Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Death wasn't something that I actively planned for. Who did in the first place? I mean it's something you can't exactly see coming so the best one could hope for is that you didn't draw the short end of the stick.

Unfortunately for me I happened to draw the short end of the stick on one particular night.

I was there, in my car waiting for an intersection to turn green so I could make my turn. My eyes were groggy from having to spend most of the day at the university and all I wanted to do was pass out on the bed.

Still I was awake enough to drive safely back home without much fuss. All I needed to do was turn the corner and drive a few more blocks and I would be home free.

Well the drunk truck driver that ran the red light had different plans as the last thing I could see was the truck's bright headlights before I felt numbness overtook me. I almost wanted to laugh, a truck of all things being the one to take me out. If I could I would've laughed at the irony.

And it wasn't as if I had died instantly, no life decided to be humorous in my final moments. I could vaguely feel my mangled body in the destroyed wreck that was my car. Technically the only thing I could feel was an encroaching darkness overtake my vision as all the organs in my body were beginning to fail.

I couldn't hear the sounds of cars honking or people yelling, nor the feeling of all my bones being shattered into billions of pieces, nor taste the metallic blood that was no doubt pooling inside of my mouth.

The only thing I could do was watch blankly ahead as I saw

"I guess this is it," I thought blankly as I took one last look of what was in front of me before I felt my eyes close for the final time and let darkness consume me. My mind was already gone before my eyes closed shut as the cold embrace of death embraced me and whisked me away from the world.

Yet if my mind was still intact before I knew no more I would've seen a brilliant light cut through the darkness.

Your Path Still Continues.

I had expected to be suddenly catapulted into Heaven, I wasn't that religious so I didn't really know if there was a God waiting for me but I knew that he had to exist in some way shape or form.

What I hadn't expected was to be suddenly thrust into a loud blurry and definitely unknown setting. From having clear sight to suddenly being assaulted by bright blurry lights. I guessed it was shorter than a second from me getting hit by the truck to whatever the hell was happening right now.

So many things were going through my mind that I didn't even realize that I was crying as loud as I could, my brain probably having reached the breaking point and this was the only thing my newborn body could do in this sort of situation.

My confusion only increased when I could feel my body being carried by some unseen force, my vision only providing me some sort of blurry green object.

"Congratulations ma'am, you've given birth to a very healthy baby boy." Was all that I heard before I could feel my mind freeze at what I presumed to be a doctor's voice. There was no way what I heard was true.

There was no what I thought was happening was actually real. There was just no way, you saw this sort of stuff in books and shows!

Yet the sounds that I could hear of machines beeping in the background and the distinctive shuffling of people in the background told me otherwise as I began to piece together that I wouldn't see the people that I loved.

That I would never get to see them again and how I could never say my last goodbyes to them as some sort of closure.

My internal dread was not recognized as my frail newborn body was handed off to another set of arms. The blurry light fading away as a face came into my field of vision. My eyes as a newborn weren't able to clearly define whose face I was seeing but judging by the outlines of a smile I had a pretty good guess that this was my mother.

"Ah my sweet little angel," She raised me up and planted a very sweaty kiss to my forehead.

And with that I let my consciousness get swallowed by the void, whether it was from the trauma of just having my old life get ripped away or the exhaustion of just being born.

All I wanted to know was why it had to be me in the first place.

Let me tell you straight up that being reborn sucked.

But you're probably asking why that is. After all, sticking a grown up into the body of a baby should make the life of my parents easier as they wouldn't have to be woken up rudely in the middle of the night by my cries.

But that would be raising so many red flags if their child wasn't acting like a regular baby, and in this case it was easier said than done with my mind still coping with the fact that I had just lost everything in the span of five seconds.

I wasn't crying all the time as I was during the first week of being reborn but there were times where I just couldn't help it.

I would be laying in my crib, just minding my own business as I waited for the day to end when my mind would wander...back to my previous life. Being a baby really didn't allow for me to do anything else to pass the time.

And so I found myself frequently looking back on the memories of my old life. It was rather strange seeing my memories throughout the ages even though I was currently a baby now. If I had to describe how I felt the closest thing that I could describe it as if I was watching the super emotional autobiography of a close family member. Regardless of the emotions that each memory had, no matter how embarrassing it could be, I just yearned to re-experience it in some shape or form.

Boring days of school, joyous reunions with family, major events, a part of me just felt hollow knowing that none of that mattered here.

And so I found myself looking back to each and every memory I had of all the people I had met in my old life. Some were forgettable, only knowing their names and an interesting tidbit of information about them. Others were people that I drifted away from due to a plethora of reasons, I would often find joy at the shenanigans that I pulled with them that made my days move a bit faster.

But the most painful were the people that I got really close to, like 'I would die for you' kind of close. The bonds that I painstakingly forged with them had all been turned to dust.

It didn't matter that I was an adult in a baby's body as my restraint would be broken and I cried as much as my tiny lungs could.

The only relief that I could find in my episodes was that it wouldn't go unnoticed by long as my mother would quickly pick me up in her arms and rocked me whilst singing a lullaby to calm me down.

I didn't know if I could accept her as my new mother. I knew that would just be unfair to her just because I couldn't move on but I felt as if I was spitting on my mother's memory just by accepting this new life of mine with little to no trouble.

I just needed time to process everything, time I hoped my new mother was willing to wait for.

But enough with the moping, I had months to do that.

I came across something peculiar when my eyes could properly see after a month or so in this new world and everything was no longer a blurry image.

It was that my new mom had red hair, and no I'm not talking about your typical redhead.

No I'm talking about the bright red anime hair.

My mother must've noticed my staring the first time I had seen her hair with my eyes as she chuckled before taking me into her arms. "Do you like my hair Haruto-kun?" She giggled as I ran my hand through her bright hair, marveling at how natural it was.

Yes that was my name in this new life.

Haruto, Haruto Nakamura.

With my sight now returned to me, I got to fully explore just what kind of life I got myself into. I was able to learn that I lived in some sort of suburban neighborhood in Japan. My knowledge about Japan was only limited to what I would watch through anime so I really couldn't tell you where I exactly lived in the nation.

My family was stereotypical. My mother was the housewife who kept the house tidy and clean while watching over me and my father worked the weekdays and spent the weekend with his family as we did normal things a family did.

My mother was clearly the one in charge of the relationship, not to say that she didn't care of my father's opinion but I could see first hand that my mother simply had the aura of someone who wouldn't take no for an answer.

After hitting the three month mark, I was finally able to sort of show off the adult mind of Haruto Nakamura. No longer did I cry or have temper tantrums that a baby of my age would normally have, having moved on a bit from being reborn as a newborn.

It was definitely something that my mother and father picked up on as they started to brag to our neighbors on how their son never raised a fuss. How I never cried out of the blue, only if I soiled my diapers, which really sucks by the way as an adult, or if I was hungry.

And that was enough for my parents to be the "children raising gurus" that you could go to on how to raise your child properly. And judging by how many times we would get visited by the neighbors per week, apparently not raising a fuss every hour was a huge deal to new parents.

It definitely wasn't because I was essentially a human adult in the mind of a baby, yup definitely not the reason why.

As such my parents began to teach me things that you normally wouldn't do to a three month old baby.

One day I found myself sitting in the living room, watching my parent's fight over each other while I watched with a big smile on my face. It was the weekends and it was during these times that us as a family were together.

What were they fighting over exactly?

My mother had a huge smile on her face as she slowly began to teach me on how to say her name. My father caught on what she was trying to do and did the same as the two had a small competition on whose name I would utter first.

