“Eleia!” Asclei shouted telepathically.
“Yes?” A sweet voice of a young woman echoed inside Asclei’s head.
“Data gathering is complete. Move to point F39 and destroy the Black Panther.” Asclei inquired
“As you wish” Eleia replied.
Right after the transmission ended, sixteen Aldian airborne units were sighted. They were headed towards Fate and Asclei’s location. As the airborne units prepared to open fire, a thick blue-colored energy blast suddenly engulfed four of them. After a few seconds, a small projectile hit another unit, and homed directly to the rest of them. When Asclei looked at the direction where the spells came from, he saw a black clothed mage levitating.
Chrono Harlaown had joined the battle. When Chrono noticed the ground artillery units from afar, he then raised Durandal and gave his command.
“Temporal Coffin!”
The targeted artillery units on the ground were immediately covered by ice in just a few seconds. Some soldiers managed to get away, but the support vehicles were not as fortunate as them. Several Aldian knights charged to Chrono in hopes of putting his spell to a stop, but the TSAB mages intercepted them.
“Ara ara”
A girl uttered with a surprised look on her face while crouching on top of a tree branch.
She was wearing a black cloak, and was carrying a short-sword with her. It was Eleia.
“It seems I’m deprived of my duty now that the Black Panther is frozen solid”
“What a shame…”
Eleia sighed with disappointment as she twiddled her silky hair.
After disabling the nearby enemy units, Chrono rushed towards Fate‘s location.
“Fate! Are you okay?” He asked as he landed in front of his sister. Chrono immediately turned around facing the direction where his last spell made hit.
“Thank you, Onii-chan.” Fate responded.
“I’ll be providing fire-support from here on. Let‘s get this over with.” Chrono replied.
“What about Varuna?” Fate asked.
“I left Malus in-charged,” Chrono answered back.
“More importantly…” Chrono looked at the direction where Asclei was standing at.
“He finally came out,” Asclei smirked.
“Fate” Chrono muttered.
“Yes, Onii-chan!” Fate answered back.
The Harlaown siblings kicked off the ground, and charged to their opponent at full speed. Asclei did the same when he saw the two approaching him. Chrono attacked first and used Blaze Cannon; however, it was split in half by Asclei when it reached him. The Aldian knight then turned around, and deflected Fate’s Haken Saber. Without warning, Fate appeared to his right, and carried out a diagonal slash with Bardiche’s Haken Form, but Asclei jumped away to avoid the attack. Fate chased after him and performed a horizontal slash, but Asclei ducked to avoid it. Before Bardiche passed by completely on top of his head, Asclei grabbed the pole section of Bardiche with his left hand. As he rose back to standing position, Asclei forcefully pulled the device which caused Fate to move involuntarily towards him. The knight immediately used his right elbow to hit Fate on her stomach. When the attack made hit, a trail of lighting was seen on Fate‘s back as if something pierced her. She was then pushed back several yards away from Asclei, and collided with countless of trees in the process.
In order to come to a full stop, Fate used all of her strength, and planted Bardiche, and her feet into the ground to reduce her momentum. She then collided with a big rock at the end, and finally came to a full stop. The impact between the two created fractures on the boulder’s surface. Fate then dropped to her knees, and coughed several times. She tried to get back on her feet, but the attack that she received was so strong to the point where it prevented her from standing upright. In addition, the posterior surface of her body suffered from terrible pain due to the collision between her back, the trees, and the boulder.
Chrono and Asclei in the other hand kept on unleashing their attacks nonstop. Like Fate, Chrono was overwhelmed by Asclei’s strength. All he could do was slow the knight down by using his shooting spells.
“To think that Fate managed to hold off this monster for a long period of time…” Chrono clenched his teeth.
He then created fifteen Stinger Shells (Upgrade version of Stinger Snipe) and directed them to Asclei. The knight evaded each projectile by flying constantly while making sharp turns. When all of the projectiles were close to one another, and reached his range, Asclei immediately used Lightning Crest to destroy all of Chrono‘s Stinger Shells. Before the smoke faded, Asclei flew out of it, and used his shooting spell, “Rail Shot” against Chrono. The mage responded to Asclei’s attack by using Stinger Shells which Chrono controlled, and collided against his enemy’s shooting spell.
