13 Chapter 13

… How long had she been like this? Time passed so slowly and so boringly, without much meaning, that she hardly noticed anything at all. Nothing had changed for her since she had started resting, almost as if the moment that she had started to let her body recover, it refused to allow her the chance to do anything else.

"....(Sigh)." A long, weary, mildly frustrated and exaggerated sigh escaped her lips as Xun Er lay atop Nanoha's bed, still recovering the fatigue that she had to get used to when she trained with Vali. The girl's whole body still felt like a goddamn wreck, refusing to obey even the simplest of her commands for it to move even after so long had passed since she had last sparred with him. Was Vali's training always this intense? Such a thought had passed through her mind, she may have tried to get him into other things aside from Training in the past, wanting him to enjoy life a little more, but she never really realized just how… intense, yeah that's the word she would use to describe it, his desire to train pushed him. Before, she felt like she'd just gotten a small SIP of how much Vali believed training was the best thing to do in these so-called 'peaceful' times…

Was… Was Vali right? Had he been right this whole time?

For a while, Xun Er had been wrestling with these kinds of thoughts within her mind, since her body didn't let her do anything else. Memories of the times when she had seen it fit to pull the boy away from his training, trying to get him to do things aside from it, then her eyes (pretty much the sole thing that obeyed her at the moment) glanced over to her arm, her gaze swimming with emotion that she had contained for a while. Thinking about it, if she hadn't tried pulling him from his training every chance she'd gotten… would he have ended up in a similar situation to her one day? Crippled, his fighting ability forever impaired? She wasn't sure, since Vali seemed to be the type of person who could find a way around this kind of thing easily, plus there were his Tenants… something ELSE she didn't have, either.

She then remembered the copious amounts of times where she'd used to annoy Vali by being a spoiled little brat and arrogant, like the whole world revolved around her. She had been like that for as long as she could remember… actually, from the moment she could recall her first memory, Xun Er remembered a feeling of euphoria whenever she caused something else to be in pain, it had only happened once, but the feelings she'd experienced… they'd TERRIFIED her. They scared her to the point of her quickly suppressing 'that' inside of her, something that she'd been so scared of that she had refused to even acknowledge that it even existed anymore. For a while, she had thought that she'd grown out of it, that she could live a life like she had dreamed of, but…

What if that wasn't true?

What if… back then… was what she REALLY was?

They say that the apple doesn't fall far from the family tree, and nobody else but her knew about 'that' side of her, only she knew of its existence even as she fooled everyone, including herself, into believing it wasn't there.

But then…

The wakeup call had happened, in the form of her arm being severed from her being.

That moment had been like a key being inserted into a lock within her, opening up a seal which she had placed there out of mental trauma, of being unable to even REMOTELY handle the… thing, inside of her.

(Flashback)

"The way you swing your fist… it's so devoid of fire, pun intended, of a drive for yourself that it physically pains me to look at it. You cannot even bring out the full potential of your strikes because of your lack of proper instinct… no, a better way to phrase it is that, deep down… you YEARN for it. You yearn for the chance to no longer hold back, the chance to finally let go of what you've been restraining this whole time… Yet, whilst you yearn for this, this chance… you hold yourself back. Likely for something silly like acceptance and acknowledgment."

(Flashback END)

Briefly, Xun Er shook her head when she recalled the words that the man known only as Jetstream Sam had said to her, words that had been stated from years of observing opponents much more composed than her, she'd bet. Those words… because of who they'd come from, they'd done the job of stabbing straight into her being, driving themselves in like daggers to the heart to a point where she could not help but reflect on them no matter what. To the point where she would do anything else BUT reflect on them, only for her brain to return to them whenever she had not been doing anything, like right now for existence. They were like these itches she couldn't scratch, something that constantly nagged and harassed her as if they were a stalker trying to get juicy intel on his or her prey… and Xun Er HATED it. Moreover, she hated HERSELF for her own stupidity.

Now that she thought about it, wasn't there a band that she liked to listen to whenever she got in this kind of mood? Xun Er blinked when she, out of curiosity, had asked her mother if she could have an MP3 Player for her 4th birthday, and she got one. A lot of the songs had been downloaded from the whole rock genre, as that had been a genre she had become a fan of, yet there were a certain set of songs made by a band called 'Skillet' that REALLY stuck out of her. One song in particular, and as if her foreboding and worrisome thoughts were a trigger, Xun Er's lips began to move as words escaped her as they came from an automated machine.

The secret side of me, I never let you see

I keep it caged but I can't control it

So stay away from me, the beast is ugly

I feel the rage and I just can't hold it

It's scratching on the walls, in the closet, in the halls

It comes awake and I can't control it

Hiding under the bed, in my body, in my head

Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?

I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I, I feel like a monster

My secret side I keep hid under lock and key

I keep it caged but I can't control it

'Cause if I let him out he'll tear me up, break me down

Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?

I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I, I feel like a monster

It's hiding in the dark, it's teeth are razor sharp

There's no escape for me, it wants my soul, it wants my heart

No one can hear me scream, maybe it's just a dream

Maybe it's inside of me, stop this monster

I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I feel it deep within, it's just beneath the skin

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I've gotta lose control, here's something radical

I must confess that I feel like a monster

I, I feel like a monster

Still..... What should she do…? Should she.... Xun Er didn't know. She likely wouldn't know until the time eventually arrived… no matter how much she wished it wouldn't, her new sense of realism mercilessly reminding her of this inevitability.

