The docking bay of the facility had been transformed into utter chaos. With the collapse of the force-field, all of the terminals were now malfunctioning at a critical state with dark smoke pouring into the room; up above, the bright ceiling lights flickered on and off in a near frenzy before powering down and reducing visibility to virtually zero. A powerful surge of electricity had broken out and slashed through the main wiring, causing a temporary blackout and doing significant damage done to the ships and platforms amidst additional quakes which ran through the floor. To make matters worse, the noise of the fighting from outside was growing louder by the minute, even driving back the surviving mutants in the opposite direction.
Srethis and Ungore were backed away from the burning control panels as far as they could, shielding themselves as sparks rained down from above. The sudden release of the force-field's vast magic had affected the facility's power source as a whole, and the two creatures were forced to take cover behind the metal platforms. It wasn't safe to stay here for much longer, not with the spaceships falling to pieces around them...
"The barrier is down!" Ungore yelled, scrambling on top one of the platforms as it became more difficult to breathe through at ground level. "The Bureau must have gained entry! We can't stop them anymore!"
As the alien instinctively clutched at the dead arm hanging from their other shoulder, several mutants suddenly charged into the docking bay at a run. Ungore flinched upon seeing the monsters, realising that Grylmark's preparations really had backfired on all of them in the worst possible fashion. Had the situation gotten so out of hand that the mutants were actually coming back inside the hospital? Would they be forced to destroy every last one of these beasts, just in order to survive?
"Sso thiss iss how it endss," Srethis murmured, crawling through the smoke below and watching the mutants stalk towards them. "We will not be desstroyed by the dimenssional disstortion or even by the Bureau. No, we will perissh at the handss of the mutantss who sshould have defended uss..."
Before the monsters could attack, however, the first terminal exploded. Broken electrical components and deadly shards of white-hot metal went flying in all directions, causing moderate damage to the mutants and scattering them back into the outside corridor again, enraged howls accompanying their retreat. A split second later, the rest of the terminals combusted in the same way, exploding one after the other like setting off a live minefield on the spot. The force of the combined blast was fierce enough to break through the smoke altogether and even disperse it to some extent, but it didn't improve their situation by much. With a frightened hiss, Srethis reeled back from the area of the destruction zone, clasping the sides of their head protectively as they cowered in a corner.
Angrily, Ungore forced themselves to their feet and made their way towards one of the many tiny surveillance cameras built into the top of the chamber, not trusting themselves to stay in one place anymore. Grylmark had eyes and ears throughout the whole facility – he should be able to see what was going on! Why wasn't he helping them? Had he really abandoned everyone after all?
"Grylmark!" the alien screamed into the cameras, moving up the platforms until they were completely clear of the smoke. "Grylmark, I know you can hear me! You have to help us – the Bureau has destroyed the force-field!" Ungore gulped in a lungful of fresh air, struggling to keep their head above the fumes. "Do you understand what I'm saying? The Bureau is inside!"
There was no answer to their desperate call. Instead, the noise from outside the gates rose to a thunderous level as more and more mutants began to flood into the chamber, quickly turning the docking bay into a danger zone of lethal proportions. With the electricity gone out permanently, it was likely that the cameras were no longer working either. Nobody could see or hear them at all, not even Grylmark...
With a cry of frustration, Ungore turned to their demoralised companions for help. There had to be a way to survive and get out of this mess. The alien had survived the demise of Red Scorpion at a time when all had seemed lost...they couldn't die in a place like this...
"Srethis!"
The hunched form of the lizard was poised in the doorway, just a few steps from leaving the chamber completely. As Srethis hesitated and turned slowly towards Ungore, the hunted look in the creature's eyes was more pronounced than ever. Numerous burns from electric shocks and the majority of the smoke dotted their arms and legs like a widespread disease, evidence of the additional pain they had endured in the past hour.
"Srethis, where are you going?" the alien demanded from the uppermost platform, safely out of reach from the confused mutants milling about. "The Bureau is on their way inside here! You can't leave!"
