Disclaimer: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha belongs to Seven Arcs and all respective license holders. The Persona Series belongs to ATLUS. I only own this fic and nothing else. I also own all the mistakes too.
Chapter 31: Dawn of the Night Sky VI
"Go!" At Joker's command, everyone broke into a mad rush to reach Quelle, some flying right for her, while those that were earth bound ran in to range for other attacks. Before any of them could take meaningful ground-
"Split…" Quelle's word was quiet, to the point Joker could only make out that she had said something by way of a small trickle of sound, rather than hearing a concrete word. The meaning ultimately didn't matter as the result made itself clear. Materializing forth were an uncountable number of copies of Quelle in a mass that dotted the sky that had become a strange light blue despite still being covered by dark clouds. Before they could even being to fathom the number, the copies shuffled about in a whir and chaos of fluttering pages, the original lost within only a fraction of a second.
"Reinforce!" Hayate called out.
"Their signatures are all the exact same. I cannot discern one from the other," she reported before Hayate could finish asking. "Each seems as powerful as the original, or at the very least, their powers are equally distributed and the original well camaflouged."
"I can't tell any differences on my end either," Oracle added.
"I think our plan is going to need a bit of rework," Queen gave her opinion. "We're on a time limit, and it'll be too slow trying to focus them down one at a time. Do we have any ways to destroy them all in one go?" She scanned everyone, watching to see if someone had an idea. In the corner of her eye she spotted… the other Makoto and Minako talking between themselves. "Do you two have an idea?"
"Huh?" Minako let out, having been caught off guard. "I mean… I think we do?"
"We were just talking about who was going to do it. We have something that will get the job done, and since she's got enough energy left for it, she'll do it," Yuki explained. "We just need to gather them up as much as possible."
"Oh right, that thing that you guys can do, but Joker and I can't," Narukami began to recollect the explanation he and Joker received some time ago. "So you guys can do it here then?"
"Yup, but It's still got limits to it's range, so again, we need to gather them up," Minako said.
"Well if we don't have any better ideas, then let's get started right away. Arf, you take one side, and I'll take the other," Yuuno told his fellow barrier master. "We'll form a wall around them once they're close in so they can't escape."
"Right, everyone else will force them in… except some of us can't fl-" Skull was then wrapped in a soft light, in fact all of the Persona users were.
"I have applied a basic flight spell to everyone here. There's not enough to time fully to acclimate, but please do your best in the time we have," Reinforce told them.
"Good job, Reinforce!" Hayate said with a small clap.
"Fastest fliers go around to the back of the swarm, we're going to try to push them in from all sides all at once," Chrono said as he and a few others then zipped into the air and then around.
Following that, others then split either to the left or the right. Those new to flying struggled a bit, but did what they could, at least being able to catch up to the rest. Explosions and other Spells were already being flung about the swarm of copies. Each attack causing the mass to recoil like an elastic bubble, squirming from each attack.
"Joker, we'll be okay here, you and the girls should get going," Yuki told him. Joker, Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate had stayed with Yuki and Minako. Minako waited in place, because she couldn't afford to use even a single spell more if she wanted it to work, and Yuki to guard her just in case. Narukami had already joined the rest, a shining ray of lightning piercing out into the swarm like a needle to a balloon a testament to that decision.
"If you're sure…" Nanoha said, still a bit worried about leaving them.
"We'll be okay. Don't worry," Minako assured her one more time. Nanoha still wasn't fully convinced, but she couldn't find the words to argue back.
"Then let's get going…" Joker said, as he began to rise into the air alongside Fate and Hayate. Nanoha spared a couple more fleeting glances before she followed.
-0-0-31-0-0-
"Do we have any idea what that spell is?" Lindy asked for a report in as calm a voice as she could muster. Though still difficult to tell from her tone, Amy, and the other long standing officers of the Arthra could make out the tiny cracks. None could blame her though, given what failure entailed.
Even as the Arthra was in the exosphere of the planet, whatever was hidden in the clouds above the city of Uminari shown with an eerie blue light that was visible to even their eyes on the ship. It was somehow both disquieting and calming, more replacing than changing the unease, if that could be understood.
"Just a massive reading that's getting bigger by the second. Our guess is that it's the spell that Quelle intends to use to rewrite reality," Amy reported to her, trying to gleam even a speck of extra information from the readings, but it was difficult even with her experience behind her.
"Unfortunately, we don't have a way to interfere with it. There's a massive barrier around whatever is going on in there that seems to be strong enough to withstand even the Arc-en-ciel," another officer added.
"Wait then does that mean we don't even have that as a last resort option?" Aria, one of the cat twins, asked.
"As it would seem…" Lindy said, pushing away the feelings that were beginning to bubble in her stomach, instead focusing on trying to come up with a solution.
"To be specific it's not like it wouldn't punch through, in fact it would, and would probably do decent damage, but it would be blunted, and we'd be doing more damage to the surrounding city, than we would Quelle," Amy clarified.
"Our best chance is to let them take Quelle out as soon as possible, but keep an eye out for even a sliver of a chance for us to intervene. If an opportunity comes, we have to be ready." She could only pray for their success, and that the Saint King summoned by Joker to live up to its reputation.
-0-0-31-0-0-
"I'm in position, how about you?" Arf reported as she started prepping her half of the containment spell, the riffling of pages going in and out of hearing all around her.
"Just got into place," Yuuno replied as he looked around the battlefield. "What's the status on gathering the Quelle copies?"
"It seems to be slow going but steady from where I'm sitting," as Oracle said, every which way Yuuno could see the others flying about doing whatever they could to gather the swarm. But it wasn't without resistance as he could see the copies of Quelle fighting back with their own spells, even going so far as to coordinate among themselves. "Fate, behind you!"
"Hmm?" Before Fate could even fully register what she was seeing, she overloaded her flight spell as much as she could to jettison herself downwards. Only after safely getting out of way was she able to see a combination of spells and a swarm of books flying past just where she was not half a second ago. A moment too late and she might have been lost, a thought she pushed to the back of her head as she aimed Bardiche. Letting loose a volley of lightning, the swarm that had swelled above her was popped back like a bubble, only the contents flew towards the rest of the swarm, though a few scattered in other directions.
A few pink blasts of light however corrected the flight of the wayward copies, forcing them to squeeze close to the ever growing mass. As they closed in, so too did Nanoha, making sure she was in range to keep them inside the capture zone.
"How are we doing so far?" Nanoha asked. She could see magic circles beginning to grow out from where Yuuno and Arf were, a one way barrier was already starting to form. She could see the other Phantom Thieves, though still acclimating to flight, managing to corral the books into place just as well as the others.
Chrono was working with Fox to box the books in using ice magic, cutting off paths escape and funneling them as needed. Panther and Signum were doing something similar but instead using fire. Shamal and Mona, when they weren't providing support spells, were using the wind to disrupt the flight of the books, something the enemy struggled to combat due to their literary nature. All this and more continued as she worked with Fate to also corral stragglers.
Even so, she'd glance every now and then towards the ever enlarging mass. A barrier had now manifested thanks to the efforts of Yuuno and Arf. They had managed to make their barrier one way, so that the enemy could be forced in, but could not so easily leave. The copies that were inside were attempting to leave, only for them to be repelled back inside. The way they moved in an indiscernible swarm made Nanoha's skin crawl, like looking at a mass of insects when viewed from far enough away.