Meanwhile, back on the ship after Vali and Nanoha had been returned to their homes...

"What were you thinking mother on accepting that boy into our cause?!"

A furious Chrono stood before his Captain on the Main Deck, one which let them overlook the planet below. The ship they were on had been resting in an orbit around the planet earth, cloaked so that nobody would be able to see them from the ground level. However, none of that registered in the young boy's mind as he yelled at his superior, which normally was something that DEMANDED punishment. However, given the current circumstances, Chrono had a lot of reasons to be pissed, especially when he recalled the verbal 'thrashing' that Vali had given him.

"Chrono... we have no choice. It's like what that being in the boy's wings said, we can't even survive down there."

In comparison to him, the woman known only as the Captain of the Ship they were on, sat calmly within her seat, one leg crossed over the other with both eyes closed and a composed look on her features. One could call the two of them fire and water at the moment, and they wouldn't be wrong, plus the surrounding staff members at various consoles on the Ship kept to themselves, knowing that it would be bad to interfere with this argument. After all, they knew first hand how Chrono tended to get, as well as the relation between these two members of the ship's crew.

Speaking of said relationship...

"Like hell we can mother, that creature must be lying, there is no way that there is someone powerful!"

Despite the revelation that just happened, none of the staff responded to it, as they had already known about their relationship. Even the woman, apparently Chrono's mother as well as the ship's Captain, didn't respond too much to that and instead spoke in a calm, mature and logical tone.

"Chrono…...we detected so many huge energy signatures that were coming from that Earth, energies coming from beings that we currently can't even BEGIN to comprehend, we need all the help we can get the Jewel Seeds."

Still, it didn't seem to be enough for the boy, whose pride had been SEVERELY bitten off by Vali's words, fuelling his actions.

"So?! That doesn't mean that we can't get those Lost Items! Send me down there and I'll finish it in mere moments!"

"THAT IS ENOUGH CHRONO!"

"Wha, bu-but mother-?!"

After yelling at her son, a sigh escaped the woman's lips as she placed her hand on her forehead, thinking of a way to explain why she did what she did in a manner that her son would understand. Having raised him both as her family as well as her subordinate, she knew just how prideful he was, he'd gotten it not long after his father, and her husband's, passing 11 years ago. A result of the loss, she believed, and the amount of pride that had been built up from his successful missions had been quite large. Only now, that pride had taken a HUGE hit thanks to that one earthling Boy. Needless to say, THAT would be what Chrono was REALLY pissed off about, she knew her son too well after all.

"...... You saw the boy's ability, no it would be more accurate for me to say that you FELT his ability, the one that managed to defeat you in under a second, Chrono. We don't know nearly enough information about this type of Earth, as such we need all the help we can get in order to make sure that the Jewel Seeds won't cause any destruction to the dimensional plane...… or else, the Great Red will eliminate us for not keeping his promise."

"...Grrrrrrrhhhhhhh!"

Utterly outraged by everything that had happened, as well as his mother's actions adding onto the bonfire pile, Chrono left the main deck while having an angry face as the automatic door opened and closed behind him. His leaving resulted in the atmosphere quickly lightening up as everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Afterward, one of the staff members turned to her and, since the bomb in the room had left, opted to express his own concerns about the situation at hand. "Captain.....are you sure it is wise to let that boy and girl join us?" he questioned in a calm, yet clearly worried manner.

Glancing at him and noting this, the woman reined in her emotions that had been building up from her argument with Chrono. She then spoke in her usual calm, level tone although everyone could sense the concern behind it as well. "We have to Bradon, because the energies that our scanners sensed on Earth that we can't even calculate, we can't do much about collecting the Jewel Seeds ourselves. Furthermore, almost all of them are being collected by him and the girl, with surprising levels of success despite the casualties that have occurred. They have the most experience on collecting these Lost items on their Earth in particular, and we need that experience if we want to collect the Jewel seeds."

"..... if you say so, captain."

Timeskip - 3 days

Now...

For the most part, things seemed to be going smoothly… well, that was what one Yuuno Scryer, a Ferret with the ability to turn into a human (his human one being the form he was currently assuming at the moment), would like to think about the situation at hand. However, it hadn't been long into their days of collecting the Jewel Seeds that he had discovered this to not be the entire truth. Instead, whilst the situation wasn't bad, it could still be improved.

"I've trapped it guys!"

The boy called out to his two companions, Nanoha and Vali, whilst standing in a Magic circle that had various chains coming out of it, chains which were currently restraining a rather large, fiery beast-like creature, somewhat resembling a Phoenix. The Jewel Seed, one which had been designated as number 8, with the roman version of it being 'VIII' had found itself a host in the form of a passing bird, hence why it had taken this form.

Meanwhile, the silver haired male nodded to the humanoid Ferret's position, glancing up at the restrained beast and noticing that it was still struggling to break free, shooting off streams of flames from its mouth into the surroundings. 'Oh no you don't!' the boy thought, quickly summoning his Sacred Gear and taking to the skies. He hadn't taken out [Glavenus] for this one, since he had wanted to get some training in hand to hand combat, hende why he launched a flying kick right into the beast's side, not minding the sizzling feeling that came from it burning away at his flesh.