The lizard shook their head firmly. Unlike their usual behaviour, there was something different about the way Srethis held themselves now – a conscious grasp of reality which had not been there before, a strong certainty and spirit which seemed quite unfamiliar to the one-armed alien in many different ways. Ungore didn't like seeing such a change; they were used to seeing Srethis as a weak-minded individual who was easily manipulated by others. But now...
"Why do you stay here, Ungore?" Srethis said in a sympathetic tone. "Grylmark hass abandoned uss. He will not return to ssave your life again."
"We're supposed to stay right here, Srethis! Don't you dare step outside that door! Do you want to die?"
The shapeshifter raised their gaze to their companion with a tinge of sadness. "You sstill hold hope for the future, Ungore," they said heavily. "Srethiss enviess you for that. But you sshould know by now... Grylmark will not keep hiss promisses to uss. He brought uss back from the land of limbo. He promissed that he would revive the remainder of our losst speciess, jusst ass long ass we obeyed hiss orders." Srethis' green eyes became hard. "But he hass lied to uss for sso long, Ungore. He would let uss die firsst."
"You don't know that!" the alien said angrily. "Do you know how much I want to revive my race? Do you know what I would give for that, Srethis? Do you know what I would sacrifice? I've survived this far by blind instinct and my abilities alone, but it's nothing compared to bringing back the rest of my kind!" Their jaw tightened with raw emotion. "My species was destroyed by a dimensional distortion, annihilated like this world will be, but Grylmark said he can use Oguba to reverse the process. That's all the reason I need, Srethis! I swear to you right now, I'll bring my entire race back if I have to drain the blood from my body to do it!"
"That will not happen," Srethis replied in a low hiss. "Wake up, Ungore. Wake up and ssee reality for what it really iss! The world doesn't care whether we live or die, and Grylmark is no different. He hass already forgotten uss...he hass fled thiss place!" A nearby mutant crawled towards the reptile, fangs drooling, but Srethis sidestepped the creature's lunge and kicked them hard into the wall. "Don't you undersstand, Ungore? The Bureau iss the only hope we have now! Srethiss cannot sstay here anymore. " The lizard turned their face away as a strange calmness passed across their features. "Right now...Srethis hass to resscue a friend."
Ungore' upper lip curled in distaste. "Friend?" the alien repeated. "What do you mean, friend? You're nothing but a miserable outcast! I'm the only friend you'll ever have!"
"You are no longer any friend of Ssrethis," the shapeshifter said, eyes narrowing in a hostile vein. "You helped me in the passt, Ungore, and for that Srethiss iss grateful. But now...you have treated Srethiss very differently." A note of iciness had emerged in the creature's voice. "You tried to kill Hayate and her friendss. You forced Srethis to join you in that, againsst Srethis' express wishess. You were content to watch Srethis ssuffer in their injuries, sso long ass you got what you wanted." The lizard turned their back on the alien, shoulders shaking with anger. "Srethis' friend now iss Vita, not the likess of you. Srethis intends to save Vita before it iss too late!"
Without another word, the reptile plunged into the smoke obscuring the doorway and disappeared out into the corridor. It would be the last time that the two creatures ever saw each other again, in this world or the next. Left alone on the platform, Ungore's face had contorted into an expression of pure rage, barely able to believe that such words had transpired between them. Their mind was aflame with thoughts of unexpressed loathing and disbelief. What was the meaning of such insolence? Hadn't Srethis been their partner all this time? Hadn't they, Ungore, supported their reptilian companion and given them medicine whilst they were suffering?
The Bureau has turned Srethis against me, the alien thought, their single arm clutching at the side of the platform in a rigid fashion. No, not the Bureau, but Vita! Vita and Hayate! You've brainwashed Srethis with your useless talk of love and friendship! Life isn't full of such stupid morals – it's full of pain, suffering, and loss! You all deserve to die!
"Grylmark!" the one-armed creature roared up to the cameras at the top of the room. "Grylmark!"
