"Magic Armor: Armation! Swift Lightning, Agilitus Fulminis!"
"Lady Vivio's mother, I know it's cowardly for two against one, but please, one strike!"
"Yeah! I'd be happy to!"
I wasn't holding back.
I was clad in the same magic armor I used against Lancelot, and Einhart was raring to go. But Nanoha, floating in the sky, showed no signs of panic.
"Accel Shooter, concentrated barrage!"
A flurry of cherry-blossom-colored light spheres came at us with erratic movements and unpredictable speed.
Even with my current speed, if I tried to weave through the barrage, I'd likely get shot down. She had that level of skill.
"Einhart, this way!"
"Right!"
I pulled Einhart close and chanted a spell.
The red book in my hand glowed.
"RASHIELD!"
A large shield made of electricity appeared from the ground. It was big enough for both of us to hide behind with plenty of room. The Accel Shooters that hit the shield bounced off on the exact same trajectory they came in on.
"Yikes."
Seeing this, Nanoha started manipulating the projectiles to go around the shield instead of destroying it. At that moment, Einhart and I leaped out from behind it.
Leaving the guided projectiles, which had to take a wide arc to avoid the shield, behind, we closed in on Nanoha. This approach risked us being sandwiched by the bullets that had passed us.
Sure enough, the guided projectiles turned around and began to chase us again, but...
"RASHIELD! Go, Einhart!"
"Yes!"
I generated another electric shield behind us to block the incoming attack from the rear.
Nanoha seemed to have abandoned control of the first wave of projectiles, as the ones coming from behind flew off in a completely different direction. The new projectiles she generated were aimed solely at Einhart, who was now well within range.
But Einhart was not to be outdone. She used both hands to deflect and grab the approaching guided projectiles, clashing them against each other to push forward without losing speed.
"Then, how about this?"
What Nanoha held was not a gun with a trigger, but a magic staff. She wasn't limited to using only one type of magic at a time.
The guided projectiles couldn't deal any damage. So, she'd just load a different kind of projectile. Magic power gathered at the muzzle-like tip of her staff.
"It's a blast...!"
It was Nanoha's signature magical blast. Despite seeing it, Einhart charged forward.
The timing was razor-thin. If she had just three more seconds, her fist would connect before the shot was fired—
"Photon Smasher... FIRE!"
My hand wouldn't make it in time. The blast rushed toward Einhart. In response,
"HAAAA!"
With a tremendous roar, the blast was erased. Einhart's full-force right straight punch had deflected the blast.
"Oh my, nullified by a punch...?"
Nanoha's murmur was calm, almost playful, as if she hadn't just had her attack blocked.
A powerful fist, slicing through the air, closed in on Nanoha.
"Hah!"
"Guh!"
Nanoha blocked the punch with the handle of her Raising Heart. The handle bent under the force, absorbing the impact. Taken aback by the unexpected power, Nanoha's expression tightened for the first time.
"Hah, HAH! YAAH!"
But as expected of Nanoha, she easily evaded Einhart's furious assault. Just because she was a long-range specialist didn't mean that was all she could do.
Now, she was holding her staff like a spear in a defensive stance.
I couldn't just stand there, either. Even from this distance, I had a way to provide support.
"Magic Archer: Sagitta Magica!"
Seven arrows of light flew toward Nanoha. The attack was only powerful enough to serve as a distraction with my magic, but combined with Negi's techniques, the control was precise.
"Whoopsie."
Nanoha launched an Accel Shooter to intercept, but I had anticipated that move.
"Chained Barrage: Cannon!"
The Accel Shooter and my Magic Arrows didn't collide and cancel each other out. Instead, they both changed their trajectories and veered off.
Only my projectiles survived and continued to assail Nanoha.
"Gah!"
For the first time, Nanoha took damage. It was minuscule, but I had succeeded in leaving a mark on her barrier jacket.