Nanoha's eye caught an ink black burst of magic bloom out from one side, sending a large number of Quelle's copies into the joint barrier. There she could see Joker and Hayate working together. However something bothered her. In the back of her head, she felt something was… off.
"Fate… this seems too easy," Nanoha's blunt and sudden remark caught the blonde girl off guard, but after a moment to let Nanoha's words sink in, it didn't feel wrong.
"They're all indiscernible from the real thing… so that should mean-" her thoughts were cut off as a beam of light broke through on the far side of the barrier relative to where they were standing, specifically nearly blasting Joker and Hayate to bits in a blast Nanoha was unsure that she would survive even if she put everything into a barrier. Only by a hair's width did Joker and Hayate dodge it. Before any more thought could be put into it, another blast shot out from a different side, just as destructive as the other, then another, then another.
Nanoha and Fate moved as fast as they could as a glow pointed itself at them, below, some of the buildings that had been struck crumbled to the ground. Even as far up into the sky, near the clouds, they could hear the screams.
"What the-" Arf's voice could be heard over the comms. "It just stole my barrier from me!"
"Unfortunately, same here," Yuuno confirmed. "She took it right from us." As he said so, the other books that were flying about all convened inside the barrier, not a single one remained outside of it. "From what I can tell, she's also modified it." The modification had appeared to obscure the swarm in a misty fog of magic.
Another beam fired out, scattering those that were nearby, one of those being Narukami. "Izanagi! Zio!" Narukami countered as a reflex, only to see his spell stopped by the barrier. He watched as his spell evaporated into nothing. "I guess that's the change…"
"Narukami's attack is just completely gone," Oracle reported. "No trace of it any more. The barrier nullifies all incoming attacks from the looks of it."
"Oh yeah? Well that's magic but what about this! Agneyastra!" Skull fired off his attacks before anyone could stop him. Meteors fell upon the barrier, but just like Narukami's attack, it too vanished into the fog, swallowed by the impenetrable mist.
"Seems like the barrier is now designed to absorb from whatever attempts to pass through," Hayate observed from the preceding events.
"More stalling…" Joker groaned. "Any ideas Reinforce?" Joker turned to ask.
"Analyzing… A negation barrier, Fog of War.It counteracts incoming attacks by providing an equal, but opposite energy output," Reinforce explained. "This is combined with its ability to obscure the user, but due in part to the size it has manifestedas a massive cloud."
"So how do we beat it?" Hayate asked with a determined eagerness in her voice.
"Normally you would need only to keep attacking to eventually drain the user of their reserves. However, even with its current size, the maintenance of the barrier will not be so easily depleted given Quelle's abilities. It would take a considerable attack to destroy the barrier," Reinforce offered further insight. Joker brought a hand up to his chin. He looked back down at the tower's roof. Minako and Yuki stood there… their attack might be powerful enough to pierce, but not finish it off…
"You need a powerful attack right?" Narukami had flown in next to them, as Nanoha and Fate while the others were flying about, trying to find anything resembling a weakness. "I know what you're thinking, and yeah we can't risk it not working," he said to Joker. "I've got something up my sleeve. I was saving it for just in case Minako's attack didn't work, or we needed a bit more extra fire power, but now's as good a time as any."
"How easy can you land it?" Joker asked, without hesitation for accepting Narukami's offer.
"Just need it to stand still so it should be-"
"Huh? Where did it go?" Noir asked before anyone else did. Joker and the others turned to find the veritable floating fortress having disappeared, only for it to reappear elsewhere.
"No fair!" They could hear Vita's indignant yell. "They can teleport!?"
"It's doing everything it can to drag this out as much as possible until its spell is done," Queen felt more frustrated with every word of her observation, the blue light blocked by the dark clouds above doing nothing to calm her, or anyone else, down.
"The teleportation spell cannot be used continuously, not for the amount of mass being transported at once. Our window will be after it teleports," Reinforce offered her solution.
"Well you'll have to be ready for whenever it shows up again the- Incoming!" Oracle called out the second her sensors flashed red. On cue, more spells of varying types flew forth, some straight at them, others in a homing arc. In the end it didn't matter as they all had to scramble to dodge the oncoming destruction. However. "Hold on, they're focusing on… Narukami!"
"Not good…" was the only remark the silver haired young man let out as he saw a larger portion of the spells coming his way. However he was unable to determine a route out. The spells were in such a number as to cut off most paths of escape. Still he tried what he could, he flew backwards away from the blindingly bright barrage of spells. Some had missed, particularly the beam like spells, but most were still chasing him down.
"Intercept those spells now!" Signum hadn't even finished her command before others moved in. Zafira was first to intervene in his wolf form, creating a barrier to block a small portion of the volley, but more blew past him. Those that did were chased by others who did as they could. Some were shot down, a barrier or two had also appeared, but still a few yet remained.
"I've got this! Helel!" Narukami switched over, summoning forth the fallen angel to intercept what was left. "Megidolaon!" Orbs of magic formed in front, cascading into each other before unleashing a blinding white explosion that engulfed the last of the spells aimed at him.
"Above you!" Narukami heard from someone over the comms, but the blast from the colliding spells hadn't yet died down, both in volume and brightness, blinding and deafening him. However he could barely make out the massive swarm that had appeared above him, as well as the spell aimed at him point blank. He didn't have time to dodge the massive attack coming his way.
"Now's our chance..." In front of Narukami, Yuki appeared, his evoker already pointed at his head. "Don't worry, Minako's basically forgotten, but now's your chance to break it."
"But-"
"Trust me…" Yuki had never sounded so sure to Narukami before. With but a nod, he steadied himself, as best as one could when flying, deciding to do just as Yuki asked. He reached up to the bridge of his nose, only to chuckle to himself when his fingers touched skin. He forgot for a moment he didn't need to.
Humming of the spell being charged, the screams of the others as they could only watch in horror as the two of them seemed fated to be struck down, and doing almost nothing to stop it. It all sounded so far away in the moment. Narukami caught Joker in the distance, only he seemed to know. Perhaps he already knew, or maybe he just trusted his fellow fools. Either way Narukami calmed himself down. He reached his hand into the air a single card falling ever so gently down to him.
Before the card could reach his hand, a gargantuan pillar of magic crashed its way towards them, vaporizing everything in its way towards its target. It would reach them in a fraction of a second. However Yu Narukami didn't move, but Makoto Yuki did. His finger pulled the trigger. The impact of the shot upon his skull sent his head reeling far back, almost into a tail spin, but he kept himself from fully losing his balance as best he could.
From the outside, the two appeared to have been completely swallowed by the attack. Horror fell upon Nanoha's face, as it did many of the others. Was that… was this… did they die? Did she just watch someone die? No, two people. Nanoha couldn't do anything but watch as the spell that had hit them, screeched through the air, with an appropriate blast of wind hitting her moments after it had been unleashed. It was easy to assume that Quelle had understood the danger that Narukami presented, and used all it had to take him down, but it still came as a shock to Nanoha just how much power was put into the spell for a single person, but catching two.
With one final flash of blinding light, the spell evaporated, leaving only a small cloud of dust and smoke to smolder. As if satisfied, the protected mass of books looked upon its work, now confident in its advantage. Only for it the scattered books within to seemingly, pause, slow, if a swirling mass was able to do so.
"Wait, hold on!" Oracle said in jubilant relief, her heart becoming both excited and calmed.
The dust was blown away by one of the many gusts of wind high above the clouds. The two fools were none the worse for wear. The two of them flanked by two Personas, Vishnu and Ananta, Joker recognized.
