16 Chapter 16

"Alright woman, do you know who this 'Presea' is?"

Someone who had no chill. That could summarize Vai as a person quite well, especially since the moment that he, Nanoha, Xun Er, the still unconscious Fate and the still-in-dog-form Alph, he had begun to practically interrogate the Captain of the Ship. Part of him recalled one of the crewmembers mentioning her name being Lindy Harlaown at one point before he had been dispatched to the ocean to apprehend Fate, however he didn't focus on that for now. What he DID want to know was who this Presea woman was, and since Alph had been locked up in a cage somewhere, with Fate being restrained in a cell of her own for now, the only one he had to ask for info would have been Lindy herself.

Hence, why he, Nanoha and Xun Er were in the main command room with the silver-haired boy rudely interrogating the green-haired woman. Something which caused irritated looks to form on the staffs' faces including Chrono's, but they didn't dare try to antagonize Vali since he could literally wipe the floor with them.

Ignoring this rudeness once more, Lindy began to explain the situation to the kids. "Well Vali, Presea Testarossa, according to our Mid history, was once the head of Sector 3 of the central Technology Development 26 years ago. However, at the time she was developing a dimension travel energy motor, where she conducted an experiment using illegal materials but ended up failing."

Internally, Vali noted this information down for future reference, whilst externally he hummed in acknowledgment at this. "Huh… what happened after that, woman?" he questioned.

At this, Lindy frowned as she recalled the data they had on the woman… as well as her past exploits. "It resulted in a mid-size dimensional tremor, because of this she was forced to leave Central and was relocated to a rural branch, she was lucky that she didn't cause any accidents that would have attracted Great Red." she explained, a heavy tension soon becoming prevalent in the room.

"I see… how did your organization react to this?"

"... there were lots of debates surrounding the issue. Presea argued that only the result was a failure and that there were no illegalities in the experimental materials. The TSAB couldn't give a heavy punishment to her because she researched so much about dimensions that we didn't even know much about it." Lindy explained.

This was starting to sound like some political BS, and Vali wasn't liking it. Still, his need for information won out and caused him to inquire more, whilst Nanoha and Xun Er remained silent yet anxious about the end result. It obviously hadn't been pretty. "... What happened after that?"

"...After being relocated to the outskirts, she was involved in tech research for several years. After a while, she ended up missing and nothing ever since. As for her family, relatives and research, all the data concerning those questions got completely erased from the archives."

He'd already gotten that bad feeling before, but hearing THAT answer didn't stop Vali from facepalming at the, in his eyes, absolutely stupid move the TSAB had pulled in the past. "... Fucking hell, why did your organization even erase that information?"

"Because Vali, she had been researching something that could anger Great Red, we couldn't have him destroy us for going into forbidden knowledge. Also, while we don't know what she's been up to all these years, we DO have her current location. We managed to track her location thanks to the moment when she took the Jewel Seeds in front of us."

Now THAT got the boy's attention, as evident by the bloodthirsty smirk on his lips whilst Vali smacked a fist into his palm. Eagerness to get even with that woman roared within him like the flames of the dragon that he wanted to become. "Ohhhhh, now THAT's the news I love to hear, can't wait to get that bitch."

"... this time Vali, you have to stay back."

"What… did you say woman?"

Sensing the killing intent that erupted forth from the increasingly agitated boy, Lindy promptly began her explanation as to the reasons for such an order. "Hear me out Vali before you jump into conclusions: you're our trump card for getting the Jewel Seeds, since out of our available forces you have the strongest amount of power by far, furthermore from what I'm sensing from you you're not at full power yet. You need to use this time to rest and recuperate before you can go out there again. Not only that, but we need to know if Presea is weakened or not, as she has lived for over 50 years at this point so she will have likely laid out some traps for our arrival. In any case, if she proves to be dangerous, then we will send you to her."

"Partner….. Listen to her, like she said we don't know if this Presea woman is as powerful as she had been when they said she'd been the head of their research if things go wrong, then they will send you."

In order to help curb his host's destructive desire since he could sense the aura within him about to destroy everything around him, Albion also interjected with his own foresight of the situation. Since Lindy wasn't someone who had his respect, at least not on the same level as the mighty vanishing dragon himself, the Heavenly Dragon felt that he had to interject here or else things wouldn't turn out well for anyone. He bet that if it were possible, then [Glavenus] would have done the same thing too. With the combination of the two, Vali had to take some deep breaths before he would be able to calm down. "... fine I'll stay back for now…. BUT, if something, and that can be ANYTHING, goes wrong down there, then like it or not I will step in, woman."

Hearing this caused not only Lindy but the staff alongside the rest of Vali's little group to release a unified sigh of relief. Angering Vali was like walking on a minefield, pretty much suicide especially if they didn't have the power to back them up. "That's all we ask for Vali. Alright people, set coordinates to where Presea's energy is!"

"YES CAPTAIN!"

Timeskip

"That…. Is the creepiest…. Castle I've ever seen in my life."

"You said it, Vali."

A while later, Vali, Nanoha, Xun Er now stood with Alph (who was currently in her fox form still at the moment) in the main command room of the TSAB ship, looking at a large monitor that showcased a massive floating castle. One which hardly seemed like a nice place to live in, if anything it seemed like the exact opposite. Even VALI himself had gotten the chills from the sight of it whilst Nanoha and Xun Er looked like victims in horror movies upon seeing it.

Beside him, Alph rolled her eyes at their reactions, although she could understand them. After all, she had been the same when she'd first seen it, it was only through living there that Alph had gotten used to it. "Believe me, I said the same thing to Presea and she never considered decorating it."

"Why is that fox?"

"Squadron two has completed transfer. Squadron one has begun infiltration."

When Vali asked her that question whilst someone who'd been part of the ground forces made that statement, Alph turned her snout to look at him, her eyes shining with a light that he couldn't quite make out. "Because she was too into her objective." she stated, and left it at that… although there wasn't much else they needed to hear.

"I see….. But that begs another question, why is SHE here?" Vali once again questioned, this time gesturing behind him with his right hand's thumb, where a certain blonde Magical Girl stood beside Nanoha, albeit she wore white shackles on her wrists. Ones which according to Chrono, were meant to negate the ability to cast magic for Mages who didn't need the help of Devices like Bardiche and Raging Heart. Speaking of which, she had her Device with her too, though thanks to those restraints her abilities would be too limited for her to do anything at the moment. The sight of her caused no small amounts of irritation within the silver-haired male, and if he were to be able to hear it, [Glavenus] right now would have probably been of a similar mindset.

Though as Fate flinched under the harshness in his voice, recalling how he had brutally struck her that one time when she'd tried to fight him, Nanoha stepped in front of her fellow Magical Girl and put an arm out as if to shield her. "She requested to see her mother's arrest Vali, she wants to see her one last time." Nanoha explained, trying to keep a cool head whilst staring back at the furious boy's eyes.

"... fine, but I'll be keeping this for now."

Vali said as he took the Gem out from the Device in her hand, pocketing it inside his left coat pocket for safekeeping.

"All men have entered the throne room and have confirmed the target!"

