Episode 25 - Final Limit
Exhausted and bloodied, Vita reaches the Cradle's engine room. She activates Graf Eisen's Destruction form and attacks the engine, but it takes no visible damage. The automated defense systems activate; Vita just grins and tells it to do its worst.
Outside, Shario reports to Hayate that the Cradle will reach orbit in 38 minutes. Unfortunately, the Dimensional Navy won't arrive for 45 minutes, which gives the Cradle enough time to devastate the surface. Hayate decides to head inside the ship. Alto, who is just taking off from Ground Forces HQ, contacts her and reports that she is on the way with Rein.
In the Throne Room, Nanoha is desperately fighting a defensive battle against Vivio, while Raising Heart reports that their W.A.S. is still ongoing. She concentrates on using restraining and shielding spells, but they have little effect against Vivio's Saint's Armor. Meanwhile, Quattro keeps taunting both combatants over the monitor.
On the ground, Caro and Erio have retrieved the unconscious Lutecia, but her summoned creatures are rampaging out of control. One of them tries to attack them, but is blocked by Garyuu. He and Erio move to subdue the creatures while Caro takes care of Lutecia.
In Regius's office, Signum orders Zest to stand down and come with her. He refuses, saying he needs to save Lutecia and stop Scaglietti. Signum informs him that Scaglietti has already been captured, and Lutecia will soon be safe. Zest replies that there is only one thing left for him to do in that case. Ignoring Agito's protests, he drops his defenses and attacks Signum, forcing her to strike him down.
Back in the engine room, Vita has taken out the defense systems and is continuing her assault on the engine. Nothing she does seems to even scratch it. Desperate, she attacks it again and again, finally with so much force that Graf Eisen shatters. Falling towards the floor in a daze, she whispers an apology to Hayate for failing. Just then, Hayate appears, in Unison with Rein, and catches Vita. She says that there's no need to apologize, and looks towards the engine. Cracks from Vita's final attack slowly spread through it, and it explodes.
In Scaglietti's base, barriers start sealing off the passages as the ground starts shaking. Scaglietti tells Fate that Quattro has activated its self-destruct sequence. When she orders him to stop it, he refuses, saying that he doesn't need his current body anymore.
In the depths of the Cradle, Quattro brings the backup engine online. She is suddenly startled by a small glowing sphere of magical energy which darts into the chamber — Nanoha's Wide Area Search spell, which transmits Quattro's position back to Raising Heart. Quattro says to herself that there's no way Nanoha could make it all the way down to where she is... but that isn't what Nanoha has in mind. She puts another binding spell onto Vivio, activates Blaster Mode Three, and loads her remaining cartridges into Raising Heart. Then she simply aims in Quattro's direction and fires a Divine Buster through the walls, through the ship, and through the horrified Quattro.
With Quattro taken out, all of the Gadgets attacking the capital stop attacking and shut down. Lutecia's summoned creatures also cease their rampaging as the mind control is lifted. However, on the Cradle, the ship's automated defense systems activate, and the Gadgets on and around it continue to fight.
In the Throne Room, Vivio has come to her senses and recognizes Nanoha again. However, her body is still under the Cradle's control, and she is forced to continue attacking. She tells Nanoha to stay away, saying she understands the truth now: that she's a copy of someone who died centuries ago, created purely as a key to control the ship. Nanoha and Fate aren't her real mothers — she never had a mother, and she isn't a real person. Nanoha says that isn't true — and that she may not have been Vivio's real mother, but she wants to be. She asks Vivio to tell her what she truly wants; Vivio replies that she loves Nanoha and wants to stay with her forever.
Promising that she will save Vivio no matter what, Nanoha asks her to be strong, and places another binding spell on her. She then casts Starlight Breaker to break through Vivio's Saint's Armor. The Relic implanted inside Vivio shatters; she returns to her normal form and collapses. Nanoha rushes to help her, but Vivio asks her to stay back... she can stand up on her own.
On the Arthra, Lucino reports that the Cradle's rate of ascent has dropped — the Dimensional Navy should now arrive before it reaches orbit.
Hayate and Rein arrive at the Throne Room just as the ship's automated systems broadcast a warning that the Saint's signal has been lost. The ship's anti-magic field goes to full power, nullifying all magical reactions and forcing Hayate and Rein out of Unison mode.