There was still no reply, nor would there ever be one. In desperation, Ungore cast around to find the only ally they had left, thinking for a moment that Elsie had found her death in the smoke and the flames. No, the girl was a member of the Labinnac Family: she would not perish so easily by normal means. Slowly, the alien lowered themselves down to the ground again, noting that the surrounding mutants were no longer as aggressive as before and seemed to be just taking shelter from the surrounding destruction. Was it possible that Elsie could still help them out at all? Up to now, Ungore would never have thought to pair up with a Labinnac, but everything had been blown completely out of proportion...
"Hi," Elsie said cheerily as she floated past on a giant icicle. The silver-haired girl gave a little wave and smiled, apparently oblivious to all of the chaos going on around her, and then flew away again.
For a few moments, the one-armed alien just spluttered at the Labinnac before finally finding their voice. Didn't she care that the Bureau would be arriving here at any moment in full force? Didn't she know how close to the end they had come?
"What are you doing?" Ungore said in a near-whisper. "Are you completely insane, Elsie? We don't have time to fool around! The force-field is down – the Bureau are entering the facility as we speak!"
"I know," the little girl said calmly, zooming around in a neat semicircle with her balloon in one hand."I know. But that means some strong people are coming here, so I can have some more fun again. Isn't that all that matters?" She hovered above the pilot seat of the Gargoyle, giggling slightly. "I really like flying this spaceship! Do you think Grylmark will mind if I fly it around the room again?"
The alien felt like strangling her. This was one of those times where the only thing you could do was fear for your life and panic about how you were supposed to survive for the next hour, and yet this little girl just wanted to ignore all that and play around in a spaceship? Personally, Ungore didn't think Grylmark cared what happened to any of the ships anymore...or their lives, or anything else for that matter...
My allies have all abandoned me or become irrational to the point of madness. My real enemy, the Bureau, is coming here to destroy us all. That's what humans did to my race: they wiped us all out. Why should the TSAB be any different?
"Uh-oh," Elsie said worriedly, noticing that the balloon in her other hand was beginning to flicker again. "My daemon's getting hungry again. I need to eat something." She slipped into the pilot seat of the Gargoyle, her silver eyes lighting up as the controls came to life. "But first...playtime is here again!"
Ungore couldn't stand it any longer. Holding their dead arm to their chest, the alien turned tail and fled out of the docking bay, not even knowing where they were headed any more. Ignoring the groups of mutants confronting them at every corner, the creature ran further and further into the depths of the facility until the sound of the Bureau's attacks were far away from them, wanting only to be free from all of this madness...
Hayate was right next to the western edge of the hospital when the force-field went down.
She had no time to celebrate the Bureau's victory, however, because her intuitive senses were warning her of immediate danger: there was a lot of energy contained within the barrier up to this point, and her proximity to the destruction zone was too close for comfort. Quickly, she put as much distance between herself and the gate as possible before the whole thing blew up in her face. With virtually no surviving enemies to obstruct her, the Bureau mage was able to steer clear, catching a small glimpse of the spectacular sight behind her before the skyline was consumed by the intricate array of magic. She breathed a sigh of relief now that the first major part was over; with a moderate effort, she disabled her spell at last and purged its effects from the surrounding area as best as she could. Against all odds, the hospital's defences had been brought down permanently!
"What is this?" Exoria gasped, catching up with her on the ground just a moderate distance away from the western gate. "What happened to all the mutants, Hayate? Did you beat them?"
The Legion was just a step behind her, matching their pace with the Time Mage as they surveyed the scene to make their own deductions. "An enormous amount of power was released here," the combat cyborg stated. "A joint effort from several parties. We have succeeded in making contact with the Bureau, I take it?"
"Only indirectly," Hayate replied, watching the gates of the facility carefully for any movement at all. The path to the nearest entrance seemed to be relatively clear of mutants, but she couldn't be completely certain without investigating further. Until she was sure, they could just be walking in to the hospital blindly."I've neutralised the enemies on this side," she said to her companions. "There might still be some small groups left in the area, however. We'll need to get rid of all of them before moving in." She lifted the staff of Reinforce back off the ground and drew the rest of her magic back into her body, a little worn out from extorting such a high-level attack for so long. "I could use another powerful spell to wipe out all the remaining mutants at once, but I've used up a lot of my energy already. Besides, my attacks aren't very practical for low-calibre battles."