I never knew why this was a thing, was it because of favoritism? That whoever's name that I said would solidify who I loved more, which in my opinion was dumb.

But that didn't mean I couldn't have some fun with this.

"Can you say Kaa-san for me Haruto?"

"What about Tou-san? Can you say it for me please?"

And I was very tempted to give in to either of my parents. A big smile on my face as I watched my parents try to one up the other. Over time I slowly began to accept these two people as my new parents, that the life I had was truly over.

Did that mean that I forgot about it? Not at all, a piece of me was still hurting over the fact that I had lost my life a couple of months ago but no longer did it hurt that I couldn't move on.

Maybe one day I could lay rest to the old vestiges of my previous life.

And just as my four month old self was about to give in to one of my parent's pleas, I was suddenly picked up by another familiar figure. "For shame, forcing a child to choose between their parents. My visiting grandmother admonished the two before cooing at me which was my cue to begin giggling.

"See even little Haru-kun agrees with me."

I resisted the urge to laugh when I saw my parents' sheepishly rub the back of their necks in embarrassment. "But Kaa-san," My mother spoke up. "Weren't you like this with me when I was a baby?"

My grandmother simply smiled before turning her back towards them as she looked at me once more, completely dodging the question. "Let's leave these two alone for awhile shall we? I want to spend some time with my grandchild."

I giggled before resting my head against my grandmother, ready for wherever she was going to take me. But if I had looked at my grandmother a bit longer, I would've noticed how my grandmother's eyes lingered on me for a bit longer than she was supposed to.

Years passed and I was of the tender age of six when I was finally forced to enter every child's worst nightmare.

School.

"Is my little Haruto ready for school?" My mother asked as I stood in front of a mirror, school uniform already worn. In the United States uniforms weren't really something enforced by the schools and seeing the typical black uniform like this was something that I only saw in anime.

And yet seeing me wearing one now only reinforced the fact that this life as Haruto Nakamura was indeed real and not some sort of elaborate dream.

Apparently my silence was an answer as my mother picked up that something was wrong as she looked down at me in worry. "Is everything okay? Is the uniform too tight?"

My eyes widened as I realized that I got lost in my thoughts and it seemed as if I was upset, "Uh no Kaa-san...I'm just worried that I won't be making any new friends." That was not a lie, I was worried to a degree that making a new friend was going to be a challenge.

After all, making a friend when you were a child was substantially easier than making one as an adult. You didn't have to worry about all the troubles that came with being an adult, as a child all you had to worry about was who you were going to spend playtime with.

My mother smiled before she kneeling down and giving me a hug. "Oh don't worry about that, I'm sure all the kids at school would love to be your friends." She said with her eyes beaming with pride.

With the positive reinforcement from my mother, I looked back at the mirror and took note of my new appearance. Red hair that I inherited from my mother and hazel colored eyes from my father. A combination that you'd only see in an anime.

But yet...

As I looked at my reflection from the mirror. I couldn't help but feel that I should be remembering something. That this reflection seemed familiar to me, not in the sense that it was my new body but rather it was something important that I should be remembering from my old life.

Ever since I began to age more as Haruto, the memories of my old life began to slowly fade away. Important memories I could still recall with clarity but less important ones were getting harder and harder to keep track of with each passing day.

I contemplated keeping some sort of journal to record my memories but ultimately decided that the cons of it being found outweighed the potential pros. I didn't want someone like my mother or father finding the journal and confronting me about it.

That was not a conversation that I was looking forward to.

And I didn't want my parents to begin to have a crisis over something they had no control over. That the child that they raised was actually an adult that just happened to be reborn as their son.

Yeah, let's not do that.

But the thought that I was forgetting something very important did not leave me when I eventually took my mother's hand before we walked towards the school, nor did it leave when I introduced myself to my classmates at the front of the classroom.

But when I realized how boring school lessons could be, I had totally forgotten about it.

Ever heard of that theory that there exists an infinite universe of different realities? It was something that always bothered me as I grew up as Haruto. As I grew older, I began to notice how similar this life was to my old one.

And that prompted a period of paranoia that had me wondering if it was the same earth that I had once lived in or if it was really a different earth.

As of yet there wasn't anything that seemed too different from the earth that I was familiar with. History flowed the same way as it did, no major deviations from major world events.

Well that was until a certain class of history class in middle school revealed the first big change in worlds.

Ever since beginning school, I breezed through it. With the mind of an adult any test that my teachers presented was done without any troubles. I proudly presented a perfect test score to my parents, who were delighted to see how smart their child was.

But where I excelled in academics, I failed miserably in socialization.

I was never really the most social in school. In fact I preferred to be left to my own devices and be allowed to read my books in peace. Seems that habit carried over as I would most often than not read a book that a child of my age would have difficulty reading.

I made no real attempts to make any friends, quite hard when you're an adult in the body of a child so I didn't think that anything different would happen in this life.

Yet the moment that it was clear that I was the smartest kid in class, I began to have the same importance as the most desired toys a kid my age would want.

"Nakamura-san will you be my friend?" Was the common sentence spoken as kids began to swarm around my desk trying to be my friend like bees to honey.

It must've been a hilarious sight for my parents to see their usually composed child suddenly begin to act like the world was going to end just because he suddenly got popular. My mother was delighted that I was becoming the center of attention.

I truly did try to be the person everyone wanted to be but in the end I had to have my sensei bail me out when she realized that I couldn't handle the attention, bless her soul. She told the class that it was rude to try and force themselves to be my friend and that I had a say in it as well.

From there the swarming stopped as only a handful of people were still trying to be my friend, nothing that I couldn't handle. I strived to do my best and be as friendly as possible to anyone in my class and help them with anything that they didn't understand in the lecture.

This lifestyle of mine never left me as I began middle school, where academics took it up a notch. But even then most of the knowledge I had known beforehand so school was still a breeze that I just had to endure.

Life at home was similar. Other than birthdays and family visits there wasn't anything ground shaking. The relative calm was something that was appreciated. I didn't want to be a part of some special prophecy or whatnot, I just wanted to live this life to the fullest.

But in today's history lesson, a wave of dread filled me as we began to cover history of the mid 1900s. History wasn't something that I worried about, everything that happened in my previous world lined up perfectly with this world's history.

Which was a bit suspicious in itself but I wasn't complaining.

That is until we came to the period of 1952 where a massive explosion apparently decimated the entirety of Berlin.

I wasn't a huge history nerd but even I would remember an event that would completely obliterate the capital of Germany. Especially since I knew this was around the time of World War 2 and I knew Berlin was captured and not destroyed. What's even more suspicious was that there wasn't even a solid reasoning why the explosion took place.

Some speculated a hidden war, others a weapons test gone wrong, some people believed that it was the works of aliens. Regardless of what people believed I knew that there was something strange going on.

I just couldn't make a guess on what it was.

And to make matters worse, there was another cataclysmic event that occurred that didn't line up with my world's timeline. In 2000 a meteor shower apparently laid waste to the entirety of Siberia and the Russia Far East, which was only 3 years after my birth into this world.

I could accept that this world's history did not have to necessarily line up with my old one's. I could accept the fact that just because the two worlds had many similar events that it did not mean that there could be discrepancies.

But I just had this unshakable feeling this was important. That this was something world-changing. But for the life of me I just couldn't figure out why that was. I had all the information in front of me, I was just missing one key crucial detail to piece it all together.

Still worrying like this wasn't going to help me. With a deep sigh Haruto Nakamura pushed these murky thoughts to the back of his mind and refocused on the lecture at hand.

Still the thought of something big happening soon was ever so present in his mind.