Fate, along with everyone else, then looked back towards the monitor when one of the TSAB Soldiers had said that they'd entered the throne room where her mother usually stayed in all the time. From the moment that the soldiers got inside, everyone on the ship got a clear view of what this 'Presea' character looked like: a rather beautiful woman (in the eyes of all the men and a few girls) who had the top of her breasts uncovered, along with showing her stomach and her thighs, with the outfit being held by a ring-shaped belt. She wore a cape that connected to the back of her shoulders, whilst on her head was a simple piece of jewelry. For cosmetics, she wore purple lipstick, whilst one eye was covered by her hair with the other being exposed, showing a cat-like slitted pupil that she was looking at the TSAB with, her face sporting a neutral expression.

Still, one of the soldiers got it together first, as he glared heatedly at the woman whilst speaking in a cold, hard tone. "Presea Testarossa, you are under arrest for violation of the time-space laws that the Great Red has given us and charges of attacking a Bureau flagship! Disarm yourself and come here!"

They marched towards her throne surrounding her. A few of them went behind the throne as Presea had a furious expression that her secret would soon be exposed.

"There's something over here!"

They saw a door that is behind her throne, as they went to it the door automatically opened for them as they revealed on what's on the other side

"This is…"

"What… the fuck?!"

"Eh?!

"Is-is that...?!"

Vali and the rest of the group that was still at the ship became stunned senseless at what they saw. In the room, there were multiple pillars that were covered by tree branches but that's not what caught their attention, it was at the center of the room was a mechanical-looking cylinder that housed the girl that looked... exactly like Fate, quite suspiciously so in fact. Currently, she seemed to be floating in the water in the fetal position like a baby in the womb, seemingly like she was... sleeping.

Before anyone could make heads or tails of this situation, Presea teleported near the girl as she blasted some of the men till they dropped unconscious, others having wisely stayed back. "Don't come near my Alicia!"

The men pointed their weapons at her as she was furious at them for getting close to her

"Fire!"

They fired their weapons at her but, to their surprise, none of their strikes managed to harm her as she had a barrier protecting her. Presea then turned her body at them as she raised her hand when pink mist surrounded in front of her.

"Oh no, Agents block them!"

Lindy, having sensed danger from that mist, quickly issued a retreat order, however it was already too late as Presea unleashed a lighting spell that scorched almost all of them.

"GGRRRRAAAAAHHHHHH!"

….only a few of them survived but for the rest…. They look like they were burned in a great fire.

"Hehehehhehehehahahahahaha!"

"NO! Recall the surviving Agents!"

"Roger, captain!"

Fate looked at the screen where her counterpart is, noticing a name on the cylinder that caused her eyes to widen as her lungs clenched uncomfortably. "Alicia...?"

"Coordinate lock: 012A503!"

"Locked transfer operation, stand by!"

Presea walked to the capsule as she put her hands on it, almost lovingly as she whispered these words under her breath. "It's no good now. I have no time. With only a few lost Logia I managed to obtain, I don't know whether or not I will reach Al hazard, but it's fine now. I will end it all. All in time spent in depression after losing this child, and treating a scapegoat of a doll of her as my daughter..."

"Wha….. scapegoat?"

'I should've known this.'

'Wha Albion, do you know what the hell is she talking about and why are there two of them?'

"Simple Vali, from what we are seeing, this girl Fate…. Is a Homunculus."

'A…. Homunculus?'

'A Homunculus is an existence created through an alchemical formula to produce fully functional lifeforms from sperm and other elements without the use of a womb. A perfect homunculus is essentially a man-made artificial extension of nature, external factors aside.'

'I see.'

Vali mentally said to Albion on what Fate really is, before they continued to listen to Presea, although if one looked at his hands they would see them starting to form fists. "You were of no use whatsoever. A mere doll of mine, even if you had some potential at the beginning, all it amounted to was nothing."

Linda took this chance to speak on what Presea was saying whilst also explaining some backstory to this whole scenario for Fate as well, who looked like the whole world around her had shattered into a million pieces as if it were a glass mirror. "Back in that first incident…. Presea lost her real daughter Alicia Testarossa. In the end, she was researching the creation of an artificial life form different from a familiar, a being that surpasses all familiars."

"Homunculus, huh..."

"... that is correct Vali, the secret of an attempt of reviving the dead, "Fate" is the developer's code that she had assigned to her research at the time." Lindy answered the boy's unasked question, nodding in a grim manner.

"I'm impressed you were able to find out that much, young lady." Presea mocked, causing the captain of the TASB ship to narrow her eyes. She couldn't refute the whole 'young lady' comment since Presea had been recorded to be well over her 50's, so even if she had once been married and currently had a child of her own, to Presea Lindy may very well be a young lady. "You're right, that's correct. But it's no good, it didn't go well at all. An artificial life is nothing but a fake. It doesn't take the place of something that you've lost. Alicia smiled at me more kindly. Sometimes Alicia was selfish, but she listened well to what I had to say."

"...Stop... it."

"Alicia was always kind to me…..Fate…, you are, in the end, only a fake Alicia."

"Stop! Stop it!"

"I went through the effort of giving you Alicia's memories, but you weren't good enough. Even gave you a bit of an 'oomph' as the kids would say to stimulate SOME kind of potential, but in the end, you will NEVER be like her-!"

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!

"?!"

Presea stopped when she sensed an enormous energy that ERUPTED forth from the ship as if it were a volcano that had gone off.

Within the ship itself, people fell onto the ground, unable to get back up or even bear the pressure that this energy possessed, even Chrono had been no exception. If anything, his face had become riddled with sweat and saliva. As for the one responsible for it, it turned out to be Vali as he heard enough of what that bitch says. Nanoha and Fate were protected by Xun Er pressure as she was mad at Presea too, but her fury could not even BEGIN to compare to that of Vali's.

Said boy, whose form had begun getting covered by a silverish aura whilst his hair shadowed his eyes, began to step forwards, each step creating craters in his wake the size and shape of said body parts. By the time he stopped, Presea could see him, Vali began to speak in a tone that sounded as deadly as the grim reaper itself. "You know…. There are multiple ways that people can get me mad, but you… you just pissed me off really bad, old hag. Let me tell you something to get through that fucking head of yours, a family is someone who cherishes them to the point that even an imitation of it deserves love from it." he stated, raising his head and, to everyone's shock/horror (especially Xun Er and Nanoha), his eyes had turned silver and slitted, which went to show just how PISSED that Vali had become.

Heck, his energy had become so intense that it could be felt down in the Castle itself too, proof being how the woman had started sweating profusely with a heavy pressure forming over her torso. Yet, even so, she barely managed to find her voice again to retort, albeit it sounded nothing like the domineering and cocky voice she had used before. "Wha-what do you know boy?! Have you lost someone close to you, have you ever experienced having someone be taken from you?!"

"...Yes, yes I have indeed, old hag."

Vali's response caught EVERYONE's attention, especially the girls who had been with him since the start alongside Yuuno, who had been by his partner's side since this whole operation began. The way he spoke implied a sense of… sadness to it, something which they hadn't heard from him before. However, it vanished moments later so they couldn't question him about it, replaced by the familiar fury from before as he made a frustrated snarl before gnashing his teeth. " I don't like it, but how about I tell you my REAL name: My name is Vali….. Lucifer, a descendant of the original devil that fell from heavens itself." And then, out from his back came 4 Wings, looking larger, darker, and had pure crimson veins running along their webbings as if they were wreathed in crimson fire. Not only that but in their presence the energy's presence INTENSIFIED tenfold as if this were the first time that Vali had truly unleashed his Demonic Power.