"Their signature… the same user? Both at once for a single spell?" Hayate was the only one to hear Reinforce's whisper, not understanding why it so notable, but she could not spare another thought for it.
Perhaps it was too early to say worse for wear for Yuki as his body went limp a moment after, Narukami catching him in his arms before he completely fell to the side. "Wish I could do that." Narukami said.
"Maybe next time… You still have something you need to do," Yuki said, tired and drained. He didn't have much energy left. With a nod, Narukami let Yuki go, who had recovered enough to not completely fall over. Quelle, deciding to finish it here rather than stall for longer, was already preparing another spell of the same to finish him off.
"No more…" A card fell above Narukami, who reversed his grip on his katana, pointing towards his feet where the card now rested, even so high in the air. He thrust his blade down with both hands, piercing the card with not just the familiar sound of shattering glass, but also lightning that exploded outwards towards Quelle's swirl of bodies.
Confident of its Fog of War to at least be able to withstand the initial assault, Quelle continued to chant its spell to destroy the silver haired fool, only the lightning that it was sure would not reach it struck true. Actually it had not just struck them, it was restraining the swarm of books. The bolts of lightning surged through the swarm, paralyzing more and more copies of Quelle as it worked its way through. Within the blink of an eye it had caused then entire mass of stop moving, chained by lightning where at its source it was still crackling around Narukami, giving him an almost heavenly glow.
No one had noticed just when Izanagi had appeared behind Narukami, only that it held its spear in front of itself. With a divine flash of light, Izanagi had become transformed, once again donning its white coat. Some of those around remembered that it was called Izanagi-no-Okami.
Narukami could feel Quelle and its copies fight against the lightning he had ensnared them in. He hurried himself. "A thousand die, but a million more are born… Behold… the Truth!" At his command, Izanagi-no-Okami raised its spear into the sky, and a rain, a deluge of of light fell upon the mass of fog, blowing it away as if it were only wet paper. More than that it also burned away some of the weaker copies, thinning the horde.
"He broke through!" Oracle reported, though she had to block the screen that was showing the live feed with her hand as she did so. She could see the blips disappearing one after the other on her radar. This was it. "Minako are you ready?" She asked before Narukami's attack had subsided.
"I'm ready…" Minako answered, her voice steady and unwavering as she saw the light of truth burning through the enemy swarm. From where she was, she could see the others watching on. Some were in awe, others surprised. Only herself and the other fools were unfazed. Eventually, the light began to dim, before suddenly snapping into nothingness. The once violent cloud of flying books had become slowed, lethargic. She could see that they had become fewer in number, but it was still not a number that could reasonably counted. Well it's not like she would have to.
"Now it's over…" She pointed her Evoker to her head, her other hand over her heart.
The sound of shattering glass was what caught Nanoha's attention. She looked in its direction, below and behind her to see Minako surrounded by azure flames, her legs buckled onto the ground as if she'd lost all strength. Two giant figures that could not be more starkly opposites had manifested themselves. One was what she thought an angel would look like, Blonde flowing hair, six wings, only a white cloth wrapping its body. The horns were strange, but it paled in comparison to the being next to it. Devil was the only word she could think to call it. She almost didn't even know how to describe it. A writhing body, blue… scales, numerous limbs she could not discern from hands claws or feet. She could only call it a devil from her darkest nightmares.
Despite their contrasts, Nanoha could feel the magic from the two, she assumed, Personas mingle with one another. She felt it down to her core, each bit of magic that touched the other, became violent and disturbed, like matter coming into contact with anti-matter. And yet despite the ever growing, volatile magic, it was contained, concentrated. At least that was what she felt until she heard Fate.
"What is that…" Fate said, her eyes widened in disbelief. Nanoha had first turned to Fate before turning to what the other girl was seeing. Tear… she didn't know how it was possible but there was just this tear where Quelle's army of copies was. Somehow in the middle of the sky a tear, a gash, had gouged itself right there where there wasn't anything, and it was bleeding, not blood or any fluid, but pure destructive energy. Lightning crackled as more and more unfathomable, terrible power flooded out as if the tear in the world was on a dam instead of the sky. Rather than being blown away, it was almost as if they were being pulled in to fill the gap to replace the energy that poured out. They held firm, but they could feel it pulling at them.
Quelle's copies disintegrated even faster than they had under Narukami's assault. Each had tried, but in the few precious seconds they had left, they could only move the smallest of centimeters before succumbing to destruction. One had even tried to open its pages to a spell that could have helped, if only the tiniest bit, but the pages burned into nothing as they were flipped open, not even the chance to flutter as they evaporated to the spine, and then even that too disappeared.
Nanoha, and the rest of the mages, and including most of the Phantom Thieves, didn't know what to say to such a display of unbridled destruction that looked as if it had come straight from the end of the world.
Even above in the Arthra, all had fell silent with only the sounds of warning sirens echoing through the ship to grace the halls. Had any of the bridge staff looked down at their instruments instead of the video feed, they would have seen details regarding multi dimensional destruction, core reality dissipation, calls to evacuate the current world even from so far away… such things were only a reiteration to what their eyes could see, both from the screen and from above through the bridge windows. The light of what could only be called a definitive end was blinding even to those who could tear themselves from the static filled, shaking video feed to see it. Such an apocalyptic spell, from but a single caster, a girl who looked like any other.
Though it had felt like an eternity, it had only been a short moment. The rip in reality closed itself with one final gasp of magic, as if the capstone to the end of all things. And then it was gone, as if it had never happened. It had fallen quiet, even the wind was still.
"Only one remains. I suspect it is the original body." Reinforce was the first to speak. As she said, only a single book remained, it's spine upwards, it's pages hanging limp, weak. "Quelle appears to have been exhausted of all energy. Only a small fraction remains."
Nanoha looked back to see Shamal already lending her shoulder to the exhausted Minako, flying up to meet the rest of them. She could see everyone already moving to surround the now defeated Quelle. She joined in, closing in alongside Joker, Fate and Hayate, wordlessly flying next to them as Quelle's figure, of sorts, grew ever larger.
Eventually, all of them had the manifestation of the Book of Darkness' Defense Program surrounded.
"I'm sorry Quelle…" Hayate spoke. It felt right to Nanoha that she spoke first. "I'm sorry it had to come to this."
"…" The book said nothing. Nanoha didn't know if it was because the book had nothing to say, or no energy to say anything anymore. She could feel something of spark in it, but it was more a dying ember than a tiny flame.
Joker raised his gun, his finger just about to pull the trigger, only for Hayate to tug at his sleeve. "Please… let me." Joker stole a quick glance between Hayate and Quelle before giving a small nod to the girl and lowering his gun.
"Good bye Quelle… I only wish it could have gone a different path…" Hayate raised her staff towards Quelle, an act that was slow and deliberate; slowed both by a mix of regret and a desire to do it right. A swirl of magic gathered at the apex of the staff, growing stronger by the second, coalescing as a black sphere of magic.
"I suppose all of you would wish for it to come to a different path."
"What?" Hayate let out, surprised by Quelle's sudden remark, though still holding her spell. It wasn't so much the words as the tone. They were too confident, too sure. Before she could ask further, Quelle had already begun to answer.