"Principal are you sure that this is real?" My mother asked with shock in her voice as she read the paper in her hands. Next to her my father had an equally shocked expression on his face as he tried to register the news.

It was the middle of my last year in middle school when me and my family had been called to a meeting by the principal with something having to do with my future. Judging by how urgent the call was I first had thought it was something bad, had I done something so bad that I would be confronted by the principal himself?

Luckily for me, it was the complete opposite.

Behind his desk, the principal of my school smiled as he leaned forward. "Yes Nakamura-san, it is as you believe. The head of Massive Electric Corporation himself wishes to pay for your son's admission to Chiba Academy, which as you know is one of the top academies in the world."

"B-But we never applied," My mother breathed out. I had to place a hand on hers for her and give her a reassuring squeeze to know that she could take her time. Taking a much needed deep breath, my mother continued. "I'm sorry kōchō sensei but I'm not sure how this all happened in the first place."

All too happy to explain, the principal leaned back into his chair. "As you know we wish for all our students to succeed in life. In Haruto-san's case, I knew that your son had much more room to grow, beyond what our school could ever hope to give him so I decided to send his latest scores to the academy for evaluation."

The principal turned his attention towards me. "Well they took an interest in you and decided that a little test was needed to see if you were really worth it, do you remember that test you took a month ago?"

A month ago? My mind thought back to anything peculiar about any of the tests that I took stood out. The only thing that came to mind was the midterm that…

So that was the reason why that test was so different from the rest! Midterms were somewhat easy and something that I didn't put much worry into. Imagine my surprise when the test questions were something that I would see in a college exam rather than a middle school midterm.

It wasn't anything I couldn't handle but it was the first time in awhile that I had to actually work to do well in an exam.

"Well you placed rather high on that exam, so much so that it caught the attention of Raiden-san himself." At the mention of the name, a wave of deja vu washed over me. My once lax attitude got replaced with seriousness as I paid attention to

"To garner the attention of the head of the Massive Electric Corporation is no small feat, which is to my belief that you should accept Raiden-san's scholarship to Chiba Academy." The principal finished before my parents began to ask their own questions.

I didn't pay too much attention to what was being said between them as I focused on what I had just heard.

Raiden

Nagezora

ME Corporation

I knew these names somehow. There was something important here, something very important here but what was it?! What was I missing here to complete this puzzle?!

"We'll take it kōchō sensei." My mother's determined words broke me out of my thoughts. My hazel eyes looked at her in shock at just how fast she came to the decision.

"B-But honey how will he exactly attend the school?" My father voiced my concerns for me. I knew that there wasn't a place called Nagezora anywhere near here and I know that the family couldn't exactly afford to move to a new city.

"Have you forgotten that my Kaa-san lives in Nagezora? Haruto-kun can live with her as he goes to school there and we can send him money for him to be able to live on his own." My mother's eyes became pleading as she looked my father in the eye. "Our son could live a successful life if he goes."

It looked like my father wanted to say more but any arguments he might've had died in his throat as he accepted the decision. "What about you Haruto-kun?" My father's eyes moved towards me. "You have the final say in this after all."

Being able to reassure my parents that I had a bright future ahead whilst being able to attend one of top ranked schools in the world for free? Was there really any other option that I could take other than…

And its not like I wasn leaving much behind at this school. Sure I was friendly with almost everybody but I didn't make any life lasting bonds here. And for the few that I was sort of acquainted with there was alway the internet to communicate in.

"Yes Tou-san, I would love to attend the Chiba Academy."

And maybe, I could finally find the last piece of this puzzle that kept bothering me.

After a very teary goodbye to my parents and enduring a long road trip, I found myself moving in with my grandmother in Nagezora. Apparently she was a landlord of an apartment complex that was fairly close to the academy and she had an extra room that I could call home in the meantime.

I didn't need to worry about paying rent as in her own words, "Just focus on being the damm best at the academy."

Nagezora wasn't really anything too special, if anything it reminded me of any major city in the United States. Rural neighborhoods on the outside while it would get more urban as you approached the business district that occupied the center.

The ME Corporation building towered above all others, you could really tell how powerful the corporation was just by how technologically advanced the building was.

Chiba Academy didn't look anything too special, but I had a feeling that a lot of money was poured into making this academy. There was a reason why only the rich/powerful got to attend this school.

And here I was who was neither of those things and the only reason I got in at all was because I still retained my adult knowledge of a previous life. If I wanted to stay I actually needed to get serious about this.

But first things first.

"Greetings I am Haruto Nakamura, I look forward to being your classmate." I introduced myself before bowing in the front of my classroom. Already I could hear the whispers about me already being passed around but I paid no heed to them as I already expected to be sort of an outcast in this school.

After all I was just a transfer student while they had the entirety of middle school to bond with each other.

"I know that you all want to ask Nakamura-san questions but you can ask them later, right now we have to begin class. Nakamura-san you can sit next to Raiden-san in the front, she's sitting right by the window." My teacher directed me towards the empty seat in the front row.

"Ah what?! He gets to sit next to her!"

"What I would give to sit next to The Queen of Thunder."

"He thinks he must be hot stuff now that he gets to sit next to her."

"As if a commoner could be friend with someone like Mei-sama."

I paid no heed to the complaints as I found my desk and sat down on the chair without wasting a beat. I was in the process of getting my supplies out of my bag until a voice interrupted me. "Nakamura-san?"

Looking up I looked to my left to see the most beautiful women I'd have ever seen. Yet I wasn't transfixed on how beautiful she was but rather at the semblance of familiarity that she had.

Had I seen her somewhere before? Where had I seen dark blue eyes and dark purple hair like hers before?

"Mei Raiden, I hope we can get to be friends." She introduced herself.

Raiden

Mei Raiden

A scene played out in my mind, cutting through any thoughts I may have had.

The sky was raining as if the world itself was weeping. Thunder echoed in the clouds as a massive vermillion dragon roared.

Standing atop a ruined rooftop, purple eyes sparkling with volatile electricity looked on longingly at the slouched figure in front of her. How it hurt to be the one responsible for the person's condition.

"If I must become the devil itself to save you, so be it." She said resolutely before turning her gaze away.

"Goodbye —" She muttered before she vanished from the scene. The red dragon swooping and picking up its master as they disappeared into the sky.

It took everything within me to not scream out loud as everything suddenly just clicked into place. To why the events that happened in Berlin and Siberia felt strange, why it felt as if Haruto was someone that I knew in my old life, why I somehow knew what the ME Corporation was without even watching the news.

It all made so much sense now.

For I hadn't just met the heiress of the multi-billionaire corporation, the girl that was most probably everyone's dream to date and who's cooking abilities were probably that of legends.

No, I now realized that I was looking into the eyes of the future Herrscher of Thunder, a once fictional character who was instrumental to the story of the universe that was Honkai Impact 3rd.

And I just so happened to be in Nagezora, the city that would be the birthplace to where she would awaken as a Herrscher and set in motion a story that would not be kind to her.

Screwed could not even describe the situation that I was in.

For in every universe that Honkai existed, Haruto Nakamura would join the military when he came of age and rise up the ranks until he would eventually be scouted by the St. Freya Highschool to be the captain of the floating battleship, the Hyperion.

While he would be a captain of the floating battleship, his presence in the events to come would be miniscule compared to those of Kiana, Mei, and Bronya.

Yet Mei Raiden and Haruto Nakamura were never destined to meet in Nagezora, never meant to know each other as classmates.

How would fate ripple as a result of such a meeting that not even the Gods could predict?

Chapter Text

"Bronya is here for you." In a realm of infinite possibilities, a girl with a broken past finally finds her reason to keep on living.

