat mage looked out into the far regions of the open sky of Mid-childa for a moment, trying to think of anything she had missed. "I know that Fate will probably want to come after me once she knows what's happening, but..."
The impact of what she was going to say next hit her painfully, and Nanoha swallowed hard as a look of anguish came over her face. "If possible, ask her to stay with you until I send back any further messages," she said, forcing the words from her mouth with an effort. "I...I need everyone to maintain their current location until I have more information about Vita's situation. The Bureau can't afford to break formation, not for any reason."
It wasn't easy for her to say something like that. In making such a decision, she was deliberately pushing Fate away from her, right when the one thing she wanted more than anything else now was to see her lover again, just to know that she was all right. Nevertheless, Nanoha knew that she couldn't afford to take any more chances. The clock was ticking, and actions like this had to be made. If Fate came after her without her knowledge only to run into potentially worse trouble than before, there might not be enough time to bring her to safety and escape the dimensional distortion at the same time...
I'll have time later on to meet with Fate and celebrate our reunion properly. I'll make time for it if that's what it comes down to...but not now, and not here. I have to put the safety of the Bureau before my own personal wishes, no matter how deeply it hurts me inside. The lives of my friends are on the line here.
"I'll send you a message once I have any further news," Nanoha said to Zafira and Erio, forcing her mind back to the matter at hand. "We don't have our communicators, so I might have to send Shamal back here to tell you the next steps whilst I keep an eye on things. It all depends on the results of what we find at the facility. If Grylmark really has made his move on us, then things could get a little messy..." She rose up in the air towards the north with Tiana holding onto her for dear life, already beginning to move on ahead. "Do you both understand?"
"We got it," Erio said with a swift nod. "We'll wait here until Fate, Rein and Agito come back - "
"And keep them here until you tell us anything different," Zafira responded. "Understood, Nanoha. If Fate is really insistent to be at your side again, I won't be able to stop her, but I'll tell her your reasoning. Give my regards to Signum when you see her." He muttered darkly under his breath, "That's if she's still alive, of course."
The Ace of Aces raised an eyebrow at that. "Of course she's still alive, Zafira. Why wouldn't she be?"
"Because we left Signum alone in front of an enemy complex with Vita trapped right inside it," the Guardian Beast said. "I've known Signum a long time. She isn't going to take that kind of thing lying down."
"Then I'd better hurry." Nanoha took a deep breath, preparing to accelerate into the upper sky of Uminari City. "Tell...tell Fate that I love her, okay? Tell her that I'll be back for her as soon as I possibly can..."
Without another word, she put on a great burst of speed and took herself and Tiana northwards towards where the hospital was situated. She didn't want to distance herself from Fate like that, not for any reason...but all this was part of the path that she had set herself upon. Fate would understand, surely. She'd know that Nanoha wouldn't have taken a decision like this without good reason.
The wind whipped at her face painfully as she flew onwards, but the Ace of Aces barely felt it. Remembering that Tiana had had difficulty keeping up with her last time, she curbed her speed whilst still maintaining a high velocity in general. Her mind was still preoccupied with all of the pre-emptive decisions that would need to be made, constantly having to calculate different scenarios for virtually every possibility..as she was now, Nanoha was having trouble just keeping up with every new development.
Hayate must be forced to deal with this all the time, she thought. She's the commander of Riot Force 6, so she must feel like this almost every day. Maybe she hasn't experienced the same kind of high-tension situation as we're in now, but sometimes I wish I could just ask Hayate for help and ask her what she would have done, just to know that I'm really doing the best I can for everyone...
"Nanoha?" Tiana spoke up unexpectedly at her side. The forward was bearing the speed of their flight well as she held on bravely. "Can I ask you something?"
The Ace of Aces looked at her questioningly. "What is it?"
"What's really going on? I still don't know what's happening, and you said that you'd explain everything to me when we had time..."
Nanoha let out a sigh of relief at that. To be honest, she didn't really know what she was so relieved about; perhaps she had expected Tiana to ask her something much more urgent and pressing which could bring greater problems to her attention. She didn't mind answering a question like this, however. Yes, it was true that she hadn't had the opportunity to explain a lot of things to the sharpshooter back then, but now was hardly the best time either...