"It is complete… I would have completed it faster had I not needed to entertain the lot of you, but it is nonetheless completed…" As soon as she finished saying so, the clouds that were still above them had parted… No, it was not that clouds that parted. Something was instead, breaching through the clouds from within them. All of them could feel the rumble through the air, a pressure against their bodies that grew ever so stronger so as to begin to push against them, not so much blowing them away as forcing them to move.
"At last, the furnace that will burn away the old world and forge the new world is ready to fulfill its purpose!" Quelle's voice forced itself to declare in grandiose assurance, the strain was noticeable, but overshadowed. However, shadowed was probably a poor choice of words given that what had breached the clouds was a massive shining bluish white orb. Yet despite its glow, its light somehow soft enough to keep in view but unmistakably bright.
Nanoha didn't like it, whatever it was. The light that fell from it felt cold. She could feel tingles of course, something like heat, but the hue of the light, the sterile air that exuded from the presence of the giant orb of light… it made her feel the slightest bit sick. She didn't want to be in that light any longer… It then occurred to her. How did she not notice it?
"You were hiding it this whole time with obfuscation and camouflage spells. Distracting us so we couldn't look into it any further while you completed it..." Shamal was first to vocalize. Almost before Shamal had finished speaking, Joker had already re-aimed his gun at Quelle.
"Go ahead… my part is done," The statement was enough for Joker to pause, wondering what information more he could get. "The throne upon which I sit grants access to knowledge from beyond this world, should one have the will to search. This construct from which I found amongst the endless expanse of Amala, this Kagutsuchi, though modified from its original design, is complete. It no longer requires my presence to function. It has already heard my Reason, for a world without greed or desire."
Even having said so, Joker's aim on Quelle didn't falter. "I will admit I don't know how much time is left for this world. However I suggest you use what time remains to bring yourselves to peace."
Gun shits rang out, jerking the book backwards, a hole clean through it. Another shot, then another, then another. Scraps of paper flitted through the air, pieces of the hard covering already falling far below them to the ground. They could all feel it, they could see the last vestiges of life in the book as it struggled to remain afloat, shaking, and yet also stiff. Then the magic from within vanished, and the book became inert, and then fell, faster and faster, smaller and smaller. No one had moved to catch it. They hadn't the time for it or the will.
"Thank god you did that. Books are better silent. Now, any ideas on what to do about our little White Elephant Gift?" Crow broached the question. Some among them just seemed lost, unsure of how to tackle such a massive thing, this almost celestial body sized light. Others were looking at it with more determination, but their expressions were grim. Minds raced, but only in circles, to no definite end.
A comms line opened up, the first in a while. "We heard Quelle's final words. We're having some staff searching the database for anything called Kagutsuchi from across all known universes. Other's are already analyzing it for potential weaknesses." Lindy hadn't given up yet.
"Ma'am," they could hear Amy from her seat on the ship. "Quelle's signature has completely disappeared. As it said, the spell is still sustaining itself independently. In fact, it's energy is still growing as we speak."
"Well okay, but… I hate to sound stupid, but what's stopping us from, I don't know… just trying to blow it up?" Skull asked, a bit hesitant, but his instincts just screamed at him to suggest it. "I mean yeah, it's big… really big, but it's just sitting there."
"Skull, there's more energy in that thing right now than anything to ever have existed on this planet, everything combined mind you," Oracle explained, though a bit annoyed at having to do so. "I don't think I have to tell you how big an explosion it will be if you just blow it up."
"Not only that, but would we even be able to blow it up in the first place?" Fox added. "Would our attacks even do anything to it?"
"We have to try something though, right?" Vita piped up to say. "Hayate, do you have any ideas?" Vita turned, pleading her master for something, anything.
"...Hmm… Reinforce? Is there anything we can do?" Hayate asked, with equal expectations for disappointment and hope. The book remained silent, spinning every so often as if thinking. "Reinforce?"
"Quelle… the Defense Program, when it was still properly integrated… It would, as a final measure, teleport itself to a random location once the pages had been filled and it's purpose met, or if it felt our existence was in danger. With the restoration of myself, I have gained control over the teleportation spell," Reinforce explained to the group.
"As good as that sounds, I'm not sure of how much help that will be," Fate spoke her reservation. "It sounded like the spell was meant to overwrite this entire universe. I don't even think moving it between worlds will stop it from changing this one. Moving it won't change the end result."
"Actually I think it can help," Hayate said, a hand on her chin, and her eyes alight. "I think what Reinforce is trying to say is that we can try our best to attack it until it is about blow up, and then teleport it away before it does."
"If you do have full control over the teleportation spell, then that could work to mitigate the after effects of destroying it. It's on record in the TSAB databases that the range on the teleport is multiversal after all," Chrono seemed to agree. "As for how to blow it up… Commander!"
"Yes, Chrono?" Lindy appeared through comms. "I assume you are about to ask about the Arc En Ciel? If so, it is still online and ready to fire. However the resulting blast from it will still catch the city in its radius, even at your current altitude." The city was still visible below them, a fact some of the more height adverse were trying to ignore, especially given that flight was still new to about half the group.
"So what would be a good height then? To be able to safely fire the… Arc En Ciel was it?" Noir asked for the group.
"Unfortunately that would be at our height here on the Arthra, the exosphere of the planet," Lindy answered, another grimace upon her expression.
"Bad news, Quelle seems to have left one final parting gift. One more barrier has been detected around the, as she called it, Kagutsuchi. It's the strongest one yet. The Arc En Ciel could pierce it, but just like the previous barrier, there's no guarantee it would get much further beyond just destroying the barrier.," Amy reported, finally parsing through the noise of the magical mass to detect the barrier.
"Then what can we do?" Queen asked, a tired and exhausted tone in her voice. "Our best option will just end up destroying everything in the first place and only that, and unfortunately it's our only option."
"…" Joker looked on silently, not the only one to do so. He did have a trump card in hand, but he didn't know how well it would work. He looked around. Everyone else near the breaking point. They didn't want to give up, but they didn't… actually one seemed to still have a fire in her eyes.
"Lindy… is the… Kagutsuchi stuck in place?" Nanoha asked, her voice piercing through the silence loud and clear.
"...Can anyone find anything?" Lindy asked the bridge. A bustle of keys and words flew at Lindy's command. It only took a moment for an answer thanks to the Arthra's advanced sensors.
"It doesn't appear that it is completely stuck in place. It seems to mainly be floating as a means of simply existing in its current space regardless of other forces. Theoretically I guess, it could be moved," one of the other member of staff reported. "However it still seems to exert some force on it's location given its mass. You'd need a massive amount of force to get it moving."
"Could an attack spell do it?" Nanoha asked without missing a beat.
"Well… yes if it was powerful enough, assuming it was strong enough to push it but not enough to break its barrier. But where would you get that kind of power?" Nanoha already had the answer. It was all around the battlefield already.
"Everyone. I'm going to move the Kagutsuchi with Starlight Breaker. I might not be able to completely break the barrier with it, but I should be able to at least push it while weakening the barrier enough for the Arc En Ciel to finish it off.," Nanoha declared.
"Starlight Breaker uses the surrounding magic to power itself, rather than the users own reserves," Joker explained to those who hadn't yet known how Nanoha's spell worked. "With all the attacks we've been flinging around this whole time, the place is saturated to the brim with magic for Nanoha to use."
"It takes a while to charge so I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet. But with that being the only thing left, I should have enough time to charge it up!" Nanoha further explained, whilst pointing at the Kagutsuchi.
