WAY OF TAKAMACHI

Captain Mondial is crouched on the roof of his armored vehicle running at top speed. He looks ahead; Caledfwlch factory complex is on the horizon. To his far-right, he can see the first element of Punchkid Battalion, driving at top speed in an assault formation. Behind him is his company, and then the rest of Anvil spread out.

A soldier pushes his head out the top hatch.

"Captain, I know this is a glorious moment and all, but I really think you should get in. It's dangerous riding-"

A huge shadow looms over the running vehicle. The young Captain and the soldier look up to find Friedrich the dragon coming lower. Almost on top of the vehicle, Captain Ru Lusche climbs down to Friedrich's belly. Hanging upside down on the harness strap with her legs, her head comes right next to captain Mondial's.

"Hey, Erio!" Caro, upside down, greets with a smile, her hair flapping in the wind.

"Hey, Caro."

"You be careful, OK? Don't get hurt!"

Erio nods with a smile. Caro quickly grabs his head and kisses him on the cheek.

"And get back inside! It's dangerous riding like that!"

And then Friedrich ascends with his lady master climbing back on the mount. Her drag-reducing ribbon passes before the young man's eyes. Erio extends his hand to feel it smoothly running over his fingers. The flight mages of 2nd Squadron dip low alongside the vehicle, cheering and hooting for the young Captain before following their leader up back to the sky, trailing their long ribbon tails.

The soldier at the top hatch enthusiastically waves at the flight mages.

"Woohoo!"

"Move over. I'm getting in." Says Erio, blushing.

.

Getting into the vehicle through the top hatch, he looks ahead once more. A group of the invaders is flying out to meet Midchilda's 2nd Squadron. He sees the Vaizen Air wing making a wide arc to the far left, on a dive course to hit the enemy flight from that side. The sky erupts in colorful flames and explosions as he closes the hatch.

The soldiers inside the vehicle watch the ensuing air battle through the carrier's reinforced windows.

"You must be pretty crazy to willingly fly into that apocalypse." The driver shouts over the noise, shaking his head.

A ranged magic attack lands next to the running vehicle, spraying dirt and shaking it up pretty bad. Seconds later, the entire field around Erio's armored carrier explodes as more attacks come this way. The mounted weapon starts firing into the distance; VTOOM! VTOOM! VTOOM! With a loud bang, the vehicle buckles as its armor deflects a direct hit by javelin magic.

Another soldier taps on the driver's shoulder, grinning.

"Aren't we all?"

#

.

A young lad shuffles in his seat inside a cafe located just outside the Cranagan university campus. He nervously fidgets with the coffee mug in his hands, trying to think of something to get the conversation going. An equally young lady sits across the small round table; in her early twenties max, long blond hair in a ponytail. But the most striking feature of her is the captivating odd eyes, which currently smile in anticipation as she knows he is trying.

It took the lad great courage to ask her out for a 'Hey, let's go grab a coffee or something sometime.'

"So, erm… that was pretty boring, eh?" He tries, referring to the lecture they just came out from.

"Dunno." The lady shrugs. "I find it interesting, but the coursework is a bit too much."

"Yeah." The awkward lad nods. "Have you done the assignment yet?"

"Haha. No." She laughs playfully. "Moms are away, so I'm milking every drop of fun while I can." Says the odd eyed lady. "Guess I do it at the last minute."

'Moms.' The lad notes but does not press for an elaboration. He smiles awkwardly as he tries something else to talk about. His eyes wander around the cafe, which is, to his surprise, rather empty for the hour of the day except for three other solo customers, two men and a woman, all sitting alone minding their own business. Come to think of it, they weren't here when he and the young woman walked into the cafe, and he doesn't remember seeing them coming in. They just appeared out of thin air… The lad shakes his head. 'That's not important.'

"So, erm-"

He trails off as he catches her eyes glaring at the cafe's door. He turns his head to see a Ground Armament Service officer who has entered the cafe. The officer makes his way straight to the lad's table but is stopped by the well-built man getting in the way, one of the three lone customers who up to now has been minding his own business.

"Strategic Arms Security Force." The captain flashes his ID. "Can I see your identification, please?"

"Sure." The soldier flashes his own ID.

To the lad's confusion, the two other customers walk up to the soldiers and join the conversation.

"What's up, captain?" The female patron asks. The captain shrugs.

"Capital Defense. ID checks out."

"Hey what brings Capital Defense to her?" Says the other male customer. He flashes his Executive Office badge.

"OK, so, you are Strategic Arms." The officer points at the captain who nods. "Executive Office." He points at the Enforcer who also nods. "Who are you?" He points at the female customer.

"Saint Church." The woman greets with a slight nod.

"Ah, OK. Makes sense." The GAS officer nods. Then to the lad's surprise, he points at the young man.

"And you?"

"Nah~ He's just some kid from the same course." The Enforcer waves it off. "He's OK. All records are clear."

The lad is baffled. He tries to say something, but the lady across the table snaps.

"You checked him out?"

The three cafe customers shrug in unison. Yes, of course, they checked him out.

"Remember the time you were almost kidnapped?" Says the Enforcer.

"You guys keep telling me that, but I don't even remember it ever happening!" The odd-eyed lady protests in a frustrated tone.

"That's because Lanster got them way before they had the chance to." Says the Enforcer with a hint of pride in his voice.

The young lady buries her head in her hands.

"Guys, it's bad enough you are ruining my date." She then quickly turns to the lad. "I mean… this is a date, right?"

"Erm…" The confused lad searches for the right words, but the girl he has a crush on has moved on to the army officer.

"What do you want from me?" She demands, visibly irritated.

.

A couple of hours later in Vaizen, Hayate is busy with the war. From time to time she glances at the corner where her friend Nanoha sits on a stool in front of a holo-display showing the battle status in the air, hunched over, head buried in her hands, listening to the comms.

Hayate sighs and steps out of the hangar for a quick cigarette break. As she lights one up, Reinforce floats out.

