The infirmary of the House of Yagami was not where Dr Kaizen had intended to spend her final moments before the end of the world. A small, cramped room filled with medical cabinets and wooden shelves, with a workbench for her to practice on and just enough space for a personal computer, it was where the doctor kept the products of her life's work. Close to a hundred precious tonics, salves, painkillers, antidotes and the like were stored within these drawers, having been collected over many years for the purposes of the Family. Dr Kaizen cherished and treasured all of her medicines as if they were living specimens; her research was not something that could be thrown away easily.
Yet that was exactly what Yagami had ordered her to do in the wake of the oncoming dimensional distortion: she was to leave her potions and remedies behind, and concentrate only on saving her own skin just like everyone else. The time switch was the Family's only method of escaping this universe, but it was not without its flaws: only physical living tissue could be completely transported through the portal without fail. An attempt to involve anything more than that could threaten to destabilise the entire process. Lideri had noticed the changes herself when Wyvern had gone through the gateway, and had been quick to warn the rest of the Family of the dangers involved.
From the librarian's observations, the time switch was designed to accommodate the bodies of each staff member and nothing more than that. However, boundaries could be stretched; it seemed that a small amount of material possessions could still be brought through the portal, such as the clothes they wore upon their backs and a few weapons to uphold the security of the Family along the way. Carrying large, heavy items would contribute to an increased body mass and make it too risky to proceed. With this in mind, everyone had decided to focus on travelling light, although Yagami was understandably concerned about whether she would be able to bring her wheelchair along. A disruption in the transition at any point could destroy all of the Yagami Bracelets at once, effectively dooming the Family's remaining chances of survival. Nobody wanted to be left behind.
My potions and medicines are irreplaceable, Dr Kaizen thought as she searched through the cabinets for what she needed. Being forced to abandon all of my work here...it's excruciating. I'll just have to make up for it by retaining the bare essentials...
She was still collecting vials and tonics from the shelves when Lideri came in. The aged librarian watched her in silence for passing moments with a small trace of sympathy in her eyes, aware of how stressed the green-haired doctor was about all of this. It was not a good time to fall out of favour with Yagami.
"It's time, Dr Kaizen," Lideri said quietly. "Wyvern has initiated the time switch and successfully exited this universe, as far as I can tell. It's been decided that you'll be going through the portal next."
"I know," the medical expert muttered quietly, stuffing another few bottles into her robes. "Just give me a minute..."
The librarian tapped her foot impatiently. "You don't have a minute, dearie. The Yagami Bracelets have already finished their cool-down period. Any further delay will keep the rest of the Family waiting."
With a sigh, Dr Kaizen turned around and deposited five more vials onto the table, her hands shaking a little. Her face was filled with mild sadness and regret, though no tears came to her eyes. "It doesn't have to be like this, Lideri," she said. "Arisa or Noriko could do the time switch before me. I don't have to go right away..."
"I'm afraid you do," the old woman said heavily. "This order came straight from Yagami-sama herself. You should not go against her will." She paused for a second and glanced around the infirmary, knowing how much the doctor treasured her research. "If it is any consolation, Dr Kaizen, I will see what I can do about transporting more of the medicine here after you have gone through. I know how much your work means to you."
"I appreciate that. No one else understands the beauty of what I do here." The green-haired doctor lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, mindful that Arisa could be watching them. "Lideri, my status in the House of Yagami has fallen ever since Hayate visited us. We all know that. Lady Yagami has started to distrust me, and I don't know how to regain her favour again. I was able to take away Hayate's blindness temporarily, but how was I to know what the long-term effects would be? It was out of my control. Is a simple mistake all it takes?" Her voice shook with emotion. "Doesn't everyone remember how I served the Family faithfully over the years? Without me, our assassins would have died of their injuries long ago. Without me, everything would have fallen apart."
"There's no good in saying things like that, dearie," the librarian said in a kindly tone. "Everyone here will be quick to say exactly the same about themselves. My thoughts are this: if you invested more time in using real magic, then you would surely rise to greater heights indeed."