"I suppose that is our best shot, using Nanoha's attack to simultaneously push the Kagutsuchi into the exosphere and weaken its barrier, then from there the Arthra can fire the Arc En Ciel," Signum summed up their last resort.
"Well if we have a plan then what are we waiting for, let's do it!" Mona shouted for everyone to hear. A resounding cacophony of fevered shouts in agreement rang out from everyone. They didn't have time for another idea. It was either this, or nothing. "Nanoha, hurry into position!"
"Everyone else move to cover her!" Queen ordered, to which everyone who was able, escorted Nanoha to her destination, which she herself determined was directly below the blue glowing mass. Once there, everyone gave Nanoha a wide berth so as to not interfere with her.
"Alright Raising Heart… this is it," Nanoha whispered.
"Yes, Master. Preparing…" A smile crept its way on to Nanoha's face. She could do this. She had to do this. And so she began the charging sequence. A pink circle appeared beneath her feet, glowing brightly and warmly against the cold blue that had enveloped the rest of the world. Magic that had drifted wayward suddenly found itself dragged through the air. Ambient energy that was about to fly off to parts unknown began to instead move purposely towards a single point.
Although they had been told of what it was Nanoha would do, the ones who had not seen it before were still taken aback by the feeling of magic rushing through the air towards a single point before them, in front of Nanoha. The pink light started as a single little dot, but as it gathered the surrounding energy it grew and grew. Minako looked at her male counterpart who in turn also looked back at her. They had both felt the lingering dust of Minako's fusion spell fly past them. It was small, and comparatively dormant considering its origins, but it would help all the same. Narukami could also sense something similar; the remains of his own spell with Izanagi-no-Okami finding a new home within the ever growing spark of pink in front of the girl who reminded him of another, even if only superficially.
"Guys, bad news! I'm detecting something coming from the overgrown night light!" Oracle's sudden interjection broke the silence, causing all of them to turn their focus towards the Kagutsuchi. As she had said, something was happening. They couldn't discern what however, other than that the glow of light seemed to be growing from it.
"Barrier, now!" Signum ordered.
"On it!"
"Right!" Arf, Yuuno, and Zafira rushed in front of the group, setting up as strong a barrier as they could muster together. A haze of colored barriers manifested themselves, layering over each other to form a lattice of magic that would have confounded even the TSAB's best. As the final knots of magic tied themselves together to complete the barrier, a laser, the same shade of whitish blue as its source, rammed directly into it.
Audible groans of effort could be heard, or they would be had they not been drowned out by the disorienting, ear splitting screech that the laser made as it drilled against the combination barrier. Some who screamed, either from pain or panic, couldn't even hear their own voices. The all encompassing light that had consumed their sight and hearing, blinded them to the cracking of the barrier. Only Arf, Yuuno and Zafira were aware, but they were hamstrung to continue to funnel all they could into their only viable defense.
They felt their Linker Cores burn, their reserves drain as if a gaping hole had been punched in. Still, they refused to give up. They held on for as much as they could, the pressure against their barrier growing heavier and heavier. Yuuno even tried to repair what damage appeared, but it was a losing effort, cracks appearing faster than he could fix, and what did get fixed only cracked again. Arf attempted another layer, only to encounter the same problem. Zafira focused on holding what he could, attempting to push back against the assault, but he still felt him and the others being pushed back.
Despite what seemed an eternity, only a few seconds had passed, and the laser subsided. Joker, blinking the light out of his eyes, saw that only a pathetic, cracked and shattered shred was what remained of the barrier that their three Barrier masters had erected. Like throwing an immense weight off of themselves, the three who had protected them disengaged what was left of the barrier, bent over exhausted.
"We can't… take another one of those…" Yuuno said between wheezing and gasps for air, the strain on his lungs loudly making themselves known on his every word.
"That took everything… we had…" Arf added, to which Zafira followed up with a grunt and a nod of his own.
Despite the attack however, Nanoha steadfastly remained in place, still focusing on her spell, now with new mana to add to her still growing pool. "Nanoha, how much more time do you need?" Fate asked.
"Just a couple of more minutes… I want to make sure we use every last bit of mana in the air. I don't think we'll be able to succeed otherwise." Nanoha sounded on the surface confident, but she was aware how much of a tall order that was. The attack had lasted only seconds, but left the only ones who could guard her exhausted and effectively incapacitated. They didn't have the 'couple of minutes' she needed, but she had no choice other than to keep charging.
"Don't worry… if we need to we'll-"
"You won't," Fate interrupted Arf, her tone inarguable. "I will not allow you to sacrifice your life."
"Then what are we supposed to do? We don't any choice. We have to protect Nanoha until she's finished. It's either that, or everything goes. I know it's hard, but we don't have another option. We can't pierce that barrier, not without the Arc En Ciel. All we can do is defend until Nanoha is ready," Arf pleaded, her case stronger and stronger with each word, convincing more of the others, even if they didn't want it to.
"I don't like it either…" Shamal jumped into say, already administering a healing spell upon the three who had protected them. "But she's right. That barrier prevents us from directly attacking it from here. We should do our best to support them."
"That's just screwed up…" Skull said, his head dropping in frustration.
"Sometimes, that's just how it is. Not everyone can be saved…" Chrono tried his best to explain as he added his own healing spells to the mix to recover the three.
"But… That's…" Hayate's gaze passed over the group over and over, wanting to find anyone who could have another idea. Nanoha was too focused on charging the spell, everyone else seemed either resigned, or too exhausted to protest. Everyone was running near on empty, what left they could do wouldn't be of signficant help.
"Everyone, it's charging another…" Oracle was reluctant to report, but had to for everyone's sake.
"We have to do what we can…" Queen said as she grabbed her mask, her Persona appearing, casting a support spell that blessed everyone with a purple aura.
Oracle's eyes tracked the incoming readings as the started to spike higher and highers. "Okay everyone, we have to do our best to- Joker!? What are you doing!?" Before anyone could follow, Joker had already rushed forward past everyone and towards the Kagutsuchi at a curved angle.
"You can't break that barrier dumbass, get back here before you die!" Vita cried out in a shrilled panic, her eyes wide and fearful. Other's added their own sentiments, but were those voices drifted into nothing as he flew further and further.
"I'll go after-" Hayate tried to say only to be stopped by the others.
"We can't risk you getting hurt or distracted, you have to be absolutely ready to teleport it after it's hit by the Arc En Ciel." Signum told her, holding Hayate back in her arms.
"Nanoha, say something!" Hayate pleaded to the other girl, just wanting anything to happen to keep things from getting worse. Nanoha looked up at her, though still focusing on what she had to. Hayate was surprised to see Nanoha still confident, and sure.
"I know things seem scary. It's your first time in battle after all, but if there's one thing you can depend on, its Joker. He wouldn't rush in without a plan. Believe in him." Hayate was still worried, but Nanoha's words eased her heart a bit. Still she looked anxiously on as she saw a black speck fly ever closer to the giant mass of light.
As Joker flew in closer and closer, it became harder and harder to see as the light completely enveloped his vision, made worse as it charged up its own assault. He felt small next to it, and felt ever smaller as he closed in. He also felt a presence from within, though it didn't seem to pay him much attention. That was about to change.
"Olivie!" He summoned the womanly knight behind him. The Persona was already eager and ready. Yes, he was well aware of the barrier. In fact it had appeared in patches in front of him as he readied himself. That didn't matter. "Power Charge! Heat Riser!" He had Olivie cast one after the other. The light was almost at its apex, but he didn't fall into panic.