"DIVIDE!"

After all, the slight physical contact he'd made had been all that Vali needed for his Sacred Gear to half the enemy's power, causing it's movements to slow down as the power went into his wings. With that done, Vali flew backwards, crossing his arms and proceeding to wait.

Seeing this, Yuuno sighed as he realized that the silver haired boy still wouldn't acknowledge Nanoha's presence, not like she would do the same either though. The two of them still hadn't amended from that last fight they'd had. Even as Nanoha herself currently prepped her Raging Heart for the Sealing, she did so without even taking one look at the silver haired male, opting to ignore him completely. The night that they had been dropped off by an obviously irritated Chrono, Nanoha and Vali hadn't even spoken to one another once, just went their separate ways without acknowledging one another.

It had been this way ever since.

However, as shown with the beast's form glowing until it vanished, the Jewel Seed being exposed then sucked into her Device, neither Nanoha or Vali let their little scuffle affect their combat ability, something Chrono couldn't help but be grateful for.

Meanwhile, up in the air Vali glanced down at where the beast had once been, his eyes shimmering with exhaustion and a 'I'm so done with this shit' kind of expression."Finally, fourteen down, six to go." The boy mused with a little sigh escaping his lips. "It won't be too much longer now, I'll be finally finished with this Jewel Seed business."

With that said Vali then turned around and flew away, leaving behind a worried Yuuno who pondered on if things might get worse from here on out.

Timeskip 2 days

"We came up empty handed again today, Nanoha. It might take a bit longer to find them all. Nanoha..." Yuuno commented as he and Nanoha sat together on a bench in a dimly lit corridor within the ship. Like the boy had said, it had been a couple days now, and the more times that they failed to find any proper Jewel Seeds passed, the more that the Ferret began to worry about them possibly having been found already. It wasn't a wrong assumption to have, either, since this worry had also been shared by Nanoha and the rest of the Ship, although they tried to hide it.

Still, something else had been on the Ferret's mind as Nanoha looked over to him, nodding in a similarly concerned manner. Something which he felt torn on if he should bring up or not until he finally decided to get it out of his system. At this point, they were nearing the end of their journey thus, would be made to part ways, so he decided to bring this up now before the next big issue comes along and forces them to focus on solving it. "By the way Nanoha… I just wanted to say this to you: I'm sorry." the boy stated after a moment of silence, hanging his head before her.

Of course, this took Nanoha by surprise as she, after blinking like an owl at him a few times, tilted her head in confusion. "Huh? Why?" she questioned, wondering what the Ferret in human form had to be sorry about. According to her memory, she couldn't think of something that Yuuno had done wrong enough to warrant this kind of apology, hence she wanted to know what his thought process was currently.

"...Aren't you lonely?"

When Yuuno asked her that, his eyes shimmering with emotion, Nanoha furrowed her brows as she tried to decipher the boy's meaning, all the while she turned her head away from him, her eyes gazing up towards the ceiling as she gave her response with a slight smile. "Not really. I'm not lonely at all, I'm here with you Yuuno." she explained, looking to him again with a closed eye smile.

"....... Really? Then, what about Vali?"

A smile which then faded away, replaced by a flat line when Nanoha's eyes opened, revealing their downcast/angry flames whilst she looked to the ground, a complete opposite of what she had been doing beforehand. ".... I don't want to talk about him." she remarked, although the way she tried to keep her voice level indicated that she had a LOT more emotion in her regarding that particular issue that she let on.

Something which Yuuno himself figured to be the case, since for as long as he had known her, which wasn't too long compared to her friends if one thought about it, he could tell that she had been deeply hurt by the recent fight that she had with the silver haired boy. He wasn't there to see what had happened, but Yuuno had seen the effects of it persist up till current time, lasting over several days which meant that he really needed to get to the bottom of why this had happened. "Nanoha... you and Vali haven't been talking to each other and it's worrying me. Sure it may not be affecting our work with the Jewel Seeds, but in time this could fester and REALLY make things difficult."

"......."

"Please.... Tell me what's the reason Nanoha."

After Nanoha remained silent once Yuuno had tried to get her to speak to him about the issue, her hair shadowing her eyes whilst she had remained unresponsive, Yuuno at this point resorted to pleading to try and get her to open up. For a moment, it looked like he had failed in this endeavor and would have looked downcast thinking that she didn't trust him enough to share her problems with him. However, this soon turned out to not be the case when she spoke, albeit in a low, subdued tone. "....... I don't want to kill anyone yuuno, I want to try and convince those two to see reason... Back then, Vali he, he had been about to kill Alph and Fate..... I couldn't let him just kill those two, so I stopped him. I wanted to at least try and convince them that they could join us... but, Vali got mad at me for letting those two escape. We got into a fight afterwards and… he told me that I would HAVE to kill one day..... If I want my parents and friends to live another day." she explained, trembling either in anger or in worry, Yuuno wasn't so sure.