"What do you want to know?" she said in a friendly tone. "I don't know if I can explain everything to you in full detail, Tiana. I could try, but the hours would go by until the dimensional distortion was right on top of us, and I'd probably still be talking."
The forward shook her head, gazing out into the sky with a strange peace present in her face. "No, it's okay. I worked out most of the important details after listening to Yuuno, so I know what we're really aiming for, but..." She looked up at the older woman with a trace of uneasiness and worry. "I guess I just want to know how we're supposed to make it, Nanoha. You told Zafira and Erio that we can do it, that it's going to be a piece of cake for us when the time comes, and they both believed you because everyone in the Bureau looks up to you so much and admires you. They don't really know what we're up against." Her voice shook, and she looked away fearfully. "But I do, Nanoha. I...I don't think we have a chance. We can't possibly defeat Oguba and Grylmark as we are now..."
"Yes we can, Tiana," the Ace of Aces said firmly, holding her gaze fiercely. "Just believe in me. Everything's going to be all right in the end, I promise."
"Nanoha, I've fought Grylmark before! He's no ordinary mage or summoner – he's virtually untouchable by any means, thanks to all of Oguba'spower inside him. The only time I ever managed to hit him was when Caro was helping me!" Tiana bit down on her lower lip, unable to stop her frustration spilling out. "And he remembered that! He must have taken Caro prisoner to stop that kind of thing from happening again, just like he captured Vita and Subaru!"
"Tiana, it's all right - "
"It isn't all right! Nanoha, do you know what he did to me last time I saw him?" The sharpshooter's hand had gone to her weapon almost unconsciously as she blinked away tears. "He used a technique of his own to drain Cross Mirage of all its magic, just like that! I was powerless and defenceless, unable to fight back, and I barely made it out alive...I don't know what we're supposed to do if he does something like that again. What are we going to do if he just saps all of our energy and sits there laughing at us, Nanoha? What's going to stop him? Can you tell me?"
The Ace of Aces didn't reply to her at first. She just looked at the forward silently, clearly paying close attention to her words all of a sudden. A man like Grylmark was capable of such techniques? Nanoha knew a little bit about the manufactured devices of the TSAB herself, having conversed with Mariel on several occasions about Raging Heart's systems. From that alone, the combat mage knew that something about Tiana's words just didn't add up...
"Grylmark drained all of your magic with a single spell?" she said, frowning. "That isn't possible. He would need to adapt such a technique to your device alone, at the very least, and that would require a lot of preparation beforehand."
Tiana blinked. Preparation? But Grylmark still thought that she was dead. He wasn't going to be making any such preparations in the future...
"It sounds like very advanced illusion magic to me," Nanoha said softly, turning her face to the front again as she concentrated on their destination. "The devices of the TSAB are built from a mix of science and magic, Tiana. No one should be able to use any set technique to take away all of your magic just like that, because every mage's device operates in a different way."
Is Nanoha implying that Grylmark used illusion magic on me before? the orange-haired forward thought, startled. If my mind was fooled, then the rest of the body would follow suit. That means...
The combat mage smiled at her warmly, not at all minding her indecision. "You're one of our best users of illusion magic, Tiana," she said. "I've always believed in you. If anyone can see through Grylmark's tricks, then you can. After all, you've had more experience with him than the rest of us, and that gives you a definite edge. But if you're really that worried about encountering Grylmark again..."
"No," the sharpshooter said quickly. She could see where this was going. "No, I think I'm going to be fine after all, Nanoha." She had a bad feeling that the combat mage would have offered to fight Grylmark in her place if she had seemed unwilling to do so. For the Ace of Aces to take on both Grylmark and Oguba with her Barrier Jacket holding on by mere threads, whilst having her other responsibilities at present...it was far too much to ask of any one person. "If it's just illusion magic, then maybe I have a chance against Grylmark after all," Tiana said breathlessly. "I didn't think of that before. But...Nanoha, what are you going to do about Oguba?"