“His accuracy is truly frightening. It’s impressive that he has precise control over that much amount of projectiles all at once,” Asclei uttered.
The Aldian knight then charged at Chrono, and carried out a vertical slash but the mage blocked the attack with his left hand which generated a thick shield. With his right hand, Chrono immediately pointed Durandal against Asclei. The tip of Durandal was only an inch away from the knight’s forehead.
“Oh crap…” Asclei thought to himself.
“Infernalis!” Chrono commanded.
When Asclei saw the bombardment spell ready to be unleashed, he prepared to jump out of the way, but Chrono cast Delayed Bind in advance to prevent him from escaping. The chains started to bind Asclei from his lower limbs. Before it restrained him completely, Asclei pulled back his device immediately. He held Silvance in front of him in a position where the flat surface of the sword was facing Chrono. Asclei then placed his left hand at the back of his sword serving as a support. When the Infernalis was released, the thick beam of light devoured Asclei completely which pushed him downwards to the forest.
Chrono immediately began to cast Stinger Blades, and rained them down towards his opponent. Chrono had no intentions of giving Asclei any time to recover. The black mage kept raining down his spells against Asclei mercilessly. After thirty seconds, Chrono stopped the barrage of attacks. Before the smoke from ground faded, Chrono immediately used a stronger bombardment spell.
“Aufeis… Raid!”
A beam of light surrounded by multiple rings was released, and descended towards the crash site. When the spell made hit, a blinding light was unleashed. When it disappeared, blue colored particles were scattered in the atmosphere. The whole area where Asclei crashed was completely covered by thick ice. There were blue colored flames all over the area as well. When a tree branch fell on the flame, instead of being burned, the branch became covered by ice. Chrono continued to levitate while looking down at the crash site.
“Onii-chan!”
The approaching Fate shouted.
“You were blown away pretty far. Are you okay?” Chrono asked with a concerned look on his face.
“My body hurts all over, but I can still go on.” Fate replied while laughing away the pain that she’s feeling.
“You’re pushing yourself too much. Don’t hesitate to return to Varuna and get proper treatment before your condition gets worse,” Chrono replied.
“That’s okay. Its not as bad as you think,” Fate answered back with a smile on her face.
Chrono sighed, and made a face palm.
“Alright, alright. Geez…. You, Hayate and Nanoha are too diligent sometimes. At least think of those who worry about your safety. If it gets too dangerous, don’t hesitate to retreat or ask for reinforcements. These Aldians are different from the ones that you’ve fought in the past after all.”
Chrono then turned around, and looked back at Fate.
“I’ll go on ahead and join our forces in the front. You go and provide back up to Teana. Once you two are done with the other knight, I want you two to join the rest of us immediately.” Chrono commanded
“Roger, Admiral Chrono” Fate replied while nodding her head.
When Fate prepared to leave, a pillar of light suddenly broke through the frozen area where Chrono’s last spell made hit. Asclei used Ascension once again, a powerful thrust attack with a high penetration rate. It was the very same technique that Asclei used to break through Fate’s Trident Smasher during their battle the other night. The only difference was that instead of dashing forward, Asclei leaped diagonally when he carried out the thrust.
“Just as I thought, the signal is clearer up here,” Asclei said to himself.
“Shanon, how‘s your progress?” Asclei communicated telepathically as he levitated in midair.
“I’ve successfully infiltrated the ship, and just finished disguising myself as a TSAB staff member. I‘m about to arrive to the target point in a few seconds.” Shanon replied.
“It would take at least ten minutes to remove the virus on the systems of Varuna. Please try to hold off the two of them for now. If they get to close, they might sense my presences inside their ship, and notify the crew about it.” Shanon uttered in a calm voice.
“Alright. I’ll deal with these two for the time being. Just focus on removing the virus.” Asclei replied.
