[FlameSparkZ]

Originally Posted by MeisterBabylon

Now the fun begins!

Spoiler for The Honorbound:

*snip* *snip*

Now that the infodump is out of the way... Just gonna keep on chugging.

Heh, I wondere where this is going

And now, back to BreakerS
This is a sort of recap/"what's going on" + foreshadowing chapter

BreakerS Continue

Spoiler for Chapter 24.5 - A day in Mid-Childa - Part 1:

[MC 075 - October 16th]

Less than a month as passed since the end of the JS Incident.
Peace has returned, everyone continues to live their lives accordingly...holding in their hearts the recent events.

Among those people is Minawa Kouji, 16, prefers to be called 'Koji' by his friends.
Approximately two years ago, Koji had reached his magical limit of C-.
Physical exams could not explain this sudden stop of growth and regardless of how much he trained, it wouldn't increase.
So, he chose to perfect his control of mana and improve cast efficiency.

Months went by and Koji managed to reach a Mage Rank of Ground Combat B, and transfered to the TSAB Ground Forces HQ.
Since his assignments were mostly patrol, or organize paperwork he had plenty of free time to keep his training.

Well...you know the rest: boy meets girl, little sister gets in the way, confessions, conflicts, contracts, etc...
Thanks to all those events, Koji became stronger and stronger, each time a step closer to his ideal self.
Yet, he still seeks for more strength...yes, if one can become stronger, then isn't it their duty to do so?

...With such desire, Koji woke up early and began his secret training.

But before that, let's go a bit up north...


[North Midchilda: Belka Self-Governed Region]
[Church of the Saint King Headquarters]


The Grand Cathedral of the Saint Church, its religion boasts the longest reach in the Dimensional World. A religion with a history continuing since Ancient Belkan times.
In its walls work many who devote their lives to helping others and maintaining the peace throughout the united lands.

Though most of the staff is already awake and working, there are some who take it easy, trying to sleep as much as possible before having to leave the comfort of their bed.
Schach walked along the hallway, stopped in front of a door, knocking twice. She expected an answer, but knowing that girl, chances were she's still asleep.

"Excuse me." Opening the door,Schach entered into an elegantly furnished bedroom. An armoire in the corner, a tea table near the window, a study corner with a bookshelf next to it, and finally a large four-poster bed, where someone still sleeps...
Though it is Carim's bedroom, sometimes that girl would sleep there too when invited...and by 'invited' I mean against her will.

"*sigh* She's like this every day." Dropping her shoulders, Schach looks at the bed. It hasn't even been a month, but the newest addition to the Saint Church acts as if she's been there since the beginning.
Schach walks towards the window and parts the curtains, instantly filling the room with light, "It's a beautiful day outside. How long are you going to stay in bed?"
"munyuu~~" She complains as the morning sunlight hits her face, then lazily pulls the sheets over her head and rolls over to the other side.

The sister frowns and walks up to the bed, "It's best to go get breakfast while it is still being served, you know?"
The lump on the bed moves around for a while, then raises itself, revealing the white haired angel: Altea.
With her ruby-red eyes half open, her long hair dishevelled, she tilted left and right with a sleepy, yet somewhat annoyed expression on her face.
Lazily looking around to grasp her location, Altea blinks, then turns to Schach.
"Good Morning." Shach greets her.
Still half-asleep, "Uu~heeaaahh~" the angel yawns, "...morning." She says before yawning again.
"Altea, a proper lady covers her mouth when yawning. And they don't open their mouth that much either" Schach points out.
"Mhmm..." the little angel nods slightly. "Mornings are such a pain..." She complained.

"Ahem!" Schach clears her throat, "A proper lady also minds her language." pauses for a second and resumes, "And is always on time for appointments."
"Yeah yeah...In a minute." Altea threw the sheets off her and lazily got out of bed.
"Also...Knight Carim is expecting you." Schach added.
The moment Altea heard that, she felt a chill go up her spine. "W-What?!" The little angel looked at Schach.
"You know what will happen if you keep Knight Carim waiting, right?" She hinted.
"I-I-I'll go get ready right away!!" She rushed to the bathroom.

Seeing her go at such speed, Shach couldn't help but giggle to herself.

----------------------------

[Riot Force 6 HQ - Outside]


It's early in the morning, but there's already activity in the training grounds, which was set as a forest by Shari.
There, an opaque green dome encompassed a small fraction of the forest, but with enough space for one freely to move around inside.
In the dome, Koji is training by himself, fighting a group of floating swords of various shapes and sizes.

"*pant* *pant* ...hehe." Koji smirked, "Looking good... *pant*" He kept his eyes on the ghostly swords.
Koji shifts his stance. "Let's pick up the pace!" He grinned with optimism. "Come!"
As if provoked, the swords lunged at him with great speed.