"GASP!" A shrill gasp escaped Nanoha's mouth at the admission that Vali had made, heck she even fell onto her backside when his wings came out of them. Upon seeing them, Nanoha had drawn QUITE the comparison between them as well as the wings of Divine Dividing. Whereas the latter wings looked beautiful, blue and radiant with a color similar to the night skies above, these ones looked more rough, twisted, malicious and 'evil' in a sense, especially with their almost rocky texture which was further enhanced by the crimson veins spreading through them like lava veins in a volcano. But more than that, she remembered back in the Lich King incident where she had wanted to ask Vali about his power, and why it felt somewhat sinister behind all the control that he had put into it… now she knew.

Meanwhile, Xun Er looked at Vali with less of the shock factor, but more of the realization and understanding ones instead, being someone who had grown up in the supernatural world unlike Nanoha. 'Now I get it! So, that's why Vali's energy felt so….. So gosh darn Dark!' She thought to herself, finally having the answer she had been wondering about for a while now. She had heard from her mother how hybrids were treated by the Devils like trash and pieces of garbage that shouldn't exist to 'taint' their 'sacred' bloodlines in a bout of irony, yet in an even more twisted turn of fate Devil treatment of Hybrid children was actually rather TAME compared to some of the other races and factions… like the Vampires for example. Thinking back to when she had first met him after her mother Hathor had brought him in, Xun Er quickly figured out how he had gotten into such a state… and she didn't like it.

'So… you finally managed to overcome your hatred, Vali. Or rather, I should say that your hate for this woman is on a similar level to your hate for your grandfather.'

Whilst Albion thought this to himself so Vali didn't hear him, Presea's teeth gnashed together, fury coursing through her being at being 'lectured' about family by a naive brat who hadn't even entered his angsty teen years, something which her daughter had never managed to hit either. Only worsened the wound for her, too. "S-so what, a demon-like you couldn't understand how I felt about losing someone who I loved! What can a demon like you even understand about that?!" she yelled back, trying to keep her internal fears hidden behind her mask of fury.

This time, Vali didn't respond right away, and when Presea thought this to be her victory, to which she had to gloat about it only for the silver-haired boy to beat her to the punch when she'd made to open her mouth. "... My own mother always loved me, she loved me more than anything in the world. I couldn't even repay the love I had towards her in the end, and if there's anything I know for a fact it's this: to owe someone a debt isn't that bad, not repaying is the worst. Even so, she told me once that family or friends are those who have each other's backs, no matter if you are a human, demon, yokais, beast….. Or even something like a Homunculus. No matter what you are….. You cherish them to the heart, even if it's an imitation of someone you love."

"Never, that girl Fate will never be like Alicia! No matter what, she never will!"

"Is that your final answer….. So be it then."

With that said Vali flexed his wings before flying out of the ship, leaving a giant hole in his wake as he descended downwards to Presea's floating castle.

"Y-you will never disrupt my plans for reaching Al Hazard! NEVER!"

Presea waved her hand as something from the ground started to appear.

"Wh-Whats this?! Multiple magic circles have started to appear over that castle!"

"Oh no! Vali!"

Golems started to appear in front of the boy as he descended, intending on hindering his progress. However, they would prove to be utterly GARBAGE compared to him, as the silver-haired boy clicked his fingers to which [Glavenus] appeared in his right hand.

On her viewing screen, Presea saw this and her features became pale, her instincts SCREAMING at her that the weapon he had just called to his hand would be a disaster for her if she let him live. Hence, Presea sent an order through said screen to her generated Golems. "Kill him!"

"Out of my way." Yet, with that simple command uttered in a low voice, Vai infused [Glavenus] with his demonic energy, heat beginning to show across the whole axe blade before he swung it horizontally. He ended up using the Devil Arm's main ability of [Glavenus]: COMBUST, destroying multiple golems that were approaching him by slicing through them with the Axe Blade, the slime remnants on the Golems quickly detonating and concealing them in explosions.

"S-so fast! Is this…. The true extent of Vali's power?"

"Still, he's still in trouble, look!"

True to Xun Er's words, the moment that they saw Prsesea's castle beginning to crumble, it began to showcase the colors of the kaleidoscope. Something which made the captain turn pale "Oh no…. We have to finish this quickly!" She shouted in alarm.

"Captain, why?!"

"Because if this continues… then Great Red will take notice before destroying whatever's causing harm to the dimensions, including us!" Lindy explained, sending waves of dread through the staff in the main command room as well as Nanoha, Fate, and co.

Still, at least one of them regained her mental clarity quickly enough and decided that action needed to be taken to stop what Lindy had said would happen, from happening. "Shit, come one Nanoha you're coming with me!" she bellowed as she prepared to take off through the hole that Vali had made in his leaving of the Ship. Oh, and for those who had been wondering, the ship had descended till they were within the stratosphere, the closest they could go without risking detection by the primitives below. It helped that this was an especially cloudy day, so the clouds afforded them some camouflage against being seen too.

Facts which didn't register as important in Nanoha's mind as her eyes steeled themselves in determination. "Okay Xun Er!" She declared as she held out her gem Raging Heart, turning it into its default Device form before she activated her Barrier Jacket. Xun Er, nodding at this, took to the air with Nanoha in tow, intending on flying through the Vali-made hole to reinforce their companion.

"Wait!"

However, Fate stopped them from leaving, having gotten the courage to do so after deliberating with herself and seeing that she didn't have long before the two could have gone too far for her to reach them. "I…. want to come with you."

Now THIS caught Xun Er and Nanoha's attention, as they glanced at one another before the dark blunette descended down to the blonde homunculus's level. "...Why is that, Fate?" she questioned, frowning.

"Because…. It's no good throw away on what Vali said, about families and friends. I ….. Want to repay him for what he said." Fate replied, gripping the center of the clothing covering her torso tightly. Waves of nervousness and fear built themselves up inside of her at the thought of seeing her mother, her tormentor and someone who apparently had made her as a clone of, again but… what Vali had said struck her. It was something she didn't expect him to say, furthermore she felt like it was something NONE of them had felt that Vali would have said normally. Hence, she wanted to repay him for such words… as well as understand why he had said them the way they did.

"But you don't have your device anymore…" Nanoha stated in concern, recalling how Vali had taken the Jewel himself before all this had even begun. Without it, Fate wouldn't be able to transform into her Barrier Jacket or use too much of her Magical Girl Powers. Fate too understood this, as she remembered that scene quite quickly.

"... huh, well about that: looks like we don't have to worry on the device front. Look here, looks like Vali has left us a gift." Xun Er interjected, causing the two girls to look at her as she floated down to the desk beneath her, whereupon she found a familiar yellow Jewel containing the AI of Bardiche. "Looks like Vali left it behind… my guess, he must have figured you'd want to go there yourself, as that'd be what he would want to do in your shoes." She remarked. However, she did have one more question that she wanted to ask the blonde homunculus, one which she promptly asked with a steely gaze and an expression of grim reality. "Well then Fate, before I give this back to you, I need to know: When we get to your mother, will you stop us or….. Will you be the one to kill her?"