"Just got a call from Midchilda. She has accepted your request. They are having everyone sign their waiver at the moment."

"What's taking it so long?" Hayate asks. Then she realizes something. "Wait a second. Everyone?"

"She's going to have quite a big entourage." Reinforce shrugs. The Saint Church insists on their own bodyguards. A team of Strategic Arms escort is also tagging along as the lady in question is a person of secondary interest. On top of that Executive Office also doesn't want anything to happen to their Boss's girl.

"Jeez, so we have a whole army coming in? Even I don't get that many security details assigned on me." Hayate whistles, but she understands. Many years ago, Teana uncovered an eschatologist cult conspiring to blackmail Nanoha and Fate into ending the multiverse. To their credit, they had identified and targeted the right kid. What they didn't know was that they were messing with wrong monsters; the poor souls got nowhere near their intended target. After the incident Saint Church went full paranoid, Executive Office went berserk, and the Strategic Arms added the kid to their list as a person of interest. So, naturally, she coming to Vaizen is sure to make many people and organizations uncomfortable.

"It's a warzone, after all." Says Reinforce, fidgeting.

"Come on, spill it out."

"I'm also assigning our own security team on her. After all, she's a high-value civilian coming into YOUR warzone on YOUR request-"

Reinforce is interrupted by a loud cheer coming out from the hangar. An officer runs out and salutes.

"Madam, report from Rapid Response. Caledfwlch is back in our hands."

#

.

It is early evening in the first town east of Caledfwlch factory. The girls are in a panic as badly beaten sisters from the factory trickle into the town. A senior Alicia clone grabs a limping girl passing by.

"What happened?"

"They are coming!"

"What? How?" The senior girl is confused. Up to now, they have been steadily advancing west. 'All of a sudden we are being pushed back?'

"I don't know!" The limping girl cries in defeat. She couldn't comprehend what happened. One minute the girl was sending her javelins at a group of fast approaching soldiers. She ducked down only for a couple of seconds and when she raised her head back up another group of soldiers were on top of her.

The senior clone lets the girl go. She rises up in the air to have a better look. On the horizon are tiny specs of the Bureau's armored vehicles coming this way. Above the dust clouds, she could make out the beast flapping its wings. She gets back on the ground and calls for sisters.

"We can't fight here full of injured sisters. Everyone helps them. We are moving the injured to the Portal first!"

The girls bring out the injured from the houses and gather outside the town. It's a large progression. As they set to move, a group of sisters comes running from the next town further in the east.

"Have you come to help?" The senior clone girl asks.

"What? No!" The leader of the group from the east answers back, confused. "I came to ask for help. We are under attack!" Then she realizes the sisters are on the move.

"You were running away? Why?"

The senior girl gestures to the west.

"They are coming. Help us move the injured sisters back to the portal."

"Didn't you hear what I said? The Bureau soldiers are in the way. We are cut off!"

The senior sister is furious and stomps her feet on the ground.

"Then call for help from the girls at the portal!"

.

There are many Alicia Clones dug in on the battle-worn hill, facing inland with worried eyes as the distant town on the horizon to their west is under attack.

A Senior Alicia clone is shouting angrily to a set of magically shaped ears floating in front of her.

"We can't leave this place! We have soldiers in front of us and to the south!"

She looks to the south. There are tiny specs of Bureau vehicles. Not really doing anything but imposing.

A magically shaped mouth, floating below the ears, lets out a sound.

"What do you mean there are soldiers to your south?"

"I don't know when or how they got here, but they are here, and they are many!" She shouts into the magical ears. "YOU come back and help US defend the portal!"

.

The girls in the town nearest to Caledfwlch factory are in shock hearing there are Bureau soldiers so deep behind their back. The sisters in the next town are under attack, and the girls on the hill and the portal cannot come to help. They are baffled how it came to this.

"We are cut off and no help is coming." The senior clone concludes.

"What do we do?" Asks her peer from the next town.

The former thinks for a bit. She rises up in the air to check on the incoming threat from that Caled-whatever place. With a determined face underneath her mask, she lands down.

"The ones attacking your town. Do they have any flying soldiers?"

"Hmm… No. They don't."

"Alright." The senior Alicia clone addresses her sisters gathered around. "We clearly are not going to break through on foot. But I'm certain great many of them cannot fly." She gestures to other senior sisters.

"Take the injured ones and fly over the Bureau soldiers. Settle them down at the Portal and then help the sisters there defending it."

Her peers nod in agreement. That could work. They will be giving hard-earned grounds, but on the other hand, they will be preserving and consolidating their strength.

The senior Alicia clone calls for volunteers. She needs some girls to go attack the Terminal with her.

"Wait, wait. What are you doing?" Another senior clone stops her.

"They attacked the portal to draw us off the hill, remember? I'm going to try the same by attacking the Terminal."

An injured girl with a singed mask and overall has been listening in silence, but now she panics with horror-filled eyes.

"No, sister! You can't fly there!" She's flailing her arms. "I've been there, and I've been telling again and again-"

"What other choices do we have?" The senior girl gently pats the panicking sister on the head. "You worry about getting to safety."

"But-"

Before the worried girl can finish her sentence, the senior sister is already in the air. A hundred or so girls follow.

.

As the rest of the girls help the wounded and ready themselves to take off, the senior Alicia clone from the next town spots a tall sister dragging the prisoner woman with one hand and the other carrying puppy Zafira.

"Wait. What are you doing?"

Fate shrugs.

"I'm taking her to the gate- I mean the portal. She's one of them so maybe they won't attack when they see her?"

With that Fate puts Zafira in Teana's arms. Carrying her Enforcer colleague princess-style, Fate takes off along with other girls. She wobbles in the air a bit.

"God, you are heavy, Teana." Fate grunts.

#

.

An officer manning the sensor looks up from his console.

"Commander, we have airborne passing south of Rapid Response. They seem to head this way."

Hayate clicks her tongue.