Seeing her opportunity, Einhart's attacks intensified. But Nanoha's defenses were flawless. She was moving too fast to feel the damage.
"!"
Our eyes met for an instant. The next moment, twice the number of Accel Shooters appeared. Every single one of them swarmed toward me.
Her multitasking was insane. The sharpness of every spell was on a different level from before. Now, even combining Magic Archer with Kinji's gun techniques wasn't enough to defend. My own shooting speed was simply too slow. Rashield would likely just be bypassed as they targeted me.
I was forced to back away, but these were guided projectiles. They would chase me anywhere.
"Sho!"
"Looks like you've got time to be distracted."
"Gah!"
Einhart's punch was not only blocked by a Protection Shield, but a chain of the same thin pink color had been generated from it, entangling her.
Einhart's right arm was completely immobilized in mid-air.
And my opponent wasn't naive enough to let such a perfect opening slip away.
"Divine—"
Magic power was being channeled. In the next instant, the signature blast would swallow Einhart whole.
Einhart was panicking, trying to defend herself, but even if she managed to escape, Nanoha's aim wouldn't be so easily fooled. It was clear the shot would hit her as if drawn to her.
I had been pushed away by the guided projectiles, so I couldn't directly intercept that attack. The immediate firepower I could muster wouldn't be able to break through Nanoha's solid defenses.
What a blunder. Even though we were attacking together, we had been separated, and she had created a one-on-one situation.
I was the one who had been toyed with by mere guided projectiles. I couldn't abandon Einhart, who was now trapped.
"Thunderstorm of Iovis: Tempestars Fulgriens!"
I released the Thunderstorm of Iovis I had been cloaked in. A bolt of lightning streaked toward Nanoha. A whirlwind swirled around the lightning.
In terms of pure destructive power, it should be on par with Nanoha's blast. It was an attack she couldn't ignore.
With the release of Swift Lightning, my basic stats plummeted. The guided projectiles hit me, but my gaze was fixed solely on the result of my desperate attack.
"Whoops."
"Damn!"
I was too far away.
My flashy attack was spotted by Nanoha in an instant and gracefully avoided with a somersault.
She didn't have to reduce her magic output, and it didn't even buy Einhart any time to escape.
Einhart, with the barrel aimed at her, had stopped struggling as she had when she was first restrained.
There was no time left before the blast.
"—BUSTER!"
The blast rushed toward Einhart. Its power was lethal. There was no defense. It wasn't a technique that could be dealt with by passive actions.
She understood that, too.
She rotated her body, shattering the magical chain that had restrained her arm. Not stopping there, her now-free right hand went to meet the blast head-on.
"—!?"
Nanoha's eyes widened in astonishment.
Einhart's right palm strike had completely nullified Nanoha's blast, or rather, had surpassed its power.
Her barrier jacket tore, and she lost her balance in mid-air. It seemed to have been an unexpected counterattack for Nanoha as well.
More than that, Einhart, who had just delivered the punch, seemed surprised by the result, freezing with her palm extended.
Light once again shone from Nanoha's device.
The blank in her thoughts was short. She was, after all, a veteran Ace of Aces.
"Strikers—!"
Before she could fire, I, once again clad in Swift Lightning, cut in between the two of them.
I could grab Einhart and run, but I knew we'd just get shot down. So, instead...
"I'm counting on you, Imagine Breaker!"
I didn't think your first battle would be against Nanoha's blast, but here we are. It's a flashy scene worthy of the name Imagine Breaker.
The moment I activated Imagine Breaker, the Swift Lightning I was wearing was canceled out before the blast was.
I was completely exposed. The blast had already been fired, and my vision was filled with light.
"GOOOO!"
It impacted my right hand. Along with an immense pressure, a pain that felt like my right wrist was about to snap shot through me.
I held my right hand with my left to keep it from being knocked away.
Just touching it wasn't enough to nullify it. That's how powerful the attack was. An instant that felt like an eternity. The end came quickly.