After having finally landed upon the Castle and pretty much storming his way inside, Vali leisurely walked through the halls of Presea base while destroying every last golem that stands in his way. Along with avoiding the destruction that the base is going through, and whilst he did so, the boy began to wonder what was happening in the base. Something which got answered by a message from Albion.

'My guess is that the woman must've activated those Jewel Seeds causing a dimensional tremor in the dimensional gap partner, but we have to hurry Vali. With these amounts of tremors, Great Red will likely come to investigate what's happening in the dimensions before destroying it... with us included.'

'Got it Albion, this won't take long.'

'I hope so, partner. Also…. Was it wise to leave that homunculus device to her when she discovers it?'

'... She reminds me of me when I suffered at my sperm donor. There's more that I want to say to her, but that can be saved for later. Essentially, I want to give her a chance if she wants to retaliate all the torment she has suffered.'

'... I understand…. Oh look, another Golem is standing in our way.'

Now that he had finished the conversation, Vali proceeded to hack the beast apart with his Switch Axe-shaped Devil Arm, then destroyed the remains with a couple MAG SHOTs. "Hmph….. How long are you going to continue this, old hag? With this amount of tremor, Great Red will take notice of this before destroying everything, with us along with it!" Vali asked the space around him, having sensed her presence watching his progress. She had to be if these Golems were spawning around his vicinity all the damn time.

Something which he soon realized was true since her voice rang through the air in a loud, angry and downright demented voice, "I DON'T CARE IF THAT LIZARD STANDS IN MY WAY, DEMON! I WILL REACH AL HAZARD, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!"

Hearing this, the silver-haired boy sighed in annoyance, shaking his head with his hand on his forehead. "You're just signing your death warrant hag."

Later on, Vali then arrived at what looked like a gold-colored room. In the center of it, was a massive golem that had a bronze-colored one with blue gems attached to its body on both of its arms with canons acting like its hands. It had two additional cannons on its back before it went up, aiming at Vali as he prepared to destroy this thing.

However, before he could do so, something reached his senses which caused him to look up. Upon doing so, the ceiling erupted like it was an explosion along with additional golems, beings that Presea had planned to ambush the demon that had been coming for him.

"?!"

A small gasp escaped his lips when Vali saw this, but he kept his grasp on his Devil Arm. After all, he was still in a fight right now, so he still needed the power of [Glavenus] at the moment. From the smokescreen, several shadows became visible, and a couple seconds later, Nanoha with Xun Er and also Fate and Alph descended from the smoke, landing beside Vali like they were surrounding him in a square-shaped formation.

Yet, his surprise soon vanished as he focused his gaze on Fate, who stood by his front left side with Alph on the opposite. Fate looked to be in her usual Magical Girl outfit whilst her partner was in her human form, the silver-haired boy taking note of this whilst coming to a conclusion in her mind. "So…. You came along with the others, as well." he noted, getting Fate to glance behind her at him, then give an acknowledging nod.

Xun Er then nodded, interjecting into the conversation. "Indeed Vali….. Stay back now, we'll handle this one."

"...go for it, then."

With that said Vali then tethered [Glavenus] to his back before jumping backward, landing on the ground and sliding to a halt. He then proceeded to do the task of watching them in their impending battle, and despite himself, the silver-haired Hybrid found himself feeling eager to see what would come of this scenario. 'Since Fate is here, she'll likely have to start fighting her mother for real… though, what is curious is the repeated hints that this hag did something to her… what could that be, I wonder…?' Vali thought to himself.

'I am curious myself… However, we can think about that some later, right now the fight's starting.'

With Albion's words almost acting as if they were a signal, the battle has begun. It started off with the Golem taking the first turn in turn-based RPG terms, by raising it's right arm and firing a pink-colored laser off at them. As such, the group of four (Nanoha, Fate, Xun Er and Alph) split into four different directions, avoiding both it and the shockwaves.

"Alright guys, me and Alph will deal with its legs with physical attacks, Nanoha you and Fate go in and finish it off with your magic attacks!"

"RIGHT! X3"

Once they landed, well herself and Alph did the two Magical Girls used their own flight methods to take to the skies and begin charging up their best-ranged magic Spells, Xun Er launched a couple fists using her TRIGRAM PALM technique. These fists ended up causing the Golem to stagger back even as it generated a Barrier around itself to protect against the majority of the damage, though thanks to the Golem only being made to fight beings on the two Magical Girls' levels, it couldn't completely negate a Demigoddess's power. Hence why it stumbled back from the force of the consecutive blows.

Something which gave Alph the opening she needed as she dashed forth through the air, using the same method of flight that her master Fate did in order to align herself for a spinning dropkick which got enhanced by pumping her legs with Mana. As the Golem had been busy trying to recover from the previous blow, it wasn't able to receive the next one in time and as a result, Alph smashed into the enemy's opposite leg. The moment she did so, the entire limb got destroyed from the force, causing it to fall forwards onto its torso.

Yet, it still tried to get up whilst Alph jumped backward, having sensed that her master and Nanoha had finished charging up their Spells. Speaking of the two said Magical Girls, Nanoha aimed her Raging Heart in Shooting Mode towards the fallen Golem, along with Fate aiming her own Device at it as well.

"THUNDER SMASHER!"

"DIVINE BUSTER!"

Both girls called out the name of their attacks, the following events becoming real: Fate created a magic circle in front of her then thrust Bardiche at it, firing a long beam of electrical energy towards the Golem. Meanwhile, Nanoha fired her own beam attack whilst holding her Device like a Spear. The two attacks smashed into the Golem which barely managed to notice them in time and erected it's barrier in time, causing the two attacks to be halted from reaching their target. However, after a short moment of struggling, the two beams managed to break through the barrier and slam into the Golem itself, causing it to explode in a spectacular fashion and signal the short battle's end.

'Quite a short, but effective display…' Vali remarked to himself, having watched all this play out with a calculative look in his eye.

'Competent teamwork usually leads to battles being shorter, not to mention each of these girls were familiar with each other's fighting styles due to battling one another so much. Nanoha and Fate especially, whilst Xun Er seems to be developing some leadership traits and Alph just followed suit like the loyal Familiar she is.'

'Indeed Albion.'

After finishing that conversation, everyone including Vali grouped together, each of them needing to plan their next move. Fate, the one with the most experience with this place aside from her familiar, then gestured to a seemingly random direction where a walkway awaited them. "Everyone, we can head to the reactor from an elevator that is not far from us." she explained, getting a nod from Xun Er.

"Alright Fate… are you going to head over to your mother?"

"I….."

"I'll go if you don't want to, Fate."

"Vali!"

After Nanoha yelled at Vali for that, the blonde-haired Magical girl looked back at the silver-haired Hybrid. "... But why, I treated you like an enemy of mine and yet you're helping me….. Why?"

"... because Fate…... every kid like us….. Deserves a chance of having a good childhood, of spending time with their families, and….. Not always being involved in the supernatural or dimensional stuff. Every being, including a homunculus like you, has a chance to be who they want to be."