Dr Kaizen shook her head firmly. "No," she said. "I have never trusted magic. Potions and herbal remedies are what our Family needs, not the rigidity of so-called special powers. You saw what happened to the Bureau in this world. Thank you for your consideration, Lideri, but that is not a path I am prepared to walk upon."
"Very well," the librarian shrugged. "It was worth a try, but I won't try to force anything on you. And talking of magic...it's time to begin the process of your departure." In the blink of an eye, she summoned a tiny orb of white magic at her fingertips and brought it near to the other woman. "Are all of your preparations complete, Dr Kaizen?"
The green-haired doctor smoothed down her robes and nodded quickly. Without any further doubts or hesitation, she extended her wrist forward and closed her eyes, trying to remain calm. Dr Kaizen didn't know what the time switch would feel like, but her general dislike of magic meant that it probably was not a sight she was willing to see.
It would be better if magic didn't exist at all, she thought numbly. What has it ever done for Mid-childa except to start endless wars? Lideri and Suzuka are the only magic-users in this household, and they are both such lovely people, but...I could never become a mage myself. I wish Hayate had never come here in the first place...
She felt Lideri's magical aura come into contact with her Yagami Bracelet, and everything around her suddenly expanded in a blaze of energy. Blue light pressed against the doctor's tightly closed eyelids, a rising presence of Oguba's magic in a purely artificial form, and the vials and tonics inside her robes rattled noisily in response. For a moment, she feared that the force would shatter her medicinal bottles outright. Nevertheless, the green-haired woman held strong and bravely uttered the first and last spell that she would ever cast.
"Chronological Time Switch!" Dr Kaizen cried.
The portal opened up around her in a roar of swirling magic, igniting a powerful storm which clashed about her ears and raced back and forth like a tidal wave across her senses. At the last second, the doctor's eyelids lifted slightly, meeting Lideri's piercing gaze just moments before everything in front of her faded away completely. No, that wasn't it, Dr Kaizen realised. She was the one who was disappearing, just a momentary traveller of the abyss as the time switch took effect and slowly took her away from the world. Somehow, it was different than the doctor had expected; she wasn't being forcibly sucked into the gateway or anything like that, but rather was dragged along with the stream of time energy itself, moving along with the flow like a river of change...
Dr Kaizen opened her mouth to cry out, but there was nobody to call out to. She was no longer inside the House of Yagami, but drifting in a strange void filled only with Oguba's blue mist and a thousand forgotten memories, travelling at incomprehensible speeds towards the other side...
And then there was silence. Lideri was left alone in the infirmary, her eyes fixed on the space where the doctor had been standing just seconds earlier. Satisfied that the time switch had been successful, the librarian pocketed the vials on the table and left the room, ready to meet with the next member of staff...
"Divine Buster!"
With an unrestrained cry, Nanoha released the full force of her bombardment spell upon the mutated beast blocking the eastern gate of the hospital. The monster parted its jaws as if expecting to devour her, taking the brunt of the attack in the mouth as it was blasted away from the entrance in a roar of pink magic. Undaunted, several smaller creatures instantly rushed forward to take its place and engage in battle with her, but Tiana and Shamal sprang into action to counter them. Energy bullets flew through the air and drove their enemies back against the walls of the facility, followed by binding spells which put them out of action for good. In less than a minute, a path had been cleared through the rabble.
As the three mages approached the gaping opening into the main building, a group of hunched aerial mutants suddenly swooped down from above in a direct ambush. The Ace of Aces slowed in her tracks, ready to manoeuvre herself out of the way, but her companions already had the whole situation covered. Shamal's Commandment Chain spell shot up to trap two of the winged creatures at once, swiftly dashing them down to earth to lie in a crumpled heap; on the other side, Tiana separated Cross Mirage into each hand and fired right between the eyes, taking the rest of the monsters down before they could get too close. Both of the women were mindful that Nanoha's Barrier Jacket was in a severely weakened state. Allowing her to sustain even one hit was not an option.
"Thank you, everyone," Nanoha said with a grateful smile. "That's the last of the enemies on this side. Let's hurry and get inside the hospital whilst we still can."
