Silence had ruled when Subaru sacrificed herself. They'd stared in horror at the wreck that remained, but as if that wasn't enough the Absolution had proceeded with annihilating that, too. With clenched fists and teeth gritted, Nanoha pushed back the turmoil inside her, cutting it off from reaching the surface. Judging from the strained, wide-eyed expressions from the three around her, she wasn't the only one. Grief morphed into rage as their faces scrounged up and their breathing grew deeper.
"She did that to protect them," Vivio said. "To protect Teana. And the others."
"Dumbass. The idiot." Vita looked away, clutching Graf Eisen in a shaking hand. "Didn't even tell us. She knew we would've talked her out of it!"
"No, I don't think so." Signum crossed her arms. "I don't think she planned it. It just happened."
I don't care about the whys, Nanoha thought.
She's gone. That's what we have to face. Dammit, Subaru.
With reinforcements on the field, their numbers became even. The TSAB fired accurate magical beams from far away, outside the hostiles' range. Working in pairs, the Warships would use the Sea over and over as an instant teleportation device, moving further away from the incoming Absolution ships as they approached. One by one the battlecruisers exploded, split in part, and outright ruptured. A few TSAB ships too slow to align suffered similar fates, acting as shields for the rest of the fleet.
But something loomed in the back of Nanoha's head, suppressed by shock, and that was the titan. All it had done since arriving on the field was to send out shuttles to the surface, but that couldn't be its only purpose. The support fleet partly explained why it might be undefended, lacking any offensive weapons and solely acting as a colony ship, but that didn't fit with the Absolution. They had some kind of ace up their sleeve and she had a feeling they'd soon show it.
At this point, the forty or so TSAB Warships were split up into three main battlegroups: One was closer to the enemy, trying to shield those further away; the second was in the middle backing the first group up; the third was at a far distance, providing long-range fire support. The whole battle had come to a stalemate as the Absolution's defenses started absorbing some of the TSAB's firepower, but, at the same time, they didn't have the range to attack back.
Nanoha's hope rose. This might be their chance while the hostile fleet was distracted. Focus returning, she pushed away Subaru — as awful as it felt — and said, "You want to take a gamble?" They looked at her as one, eyebrows raised. "Put this ship on a collision course with the main battlecruiser fleet. Go back to the Harbingers, fly to that titan, and take it over."
Silence. They stared at her as if insane.
Vita broke into roaring laughter as she faced Nanoha. "I'm in! Let's do it."
"It's our only chance, right?" Vivio said. "For Subaru's sake, it's what we have to do."
"A sound plan," Signum grunted, nodding. "We create a diversion of our own, buying the TSAB fleet some time. It should be enough to even the score."
"It's settled, then." Nanoha accessed the codebreaker again and wrote a few short commands into the dreadnought's control system. The software in the
Messiah started to change, rewriting itself. It pinged once it was done. Nanoha double-checked its course and pushed a button on the console. The ship shuddered and started to tilt, aligning towards the Absolution fleet. With a few thousand tons heading towards them, they had to respond.
"Now let's go."
*
They found their Pecs where they had left them and put them on, entered the airlock and cycled through. Space was as it always had been, though since the dreadnought had changed course all she could see was Mid-Childa above her, filling her visor. Her soles let go of the hull and she drifted into Huginn, settling in the seat. Once Vivio was inside the canopy closed and the systems came online, illuminating the cockpit.
[I knew you would come back, Ladies,] Huginn said.
She noticed a hint of happiness in it and she smiled. "You know what to do, don't you?"
[I do indeed.]
An objective marker appeared on her visor and the Harbinger let go of the hull with a shudder, drifting off with a soft push from its thrusters.
[As a mere precaution, I must make you aware that our energy levels are starting to deplete. I advise avoiding combat as much as possible for the time being.]
"Only dodging then, right?" Nanoha said.
[If possible.]
"We can try."