Fate stayed silent, her eyes covered by her hair as she listened to what Vali said to her. As Nanoha went to Fate to see if she was alright, Fate then pulled a move that stunned all of them: she went to Vali and wrapped her arms around him, hugging the boy to his surprise. Yet, even more surprising, he along with the others began to hear Fate crying over Vali's shoulder "(Sob) th-thank y-you V-Vali."

Eyes wide and completely baffled, to say that Vali was surprised regarding these actions and didn't know what to do, would be an understatement. After all, this could possibly count as the first time a girl close to his age, as he felt that Fate was similar to Nanoha and Xun Er in terms of age, hugged him like this. However, he didn't spend very long pondering as he soon remembered what his mother always did to him when he had always been in harm's way thanks to his sperm donor growing up. Hence, his arms moved almost like they were mechanical, wrapping around the older blonde girl's frame as he hugged her back. "It's….alright Fate, but we have to go now, it won't be long until Great Red is here."

Hearing this, Fate reluctantly broke off the hug after coming to her senses, all the while she wiped her tears from her eyes as she got her determination back.

"Okay Vali, lets go!"

"Alright grab on to me, it's gonna be a bumpy ride…... Oh and before I do that Xun Er come here I have something to restore your arm."

"You do?!"

"Yes…. But you might not like it."

"What, what is it Vali?"

"... I can restore your arm with one of the Jewel Seeds I have."

"WHAT?! Vali you can't be serious, have you seen what happened when we were in Earth?!"

"I know Nanoha, but it was filled by a primordial energy that corrupted them, so I had this idea: Since the primordial energy corrupted the Seeds to make the monsters do nature's bidding, what would happen if I use MY energy to fill the Jewel Seed instead? I'd say it's worth a try at least." Vali explained, ignoring the shocked looks that Fate and Alph had.

"Wha?! But still….. It's risky Vali!"

As Nanoha once again made to protest against this plan, an interjection came from the dark blue-haired Demigoddess, a thankful smile on her lips. Though whether or not that smile was for Vali for this idea, Nanoha for her concern for her safety, or both would be difficult to determine. "It's alright Nanoha I'll be fine, and besides I don't want to be stuck with one arm." she mused, glazing down at her socket. After all, if she had the choice between risking her life to get her arm back or to live her life without it, she'd go for the former any day.

"Xun Er…."

"Alright stay still Xun Er, this is gonna hurt….. A lot."

Saying that, Vali approached Xun Er as he pulled out the Jewel Seed XIV he had in his pocket dimension from fighting against that mechanical woman 'Mistral', then placed it near Xun Er's arm as he began to fill it with demonic energy, watching it begin to glow in silver color. He instinctively knew this would hurt the girl based off how grotesque the transformations looked a few times, and he soon got proven right.

"UUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

A few moments later, the blunette closed her eyes and thought VERY hard on one thing: restoring her arm, something which the Jewel Seed reacted to. The response became apparent immediately, where Xun Er had to cringe and bite her lip to suppress the scream that tried to escape her, a searing pain scorching through the stump she had like it had been dipped in the lava of a volcano. She gripped her arm tightly in an attempt to stem the pain, only to retract her hand a couple seconds later with it being shaken about like she had been burned by the skin, her sole hand steaming a bit to add to this comparison.

All the while, the stump began to forcefully open itself, spewing blood out from the hole to the ground below as it began to grow new bones, muscles, nerves, and finally the skin. This process had been slow, deliberate and absolutely TORTURING to the Demigoddess who couldn't hold her screams back anymore only a quarter of the way through. The lava-like feeling had intensified thanks to the intensity of the pain increasing, making her feel like she would be burned alive at any moment. All the same though, Nanoha in a bid to make her friend feel better, quickly jogged to her side and held her sole hand in hers, trying to communicate silently with her friend that she was here, that things would be okay even though Nanoha wasn't sure if that would be the truth. Nonetheless, Xun Er grasped onto that hand tightly, as if it were the coolest thing she could have ever touched in her life.

By the time that it had finished, Xun Er's formerly closed eyes shot wide open, a loud exhale escaping her lips as if she hadn't breathed proper air in a long time. Loud and heavy panting sounds filled the air as she lowered her sweat-covered head downwards, letting her wet bangs shadow her bloodshot eyes whilst Nanoha kept a worried grip on her friend's hand. All the while, Xun Er slowly gathered the courage to look at her stump of an arm to see what had happened, if Vali's little idea had paid off. As such, they all looked towards the result and became very surprised at it, to the point where their eyes widened.

The forearm itself, once it had been fully restored, was almost completely covered in silver and black scale-like skin now, save for some glowing blue streaks that ran through it in its entirety as if they were their own blood pathways. The scales ran up the back of the hand, outside of the fingers, and over the entirety of the forearm. Meanwhile, the inside of the hand was now dark silverish-blue color... in essence, the arm up to the elbow joint looked less like a human's and more like... like a reptile or a dragon. Everything above the elbow however looked completely human, however.

"Huh….. well what do you know….. looks like my energy made it different." Vali remarked, frowning to himself. He had hoped that this attempt would have completely restored her arm, but in the end this had been the result. Not what he had initially hoped for, but he had to admit this was much better than the alternative of Xun Er being turned into a monster. "Well... it was a bit too far-fetched for me to think it'd completely restore your arm, but-"

Before he could finish saying what he had been thinking however, Xun Er interrupted him whilst shrugging her shoulder. "Ehhhhh, it'll do. This will be better than having one arm for the rest of my life. Besides..." Glancing down at her new arm, the Demigoddess gave a small, yet happy smile at it despite it's monstrous appearance, all whilst exercising her newly regained instincts to flex and clench the arm. "This will serve as a reminder... of what I really am. So I will never forget the roots that I came from."

Vali remained silent as he pondered this vague information, wondering what she had been talking about. All the while Nanoha aimed an anxious look towards her friend as memories of the previous monsters created by the Jewel Seeds came to mind. "Xun Er... are you feeling fine now? Not gonna… kill anyone you see?"

Knowing her fears, Xun Er shook her head whilst giving a battle ready smirk, her eyes glinting with excitement as she made two fists and punched them together. "I'm fine Nanoha, in fact, I feel…...powerful now." she replied, focusing her senses and feeling a strange... energy, within the arm. It felt foreign to her, but it also felt familiar at the same time. Thinking about it, she realized that it felt similar to Vali's demonic energy, which made sense since the arm came from his power mixed with the Jewel Seeds.

"Oh thank the Shinto Gods that your okay-"

"Alright let's stop talking and focus on our objective before Great Red comes here. Nanoha, you take Alph and Xun Er, focus on finding and sealing this Castle's Mana Generator, as according to what Lindy told me whilst I was fighting those Golems the hag's main threat source comes from the generator here that she can draw Mana from. Me and Fate meanwhile, will go to the hag herself." The boy explained/ordered, remembering a transmission that he had received from the woman shortly into his onslaught. According to it, Presea may be a high ranking criminal but that's only due to her having mastery over pulling Mana in from external sources, and with this Castle having a powerful Mana Generator, they needed to deal with that in order to weaken her.

Blinking when she heard Vali's words, Nanoha recalled the situation that they had been facing, wanting to hit herself for forgetting in light of her friend's plight in the first place. "Oh, your right Vali! Lets go, Xun Er!" she declared, offering a hand to her friend.