"Smart of them… not flying over Signum."

Reinforce relays the comm from the flight mages.

"The flight mages are requesting permission to intercept. Do you-"

"No. Tell them to stay on the mission." Hayate shakes her head, then flashes a smile to her trusted little friend.

"Alright." Reinforce shrugs. "I'll deal with it."

.

With a tiny mug of coffee in her hand Reinforce settles down in front of a console. Channeling her magic, she plugs herself into a console socket and gains control over the remotely operated anti-air guns protecting the Terminal.

"Wow, I'm getting a whole lot better latency than doing it from Midchilda."

"I don't understand what you are saying." Says Hayate.

"It means there is less delay…" Reinforce explains, preparing dozens of holo-displays linked to the guns. "Not that it mattered greatly."

.

The sun has begun to set. Flying in the air, the senior Alicia clone and her sisters spot the Terminal complex on the horizon. Unbeknownst to them, they are being tracked by several dozen anti-air guns located around the Terminal.

.

In the Joint Task Force HQ, Reinforce tilts her tiny head slightly.

.

The senior girl leading the group is shocked and disoriented when something blows her barrier off in one go. She instinctively ascends at top speed. Upon reaching a sufficiently high altitude she turns around to check on her sisters. About half of the girls have simply vanished. The rest of the sisters have followed her to the high altitude, confused and shaken.

The senior clone looks around in search of the enemy. She sees none.

"What? How?"

.

Reinforce takes a sip of her sugar-saturated coffee. She extends her index finger from the hand that is holding the mug.

"Bang!"

.

The girls just explode in the air. Despite their frantic search, they can't see who or what is shooting them. Once the smoke clears, the senior girl notes about thirty girls have survived. They keep moving towards the Terminal, but they are disoriented, in shock, and are left with depleted barriers. The leading senior clone grits her teeth. Her goal is to attack the Terminal and distract the Bureau soldiers from going after the sisters fleeing to the portal. If she cannot even reach the Terminal… At this rate… She shakes her head to focus. She has no choice. There is no turning back now.

"Keep going! To the Terminal!"

She dives. The remaining girls quickly regain their composure and follow her. They fly fast, screaming in anger.

Another volley of explosions fills the air. When the smoke clears there are no more clone girls left in the sky.

.

Reinforce unplugs herself from the console. She returns to her regular duty as if nothing significant has happened.

#

.

It's late evening, but the sky isn't dark as the low hung clouds reflect the sporadic flashes of explosions happening in and around the town located far west of the troubled hill. The Vaizen Task Force division has surrounded the area and is assaulting.

The recently appointed commander of this ad-hoc division is pleased. Normally he would not be very happy placing himself between two large groups of enemy front and back. But Capital Defense's 2nd division is posing threat to the Staging Dock area from the south, preventing the enemy from venturing out.

The division commander monitors the feeds from his unit commanders. The defense outside the town has collapsed, and he has given the orders for his soldiers to move into the streets.

"Looks like we will clear this place before Rapid Response arrives." He comments.

As if on cue, a large group of flying clones suddenly appear over the town.

"What the…"

The flying clones ignore the battle happening below and keep flying seaside. The Vaizen division's anti-air guns swivel around, targeting the girls. Curious, the division commander zooms in onto the flying clones using optics magic.

"Shit… Don't shoot! Don't shoot! They are transporting their wounded!"

He waits some seconds, then lets out a sigh of relief as he hears no anti-air guns firing. Yes, the war is a cruel beast, but the general won't stoop so low as to shoot at flying ambulances.

.

The Alicia Clones left in the town rise up into the air helping and carrying their own wounded. They quickly fly towards the seaside, catching up with the previous group.

.

"Are they running away?" An HQ staff muses.

"More like flying away." The division's commanding officer states the fact. "Report to Princess. The enemy has abandoned the middle town. Path is all clear up to the last hill."

The staff officer acknowledges and turns around to his console. The man mutters to himself.

"So, she's now our Princess, too?"

.

Hayate is stomping around.

"Grrrr!"

"What's wrong? We got the path cleared." Reinforce tries to calm the Princess down.

"We assumed they'd fight to death or surrender. Not just up and fly away over the blockade." Hayate flails her arms in frustration. Now there will be a whole lot more enemy at the Staging Dock than she expected.

"Nothing ever goes as I want." Hayate sighs.

.

As the large group of the fleeing clone girls passes over the hill, the senior clone girl from the town in the west lands. She locates a peer and grabs by the lapels.

"You abandoned us!"

"We couldn't leave this place!" The accused girl protests. She points southward. "Look for yourself!"

Capital Defense's 2nd division has finally started moving and is closing on the hill from the far south. The two senior clones turn to the inland. Vaizen Task Force division is maneuvering to the north of the hill, but in the distance, although it's dark, they could see another group of enemy heading straight this way.

The clone sisters do not need to discuss the implication. They are going to be surrounded.

.

Hayate is glaring at the large holo-map in front of her. She angrily taps on the hill some kilometers before the Staging Dock.

"We could try going around and hit the Staging from either north or south?" Reinforce suggests.

Hayate shakes her head. She can't ignore the hill swarming with the enemy. The small town in between the hill and the Dock is also a problem.

"Really… who gave up on this vital position?" She mutters. Hayate turns around to see Reinforce's baffled face.

"But it was you-"

"I was just joking! OK?!"

#

.

The red ribbon girl walks into the throne room after returning from the portal. She had made a call to her sisters on the other side and learned of the disastrous news.

She finds her mother dozing off, with the datapad on her lap, slumped in her throne. 'Good. She's been reading.' The clone girl notes. She also notices the flower laying on the small table next to the throne and feels quite sorry for what she is about to do to her mother's dream.

She gestures for the sisters in the room to leave. When the girls are gone, she lets out a dry cough. This wakes up Precia Testarossa. The mother recognizes the ribbon.

"What's this? I thought you went back to Vaizen?"

"Mother, I came to deliver disappointing news."