However, this DID end up revealing to the Ferret that this issue wasn't something that had come out one day from one fight, but rather something that Vali had long since been trying to tell her shortly into their time working together. Mentaly, he recalled the multiple talks he and Albion had with him and Nanoha about the supernatural world on this Earth, how passionate and deathly grim they had been throughout the whole thing… Yet, Nanoha had only been a simple young girl raised in a normal home with a normal childhood, as well as a normal family. She likely had been raised to think this kind of stuff wasn't the answer, when in some cases it was the ONLY one, something he himself had some… experience with. Experience he decided to share with her. "Nanoha..... What Vali said.... Is true."

"Yuuno! Why?!"

A sharp gasp escaped her lips as Nanoha raised her head, allowing her shocked and downright mortified expression to be shown. The fact that she had thought him to be on her side in this issue made her look sort of betrayed, which somewhat made Yuuno feel a prickle of guilt stab into him, but the boy shook his head in order to clear such feelings from his consciousness. He had to inform her of this soon, so she could prepare herself for when it would finally come. ".... when I was little, I was alone and didn't have any parents. The Scrya clan took me in and took great care of me. I was happy there in the clan but, an enemy of the clan barged into our homes, grasping one of the youngsters who had been a few years older than me for a hostage. One of the clan members tried to convince him that it doesn't need to be like this, instead...…. He didn't listen and killed both him AND that youngster because he wouldn't listen to a reason no matter what. So I…..had to kill him in order to protect the rest of my family if they wouldn't listen to reason….." he explained, now being the one to look down at the ground with concealed eyes.

Hearing this, Nanoha's eyes remained wide and stunned, her brain struggling to process the information that he had told her about. The thought that Yuuno had to do that at a young age, it didn't register very easily, and even when it did Nanoha felt a prickle of guilt stab into her at having unintentionally forced Yuuno to reveal such a personal subject to her. "Yuuno..." she whispered, trailing off when the Ferret raised his head with a sad, grim yet determined look on his face.

"Nanoha…..you may not like it, but that's the truth. What Vali said to you wasn't wrong… some day will come when you will HAVE to kill someone in order to protect your friends... or your family. There are people out there who are true monsters in every sense of the word, people who won't hesitate to burn children alive or even throw living animals into incinerators. Those people… there's more of them around than you might think."

Upon Yuuno finishing his story and his own opinion on this matter, Nanoha stayed silent... well, not for too long though. Instead, she hung her head down to let her hair cover her eyes, with tears beginning to fall from their sockets.

Unknown to the two of them, they had a hidden observer behind a pillar, eyeing them whilst listening to what had been happening. The silvery hair illuminated by the lights revealed it to be Vali, who had just been at the kitchen getting some food, before seeing Nanoha and Yuuno. He was about to ignore them, but when he heard what Yuuno said to Nanoha that he had indeed been correct, a sense of curiosity had welled up inside of him. As a result, he decided to stay back and listen to Yuuno's words.

So far, he had heard Yuuno's story along with telling her that she would inevitably need to kill in order to protect her family. 'So… Yuuno is also a voice of reason in this pathetic struggle she apparently is going through…' the silver haired boy thought, half surprised and half impressed with the Ferret. He didn't expect Yuuno to have that capacity in him, although now that he thought about it perhaps someone who would go so far to make amends for their own mistakes would DEFINITELY not be an ordinary person like Nanoha was.

[She is starting to face reality, boy. It won't be long until she sees the reason. She may not like it, but she has to... even when she's young.]

'My wielders were sometimes kids, too. It had been considerably rare for them to awaken me though, and usually that would cost them their lives. The only times they would awaken me had been when they were feeling so much strong emotion and a powerful reason to live. They first didn't like killing, but for a while they had to get used to it in order to protect their family....some even had to leave in order to not get them involved with the supernatural world... although it wouldn't always work and those family members got killed regardless, due to being found to have had even the slightest relation to them. Vali.... When the time comes and you're strong enough.... Visit your mother one day.'

'...... I will think about it, Albion.'

Vali had his eyes covered by his hair thanks to what his tenant had said, and then made to leave the area, before an alarm was sounded and someone was speaking in the speaker.

"EMERGENCY! A LARGE REACTION HAS BEEN SPOTTED ABOVE THE OCEAN WITHIN THE SEARCH AREA!"

"..... Fuck!"

A curse escaped his lips upon hearing the mechanical sounding voice from some overhead speakers. In his mind, he already knew what this likely was, as there could only be ONE source of concern that could warrant this. Vali then hurried to the main deck as also Nanoha and Yuuno, who each sported shocked and panicked expressions, got up from their seats to sprint up where Vali had been headed.

It didn't take him long to get to his destination, and as a result Vali came to the Main Deck first before Nanoha, Yuuno and Xun Er (Who had also had a connection with the Jewel Seeds case, hence why she was able to join them on this ship despite Chrono's protests). Upon them all assembling at the main deck, their eyes laid sight on the main screen, where they saw the girl known as Fate floating atop the middle of a large ocean, using a huge magic circle that was spewing lighting down into the water as if trying to excavate something from it.

"F-Fate?!" Nanoha cried, shocked and more than a little concerned about what was happening before her. "What's happening? What's going on here?

"What she's doing is unreasonable, it's disgusting."

"It's quite reckless. She's sure to ruin herself doing that. Its beyond the limits of how much magical power one person can emit-"

"Ehem!"

"...sorry I meant from a different place."