"That's...my final lesson...to you." Were the final words that a teacher would give to her student as life as they knew it changed forever.

"Because I am the Honkai!" A girl wronged by the world reawakens to become the instrument of destruction of the Honkai.

"I will end this wretched story...into the story that we've always wanted!" The fulfillment of a promise made.

"If rescuing you is a sin, I'll gladly become a sinner." To protect the one she holds more dear, she would willingly become her enemy.

"We'll never be apart now." Nothing would separate them now, not after so long being alone.

"Everything changed here and now." A girl who has lived longer than many dynasties, rediscovers what her mission was.

With a start I shot out of my bed, sweat clinging to my skin as I struggled to control my breathing from the dream that seemed all too real for my taste.

"Then again," I trailed off as I remembered where exactly I was. What universe I had just happened to be reborn in.

To think that the videos that I once watched for fun just so happened to be an actual breathing universe. I glanced over to the mirror that was attached to my closet, to see the red haired body with hazel eyes who I happened to be reborn as.

Knowing that I was now a living breathing person in the world of Honkai Impact, I didn't know what to do now. Before all of this all I could think of was living this life till old age. Get a family, maybe start a business, grow old with a significant other perhaps?

Now I didn't even know if I was getting out of Nagazora alive. I knew for a fact that the moment Mei awakened as the Herrscher of Thunder, any living being in Nagazora would immediately perish. Their bodies not being able to handle that kind of Honkai energy.

To be honest I didn't even know if I could survive that. I knew humans could be born with a natural resistance to Honkai, in the form of a stigma. It could also grant the user superhuman strength that allowed them to fight the horrors of Honkai.

Unfortunately it seemed that females had a much higher rate of developing one than a male did, for reasons I did not know. It wasn't impossible as I knew some males that had their own stigmas but they were miniscule compared to the amount of females that had one.

The moment that I got back from the academy I had immediately stripped to see if I did possess one.

Half an hour later my search yielded nothing.

Perhaps that was why the original Captain was never at the forefront of the conflicts to come. Maybe his body could only handle a small amount of Honkai and not nearly enough to be out and about on the battlefield.

With a depressed groan, I collapsed back unto my bed. My breathing was no longer heavy but I didn't fancy another trip through an intense dream like that tonight.

Fishing for my phone through the covers of the bed, I held the digital device over my head as I squinted to check the time. Seeing the digital numbers pop up, my eyes threatened to burn a hole through the cellular device.

4:00 AM

Two hours earlier than I was supposed to wake up. With no hope of getting extra sleep, I resigned myself to the fate of staying up before having to go back to the academy. I let my arm plop back down onto the bed, the only thing on my mind was the potential war brewing on the horizon.

Honkai.

Schicksal.

Anti-Entropy.

The World Serpent.

I had spent most of my time back from the academy researching all that I could about the universe that I was now stuck in.

There was a lot to unpack as there were some revelations of the world that the Honkai Universe inhabited.

Honkai was known but yet not everything that I knew from the game was not told to the public. The world itself knew of the existence of the Honkai Beasts, that they were threats to humanity and that they were mankind's number one enemy.

Aside from other humans of course, it seems that even against a common enemy the nations were still wary with each other.

However the whole Honkai being a 'force of destruction that has existed since the beginning of time' was still kept a secret, which I couldn't help but agree was a good thing. For all they knew Honkai was like an infestation that needed to be rid of.

Also the fact of what Herrschers were really meant to be was also kept a secret. The public simply knew them as a human who had been infected by the Honkai too much that had ascended them to become an avatar of pure destruction.

Schicksal and Anti-Entropy were both known to be the most effective at dealing with the Honkai threat. Almost all of the nations had an agreement that allowed them to call for their support if the need ever arises in exchange for them to build bases in their nations and access to their resources.

I had a mixed opinion on Schicksal. On one side the organization was the only one equipped to fight Honkai, the strides that were made in technology far beat whatever a modern technology company could hope to provide.

St. Freya Highschool itself was the dream of a certain Kaslana Valkyrie to equip future valkyries with the required knowledge and experience to combat the Honkai. The Valkyries-in training that walked the highschool's halls were the most prepared to be humanity's guardians.

However not all shared the same sentiment as I knew Otto Apocalypse didn't exactly share the same sentiments as people would believe. Wasn't he some kind of immortal or god? I distinctly remember him existing around the Crusades.

The whole reason why Anti-Entropy was even formed is because the North American Branch decided that they didn't agree that Otto wasn't fully willing to kill the Honkai and disagreed with how he led Schicksal.

Now this is where the trouble began for me. While I knew some of what occurred in the story, I didn't know everything. I was quite invested in the story but I had only scratched the surface of the story before my old death.

Where did I end again? Focusing my breathing I closed my eyes and allowed my brain to take a trip down memory lane, letting the world fade away from my senses. It had been hard to remember the smallest of details regarding my old life, but now this was a matter of life and death.

Sweat dripped down the sides of my face as a foggy scene began to play out in my mind.

An ancient palace floating in the middle of the sea.

Swarms of Honkai beast surrounded the palace as both Anti-Entropy and the Hyperion's forces tried their best to keep them at bay.

A massive bipedal Honkai monster ascending from the depths.

A portal to a realm of infinite possibilities.

A girl jumping into the portal in a desperate play to save everyone present.

I broke my concentration and allowed myself to take in deep breaths at the mindpower that was needed to even remember that.

So it was after the events of the 3rd Honkai Eruption where I had stopped my playthrough. The reawakening of the Herrscher of the Void had significantly changed how the story was when I first played.

"Kiana," My mind remembered as the go-happy Kaslana valkyrie had awakened to become the Herrscher of the Void. From there the Hyperion would be on the run from Schiksal and rendezvous with Anti-Entropy to discuss terms about the Gem of Desire.

Then it would all go to shit when the World Serpent and Honkai beasts showed up and to ensure that the Gem of Desire did not fall into the wrong hands, Bronya jumped into the Eye of the Deep to retrieve the lost gem.

That wasn't the full extent of my knowledge of the game, I knew some of the important events that would occur after the events of the Sea of Quanta but this wasn't some essay I had to write up for a class.

For the small details leading up to the events were just as important now.

As for World Serpent? That faction was the one I had the most limited knowledge on. I had no information on their combat capabilities, not if they could rival Schicksal as a faction, or just how much they knew about Honkai.

All I knew was their leader, Kevin Kaslana, was apparently part of a previous civilization much more advanced than this era that failed to defeat Honkai and was apparently the strongest of his time.

Meaning that the only thing I had over them was my somewhat limited knowledge of the future. And that information could very well be useless if I changed too much of the plot and it could no longer follow its intended route.

Another problem was assuming that my previous role as a Captain was even significant to future events. Despite being the captain of the Hyperion, he wasn't even shown once in the story.

Great, another thing to add to the list.

I looked back to my phone to see that barely ten minutes had passed. I really needed to do something right now to distract my mind from the ground-breaking revelation of today or I would be going crazy real soon.

I lazily moved my head to face my closet once more and saw a duffle bag with a hint of my red windbreaker peeking out of it. Seeing the bright piece of fabric reminded me of my innocent lifestyle before I moved to Nagazora.

Exercise was something I really didn't commit to in my old life and I had just figured what was the worst that could happen. This new life of mine was to be lived to the fullest so what did I have to lose?

I had signed up for my middle school's track and field on a whim as it was the one thing that I couldn't just breeze by with my brain alone. Honestly it felt kinda great not being the best runner and just being somewhere in the middle.