Precia Testarossa sits up in her throne.

"We've suffered a crushing defeat." Red Ribbon reports, relaying the news she has heard from the girls in Vaizen. "The Bureau soldiers are closing on the portal."

Testarossa is visibly shocked.

"How? We were this close to the Terminal!"

"We lost all the grounds we had previously gained."

Her mother's jaw drops.

"In a single day?"

The red ribbon girl nods. She winces as her enraged mother pounces on the throne's armrest.

"Fight them off!"

Precia Testarossa abruptly stops as she catches the clone girl's eyes on the datapad.

"Leave. Go fight in Vaizen." She throws the datapad onto the small table. It lands with a clang next to the fake flower. "I don't care if you die. Get. Me. To. The. Terminal! Now leave!"

Red Ribbon bows and walks out of the throne room without saying a word.

#

.

Operation Trigger's advance has come to a screeching halt at the foot of the troubled hill. The clone army has formed an elongated defensive perimeter encompassing the hill, the small town, and the Staging Dock. From three sides the Bureau soldiers are throwing everything they have barring orbital bombardments, yet the clone invaders are firmly holding their positions.

Eyes bloodshot, Signum yawns and checks the time. It's about midnight. The battle in the east has been going on for hours yet the progress has been way to slow much to her frustration.

Vita's angry voice ringing in the division's communication magic catches Signum's attention.

"Fuck you, Subaru! They are using the holes and trenches you dug!"

"Hey, you dug holes, too!" Subaru's voice protests.

"On the other side! Not this slope!"

Signum yawns again. It's only been some weeks but feels like the humiliating defeat on the cursed hill happened years ago. She can't remember the last time she slept. She knows she did get some bits and pieces of sleep every now and then, but those clearly are not enough. Signum doesn't even know anymore what she is pumping into her body in order to keep herself awake. Caffeine tablets, coffee, black tea, green tea, sugar lumps, whatever. If it looks like it's going to keep her from falling asleep unconscious she'd chuck it down her throat. 'It's remarkable you are not shaking like mad.' Agito once observed.

Ginga's annoyed voice in the comm channel startles Signum.

"Who the fuck built those bunkers?!"

"Subaru!" Vita is screaming. 'She's probably frothing in her mouth, too.' Signum chuckles to herself.

"Why is it always my fault?!"

"Why the hell did you build bunkers on this side?!" Vita yells at Subaru. "When did you even find the time-"

"Ladies, my question is;" Ginga interrupts Vita's rage-filled bitching. "How the fuck did you guys even lose this fortress of a hill?"

"Shut up!" Vita and Subaru for once unite against Ginga.

Signum stops Agito from getting on the officer's comm.

"But this is getting out of hand." Agito protests, wanting to tell the field officers to shut the hell up.

"It's what keeps them going." Signum smiles wearily. "Leave them be."

#

.

Red Ribbon walks into the throne room yet again to find Precia Testarossa pacing around.

"What's happening? Have we pushed them back?" The mother demands impatiently. "Talk to me!"

"The girls are holding the ground bravely. The Portal is safe. For now." The red ribbon girl reports.

The old mother throws a glance at the datapad. She forces her eyes off of it and starts to pace around again.

"Send more girls! I need that Terminal! Send everyone!"

The senior clone bows and walks out of the room. Her sisters come up to her with questions.

"What does she say? What do we do?"

Red Ribbon doesn't answer immediately. She is deciding.

"What does mother say?" The sisters urge her.

"Nothing." Red Ribbon has made her mind up. "She said nothing. Mother… wants to be alone." She chokes a bit. "Let's just have faith in the sisters fighting in Vaizen."

The girls grumble and walk away. When she's finally alone, the senior Alicia clone collapses on the floor on all her fours, silently weeping. Lying is much harder and painful than she has expected.

.

Testarossa paces around alone in the room, fuming, but she abruptly stops. She realizes she has to keep her head cool. She takes a few deep breaths and sits down on her throne, thinking.

The Bureau is pushing back her girls. That means they have scrambled a large enough force and are throwing it against the clones, which in turn means once she shatters them the path to her goal would be pretty much clear all the way. Sending more girls is the right course of action, she concludes. Now, she has to let the girls do their job for she the old herself is not any better than her own creation when it comes to face-to-face brawling. She has to rely on the Alicia clones she oh so abhors.

Precia finds herself eying the datapad on the small table. She takes it and starts to read again.

As much as she hates to admit, Scaglietti is a genius. He approached the problem from a completely out-of-box angle and the result is… it really seems feasible. Further studying the memos and internal communication, it seems Caledfwlch commissioned a couple of outside researchers to review Scaglietti's work. Under non-disclosure terms spanning a lifetime, of course. She has never heard of the peer reviewers, Dr. Fuch and Dr. Lonster, but what they wrote are sensible. 'Must be of the new generation kids.' Testarossa assumes. Scaglietti is right, both Fuch and Lonster agree, but he's only theoretically right because there is no way anyone would be able to secure the required power input; hence practically impossible to verify.

'Ha!' Precia scoffs. These kids don't have what she has. They probably don't even know there exists such magical power.

It doesn't surprise her that Caledfwlch has kept this a secret. The internal memos make it clear that the management was afraid the prospect of dead soldiers coming back to life would cut into their combat droid business. The plan was to hold it for a long time. Only when they have milked the last drop of money from the droid business they would then announce the revival technique as a basis to secure the Bureau's funding to back their research in the required magic power input. That would secure decades of funding for the company.

'Typical corporate pigs.' Dr. Testarossa is bitter. In this regard, she is puzzled why someone like Scaglietti would work for Caledfwlch. But then again, she hasn't been in touch with the rest of the multiverse for over four decades…

She resumes reading.

'This could work.'

She starts to take memos; taking apart every bit and piece of the revival procedure Scaglietti has proposed, checking the logic and validating the calculations. Good thing the girls left me alone, she mutters to herself. 'Otherwise, they would think I'm actually going to do this.' Not that she cares what they think.