Asclei and Shanon immediately ceased their telepathic communication with one another, and focused on their objectives.
“Even though I said that, fending off these two without killing them is going to be difficult,” Asclei responded.
He then looked down to the awestricken Harlaown siblings in the lower altitude. Fate and Chrono were astonished from what they had witnessed. For a few seconds, Chrono stood speechless. Asclei in the other hand stood silently, and gazed at the two Harlaown siblings. He was completely unaware of the murderous glare he was giving out. The aura surrounding him was different from before. Asclei’s current figure, and presence triggered a person’s survival instinct. An average mage would have retreated right away to avoid imminent death. Despite of their instincts telling them to run, the Harlaown siblings persisted. Fate who had not sensed a murderous intent of this level before was stricken by fear, but she decided to stand her ground. Chrono who saw his sister’s condition decided to move in front of her, and extended his arm as if creating a barricade between Fate and Asclei.
“Defending Varuna for three hours is going to be difficult with this guy around,” Chrono gritted his teeth due to the grim situation that he and his comrades were in.
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--------------Meanwhile...--------------
After using the Starlight Breaker that was meant to take down Lanos, Teana lost her only trump card to win her battle against the aldian knight. The used mana in the environment were also insufficient to enable her to cast the spell once more. Teana was on her knees; breathing, and perspiring heavily. She was surprised that Lanos didn’t took advantage of the golden opportunity at all.
After catching her breath, Teana slowly stood up once more. She raised her head and looked at her opponent face to face, and leaped with all her might. Teana then began to unleash a series of shooting spells towards her opponent, but Lanos brushed them off with his wind spells like it was nothing.
After seeing Teana charging towards him again, Lanos began to cast Aero Strain. A thin layer of wind wrapped around Teana, and restrained her. Before Lanos could carry out his next move, the captured Teana reduced into magic particles.
“A Silhoutte?! Again?! That‘s foul play!” Lanos gasped.
“Flashmove!”
A voice loudly echoed . Without warning, Teana appeared above him. Lanos cast another Aero Strain, but his spell was split horizontally in half. The knight immediately jumped back before the blade could touch him. The orange-colored blade would’ve cut Lanos on the neck if he didn’t retreat immediately. Before Lanos could counter, Teana raised her other arm that had Cross Mirage on its gun form, and started shooting nonstop at her adversary. Lanos in the other hand responded by making a shield to defend himself. He then followed by casting Wind Cutter but Teana used a barrier to defend herself.
“To think she can still fight like this in her current condition… ” Lanos grinned.
“Lanos, do you read me?” A deep manly voice ringed into Lanos’ head.
“This gar-tasic voice that seems to belong to a disgusting macho man…is that you, Drake?” Lanos responded.
“Save the jokes for later. I’d like to inform both of you that things are going smoothly on our side,” Drake reported.
“Sierra-sama also succeeded in capturing the transport vehicles in Luthergrand. Right now, we are about to proceed to stage six of the plan,” Drake reported.
“I see. The only thing left now is Varuna’s systems recovery then,” Lanos smirked while he avoided the continuous barrage of magic projectiles that were being thrown at him by Teana.
“This is Shanon. I managed to remove the virus; however, some of the ship’s systems had taken damage. The defense, and armament systems of Varuna are not fully operational,” Shanon telepathically informed Asclei.
“What about its the Navigation System?!” Asclei replied while he was exchanging blows with Fate and Chrono.
“Many pieces of the data were destroyed. With me alone, it would probably take me about four hours to restore them,” Shanon responded.
“That’s far too long!” Lanos shouted telepathically.
“Shanon, pack all of your equipments,and prepare to move to the next phase of the plan, ”Asclei commanded.
“Sir?” Shanon replied.
“With their numbers, the TSAB personnel should be able to handle that task on their own. The troublesome virus had been removed too. Given our current situation, we cannot work together openly with them just yet,” Asclei responded as he avoided Fate’s Trident Smasher.
“Affirmative,” Shanon nodded.
“If that is the case I’ll move to the next step of the plan then,” Lanos yelled out.