Tiana and Shamal nodded briefly and ran into the facility together. The combat mage paused just a step behind her friends, briefly giving the area a last-minute check for any traps that might activate upon passing the threshold. Fortunately, there were no real dangers in sight; it seemed that Grylmark's mutants had been the last thing stopping them from gaining entry. Breathing a sigh of relief, Nanoha dashed through the gate to stand inside the hospital with her companions.
She didn't really know what she had been expecting. Dim lights flickered and off in response to the power drain present throughout the facility, illuminating the scene before them with a pale incandescent glow. The three women found themselves standing at the mouth of a broad corridor which stretched ahead for as far as the eye could see, until it gradually disappeared into semi-darkness. Strangely all enough, all of the floors and walls had been polished to a high degree until you could almost see your reflection in them, and even the faint smell of cleaning fluid was quite pronounced. It didn't seem like the kind of path that a hundred mutants had trampled across, or even anybody at all.
Is this really the inside of Grylmark's base of operations? There's no one here, no enemies, nothing at all...it's just a deserted corridor.
Her suspicions raised, Nanoha stepped forward tentatively into the centre of the hallway and swept her magic around the area for concealed hazards of any kind. Next to her, Tiana and Shamal were already checking their surroundings for traces of rogue magic. Something was very out of place here, and she intended to determine exactly what it was...
"Tiana, check the corridor for any possible illusion magic," the Ace of Aces said tensely. "If we take three steps and fall through the floor onto an invisible pit of spikes, I'm going to be very annoyed."
"Already done," the sharpshooter replied. "No traces of illusion magic at all. Everything we see here is quite real, Nanoha."
The combat mage tapped the edge of Raging Heart against the floor experimentally, listening acutely as the faint sound travelled up and down the corridor without causing any ill-effects. Not willing to let her guard down so easily, Nanoha examined the walls and noticed several closed doors along each side. A security camera was affixed to the top of each one, along with a label denoting the ward number. If there really were just normal hospital wards behind each door, then their real path should take them directly down this corridor, straight and simple – or was that just what Grylmark wanted them to think?
It can't be that easy, she thought in frustration. Hundreds of mutants were charging down this hallway to attack us just minutes ago! Why is everything here so clean and spotless? It's as if we're standing in another part of the hospital entirely...
For an instant, Nanoha feared that that was exactly what had happened. She whirled around, thinking that their group had unwittingly triggered some kind of transportation trap as soon as they had crossed the threshold...but no, the eastern gate was right behind her, along with the bodies of the mutants they had defeated at the perimeter. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened to transport them anywhere.
"I don't believe this," she said. "Why would Grylmark allow us to proceed through the hospital free from harm? Even the floor has been cleaned. He wants us to take this route and fall into one of his traps."
"There's no other way forward, Nanoha," Shamal said. "I agree that it's a little suspicious, but none of us can find anything wrong..." She shrugged. "This whole building is pretty massive. It's possible that Grylmark can't keep track of everything at the same time."
The Ace of Aces looked up at the security cameras quizzically, wondering if they could be the missing link she had been looking for. To her surprise, she saw that none of them seemed to be active at all; with the force-field disabled, the overall power of the facility had been taken down to virtually zero. That could be a problem later if they came up against any high-security doors which needed to be opened up electronically, but they could worry about that when they got there. Those cameras weren't even on.
"Are you both sure that there's absolutely nothing dangerous here?" she asked worriedly. Her intuition was telling her that there was something wrong, but Nanoha couldn't quite place what it was. She was sure that something was out of place..."No invisible walls? No hidden passages? Hidden switches? Trip-wires? Motion sensors? Pressure plates? Spike traps?"
Shamal shook her head. "This isn't some kind of mystery dungeon, Nanoha. What is it with you and spike traps, anyway?"
"There's always a spike trap." Nanoha's shoulders slumped as she tried to think. Could she have been mistaken after all? If so, they were wasting time discussing it any further. "Tiana, you really can't find anything either?"
"No, I can't," the orange-haired forward said. "Maybe it really is safe here, Nanoha."
The Ace of Aces sighed. "All right. I guess I'm just worrying too much over nothing." She lifted Raging Heart off the ground again. "Let's proceed."
She set off down the corridor, able to relax at last. Maybe I'm being too wound-up about all this, the combat mage thought to herself distractedly. Maybe I should just calm down and stop seeing danger everywhere I go. Maybe...