When I broke the news that I was to transfer out before the first year of highschool, the coach had broken into tears and hugged me rather embarrasingly as he lamented the fact that he was losing such a 'spirited athlete'.

I'd admit my coach was a bit of an eccentric, but he genuinely cared for us and I couldn't help but be saddened that this was the last time I would be seeing him. As a farewell gift, my coach had gifted me the red windbreaker with me making a promise that I would keep on running.

With nothing else better to do than mope, I stood up from my bed and approached my closet.

Who knows, maybe a little run could help clear my mind before I had to go back to school.

"Thank you for patronage," The clerk bowed as I nodded my head in thanks before grabbing my purchased pastry off the counter. "Please come again." She finished as I walked out of the bakery.

Taking a bite off my newly purchased pastry, and savouring the chocolate taste of the freshly baked roll, I took my phone out of my pocket and quickly checked the time.

8:00 AM

Huh that was perfect timing. A nice two hour run really did wonders on the mind, I had almost forgotten the fact that I was in a world that was on a countdown to cataclysmic events.

Key word being almost.

Seeing the events that would play out during the story was one thing, seeing them occur in real life was going to be a whole different experience. It was a spectacle to see how destructive the events of Honkai Impact were on my phone, I'm sure it's going to be the complete opposite seeing it with my own two eyes. Here I felt much more connected to the world.

The noise of morning traffic.

The faint smell of baked goods filling the air.

The chirping of birds.

The employees bidding anyone approaching a good morning.

To think that all of this would all be gone in a heartbeat when Mei would eventually become a Herrscher.

This universe was just filled with so many god-like beings. How the hell was I going to survive, let alone change the story when Valkyries that could fight gods could barely change the inevitable outcome that awaited them.

God why did I have to get born in this universe of all things. I would've been fine with Naruto, hell maybe even Code Geass why not. At least if I chose to be a silent bystander the plot would play out as it would be.

Yet here I am as a character that may or may not be instrumental to a plot that I didn't even know the end of.

My internal dialogue was cut short when a limousine of all things pulled up alongside the sidewalk next to me. The black pristine limo practically screamed of wealth, It felt so wrong to be standing so close to such a luxurious vehicle.

I held my breath as the window was rolled down. Oh god was a silenced pistol gonna pop out and kill me right here and now like in those spy movies?! Did I inadvertently piss someone off at Chiba Academy just because I sat next to Mei!

To my utter relief, a familiar sight of purple hair greeted me on the other side of the window. "Ah Nakamura-san!" Mei greeted me with a bright smile. "Good morning!"

Breathing a sigh of relief, I greeted the heiress in kind. "Good morning to you as well Raiden-san."

"Are you on your way to the academy Nakamura-san?" She asked as she poked her head out to see that the academy was a good three blocks away. I'm surprised that she even decided to stop me even if we were so close to the academy already.

"Yes I was, why do you ask?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Why don't you join me!" She asked as my brain couldn't help but do a retake on what I just heard. I barely knew her, let alone on the point that she was offering a car ride for me already.

"I'll have to pass on your offer Raiden-san," I bowed in apology, just to be on the safe side. "The academy isn't that far from and I don't want to impose on you so early in the morning."

"I see…" The heiress trailed off and I thought that would be the end of it. I was skeptical to be this close to the most popular student of the academy so early on, not to mention a vital character in the story.

"Why don't I join you?"

...eh?

"Sato-san I'll be walking with Nakamura-san to the academy," Leaving no room for any objections, Mei opened the door of the limousine and exited the wealthy vehicle while picking up her bag. "I'll be picked up at the same place and time as usual."

The driver, Sato, simply went along with this. Perhaps he was used to this side of Mei already? Or maybe he just went along for the ride since Mei was technically his boss. "As you wish Raiden-sama, young boy you take good care of her you hear."

"Of course Sato-san, I will ensure that no harm befalls her." I promised as I didn't want to be on the receiving side of her father's anger. I didn't want to imagine what a man like Ryoma Raiden could do in anger.

Letting out a hearty laugh, the opened door automatically closed before the limo pulled back into traffic.

Huh was this the power of the anime protagonist? To be able to attract any major character when it seems like there would be no way it could happen.

...A fearsome power indeed.

"Shall we?" I asked, resisting the urge to panic. What kind of screwed up logic was this! I barely knew the girl and yet on the first day she's already walking with me to school!

Mei simply nodded her head in agreement before we found ourselves walking side by side. The heiress was humming a tune to herself while I did my best to make sure I wasn't showing any outward signs of my inward panic.

If she was bothered by the fact that I had yet to utter a single word she didn't show it. If anything I'd reckon that she sorta enjoyed the silence but I had to remind myself that this isn't the Mei Raiden that you could simply google and have her entire character be written out to you.

No this was a real living breathing person that could think for themself.

I so desperately wanted to say something to break the silence, anything at this point but I just couldn't bring myself to form any proper words.

It wasn't everyday that one learned that a fictional character is real. That they were no longer this coded character reading off a script that could put emotion into their words, no every action now had a thought process behind them.

Everything just felt so strange now, that this once normal life of mine had become this.

And so that's how the rest of our walk together went, not one us muttering another word to the other.

But luckily our walk to the academy wasn't long from where she joined me and it seems I wouldn't have to be the one to break the silence. "Mei!" A voice cut through the air. A group of students that I presumed to be Mei's friends were waiting for her by the academy's gates. "C'mon let's get to class!

The heiress turned to me, giving me a smile and curt goodbye before rejoining her friends at the main gate. I didn't say anything in return because I knew I was simply going to see her again at our shared classroom in a few minutes.

I suppressed the urge to sigh at just the complexity my life had gotten in one day.

And this was only the second day of being a student at this academy.

"Alright remember what we covered in our lecture, there will be a test on this in two week. Study hard and you will do well." With that our teacher began to pack up his stuff and leave the classroom just in time for the lunch bell to ring.

Finishing up the last bits of the lecture notes, I could hear the relieved muttering of my fellow peers that the lecture had finally ended. Every person had their weak points. Some excelled in math, other english, others in biology.

When I heard of Chiba Academy and how it was acclaimed as one of the best schools known throughout the world. I had fully expected everyone here to be some sort of prodigy, fully expecting my prowess in academics to finally be matched.

It turns out I was very wrong about my assumptions.

Chiba Academy had the best teachers, there was no denying that. However the same couldn't be said about the students. If anything it felt like a regular old highschool, just with the fact that every student probably got in due to connections of their parents.

Just as I was finishing up my notes, the light dimmed around me as I could hear the sounds of someone's feet stopping right in front of my desk. Bringing up my head, my eyes made contact with another student in my class that was standing in front of my desk.

"Nakamura-san…" He spoke slowly, his bangs covering his eyes. I could feel myself bracing for anything. Was he going to go on a long tirade about how I should be seeing everyone here as above me, was he going to ask me to move seats, was he going to ask for my lunch?

I certainly hoped it wasn't the last option, I was starving.

"Please teach me!" He then bowed a complete 90 degrees, his forehead an inch away from slamming into my table.

"Eh?" Was the only response that I could give to such an action.

"He's right, you knew everything that Ishigami-sensei was teaching." Another student walked up to us. "You could answer his questions without stuttering once!"

"Even Mei-sama couldn't answer one of the sensei's questions!" Another student joined in.

"I heard that Ishigami-sensei was once a space engineer!" Another chimed in.

"No wonder his lectures seem out of this world!"

"Still how does he expect us to understand this! Let alone take a test on this in two weeks." Someone complained and they were soon joined by other cries of identical complaints.