Vali had a superior smirk at Chrono while he had an angry face as he remained facing the screen. Meanwhile, the said silver haired Hybrid boy looked to the screen and narrowed his eyes, wondering what the hell this blonde brat was doing. 'What do you think she's doing to the water?' He questioned his Tenants.

'Hmmmmmmmmm...For once, I don't know. Try to ask the captain.'

'Fine.'

Glancing over to the Captain who sat on her command chair, Vali proceeded to do the thing that Albion had advised him to. "hey woman, why is she putting lighting in the ocean?"

Upon hearing his question, the woman then looked towards him, realizing that since he was from Earth, Vali likely knew little about the Magic that was being cast here. "It's simple Vali, she is planning to pour a stream of electrical magic into the ocean to force an execution to determine their locations."

Hearing this, Xun Er who had remained silent this whole time, frowned deeply as she looked at the screen. She would have put her hands together as if she were praying for something good to come out of this, but she didn't have two arms anymore, so she couldn't really do that, much to her chagrin. 'She's… she's pushing herself… like I do…' she thought internally, not wanting to say anything lest she draw attention that she didn't want. Xun Er already had to deal with multiple staff members sending her discreet pitying glances before, and she hated it. As such, she didn't want even MORE attention directed onto her because of her newly crippled self.

"Hhhaaaa, I see. That must mean that there are multiple Jewel Seeds beneath that part of the ocean?" The boy questioned, though it got delivered like a statement.

This resulted in the Captain nodding her head in response. "Yes we detected not one, or two, but all six of them."

"WHAT?!"

"I'll hurry to the site!"

When Nanoha made to leave, Chrono suddenly spoke up sharply, stopping her whilst he crossed his arms under his chest. "That won't be necessary. Leave her alone and she'll ruin herself...…...Even if she doesn't ruin herself we can-"

Before he could finish however, a certain Hybrid's voice interrupted his sentence. "I'm sorry, but I'll be the one to capture that brat. I've caught her once before, and I'll do it again." he stated, not bothering to hide the smirk on his lips. Lets just say that Vali could hold a grudge, and he held one against Chrono for calling him 'weak' before.

"Grrrrrrrhhhhhhh! Captain!"

"I'm sorry Chrono, but I'll have to send in Vali."

"Wha-?! Why?!"

"Because like he said, he has already had her once before and in order for this to be accomplished smoothly, we need his experience on catching her."

".......fine."

Nanoha, her face flustered at the thought of Fate being hurt without being given the chance that she had wanted, tried to interject into the conversation. "But-!"

"We should prepare to capture her now."

"Roger."

"Vali, go to the teleportation room and be prepared to be teleported."

"No need to tell me twice, woman."

After his usual rude reply to the Captain, Vali walked out of the Main deck and walked all the way until he was in the same room where he and Nanoha first got here. Looked like he would finally be getting the rematch with that blonde magic user that he had been craving, Vali felt, and he REALLY wanted that. As a Dragon, his pride wouldn't let him rest until he got that rematch and utterly crushed that idiot under his heel… strange, was THIS part of the dragon culture too? This bloodlust? Meh, he had always been bloodthirsty, he was a battle maniac after all, so he put it aside for now. To that ened, Vali then went to the giant magic circle to stand there before an announcement was made.

"TELEPORTING IN 3….2…..1…...TELEPORTING NOW."

When the announcement ended Vali was covered in green aura before disappearing.

By the time that the male could open his eyes again, Vali did so to find out where he had been transported to.

He seemed to have appeared on top of a tall building, right before the ocean as he saw with his demonic vision, how that blonde girl that had gotten away from him last time was keeping this spell or whatever active. As he saw her, a predatory gleam appeared in his eyes as [Glavenus] manifested in his waiting right hand, Axe Mode at the ready. He wouldn't make the same mistakes as before, for this time.....she will not get away, not from HIM.

"Heh, finally. Looks like the predator has finally caught his prey..."

[indeed so boy-?!.....that foolish girl!!]

'Wha? What do you me-?!'

When he heard his Devil Arm say that, Vali's eyes widened when he looked upwards, to which he saw someone shooting through the sky at seemingly top speed. On top of that, it had been bathed in a light pink colored light, making him quickly figure out who it was. Along with becoming utterly ENRAGED that this was happening. "......that....fucking....TAKAMACHI!" Vali roared as he summoned Divine Dividing, making to take off and go teach that girl a fucking LESSON about what it meant to steal something from a DRAGON!

"(tzzzch) Vali do you copy (tzzch)"

"Huh..." His eyes widened however, when he heard a faint crackling sound along with someone speaking to him, albeit sounding a bit distant and hard to make out. It didn't take him long to remember how he had an earpiece in his ear thanks to those guys giving him one for communication purposes. "oh yeah the earpiece…" He muttered, pressing into it with his right hand and speaking whilst wrestling with the urge to just ignore it and go beat that brat up for not learning her lesson. "…..this is Vali."

After a few seconds of static being heard from the earpiece, Vali managed to hear the voice once again, this time it being more clear which allowed him to identify it as the Captain of the ship. "(Tzzzch) great we got a hold of each other. Vali, it would seem that the situation is turning increasingly complex."

Yeah, THAT would have to be a massive understatement, the boy wanted to say but the desire to get information from her won out on his urge to be snappy with the woman. "No shit, who even let that brat come out here?" he questioned like a hissing serpent. Although, just as he had suspected Vali did NOT like the answer he had received.