Xun Er nodded, a grin on her lips as she reached out with her new arm and took the offered hand. "You got it Nanoha!"

Seeing this, along with how the auburn-haired girl didn't seem to mind the abnormal arm too much, Vali nodded to himself as he deposited the Jewel Seed back inside his pocket dimension with its partner for the time being. He'd hand them in to the TSAB once all of this was done and dusted though, so that nobody like his grandfather would be able to get their grubby mits on these things ever again. Hence, he turned to Fate, offering a hand to her. "Alright Fate, grab onto me. I'll be able to carry you there faster than you can fly."

"Okay, Vali."

With that said Fate grabbed onto Vali, unfurling his silver/blue wings as he squatted down, before shooting up through the air towards where he had sensed Presea's power originating from. This farce had gone on long enough, he felt, and Vali believed the others felt the same way as they followed suit behind him. 'Time to finish this Albion, once and for all.'

'Agreed.'

"Just a little bit more and we will finally be together." Presea said to the capsule girl while looking at it lovingly, thinking that the demon won't be here on time. Sadly for her, her thoughts got proven wrong when she saw something in the space above shoot downwards like a shooting star before it landed in front of her. "YOU!"

"Well-well-well, looks like we finally meet in person, old hag." Vali sneered, a smirk on his lips as he let Fate stand on her own two feet before standing upright himself. Divine Dividing furled itself inwards whilst he held his hand out, [Glavenus] teleporting into his waiting limb as he gripped it's shaft firmly. Fate meanwhile gripped her Device tightly, her lips curved in a pensive frown as she stared at the woman she called her mother.

Yet, despite this, Presea stepped in front of the capsule containing her daughter protectively, veins bulging over her reddening face as she shouted at the silver-haired boy. "You will not stop me from reuniting with my Alicia!"

Hearing this, Vali shook his head in annoyance whilst putting a hand on his forehead. "Get a fucking grip old hag, your daughter is dead. I can even sense that her soul is gone." he stated, frowning when he looked at the girl's corpse inside the capsule. There were no signs of life he could sense, no energy readings nor a heartbeat, which pretty much confirmed to him of this girl's passing.

However, his words did not reach the obviously deranged woman as she shook her head, denying his statements. "You won't deceive me demon, Alicia is alive! I've kept her in stasis and we will be in Al Hazard together!"

"Al Hazard this Al Hazard that blah blah blah you kept saying that as if it even existed at this point. Face reality, hag, it probably was destroyed by Great Red!"

"I won't be deceived by a demon-like you! Al Hazard exists, I know it does!"

"... you really are a stubborn old hag, face it hag your daughter is dead and this girl Fate should be your daughter as well." Vali stated, gesturing to Fate with the tip of his Devil Arm. Said girl looked like she was desperately wanting to plead with Presea to consider her as her daughter like she believed she had before all of this went down, but she could hardly find the words to express them, not after looking into the deranged insanity-driven eyes of the lunatic woman before her.

Speaking of the woman, Vali's words only served to fuel the Presea's anger. "Are you telling me to think of that DOLL of Alicia as a daughter?! She will never be my daughter! Never! I hated her all this time for even looking like her!" she spat, only making Fate cringe as she tried to stop herself from crying.

"... You really are hopeless aren't you old hag?" Vali said as he got into a battle stance, [Glavenus] switched into Sword Mode. Divine Dividing also partially unfurled itself, ready for instant use. "Even if you revive your daughter, she probably will hate you for not even considering Fate…. As your daughter."

"SILENCE DEMON I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!"

"So have I, old hag."

The moment that was said, the battle began with Presea taking the first move. In a rage, she released a frenzied scream as she threw her free arm forwards, launching a blast of Mana at Vali. The arm she didn't use held her Device, which took the form of her Staff. However, the boy batted it aside with his Devil Arm, jumping forwards afterward in order to swing in a reverse horizontal arc towards the woman's neck with the intent of beheading her, even applying the weapon's HEAT EDGE for good measure. However, Presea responded to this by glancing to the side and muttering under her breath, several pieces of dislodged rock raising upwards then shooting into the space in front of her. This not only blocked Vali's attack, but they also got shattered into many smaller pieces that the woman then launched right back at him, resulting in Vali curving his Sacred Gear in front of him as a form of shielding. It worked for the most part, but he had to jump backwards once the woman swung her staff and sent a wave of Mana at him, launching him further back.

At this, Fate saw an opening and, after a brief period of hesitation, aimed Bardiche at her opponent. Said opponent noticed this, and a deranged smile spread across her purple lipstick-covered lips. "So, you DARE raise your Device at me? The one who took care of you all this time? This just proves it! You're not my daughter, and you never will be!" Presea declared as she aimed her Device at her and muttered under her breath. In the following instance, Fate saw a burst of Lightning explode forth from the Device's jewel at her, resulting in Fate quickly erecting a Barrier in front of her to try and block it. However, the girl's barrier proved to be much too weak for someone like Presea, whose Mana was still being supplied to by that Generator, hence after a couple seconds Fate cried out as she got hit by the lightning, painful sparks running rampant through her body and tearing through everything they could touch.

"Shit!"

As he saw this, Vali cursed under his breath as he switched [Glavenus] to Axe Mode and fired a couple MAG SHOT's. He couldn't use [Astalos] against this opponent because, as a fellow lightning user, Presea would definitely have some defenses set up against her own element. It's what he would have done, and for all her insanity if Presea hadn't been captured by the TSAB for as long as she had, along with being a formidable former scientist, then she had to have a considerable level of intelligence. This time when Presea repeated the same manoeuvre as before when blocking Vali's moves, the MAG SHOT's quickly proved why they were named as such when they quickly melted the earthen pieces of debris into nothingness, causing Presea's eyes to widen when Vali flew forwards and swung his Devil Arm in a diagonal horizontal and upwards angle, resulting in Presea barely blocking the strike from hitting her with her Staff, whilst being sent sliding across the room.

"Hmph, with that Generator backing you up, let's see how long you'll last against me, old hag." Vali sneered as [Glavenus] pulsated with power, ready to rumble with all the bloodlust that it exuded.

On the other hand, Presea growled as she stood tall, her arms trembling from the exertion of blocking that blow. It became obvious to her that taking Vali on in close range combat would be a bad idea, which was also given due to her being bad in that field of fighting. She specialized in mid to long-ranged attacks after all. "It would seem so. Come demon, and I'll blow you to kingdom come!" she yelled, causing Vali to chuckle in sinister amusement whilst [Glavenus] switched to Axe Mode.

"We will see about that…"

Defeat…

Pain…

Loneliness…

Despair…

Such feelings coursed through her right now, as one Fate Testarossa lay there on the ground, completely immobilized whilst she heard the sounds of Spells being thrown around her and the sounds of fire, likely from that weird weapon which that silver haired boy, Vali Lucifer she recalled her name being, dished out. She herself remained this way because she couldn't move right now, her body still wracked with electrical sparks as her nerve system had been shot thanks to the Spell disabling her motor functions. This would only be temporary though, as she had been chanting a Healing Spell in her mind to try and restore her motor functions enough to return to the fight…

The fight…

With the woman she called mother, a maternal figure who should have just accepted her as her daughter… only to not only reject that, but also force her to fight and thus get herself into this mess.