The two Harbingers shot forward, engines flaring. On her grid map, Nanoha could see a horde of Fighters coming to welcome them as they drew closer to the hostile fleet. She counted forty at the most, splitting up into two groups to overwhelm the Harbingers separately.
"Dodging won't be enough for this," Nanoha said and pushed the front thrusters, forcing the craft to a complete halt. The G-forces threw her head forward, accompanied by a grunt of pain. Harbinger Two slowed down, but didn't stop. "Vivio, get ready. It's time to put you to the test, Huginn, even if it drains us a little too much."
[As you wish. I will make sure our energy supplies will be sufficient. Siege Mode activated.] The Harbinger shuddered as its hull remodeled itself. Its delta-wings became smaller, pulling themselves into the hull, and the front beam turrets moved further apart and became longer. The front thrusters withdrew into the hull and two extra thrusters emerged on their stern.
"Signum, Vita. Stay in Assault Mode and support us."
"Roger."
"Raising Heart, link up with Huginn."
[Yes, Master.]
The pendant around her neck morphed with Huginn, magical cables connecting with the cockpit through various ports. The blue ambient light pulsed with a red hue as the connection pended, until it settled with a deep purple once it was established.
[Uplink complete.] A merged version between Huginn and Raising Heart echoed in the cockpit. Strange at first, she soon adjusted to it.
[Parameters optimal. Energy levels satisfactory.] It —they — paused.
[Master Lady, we can be shot.]
"Fighters locked," Vivio said. "Firing solution is go. Tracking is green. Ready to fire."
Nanoha gripped the joysticks and steeled herself. All or nothing. "Divine Siege Buster Extension!"
Energy accumulated at the bow, lightning sparking between the turrets. A second later a massive beam erupted from its center, bursting out into space. It enveloped most of the Fighters, vaporizing them before they had time to react. The thrusters on the stern burned as they countered the massive recoil as the beam continued its onslaught and bent, aiming for a few more Fighters unlucky enough to turn at the wrong moment. Their hulls glowed as the beam washed over their weak shields and melted their armor in a heartbeat, small explosions glinting within the beam's funnel.
After that group had been destroyed, the beam evaporated and Huginn reverted back to Assault Mode automatically. The light pulsated back to its blue state and Raising Heart returned to hanging around Nanoha's neck. Their energy levels were low, but enough to get them to where they wanted.
"So that's what you can do," Nanoha said and grinned as Harbinger Two cleaned up the remaining Fighters, tearing them apart as they came in too close. They made short work of them and joined Harbinger One when they were done.
Nanoha's helmet pinged. The visuals showed her a strange phenomena at the titan's bow. It was similar to the effect it had had when it appeared, except it was smaller. And more menacing.
[Warning! Massive space-time disturbance detected. Advise caution.]
Nanoha banked to port, putting some distance between the TSAB fleet in case that's where the titan planned to fire. The cockpit was silent, her heart beating in her chest as she observed a ball of darkness growing larger, spinning with lightning dancing on its surface round and round. It had no real shape or form. The titan harnessed blackness.
"What is that thing?" Vivio asked in a voice of wonder.
Nanoha couldn't answer. She just stared at it, a vile taste rising in her throat. She tried to open a channel to Hayate, but she still couldn't connect. The thing forming in front of her was foreboding, terrifying. A phrase passed by her mind, words forming a truth she didn't want to acknowledge.
"It can't be," she whispered. "A doomsday weapon. Power of God."
Lucifer unleashed its reckoning. The black orb travelled away from the titan's bow, passing through the Absolution battlecruisers as if they weren't there. They remained unaffected as the ball moved, lightning dancing on the ships' surface, towards the first TSAB battlegroup and picked up speed. Nanoha expected the Warships to die — she wasn't sure what to expect from the black orb —, but it passed through them without harming them. The farther it went, the more its spin increased. White rays of light and glowing lightning strikes hopped on its surface and it was hard keeping track of its shape, to create a fitting mental image. It became unfocused, blurring, then returning to a black orb and blurred again, repeating it over and over.