Nanoha reached the first of the ward doors, paying little attention to her surroundings now that they had established there was nothing wrong after all. As she walked past, there was a faint click behind her.
The combat mage froze to the spot at the sound. With a rising feeling of dread, she turned to see that the security camera above the door was moving, despite not being plugged into any viable power source. The mechanism was slowly coming to life with a red, pulsating glow at its core. At the same time, all of the other cameras were behaving in exactly the same way...
"This – this is nothing to worry about," Tiana stammered, staying close to her as the static clicking grew all around their group. "They're just cameras. They can't hurt us..."
The red light of the nearest camera grew brighter and more sinister in nature. With a shock, Nanoha saw clearly the barrel of a gun concealed in the middle, small enough that it would be almost impossible to pick up by magic alone...
"Those aren't cameras, Tiana," she said quietly. "Get down. Now!"
TSEEEEEW!
A high-powered laser shot right at them and carved a smoking hole into the pristine floor. The Ace of Aces pushed the forward out of harm's way and blasted the "camera" to pieces with her device before it could get out another shot. Moments later, more bolts of laser fire lanced across the whole corridor from each of the other turrets, blasting great chunks in the walls as the Bureau mages took evasive action. The three mages crouched down with their backs to each other, dodging and shielding their bodies with magic as best as they could.
Nanoha heard a pained cry from Tiana as the sharpshooter was struck by a glancing shot, forced down to one knee as her Barrier Jacket barely absorbed the damage. Beside her, Shamal was using binding spells to tear the guns off the wall and protect herself to some extent, but the storm of enemy fire was making her job increasingly difficult. A whole array of these deadly cameras were set up across the entire corridor, dozens and dozens of them alike...
So that was it. No spike traps. No invisible walls. No hidden switches. I guess I'll add "deadly lasers disguised as broken-down cameras" to the list next time.
There was no cover in the wide empty corridor, no objects or corners to take refuge from the lasers decimating the place. With a sharp intake of breath, the Ace of Aces realised why the floor had been cleaned so well, polished until it gleamed. The surface of the corridor shone until you could see your own reflection in it, just like a mirror. And what did mirrors do to lasers?
She darted backwards slightly as another burst of laser fire was partially reflected off the ground that they stood on. The whole place was a death-trap!
I can't allow my Barrier Jacket to be hit even once! I'll lose what little armour I've got left!
"We're not going to survive this for much longer!" Nanoha yelled to the others. She ducked down beneath the next deadly bolt and threw open the nearest door. "Quickly! Inside here!"
Her companions didn't need to be told twice. They burst into the ward and slammed the metal door shut behind them, breathing heavily as they took refuge from the deadly torrent of laser bolts. Tiana had limped inside with some difficulty, holding onto her leg where she had been shot, but the distraught expression on her face wasn't due to her injury. No, the sharpshooter seemed more upset about the implications of her wound...
"Tiana, you're hurt," the Ace of Aces said gently. "Just keep your head down for a second."
"Nanoha, I'm fine – I – I can't slow you down - "
But Shamal was already kneeling down next to her, the light of restorative magic glowing in one hand. Quickly, the medical mage pressed her fingers against the forward's scorched skin, concentrating hard as she healed the burn at a rapid pace. Tiana's face slowly cleared as the pain began to recede from her body, gradually calming down and getting her breathing under control again once she realised she was going to pull through after all. It took a few minutes for the spell to take full effect, by which point the damage to her leg had faded to just a minor bruise.
"I – um – thanks, Shamal," she muttered gratefully. "I forgot."
"That's why I'm here," the blonde mage said warmly. "Come on. We have to find a way out of this mess." She turned around to the leader of their group for ideas. "Nanoha?"
The Ace of Aces was busily examining the inside of the room where their had taken sanctuary. As her eyes adjusted, she saw that it was a large, darkly-lit ward filled with numerous hospital beds. Although all of the beds were empty right now, they also looked like they had held patients not so long ago...and some of them were damaged to a disturbing extent. Several of the beds had parts of them broken off and wrenched apart forcibly, as if something had attacked them in a blind rage. Had the mutants come through here earlier, perhaps? Was that why the main corridor had remained clean and unmarked?