At Ground HQ, a mortally-wounded Zest gives Signum a data drive containing everything he knows about Scaglietti and the combat cyborgs. With his final breath, he asks her to make sure Agito and Lutecia are taken care of, and watch over the world that he and Regius wanted so much to protect.
Out on the street, Subaru and a barely-conscious Ginga meet up with Teana. As they wonder why the Gadgets have shut down, a helicopter lands next to them. Shamal and Vice emerge to tell them that Nanoha and the others are still on board the Cradle. The two Forwards depart with Vice to try and mount a rescue; as they leave, Ginga gives Subaru her device, Blitz Caliber, to take with her.
Caro and Erio head towards Scaglietti's base, where Fate is trying to stop the self-destruct sequence. Chrono's Dimensional Navy fleet continues speeding toward Mid-Childa. And Subaru and Teana head into the sky to rescue their mentors...
Tropes
- Beat the Curse Out of Him: Nanoha frees Vivio by blasting her with five simultaneous Starlight Breakers until the relic that's controlling her is forcibly expelled and shattered.
- Bilingual Bonus: The Cradle's automated systems broadcast several status reports in German (which is used throughout the franchise to represent Ancient Belkan). Of interest is that the Saint King's title (Seiō) is translated as Heilige Kaiser note , rather than the unofficial term "Sankt Kaiser" which is popularly used by fans.
- Bring It: When the engine's defense systems activate, Vita smiles and says "bring it on!"
- Call-Back: Vivio forces herself to stand up on her own rather than let Nanoha help her, keeping the promise she made back in Episode 15.
- Chekhov's Gun: Fired in spectacular fashion when the W.A.S. spell Nanoha cast in Episode 23 finally reports back.
- Chekhov's Skill: Two at once:
- Area Search was first introduced way back in the third episode of season 1.
- Nanoha once again shows off her ability to blast straight through buildings with Divine Buster, just like she did to rescue Subaru.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Ironically, averted by Nanoha herself. Neither of them is interested in friendship here — she simply takes Quattro down hard.
- Determinator: Vita. By this point, she has been impaled through the chest and battled through an army of Type 4 Gadgets to reach the engine room. Bleeding from multiple wounds and barely able to stand, she fights her way through the engine's automated defense systems and proceeds to attack the engine with everything she and Graf Eisen have left, loading cartridge after cartridge and hammering away at it until both of them are wrecked beyond their capacity to continue. She manages to destroy the engine with her very last blow, although it takes several moments to become evident.
- Dungeon Bypass: Quattro was too far away for Nanoha to feasibly reach her before the Cradle would reach orbit and become invincible... so she just blasts through the ship with a Divine Buster instead.
- Keystone Army: As soon as Quattro is defeated, all of the Gadgets attacking the city shut down, and Vivio and Lutecia are released from their Mind Control. Justified in that the Gadgets were all robots and the mind control was explicitly put in place through Scaglietti's technology; Quattro was the backup Mission Control, and Scaglietti's base (and computer systems) had already been captured. Nanoha's Divine Buster evidently also destroyed the computer systems Quattro was using, meaning that there was nothing left to run the control programs. That said, the Gadgets on the Cradle remain active because they're under the ship's control, as do the ones around Scaglietti's base which are part of an autonomous defense system.
- Meaningful Echo: Hayate echoes Vita's earlier Badass Boast back to her, as a way of showing her that she didn't fail after all."Vita the Iron Hammer Knight and Graf Eisen fought valiantly until they were hurt this badly.
There's nothing in this world they can't destroy." - Oh, Crap!: Quattro’s reaction when she realizes Nanoha is, in fact, going to blast her. It’s so glorious, in fact, that it currently provides the page image for the anime subsection.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Nanoha prefixes Quattro's defeat with a single, coldly spoken word: "Mitsuketa" note .
- There's No Kill like Overkill: A calm but furious Nanoha activates Level Three Blaster Mode, loads two entire cases of cartridges into Raising Heart, and fires off the mother of all Divine Busters right at Quattro. note
- Villainous Breakdown: Quattro does see her defeat coming, briefly. She's incapable of mounting any response other than a horrified stare followed by a scream of terror. note