However, when it reached the second battlegroup it froze, right in the middle of them. The dancing light vanished and the void pulsated outwards once. It started to shrink with increasing speed while the TSAB battlegroup dispersed, trying to escape into the Sea. They tore holes into the space fabric and transitioned into them.
Too late, Nanoha thought, holding her breath.
The orb shrank to the size of a football — Huginn calculated the size based on its sensors —and the Warships within its invisible area of influence were
pulled towards it, forced out from their portals of salvation. Their engines went haywire trying to adjust their bearings as their hulls pointed this way and that, no logic applying to the way they were going. One Warship drifted on its side, with its thrusters' flames raging on full power in the other direction. Complete and utter chaos ruled the battlegroup. Nanoha could only imagine the sheer turmoil the crew went through as they fought against an invisible force, trying to get their ship back under control and avoid whatever fate waited for them.
Some Warships started to fire their beams and missiles at the orb of darkness, revealing another odd property; the beams bent and slowed until they stood still. No beam reached the core of the orb. Missiles came to a halt, frozen in time. They didn't move or explode. They were just there, suspended.
[Micro Black Hole Generator.]
Nanona blinked. Had she heard him wrong? Micro Black Holes? Couldn't be. You couldn't harness the forces of the universe with a single ship. Impossible. But reality stared her in the face and she had to admit it was the one explanation that could make sense. What other weapon could create this kind of effect? Some magic she knew of had similar visual illusions, but it didn't do this. No mage could possibly control such power.
Or could they?
When the Warships reached the same area where the beams and missiles had stopped dead, they froze as well. They stopped in time, moving so slow Nanoha had a hard time deciding if they were moving at all. Soon, however, they started to speed up again, except they bent at peculiar angles. They moved along the orb's spherical appearance, transforming into a maelstrom of white beams, gleaming hulls and engine flare exhausts, disappearing into the black hole itself. When they were halfway through, the orb disappeared and the twenty Warships burst apart at the exact same time. As each wreck collided with one another, a chain-reaction started among them and Warship after Warship erupted into blinding explosions.
Huginn's sensors went haywire as the circles of light from the unleashed energy expanded through space until they dimmed into nothingness. The broken, fragmented wrecks of twenty Warships were the sole thing remaining in that area, cut in half and gutted like fishes, venting air and bodies into the cosmos.
"My god," Nanoha whispered and clenched the joysticks. They couldn't go up against that again. The TSAB didn't stand a chance. It was all up to her now. The Unforgiving had to take over the titan or the battle was over. That was all the hope that remained.
[Destination almost reached, my Lady.]
"Good. Good..."
*
No more Fighters tried to intercept them. Only a few of the small craft remained on the field, and they received no reinforcements from the larger ships. The Fighters didn't last long against the TSAB warships and they soon joined their dead brethren.
The remaining battlecruisers moved further away from the titan, followed by the dreadnoughts, in an attempt to pursue the TSAB, but all of them ignored the Harbingers once again. Nanoha didn't know if they didn't have any more Fighters to send out or if they simply ignored them. Either way, the Harbingers were out of harm's way. For now.
"Pick an entry point close to the bridge," Nanoha said.
Huginn's sensor worked and showed the feedback across her visor.
[Problem, my Lady. Someone is interfering with my sensors. I cannot detect the points of entry. An alternate solution is recommended.]
"Do we have to blast a hole?"
"That probably won't work without airlocks," Vivio said. She fell into silence, thinking. Then: "The hangar. It's in the first module so it shouldn't be far from the bridge. I think that's the closest we can get."
"Huginn, can you do that?" Nanoha said.
[Should be no problem, my Lady.]
The Harbinger banked and settled onto a course headed for the hangar module. Even from this distance, Nanoha could see the open slits in the hull, allowing smaller craft to pass through.
"There should be an airlock inside," Vivio said. "Judging from the design, the hangar is open to space. No force fields."