This revelation sent wave after wave of despair through her, to the point where she felt like she was trapped in an ocean of it and being rendered unable to escape. Even more saddening, was that Fate wasn't unfamiliar with this feeling either, having felt it creeping up through the back of her mind whenever she had tried, and failed, to win the love of her mother. It just seemed to have finally swallowed her whole after this latest rejection along a line of many, yet the worse one of them by far.

(Flashack)

"Are you telling me to think of that DOLL of Alicia as a daughter?! She will never be my daughter! Never! I hated her all this time for even looking like her!"

(Flashback END)

The words that her mother had said to her continued to haunt her over and over, fuelling the waves of despair that drove her further and further into the abyss. In the end, she guessed that her familiar Alph had been right all along, Fate realized as she felt like her consciousness had fallen into a deep, dark void, slowly descending further into total oblivion. Her familiar had always told her that her efforts would only end in vain, that her mother was too far gone at this point to be able to recognize her. She would only see Fate as a tool, a means to an end for her own purposes. Heck, even before the final battle with that girl, Nanoha Takamachi, had begun, Alph had mysteriously vanished leaving Fate to wonder where she had gone. Mysteriously, her mother had been in an even fuller mood than usual, which until now Fare hadn't really thought about, but perhaps… perhaps there was a connection there.

But… what was the use anymore?

She had lost it, her entire reason for living. She couldn't get her mother's love, no matter how hard she tried. Thanks to Vali, she had heard her mother's true feelings, not to mention that he had said pretty much what she had wanted to say all along, as if he had known how she had felt right down to the very core. Perhaps… Perhaps he did, Fate thought, remembering what Vali had said about having lost someone important to him. In the end though, it didn't matter all the same, she had lost everything she had at this point, her reason for living, her one true wish, to the point where Fate doubted even something as miraculous as the Jewel Seeds would have been able to grant the wish that she had, and fill this gaping hole in her heart…

…It's not fair.

Why? WHY?! What had she done to deserve this?! All she had ever wanted was her mother's love, was that too much to ask for, or something? Was it wrong to want to be cherished by a familial member?! To grow up in a loving home, to have a father who would teach her how to live, to have a mother who would greet her with warm hugs, to have siblings to scold and cherish at the same time?! Was all of that too much to ask?! WHY?! IT WASN'T FAIR, IT WASN'T FAIR AT ALL DAMNIT! WHERE WAS HER HAPPY ENDING?! HAD SHE NOT DONE ENOUGH TO DESERVE IT?! WHY WAS THE WORLD SO DAMN FUCKING UNFAIR?!

She hated this.

Fate hated ALL of this.

Not having anything to call her own, it sickened her, it frustrated her to no end, heck it could possibly drive her insane like her so-called 'mother' did. She'd never known the things that the memories implanted into her, not truly. They weren't even hers, but the memories of someone else, used as a means to keep her 'tethered' to an impossible goal, like some sort of sadistic torture device meant to control her entire life. She was sick of it, she was sick of ALL OF IT!

TO HELL WITH ALICIA!

TO HELL WITH PRESEA TESTAROSSA!

TO HELL WITH EVERYTHING!

EVERYTHIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

"... UFUFUFUFUFUFU...:"

"?!"

All of a sudden, Fate gasped as she heard something within the depths of her mind, echoing from a place in her subconsciousness much deeper than anything she had ever thought possible. Not only did it snap Fate out of her despair-induced insanity, but it also gave her something else to focus on other than her own pathetic self.

"My, how interesting. For you to have fallen as far as I once had, to have fallen into the depths of the abyss… enough to finally make me stir…"

Once again, the voice spoke, which reassured Fate that she wasn't losing what little remained of her sanity. The girl would have tried to look around to see where the voice had come from, however thanks to most of her motor functions being disabled she couldn't really do much of that. All she could do was move her eyes around, and even that was pushing it whilst strangled gasps of air escaped her lips.

Yet, despite this, despite her body begging for air like a beggar on the streets clawing for food, struggling to reach the top which contained her paradise, Fate's mind became a calm landscape, the storm of chaos which had previously plagued it becoming silent, subdued. Whether it was by her own will or the presence of this new voice, she didn't know, Fate didn't know anything anymore, she just felt so… done… with everything. She wanted to change herself… she didn't want to remain this way anymore…

"KIHIHIHIHIHIHIIIIIIII…! How DELIGHTFUL! For someone so pure, so earnest, to want to remake yourself through the dark cycle of madness…. Yes! YES! This will work, perfectly!"

The voice… it sounded not just delighted as if it had seemingly read her very thoughts, but it also sounded close, so close that she could almost feel it's breath on her neck. Shudders fell down her spine, and soon enough Fate no longer needed to look around for the voice's source, for directly above her a figure shrouded in dark black mist began to manifest, trails of it coming from… HERSELF, to create this figure. The figure soon took on a more physical form, and to Fate's surprise it took the form of… a MAN. He wore an outfit similar to one which men wore during something on earth called the 'Victorian Era', Fate recalled. She remembered it being named as a 'gentleman suit' whilst it also came with something she remembered being called a 'steampunk top hat'. The man also wore a monocle filled with gears on his right eye and a pouch on his left thigh.

"Well then little lady, you managed to awaken me at long last, but what a sorry state you are. Besides having had your life stolen from you by that wretched mother of yours, she's also dictating your decisions at this very moment. What will you do now, then? Will you abide by your words? Or will you remain a tool, to never be able to live on your own…"

The man asked her this with a rather sweet, sincere-looking smile… but to Fate, that smile looked like anything but sincere. In fact, she saw it more as a psychotic kind of smile, like one a person who was so deranged that they had distanced themselves from reality would wear. Yet, despite that, there was a form of elegance about this, something which split him off from her mother who would just beat her whenever she did something wrong. This wasn't just mindless malice before her… no, this felt like PURE malice, malice in the truest sense of the word, and to Fate…

It looked goddamn beautiful.

Her eyes gave the man all the answer he needed, proof being when he gave a wide grin with a twisted sense of insanity invading his eyes, taking away from that gentleman persona he had at the beginning. He didn't say any more, for there was no need, and instead he aimed his right hand at her. In that moment…

Fate felt like she began to change. She felt something inside her, wriggling, STRUGGLING to break free from the confines which had restrained it for so long. It struggled fiercely as if it had waited for this opportunity for so long that it drove the thing insane with desire for freedom, something which Fate slowly began to understand and grasp, finding it similar to what she truly wanted right now…

Freedom.

With that, Fate used what little strength she could muster, she used it to slowly open her mouth, and when she was able to open it wide enough…

She SCREAMED.

"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

A loud scream, filled with so many emotions that it would be impossible to tell them all, ripped through the air itself like a beast shredding through flesh with impossibly sharp claws. This scream, understandably, caused both Vali and Presea to stop in their fighting to look on over to where it had originated from, only to feel their jaws metaphorically dislodge themselves from their skulls.

"Wha…?!" Vali gaped as he saw a bunch of black mist burst forth from a screaming Fate, who had her right arm upwards as if reaching for the heavens above. The mist spewed out of her back, rose up around her and concealed her form from view, save only for a vague outline as smaller trails of the mist spread out across the room to which Vali had to cover his face with his right arm. 'What the hell is going on here?! What's that mist coming out of that girl?!' Vali mentally exclaimed.