I knew the feeling. There was no anime-like sound effect, but in my head, I felt something break with a snap. The pain and pressure vanished instantly, and the blast disappeared without a trace.
Unlike when Einhart deflected it, there was no shockwave. It was as if it had been completely erased from this world.
Even Nanoha's face showed clear signs of bewilderment.
(What was that? The blast wasn't nullified, but erased? It felt like the spell itself was destroyed. Nothing like this has ever happened before. What kind of ability is that...?)
"Thank you, Sho."
"Glad I made it. We might have been shot down otherwise."
A two-on-one and we were still just breaking even. Nanoha was definitely in full-on serious mode in that last exchange. The battle had shifted from a training exercise, where she analyzes and helps her opponents grow, to one where she was trying to take them down.
Now, it was somewhere in the middle. She was preparing a blast but wasn't pushing forward carelessly. She floated in the sky, her skirt fluttering, like an angel descended from heaven... Why can't I see anything underneath it?
"If I had been alone, that blast would have definitely swallowed me whole. That's a real blast..."
"My right hand might be in some trouble, too."
I managed to nullify it, but I wasn't confident I could do it a second time.
Even Imagine Breaker couldn't completely erase it. I guess if you keep firing something like that, people are going to call you the Devil King.
And that Devil King was still full of energy. I had made her a little cautious, but she wasn't hurt at all—
"Ouch!?"
"Huh!?"
A bullet hit Nanoha in the head. It seemed she had an automatic protection spell on her vital spots, so the damage was minimal, but who shot that!?
The voice coming from the communication device was...
"Tina!?"
So that was Tina's sniper shot!
"Understood!"
"Sho!"
A magic circle appeared at our feet. This color belonged to our team's Fullback, Caro. The next moment, Caro was standing in front of us. No, we had been moved to where Caro was.
"You two did great. I'll heal you right away, so please get ready to get back to the fight."
"Y-yes!"
I was used to it, but Einhart seemed to be experiencing it for the first time, nodding rapidly.
"So that's Summon Magic. Pretty convenient, huh?"
I muttered as I watched my depleted life bar recover. Returning from the front lines, the tension immediately released. But this meant we could take a short break.
My thought was cut short as Einhart shook my shoulder.
"S-Sho..."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Look at that!"
"That? What's... huh?"
I followed her finger to see a giant golem made of rocks and something jet-black facing off against it. The two were fighting each other.
What are those?
---------
"Alright, thanks to Sho and the others distracting Nanoha, our preparations are complete. This is the signal for Team B's victory!"
Several orange orbs of light floated around Tianna. The difference from Nanoha's was the higher concentration of magic in them, compared to Accel Shooters.
During the break in Nanoha's support, Tianna had been preparing this attack. She had been able to take her time, undisturbed, to meticulously set everything up.
"Crossfire Full Burst!"
A barrage of bullets rained down on the entire battlefield. The aim was precise, hitting only the members of Team A.
The closely contested battle immediately began to turn. Some took damage and were hit again with a follow-up. Others were caught off guard, and their lines were broken.
Among them, Nove charged straight toward the enemy lines. She had completely abandoned her fight with Subaru, heading directly for the position where Lutecia was stationed.
"Nove! Where are you going, abandoning our one-on-one?"
"To attack the rear line, of course! Now's my chance to take out Vivio and Kuro, who are getting healed! Catch me if you can!"
"Hey!"
Sadly, Nove was overwhelmingly faster. The distance between them grew rapidly. Subaru immediately sent a message to Lutecia.
"Sorry! Nove broke through!"
Vivio and Kuro were full of fighting spirit. Both of them, for their own reasons, were hoping for a rematch against Einhart.
Lutecia reconnected the communication channel to everyone.
The first one to react to that voice was Sakura.
Moments later, a giant shadow figure appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
Team A had played their trump card to turn the tide.
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