"It's not something that you understand the moment you learn about this." I spoke from personal experience. The higher you got into the education system, the more emphasized it was to process the lectures. To soak it up like a sponge.

"It's okay to get frustrated with it at first, heck I hated it as much as you did. I wanted to throw a fit and rip my textbook into shreds. You just have to keep at it until it finally clicks." I said as I closed the cover of my notebook.

"Nakamura-san is right," Mei spoke up besides me. "Moping won't help us, we just have to study hard and we'll do a great job in Ishigami's sensei's test!"

As if a switch had been flipped, the mood of everyone in the classroom radically changed.

"If Mei-sama believes that we can do it, what can stop us!"

"I'm gonna study extra hard to make her proud!"

"Who knew Nakamura-san was so smart."

"Well duh, he is a transfer student who got in because of a scholarship. I don't think the school would accept just anybody."

"Maybe he could tutor me…"

"...He's not that bad looking."

Deliberately ignoring the last comment, I cracked the smallest of smiles seeing how Mei could so easily turn the mood of the classroom. Just a few motivational words from her and everyone was acting like they could pass the test with ease, which probably wouldn't be the case a week from now.

Was this Mei's natural charisma that was drawing everyone in?

Or was it her status as the heiress of the ME Corporation that had people flock to her like moths to a flame? The way that everyone just seemed to gravitate towards her whenever she was present, how their smiles never quite reached their eyes, I was inclined to believe the latter.

Especially knowing how the Herrscher of Thunder originally came to be born within Mei.

I pushed down thoughts of the future back for the time being. There could be a time to contemplate that at another time.

Now was the time to finish my bento before the lunch period ended.

The second day of school had ended on a rather boring note. Nothing too insignificant had happened after the lunch period had ended. No strange events, no random people bursting into the classroom, no murderous creatures interrupting the peace.

It was moments like these that I forgot that I just so happened to be born in the Honkai Universe.

And all the suffering it entitles.

I leisurely approached the academy's gates, no real reason to be rushing to get out of the school grounds. Students were rushing past me as they were itching to leave the school grounds and spend the rest of the day with their friends.

I envied them on how oblivious they were to the threat looming over the horizon.

Truly knowledge of the future was a curse.

I could faintly see a group of students huddled around a familiar black limousine. Mei was just in the process of closing the door when I looked. Not taking long the limousine soon pulled out into the street and within minutes they were out of sight.

Mei Raiden.

What do I do now? Should I try befriending her? We had a friendly sort of acquaintanceship going on right now. I don't know if she considered me as her friend but she certainly acted like she did.

Would it even change anything? Could I hope to change Mei's fate of being a Herrscher? Would it even be worth it as someone else could simply replace Mei's position.

The world dimmed around me as my body went on autopilot. Able to navigate the streets of Nagazora without any trouble while my mind was contemplating the fate I would have to face in a year or two.

I had no idea the exact year when Mei would exactly become a Herrscher but I had an inkling that I had probably a year before her father would be relieved of his position as the CEO ME Corporation. What could I change in a year?

How would I even approach her? It felt sort of suspicious that I would try and befriend her, or maybe not since she really liked making a lot of friends so maybe it wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

How does one even stop an avatar of pure destruction in the first place?

"Meow," The sudden cry of a cat stopped my thoughts cold as I realized that I had been walking without really paying attention. Taking a quick look around I let out a sigh of relief that I hadn't strayed too far from the way home.

"Meow," The repeated cry focused my attention to the feline that was sitting in front of me. The black kitten was looking up at me, their blue eyes twinkling with curiosity.

"Well hello there little cutie," I kneeled in front of the feline, chuckling when the cat purred in approval as I petted its fluffy head. "Are you lost?" I asked when I picked up the cat with no difficulty.

"Do you have an owner?" I gazed over the cat's neck where there was a strange collar attached to it. So this cat did have an owner after all...though they certainly had a strange way of collaring their cat as it was no ordinary collar that was on the cat.

Why it almost seemed as if the glowing pink LED on the collar was filled with that of-!

My head abruptly straightened out as I immediately began to survey my surroundings. My eyes scanned over anything that could be suspicious, any misplaced objects or the slightest tell that someone was watching me.

A tense second passed until it was apparent that no one was watching me. Why did I think that now of all times would be one that I would watch, I had done nothing noteworthy to even be considered a target of interest.

This stress was really going to my head.

I redirected my attention back to the cat. I was almost tempted to put it back down and forget that it ever existed, but there was a part of me telling me that this cat was important in some shape or form.

Besides, my mind could be playing tricks on me and I could be imagining that the collar was filled with honkai energy. Though I had a feeling that wasn't the case.

"...I'm guessing that you don't like canned food."

I was going to probably regret this and It shouldn't have surprised me that the cat seemingly nodded, as if it was answering my question. "Maybe you're the same as me, a fellow isekai traveler." I muttered as I got the cat comfortable on my shoulder.

"I wonder if Obasan has a no pet rule?" Better yet, does she know how to care for a cat because I've never raised one in both of my lives. I mean it has to be like caring for a little toddler...right?

Everyday was going to hold a new surprise for me now wasn't it?

As if reading my inner thoughts, the cat on my shoulder meowed as we made our way back to the apartment

"How was your day at school today Mei?" Night had descended over Nagazora and with it a rare opportunity for the whole entirety of the Raiden family to dine as a family.

Ryoma Raiden did not like the fact that his work often demanded to be away at night, unable to share dinner with his daughter and catch up like a normal father and daughter would.

The only solace that he had was that Mei was so understanding that she felt no hatred towards him for it.

That didn't mean he couldn't feel any lower about himself.

"Nothing too bad otou-san," Mei lowered her chopsticks over her bowl. "Though Ishigami-sensei was something else, I never thought I would meet as someone as difficult as him." She confessed.

"Ishigami-san is someone that's quite hard to know but there's wisdom in his words." He had remembered the days that he would work alongside the once eccentric scientist. If given the chance he could solve every problem the world had.

However he had no wish to be roped into the affairs of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy, so he opted for the teaching position available at the academy.

"Do I need to have a word with Ishigami-san? I could ask him to lower his standards if the material is too difficult."

Mei just shook her head. "No worries Otou-san, I think Nakamura-san helped us out. He said some things that made me more confident about taking the test now."

Nakarmura? Oh the student he had recommended to the academy. Raiden was glad that the young student had accepted his scholarship. He had personally reviewed the kid's scores and was sure if his knowledge was nurtured right that he could be a key player in the technological future.

"What do you think about him?" He was curious how his daughter viewed the man. Mei lived a very solitary life, ever since the incident when she was kidnapped as a child he was very thorough making sure that she was safe.

Which had the unintended consequence of Mei not making many friends growing up, and when she was of age to become a student he was sure that all of her friends were just seeking her out due to her status as heiress.

Thus Mei had no real friends, not when it would matter the most.

"He's...different." Mei thought back to the time that she had first met the transfer student. When she had introduced herself, she had expected to see him light up in joy and ask to be her friend. Like how she made every other friend.

She knew her status as a heiress was appealing to others, but she was sure that her friends had quickly forgotten about it when they got to know her.

Haruto had been different.

"Likewise Raiden-san." He smiled before turning his attention back to retrieving his notebook from his bag.

That dumbfounded the heiress, this had been the first time someone had acted so nonchalantly about her status. But she couldn't think about it too much before their sensei began the lecture of the day.

"I'm glad," Ryouma smiled but the ringing of his phone soon destroyed the atmosphere that the two had. Concealing a scowl, he looked down to his phone to see the Caller ID. "Forgive me Mei but I have to take this call."