'Th-This is-!'

It would seem that Vali was the only one in the dark about this scenario, since Albion just seemed stunned as all hell, heck he could even feel the stunned shock of [Glavenus] too, as the Devil Arm seemed to tremble visibly in his grasp despite the tightness of his grip.

Then there was Presea...

"No… IMPOSSIBLE! SHE NEVER SHOWED ANY SIGNS OF IT MANIFESTING!"

The woman looked like she would hyperventilate at any moment now unlike Vali, as her eyes had shrunk to the size of saucers whilst trembling so much that it almost looked like she would go under a spaz attack. Her teeth chatted together like she had found herself naked in the middle of a frozen tundra, especially at what she thought were a pair of demonic-looking crimson eyes that opened up in the smoke, bearing down on her like they were looking at a filthy worm, an ugly little maggot that deserved to be squashed, invoking a sense of fear as well as anger from the woman as she tried to launch a strike at Alicia's Homunculus….

SCHULUCK!

Only for the mist to vanish and a blur to race past her, followed by a sense of emptiness on her right side. "Eh…?" The woman whispered under her breath, before her eyes shifted their gaze over to where she'd felt the emptiness only to find that… she now lacked a right arm, right down to the socket. Nothing of it remained, it had just VANISHED, much to the shock of her as well as the onlooking Vali.

Where was the arm?

Whelp, the sound of metallic rattling soon answered that as Presea twirled behind her and looked to where Fate now stood, free from the restraints that her lightning had imposed on her previously. Not only that, but aside from being covered by her usual Barrier Jacket, Fate had turned Bardiche back into its jewel form and placed it back into her pocket, making way for the OTHER weapon in her hand. It took the form of a Scythe, a jet-black scythe to be more precise. It had an unusually-shaped blade along with a long, slightly-curved handle with vertebrae-like details, and finally a flat bottom grip. Although, with how it seemed to radiate an aura like that mist which had erupted from Fate earlier, that Scythe seemed like no ordinary Scythe at all.

'...It MUST be. It's the only thing I can think of.'

'What is it, Albion? What's with that thing?'

'...It would appear that Fate indeed has awakened to a Sacred Gear, Vali, much like yourself.'

'WHAT?! BUT HOW?! ISN'T FATE NOT FROM EARTH, HOW CAN SHE HAVE A SACRED GEAR?!'

'I believe that her mother has something to do with it, judging by her words. I also think this is what she meant by an unharnessed 'potential' earlier, she must have been hoping that this Sacred Gear would awaken within Fate to make her more useful as a pawn, but only now has it manifested. I can understand why, given it's history…'

'What history? What's the deal with that Scythe?'

'... It comes from the first ever Reaper, Vali. The race who serves Hades, lord of the Underworld. Can't recall who he was, but that one had been much more powerful than the rest of his kind, yet also the most unpredictable. This Reaper went wild whenever it pleased, and even Hades himself had trouble controlling it since it could reap the souls of divine entities with practiced ease. I believe that it once tried to reap the Biblical God's soul though, but got its own soul pretty much wrecked in the process. Not only was it turned into a Sacred Gear which reflected it's signature weapon whilst taking on it's name, the Dead Scythe, but God had pretty much erased his consciousness from his Soul meaning that it's a Sentient Sacred Gear like myself and Ddraig, but without any proper intelligence… at least, that's how it SHOULD be. But, something's not right here, it shouldn't be this… corrupted, for lack of a better word.'

'You think that old hag has something to do with it?'

Before Albion could respond, Fate (whose right eye) had turned red, aimed a small, almost gentlemanly smile towards the woman she once called 'mother' whilst pointing the Scythe at her. Said weapon's aura swelled, enlarging in response to the emotions which flowed through its wielder at the moment. "Now then, 'mother'... you've been a rather rude old lady, to the younger generation… Therefore, I believe that it's most appropriate to deliver some spankings. Now then, shall I start teaching you some manners?"

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, DING!"

The sound of an elevator could be heard from inside of a room.

When it's doors opened up, it revealed it's occupants to be Nanoha, Alph and Xun Er, the group of them having just entered the main reactor which had turned out to be Presea's magic source. As long as that Generator remained intact, then the woman would have access to a near endless supply of Mana, hence they needed to seal it away so it couldn't be used any more. Not to mention that without it, Presea wouldn't be able to cause any dimensional disturbance. However, trouble seemed to have been waiting for them, since when they had exited the elevator, the trio saw multiple Golem standing there, guarding the main reactor.

Seeing the amount of them made her eyes widen briefly, before they steeled themselves with determination. This wasn't the time to wuss out, since the stakes were as high as they were. Nanoha prepared to face them but a hand was in front of her as Xun Er stopped her by putting her arm out in front of the young girl. "Eh? Xun Er?" Nanoha questioned, blinking owlishly.

Looking at her friend with a slight smirk on her lips, Xun Er explained her reasoning behind her actions. "Let me handle this Nanoha, you and Alph go on ahead without me. You need to get to that reactor for that ceiling anyways, and Alph can be your defence. plus I want to see how my new arm is." she explained, rolling the shoulder connected to said arm as if to emphasize it. Lastly, she looked at the various amounts of golems, and a shudder of excitement formed within her as her inner Sekhmet began to come to the surface, called upon by her will.

When she saw all this, Nanoha pursed her lips. Something had changed about her friend, ever since that battle with Monsoon, of that she felt certain. Actually, now that she thought about it, this felt less like Xun Er had changed into someone more like Vali, and instead more like she had returned to what she should have been, completing herself. Nanoha got this feeling when she had looked into her friend's eyes and saw the mix of excitement along with the bloodlust shining within. Eventually, though, she decided to let Xun Er do her thing, since she indeed had a point considering what she had said. They needed to get a move on, and if Xun Er could form an opening for them to pass through these Golems without combating them, then all the better. "...okay Xun Er, be safe!"

"Oh I will Nanoha, now go and destroy that generator."

"Got it!"

To that end, Nanoha burst forth with the silent Alph following right behind her, having chosen to remain silent as she didn't have anything to contribute to the discussion. Plus, she just wanted all of this to end already so she and Fate could move on with their lives. As she saw them move through the room, Xun Er noticed the Golems try to stop their progress, only for such attempts to end in failure thanks to herself employing her signature TRIGRAM PALM technique to flood the whole area with golden fists which had tints of purple on their forms at this point. Mostly thanks to her Sekhmet Mode starting to activate a little, but in the end it resulted in Nanoha and Alph being able to get through safely which had been her intent from the beginning… all the while her actions served to get the attention of every Golem in the room. All eyes fell onto her, just the way Xun Er wanted it as she flexed her new arm in readiness. The moment she did so, Xun Er noticed a larger, more spectral version of her arm manifest beside her, it's size similar to that of a Giant's now that she got a good look at it. As such, a battle ready smile formed on her lips as she strode forwards, clenching her new arm's hand into a fist which the spectral one also mimicked, letting her know of the connection between the two. "Now then boys��. You'll be the first victim of testing my new arm out." she declared, a faintly psychotic yet icy cold chuckle escaping her lips…

Before she jumped forwards.

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