"Then we shall deal with them," the Legion said, moving into an attack stance. Exoria nodded and did likewise with a practised swing of her trusty dagger. "I regret to say that I have not been of much use to you, Hayate, up to now. Perhaps it is time to display the full use of my talents."
Exoria snorted. "You've done enough already, Legion," she said loftily. "Don't start acting like all of your efforts are suddenly insignificant now that Hayate's done most of the work for us! I helped out a lot as well! I carried her all the way here, remember?"
"You did not, Lady Exoria," the cyborg said reservedly. "You carried Hayate up to a location roughly three hundred yards southwest of here, before dropping her and falling unconscious."
"Fine! I did all that and then stabbed a giant monster in the foot. That still constitutes as lending assistance!"
Hayate sighed. "Can we stop arguing for a moment?" she asked. "We need to clear out the monsters around the gate, and we can't do that if we don't work together. Once we get inside the hospital and meet up with the Bureau, I'll explain to everyone why you're with me and we can clear up any misunderstandings. The two of you should stick close to me at that point, otherwise my friends might get the wrong idea and start attacking you."
The Time Mage pulled a face upon hearing that. "I could do without making any more enemies," she said nervously. "My own "family" has already disowned me." She glanced at the short-haired mage with worry in her eyes. "Hayate, what if the TSAB sees us and assumes the worst? What if they think that the Legion and I have captured you or taken you hostage, or something like that? There's two of us and one of you..."
"If things seem really bad then I'll talk to Nanoha and Fate. They'll understand, because they've made decisions like this before, but I don't think it should come to that." The Bureau mage squeezed her arm and smiled at the dark-haired girl reassuringly. "Don't worry about it, Exoria. You're safe with me, I promise."
A great roar went up from the western gate, rising in volume as it was accompanied by the same cry from multiple throats, and the three of them looked up to see a long line of monsters moving out of the hospital to replace the remains of the mutant army. The last wave of Grylmark's fresh creations were the only things that blocked the entrance to the facility, reinforcements which were prepared to stop anyone from getting through. Close to a dozen of the beasts charged out into the open, their rock-like bodies a mass of pure muscle, bone and power.
Here they come, Hayate thought, steeling herself. We can't fall apart here. This is the last line of defence!
She brought her magic to life in front of her, forming a temporary barrier around her body to protect her from the worst of the mutants' forceful attacks, and concentrated on walking in a straight line towards her destination. The first enemy came charging out at their group in an unstoppable rush of grey claws and feline hissing, slashing out towards her face as Hayate moved forward regardless. The Legion dashed forward, rammed their metal body into the creature and punched it hard in the face, sending the nightmare somersaulting backwards onto the remains of the force-field. Two more mutants lumbered forward to surround her on both sides, and the combat cyborg brought one down with a mechanical kick at close-range. The Bureau mage hesitated for a moment when the other creature drew very close to her, almost close enough to hurt her, but then Exoria appeared from her right. The dark-haired girl released time magic from her hands and blasted the beast into smithereens.
The rest of the mutants were beginning to catch up now, and Hayate could see that even her two companions would struggle to deal with them alone. Not wanting to burn out all of her magic in one go, and also aware of her mild fatigue from before, she raised her weapon and cast Holding Net onto the next three enemies in one go. With an experienced grasp of the magic at her disposal, she manipulated the energy to bind them in mid-air until Exoria and the Legion could deal with them. They had covered half the distance to the gate now, and Hayate had to struggle to keep up the pace.
A huge dragon-like fiend appeared behind the other mutants and bellowed in open challenge, scorching the earth with its fiery breath. Its speed was its weak factor, however: the great beast was slow enough that a burst of levitation magic could evade the attack. Reluctantly, the Bureua mage left the ground temporarily and flew clear of the searing heatwave, watching as the beast turned to target her. In the next instant, the Legion ran past Hayate and smashed one fist into its underbelly, a panel opening up to reveal drill-like attachments which stabbed their way through the beast. Exoria leaped up spiritedly and swung her dagger in a curved motion which drew blood from its neck, and the monster started to swat her away with one great claw.