#

.

Fate is standing on large debris flown out of Helios, watching the battle going on around the town outside the Staging Dock and on the hill beyond the town. The mixed sound of explosions and battle cries and magical discharges and painful screams rumble over the plain under the midnight sky where tiny dots of living breathing people zigzag across trying to kill each other.

'If I gather them in one place and put up a barrier…' Fate wonders. She could at least keep the sisters safe for a short while. But on the other hand, the risk is too big. 'If my barrier cracks, everyone would die…' And she is sure she cannot tank the might of Capital Defense's firepower for long.

She wants to go, but forces herself to stay, glancing down at Teana sleeping on the dirty ground.

"You need to be with her when the shits hit the fan." Says Zafira.

"I know!"

Fate throws her eyes back to the battle outside. The midnight sky is eerily illuminated by flickering lights of explosions and deadly magic flying around. Suddenly, over the rumbling sounds of the battle, a bloodcurdling beastly roar rolls across the plain.

.

"Friedrich!"

Caro puts a hand down on the dragon's head to calm him down. He is in pain.

"He's hurt! He's hurt!" Bug Boy screams over the comm. He flies under Friedrich to check and is promptly sprayed with thick blood.

"He's bleeding bad! Fuck!"

Captain Ru Lusche hugs the hurt dragon, ascending straight up against the moon. She lays her head against the dragon's back to feel the large heart thumping.

"You've done well, Friedrich." Caro whispers. "It's time for you to rest."

The dragon lets out another roar in protest.

"Shhh… It's alright. I will see you later."

Caro jumps off Friedrich, and the dragon disappears immediately. The sight of Captain Ru Lusche free-falling horrifies the Vaizen flight mages. Bug Boy desperately tries to catch the falling lady. He grimaces at the sound of a loud cheer coming up from the ground. The Alicia clones are celebrating the defeat of the mighty dragon.

A dark mist forms around falling Captain Ru Lusche. The sight of her petite body is briefly blocked by a cloud, but when she reappears, she is riding on the back of a pitch-black monster triple the size of Friedrich. She ascends again and stabilizes with the moon on her back; the monster flapping its impossibly massive wings.

"What the fuck…" Bug Boy cannot believe what he sees.

The monster lets out a roar even more frightening than Friedrich's, the sheer volume of the sound shakes the air and rumbles over the ground. Then from its mouth, shoulders, and the chest, beams of white-hot flames shoot out so suddenly, incinerating everything in the paths.

.

The girls on the hill feel the intense heat from the death ray passing over their heads. They panic and some even try to run away.

"Hold the ground! Don't run!"

The senior clones are desperately trying to rally the sisters. Yes, that's one big scary monster. But they've dealt with the other one just now.

"Don't be afraid! It's only a monster!" A senior girl shouts. "Don't fear that thing. We fight here!" She raises her glowing beam blade high, and the girls stop running. Several other senior clones join the sister.

"For Alicia!"

The group of elder girls rockets into the air, screaming on top of their lungs. With determined battle cries their sisters follow them into the air. Soon the sky is filled with a massive swarm of clone sisters, heading straight to the newly appeared apocalyptic beast.

.

Hayate paces around in the hangar. The Vaizen division and her 2nd division are pressing the small town from both north and south, but the enemy's mutually supportive defense running through the town from the Staging Dock to the problematic hill is strong. The girls have succeeded in consolidating their numbers in the area and the clones on the high ground are raining deaths down on the field despite themselves being assaulted by Signum's Rapid Response. Overall, their resistance is heavier than Hayate has anticipated.

Hayate has noted Caro resorting to pulling out Voltaire the Black Fire dragon. She is not the expert in the field of aerial combat, but as far as she knows Voltaire is more of a siege platform, not a nimble air-to-air fighter like Friedrich. If the clone sisters swarm him Voltaire would have bit of a problem. Not only that; the very fact that Caro has no choice but to sub in Voltaire for Friedrich means the flight mages are already having a bad time.

'I guess Nanoha knows this.' Hayate glances at her troubled friend, who is listening to the comms between her fellow flight mages with vacant eyes.

"All flights! That's our best asset in the sky. Protect Dragonling at all cost!"

Bug Boy's voice booms out of the console Nanoha is sitting at. Hayate can tell from the voice the man is pissed.

"Come, you little pieces of-" The Vaizen Air's group leader cusses.

As the chaotic comms and the reports and instructions and profanities spill out of the console, Nanoha buries her head deeper and deeper, and finally, she covers her ears, shaking badly.

Reinforce approaches Hayate and whispers.

"Caro summoning Voltaire means she is-"

"I know." Hayate whispers back. She glances at cowering Nanoha. She really needs the White Devil out there in the air.

"She can't go out like that-"

A beep interrupts Reinforce. She blinks a couple of times to go through the message that has just arrived. The tiny floating lady cheers up a bit.

"About time. She's arriving. ETA 15 minutes."

"Finally." Hayate brightens up. "I'll get going."

Hayate throws one last look at her whimpering friend before heading out of the hangar.

#

.

It's middle of the night, but the special VIP gate inside the Terminal's arrival platform is brightly lit. The platform is empty except for a group of heavily armed soldiers guarding the area.

A large group of armed men and women emerges from the special gate. They are all wearing different uniforms; some from the Executive Office, some from the Strategic Arms escort, some from the Saint Church. They are highly alert, weapons drawn; seemingly surrounding a single person in the middle. The Strategic Arms' captain steps up and salutes Hayate.

"Lieutenant general."

"Captain." Hayate salutes back. "It's been a while seeing you. You've been babysitting her?"

The captain of the Strategic Arms security team assigned to the Takamachis nods. Hayate looks over the man's shoulder.

"Quite a large group you brought."

The captain turns around and eyes the mixed team of armed escorts. He points at a Saint Church member.