The Ace of Aces held one finger to her lips. "I've got my own ideas for that part," she replied a little secretively. "Let's not worry about things like that right now, okay? We still have to find out what's going on with Vita. I wonder how Signum and Shamal are coping with - "
Before she could finish her sentence, terrible animal-like shrieks and roars rose up from the sky around them all of a sudden. The two mages found themselves at the southern border of the hospital facility at last, still flying forward through the air at high speed to gather information about what was going on. An unexpected sight met their eyes as Nanoha slowed to a stop in mid-air.
Six or seven winged creatures loomed in front of them as they blocked their path, casting dark shadows over the two women. The monsters bore cruelly-hooked claws and vicious beaks, each capable of tearing a normal person apart in seconds. A hiss of dark magic escaped their mouths with a sinister relish, and two beady yellow eyes glared outwards from each of their opponents.
Mutants?
The Ace of Aces glanced tentatively towards the ground, where a great teeming black mass was surging around the entire complex. She immediately saw in the blink of an eye that the entire area was swarming with endless numbers of mutants by the hundreds. A powerful force-field hummed around the perimeter of the hospital, permitting Grylmark's creations to pass through from the inside, yet also forming a virtually impenetrable barrier against anyone who sought to gain entry.
Multiple roars and howls rolled across the landscape in a near-deafening wave of sound, and dozens more of the deformed beings surged out of the facility to rampage across Uminari City. The same creatures that Grylmark had summoned to attack the Bureau, back when this all had started...Nanoha recognised the beasts to be one and the same. The TSAB had not fared well against such monsters in the past, and they were probably going to need a similar kind of army just to get past so many enemies...
To Nanoha's distress, Signum and Shamal were nowhere to be seen. This was the right location, wasn't it? They should have been right here. Had they...had they been brought down by the colossal mass of raging monsters, outnumbered a thousand to one? No, the combat mage thought, refusing to let herself think so lowly of her friends. Signum and Shamal had to be out there somewhere, still fighting for their lives; any Guardian Knight was surely as strong as fifty of these mutated fiends. Even so, how was the Bureau supposed to break through the ranks of so many enemies and into the hospital?
Three hours to rescue Vita, Subaru, Caro, regroup with the rest of the Bureau, defeat Oguba and find a way back to our own time. But the way things are looking now, it'll take twice that amount of time just to get into the facility!
Had she chosen the wrong path to embark on after all? Tiana had been right to question whether they could really take on Grylmark; the old man probably knew about the dimensional distortion as well and had taken the necessary steps to escape it . As an expert in summoning magic, he didn't need to bother fighting the Bureau at all. All he had to do was throw enough enemies at them until they would be delayed in their tracks indefinitely, all the way to the end of the world...
The winged mutants in front of her howled with glee and charged in for the kill, their yellow eyes filled with bloodlust. With her jaw set angrily, Nanoha raised Raging Heart to power up a spell. She'd guessed that it wasn't going to be easy to penetrate the hospital's defences, but...for such a huge amount of enemies to be blocking their way to freedom...
This is really ruining my day. I don't have time for this!
"Nanoha, wait," Tiana said swiftly, lifting her weapon up with one hand and sighting across Cross Mirage's barrel to aim with apt precision. "Let me deal with these guys! Shoot Barret!"
The sharpshooter squeezed the trigger and sent a charged bullet whizzing through the air towards the first of the beasts. The projectile struck the creature in the centre of its chest, sending it spiralling down to earth as it shrieked its death-cry. Its downfall went virtually unnoticed by the rest of its companions, however, who flew towards the two mages with greater speed and ferocity.
"Thank you, Tiana," the Ace of Aces said commendably, bringing her concentration to bear on the remaining adversaries closing in on them, "but a bombardment-type spell would be more suited to this situation."
The combat mage focused her magic in the familiar vein that she knew all too well, and pink and white streams of circular energy appeared around Raging Heart to surround it in three separate instalments. A great orb of concentrated magical energy formed at the tip of the device, growing in magnitude as it blew Nanoha's hair back with the ripple of its power.
"Divine Buster!"