Nanoha grunted. "Let's hope they don't have droids waiting for us. I don't feel like blowing up the entire hangar to get rid of them."
With the entry point determined, the Harbinger planed out, decelerated and entered the hangar. Along the wall ahead of them there were individual docking bays meant for shuttles, but all of them were empty. No droids either as far as they could see. The size of the docking bays were large enough for the Harbinger to fit and they eased it into one of them. It secured itself against the bay's arms and Nanoha opened the canopy, the hooks on her suit releasing her. Peeking her head out, she saw an airlock gate far to their right.
[Good luck, Ladies. I will see you when you return.]
Both of them climbed out while Harbinger Two opened its canopy beside them. They pushed off their vessel and landed on the catwalk, boots sticking to the metal.
Once Signum and Vita joined them, they moved to the airlock gate with clonking steps. Nanoha let the codebreaker do its work and they eventually cycled through. What met them on the other side was a huge compartment , void of life. It was similar to the room they'd seen in the dreadnought with all the droids, except it was rectangular and larger.
"What the hell is this place?" Vita said as they moved forward, taking their helmets off. The air was breathable, but stale. Her voice echoed. "It's so big it could house a Warship in it."
"Or half a million droids," Signum said. "They have to store them somewhere."
"Or produce them," Vivio said, peering around. "They have to produce them somewhere. This ship is so large it has to have some kind of facility for it."
"Don't jinx it," Vita said with a grimace. "I'm all for bashing droids, but not if they just keep coming."
The hall was poorly lit and Nanoha could see it darkening ahead of them. The route on her visor updated as they walked and pointed them towards a side passage which they entered, leaving the huge hall behind them. The corridor they now walked in was much smaller, curving at some points, leading them through several other smaller rooms. In one of the rooms they stopped and removed their Pec suits, hiding them in a corner, and summoned their Purge Suits before continuing onward
The rest of the rooms and their purpose were unknown to Nanoha, as most of them contained strange machines they didn't have time to investigate.
"This whole ship must be decades old," Vivio said as they passed another room. "Imagine the resources it would take to build."
"The TSAB might be able to construct something like this," Nanoha said. "I just don't see the point unless you had a specific purpose in mind. You could just build more Warships instead."
"Purpose?" Vivio said.
"This titan, or whatever you want to call it, it works like a colony ship, doesn't it? Shuttles being sent down to a planet. Production facilities. We've only seen less than half of the first module. We have no idea what the other two contains. And that weapon..."
"Not very adaptable," Vita said. "As devastating as it seems, it has to take an enormous amount of energy just to fire. Shock and awe?"
"Makes sense," Signum said. "Surprise the enemy, overpower them with insane firepower. The confusion will work in your favor."
Nanoha nodded and frowned. "It still seems like a very desperate move to me. They're risking their flagship this early already. Are they in a rush?"
"They might not have a choice," Signum said. "They might be running out of resources and ships so the longer they keep the war up, the more likely they're going to lose. That's why they are at Mid-Childa now. They can't hold several planets in other sectors because it would take too long."
"So they've come to finish the war," Vita said, grinning. "That's not gonna work out for them. They showed their hand too early."
"Unless they have more forces somewhere." Nanoha furrowed her brow. "We don't know the Absolution's total numbers, but even if they have more waiting out there somewhere, this does seem a bit final. They must be counting on this ship to turn the tide."
"Then why is this so easy?" Vivio said. "No one is trying to stop us. The Fighters didn't put up much of a fight. They have to know our capabilities by now."
"They aren't just underestimating us," Signum said. "Something else is going on. Someone behind the scenes..."
"That someone might be behind that," Vita said and pointed to the end of the corridor where a peculiar gate adorned with strange silvery symbols obstructed them. Some curved to form shapes of animals, serpents, while others formed shapes Nanoha didn't recognize. Religious symbols, perhaps. Old Gods and prophecies, texts. She did recognize the language, the Absolution's native tongue, but she couldn't make sense of it.