"Meatshield for the Heiliger Kaiser." He moves his finger to an Executive Office member. "Meatshield for their Chief's girl, and then-" He then points at himself. "Just doing my job; meatshield."

Hayate waves to her soldiers. They lead the group to an armored vehicle parked outside the special gate reserved for VIP travelers. The men and women surround the vehicle as the person they escort gets inside. Hayate gets inside, too, sitting next to the young blond lady. The vehicle slowly rolls off with the meatshields jogging along.

.

"Thank you for coming." Hayate greets the young odd-eyed woman.

"It's OK, auntie Hayate. I always wanted to see you in action."

"I'll get straight to the point." Hayate leans in. "Nanoha is in bad shape."

That makes the special guest worried.

"Is mom alright? What's wrong with her?"

Hayate gestures outside the windshield.

"You know we are fighting against… what's practically Fate's clone sisters?"

The young lady nods. She's seen the news. Hayate continues.

"They are all wearing masks, so you don't see their faces." Hayate glances at her guest to make sure she's following. "But Nanoha sees the faces. Do you understand? It's all in her head-"

"Erm…"

"Ever since she found out who they are, she's been knowingly slaughtering Fate-chan again and again." Hayate makes a repeated slashing motion with her hands, then stops realizing she's making things unnecessarily gruesome. "Maybe it's her sense of duty. Or maybe she thought it was the right thing. She kept going at it, killing Fate-chan again and again. But it's all in her head, do you get it?"

And what does Nanoha do?

"She never told anyone about this. She joked. She chit-chatted. She drank coffee with us. And she went out to fight every day." Says Hayate looking out the reinforced window. They are almost there at the hangar.

"But she's killing countless Fate-chan every sortie, until-"

"Oh my god…" The young lady gasps.

"-until she couldn't take it anymore. Now she's all messed up." Hayate sighs. "I don't know what to do."

There are only three people in the multiverse who can get Nanoha out of the hellhole she's in. Fate is out of reach on the other side of the front line, and Hayate herself has failed spectacularly. She takes her very special guest's hand.

"You are my only hope, Vivio."

#

.

Nanoha is cowering, whimpering, listening to the comms between the flight mages.

"Get them off of Dragonling!" Bug Boy's voice is screaming.

Somebody complains there are too many enemies in the air. Then Caro's frustrated voice rings out.

"Get off my Voltaire, you pesky little-"

Bug Boy yells at Caro to ascend, but she is being swarmed. Somebody warns the Vaizen leader of a group of enemies on his own six. And a series of incomprehensible grunting and shouting and alerting each other relentlessly torments Nanoha's ears.

Eyes shut tight, the White Devil covers her ears, breathing heavily. She is about to let out a shriek.

"Mom?"

Nanoha doesn't seem to have heard it. She shrivels up in agony.

"Mom?"

Vivio Takamachi shakes the fabled White Devil; her mom.

"Mom? Mom! Mama!"

Nanoha opens her eyes and looks up. She is startled to see her daughter in front of her. Upon realizing it's Vivio she at first gives a weak smile, then she's furious. There is only one legit way Vivio, a civilian, can come to Vaizen. Nanoha jumps at Hayate, latching onto the lapels, frothing in the mouth, face red with rage.

"You brought Vivio to a warzone? Are you mad?!"

Vivio tries to pull Nanoha off auntie Hayate.

"Mom, relax! Let her go." But her mother is strong, "Let. Her. Go!"

Nanoha reluctantly takes her hands off of Hayate but is still fuming with rage. Vivio tries to calm her mother down.

"Mom, relax, please. You are here. Auntie Hayate is here. What danger can possibly come my way? You are here." She looks around. "I'm in the safest place in the entire multiverse."

Vivio quickly turns to her accompanying bodyguards.

"I mean no offense to you guys."

Her escorts murmur "none taken", "sure", "it's alright", etc., but they aren't very pleased. At this point Hayate steps away silently, gesturing for the others to do the same. They make space for the mother and the daughter.

.

Vivio sits Nanoha down on a stool and kneels before her mother.

"Mom, talk to me. What's wrong?" She takes Nanoha's hand. "Is it about Fate-mama's sisters?"

"Oh god…"

Nanoha pulls her hand from Vivio's and covers her eyes. She finds it hard to put her mind into words, but Vivio insists.

"Fate says they are good girls. I could tell they are good girls-"

"Good, mom, keep talking to me."

"I don't know why." Nanoha starts. "I can't tell Fate apart from them, and I can't tell them apart from Fate!"

"Well, Fate-mama is a good girl, too. That must be why." Says Vivio. "Besides, they are all clones, so…" She adds rather unnecessarily.

Nanoha tells her daughter she has been knowingly and willingly killing countless good Fate-chan again and again like it's nothing.

"And… all they wanted-" Nanoha hiccups, crying. "-they just want their sister to wake up! And I'm the heartless monster stopping them- Not even caring if it's Fate-chan!"

Vivio is visibly shocked. Mom a monster? Well… in some aspects, yes, but…

"Mom, what are you saying? You are not a monster!"

"Do you know what they call me? They call me the flying devil."

"No~. You are not a devil. You are THE White Dev- Wing!"

Nanoha has stopped crying somewhat, but still sighs and hiccups between every sentence. She looks into her daughter's special eyes and tells what's been in her mind for the past weeks.

"Vivio, the more I think about it the more I think we shouldn't stop Testarossa."

Vivio gasps. What is mom saying?

"Listen, Vivio. I'd do the same. If something happened to you I'd do the same."

Nanoha is about to burst into tears again. Vivio quickly grabs mom's hands.

"Mom! That woman killed boatloads of people! She invaded Vaizen!" Vivio shouts. There is no way Nanoha would do that. "She- she- that woman abused Fate-mama for years! And now she's forcing these girls to carry out bad things!"

"I'd do the same!" Nanoha wails.

"No, you wouldn't!" Vivio snaps at her mother. "Even if you did and brought me back to life, I wouldn't be happy!"