Near the training grounds was Shari, monitoring the place.
"*yawn~~* Really, waking me up so early to train." Shari looked at the monitor. "Asking for more modifications to his device and then testing them without allowing me to see what he's doing...what is that boy up to?"

That moment, Nanoha along with Yui, Maren and the Forwards walked up to her.
"Shari, good morning." Nanoha greeted her. "You're up early today."
"Nanoha-san. Good morning." She turned to her and greeted her.
Yui, Maren and the Forwards greet her as well.
Nanoha looked at Shari, "Hmm? Shari, are you okay? You look like you didn't sleep well."
"Hahaha." Embarrassed, Shari laughed, "I sorta stayed up late last night. I was so engrossed in my research, I lost track of time."
"Research?" Yui tilted her head to the side.

"Now that I think about it, every other afternoon, Shari and Signum go out somewhere." Teana says.
"And they return late at night, Shari then goes to the laboratory and continues working on something." Subaru adds.
"hahaha..." Shari laughs embarrassed, "So you know."
Nanoha sighed, "That happens every time you find something interesting. Try not to push yourself too much, okay?"
"Yes Ma'am." Shari replied.

Erio then noticed the dome in the forest, "What's that?" He faced towards the training grounds.
Caro looked as well, "That color, isn't that Koji-san?"
"That's right", Shari turned to them, "He's been inside that thing for an hour already."
"Hmm." Nanoha humms as she looks at it, "It's quite an unusual barrier."
"Yes." Maren joins the conversation, "It's a training barrier that I developed for myself." She paused, "It slowly drains magic and causes whatever is thrown at it from the inside to bounce back."
Erio blinked, "So...Koji-san is going to train his reflexes and dodging ability?"
"No." Nanoha replied with a smile, everyone looks at her. "It's not just that."

"Then what?" Erio asks.
"The other day, he came to me with questions about image training, visualizing and control of multiple shots. So if you piece it all together..."
"I see..." Maren smiled as she looked at the dome, "A new spell...isn't it?"
"Yes." Nanoha paused, "And it seems he's using himself as the target."
"Eh!? Isn't that dangerous?" Caro shifted her gaze between Nanoha and the dome.
"That seems to be the case." Nanoha sighs "Really...he's always like this when he tries something new."
"Though...this time we can't see what he's doing." Yui says with a worried tone.
"Koji-sama should be fine," Maren assures, "The barrier is dispelled when the caster orders it, is exhausted or is knocked unconscious."

"I-is it really okay?" Teana sweatdrops.
"He's been at it for an hour. I heard some loud noises from time to time, but that barrier hasn't gone down once." Shari points out. "He should be fine."

"Well, he wants to become stronger, Koji has always been like that. But one day he reached his magical limit, and his progress slowed down." Nanoha speaks.
"Magical limit?" Subaru asked.
"It's the limit of one's magic capacity, like a balloon it slowly increases the stored mana avaliable for the caster. But once the limit is reached, it won't take anymore and is expelled." Caro explains.
"Very good." Nanoha praises Caro, "But for Koji, his magical limit was unusually small, so he had to learn how to use it effectively."

"Yes, we had that conversation while training to get used to the increase of mana." Maren recalls, "I too found it odd."
"It was around two years ago, wasn't it? When Onii-chan got that result at a physical examination" Yui gave it some thought. "And the year before, he took several exams after the incident..."
"Incident?" Caro looked at Yui.

"Okay everyone." Nanoha claps twice, the Forwards turn to her, "Enough talking, let's get down there and warm up for this morning's training."
"Yes, Ma'am!" They replied.

----------------------------

[Saint Church]


To be blunt, Altea's new occupation is being Carim's pet...her personal life-size doll.
Yes, the proud 'Weaver of Mazes' has fallen from her pedestal.

Sharing the same hobby as Hayate (or maybe she made Carim take interest in it), Knight Carim uses her free time to make clothes.
Altea, who now lives in the Saint Church became the perfect subject.
Being bound to the 'Hall of Trials' located underground, she can only wander within the Saint Church's premises.
Even if she tries to run away, she can't go far...Carim can be devious sometimes.

Everyday Altea has to swallow her pride and wear extravagant clothes.
Also, her everyday wear became a modified nun's clothes with slits on the back for her wings.

Beside dealing with Carim, Altea also has to obey Schach.
Seeing how misbehaved the little angel was, Schach couldn't overlook it and decided to teach her proper etiquette.
So she also works as Schach's assistant.

Anyway...
Every morning, Altea has breakfast with Carim, then 'helps' her with her hobby before being freed to help Schach.
Apparently, she's filling in for a promissing trainee named Shante, who is still studying.

[Carim's Office]

When dealing with Belkan and Church affairs, documents are made of paper and writen with ink.
Carim herself enjoys using the quill and ink well. It's refined, elegant and preserves tradition.