First things first: protection. That's what we need – protection from the laser fire. As long as we have some kind of shield, anyone here can take out those guns with basic attacks anyway. What if I use the Accelerate Charge System? That would take out all of the laser turrets in seconds, but Tiana and Shamal could be caught up in the blast and I don't want to risk that..
Unfortunately, Nanoha couldn't see what other options were available to them. The only way out of the ward was the way they had come in, so they would be forced to go back out and confront the hostile storm of lasers sooner or later. Once caught in the corridor like that, it was practically impossible to prepare a spell because their enemies were firing too quickly from all sides and could disrupt their concentration. Yes, the combat mage knew that she could probably blast a hole through the opposite wall into another area of the hospital, but she had seen how thick the walls were here. Using Divine Buster in such a way could drain her energy in massive amounts and wouldn't solve the problem of the laser turrets in the hallway. She needed that kind of magic for when she found Grylmark and Oguba.
Reluctantly, Nanoha began to charge up her chosen spell. As she did so, she happened to glance upwards and caught the glint of a security camera right above her head. It had been positioned on the inside of the door.
Uh-oh.
"Excelion Shield!" she said.
The magical barrier appeared before Nanoha quickly enough, but the gun hadn't been targeting her specifically. The combat mage had just a brief moment of panic before Tiana and Shamal were forced to dive for cover behind the hospital beds.
TSEEEEW! TSEEEEW!
Laser fire cut the nearest beds neatly in half as Tiana threw herself from the wreckage, firing energy bolts from Cross Mirage one after the other. Unfortunately, fear caused her aim to go wildly askew and many of her shots didn't make their mark. The turret increased the pace of its firing, blasting laser bolts at a rapid speed until there was barely any room left to counterattack at all.
"Commandment Chain!" Shamal chanted from between two of the other beds.
The binding spell in her hands took hold of a large metal chunk of the bedframe, swinging it around as she manipulated her magic thus and released it at high speed towards their enemy. The gun immediately swung around to fire at its new fast-moving target, blasting the bed into tinier pieces before it could make contact. For a moment, the medical mage was stranded out in the open, out of cover and vulnerable.
That was all the opportunity that Tiana needed. The sharpshooter shifted her weapon round to the right and fired three times at the wires connecting the gun to the wall. Sparks flew everywhere to rain down upon Nanoha's shield, and the gun finally tumbled downwards towards the ground. Tiana dived forward to catch it in her free hand, a triumphant look on her face at her victory.
She was in for a shock, however. As soon as her hands touched the dying mechanism, it sputtered to life again like a living thing and began jerking around spasmodically, firing lasers in every direction.
"Aaah! It's still working!"
Tiana fought to control the thing as it whirled around in her hands, going into a mechanical frenzy. Whatever she had done to the mechanism before had befuddled its programming in some way, and now it was all she could do to prevent the gun from shooting her in the face. The motion sensors built into its internal wiring had definitely gone haywire.
"Help!"
Nanoha and Shamal tried to run forward to assist her, but another jet of laser bolts flew around the room and they were forced to put up protective magic of their own. Throwing caution to the winds, the sharpshooter attempted to shoot the thing down with Cross Mirage, but it wasn't such an easy task. She needed both hands to do that.
Out of control, the weapon in her hands blasted open the door of the ward, almost tearing it from its hinges. Then it released an intensified laser bolt in the opposite direction, throwing Tiana back out into the main hallway...right into the the perilous storm of lasers from dozens of other cameras...
"Oh no," Nanoha breathed, and ran back out after her. She began to charge up the Acceleration Charge System within Raging Heart, knowing that it was now or never. Shamal was just a step behind her.
Outside in the deadly corridor, the gun in Tiana's hand was going completely ballistic. Her hands were forced to the left, firing burning shots of laser fire in an unpredictable pattern which took out three cameras at once. She rolled over on the ground, still trying to control it, and the next bolt that came out destroyed several more cameras on the right. The sharpshooter whirled around in a circle helplessly, taking out every enemy camera in sight and leaving the entire hallway in ruins.
"Well," Shamal said, a note of surprise in her voice, "that's one way to do it."