Nanoha is stunned. She inhales sharply and stares at Vivio with confused blinking eyes.

"But-"

"Mom, if you did what that woman is doing, I'd be happy somebody tried to stop you." Vivio squeezes her mom's hands, locking her eyes onto Nanoha's. "I'd root for them to stop you from doing evil things."

Nanoha's eyes are no more vacant.

"But-"

"No." Vivio shakes her head. "I'd die of shame, mom. I'd die of sadness. Of what you have become for my sake. I'd even wish I was never born so you wouldn't be an evil monster… do you want that, mom? Do you?"

Midway in her sentence, Vivio notices her mother has started to pay more attention to what's being said in the flight mages' comms. Vivio turns her head to the console to have a better listen; lots of cussing and screaming and chaos is going on.

"God damn, how I wish White Devil was here!" Bug Boy is complaining in the comm.

"White Wing…" Vivio is sure she heard her mom's tiny voice correcting the man.

"I've cleared my front, but-" Vivio recognizes this voice. It's Caro's, who seems to be in trouble. Suddenly the shouting and cussing intensify in the comm, obviously indicating another set of deadly events happening in the sky.

Vivio eyes her mother. Nanoha is obviously listening to and following the comm, muttering inaudible orders to the distant flight mages in a tiny voice. Vivio waves her hand before Nanoha's face to get the attention. The mother comes to her senses and acknowledges her daughter's presence.

"Sorry… I was just-"

"Go." Vivio smiles at her troubled mother. "Auntie Hayate needs you up in the air. People need you in the air. Even those girls. They need your help, too."

"But I-"

"Shh…" Vivio stops Nanoha's protest. "You go talk to these girls."

"What are you saying?" Nanoha is confused.

"Mom, you said they are good girls… But they are doing that old hag's work just like Fate-mama did. You gotta stop them first! Beat them up if you have to."

Nanoha opens her mouth to say something, then shuts up, then opens it again, and shuts up again. Yes, she did indeed beat up Fate pretty bad when she decided they would become friends. More than good friends.

"That's the way of Takamachi, mom. That's our way." Vivio stands up. She sees her mother is back to normal. "I think you are ready to talk to the girls. Go tell them to stop. Now, go!"

There is a glint of purpose in Nanoha's eyes. She springs up.

"Captain!"

The captain of the Strategic Arms security team snaps to attention.

"Yes, madam!"

Nanoha points at her daughter.

"Captain, take Vivio back home right now. She has classes in the morning."

"Yes, madam!" The captain does a textbook salute.

Nanoha storms out of the hangar, not even looking back at her daughter. Hayate rushes after her friend with a gleeful smile on her face.

"Damn it, at least kiss me goodnight or something." Vivio pouts.

The captain approaches with a big smile.

"That's the way of Takamachi, too, I guess."

#

.

"Raising Heart, I need to get there really fast." The White Devil is back in business. "I mean real fast. Help me out, please."

"I will do my best." The intelligence device answers in monotone, but Nanoha senses the enthusiasm in the synthesized voice. After all, they've been together for nearly thirty years.

"Thank you. I'm once again counting on you."

Nanoha lowers her stance, getting ready to take off. From the nape of her jacket, the hood extends over the head, lowering a transparent visor before her eyes. From the back of her waist, two long ribbon-like tails flap out. She is ready to fly. Raising Heart glows red illuminating the dimly lit ground just outside the hangar.

.

Inside the Strategic Arms' command bunker located deep underground in an undisclosed uninhabited world, shits hit the fan as a loud alarm blares repeatedly. Uniformed personnel rush to and from here and there, furiously working on their devices and consoles to figure out what the heck is going on.

On a wall inside the command center is a large holo-display. Currently, it shows the map of Vaizen next to a large profile of Nanoha. One section of the profile shows "SS", which flashes in alarming red.

.

Hayate rushes out of the hangar just in time to catch the glimpse of Nanoha taking off.

"Yeah! Nanoha! Go, Nano-"

Nanoha blasts off with an incredible force, leaving a large crater on the ground. The shock wave knocks Hayate ass first back into the hanger. As the wavefront hits the structure, windows shatter and stuff falls from the ceiling.

Hayate lies on her back, covered with dust and glass shards. She shakes her fist in the air.

"Nanoha, you goddamned menace!"

.

The Liaison Officer rushes into the command center where the alarm is still blaring. He curses his luck; he was visiting from Midchilda to discuss with the command what to do about Lightning hanging around on the other side of the front line.

"What's going on?" He demands to know.

"We have a breach on Doomsday's limiter, sir!" A bunker operator dutifully reports.

"What? How?"

The officer looks up at the large display of Doomsday's profile. The "SS" rank is flashing red.

"How the hell-"

"Inner layer completely gone! Outer layer is being overloaded!" Another operator informs the room, which sets off another frantic typing into consoles and datapads.

The Liaison Officer digests this information. The breach is happening from the inside?

"Wait, the inner layer is gone first?"

The operators point at the large display.

"Sir, it's her doing it. Doomsday herself is shattering the limiter by overloading it!"

On the large display, a thick pink dot is careening across the plain of Vaizen.

"Can she do that?"

The "SS" rank on the profile stops flashing red. It glitches to garbled letters and numbers for a while, then finally settles at "?" An operator points at that particular section.

"Welp, apparently she can."

The bunker goes silent except for the annoying alarm blaring. All eyes are on the pink dot cutting across the Vaizen map at an impossible speed. Doomsday is completely free.

#

.

Back in Vaizen the battle still rages on. The hill is smothered with explosions and smokes, with endless streams of deadly magic flying up and down the slope as Rapid Response tries to gain a foothold on the hill.

The air is saturated with sparkling mana residues as the flight mages from both sides zigzag across the night sky. The clone swarm has managed to surround the Bureau flight mages who fight back with tooth and nail. Voltaire the Black Fire sprays his death rays across the sky, killing many, but the masked girls are relentless. Despite the support from her colleagues Caro struggles to maneuver gigantic Voltaire out of the blob.