"(Tzzzch) it was Yuuno who disobeyed our orders, but it looks like he is not the only one."

"Huuuhh? What do you mean, woman?"

"(Tzzzch) Xun Er is also with her."

"...... Fuck, I'm going there now."

"(Tzzzch) negative Vali, let them handle this, once Fate is running out of magic, capture her, even if she puts up resistance."

"......got it."

With that said Vali just floated in the sky watching them getting the Jewel seeds from the ocean. Although, that would NOT mean he would be having some words with that brat and Xun Er when he saw them next…

Well, 'words' might not be accurate enough to describe what he'd do to them.

Later on, however...

"Huh..... They actually did it."

A surprised Vali watched, as both Nanoha AND Fate successfully managed to get the Jewel Seeds out from the ocean, though what had surprised him even more was how the blonde brat had decided to work together with the auburn haired one in this endeavor. Didn't change what he would be doing to her though, cause Vali had been waiting for this for WAY too damn long.

"(Tzzch) it seems so, Vali. The last of the Jewel Seeds have successfully been located."

"Anyway now thats out of the way, she won't escape this time."

"(Tzzzch) indeed so-?! Vali there is an unknown aircraft coming this way! Retrieve the Jewel Seeds, fast!"

"Wha-?!"

Vali didn't have time and, before anyone could react, a brief blink in the distance became everyone's sole warning of a new player entering the field. Cause that blink soon got followed by the appearance of the vessel that the Captain had detected: a Jet, and a jet black one (pun intended) that flew so fast that it may as well be faster than a bullet train. It's speed resulted in it leaving behind a tailwind, one which Nanoha, Xun Er and Fate quickly cried out when they got sent flying backwards thanks to it. Vali quickly sussed out where the jet was making a beeline towards, but before the male could do anything the Jet had opened its bottom side, and something shot out, swiping the Jewel Seeds up and bringing them aboard. Afterwards, that hatch closed, and finally the Jet then sped off somewhere.

The only thing he could do was curse the heavens for letting this development happen.

"FUCK! IT'S TOO LATE, THEY SNATCHED UP THE DAMN JEWEL SEEDS FROM RIGHT UNDER OUR FUCKING NOSES! WHERE ARE THEY HEADED?!"

"(Tzzzch) we are calculating the destination right now... it seems it's going to Uminari City!"

"Great it's always that place, alright I'm going there!"

"(Tzztch) Be careful, Vali!" The boy heard those words, but didn't respond to them as he took his finger off the Earpiece, ending the communication between him and the Captain. In the following seconds, Vali wasted none of this time as Divine Dividing began to pulsate with silverish blue energy… all before he took off like a human bullet towards the direction of Uminari City.

"Oh no they got the Jewel Seed, We have to get them, Fate!"

".....Alright, but once this over we will fight for the Jewel Seeds."

Both Nanoha and Fate, once they had recovered from the whole being ambushed, reached an agreement to their next course of action. This didn't mean anything between them, this truce that they had changed their stances towards one another, but right now their goals aligned in this new and unknown situation, with the saying 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' being applicable here. As such, the girls regrouped with Xun Er, then made to go where the Jet was going; they were stopped when a brilliant, 3D Holographic platform appeared below them, forcing them to stand on it due to some sort of gravitational pull, as they heard a voice.

"Not so fast girls, you're not going anywhere."

Not a second later, a masculine voice spoke up, stopping the surprised girls from struggling to fly and escape the platform's pull. In order to identify the culprit, the girls turned to the direction the culprit's voice came from, coming to see two men standing opposite them. One of them had been a man that Xun Er and Nanoha could EASILY recognize from the forest they had fought Fate in during the Takamachi family vacation. The same the one who had cut off Xun Er's arm, whilst the other was a man that a large metal circle that is almost covering his face, on the back of his head was a long white hair, his entire body is all mechanic that they can tell, he has some white circle point that is like connecting his abbs, lower legs and even four of them on his upper chest, and finally he has some red stripes that goes through his chest mark that is an X form, his upper legs and lower ones too, and three on each arms of his.

"Heh, two members of our group.... Were killed by a bunch of kids?.....how idiotic." this silver haired mechanical-looking man questioned, an amused smirk on his lips. As for Nanoha, her eyes shook wildly as her form trembled, memories of that man cutting Xun Er's arm off returning to the forefront of her mind. She didn't want to have to fight these guys so soon from her fight with Vali, especially since out of the group of them she felt like the silver haired boy

Yet, despite her shaking like a leaf, beside her Xun Er looked to be shaking with something like anger as she glared heatedly towards the two men. Especially Jetstream Sam as her stump throbbed at the sight of the one who had inflicted that injury on her in the first place. "Wh-who the fuck…...are you?" She stammered angrilly, shaking her remaining fist at him.

Something which ended up amusing the red tinted man who cupped his chin while smirking at her. "Language young lady, kid your age shouldn't know about that, but since you asked might as well tell you.... My name is Monsoon of the winds of destruction, otherwise known as the Wind of Southeast Asia." He remarked, and after the introduction he gave a mocking bow like he saw them as nothing more than a background audience, which wouldn't be too far from the truth.

