On the academy island, now shrouded in night, the Keystone Gate was surrounded by the Administration Bureau. Special Operations Section 6 had arrived on the scene.
There, Hayate was face-to-face with a certain person.
"It's been a while, Chifuyu-chan," Hayate said.
"Stop calling me Chifuyu-chan, Hayate," Chifuyu replied with a wry smile.
The cool beauty, dressed in a black jacket and a tight skirt, was Chifuyu Orimura, a teacher at the IS Academy. She had come at Jagura's request.
Chifuyu and the members of Section 6 had first met during the JS incident. Hayate and the others, being close in age, had become good friends with her.
"You haven't changed at all," Nanoha said.
"Neither have you. I'd love to get your advice on teaching methods again," Chifuyu replied.
"Nya-ha-ha. Our approaches are so different, we'd probably end up arguing until morning..." Nanoha chuckled.
Both Chifuyu and Nanoha were educators. Chifuyu, who became a teacher later, had sought advice from Nanoha on pedagogy. But as Nanoha said, their differing philosophies often led to lively debates.
"Where's Fate?" Chifuyu asked.
"Fate-chan is... well, we're not always a trio, you know?" Hayate answered vaguely.
"I see. Well, I won't pry," Chifuyu said, understanding.
Fate was currently on standby with Kanzaki. Taking the intentions of the Stiyl and others into account, they had kept the details about Index a secret from the other teams.
Chifuyu, sensing this, didn't ask any further.
"So, when are we going in?" Chifuyu asked, shifting the conversation to business.
"Hmm, the defense system is scheduled to be restored soon, so it'll be after that," Hayate explained.
"Should we have your students do some reconnaissance in the meantime?" Nanoha suggested, remembering the two girls who had accompanied Chifuyu.
Chifuyu hadn't come alone. She had brought two students from the academy, both called Representative Candidates, who had been lent their own personal IS from the government.
In this world, the IS is said to be the future of magic-users. These students, who are expected to become future national aces, are given their own IS, which also serves to collect data. They undoubtedly possess great talent compared to their peers.
Chifuyu had thoughtfully brought them along after Jagura requested "more firepower."
"...Let's not," Chifuyu said, her evaluation of them strict. "It would be too much for those chicks."
She believed they might be useful for a frontal assault, but she didn't have high expectations.
A special position can sometimes inflate a person's ego. While they certainly had talent, the title of Representative Candidate and the privilege of having a personal IS were more than enough to make the two students overconfident. Chifuyu didn't want them doing something reckless that could sink the island.
"Nya-ha-ha, that's harsh..." Nanoha laughed softly.
"I'd rather you teach me your methods. I hear the main assault team is Tatenashi and two others you scouted?" Chifuyu asked.
"Ah, those two... well, one of them pretty much trains himself," Nanoha replied, thinking of a certain boy. She was still trying to figure out You.
"I'm truly envious... No, maybe I should just have my students get a taste of the same environment..." Chifuyu muttered to herself before turning back to Hayate.
"So, what are our roles, Commander Yagami?" she asked in a calm voice.
---------
While Nanoha and the others were talking to Chifuyu, Fate and Kanzaki were waiting in a car. Fate was in the driver's seat, and Kanzaki was in the passenger's seat. The Seven-Heaven-Seven-Sword, a Japanese sword over two meters long, was sticking out from the back seat to the front.
There was no conversation in the car. But Fate could easily sense that Kanzaki was internally restless. She probably wanted to rush in herself immediately.
"It'll be okay," Fate said. "The assault team will definitely protect Index-chan."
"Yes. Thank you," Kanzaki replied, her voice sounding a little weak.
Fate continued. "And Sho is in the advance party. We'll be fine with him there."
"Sho... that boy?" Kanzaki immediately recalled him. There were few males in Section 6, and she had once asked him for directions. He seemed like an ordinary boy, not a seasoned veteran.
"You really trust him, don't you?" Kanzaki asked.
"He's saved us so many times," Fate replied. "Even in situations that seem impossible, he somehow manages to pull it off. He might even handle both the Keystone Gate and Index-chan this time."
"Surely not..." Kanzaki laughed lightly at the half-serious, half-joking remark. "Such a convenient turn of events won't happen."
