Episode 09 - Christmas Eve
December 22nd. Shamal checks in with Signum, who is hunting linker cores on a remote world, and reports that Hayate's new friends are visiting her a lot. Signum says she'll return in few days; looking through the Book of Darkness, she sees they only need to fill 60 more pages.
December 23rd. Fate has dinner with the Takamachi family, who are anticipating a busy Christmas Eve at the Midoriya café. Later that evening, Nanoha, Fate, Suzuka and Alisa plan to make a surprise visit to Hayate after school the next day.
On board the Arthra, which is now in orbit above the Earth, Chrono is looking at some information related to Admiral Graham. Amy comes in and asks what he's up to, but he says it's a personal matter. She tells him she's given Nanoha and Fate the information that Yuuno discovered about the Book of Darkness.
December 24th. Signum has returned to Earth and is visiting Hayate in hospital along with Shamal and Vita. As they talk, a knock comes on the door — Suzuka with Alisa, Fate and Nanoha. Before anyone else can act, Hayate invites them in — and Nanoha and Fate are stunned to find the Wolkenritter gathered around Hayate's bed. With Hayate, Suzuka and Alisa watching curiously, everyone — after a moment's dismay — forces themselves to act normally. The girls proceed to give Hayate a pile of Christmas presents, much to her delight. However, Fate and Nanoha notice that Shamal has put up a communications barrier which prevents them from contacting anyone outside.
As it grows dark, Suzuka and Alisa leave, but Nanoha and Fate linger behind. Leaving Hayate to rest, Signum and Shamal confront Nanoha and Fate up on the hospital roof. Realizing Hayate is the master of the Book of Darkness, Nanoha implores the Wolkenritter to listen to what she has to say. However, before she can explain the truth about the Book, Vita appears and attacks Nanoha in a fury. Easily withstanding the attack, Nanoha activates her Barrier Jacket and says she'll force them to listen if she has to.
Fate tries to explain that the Book's programming has been corrupted, but the knights retort that they're part of the Book themselves, and therefore know everything about it. Signum moves to attack Fate, who engages a modified barrier jacket designed for maximum speed over defence. Activating her own armour, Signum tearfully says that in other circumstances, she and Fate could have been good friends.
Meanwhile Nanoha asks Vita why, if the knights know everything about the Book, do they always call it the "Book of Darkness", and not by its true name? The question stuns Vita, and she hesitates, confused. But before either of them can do anything else, binding magic suddenly appears from nowhere and traps Nanoha. Disengaging from Signum, Fate locates the hidden attacker and forces him to reveal himself: the all-too-familiar masked man. As she goes to attack him, however, a second masked man suddenly appears and kicks her aside. Then, before anyone can react, magical bindings wrap themselves around Fate — and Shamal, Signum, and Vita.
One of the men holds up the Book of Darkness, which he has somehow retrieved, and opens its pages towards the Wolkenritter. He says the final pages will be filled by Book's own guardian knights, and orders it to begin collecting their linker cores. Shamal and Signum both slowly disappear as their magical power is consumed.
Vita, struggling aginst her binds, demands to know who the men are, but they say a mere program like her has no need to know. At that moment Zafira arrives on the scene, having realized something was amiss after losing contact with the others. He desperately attacks the two masked men, but they quickly overpower him. At the same time, in her room downstairs, Hayate senses that something is terribly wrong.
The masked men seal Nanoha and Fate in a temporary magical prison some distance away, noting that it should take the girls several minutes to escape. Then, saying it's time for the Book of Darkness to awaken, the two men change their appearance into slightly imperfect facsimiles of Nanoha and Fate. They magically transport Hayate onto the roof, where she is horrified to see Vita suspended motionless in the air and Zafira lying unconscious nearby. The pair tell Hayate that she cannot escape the curse of the Book of Darkness, then order it to absorb Zafira and Vita. Hayate begs them to stop, but they say she'll have to use force to stop them... and she can only sob helplessly as her loved ones disappear before her eyes. As Hayate cries in anguish, the Book of Darkness, its pages now complete, rises up in front her and addresses her as "Master"...
Fate and Nanoha break out of their prison and race back to the hospital just as a white magic circle appears under Hayate. Her eyes turn red and she screams — and a storm of magic erupts around her. Inside the swirling energy, Hayate speaks in monotone, ordering the Book of Darkness to release its seal. As Fate and Nanoha watch in shock, her features morph into those of a grown woman with long silver hair, red eyes, and black wings.
The woman, tears streaming down her face, identifies herself as the Book of Darkness. She raises one hand and a massive sphere of black energy forms over her... and she promises to use all her of power to grant her master's wish.
How many times must I repeat this sadness?"
Tropes
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Nanoha asks why the Wolkenritter don't use the Book's real name, the question stuns Vita and stops her in her tracks. Unfortunately, nothing comes of it, as the masked men choose this moment to attack.
- Break the Cutie: Deliberately invoked by the masked men. They evidently need the master of the Book of Darkness to willingly unseal it once it's completed; thus, they force Hayate to the Despair Event Horizon so that she will do so.
- Chance Meeting Between Antagonists: Nanoha and Fate accidentally meet the Wolkenritter in the hospital when they drop in for a surprise visit to Hayate.
- Episode Title Card: This episode's title card doesn't use the normal cheery font on a colourful background, and isn't read out by Nanoha. Instead, it displays silently in plain white text on a solid black background. As with episode 7 of season one, this warns the viewers that all hell is about to break loose.
- Foreshadowing: Chrono is seen covertly reviewing some information about Admiral Graham. It will become clear in the next episode that he already suspects Graham of being behind the masked man incidents.
- Fragile Speedster: Fate is already fast, but her Sonic Form barrier jacket makes her even faster, at the expense of sacrificing almost all defense. Signum even points out that even a glancing blow could be fatal.
- Holiday Ceasefire: Upon unexpectedly finding themselves face to face in Hayate's hospital room, Fate and Nanoha quietly ask the Wolkenritter if, before any confrontation, they can spend some time with Hayate for Christmas Eve. Signum and Shamal agree, and so Hayate, Suzuka and Alisa remain blissfully ignorant of the tension.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Averted. Up to this point, all of the season's episodes* have had a Japanese title ending in '-nano'. As of this episode, that convention is abandoned, permanently.
- Imposter Forgot One Detail: When the masked men disguise themselves as Nanoha and Fate, their barrier jackets have the wrong colour accents. This hints at their true identity — since cats are partially colour-blind, the Liese twins likely wouldn't be aware of the error. Of course, this doesn't matter for the purpose of fooling Hayate, who's never seen the real barrier jackets before.
- Internal Reveal: Fate and Nanoha finally learn that Hayate is the Book's master, and (by extension) what the Wolkenritter's true motivation is.
- Out of the Inferno: Vita attacks Nanoha with such ferocity she sets part of the roof ablaze. After a moment, Nanoha calmly walks out of the raging fire, barrier jacket and staff equipped, prompting Vita to call her a devil.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: As Hayate loses control, her eyes turn red — the same colour as those of the Book's incarnated consciousness.
- Twisted Christmas: Hayate has to watch as her beloved family is killed in front of her, then has her mind and body hijacked by an Eldritch Abomination. On Christmas Eve.
- Wham Episode: Nanoha and Fate learn Hayate is the Book's master, the Wolkenritter are killed, the Book of Darkness is completed and its incarnated consciousness is unleashed.
