As Abigail, I caused trouble in infinite space.

Seeing Fate's actions, Nanoha immediately understood Fate's purpose and followed suit.

The two rushed to the Seed of the Holy Stone, and right in front of it, their staffs collided. At that moment, the Seed of the Holy Stone suddenly trembled violently.

The massive tremor cracked the two men's staffs and then triggered a towering pillar of light.

The sudden surge of energy sent Nanoha flying, while Fate was also knocked off balance and had to quickly regain her footing.

The riot did not last long, but in that short time, it also caused tremors in a dimensional space unknown to the two.

Adjusting his stance and flying slowly, Fate looked at the cracked lightning battle axe in his hand and said softly:

"I'm sorry, come back, Lightning Battle Axe."

"Yes."

After a burst of light, the Lightning Battle Axe returned to Fate's hand.

Fate landed on the ground and looked at the Seed of the Holy Stone, which, although it had stopped, was still in the activated state due to the huge energy burst. Then, she rushed over and hugged the Seed of the Holy Stone with her own hands.

"Fate!"

Elf shouted loudly, very worried.

"Fate! No! Danger!"

However, Fate did not heed Elf's advice. After embracing the Seed of the Holy Stone, she knelt down in anguish, and a yellow magic circle appeared around her.

"Please, stop, stop, stop!"

Fate gripped the Seed of the Holy Stone tightly, trying desperately to stop it from functioning, but the energy emanating from it was not so easy to withstand. Blood was already flowing down Fate's arm.

However, despite such suffering, Fate did not give up.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Seemingly sensing Fate's wish, or perhaps due to the effect of Fate's efforts, the Seed of the Sacred Stone finally stopped.

However, Fate could no longer stand steadily. After swaying a couple of times, she fell backward.

Faced with this situation, Elf immediately transformed back into human form and rushed over to hug Fate.

Then she turned her head and looked at Nanoha and Yuno with some resentment, but to be fair, Nanoha and Yuno were actually quite innocent.

Elf then carried Fate onto the roof and left.

Abigail had watched the entire battle unfold, and she had to admit, she admired Fate's actions. The Seed of the Holy Stone was such a dangerous thing, yet Fate was willing to risk her life for her mother.

“Presia, such a good daughter, how could you treat her like that? If you had other motives, I could understand, but if it’s just because of your personality, I wouldn’t mind exiling you into the space-time rift.”

After talking to herself, Abigail couldn't help but think of something else.

Just now, the energy eruption of the Sacred Stone Seed caused a tremor in the dimensional space. The Time and Space Administration should be taking notice of this. Looks like I'll have to stick close to Nanoha for now; that's how I'll get on the Time and Space Administration's ships.

Once she had a general idea of ​​when to proceed, Abigail turned and left.

On the other side, Nanoha and Yuno dealt with their own situation briefly before dispelling the wide-area barrier and returning.

"Yunno, is Rising Sun Heart alright?"

"Yes, it's already fully engaged in automatic repair."

Even so, Nanoha still said to Rising Sun Hearts with some apology:

"I'm sorry, Rising Sun Heart."

And so the night passed.

On the second day, Nanoha got up early and went to her backyard. She stared blankly at the dimly lit sky, as if she was thinking about something.

Nanoha.

Just then, Yuno's voice appeared in Nanoha's mind.

"Yuno?"

"What's wrong? Why are you awake so early?"

“I’ve been thinking about something for a bit,” I said, “Yunno.”

"what happened?"

"I still care about that girl."

"Is it that girl named Fate?"

"Hmm, her eyes were lonely, and she apologized to me when she attacked me. I think she must have some reason to fight so hard to collect the Seed of the Holy Stone. I want to talk to her, so in order to achieve my goal... I must become stronger."

.........

"Fate, what exactly did that person want us to go back for?"

"I don't know, but it must be something important."

"But do you think she'll be happy if you bring her snacks?"

"I don't know, but this is what I mean."

Fate then activated a teleportation spell, and the two returned to the Garden of Time in a beam of light.

As they emerged from the magic circle, Fate suddenly noticed that Presia, who usually stayed in her laboratory, was standing in front of them, seemingly waiting for them.

And for some reason, Fate felt that Presia's gaze towards her seemed different than before.

"Mother......"

"Fate, I have something I want to tell you. Come with me."

Watching Presia turn and leave, Fate was a little confused about what had happened. However, since Presia told her to follow, Fate naturally followed.

Following Presia all the way to her laboratory, Fate hesitated, after all, Presia had strictly forbidden her from entering the laboratory before.

"Come in."

Seemingly noticing Fate's hesitation, Presia turned to Fate and said.

Upon hearing Presia's words, Fate immediately went inside.

However, the scene that appeared before her made her stop in her tracks.

In the laboratory, there were many culture tanks arranged neatly. In the center of the laboratory, there was a separate culture tank in which a girl floated. The girl looked exactly like her.

"Mom...that's..."

“Alicia, my real daughter.”

"Mom, what do you mean by this...?"

Fate was deeply shocked. Although she didn't know the truth, she understood that it might be cruel.

Seeing Fate's immense distress, Presia's face showed a hint of pity.

“Fate, do you know how you came to be? You are a clone that I created to resurrect Alicia. I implanted all of Alicia’s memories into your body.”

“I once wanted to treat you as my daughter, but when I discovered that although you and Alicia shared the same memories, you were completely different in other ways, I realized that you are not Alicia. You are not my daughter.”

Upon hearing Precia's words, Fate suddenly felt weak all over, collapsing to her knees, the cake in her hand falling to the ground. Seeing Fate kneeling, Precia turned away.

“Fate, the reason I called you back this time is to tell you the truth about this matter. Originally, I planned to use the Seed of the Holy Stone to find the eternal city of Alhazat and search for the lost technology within it. I believed that there must be a way to revive Alicia. However, it is no longer necessary now.”

"I am very grateful for the information you brought back. Alicia will be resurrected soon."

At this point, Presia suddenly coughed.

"Cough cough cough..."

"mom!"

Seeing Presia suddenly cough up blood, Fate cried out in alarm.

Presia stopped coughing a few times, then, after catching her breath, straightened up and continued speaking.

"Fate, you must hate me for how I've treated you all these years."

"No, I don't hate you, Mom!"

"You don't hate me? You really are a good child!"

At this moment, Presia couldn't help but recall what had happened yesterday.

After Abigail left yesterday, Presia finally let go of her long-standing anxiety, and because of this, she finally faced her own heart.

On this day, Presia thought about many things. Many things she had never had the energy to consider before.

“Fate, my time is running out. I’ve always thought about how to revive Alicia, and it’s become an obsession of mine. But now that I’m finally able to revive Alicia, I suddenly realize that I still can’t fulfill my promise to that child.”

Hehehehe...

Presia suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

"I am indeed not a good mother."

"Mother......"

“Listen to me, Fate, I’m telling you all this now, not for any other reason than to ask you for one thing in my final moments: would you help me take care of Alicia?”

"ah......?"

............

"Fate, you're finally out. That guy didn't hit you, did he?"

Seeing Fate come out of Leticia's room, Elf quickly came up and asked with concern.

However, Fate's attention was not on Elf at all. He walked forward silently, completely unaware of Elf.

"Fate, Fate, what's wrong? Say something!"

"Elph..."

"Fate, did that person do something to you?"

Seeing Elf's concerned expression, Fate smiled and shook her head.

"Don't worry, Elf, I'm fine."

"But......"

"Really, don't worry. Okay, let's go back."