[Nanya01]

Just a reminder, all of StrikerS is up on FF.Net, so I will, after this, no longer link to the StrikerS arc.

StrikerS

Numbers

SSX 1-10

SSX 11

SSX 12

SSX 13

SSX 14

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - SSX 15:

Teana sighed and shook her head. "Still need to deal with those..." She trailed off and looked at Runessa's body. "I'm sorry, I wish I had known you from before." Teana's words were soft and tinged with sadness as she looked at the downed body. Sighing, she put a hand on Runessa's shoulder and stared as the downed body seemed to stir. "Ru...ne?"

"Ngh... My head..." She looked up at Teana and stared. "...I'm not... Dead?"

Teana scratched her chin and sweat-dropped. "Well, honestly, I have no idea why you're alive. I never thought that the spell I used would work. Really, I was fully expecting it to not work or kill you."

"Whaaaa?!" Runessa gaped at Teana, her eyes wide and white while tears leaked out of them. "Why would you do that then?!"

Teana looked away and shrugged. "I had to do something. Anyway," she narrowed her eyes as she looked out at the Mariage on the street that were marching past them, "we need a plan."

"Tea!" Subaru's voice broke through, causing Teana to nearly fall over in shock. "I found someone at those coordinates."

Teana narrowed her eyes as she heard that. "Subaru, who did you find?"

"Her name's Ixy."

"No it's not!" A new female voice spoke up, somewhat flustered, not that Teana blamed her, Subaru could be frustrating at times, "my name is Ixpellia!"

"Okay, Ixy." Subaru sent over the link, quite happily, causing both Teana and Ixpellia to groan through the link. "Anyway, Tea, Ixy here has something to tell you."

"The Mariage, how many are there?"

"Thousands, why?"

"Way too many. I'd be more helpful if I had my control core for them."

Teana blinked and turned to look at Runessa as she started to cough and heave before...

"Eww..." Teana winced as she saw Runessa vomit onto the rooftop. She narrowed her eyes as a black crystal bounced off of the rooftop before floating upwards slowly. "For some reason, Ixpellia, there's this black crystal, it looks like a compass needle and there's a purple glow coming from it, do you..."

"That's my control core... How the heck do you have it?" Teana nodded, she was only taking a guess, but she was lucky that it paid off.

"Not important, if you had it, could you get these things to stop?"

"No. I'm too weak, I was woken up early and I don't have the energy to stop all of them."

"I can transfer my magic to you." Subaru offered to help.

"My magic's different than yours, it wouldn't work." Ixpellia sighed heavily. "...The sky, it's... It's blue..."

Teana blinked and looked to the East as the sun started to rise. "Yeah, it is." She didn't have any idea why that was important. "If you had the control core, what could you do?"

"I couldn't stop all of them, but if I had my control core, I could direct the leader units to any area, and the leader units can control the ones they turned into Mariage."

Teana's eyes widened as plans started to form. "Subaru, get to my location, right now."

"On my way!"

Teana touched her belt and closed her eyes as the four talismans started to glow. She was going to need the extra magic to send a telepathic signal across the city and contact everyone who was fighting. "Listen up, everyone. I've got a plan forming, but I need some help still. I have a way to direct these things to a wide open space, but I need some suggestions."

"Why a wide open space?"

"Because," a third voice answered the second one, Teana wasn't too sure, but the voice sounded kind of familiar to her, "when you fight a group this large, you need a wide open area to destroy them as fast as possible. Unless you want someone to destroy the city..."

"Lina, that's enough. Teana, I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do, Zelgadis, but I need a suggestion..."

"Why not the training park?" Dieci's voice came over the com.

Teana blinked as she heard the suggestion. "Dieci?"

"The training park is only a few blocks from where I am right now. I've been blowing up the Mariage in the park for some time now. Even if we destroy it, it could be rebuilt easier than destroying the major buildings."

Teana nodded, that sounded like a plan. "Alright then, let's make it happen."

(---)

"Sir?" One of the Ground Forces looked at Auris, who had just been told of the plan. "Should we?" He shut up at the look she gave him. "Yes, sir."

"Alright everyone!" Voltz yelled to the troops. "You heard the plan, let's mow these things down and try to make our way towards the park."

Auris threw her hand to the side. "Crush them all, don't let a single one through!"

"Yes, sir!"