Yet, Nanoha pushed that aside in favour of getting some needed answers. "W-why are you getting those Jewel Seeds, just why?" she questioned, something which Fate also perked up at, showcasing her own intrigue about the situation.

"Ahhhhhh, 'why'?... Now that's a good question, young lady. Although confidentiality is part of the job description, lets just say some high ranking parties interested in those babies, so they 'politely' asked us to get them at any cost...…. But, it looks like it keeps getting harder due to 'someone' killing our members. Keeping us from retrieving those… ah, 'Jewel Seeds' you call them? We haven't found them yet, but today is our lucky day. Not only did we find one, but six of those meteorites." The man remarked, both feeding them information as well as saying little at all whilst cracking his knuckles, obviously intending to fight.

Seeing this brought some level of panic to the auburn haired girl, as she remembered what happened the last time she and Xun Er had foolishly charged in against these guys. Even if Fate would be here to fight too, not necessarily back them up but to fight against this man, Nanoha still wanted to try the peaceful solution. "Pl-please, can we talk about this instead of going straight up into conflict?" she pleaded.

Now THIS caught Monsoon by surprise, though they couldn't tell very well due to the visor only leaving his mouth visible. "Hm?..... Oh I see, you must be new to this side of the world young lady." He mused thoughtfully, even as his partner behind him smirked in mocking amusement whilst glancing to the side with a closed fist over his lips. Something which caused Nanoha to pout, remembering how Vali had acted towards her ideals about peace. Before she could say anything however, Monsoon beat her to it by shaking his head in amusement and opening his mouth. "Well sorry to burst your bubbles, but that can't happen. You're curious to know why? Because it's kill or be killed young lady."

Hearing this caused Nanoha to pale, Fate narrowing her eyes whilst gripping her Device, which had been put into Scythe Mode, tightly. "Yes… yes, I can see it in your eyes. You did not grow up in the killing fields. Thus, know this: conflict is a cruel parent, but an effective teacher. Its final lesson for survival is carved deep in my psyche: that this world, and all its being are diseased." he explained, adding emphasis onto the 'diseased' part as if he were spitting out venom. "Free will is a myth. The Gods who created religion are a Joke. We are all pawns, controlled by something greater. Memes. The DNA of the soul. They shape our will. They are the culture --- they are everything we pass on. Expose someone to anger long enough, they will learn to hate. They become carrier, Envy, greed, despair, the devils seven deadly sins. All memes. All passed along. You can't ignore it nor can you fight nature, little lady. Wind blows, rain falls, and the strong prey upon the weak....."

Nanoha looked down at the platform beneath as she absorbed the man's words, her eyes pooling with all sorts of emotions within them as she clenched her teeth. Another one, here's ANOTHER one who's saying the same kind of thing! Why? Why couldn't people just talk and settle their differences that way?! Why was conflict so prevalent?! Thoughts like these circulated through the young girl's mind, even though part of her already knew the answer, a part which had slowly been growing since the first time she'd heard of it from Vali. As much as she couldn't really understand this man's perspective, what she DID take from it was something similar to what Vali and Yuuno had been saying: that killing was both inevitable and also natural. That she couldn't avoid it forever…. It sounded all too foreboding, and she didn't like it one bit.

Fate, whilst glancing over to Nanoha, pondered on what Monsoon said as well, although she had been more curious about his words than anything else. What the guy had mentioned, it sounded… it sounded so nihilistic, like the words of a damn psychopath who by their very nature were people whom normal folk couldn't even begin to comprehend. The one whom she currently had devoted herself to, the one who had told her to collect the Jewel Seeds for her… could she be… no, she couldn't. She just was sick, and would need the Jewel Seeds to get better. That's what she believed, even if her Familiar (whom she hadn't seen for a while, which worried her a lot) didn't agree with this thought process.

Whilst Nanoha became silent, Monsoon then looked over to Xun Er, his lips curving into a wide, anticipating grin. Especially with how her hair had been shadowing her eyes as her sole fist clenched itself tight enough to draw blood. Something which quickly drew his attention. "You know, young lady, my good buddy Sam once told me that your fist is devoid of fire, that you yearn for the chance to no longer hold back, the chance to finally let go of who you really are." He remarked, causing the dark blunette to tense and the other two kids to look over to her in confusion. Both about the man's words and what they had meant to her. "You… yes, I can see it: you were living under an illusion, a false hope all along little lady..... That is until the illusion was broken by my buddy over here." Taking a pause to pat Sam's shoulder a couple times, not like the Samurai-esque man minded too much, Monsoon then proceeded to walk back and forth whilst spouting more of his little speech. "Don't be ashamed about it: it's just our natural instincts running their course, you have no choice to make. Nothing to answer for." Monsoon took out his short chinese blades, ones which Nanoha recalled as being called Sai's thanks to one chat she had with Xun Er, proceeding to spin them. "I hate to do this to children but since you got involved in our business, you three can die with a clear conscience." The man declared, twirling his Sais around his two index fingers before crossing them in front of him with their hilts positioned above to let the weapons mimic an X shaped stance.

...

…

...

…

...