At that time, two knocks on the door are heard.
"Come in."
"Excuse me." I heard behind the door before it opens.
Altea, dressed in the aforementioned outfit, enters pushing a cart with a tea set on top.
Still writting, Carim speaks, "Good morning, Altea."
"G-Good morning, Lady Carim." She stutters a little while preparing a cup.
"Did you sleep well last night?"
Altea blushes a little, "I-I did." and pours the tea into the cup.

Serving the tea to Carim, she enjoys the aroma. "You have been improving lately." she praises the tea she prepared.
"T-Thank you." Altea raises her head to look at Carim, and the moment she sees her smile, a feeling of nostalgia invades her.
(H-Huh? Where did I...) Her vision clouds, showing her a cloaked figure sitting just like Carim is, (It's like I've done this before, I get praised and then--)
"Altea?" Carim speaks, and the white haired angel snaps out of her trance.
"Eh?" She lets out, somewhat confused.
"Are you okay? It looked like you spaced out."
"Ah...no, it's nothing."
"If you're tired you can have some rest."
"No, I'm fine. Sorry if I made you worry." She bowed slightly.
Carim smiled. "I see." She takes another sip of tea.

She had to admit Carim was quite caring when her switch isn't on.
And doesn't mind holding hands or hugging, even knowing Altea's ability to read people's mind when in contact with them.
Though, things like "what will I make her wear next?" and "this might look good too" popped up in those moments...
Altea sighed mentally...can't be helped, it was Schach that said that those that don't work, don't eat.
Being outside the 'Hall' is inconvenient but...fun.

"Oh, by the way. I earlier received a message." Carim set the cup on the table, "Miss Shario will be coming today as well."
"G-guh." Altea jerked. (That weird woman again...)

----------------------------

[Riot Force 6 HQ - Training Grounds]

Morning training was progressing as usual when a loud explosion is heard.
"W-What was that?!" Subaru stopped her rollers and looked around.
"Oh my." Nanoha, who was airborne, already knew what the cause was.

The green dome vanished, and the smoke rose into the sky.
Noticing the pillar of smoke, Caro spoke, "Isn't that place--"
"Onii-chan!!!" Yui quickly flew over to the smoking area. The others followed.

Where the dome once was, now is a shallow crater with Koji sprawled in the middle.
Covered in dirt and Barrier Jacket torn all over, he winced at he pain spreading over his body.
"*cough* O-ow ow ow..." But the wounds weren't that serious, as the power was limited for training after all.

"Onii-chan!!" He hears Yui's voice approaching.
"Y-yo." He endures pain and grins as his little sister comes closer.
Yui kneeled over and checked her brother, "Onii-chan, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Raising his left arm high, he made a fist and raised the thumb, "N-never better."
Yui sighed in relief, then frowned, "Honestly...don't scare me like that."
As the siblings spoke the others arrived, "Is he alright?" Nanoha asked as she landed.
Like Yui, Maren kneeled and worried, she examined Koji.
But Koji grabbed her hand, "It's nothing serious." He smiled.
Maren blushed, "A-anyway, it's best to apply a healing spell."
"Yes, we should too." Yui looked at Caro, who nodded.

Koji shifted to a sitting position, "Thanks, I feel like I've been beaten up by Zafira. Haha--ow--" He tried to laugh but stopped.
As he was being treated, Nanoha stepped closer, "So, did you get the results you wanted?"
"Well, as I thought, controlling multiple objects at the same time is dificult. With Air's help, I can only control six at most. But--" He grinned, "The power was above my expectations."
"I see. That's good to hear. So, do you know what's next?" Nanoha asked.
With the healing spells' effects already working, he got up. "Yes. Just need to know how many."
"Hmm..." Nanoha gave it some thought, "Let's keep it light...hmm, 10 laps should do it. I have plans for you in this afternoon's training."
"Yes Ma'am!" Koji stood straight, "I'll be going then!" and started running at a marathon pace.

"What is Koji-san doing?" Erio asked as he saw him go.
"Running." Nanoha replied plainly.
"I-I can see that, but--"
"It's the usual punishment." Yui sighed as she got up, "I say usual, but it's been a while since the last one."
"Punishment?" Teana wonders.
"Yes, punishment for doing dangerous training. I got a few myself." She sweatdrops.
"So...10 laps means running around the training grounds ten times?" Caro asks.
"No." Nanoha cuts in, "Ten times around headquarters."

Everyone remained silent...

"He should've finished by lunch time, so let's continue with today's practice!" Nanoha turned to the Forwards.
"Y-Yes Ma'am!" they straightened themselves.

That's it for now :3
Enjoy my (mentally) Kugyu-voiced Altea
I'll post the second part soon...like, maybe next week?

*warps away*

[EDIT:] Added a bit more.