For them, who had struggled so much to save Index during the "previous year," the phrase "somehow manages to pull it off" wasn't something they wanted to hear. It made her want to shout, "We tried everything! You wouldn't understand!" But Kanzaki didn't get angry, understanding that Fate was just trying to lighten the mood.
The two of them, now in a more relaxed atmosphere, waited relatively calmly for the time of the assault.
---------
The scene returns to just before Sho transforms into Hazard Form. Sho and You are fighting against Astarte, while Tatenashi is facing Kageyuki and Oystach.
The battle was proceeding as Tatenashi and the others had planned. Maintaining the tension of being in a dominant position, Tatenashi fought as she normally would.
"Come on! Is that all you've got!"
She created mirrors of "water" in the air as well as on the ground. Tatenashi was wearing the Knight's armor over her personal IS, the Mysterious Lady.
She had chosen not to use her new card-based attacks in a real battle, but she was making full use of her ability to "enter the Mirror World."
"Hmph!"
As Oystach's axe came down, she met it with a quiet smile. In the next moment, Tatenashi's body was absorbed into the water.
The axe missed its target and plunged into the ground. At the same moment Oystach strained to pull it out, Tatenashi emerged from the water and landed on the axe.
"Nope, that won't do," she said.
"Tch!"
She fired her lance's built-in vulcan cannon, forcing Oystach to retreat.
"This power really suits me," she said.
By freely creating entrances to the Mirror World, she could make herself momentarily invincible. While she shouldn't rely on it too much, there was no reason not to use such a broken ability.
But Kageyuki and the others weren't idiots. They could devise a counter-strategy by understanding the phenomenon of her entering and exiting the water, even if they didn't understand the mechanism.
"Fall back! Maximum Pain!" Kageyuki shouted.
He unleashed a repulsive force field as a wall, pushing away the floating water orbs and puddles on the ground around them. Tatenashi just watched, amused.
"It's no use. I can just re-deploy them as many times as I want," she said.
"But I can make it more difficult for you to re-deploy them, can't I?"
"Whoa!" Oystach roared, pulling his axe from the floor and swinging it at Tatenashi.
This time, she didn't enter the Mirror World, opting to dodge with her body movements.
"The downside of an IS is that it's a bigger target," Tatenashi mused.
As she said, an IS is generally armor worn over a tight-fitting inner suit. The Mysterious Lady has relatively little armor. Instead, it forms its shape by spraying water from small armor pieces, creating a veil around her. Oystach's axe was only able to tear through this veil of water.
What's more, the water clung to his weapon, making it heavier and heavier. This negative feedback loop caused his attacks to lose precision.
(Still, I'm lacking a good offensive move...) Tatenashi thought.
A full-power spell from Tatenashi, unaffected by the AMF, would likely break through Kageyuki's repulsion field. But doing so would also risk damaging the surrounding facilities. Her mission was to stall for time, so she could just continue fighting as she was.
Just then...
"Gah!"
Something crashed to the ground.
"Sho-kun?!"
It was Sho, who had reverted from his transformed state.
(The balance is broken?! ...No, he's okay.) She thought, seeing that he had enough time to re-transform.
Tatenashi's top priority became preventing the two from attacking Sho. But...
"Huh?"
In the blink of an eye, an unfamiliar third party was standing next to Sho.
"..."
"Who is that?" Kageyuki and Oystach wondered, seemingly having no idea who the person was.
(Not one of their allies? Then who?) Tatenashi thought.
In that split second, You, who had tried to help, was blown back against the opposite wall by a red bullet-like object.
(This is bad. The balance has been broken!) Tatenashi immediately marked the mysterious person as an enemy.
Sho transformed. He was in a completely black form that she had never seen before. She wasn't surprised by the new look, as he had transformed in strange ways before. However, the transformed Sho seemed to be in a state of extreme panic.
"Astarte, do it!" Oystach commanded.
The now-free Astarte approached Sho.
"Don't let him touch his belt! Don't give him the chance!" Kageyuki had warned them beforehand.
What would normally be the correct instruction was the worst thing they could do in this situation. Astarte raised her Rhododactylus fist. Sho, as Geou, did not dodge it, but instead met it head-on.
"Eh?"
In the next moment, Astarte's Rhododactylus was sent flying backward. Geou had overpowered it.