"Yuuno would have loved to see this," she said and marveled at the gate.
"The bridge has to be behind it," Vivio said as she frowned, looking at different points on the gate. "How do we get inside? There isn't a port for the codebreaker here."
"Time for a good old beating, then?" Vita said, flashing her teeth.
"Go for it," Nanoha said.
"Eisen, Zerstörungsform."
[Jawohl.]
The Iron Hammer grew, jets materializing on one side of its head while the other formed a drilling spike. The corridor was just large enough to accommodate its size as the others stepped back and Vita prepared to swing.
Graf Eisen's jet engine flared and roared in tune with Vita as she swung it, smashing into the gate with its drill. The hammer balanced on it, sparks flying, but the gate didn't budge. Enraged, Vita pushed the jet engine harder, flames bursting out if it. A deafening roar filled the corridor. The tip danced on the gate's surface, bounding and screeching.
For five minutes she kept smashing, bashing and tearing at the gate with Graf Eisen, each time coming up with the same result: vague scratches on the silver ornaments, and a closed gate.
Eventually, Graf Eisen clanked to the floor and Vita, panting with sweat dripping from her brow, screamed in frustration. "God damn gate! Open, bastard! Stupid!"
"What now?" Signum said, arms crossed. "Nanoha, what about you?"
She shook her head. "If Vita can't break it, I can't either. At least not in a controlled manner. Vivio?"
"No, don't think so. If it won't break after that much force, it won't open for anything."
"Then we have to find an alternate way in. Damn—"
A mechanism in the gate clanked and the ornaments glowed for a brief second before they began to move. They slipped into thin slits and disappeared into the walls as the gate opened, lifted up into the roof above.
"... What did we just do?" Vivio stared at it, dumbfounded.
"Nothing," Signum said. "Someone is letting us inside."
"Why?" Vita brandished Graf Eisen again, eyebrow raised. She'd recovered from her attempts. "It's obvious it's a trap."
"Do you have another suggestion, Vita?" Signum said.
The short girl sneered and looked away. "No."
"Then we spring the trap," Nanoha said and entered.
*
The room that stretched out before them didn't earn the term 'room'. It was more like a throne room. The floor was white apart from a black wide line leading to an elevated part of the floor. There, monitors aligned the edge in a half-circle. In the middle of the monitors, a lone figure stood with her arms crossed and back turned towards them. All things considering, none of it resembled the interior of a starship. Then again, she'd never been on one this large before.
"Your friend was weak," the figure said without facing them as they got within a few meters of the stairs leading up to the platform. "She could not save her own children. A pity. What I want to know now is if you are too weak to save yours."
Nanoha's vision clouded with rage and she brought Raising Heart to bear. "You're Lord Veena, aren't you?"
Lord Veena turned to face them. Her appearance was similar to the other Zealot Generals Nanoha had come across, except Veena didn't have a mask. Her head was shaved, parts of her scalp replaced by metallic plates, and the armor was as bulky as the rest had been. But there was still something off about her. She was different from the others. More menacing and in control.
True power radiating from her being.
"Judging from the way you look at me, you are filled with the urge for revenge. Perhaps I went a little too far in my interrogation... I was looking forward to seeing your friend's true strength."
Nanoha ignored her. It was the sole defense she could use when words were involved. "I know your origins. I know who you are. You won't succeed with whatever it is you're planning."
Lord Veena shrugged. "Yes, I did receive a notification that someone accessed a particular file in our databases. There was a reason I planted it, of course." She grinned. "I enjoy playing games, you see. Mind games. I have you confused, do I not? You are wondering why I would share the information and let you partake in it."
"What information is she talking about," Vita hissed behind her.
"Don't listen to her."
Lord Veena's grin grew wider. Her self-satisfaction dripped from her being. "Oh. So she has not told you, has she? What a fine Captain you have, keeping information hidden from you. Do you have an agenda of your own, Takamachi? Or... Ah. You do not trust them, is that it? You think they would betray you. That one of them might be a spy for me."