Suddenly, Nanoha's voice enters the local communication magic.

"All flights, get out."

The nonchalant way the White Devil made her demand sends a shiver down Caro's spine and makes her face go pale. She knows Nanoha well enough to know what is to follow.

A mixture of pink and white smudge of a mass shatters through the blob and comes to an abrupt halt right in the middle of the enemy swarm. The sheer force of it coming to a full stop sends out a ripple of magical shock, knocking everyone in the area back several meters.

"I said get out."

Nanoha flicks her staff, and Voltaire is forcefully pushed out of the encirclement, knocking the confused clone girls out of the way in the process.

Floating alone in the night sky, Nanoha surveys the battlefield. The reality around her wobbles and shimmers as the Vaizen world bends over backward to accommodate this impossible presence.

Captain Ru Lusche, panicking, tries to get as far away from her group leader as possible.

"Everyone, get out! Leave now!" She screams into the comm.

The clone girls, on the other hand, grit their teeth. They haven't seen the flying devil for weeks they were about to think she was dead.

"She's back! The flying devil!" The masked sisters shout.

The Bureau flight mages desperately try to get away from their colleague, while the swarm of the clone girls converges on the target, determined to kill the flying devil once and for all. At all costs.

"Raising Heart, a big bang, please." Nanoha gauges the enemy numbers. "A big one. Really really big bang."

"Yes, madam." Raising Heart answers in its monotone.

Nanoha looks at the Alicia clones with a sad expression. She takes a deep breath.

"There are so many things we should talk about… but first-" The White Devil raises her staff high. "-survive this!"

The sky is suddenly filled with a blinding light of pink with a shade of crimson.

.

From the Staging Dock, Fate sees the massive ball of pink and crimson light in the distant sky above the hill. It stays there for about ten seconds, then suddenly disappears.

"That was Nanoha!"

She zooms in using optics magic and spots her beloved in the night sky.

.

The clone girls are raining down from the sky like rocks.

"What the fuck, White Devil! What the fuck?!" Bug Boy's confused, yet excited voice fills the comm.

Nanoha surveys the sky. There is no more enemy in the air.

#

.

The JTF HQ staff in the hangar watch the tactical feeds from the front line with their mouths open. Vivio stands next to Hayate, watching the holo-displays with a hand covering her open mouth.

"Did she just nuke Vaizen?" One of Hayate's staff asks no one in particular.

"Nah~" Hayate smiles. She glances at Vivio by her side. "That was just a big-"

"This is not fair!" Vivio exclaims, a bit upset. "She went easy on them!"

All heads in the hangar turn to her.

"Excuse me? That's going 'easy'?" An officer asks Vivio to elaborate. The young Takamachi flails her arms.

"She went full power Starlight Breaker on me! Can you believe it? Now she goes all soft on Fate-mama's sisters!" Vivio complains.

"And you survived that?"

"Yeah, obviously." Vivio rolls her eyes. "And I was only six at that time, too! Grrr!" She grinds her teeth, unwittingly releasing a piece of information that would later be completely taken out of context and become a strange rumor about the White Devil.

"Yeah, but I heard you were in your big-boob mode then." Says Hayate, unintentionally drawing everyone's attention on Vivio's chest.

.

Commander Yagami clears her throat and calls Nanoha flying over the battlefield.

"White Devil, could you also do that hill while you are at it?"

"Has Vivio gone home?" Nanoha answers back with a question. The strict mother has memorized her girl's course timetable. "She has classes in the-"

"Eh… yes." Hayate lies, winking at Vivio to keep quiet. "Nanoha-chan, the hill? Please?"

"Sure. By the way, Hayate-chan. About you smoking again…"

"Erm… yeah."

"You shouldn't, Hayate-chan." Her friends flying the sky some hundred kilometers to east scolds over the comm. "It's bad for reproduction."

Hayate's face turns red. She rages. 'Oh, the audacity! YOU, a freaking lesb-' Feet stomping, Hayate yells into the comm.

"I don't need YOU of all people lecturing me about reproduction!"

.

Nanoha chuckles and cuts off the comm. She waves and tells her fellow flight mages to stay away. Stay far away. Raising Heart transforms to the cannon mode, charging, drawing all the sparkling mana residues floating in the area.

.

From the Staging Dock, Fate sees her friend priming for an attack on the hill. She realizes there is very little time. She screams to the nearby girls.

"Get the girls off the hill! Get them off now!"

The masked sisters are confused but comply with the commanding tone of the voice. They frantically summon series of magical ears and shout into them.

.

On the hill, there is a commotion. The clone sisters are shouting. After a very short argument, most of them rise up into the air, carrying and helping wounded; many of them Nanoha's victims. They fly off to the residential town to the east, abandoning the hill. A handful of girls still insist on holding the ground, ignorant of what is to come.

.

Nanoha waits for the last Bureau soldier to get off the hill and to safety. Once she is sure there won't be any 'unintended' casualty, she softly whispers to her trusted partner.

"Onegai, Raising Heart."

From the glowing red spherical core of her magical cannon, a massive beam of pink and crimson violently shoots out and hits the hill, obliterating it, pushing it down, exploding and hammering down the heap of soil and rocks, effectively changing the Vaizen map.

The White Devil floats in the sky waiting for the dust to settle down. She turns around when someone taps on her shoulder. The flight mages have formed up around her, all eager to see the result of Nanoha's terraforming work.

The dust cloud clears somewhat. There is no more hill standing but a massive crater. Bug Boy, a native to Vaizen, sighs.

"Just so you know, that hill is-" He shakes his head and corrects himself. "-was the only habitat for the Seven-legged Vaizen Spiders."

"What's that?" Asks Nanoha, her eyes on the massive crater, pleased with the result.

"An endangered… now extinct species."

"Oh…"

Bug Boy extends his hand.

"Anyway. Welcome back, White Devil."

"White Wing! Goddmn it!"