The mysterious person whispered something to Sho and then vanished.
Geou, still in the black form, decided to fight.
"He sent the Familiar flying with a single blow...!" Oystach muttered, his voice strained.
It looked like a simple punch, but Astarte's Rhododactylus, now in a mount position, was defenseless against Hazard's ferocious assault.
All three of them had forgotten about their own battle, mesmerized by Hazard's combat power. Then, Geou lifted the fallen Rhododactylus and threw it toward them.
The massive Rhododactylus, now a huge projectile, landed between Oystach and Tatenashi.
"This is... unexpected! But I cannot back down for the sake of the Greater Cause!" Oystach shouted.
Tatenashi and Sho joined up. You had not returned from hitting the wall. She was either unconscious or injured and unable to move. Either way, it was better for the two of them to fight together.
"Tatenashi-san! Let's go!" Sho said, but then winced. "Ugh!"
"Don't rush! Remember the objective! I know you're worried about You-san, but focus on the... Sho-kun? What's wrong?" Tatenashi asked, confused.
Geou clutched his head, shaking it back and forth as if in great pain.
"Ah—"
Suddenly, Geou went limp, standing still like a pole.
Even as he stood motionless, the attacks against him did not stop.
"This is our chance! Do it, Astarte!"
"Command accepted, execute."
Geou lightly jumped to avoid Rhododactylus's fist, using a light leap enhanced by the rabbit's power. Oystach was waiting at his landing spot.
In the next moment...
"G-gaaah?"
With a single punch from Geou, Oystach's war axe was shattered, and a mid-kick struck his torso.
Oystach's armor was pulverized. His body folded unnaturally as it slammed into the wall. A moment of silence fell over the battlefield.
Kageyuki focused all his senses on Geou. Oystach had attacked Geou and been defeated as a result. While that was the outcome, Oystach was not moving at all. His body was bent at an unnatural angle, right in the middle of his torso, where humans don't have joints.
The impact had been so great that it had not only shattered his armor but also broken his spine. The result of taking a hit strong enough to send a Familiar flying was to be expected, but it was still...
(He's not holding back at all?! What's gotten into you, Sho-kun?) Tatenashi screamed in her mind.
He had completely misjudged his own power. This was a different kind of attack than she had ever seen from Sho. It wasn't an attack meant to kill, but it didn't seem to care if the opponent died, either. It was a cold, mechanical attack, as if it would just keep going if the target was still moving.
"Maximum Pain!"
The wall of repulsion rushed toward them, pushing Geou back. Kageyuki's attack was not aimed at Tatenashi, but his judgment that Geou was the greatest threat was correct. This also meant he was declaring himself to be Geou's next target.
"Tch!"
Geou's form flickered. Kageyuki instinctively went into a full defensive stance, which was the only reason he was able to survive. Geou, repelled by the repulsion wall, bounced back with great force.
"Whew!" Kageyuki breathed a sigh of relief, having just saved his life.
But then, Geou pulled out a brown and a grey bottle.
FORM TIME!
YABEE! HAZARD!
The word "Build" on his mask changed from red and blue to brown and grey. He had gained the power of Hawk Gatling.
He held up his Hawk Gatlinger and Zikan Girade Gun Mode, a gun in each hand.
"Damn...!" Realizing he couldn't escape, Kageyuki constricted the range of his repulsion field to maximize its output, purely for defense.
But then...
"Gah, ah...!"
The bullets easily penetrated the field, piercing through Kageyuki. Not just one or two, but dozens of them.
Now in Hazard Form, the performance of his regular weapons had also skyrocketed. The bullets that passed through Kageyuki also carved away at the wall behind him.
"Wai... Sho-kun! Stop! Stop!" Tatenashi yelled, rushing to him.
It was a clear case of overkill. It wasn't the result of a battle, but an attack with no intention of leaving the opponent in one piece. The control devices in Kageyuki's body were destroyed, and the repulsion field, which had been rendered useless anyway, completely vanished.
Kageyuki fell to the ground, scattering blood like a gruesome dance.
Just as Tatenashi was about to call out to Sho...
"Execute. Rhododactylus."
The homunculus, faithful to its master's command, launched an attack on Geou.
MAX HAZARD ON!
The next target had been set.
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