"What the hell is she on about?" Vivio asked, glancing at Nanoha.
"She manipulates people, turns them against each other. Don't listen!"
"I also heard the brainwashing failed for one of my subjects." She pursed her lips, making a show of thinking. "Subaru, was that her name? A useful subject, if you had not killed her."
"I didn't kill her, you did!"
"No, I did not. You left her there and she died because of it. She died because you are weak. You are all weak. If you had been stronger, she would still be alive, because you would have brought her with you. You have not told her friend the truth either, right? That you left her there to die, trying to satisfy yours—"
"Enough of this bullshit!" Vita let out a war cry, teeth gritted, and shot forward before Nanoha could stop her. Heaving Graf Eisen above her head, the hammer growing in size, she prepared to slam it down on Veena's head.
Lord Veena flashed her teeth when Vita was a meter away. The giant iron hammer stopped a few centimeters above Lord Veena's head when Vita slammed it down, sparks flying from the grinding of metal against something shimmering below it: a defensive barrier.
Lord Veena chuckled — or Nanoha thought she did — and flicked her wrist. Graf Eisen flew out of Vita's hands, clattering to the floor a distance away. Vita had enough time to look up with a surprised expression before she was thrown across the floor towards the wall. A shield materialized before she hit and took the brunt of the impact, but she still rumbled into it like a cannonball, cracking the wall and tumbling onto the floor with a broken nose leaking blood over her face.
"Eager to fight," Lord Veena said and started to approach the girl. Signum rushed forward to protect her, cleaving with Laevatein. Lord Veena dodged her with ease, moved —hovered —towards Vita and picked her up by the neck. "Too weak." She grabbed Vita's left arm and twisted it backwards, bone cracking and piercing her skin. Vita screamed in pain and Lord Veena threw her at Signum who came in from the side for another strike. The two collided in mid-air and tumbled about before they came to a rest on the floor.
"Vivio!" Nanoha, anger and worry flaring inside, charged up Raising Heart and discharged a weak beam. It disintegrated against the shield, but it was enough for Vivio to come up from behind and jump into the air, bearing down a fist at Veena's neck, magic storming around her wrist.
As if sensing the strike, Veena spun around and nudged Vivio's arm enough for it to miss, following up with a fist of her own. Vivio dodged, wide eyes of surprise on her face, and attempted a punch from the side. Veena blocked with her arm and snatched Vivio's throat, squeezing her fingers into her skin. Vivio dangled as she struggled to break free, face turning purple, nails scratching without effect at the shield. Lord Veena grinned and put more strength into it, trying to break her neck.
Signum got back on her feet and joined up with Nanoha, both of them striking at the same time. Laevatein clanged against Veena's shield, bouncing off, but with the combined force of Raising Heart backing it up, Veena had to release Vivio to get away. The girl tumbled to the floor, gasping for air, as Veena rolled to the side. Her wrist flicked for an instant.
"Look out!" Nanoha dodged to the right, but Signum was too slow. Laevatein flew out of her hands and she found herself staring down Veena as she appeared in front of her, wielding a blade of her own. Nanoha had no idea where the curved, pulsing blade of light had come from. Veena slashed it across Signum's face, blood flying in a wide arc across the room and splattered on the floor. Signum staggered back in shock, covering her eyes with a hand. Veena didn't pause and finished Signum off with a gut punch, shattering her armor with a loud crunch. The sheer power behind the blow propelled Signum backwards until she collapsed in a heap on the floor, lying still.
"Signum!" Vita struggled to stand, but fell to her knees, legs shaking. Her arm dangled by her side, white bone sticking through the mangled, bloody flesh.
Nanoha sneered and gritted her teeth. Lord Veena was the sole thing in her vision as adrenaline rushed through her veins. Distorted hair clung to her sweaty face. Her muscles already burned, but she forced herself to ignore it.