Aiming carefully, the medical mage cast her binding spell upon the smoking gun in Tiana's hands, barely managing to secure it to some extent. With a choked gasp, the sharpshooter threw the malfunctioning laser away from her and collapsed to the floor, glad to be free of the deadly weapon at last. Lasers continued to fly in every direction across the empty corridor, but Nanoha raised Excelion Shield in one hand to protect her group as a whole as she walked towards the rogue mechanism.
"Nanoha, be careful!" Shamal cried out in warning. "We don't know if it might explode - "
With a single blow, the Ace of Aces slammed the end of Raging Heart into the centre of the frenzied weapon. Magical power expanded out from the centre of device and blasted it into pieces. The remains of the turret shuddered and then lay still.
"Shall we go?" Nanoha said calmly, kicking aside the chunks of metal in front of her.
Tiana groaned and slowly pulled herself to her feet, worn out from the crazed encounter but glad to be alive. "I am never doing something like that again," she said. "Never."
With the threat neutralised, the three mages walked in silence down the empty corridor for some time, welcoming the peace and quiet that had now settled on this part of the hospital. It would probably only be temporary, but the destruction of the cameras meant that they could proceed without worrying about any further danger. It wouldn't be long, however, before Grylmark discovered what had happened and started to take additional measures of his own.
"The corridor splits here," Shamal noted, gesturing to the path they were following. Before them, a maze of different hallways led deeper into the hospital facility in almost every direction, each one leading to an unknown part of the complex. "We don't know where any of these paths could take us. If we take the wrong one then we risk losing a lot of time."
The Ace of Aces nodded. "There's another thing, Shamal," she said quietly. "I've given this a lot of thought, but...I want you to split up from us here."
"What?" The medical mage stared at her, stunned. "Split up? Nanoha, what are you talking about? You need my healing magic!"
"The Bureau needs you more than I do, Shamal." The combat mage's gaze towards her was firm and unyielding, her mind made up on this. "If I'm hit, then my Barrier Jacket will crumble and there's not a lot you can do about it. But Fate, Hayate, Erio and the rest of the Wolkenritter...everyone should be inside the hospital by now. None of the other squads have anyone to heal their wounds if things get desperate. Until we find Caro at some point, you're the only healer we've got."
Shamal looked at her crossly and folded her arms. "I don't want to leave you undefended, Nanoha," she said. "You needed my help back there."
"I know. But my path will take me to the heart of Oguba, and your skills will be of more use where everybody else is." The Ace of Aces understood why the medical mage would be reluctant to separate from their group, but at the same time she knew it was the right thing to do. This was about ensuring the survival of everyone in the TSAB, not just herself and a few close friends. Nanoha didn't want anybody to be left behind, no matter what. "Believe me, I could do with some more backup of my own, but it's unfair to keep you here with me," she said. "Find as many members of the Bureau as you can, Shamal, and help them as much as you can. That's the best you can do right now." She smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about me. I've still got Tiana to help me out if there's any real trouble."
Tiana's face paled slightly upon hearing that. "Nanoha, did I hear you right?" she stammered. "You're – you're relying on me to protect you?"
"Only if it comes to that."
"But – but I can't - " The sharpshooter was taken aback by the amount of responsibility being handed to her. "Nanoha, I'm not a hero or anything! I'm still in training! I was wounded back then – I was a burden to you!"
"No, you're not a burden," the Ace of Aces said in a serious tone. "That's the last thing you are. Have more faith in yourself, Tiana. Your skills are much better than what you give yourself credit for, and I believe in you." She put her hands on the forward's shoulders, instilling some of her own self-confidence into the girl. "We probably won't ever be in a situation where I become crippled and you're the last hope before total destruction. That won't happen, okay? So just relax. All I'm asking for is your help: that, and another pair of eyes to watch my back." She squeezed her shoulder gently. "You can do that, right?"
The sharpshooter gazed back at her and swallowed. "S-sure," she muttered. "I can do that."
"Good," Nanoha said, turning back round again. "Shamal?"