As it did so, the image of the beast flickered suddenly and died, now that there was no longer any magic supporting it. It had been an illusion – just an illusion created by Grylmark to distract them from the rest of the enemies swamping them from all sides...How many others had there been?
Realising that she had overlooked something, Hayate quickly came back to the ground and released a surge of her own magic across the earth. It wasn't enough to do any lasting damage, but it would stun their remaining enemies and disorientate their senses, whilst allowing her to conserve most of her strength. Their group couldn't be more than a hundred yards away from the gate now, but something was wrong...
"Legion!" Exoria yelled, pulling her dagger out of another mutant's body whilst two more converged on her. "Legion, where are you?"
Three left. The Bureau mage drew her magic back around her protectively, concentrating slightly to expel another enemy away from her. They were so close to clearing the perimeter, but she couldn't see the Legion anywhere. What had happened to the cyborg? They had been right in front of her...
Unexpectedly, Hayate felt the last of the mutants break off from her and suddenly turn on Exoria. The Time Mage needed no help, however: she whispered an incantation and blew all three of them to pieces using the force of her Time Destruction spell, breathing heavily from exertion. Hayate took another step forward, dizzy and weary from having to defend herself against such determined enemies for so long. She could have tried flying out of range from their attacks from the very start, but to do so would leave her own allies open to a more vicious and possibly fatal onslaught.
Shakily, the Mistress of the Tome of the Night Sky stepped inside the gate of the hospital. She couldn't sense any other enemies nearby, nor any signs of deadly traps, so the area was now completely clear of any danger. More importantly...they were inside the facility at last.
We made it!
"Hayate," Exoria breathed, gripping her arm tightly as she stood with her. "The...The Legion isn't with us. I don't know where they are."
The Bureau mage felt a cold shiver run down her spine. Had the cyborg fallen in battle? If so, then she had to take full responsibility. The Legion had stayed with her all the way from the House of Yagami, defending both her and Exoria, and she couldn't ignore something like that. As the commander of Riot Force 6, she knew that war could bring about costly sacrifices to either side, and she had to be realistic especially where a death was concerned...
The Legion can't be dead. One moment they were fighting the mutants before me...and then they were gone.
"I've checked all the bodies," the Time Mage said anxiously. "None of them belong to the Legion. The only corpses here are the mutants we defeated."
Confusion filled Hayate's eyes. If the Legion's body wasn't here, then did that mean that the cyborg was still alive in some form after all? She certainly hoped so: she didn't want the death of a companion on her conscience. On the other hand, it still didn't make sense – all of their enemies had now been defeated, so there was no reason for the combat cyborg to remain missing from the scene. In addition, the Bureau mage didn't remember seeing the Legion in any real pain or discomfort during the battle, nothing that suggested that they were weakening at all. In fact, most of the beasts had been small fry to the cyborg in comparison...
Wait a second. The Legion was in front of me throughout almost all of the fighting, since they were trying to protect Exoria at the same time. Because of that, I could see them perfectly – I didn't lose sight of them until that dragon-like monster appeared. That was the enemy which turned out to be only an illusion. Her face cleared as another thought came to her, the realisation of what she had missed before. What if...what if it hadn't been a normal illusion after all?
Suspicion rose up inside her, and Hayate reached out her senses to where the illusion of the monster had been destroyed by her companions. She had barely touched the site when traces of new magic immediately came flooding back towards her, almost overpowering her in the rush of images and information. Yes, there was illusion magic, but that wasn't all...
"Transportation magic," she whispered. "There were traces of transportation magic used here too." The short-haired mage turned back to Exoria, her eyes bright. "That enemy from before wasn't just an illusion. They were also a well-devised trap, designed to release a transportation spell onto the nearest person upon their defeat. The Legion must have set off the trap, meaning that they must have been transported to another location in the middle of the fighting."
She watched the Time Mage's face change, and felt the bitterness of regret churn up inside her. I should have realised this before, Hayate thought to herself. I was concentrating on forming a clear line to the gate and keeping our group together. When I left the ground, I didn't see that there was transportation magic set in a trap around the monster...but how could I? There was too much going on at the same time...