"Two to go," Lord Veena muttered as she stood up straight, though Nanoha noticed a change in her breathing. She was getting tired. As strong as she was, going up against four mages proved too much even for her.
Nanoha glanced at Vivio who had recovered. They both nodded at each other. The chance was there. They had to take it.
Vivio burst into motion and attacked from behind again. Lord Veena reacted with an obvious dodge, but the attempted blow from Vivio never came as she instead slipped by. Veena raised an eyebrow and Vivio grinned at her as Nanoha came in from her flank and went into close quarters. She used Raising Heart as a melee weapon, but Veena blocked with her blade. For a moment they could see the whites in each others' eyes as they struggled, trying to overthrow the other with sheer strength. Magic pulsed out from their bodies, shockwaves of light flaring under their feet.
Nanoha was prepared when Veena flicked her wrist again. Raising Heart tugged against her hands, trying to fly away, but Nanoha clenched her fists tighter and pushed down, putting more strength into overpowering her. Lord Veena, to Nanoha's surprise, went down on one knee. A second too late to realize what was happening, Veena gave up the tug o' war and fell to the floor, slashing with her blade as she did. The light cut a horizontal line across Nanoha's armor protecting her thigh, burning through it with ease. She flinched from the stinging pain and Veena rolled to the side.
Anticipating another slash, Nanoha Flash Moved backwards, out of Veena's reach. They both stared each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. Vivio waited a distance away, observing. A stalemate for the time being, neither party wanted to make the first move.
" Tikin Hyoka," Nanoha said, panting. The pain in her thigh was there, but distant. Too shallow to impede her, though a warm liquid slithered down her skin. "I want to know what happened to her."
"Ah. Her." Veena grimaced. "She tried to stop me and failed. She could not compare to any of you. A useless bug who deserved to be stomped on. Though I did not kill her. I assimilated her into my ranks. One less problem for me."
"Is she still alive?" Nanoha noticed Vita standing up behind Lord Veena, eyes flaring with rage. Signum lay still a few meters away. A pool of blood had formed around her head. Nanoha focused back on Lord Veena.
"Yes. She became useful in a different way. Though I still wonder if I should have killed her—"
She stopped mid-sentence as Vivio came from the side with Plasma Arm at the ready, magic encircling her fist. Veena ducked and slashed at Vivio's stomach. The armor was sliced open, blood spurting out of the cracks, but Vivio grabbed Veena's shoulder and plunged her fist into the base of her neck.
Lord Veena grunted from the blow and spun, grabbing hold of Vivio's arm and slammed a fist into her face. Vivio stumbled backward, lost her footing, and fell to the floor, holding her nose.
Nanoha saw red. Rage. With her daughter downed and Lord Veena advancing towards her, Raising Heart grew warm in her hands as magical energy gathered around it. However, she still couldn't use Starlight Breaker, not without their Pec suits. The decompression if the walls were breached would spell death for them all, and she couldn't bring herself to sacrifice all of them for the sake of the fleet. There had to be another option for beating her.
"Die, die, die!"
That option came flying through the air. Vita, broken arm dangling by her side, came roaring from the side, iron hammer held high. She crashed Graf Eisen into Lord Veena's back and made her stumble. Overwhelmed for a brief moment — dazed and surprised — Veena tried to regain her balance while her shield flickered and died.
Chance! "Flash Move!"
She shot forward as Veena's eyes widened. Raising Heart pierced Lord Veena's armor on her flank, rupturing flesh and bursting her insides, until it emerged on the other side. Blood gushed out of her body. They stared at each other, close enough for Nanoha to smell her breath. It stank. Veena's red eyes flared with anger, then softened into acceptance. Nanoha yanked out Raising Heart from Lord Veena's body, ripping the white flesh apart with more blood splattering onto the floor. Gory pieces of intestines fell out with a sickening noise as they landed. Nanoha grimaced while blood trailed down her device's handle, soaking her hands.
It's over.