Voltz chuckled as he saw the Ground and Rescue Forces snipe the Mariages, forcing them back slowly. "Say, is it just me, or have they slowed down?"

Auris adjusted her glasses and looked at the group. "They may be made from the bodies of the dead, but it seems that they're similar to a familiar."

"So, they need a constant stream of magic to keep going then," Voltz said as Auris nodded, "sheesh! Considering how many there are, the amount of magic being supplied must have been enormous."

Auris nodded and wondered just who could do such a thing anyway.

(---)

Meanwhile...

"That stupid idiot..." A woman said as she looked upon the battlefield, sighing heavily. "Really, revealing yourself to this group was just crazy..."

"Uri, is that you?" A male voice spoke up, causing Uri to turn around and nod to the person behind her.

"Hello, Abby." Her blue hair danced in the early morning breeze as she leaned against the wall. "Lyla was around." She nodded at his twitch. "I don't think she was personally involved, but, you never know with her."

Abby crossed his arms over his chest and grumbled. "Something's coming isn't it?" Uri nodded to him. "So, what is it?"

"Not sure, I think when Garoth revealed himself that things changed." She turned around and narrowed her eyes. "Is it just me, or does everything feel wrong?"

"It's not just you." Abby snorted as he walked up to her. "A Shinzoku from another universe is running around." Uri looked at him, her eyes narrowed in anger. "Don't worry, he's not here searching for anyone in particular, nor is he here trying to screw stuff up."

"Good." Uri sighed and looked out at the city as explosions and flashes of light filled the air. "Do you think we should have done more for this universe?"

Abby shrugged at her. "Does it matter? Humans will do what they want no matter what. In the end, so long as the seals aren't broken, why should we care?"

Uri disappeared after that, she didn't want to tell him that she was tired of letting things play out in front of them.

Abby sighed as he felt her anger. "Foolish..."

He wasn't sure who he was talking to anymore.

(---)

Meanwhile...

Ixpellia looked out to the East as the sun continued to rise through the air slowly. "...So beautiful." She had never seen a sky that wasn't covered in black smog, warships and fire. "Is this how it is these days?"

Subaru chanced a look out to the East and blinked a few times. "It's so common that I never paid attention to it. Why?"

"The last time I was awake, the skies were always dark and red, smog and battleships filled the air." Ixpellia took a deep breath as the two raced into the city. "Tell me, Subaru, what is life like in this day and age?"

"Generally not this crazy." Subaru muttered as she looked at the Mariage below. "...They're moving slower than usual."

"My power is weak," Ix began to explain, "the more energy I have available, the stronger they are. The one who was using them had much more magical power than I ever had." She sighed heavily and buried her head into Subaru's chest. "I only needed a force about a tenth of this to destroy entire worlds before."

"Why?" Subaru blinked as she looked down at the smaller girl. "You don't seem like a bad kid. Why would you do that?"

"I never wanted to, but my people were being threatened by outside interests." She looked up and Subaru could only stare at the dead look in her eyes. "I needed to protect them... I was the only one who had enough magical power to do something, anything... I didn't want my people to suffer and die. And I was young enough that the process was mostly painless for me."

Subaru didn't say anything as they continued to race into the city. "So, how come they didn't seem too dangerous?"

"They're confused." Ix said as she looked out at the skyscrapers. "They sense that I'm alive, but they sense that I'm not in control, so they have no real idea what to do. If I had the control core and was controlling them, then even a few hundred of them would have wiped this planet clean by now."

Subaru blinked at her. "Are you sure?"

Ix nodded to her. "Unless you have people who can level entire cities with magic, then yes."

"Well, actually..." Subaru trailed off at Ixpellia's stupefied look. "Hey, don't look at me, but one of my instructors is a SS class mage..."

"That means nothing to me." Ixpellia interrupted Subaru and turned her head to look ahead of them. "I think we're there."

Subaru blinked and looked up, nodding as she saw Dieci and Teana on a rooftop looking out at the park, "yeah," the cyborg nodded as she zipped down to them. "Tea, Dieci, what's the situation?"

"We've been crowding them this way, but it's hard, some of them aren't..." Teana trailed off as the control core that she had been guarding suddenly zipped towards the girl in Subaru's arms before it entered her chest. There was a brief flash of light that forced Teana to close her eyes shut for a moment. "So, now what?"

"Now?" Ixpellia looked at Teana seriously, "we destroy my Mariage."