“Make your downfall a dramatic one,” Asclei responded sarcastically.
“Yeah. Too bad you won‘t get to see me in my best acting performance,” Lanos cried out.
“Ah~… The most painful part of the operation has finally come,” Lanos sighed while he shook his head
“Well, we can’t forsake our position as sleeping agents for Albion just yet, I guess I have no choice…” Lanos looked displeased.
The knight then raised his head and looked towards Teana’s direction.
“Well, here I go!”
Lanos then ascended with all of his might. After he reached a higher altitude than Teana, Lanos then flew diagonally towards her at top speed. He was like a fighter plane that was going to carry out a suicide attack by ramming against his opponent.
As he headed towards Teana, a sphere of wind in a size of a basketball formed on his palms with immense wind pressure. Teana responded by casting Shoot Barret F to slow down her opponent so can prepare to defend against it. Unfortunately for her, Lanos destroyed her spells by colliding his Aerosphere against them. Teana was surprised from what she saw. Even though the Aerosphere took all of the damage, the spell didn’t cancel or shrink in size at all. Teana was finally on Lanos’ range. The knight then thrust his arm with the Aerosphere on it. Teana knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid it on time, thus, she created a shield to protect herself. She managed to block the Aerosphere for several seconds, but due to the spell’s strength, Teana was pushed back diagonally towards the ground and crashed along with her adversary. Since Lanos kept pushing his Aerosphere against his opponent, Teana was completely pinned down to the ground. The surface of the land where her back was leaning against started to crumble apart. With nowhere to run, Teana struggled to maintain the form of her defensive spell. Unfortunately for her, the Aerosphere was far too strong and thus, her barrier started to shatter. Finally, the Aerosphere pierced through her defensive spell. At that very same moment, Lanos deactivated his spell. As the magic particles from the Aerosphere floated in front of her, Teana immediately grabbed Lanos‘s wrist with all her might to prevent him from flying away. Teana wanted to ensure that her last spell would make a direct hit. As she held Lanos who was on top of her, Teana immediately cast her new spell, Cross Barrage. Five Midchildan magic arrays appeared above the two. The magic arrays were in a cross formation. The first four arrays represented the four angles of a square and the fifth one appeared on the center. Lanos looked above, and saw multiple projectiles similar to divine shooter came crashing down. He was hit all over his back by over thirty projectiles simultaneously. The spell was finally about to come to a full stop, but the last projectile that was crashing down was headed towards Teana’s head.
“What the?” Lanos gasped.
“Don’t tell me she has not control over this spell!” Lanos thought to himself.
Unable to avoid it, Teana closed her eyes, and heard the explosion; However, she found it odd that she didn’t feel anything at all. When she opened her eyes, she saw Lanos who took the damage for her by placing his head on the line of fire, resulting with a massive bleeding on the back of his head. Teana was surprised from what she just saw. In addition, she didn’t know how to react especially since the man that she was fighting seriously several minutes ago protected her.
“T-that sure was a risky move back there…” Lanos said with a pained voice.
“Even if it was meant to take me down, endangering yourself as well was too much.“
“Desperate to protect your comrades to that extent, huh? How admirable” Lanos stroked Teana’s bangs as he uttered his words in a soft, gentle voice.
“What is he up to?” Teana asked herself.
With a serious tone and glittering eyes, Lanos exclaimed, “S-sorry if I was too rough on you….but…will you at least let me die….between your soft, smooth breasts?…”
“Huh!?” Teana responded.
She was stupefied from what she just heard. Out of reflex, she punched Lanos with all the strength remained in her.
“AAAHN~!” Lanos shouted as the punch made hit.
He sounded like a girl who was tickled on her sensitive spot. Lanos was thrown off of Teana, and when he hit the ground, he was in a prone position with his arms and legs spread apart.
“Ah~ your really are the best, Tea-chan” Lanos murmured as if satisfied from the outcome.
“What the hell is wrong with him?!!!” Teana cried out.
“I’m deeply in love with you, that’s what’s wrong with me, Tea-chan~“ Lanos whispered to himself.