Just as Fang Zheng had expected, the Shadow Monsters appeared once again.
As before, the Shadow Monsters attacked Nanoha and the blonde girl the moment they appeared. The blonde girl looked quite surprised by their assault, but she clearly had no intention of lingering. While Nanoha was tied up by the Shadow Monsters, the blonde girl flew up, retrieved the sealed Seed of the Holy Stone, and swiftly departed.
By the time Fang Zheng and the others emerged from the teleportation array, the blonde girl had already vanished beyond the horizon.
"Teacher!"
Seeing Fang Zheng arrive, Nanoha, who was fighting the Shadow Monsters, cried out happily. Fang Zheng merely glanced at her and nodded, then drew the Pitch Black Greatsword and pointed it forward.
"Take them out!"
The Shadow Monsters' assault remained ferocious.
But unlike before, everyone had come prepared this time. Nanoha and Sakura had long anticipated that the Shadow Monsters might ambush them, so they handled the attack far more easily. With Fang Zheng, Illya, and Little Black joining the battle, no matter how frenzied the Shadow Monsters' attacks became, they could not harm anyone in the slightest.
Still... if they kept fighting like this in the real world...
Watching Little Black unleash a Pseudo Spiral Sword and blast a huge crater into the ground before her, Fang Zheng's eyelid twitched. Then he raised the Pitch Black Greatsword in his right hand again.
"Fū..."
However, just as Fang Zheng was about to deploy Fūka, something strange happened again.
The Shadow Monsters that had been attacking so madly suddenly seemed to sense something and began retreating at high speed. They fled so quickly that it looked as though their entire formation had completely collapsed.
Seeing this, Fang Zheng's heart stirred, and he forcibly stopped the release of Fūka.
The