Lord Veena stared at her wound, touching it with a trembling hand as she sunk to her knees next to the stairs. Blood trailed down her armor. She smeared the crimson liquid with her hand and looked at it, disbelief in her eyes. "Finally..."
"Who are you?" Nanoha said, forcing her breath back under control. Her heart still banged in her chest, adrenaline starting to settle, but she remained alert. She wouldn't let Lord Veena have any openings. "Who are you, really?"
The woman grinned, blood stains on her teeth. A few of them were chipped. "You are smarter than I give credit for. Impressive."
"All of your ambushes. Your traps. It doesn't make sense."
Lord Veena stumbled back towards the stairs and pulled herself up on it, half-lying with her legs dangling. "I tried to save them," she said, looking Nanoha in the eye. For the first time, Lord Veena actually looked vulnerable. Relieved. "My people. My plan backfired and I became this. Voices in my head, speaking riddles and prophecies. I can barely remember how it all started. But yes, you are correct. Actually, you already know my name."
"Hyoka..."
Lord Veena nodded. "I was not lying to you, though. She was killed, by the TSAB. You killed me." She paused. "When you abandoned us, you killed us all. Doomed us all. That is why this happened."
"So you are after revenge, are you?"
"No. Not at the beginning. Our planet was dying. I was the one who initiated the Eden Project; I promised a new world for our people. But we went insane before it was complete. My reasons for coming to Mid-Childa changed. We wanted revenge. We wanted to invade and kill." She chuckled. "You have seen me. You have faced me. All the things I have done has been an act, even to myself. It is highly ironic that now, in the end, the Eden Project succeeded."
"What do you mean? You're dying, your fleet is destroyed... Your people have nowhere to go."
"Nowhere to go?" She pointed at the monitors, showing Mid-Childa. "That's their new home. I have saved them. Why, Takamachi, do you think there were so few humans on our ships? The reason we used droids? Why you found an ambush which failed on the
Messiah? No resistance on this ship?"
"Can't be..."
"Yes. Because I wanted it to be so. To keep my people safe and allow you to destroy me. Though I was not aware of it until now. It is as if Hyoka lives on within my head... because she was part of me and all... and told me what to do on the inside. Truth is, the people, my people are not insane or brainwashed. They simply believe in me. In the Eden Project. But the Zealots and the Zealot Generals have all gone mad. Those are the ones you should be afraid of." She paused again, taking a slurred breath, coughed. "When I die, my people will be free. I have killed some of the leaders that suppressed them, including myself." She caught Nanoha's eye again. "My people have done nothing wrong. If you punish them, you are not any better than myself."
"You killed millions... and all because of your delusions?" She couldn't believe it. No way. Lord Veena was manipulating her, swaying her with words.
"They were not delusions. To me they were the truth."
She struggled to comprehend the words. They stabbed her soul, the sheer notion that the entire war could have been avoided disgusted her. Short of breath, she said, "I won't ever forgive you for what you've done."
Lord Veena smiled. "Good. I wanted your friend, Harlaown, to be the one to kill me. To end it, because I could not do it myself. But I was too hard on her. I thought she would recover quicker. For that I am truly sorry."
Nanoha approached, towering over her. She forced the words out of her throat. "If you're speaking the truth, that your people had nothing to do with your carnage... if we take them in, will they turn on us?"
"No. That, at least, I am certain of. Out me for who I was. They will despair, but only temporary. They will recover. They are stronger than you expect." She smiled. "Treat them with kindness."
Nanoha raised Raising Heart over her head with both her arms, tip pointing at Lord Veena's — Hyoka's — chest. Her arms trembled, muscles straining, and she gritted her teeth. She remember the Aeon bomb after they set foot near Cranagan. The day this chain of events had started for real. And now they had reached the conclusion. They'd reached the end.
"A word of advice," Veena whispered, closing her eyes. "When you have to make sacrifices, make sure it is worth it. I know it was for me."
Nanoha drove Raising Heart down, piercing her heart.