Tiana shielded her face with her free hand just before the sky around her exploded in a mass of dazzling pink energy. She could hear the winged mutants roar in pain and anger as Nanoha's spell wiped all of them out in a single hit, blasting their enemies down to the ground with the sheer force of her attack; those that tried to push back against the powerful beam simply disintegrated into nothing.
With her heart in her mouth, the sharpshooter held onto to the combat instructor's arm for dear life, fearing that the recoil from the spell would jolt her backwards away from Nanoha to meet a similar fate...but nothing of the sort happened at all. As the light began to die down again, Tiana saw that Raging Heart was shimmering with the presence of two pink-white wings filled with magical energy. Used in Excelion Mode, the device was effectively absorbing the impact of the resulting shockwave as it washed over them.
"There are more of them coming our way," the Ace of Aces said tensely, not relinquishing her grip on her weapon. "My spell must have drawn their attention. I'm going to take us higher, Tiana, so that we can stay out of range..."
Before she could do anything else, a blinding flash of intense white light suddenly engulfed the entire horizon to their left for a split second, crackling with a powerful and familiar energy. It didn't come from the facility, nor did it seem to affect any of the mutants directly, but a spell of extreme power had clearly been unleashed.
"What was that?" Tiana cried in alarm, lifting her weapon to defend herself. The forward was beginning to get a little oversensitive after witnessing one attack after another. "Another enemy? Where did they come from?"
As the gigantic wave of white energy gradually faded away into nothing, Nanoha attempted to pinpoint the source of the spell. Apparently, it had originated from somewhere in the western districts of Uminari City, but she hadn't been aware of anything happening in that region which affected the Bureau directly. Even so, the magical field behind the attack had been truly enormous, and executed in a fashion that she felt she should know really well...
Her breath caught in her throat as she realised why the rush of energy had seemed so familiar to her – yes, there could be no doubt about it. Whoever had fired that spell had been none other than a fellow TSAB mage! Nanoha's pulse quickened with excitement, knowing that there was only oneperson capable of demonstrating such a huge scale of power, in ways that even she and Fate were hard-pressed to do so...
"That was no enemy," the combat mage whispered. "I...I think we just saw Hayate."
The sharpshooter stared at her in astonishment, almost at a loss for words. "Hayate? Here? But...but how?"
Nanoha would have liked to know the answer to that one herself. So Yuuno had been right in thinking that Hayate had been taken into this alternative universe as well! If Hayate was here, then the Bureau's chances of getting back home would be greatly escalated, if only they could find a way of meeting up with her...
But how had Hayate managed to get so close to them without being able to make direct contact? And more troublingly...why was she using such powerful spells at a time like this? Had she come up against an opponent that was proving too much for her?
"Nanoha!" a woman's voice came from just above them to the right. "Nanoha, is that really you? Thank goodness I found you at last!"
With a jolt of surprise, the two mages saw that it was Shamal who was frantically calling out to them as she hovered in mid-air, just out of reach of any of the mutants below. The medical mage's face showed great relief upon seeing to them but was marred by thinly-concealed agitation. So Shamal hadn't been overwhelmed by the mutants after all! But what had happened to Signum? Weren't they supposed to be together?
"Shamal, I'm glad you're okay!" Nanoha exclaimed, rising up with Tiana to reach the same altitude. From this level, they shouldn't be bothered by any of Grylmark's rampaging mutants. "What in the world happened here? Did something happen to Signum?"
The blonde medical mage shook her head. "Signum's fine," she replied. "Or at least she should be. When Grylmark summoned all these mutants out of nowhere, everything started going out of control and there wasn't anything either of us could do about it! There were too many of them and too few of us. He even put up a new force field and..." Shamal sighed, seemingly getting herself more worried by the second. "Well, you can see that just by looking. The important thing is that Signum wanted me to tell you something, Nanoha."
"What is it?"
Shamal pointed down at the great facility below them. "The mutants are growing in number as we speak," she explained. "They're pouring out of four different exits in the hospital. Signum told me that she had a plan, and that she was going to head for the northernmost exit." She looked at Nanoha, sensing a familiar amount of confusion on the other woman's side of things. "I don't understand what she meant, and she didn't wait around to explain it to me in detail."