Mei knew what that meant, that he had to go back to work again. "That's okay Otou-san, please sleep early this time."

"Thank you Mei," Those mere simple words couldn't express just how grateful Ryouma was to having a daughter like Mei. Standing up he left the table to return back to his office.

The halls of the Raiden Estate were empty as the CEO of ME Corporation answered the caller. The CEO knew he wasn't invincible, when you were in his position you were bound to get a few enemies. Even if he had to go against the world, he would do everything in his power to ensure that Mei lived.

Even if...

"What do you want this time Cocolia?"

Chapter Text

"Kampai!" My grandmother cheered as she held a can of beer high up into the sky. Her cheeks flushed as she opened the beverage up and began to down it.

"K-Kampai." I embarrassingly added a second later with a raise of my own drink, a regular can of soda.

"Meow." The black cat that I had brought home looked at us curiously before going back to devouring the home cooked meal in front of it.

I had feared that my grandmother wasn't going to be so accepting of the cat. I hadn't shown an interest in having a pet before and I knew my mother talked with my grandmother quite frequently about me.

I feared that by randomly bringing home a cat was going to raise suspicions with her.

My fears were fortunately unfounded when my grandmother began to coo at the cat before picking the feline up in her arms. Apparently she was no stranger to raising stray cats, often feeding the neighborhood's stray population from time to time.

What I did not expect however was when she then presented a wad of cash to me. "We're celebrating the addition of a new family member, get me something spicy." Was all she said to me before redirecting her attention to coddling the cat in her.

Completely dumbfounded by how easy she was to accept the cat, I absently nodded my head in agreement before turning around and leaving the room. I had to hand it to the Honkai Universe, just when you think that nothing else can surprise you, you're instantly proven wrong.

I didn't fancy going anywhere too far so I opted just to stop by the nearest convenience store to pick up dinner. A normal convenience store in the United States probably only had foods like hot dogs or nachos, things that you could easily eat on the go.

Convenience stores in Japan had enough food choices that it felt as if you were shopping at a restaurant at times.

So here we were, dining for what I thought was something more akin to as an excuse to get utterly drunk than to celebrate the addition of a 'new member' of the family. Judging by how my grandmother had already finished one pack of beer cans and was already beginning to open the second up, I was inclined to believe the former.

"So," My grandmother gestured towards the black kitten with her free hand. "Got a name for her yet?"

"Her?" I questioned with the rise of an eyebrow before looking down to see the cat happily eating her meal.

"Trust me," She chugged what remained of the can in her hand. Slamming the now empty can on the table, she gave me a knowing grin. "When a woman knows, you take her word for it."

Not wanting to know what that meant, I focused back to the question that was first asked. What was a fitting name? As if hearing my inner dilemma the cat stopped eating its meal and looked up at me, blue eyes meeting hazel.

"Kuro," I decided. Japanese for the color of her fur. Nice and simple.

Seems like the name was good enough for the cat as she seemed to nod her head in approval before going back to her meal. The faint glow of her collar still reminded me why I had originally brought her back home in the first place.

"It's alright, I guess." My grandmother brought her can of beer to her lips, only to realize that she had yet to get a new one. Shrugging her head, she threw the empty can behind her. "What about you Haruto-kun? How has the school of the elite been treating you so far?"

I just shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly as I used my chopsticks to bring a piece of food to my lips. "Nothing too much, if anything it's like my old highschool. Except that every student is way more richer than me."

Every student at the academy was a part of some elite's family. I was sure that I was the only person there who didn't belong to any noteworthy individuals with any power behind their names.

"Any friends? Your kaa-san has been dying to know if you're doing well here." She said as she went to pluck another morsel of food with her chopsticks. "Didn't you promise to call her after your first day here?"

I winced when I realized I forgot to call my mother. I could already imagine the dressing down I was going to receive when I did call her later in the night. To be honest I had totally forgotten about it ever since…

Mei.

My distress when I thought about the heiress must've shown on my face as my grandmother was quick to pick up on it. "Everything is going well, right? You're not getting bullied or anything like that?"

I quickly shook my hands in denial. "No nothing like that, there's just a girl in this class that's been on my mind and I just can't seem to get her out."

My grandmother's eyes lit up with mischievous intent and I was quick to elaborate what I meant. "I meant that she was interesting!" I yelled.

Only to then realize that didn't help me either. "Okay shutting up now!"

My cheeks were flushed in embarrassment as my grandmother could only wheeze as she held her stomach from all the laughing that was escaping her. "Oh boy if your mother could only see you now." She grinned as she wiped the tears at the edge of her eyes.

"But I am curious," She conceded as her laughing stopped. "It's not often that something grabs your attention, let alone a person that isn't part of the family." Resting her elbows on the dining table, she interlocked her fingers together as she looked at me.

"Who is this mysterious person?" Her brown eyes peered into my hazel eyes.

I inwardly cursed the one side effect that came with being an adult in a child's body. No matter how hard I would try and play the role of a child, I would subconsciously act like an adult. Whether it was how I acted in school, how I ate my vegetables without complaint, or how I never begged my parents to buy me toys.

Home was where my guard would be at its lowest and I always assumed that my parents had gotten used to my behavior at a young age.

It seemed my mother did not inherit the perception that my grandmother had.

But I couldn't just drop the fact that I knew what the future was going to hold. Not only wouldn't she buy it but I didn't know what she would do with the knowledge that I was not exactly normal. I didn't want to burden her with the ancient war that was being fought under the public's nose.

"Well it's the heiress of the ME Corporation, the CEO who's the whole reason I'm here in the first place." I started as I started to piece a half-lie together. "She's the most popular girl at the academy, but I can't help but worry that such popularity was due to her status as the daughter of CEO, not of who she is a human being."

All of what was said was true, no-one in the school really cared about who Mei Raiden was. They only cared about her as the heiress of the ME Corporation. I just omitted the facts that Mei Raiden was going to become a Herrcher.

My grandmother's eyes scrutinized me as she pondered on what I just said. The level of concentration in her eyes made me wonder if she was ever drunk in the first place. For a minute I was sure that she had seen through my lie.

A few moments of tense silence passed before she just shrugged her shoulders. It seems that the lie worked, for now. I made a mental note to be much more guarded when it came to showing my emotions around her.

"Still worrying about other people, even if you have no business too." My grandmother chuckled before grabbing the dirtied plates on the table. "I remember the nickname that your mother gave you when you beat up those bullies when you were so little. Wasn't it the 'Little Hero' or something like that?"

Oh, that incident. I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck as I thought back to when I was just a little kid. When you're stuck in the body of a child but have the mind of an adult, it tends to make you much more confident than any regular child would be of that age.

So when I was just strolling through the streets of my neighborhood to see three kids ganging up on a fellow classmate, I wasn't going to sit idly by and do nothing.

The lead bully was easily an age or two older than me, was much bigger than me, and definitely had the aura of a bully. A kid normally my age would've cowered before him.

But me?

I punched him in the nose so hard that he had a broken nose for an entire week.

I had gotten the biggest dressing down from both my parents when they found me at the principal's office, but that quickly changed when they found out I was defending someone from bullies.

After that incident, I reveled in the face of fear that the bully would have when I gave him a smile whenever we crossed paths.

Who knew that I had a sadist side to me all this time.

"You know how it is, I got that from you." I joked as my grandmother cracked another laugh as she stood from her chair and moved towards the sink, dirty plates in hand. "Damm right you did! Our red hair just doesn't catch everyone's attention, it's our burning soul!"