The medical mage sighed. "Fine," she said, clearly unhappy about the decision. "I don't like it, Nanoha, but I guess you do have a point. My skills would have more of an impact around a greater number of people." She turned to depart through one of the many corridors leading to the other chambers of the facility. "I'll try to find Signum's group, which means I'll be heading north. I doubt that Fate and Hayate will need my help."
"All right," Nanoha said, nodding. "That's a good place to start. If that's all, then we'll go our separate ways now. Tiana and I will continue heading deeper into the facility to seek out Oguba."
Shamal paused in the middle of the corridor for a moment, her back turned towards the other two women. "Do you even know what you're going to do, Nanoha?" she asked worriedly. "Grylmark isn't just going to let you walk in and meet Oguba like that. He's going to try and stop you."
The Ace of Aces shrugged as if this were no big deal. "Of course," she said. "I've got my own strategy to follow."
"We'll be ready for him," Tiana said defiantly, holding Cross Mirage tightly in her hands. "When I see Grylmark again, I'm giving him a piece of my mind for sticking those traps all over the corridor."
"I think you're both out of your minds now," the medical mage said with a shake of her head. "But I guess that's just the way it is. The best of luck to you, Nanoha." Her voice shook as she hurried away from them. "Just...stay alive, okay?"
The padded footsteps of a grey mountain cat passed silently through the western district of Uminari City, unnoticed by anyone that might be watching. Magical energy drifted across the familiar's paws as she reached the edge of the deserted street, her feline head lifting up to watch the colourful display in the sky. Considering the vast area that the explosion had covered, the array was quite an extraordinary sight to look upon.
From her vantage point, Linith gazed at the tremendous release of magic caused by the destruction of the force-field. She hadn't seen such a grand display of power in years, not since Precia Testarossa had died and Alicia had taken her place. If she hadn't known better, the familiar might have wondered if her mistress had caused this spectacle herself...
So the Bureau is capable of this? That's unexpected.
With lithe grace, Linith transformed into her black-haired human form and rose up off the ground, allowing the will of her levitation magic to guide her forward. For a long time now, she had felt as if she were nearing the end of a great journey, a journey which required all of her reserves of stamina and endurance to be utilised in full. In truth, the familiar hadn't needed to use much energy at all, which suggested that a deterioration in her own magic would soon be in order. Still, there was always time. Or was there?
She flew across the sky at a subdued speed, not wanting to rush herself; at the forefront of her mind was that caution won battles, not recklessness. What was it that really mattered now? In the past, the mistress of the House of Testarossa had been passionate in her goal of reviving the Family, which involved bringing Fate back to her in the form that she remembered. Alicia had only partially succeeded in doing so, and then...something had changed in her, something strange and quite unheard of. Linith had discovered as much when she had tried to communicate with her mistress before. What had happened to change Lady Testarossa's mind? Why did she no longer want to pursue Fate, after so many years?
Now that Arf is no longer with us, I am the last servant of the House of Testarossa, the blue-eyed familiar thought. My body perished many decades ago, yet my mind and spirit live on. Fate's significance has passed us by and becomes only a mere memory – she was never the real heir to the House of Testarossa, but a time traveller from another reality who was only trying to return home. My mistress tried to change that, tried to change Fate into what she wanted her to be, just like she changed so much about our Family. But in the end, Fate was the one who changed her...
Linith came to a stop above the western edge of Grylmark's facility, watching as the squad of Bureau mages before her hurried through the gates. She sensed an enormous amount of power brimming around them – well, some of them, at least. A few of the people below her didn't even seem to be able to fly, and the familiar felt a rush of sympathy for their lack of skill and talent. Surely such life-forms would not survive in the long run? Perhaps this was what Alicia felt like everytime she gazed down upon humanity...maybe this was why his mistress felt the way she did.
The Time-Space Administration Bureau. The gathering of people that came with Fate from another universe: another reality of the destroyed Bureau from this world, yet another outcome present within the time-space continuum. Lady Testarossa's last thoughts to me were quite garbled, but her instructions to eradicate them were quite concise. I will start with the strongest one and work my way down from there.
Her path now was clear, and Linith felt a rush of satisfaction at understanding what she was supposed to do. That was all it took, really. Slowly, she descended to the ground and approached the unguarded gates of the hospital, ready to do her duty for the House of Testarossa.