"Are you serious, Hayate?" the dark-haired girl said in a near-panic. "The Legion's been separated from us? But I need them to protect me!" She clasped the other woman's hands urgently. "Can you track down the Legion's location? We have to find them right now!"
The Bureau mage shook her head. "I can't trace them from here, Exoria," she said. "But the amount of magic released wasn't very potent. The Legion should still be in the hospital somewhere, ahead of us."
"That hospital's gigantic! They could be anywhere inside there!" The Time Mage let go of her and threw her own hands up in despair. "What if these friends of yours in the Bureau find them first? They'll attack the Legion on sight! By the time we get to them - "
Hayate held up a hand to forestall her complaints. "I told you already that that's not going to happen," she said. This wasn't the time for self-pity or remorse for what had happened; there was still a clear path in front of them, and she intended to follow it as far as she could. "We've made it this far inside the hospital gates now. All we have to do is make contact with the Bureau and explain the situation, that's all." She pulled at the dark-haired girl's arm, taking her inside the great facility with her. "And the sooner we do that, the better! Come on, Exoria – we've got to keep moving!"
The roar of Kagura's motorbike sounded across the deserted streets of Uminari City as the army girl drove across the edge of the district with iron determination, her mind set only on taking her sister back from Grylmark's clutches. Any executors or rebels in the area were now long gone, taken away by the changing tide of the rebellion like dead leaves in the wind, almost as if they had never been there at all. The red-haired assassin barely paid them a passing thought; their absence made her life easier and allowed her to progress with greater speed, even though she was a bit disappointed from having no one to kill. Kagura hadn't expected the journey to take quite so long, but then again her ultimate opponent was an illusionist. You wouldn't be able to find the facility so easily without magic of your own.
As the assassin came within viewing distance of Grylmark's hospital at last, her attention was drawn by the extraordinary array of magic that hung in the sky. With the collapse of the force-field, all of the energy contained inside had been released upwards for all to see, until it gradually drifted down to settle upon the city like sparkling rain. Kagura slowed down momentarily on the empty road to watched the display with interest, all too aware that something ground-breaking was taking place ahead of her. She hadn't expected this.
What was that just now? she thought testily. Somebody's already attacked Grylmark's facility before I've even made an appearance? I don't need their help!
Beast-like sounds came to her ears from the north, and Kagura recognised them as the cries of summoned mutants stationed at the perimeter of the facility. Having worked with Grylmark on several occasions in the past, she knew well what kind of measures he would go to for self-defence. The old man had always disapproved of direct confrontations; it would be just like him to throw as many mutants at his enemies as he could. Kagura would have been very surprised if she hadn't had to kill a few of those monsters herself just to get to him.
Someone else is attacking Grylmark and his mutants...somebody with a very high degree of power indeed. Who would possess the guts and strength to go up against him? Yagami? The army girl permitted herself a sneer of disgust at the thought. No, not Yagami. That piece of shit is too paranoid to leave her room, let alone her house. What about...Alicia? But there's no reason why she would have any grudge against Grylmark, and Alicia doesn't usually draw so much attention to herself. She keeps to the shadows when she operates, like the rest of this fucking world.
Who else could it be, then? Kagura wracked her brains for any other possibility, but drew a complete blank. A magic-user, probably, judging by what she had seen...but the only other mage she knew was the girl from this morning. Tiana Lanster, the girl she'd met briefly just before shooting Chrono dead in front of her.
Time travellers, the army girl mused with a dark secretive smile. They may be skilled to some degree, but I was able to overpower Tiana easily at our first encounter. The rest of her group is probably just as weak as she is. Everyone in this world is so fucking weak. She tightened her hands against the handlebars of her motorbike, eager to press on. It can't be helped. I'll have to go ahead and find out who this new power is for myself! Who could Grylmark possibly be afraid of? Who else is there to fear apart from me?
With a gleam of anticipation in her dark green eyes, Kagura Labinnac accelerated forward towards the southern gate of the hospital, ready to unleash her own personal war on whatever was waiting for her.