"I have no idea what she meant either," Nanoha confessed. "Did Signum say anything else?"
"Yes. She said that you'd definitely understand what she meant." The medical mage's shoulders slumped dejectedly. "She seemed pretty convinced about that, actually. I tried to follow her, but her mind was so set on this plan of hers..."
This isn't very helpful, the Ace of Aces thought rather crossly. Why did Signum give me the smallest amount of information to work with and then head off alone to another location? It doesn't seem like her to act like that, no matter how strongly she feels about getting Vita back. She could have just waited for me to return and then told me this plan of hers. Instead, I'm supposed to guess at all of her inner thoughts? Why would she do this?
But moments later, Nanoha felt that she did know exactly why. Time. The two Guardian Knights stationed here hadn't heard about Yuuno's revelations. They didn't know yet about the threat of the dimensional distortion; they didn't know that the Bureau had to escape this world within the next three hours. Nevertheless, something similar must have happened to get Signum to make her realise that there was no time to wait for anyone else, and that the only thing to do was to act as fast as possible. Perhaps the mutants on the other side had made such a thing impossible...
She wouldn't have sent Shamal to give me a message like this without good reason, the combat mage thought, her mind racing. Either way, we can still go north to find Signum and ask her to explain her plan properly...but doing that would surely waste even more time. I don't think that's quite what she was going for.
So it would probably be quicker, hopefully, to puzzle out what Signum's plan was by herself. Unfortunately, all Nanoha had to go on was a single scrap of information: the new waves of mutants were flooding out of the facility at four alternate entrances. What did that have to do with anything? How was the Bureau supposed to retake the hospital when there were still hundreds of other monsters crawling across the ground and blocking their -
With a frown, the Ace of Aces moved forwards in the air to look at these four entrances for herself. Try as she might, she still didn't have a clue about what Signum had been trying to tell her. Yes, she could see these four entrances from here, although a moderate amount of altitude was required to actually physically view them. The hospital was too large a building to see every side in great detail...
Four entrances. Signum said she was going to the northernmost one. But these "entrances" aren't lying on any kind of compass direction, really, not unless you shift them around slightly. That way, the one right in front of us could be designated as east. So if Signum's gone north...
Her eyes widened in realisation as the whole basis of Signum's plan hit her in an instant. It wasn't the compass directions she should be concentrating on. It was the presence of the entrances themselves...
"That's it," Nanoha said quietly, excitement lighting up her entire face as she raised her voice in a jubilant cry. "That's it!"
She could see it now. Each of the entrances was filled with a mixture of Grylmark's magic and the energy coming from the force-field surrounding the facility. Once you concentrated on the origin, you could see that the combination of magical energy actually created an extremely volatile and unstable area of mana. Using a powerful enough spell on such an area would cause a chain reaction which could shatter the force-field from inside!
But Nanoha knew that that wasn't all. The force-field was strong enough that it could endure such a small break in its defence. What was needed was an attack on all four entrances, at the exact same spot, at the same time. If the Bureau gathered at each entrance and struck simultaneously...
I understand. I finally understand what Signum was trying to tell me. If we do it this way, it won't take hours and hours to gain access into the hospital. It'll only take a matter of minutes! All we have to do is get into the right position!
But did they have enough people to carry out such an operation? Somehow, Nanoha knew that she would have to make contact with Hayate. In addition, Fate was still out there in Uminari City somewhere, and Signum was going to need some backup of her own. All I all, this was going to require some tricky manoeuvring...
"Shamal," Nanoha said breathlessly, turning around to the medical mage briskly. "Zafira and Erio are waiting south of here, at the same point where you all found me. I need you to go back and give them an important message." She held up a hand quickly, adding, "I know you're probably fed up of running back and forth to act as communications, but we don't have Shari to assist us..."
"It's nothing major for me," Shamal replied with a light smile. "I know how important it is to keep everyone updated." She leaned forward towards the other mage with curiousity in her green eyes. "But what is it that you intend on doing, Nanoha? Are we...are we really going to be able to break into that facility and rescue Vita? With so many enemies in our way?"
