A treasure chest. A magically sealed treasure chest. On a marble altar. In the middle of a forest.
Yuno Non-Scrya swore colorfully at the simple... clicheness of it all, his fingers dancing like a master conductor as he magically analyzed, prodded, and finally dismantled the legion of enchantments and seals upon the chest that contained his prize. He'd been working for hours now, but it would be worth it: the Logia-Artifact believed to be within would fetch quite a nice price if he could claim it. He'd hoped to do so without any interference, but sadly a small group of local guardians had been nearby and had detected his work, sweeping in to deal with his intrusion. They'd be very skilled, prepared to face and best anything short of a demon in combat.
Yuno grinned as he glanced briefly to his right.
Fortunately, he had a White Devil at his command.
Nanoha's nude form stood a short distance away, where the crimson magical energies that raged around her would not interfere with his delicate work, swaying almost drunkenly in the wind and gazing listlessly at the fist-sized crimson orb in her hands that was Raging Heart. Her naked body was thickly coated in blood from the locals, whose butchered corpses lay scattered - often in several pieces - around the clearing. One particularly unfortunate guardian's remains were even located in no less than three separate trees!
The savagery, the bloodshed... oh, how it truly excited him to have such a minion under his control! He had indeed chosen well back then, on that tiny, miserable little backwater world where the Jewel Seeds had eluded his grasp. He'd lost quite a bit of an investment there and nearly damaged his standing with the Harlaown syndicate, but in the end it had all been worth it; he'd never believed he'd be able to so easily acquire such a willing and able host for Raging Heart's power! A little research on local entertainment, a simple illusion, a few empty words about love and justice and the planet's moon for whatever fool reason and then the Daemonhost was his. Glorious! Shame about that family of hers, though.
He could only hope that he'd be able to find a replacement so easily. The woman had been useful over the years - her power, her savagery, her exquisite body, all to use as he saw fit... but it'd been a full ten years now. No mere mortal could handle the strain of channeling an Infernal Device for long, and a Logia-Artifact ID like Raging Heart? Miss Takamachi would be lucky to see her twenty-fifth birthday, and the chances of her reaching thirty were astronomically low at best. He'd toyed with the idea of trying to breed a replacement out of her, but he hadn't expected her to last long when the notion had first come to mind and it was far too late to try it now. Ah well, he didn't particularly like children anyway.
Yuno frowned as he unraveled another ward, only to find yet a dozen more hidden underneath. "This is taking far too long!" he muttered, sneering down at the chest before him as if it were consciously hiding it's secrets from him.
"As you say, master." Nanoha instantly responded to his statement, eyes still gazing lovingly into the darkness swirling within the Stone in her hands, like a kind mother looking down at the smiling face of her child.
"I wasn't talking to you, slave." Yuno sneered, "Be silent! This is delicate work."
Nanoha merely nodded absently, still entranced by her device.
Yuno threw himself into his work with renewed vigor and perhaps a little less caution, eager to get the damn Logia-Artifact and get off this accursed planet already. He already had enough frustrations to work off on his minion tonight, he didn't need to risk breaking her again. That time eight years ago had nearly cost him the greatest asset he had outside of his own abilities and had nearly landed him in an Alhazredian prison, and he had no intention of repea-
"SCRYA!"
Yuno bit back a curse and sped up his work as fast as he dared. "Miss Testarossa. Come to try my patience yet again?"
"Your bounty's gone up again, Non-Scrya!" Fate Testarossa clenched her hands around her ebony Belkan swordstaff, face hard, an explosion of golden power erupting from her and causing her black cape to flap harshly on the artificial breeze. "I'm freeing your slave and bringing you in!"
"And yet again you make promises you never keep." He really didn't have time for this. "Nanoha? Kill them."
Nanoha turned, grinning malevolently, and paused for a moment. "'Them', master?"
Yuno would've blinked if it wouldn't have disrupted his work. Instead he smiled.
"Come without your sister this time, Fate-chan?" Yuno ignored her furious growl at his choice in honorific, "You'll regret that I think. Kill her, slave."
"Yes, my master." Nanoha raised Raging Heart before her.
"Nanoha, stop!" Fate shouted, stepping forward and extending one arm, "You mustn't call upon the Stone's power!"
Too late. With the psychic shriek of tormented souls - one female scream of agony much louder and more recognizable than the rest - Raging Heart exploded into streams of blood-red light, which flowed around Nanoha's body and congealed, blackening, then lightening into the foul-smelling and damp cloth of the crimson and white barrier jacket that clung tightly to her body, and her hair straightened and flowed into twin tails bound in thick red ribbons. Runes of crimson blood formed upon the exposed parts of her skin, of which her barrier jacket left many, and Nanoha's soul screamed once more as a pair of feathery crimson wings burst from her back.
Then, with a blast of dark energy, a portal to the Infernal realm tore it's way through space-time, the air around it distorting from both the blatant disruption of physics and the sheer searing heat emanating from the Hellgate.
Nanoha reached in, shuddering and moaning in a mixture of agony and pleasure as her flesh began to roast, and then pulled her arm back, the black shaft, crimson orb, and finally the bronze blade of Raging Heart's true form coming to rest in her hands, which sizzled from the effort of holding a weapon which still glowed hot with hellfire.
Then, the twin sounds of her physical laughter and psychic sobbing echoing throughout the forest, the White Devil hurled herself into the fray.