[Corruption, Plant TF]
“Time sure flies, huh.”
Sitting within a dusty, dark room, was a young woman. Yagami Hayate, the Mistress of the Night Sky. Well, that was an old title of hers, and she barely held it for a few days thanks to everything that went into how she got it. Between the actions of the four that did everything to protect her, and those two girls who did their best to stop them so that their Mistress wouldn’t destroy everything with the book that they were working to complete.
Once all those misunderstandings were undone, they quickly realized that they had a common goal. To save her. To stop her from perishing because of the link she held to the Book of the Night Sky. Or rather, the Book of Darkness, as it was once known by. Once freed from its influence, and once the Device that served as its ‘spirit’ was freed from the malicious programming that it had been given, they were forced to put it down, and the Device had to let herself pass on, as to not harm the girl any longer.
Though those memories were short lived, she still cherished the time she had to spend with the girl she dubbed ‘Reinforce’. Despite the many years that passed since then, and the younger Device who received the same name later down the line… She still held a certain nostalgia for that woman. She had done what she could to protect her, despite the programming that said otherwise…
And here she was. Back in her old room on Earth. Instead of spending her vacation with her family, the Knights that had once served her, she chose to come back here. Every year, she looked upon the shelf where she let that book rest. The very same shelf that it had been in since so many years prior. Right up until the day it awoke, and bound her to those very same Knights.
Hayate sighed as she looked upon the shelf, nostalgia shining in her eyes as a tear slowly rolled down her cheek. The memories of back then, the pain she went through when she thought everything had gone to hell… The relief she felt when Reinforce came to her and showed her the way… It was all so fresh in her mind. Nobody had been so caring towards her, so knowing of her plight.
Who could blame her for wanting those times to return? More than that, who could blame her for missing a woman that wanted nothing more than her happiness? She wanted to see her again, but she knew she couldn’t get her back. The book was inert. It didn’t hold anything on those pages. Neither the magic that had terrorized the dimensions, the Knights that were programmed to defend it, the Defense Program that ensured it would cause chaos… or the Master Program, Reinforce, who held it back as much as she could. None of it remained on those pages. She had made sure of it, each and every year. Just in case they never truly wiped away the malice stored in its pages.
Once again, it fell on her to do exactly that. She steeled herself, clenching her fist as she prepared for the worst. Whether it was the return of the program… or the return of the woman she longed for. She had to open up the book, otherwise she wouldn’t get any closure. And then she’d return the next year, and go through the process yet again…
“...Eh?” Hayate blinked as she grabbed the book, feeling a little shiver run down her arm. But that wasn’t supposed to happen, she knew the thing was inert. How could it make her shiver? No, wait, that… Was that even a shiver? She had to make sure that nothing was going wrong…
The brunette stepped back as she closed her eyes, causing her Linker Core, the source of a Mage’s Magic, to float out of her chest. Once she gave it a good look, she noticed something sticking to the outer rim. Something thin, yet prickly…
“Can it be..?” She was a powerful Mage, so she should’ve seen something like it before. But the only thing it reminded her of… No, it couldn’t be, she was sure that it got destroyed. This was why Reinforce let herself pass away, there was no way that it had successfully regenerated after all these years..!
Unfortunately for Hayate, her worst fears were true. The thin string of magic yanked on her Linker Core, causing her to fall to her knees from the feedback. She only barely got a chance to notice it being pulled into the book, causing it to glow and slowly float out from its resting place.
The Book of Night Sky… No, the Book of Darkness, had been reborn. And it had just feasted on her magic, leaving her utterly crippled towards any further assault. “Why now, of all times!?” The brunette shouted, her frustration and her fear mixing together as her vision grew blurry…
“Willkommen, Meister.” The book spoke up, just like years past. But this time, the gentle yet distorted voice that beckoned her to use it was more… assertive. It had learned from the times that had passed, learned from its defeat and near-deletion. It wasn’t about to let any of that repeat, not without making sure that the world was properly destroyed.
The Book of Darkness violently flipped open, its pages quickly turning until it reached the middle. From the opened pages, several tentacles, just like the ones that had attempted to subdue them in the final battle, shot out and wrapped their way around the Mage that had fed it a powerful source of magic…
“Stop..!” Hayate cried out, unable to find the words that would deter it. She knew that she was powerless, and she didn’t have the means to call upon any of her friends. Nanoha, Fate, the Knights… All of them were out of reach. She was at the Book’s mercy, and she feared what it would do to her. If it could contain so much malice over the years, the idea of it keeping a grudge against her wasn’t out of the question.
The Book didn’t listen to her protesting cries. They were unimportant. No, it had something much greater in mind for her, as the tentacles wrapped around the girl, tightening and digging into her body. “Integration.” The voice of the Book spoke once more, causing the girl’s skin to take on the same color and opacity as her Linker Core, only for those very same spots that had been impaled with thorns to slowly disappear. As if it was outright absorbing her…
Was it going to incorporate her into its systems? Was she going to be turned into a Knight? No, it couldn’t be that. If she understood its words correctly… It was going to make her a part of it? Absorb her fully, maybe? But what would it gain from merging with a human, much less one who didn’t currently have any magic?
Hayate let out another scream as more vine-like tentacles shot out from the Book, wrapping around her and binding her from top to bottom. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t control herself, and she was fading away as the seconds ticked by. She could do nothing but watch as the Book got closer, yet closer…
In her last moments, her friends flashed before her eyes. And all she could do was let out a weak prayer. “Be safe, everyone…” She muttered, as those eyes closed for the last time. Tears rolling down her cheeks, as she took comfort in the mental image of the woman that had protected her. A woman that she still hoped for, in the deepest corners of her heart.
“Reinforce…”
“Absorbieren.” The Book of Darkness spoke once more, before it sunk straight through the Mage, causing her pain to intensify. The rest of her body quickly flowed into the Book, making it glow a sickly black as Yagami Hayate ceased to be. Her very existence became fuel for the Book of Darkness, something it would use to manifest from then on.
Seconds passed, as the Book rushed through its pages once more, stopping on the ones that Hayate were sealed within. Her image was clear as day, depicting her crying self wrapped in thorns, just like she had been mere moments ago.
The Book of Darkness closed, before a hand grasped it by the back. A hand that slowly materialized into an arm, then a complete body. A body mimicking the girl sealed within the pages, with a few key differences.
Yagami Hayate’s splitting image floated in midair, holding the Book, nay, her true form, in her hand. Her body, otherwise naked as could be, was wrapped in thorns. Thorns that were meant to dig into others, to pull them closer… so that she may have a taste of their magic, much like she had been feasted on by the Book…
“Haaah…” She gasped and smiled, a lustful and wicked tinge to that smile. She hungered. As the embodiment of the Book of Darkness’ Defense Program… She hungered. And when she would’ve feasted on enough Linker Cores, then she would cause enough chaos. Before turning to feasting, and starting everything all over again. Her new purpose, given to her by the Book. A purpose that made her lick her lips in delight, already imagining all those wonderful victims and how they’d taste...
Yagami Hayate was gone. The Book of Darkness had been reborn, and she was feeling quite hungry...