"..... your right…"

All of a sudden however, the tense moment of silence that had dominated the atmosphere between the two men and the Magical Girls, got shattered when a single, feminine voice spoke slowly. Although it's volume wasn't too great, everyone managed to hear it, and to Nanoha's shock it had come from Xun Er whose form had slouched over, her hair hanging in a way that concealed her face from view. "About me I mean... Since I was young, well, younGER… I knew that something about me had been... off. After my fight against that old man over there..... I thought I could walk off the feeling I have in me, and continue to try to restore my mother's reputation." The girl admitted, causing Fate to look at her with something in her eyes, something like… understanding? It happened when Xun Er had mentioned about her mother, too, but the girl ignored it. "But still, here I am, surrounded by constant death and discussing philosophies with the enemy. All this time… I had just told myself that I could be better without it, that I could simply complete my mission... but I was wrong."

As he heard all this, Monsoon chuckled in amusement as well as confusion and intrigue, briefly lowering his Sais seeing as she wasn't attacking him right now. "Hehehehe then you admit it, little lady." he hissed, gleefully.

"Xun Er…?"

Briefly, the dark blunette heard Nanoha asking her what she was doing, but Xun Er ignored it. All in favour of continuing what she wanted to say. Words began to pour out her mouth, along with a whole butload of emotions like Xun Er was trying to… discard something. Something which she had been holding on to for a long, LONG time. "..... I learned from a young age, that killing your enemies felt...good...….REALLY good…" she admitted, much to Nanoha's silent shock and the slight surprise of the Mercenaries. "The first time I killed was when I was about 4… and they weren't even good people, just some bandits who had hurt a lot of innocents. But I killed them… and I enjoyed it. Afterwards, I suppressed that part of me… and my mother… then later on Vali, and finally my friend Nanoha….none of them may have known it, but they unintentionally helped me forget the devil sleeping inside."

Rearing a fist back, Xun Er whispered the beginning part of her next sentence...

"But... who am I kidding…? I... was BORN to kill!"

SMASH!

Before shouting out the last part with so much emotion behind it that she could have blown away anything not chained down just from the soundwaves of her voice alone. A large tremor shook the scene as Xun Er smashed her fist into the platform, causing cracks to form around her fist that nearly enveloped the whole damn thing. Yet, as she pulled it back, one could see blood showing on the said limb that she ignored in favour of staring down through the platform… one which also seemed to showcase a reflection of herself, one which only showed one of her blue eyes filled with nostalgia and grim determination. "...I guess… when it came to my desire to help my mother… to restore her reputation from a mistake she had made... I guess I needed something to keep that "thing" in check, especially when I was knee deep in thick, intense battle. But you.... All this... is a wake-up call to what I really believe. What I really am."

"What are you even saying, little lady?"

At this point, Monsoon's question seemed to serve as a trigger, for right afterwards a violet hue started to take over Xun Er's previously blue iris. "..... I'm saying that the DAUGHTER… of SEKHMET... is BACK!" The girl declared as the hue fully took over, a look of madness starting to blaze to life from the eye.

Slowly, a dark violet aura began to appear around Xun Er, coiling around her like a serpent hissing at its prey as she proceeded to lift herself into an upright position, letting her glowing violet eyes be seen. They shone brightly like two brilliant ice storms, almost blinding her onlookers with their intensity as Xun Er proceeded to step forwards, moving like the Gravity field this Platform used to restrain the girls didn't have any effect on her. Not only that, but her hands lit up in heavenly flames, ones that instead of golden had turned into a dark violet colour, along with becoming more violent, chaotic and savage-looking. A DEEP contrast to her icy demeanor right now, heck, she formed a new arm from the flames as a temporary replacement for her lost one, whilst her remaining limb became covered by the flames from the elbow downwards. Her fiery arm mimicked the shape that her human one had found itself in too, making it look like she had two arms again.

Along with all this, came a TREMENDOUS pressure that exploded onto the scene like a bomb, taking away Nanoha and Fate's ability to breathe as they felt a strong weight slam onto their shoulders, forcing them onto their knees. Yet, the two mercenaries remained unaffected by the pressure, though they DID notice it. "... You wanted it…? My normal…? Well then, this… THIS is my normal… my NATURE…" she remarked, her voice filled with intense coldness and a biting chill that could have frozen their very souls.

Something which sent a surge of GLEE for Sam, as he proceeded to step forwards. "Well...… it looks like you finally show your true self young lady... I'll take this dance." he declared with his hands about to draw his Katana.

However, Monsoon threw his right arm to the side, halting his partner's advance. "No Sam. Report back to the Doctor...She's miiiiiinnnnnne."

".... Heh, you're the boss after all."

Sheathing his slightly drawn Katana after relenting to his superior, Sam then headed towards the edge of the platform and then jumped down from it, from his fall a boat sped across the ocean to catch him, then take him away from the platform.

Back on top, Monsoon levelled a dark smile on his lips as he stared at the approaching girl, whose gaze bore into his own behind his visor, under a layer of cold indifference.".... I've misjudged you, young lady. You really are like us, after all." he commented, causing Xun Er to roll her eyes like she was looking down at a form of trash on the sidewalk.

Not something that Monsoon gave a shit about, but she put that aside for the time being. "Now you're just being nasty old man. Now then… How about it? Want me to give you a demonstration of how Sekhmet got her reputation? After all, I think it's time for the daughter of Sekhmet.....to let'er rip!"

"Heh, gladly demigoddess." Monsoon replied as his Visor slid down, now covering his mouth as well.

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