"Light's out! Olivie! Accel Smash!" Olivie did as commanded, rushing forward at such a speed that it was like she had disappeared. And then she slammed right into the barrier, unleashing a mass of energy, but her attack wasn't stopped. As if it wasn't there to begin with, the power from the strike surged on through and then disappeared into the light, only for a crashing sound to resound out, and the entire thing to recoil from the attack.
"He hit it? He hit it through the barrier!" Oracle reported. "He's totally knocked it off balance!"
"Thought so…" It was a long shot gamble, but he decided to bet everything on it. Among the passives in Olivie's repertoire, one stood out to him: Pierce. Olivie's other attacks were designed to focus on a single target, so against Quelle's army he couldn't make good use of it. He bet that not only would Pierce do as he wanted, but that there was only one target underneath the blanket of light.
Even if nothing had changed outwardly, he could feel it. Joker had the thing's attention.
"Over here ugly." Joker didn't bother to raise his voice, instead saying it under his breath. Even with his voice so low, it seemed to have heard him.
"You didn't do too much damage, but you got its attention. It seems to just automatically respond to what it thinks is the biggest threat," Oracle said after getting the readings. "If you keep it on you, and not on Nanoha, I think we got this."
"Everyone hear that?" Joker asked over comms.
"I still don't get how you did that but, got it Joker!" Panther was first to reply.
"Be careful, keep your guard up," Signum said after. "We'll do what we can to keep Nanoha safe until she's ready."
"We'll let you know when she's about done," Fate said, looking at the others who had renewed hope in the situation. She turned back to Nanoha. "How is it looking?"
"I only need about a minute left," she reported, the last of the ambient magic in the area finally gathering before her, the pink light around her near fully encompassing her being.
"Got it!" Joker responded. He returned focus towards the Kagutsuchi. "Let's dance a bit shall we?"
The light of the Kagutsuchi seemed to surge. Joker dove out of the way, his coat singed by a pillar of light that had just struck where he was not a moment ago. He had only barely dodged it, and had he not done so more than just his coat would have been damaged.
"Didn't they say to be careful you buffoon?" Crow's voice coming in clear, and biting.
"Yes, Honey," Joker's tone smarmy and lathered in acerbity. Still he knew he needed to heed Crow's warning, keeping his eyes on the enemy as best he could given that it was half blinding him. More pulses of light sent waves of pressure out all around it. Joker then dove again, dodging another laser strike The true nature of a laser was a beam of light, meaning it traveled at the speed of light, at least fast enough that any actual difference didn't matter. He had to dodge before he had time to perceive an attack; a difficult proposition. "Olivie, another!" The Persona did as requested, rushing back into the fray.
Only for smaller lasers flanked by lightning to fly towards the Persona, curving to meet her. Joker focused, making Olivie dodge the first shot. Then knocking away the second. Sidestep the third. "Counter attack now!" Olivie complied, dodging the final few lasers in a bunch and striking again.
A clean hit. The strike flew right past the barrier, and rocked the entirety of the Kagutsuchi. At least it looked like so, but-
"Joker!" He didn't hear Fate calling his name as he had been caught in one of the Kagutsuchi's lasers. He didn't notice it, literally striking him at the speed of light. It held one back until it had its opportunity. In doing so it managed to hit him when he had thought he had the advantage, then it was taken from him.
He felt the laser attempt to incinerate his body. Every neuron was firing, screaming in pain, not a single one was spared. He felt like holes were being burned in. He couldn't even hold a cogent thought. Nothing but agony as the laser continued to fry him. But he held on as best he could. Then the pain stopped.
"It's aiming straight for us again!" He heard it over comms. He struggled to move, his muscles still aching. A sharp pain ran through the fibers when he tried to put any strength into his body. But he forced it. He wrenched his eyes open to see the Kagutsuchi already charging up for another strike at his friends. It seems it had only been seconds.
The Kagutsuchi had been charging another large laser as it was fighting him, so that it could be ready when it finally hit him. He didn't have time to recover. It was like the world had slowed to a crawl. He could see Yuuno, Arf and Zafira, trying to put up a barrier, but the work was shoddy and haphazard compared to the practical fortress they had forged before. Others were bracing for impact, while Nanoha continued to charge, frustration on her face.
She couldn't do anything as she saw Joker nearly die, but she also knew he wouldn't want her to falter. There was also something that vexed her, and it was when looking at the Persona he called Olivie… something about it felt familiar, even though it shouldn't, and that confusion added to her worries, which felt as if they ran deeper than what she could perceive on the surface. She shook it off all the same though to continue doing what she needed to do. Even continuing her duty however, she was so close, but she needed just a few more seconds, time that she just didn't have.
"Move…" Joker said to himself. The pain returning at a fever pitch as he forced his hand up to his face. He was able to grab his mask. His hand stung, but he swallowed the pain down, and then threw off his mask.
"Olivie…" His voice was weak, but one could still hear a determination, a menace in his voice. He wasn't done, and his Persona agreed with him. However it was still up to him to issue the order, it was his strength his Persona drew upon, and it was up to him to give it. One breath… A second…. A third.
"Accel Smash…" Olivie flew, fast and true. Her rainbow aura seemingly overtaking the bluish white light of the Kagutsuchi if only for a little bit; a shining knight's charge. An explosion of rainbow light smashed right against the mini star looking body in their midst, rocking the mass to its core just one more time. Even with that however, it had not been deterred from firing, it turned, adjusted itself ever so slowly with its mass. It was still going to fire, but it would take a few seconds more. But that was more than what Nanoha needed left.
"STAR LIGHT BREAKER!" A skyscraper of pure, pink light instantly eruptws from such a tiny source. It plowed right into the Kagutsuchi, instantly forcing it's own attack to a halt as the force shook it to its core. The spell met resistance once it had made contact, but the force behind it continued to bash again and again against the universe changing entity. Eventually, it gave way. And it was forced higher, and higher, and higher, faster, and faster, and faster. The giant beam of pink light kept pushing and pushing until with a final sputter of magic, it flung its passenger the final length of its journey, creating a pure column of beautiful pink light that reached past the heavens.
When it had finally stopped moving, the stars were clear above it, and the Earth seemingly so far below. But the Arthra was so much closer.
"We have a visual on the target. We're locked in. Arc En Ciel fully charged and ready to fire at your discretion Commander," Amy said, the readings giving the okay on all fronts.
Lindy could see that the mass was still stirring, it was going to try something, but it would only be an attempt. "Fire the Arc En Ciel!"
Amy pressed the button to unleash the canon. "Firing!" A rainbow beam, somehow even more massive than the spell unleashed by their little prodigy from Earth, met face to face with the Kagutsuchi. It's light was completely enveloped by the attack, swallowed whole.
"Output remains steady…"
"The enemy readings are growing weaker!" Lindy heard the staff report as she kept a vigilant eye over the enemy.
"Keep it going! Use everything we can spare to power the Arc En Ciel!" Lindy ordered. "Divert from non-essentials. I want nothing of it to remain, not the smallest shred!"
"Diverting!" Amy cut off power to everything that wasn't in use, parts of the ship went dark as the beam from their weapon grew brighter.
"How beautiful…" Fox couldn't help but be enraptured by the sight. Even back on Earth, everyone was able to see the Arc En Ciel streak across the sky.
"Good thing we didn't aim it down here," Panther wistfully remarked. "How are you holding up Joker?" She asked as she finished up using a healing spell on him.