"Not just Vita," Nanoha said confidently. "We'll be doing a lot more than just that. Shamal, we're going to be using compass directions relative to the facility in order to get everyone in position. Right now, we're at the eastmost position. Remember that heading, because after you've given my message to Zafira and Erio, I need you to come back here. You'll be standing with Tiana and myself."
The sharpshooter looked up in surprise at hearing at her name called. "Me?" she asked. "What will I be doing?"
"You'll see soon enough," the combat mage replied mysteriously. "Shamal, let me tell you about the message I want you to send back." She took a deep breath, her mind clear of all previous worries and stress. "This will involve a lot of explanations, but I'll try to be as brief as possible. There's also a possibility that you might see Fate, Rein and Agito whilst you're there, so I've got a second message for you to give them as well..."
The House of Testarossa lay in ruins following Fate's last climatic attack and departure. Where the greatest and most feared Family of Mid-childa had once stood proudly within the districts of Uminari City, an irreplaceable ancient history now lay buried beneath tons of rock, concrete and stone along with its sole surviving occupant. As the minutes passed by in unending silence, the clouds of dust gradually settled upon the rubble with an air of permanency. There was no movement at all, nothing to show that Alicia had survived the impact of her fatal fall.
Padded footsteps sounded upon the outside of the ruins, a curious soft noise that may not have been heard at all if nor for the thick layer of silence that covered the scene. A pair of small indigo eyes watched from the shadows, closeted in the isolation and loneliness that remained.
Slowly, the figure of a grey-haired mountain cat inched forward to paw at the edge of the rubble, inclining their head downwards in respect. At the same time, their eyes watched the still dust with sadness and incomprehension.
"Lady Testarossa?" the cat said. "Why do you remain under there? Why didn't you fight back against her?"
Words passed through the empty air, words channelled through Alicia's magic that were heard by nobody else. The telepathic link between mage and familiar remained, even if the passing of time had changed their relationship significantly. The mountain cat listened intently to the whispers that passed through her head, but seemed dissatisfied with their content.
"Because she is your sister?" Linith asked, staring forward with feline eyes in her familiar form. "Since when did the ties of the Family excuse what she did?"
The cat crawled forward and scratched at the rocks where Alicia was buried, dislodging a few loose pebbles without any real effect. A faint presence of golden magic lingered under the surface of the earth, shimmering in and out as the mistress' magic slowly regenerated to restore her broken body.
"That's not true, Lady Testarossa," she said in answer to Alicia's next words which ran through her mind. "What do you mean by that? What do you mean, you don't want to continue doing this any more? You've devoted your entire life to this, so it would be pointless to stop now. And Arf - Arf was too attached to Fate's own wishes. She paid the price as a result. Why are so troubled about these things, Lady Testarossa? It never used to bother you before."
Another sentence passed through Linith's head, weak yet strangely comforting in its nature. Linith had never heard her mistress say anything like that before. Up to now, she had always known Alicia to say the direct opposite.
"No, Lady Testarossa," the mountain cat said in confusion. "I gave up caring about that a long, long time ago. I'm just a servant of the Family. Do you want me to bring Fate back for you?"
She listened again, not at all pleased by the response that Alicia gave to her. With a wistful sigh, Linith rose up on her paws again, ready to move out into the city.
"I don't understand your request, Lady Testarossa," the familiar said. "You don't want to see her again, but you also don't want her to die. Which is it?"
She paused as the last few faint words entered her head, and her dark blue eyes lit up in sudden comprehension. "Oh. I see. The Bureau, is it? I'll stop them for you, Lady Testarossa. They don't know about me, so they won't know what's hit them until it's too late. But still, it'll take some time for me to track them down, Lady Testarossa. There's just so much happening in Uminari City today..."
The padded footsteps of the mountain cat gradually faded away into nothing as Linith departed from the ruins of the House of Testarossa completely. Soon enough, the dead silence which had covered the rubble before had returned again once more, and no more disturbances came to bother the resting place of the Family of Testarossa...