"Better, now that I'm seeing that," Joker still found a way to joke.
"Don't joke right now, you're still seriously hurt. We might have gotten the wounds fixed up, but your stamina is still drained," Shamal both reprimanded and provided an assessment.
"If anything still hurts, you have to let us know," Nanoha said, her expression telling him that she was in no room for banter. She was still holding back more, of her worries. She made a mental note to unload on him after all was said and done.
"Don't hide anything from us, you promised," Fate's words were just as heavy. Even without sharing words, Fate was doing the same as Nanoha, saving the bulk of her feelings for when the battle was over.
"I won't… Oh I think it's almost done." Joker pointed up at the sky. Those who weren't already looking up saw that the beam from the Arc En Ciel was starting to diminish, growing thinner, until it flicked out with a final bolt of lightning.
"Is it over?" Noir asked.
"Hayate get ready to-"
Signum was interrupted by communication from the Arthra. "Bad news, even after throwing all our reserves into it, we only just managed to blast away the outer layer!" Amy informed them, distress in her voice, and many other voices behind her in a scramble. "Here's the feed of what we presume to be the core!"
A live video by Arthra's cameras appeared before them, space and the stars were in the frame, as was a strange segmented, twitching white ball.
"Hold on let me check!" Oracle shouted. She returned a few seconds later. "I'm still detecting its signal. It's weakened, but it's holding itself together. I'm also detecting something else…"
"We believe that something else is the completion of whatever spell or method it will use to overwrite reality. It's using all its remaining power to finish what it started," Lindy stated. "We don't have enough energy to fire another shot with the Arc En Ciel, and we won't have enough time to gather it either." They all could easily conclude what she refrained from saying next: They were out of options.
"Even that damn spell wasn't enough!?" Vita in a furious frenzy yelled out.
"I don't think any of us have anything that could hit it from down here," Shamal let out, but almost unwillingly.
"The three of us are drained, if we weren't we might have something… but that's just not how it is," Narukami said, floating next to the SEES Fools who were looking just as forlorn.
"Reinforce?"
"We cannot reach it where we are, and multidimensional teleportation, added alongside our distance from the target, with its great cost, will consume your remaining mana. While I estimate we can destroy it with our options, it will come at the cost of losing the ability to prevent the aftermath," Reinforce told everyone. Even with her even and clinical tone, there was an undercurrent of sadness beneath it. Silence fell upon the group. Again, they turned their wheels, but unable to reach anything like a solution.
"There aren't any barriers right? Nothing to stop an attack from getting to it?" Joker asked.
"I'm not detecting anything, no," Oracle reported. "Hey wait… can you still do that?"
"Do what?" Chrono was the first to ask. "If you have a solution, you best use it now."
"I mean, if it's what I think it is… Are you sure you have enough left in the tank to do it?" Mona asked. It was clear that those among the Phantom Thieves knew what Joker was hinting at, but not anyone else.
"I do," Joker said with a nod.
"Do you know what he's talking about Reinforce?" Hayate asked while Joker was gathering himself.
"I'm afraid nothing in my database from him would indicate a powerful enough option to deal with the situation at hand. Perhaps it is among the few Personas he had not gifted us," Reinforce admitted.
"Okay everyone, brace yourselves." Joker's words caused those not in the know to stiffen and ready themselves, unsure of what was to come. Even those that did among his friends still braced themselves as told. He hadn't the time to dawdle. Looking around him, he saw that everyone else had already readied themselves. He took a deep breath, and began to gather himself, and who he truly was.
Nanoha looked on with a curious gleam in her eyes, her mind anticipating this last secret that Joker was about to reveal. Chains; that was the first thing she heard. Jangling, clinking chains had appeared bathed in the characteristic azure aura that always surrounded him when he was summoning his Persona. She then saw his mask evaporate into same colored flames on its own, Arsène appearing behind him. The clinking of the chains grew louder, more solid it seemed like. Louder and louder it grew until- Joker grabbed the chains, and pulled with a throw.
The chains then broke, snapped more like and fell to pieces before disappearing into the ether. A moment of silence barring the echo of broken chains… Right then however, a surge of power instantly flared up around Joker. She could both see it in the way the azure fire around him grew both in size and violence, becoming so bright that it looked almost white, and with her own sense for magic that was being flooded to the point of sensory overload. A scream erupted from Arsène, something demonic and inhuman, but one that she could identify as agony. The Persona threw it's gaze towards the heavens as it continued to yell, as it was burned away by the azure aura around it, as its body was disintegrated and in its place a single shining light. A light that blew out.
"Huh?" Nanoha let out. That couldn't be it could it? She looked all around her. She could feel something, something big, but she couldn't see it. She could catch glimpses of the others as she whipped her head around, also trying to figure out what had happened. Only the Phantom Thieves were calm, their gaze ever forward.
Finally she felt it. That big something had finally fully manifested itself; behind her. She slowly turned around not knowing what she was about to see. Massive. Truly massive. It was a Persona the size of a building; a skyscraper. It was a Demon Lord. That's what she thought of when she saw it. Bat wings, horns, a black halo above its head made of wings, and yet a majestic military regalia adorning its body. And in one of its hands was a gun.
"Pillage them, Satanael." To those hearing it for the first time, the name felt truly fitting.
"From that time…" Nanoha heard Fate whisper. "When he grabbed the Jewel Seed." That's what it reminded her of. When she first saw Joker grab the Jewel Seed, the first time she saw something so powerful, and first glimpsed what was beneath the surface. This Persona was what was hidden in the tower flames she saw that day.
"We don't have that one do we?" Hayate asked Reinforce in a daze.
"No, this one is not in the records," Reinforce answered without decoration. "However your reading records from the library state that Satanael is a Fallen Archangel, The second son of god. He rebelled for freedom, bestowing free will and chaos upon Humanity."
"Holy cow that's big…"
"This power…" Arf and Yuuno let out in a similar feeling of amazement. "All this time…"
"I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing this guy," Skull's voice rang out from the other side of the group. The other thieves we of a similar disposition, of comfort and nostalgia.
The staff of the Arthra was in a tizzy of its own. "I'm detecting a massive spike of energy in the upper atmosphere. It's massive, but… It's another Persona?" Precia's instruments were able provide the distinction.
"It's huge, titanic…" another staff member said as it came up on the live feed. "The readings are off the charts. That's like the third time today alongside those other… Fools they call themslves?"
"… I think I need to have another talk with him…" Lindy said to herself as she watched the giant devil begin to move.
In the back Lindy could hear the old Admiral whisper to himself. "Both devil and saint… how fitting." Lindy didn't know just to whom he was addressing, but at least it didn't seem for the worse.
Back above the Earth, the huge Persona moved it's arm up, raising its rifle high into the sky. Though it was but a small whitish blue dot where they were.
"You're going to shoot it from here?" Fate asked Joker, his own gun raised to the sky in the exact same manner.
Without turning to face her he said without a shred of doubt in his voice, "I won't miss." Fate didn't ask any further. If he said so, she'd trust it.
"Make sure to hit it where it hurts then," she said with a soft smile back at him.
Joker gave Fate a final nod back as he focused all he could into one more attack. Those around him saw lights flicker into existence, soft and warm, flowing right into him, and coalescing in to his gun. A snap of the energy around him punctuated the final bits of magic falling into place. The gun was loaded.
"The only world we need, is this one…" Joker said to the ever so distant light in the sky, his eye fully locked in on it. "Begone!"
A thunderous, tumultuous, ear splitting explosion boomed from the barrel of the massive building sized rifle. It had sent waves of air pressure indiscriminately outwards towards all that were around it. It's volume only matched by the bright light that had shot out of the rifle, now puncturing the sky, and barreling straight and true towards its target.
From below, they could only watch as the shot grew smaller and smaller as it flew further away, until it was but a shining dot. However they could still see it as it grew closer to another, it's final destination. And then the two touched. From where they were standing it seemed so gentle as the two met, and then disappeared together.
From the Arthra, it was a violent, vicious affair. The bright as the sun shot screamed as it flew by, somehow creating a noise within the vacuum of space beyond what physical law should allow, as if rebelling even against that. Without mercy, they saw the bullet fly right into, and then right through the core of the Kagutsuchi that remained. It was as if it had shot through hot butter, no resistance could be seen by the staff onboard. Even before they could realize that it had flown by, the bullet had already long since flown out into space, never to be seen again. Only the scattered remnants of the Kagutsuchi core, with a newly adorned massive perforation whose radius was half its size remained, and then it began to glow.
It glowed so bright that it could be seen on Earth. "Hayate! Reinforce!" Joker said as he saw the light that had disappeared suddenly reappear. "It's going critical!"
"Reinforce, it's our turn!" Hayate said, raising her staff up to the sky.
Without missing a beat, Reinforce had already begun the teleportation spell right as Joker called to them. "Beginning transference sequence. Target identified. Target locked on, Selecting destination…"
"Anywhere but here! Somewhere empty!" Hayate said, wanting to speed the process along.
"Understood, selecting confirmed empty dimension. Suitable location found." As Reinforce went through the process, the light in the sky grew brighter and brighter, becoming almost like a second sun in sky. "Transfering in 3… 2… 1… Transfer."
Just when they though it couldn't get any brighter, they heard magic stirring, and could see the outlines of magic circles even as their vision was consumed by light. And then a sudden pulse of magic that let out a wistful sound echoed out, and the light was gone.
The sky that had become bathed in that harsh bluish white light had returned to the rust red it was before, before that too flicked off and on, off and on, and then finally off. Below them the city had returned to normal. Pools of blood had disappeared, bone structures, strange growths, all gone.
They'd won.
-0-0-31-0-0-
They stood upon a hill outside the city, everyone was exhausted, but still had the energy to banter a bit in celebration. Of course all good things had to come to an end.
"Looks like our time is up…" Yuki said, as he first felt, and then saw himself begin to dissipate. The same things were happening to his female counterpart, and Narukami.
"It was nice to be able to move around again while it lasted," Minako said with a sad smile. "But oh well, without Quelle, it's not like we were long for this world anyways."
"Uh sure… I guess," Panther and the rest didn't know why the two sounded like they knew something that they didn't. Well of course they did, but Panther couldn't guess what, nor did they have the time to ask. "We'll try to find the three of you when we can. Maybe even meet those other Persona users proper."
"I don't see why not, we should be around. I mean Rise is probably easy to spot at least. She'll be able to lead you to the rest of us. I guess you could also try Kanamin Kitchen if you at least mention Personas," Narukami's body was already mostly faded out, though he still scratched the back of his head as he spoke.
"Wait Kanamin is also a Persona user!?" Oracle cried out in surprise.
"Well not really, but she did get involved with an incident once so you might be able to meet us through her," Narukami explained, a bit taken aback by Oracle's sudden enthusiasm.
"That might be harder for the two of us, but I don't see why you guys shouldn't try."
"Well if you're going to try and meet up with us, I think you should start with whatever Mitsuru-senpai is doing these days. She should be easy to get a hold of if you mention us… though I don't know which you should mention. Just try both our names," Minako and Yuki said, their words still somewhat cryptic, but the lead was still useful all the same.
"Sure, we'll figure out whatever mystery you two have going on when we meet proper," Oracle's cheeky tone, matching the feelings of the other thieves.
"Now now, I'm sure they have their reasons. We're looking forward to seeing you three proper. Until then…" Queen said, waving goodbye to the three, alongside the other Theives.
"It was nice meeting you as well," Nanoha bowed as she said so.
"Yes, it was nice to meet Joker's senpais," Fate followed Nanoha's lead.
More goodbyes were said by the others in a blend of voices and sounds. They were thankful for the help these copies of the fools gave, and wanted them to know. Goodbyes were not knew to them, but still, the Fools as, the last of their existence gave out, felt more happy than sad.
"Bye."
"Bye Bye!"
"Take care of yourselves," Yuki, Minako, and Narukami said as they one by one disappeared into glowing motes of light, and then into the sky. And with them gone, it truly felt like it was over. The last of Quelle's influence on the world finally laid to rest.
"I really do hope to meet the real ones someday," Nanoha said as she her gaze lingered on where she last saw the lights.
"I do too," Joker echoed the sentiment, his eyes locked on the same.
"Hey look! It's snow!" Vita pointed to the sky. Like a parting gift from the three, white began to flit, flutter, and dance down from the dark, cloudy, night sky; A Christmas Snow.
Yes, now it felt like it was over.
Then Joker heard someone walk up to his side.
"Thank you, by the way…" Crow suddenly told him as they watched the snow fall from the dark gray clouds above.
"Hmm?" Joker looked at Crow, a bit confused. The others also looked at the young man, unsure of what he was referring to.
"For changing Shido's heart. You kept your promise…"
"Ah…" was all Joker replied with, leaving the rest of them in the dark. It was clear to those not in the know that it was something personal between the two of them. Despite the word of thanks, and the passing of the danger, something about the air that put Nanoha on edge as she watched the two of them, Joker and Crow, side by side. Looking next to her, she could see that Fate and the others also felt the same.
It was after all, not every day a person stands next to someone they couldn't save.
"Rag, How much longer until this spell passes?" Crow suddenly asked.
"Hey why are you callin-"
"Vita…" Reinforce stopped the knight from exploding any further before turning back towards Crow. "The Metaverse Induction spell will last only about an hour more at best. Afterwards, you will also disappear." A look of dull surprise fell upon most of the others. In a way it was to be expected, but it still stung to hear, a small bit.
"Ah… right, you're like the other fools," Mona was first to respond, though he sported a melancholic look on his face. "The source of your existence was kind of the same, the Defense Program when it was still part of Reinforce, now that it's gone…"
"That's fine with me," Crow said. "It gives me just enough time for one last bit of unfinished business." A clicking sound was all Joker heard before he looked to the side, only to find himself at the end of a gun barrel.
Author's Note:
One more chapter, and then we're moving on, I promise. I've already got plans laid out for after, so just hold on for a little while longer if you're tired of this. I hope you aren't, but I'm not ruling out that possibility. I just need to pay off things I was hinting at earlier, and then this arc is done.
The plan after this is to go into Royal Third Semester, and the Nanoha Strikers, which will be a time skip. I'll ask later on what to do with P5S, but I have ideas, possibly Omake ends to the Nanoha Strikers Chapters of glimpses of what happened with Nanoha's time with P5S, just highlights of characters meeting and fun moments.
Also yes, SMTIII Nocturne would take advange of my innate gullibilty, why do you ask?
Anyways that's for later. For now I hope you enjoyed yourselves. As usual, comments and reviews are always nice to see. I like reading what you guys have to say, even if it's to call me names, makes me better equipped to handle that. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care.