I laughed as I relaxed myself into my chair. It was moments like these that helped me forget that I was a part of the whole Honkai Universe. No worrying about Herrschers, about potential humans that have lived longer than past civilizations, no worrying about plots to end the world.

I brought a glass of water to my lips as I watched my grandmother begin to sing an out of tune song as she began to wash the dishes. Even if she was family, she was such a breath of fresh air compared to the students of the academy.

It didn't feel as if she had grown up in Nagazora her entire life, like she had been-!

My mind froze as something suddenly clicked. Something so important that I was kicking myself for not realizing it sooner. The realization was so shocking that I didn't even realize that I had loosened my grip on my glass of water.

My grandmother lived in Nagazora.

Mei was going to destroy Nagazora.

Alongside anyone who was present in the city would die.

My grandmother was going to die here.

The sound of the glass of water shattering on the dining table couldn't have been a better representation of what I was feeling right there and then.

"...Nakamura-san? Nakamura-san!" A voice suddenly jolted me out of whatever daydream I was having.

"U-Uh yes?" I asked confusedly as my teacher crossed her arms together.

"Could you tell the class the answer to this problem?" She pointed to the question that she had written on the board that I definitely wasn't paying attention to.

We were in biology class if my mind remembered it correctly. We were learning about something related to the anatomy of a frog but the question on the board was something that had nothing to do with the anatomy of a frog.

Had my mind been so occupied that I didn't even notice the fact that our teacher had changed lecture topics?

"Sorry sensei, I wasn't paying attention." I was tempted to try and bullshit an answer but in the end decided that I could easily get the wrong answer and make a fool out of myself.

"I see, you've been doing well here Nakamura-san. I do hope that wasn't a fluke?"

"No sensei, I just...had a bad night of rest." I lied.

"Very well then, do work to sleep earlier if that is the case. Can you answer the question then Raiden-san?"

I tuned out of whatever Mei was going to say as I went back to the whole reason why I had drifted into daydreaming in the middle of class. My palm still stung from having a small shard of glass cut through it.

I was kicking myself for not realizing what game I had exactly gotten myself in. I had naively believed that everything was going to be rainbows and sunshines just because I had knowledge of the future.

My grandmother was going to die here and I had no idea how I could change that fact. Could I even attempt to fix anything? Was everything scripted to follow the game regardless of my actions?

I was aware of the whispers of my fellow classmates going around about how I missed a problem, my 'first mess-up' of the school year but I could care less of what they were saying about me right now.

"Are you okay Nakamaru-san?" Mei asked out of concern when the day had ended. The heiress had a genuine look of concern in her eyes as she neared my desk.

"Everything's okay Raiden-san," I waved off her concern as I packed my bag up. In truth I wanted to get as far as I could from her right now. No ill-feelings towards the heiress but a small part of me held some sort of resent for her.

Even if I never did meet her, it wouldn't have changed the fact that I was reborn in the world of the Honkai Universe. Ignorance was bliss my mind argued and it wasn't exactly in the right place right now.

"I just had a bad sleep yesterday, that's all." Slinging my bag onto my shoulder, I bid farewell to the future Herrscher of Thunder. "I'll be better tomorrow, promise."

Mei looked on as I exited the classroom, the worry in her eyes not leaving at all. "You're lying," Was all she whispered before picking up her bag and leaving the classroom.

She gave everyone a polite greeting as she entered the kendo dojo of the Chiba Academy. Everyone present giving their own greetings before returning to their own preparations before the club activities began.

Chiba Academy had so much funding to support it that it was no surprising the emergence of a countless number of clubs that had what any student was looking for. It was an easy choice for Mei to which club she would be joining.

"How was your day Mei-san? One of her fellow clubmates asked as she entered the changing room.

"Nothing too much Aki-san," She replied as she began to change out of her schoolwear into her kendo gear. While she may be a great student in academics, Mei loved being in her kendo gear more than anything. "Another day of surviving Ishigami-sensei's lessons." She joked.

"Tell me about it, how does he expect us to get everything he teaches us. What are we, computers?" The two shared a quick laugh at that.

"Honestly," Aki complained as she begun to fit her kendo armor around her torso, making sure that all the straps were properly strapped. "I envy Nakamura-san, what I would do just to have a brain like his."

"What do you think about him?" Mei was curious about what Aki thought of the transfer student. Aki was observant of how people acted which made her so good as a training partner, able to pick up on how one used their bokken and use that to her advantage.

"Nakamura-san?" Aki held her chin in contemplation as she tried to remember what she thought of the red haired student. "He's very perceptive, unfazed by practically anything. I don't I've seen him panic or groan at whatever material our teachers throw at us."

"That's true," Mei said as she begun to slip into her kendo gear. "Nothing he seems to faze him."

"Except today," Seeing how this wasn't going to be ending anytime soon, Aki took a seat on one of the benches in the locker room. "I remember the gossip going around of Nakamura's first screw up. Must've been rough for him."

Retrieving her armor from her locker, Mei thought back to how Nakamura was in the classroom. On the outside he seemed fine, nothing different from how he had been the day before.

But his eyes, just something about them was off for her. As if beneath his hazel eyes there was a storm of guilt and fear raging through his soul.

"Alas I don't even know Nakamura-san so I can't really help him, if he really does need it. Maybe it really was just a bad night's rest." Aki retrieved her bokken from her locker before closing it. "There are just some things that you can't hit away with your sword." She mused.

Yes, it was a shame that you couldn't smack your worries anywhere. Whenever Mei was feeling particularly stressed, a good hour of kendo training did wonders on her worries. It's a shame that Haruto wasn't part of the…

"That's it!" Mei exclaimed as she finally realized a way that she could help Haruto!

"Huh?" Aki raised a confused eyebrow at the heiress' outburst.

"Aki-san, isn't there an opening for an extra spot in the club?" Mei turned around, a fierce determination in her eyes that threw Aki out of the loop.

When was the last time she saw her like this, determined to the point that not even death could stop her?

"Uh yeah, one of the newest members dropped out." Aki then realized what Mei was exactly planning. "You're not being serious are you."

A confident grin was all she got back.

"You're a very lazy cat aren't you Kuro?" I mused as the cat across from just yawned before snuggling deeper into its blanket. Seeing that Kuro was having no want for continued interaction, I turned my back to now be on the bed making me now face the ceiling.

I took a deep breath before it was time.

The time to finally decide whether or not to get involved.

Many would've made the decision the moment that they met Mei, most probably choosing to try and do something to change the future. But I knew that rash decisions would only lead to death and perhaps a darker future.

There were so many unknowns of my existence here in Nagazora that charging foolhardy into the future could have dire consequences. For one had I replaced Kiana as the one who would control the Herrscher of Thunder?

If my knowledge didn't fail me, hadn't Kiana transferred into Chiba Academy. How that even occurred in the first place I had no idea as I knew Kiana may have been a great fighter, she wasn't so great when it came to academics.

That begged the question how she exactly was able to become a transfer student as I was sure that there was only one scholarship that one could take to transfer in. Had I unknowingly screwed her arrival in Nagazora?

Maybe she had connections when she was looking for her father that allowed her to be a student at the academy?

Regardless of how Kiana entered Nagazora, I was more worried about what to do in terms of Mei's transformation to becoming a Herrscher. I knew that in order for a Herrscher to be fully realized one must require a vast amount of Honkai energy to do so.

So that meant someone deliberately ignited a pseudo-eruption enough to awaken the Herrchser that had grown in Mei. That someone knew Mei would give in to become a Herrscher if she hated the world enough.

And a certain CEO losing his position would plant the seed for that Herrscher's birth.

Great that meant Anti-Entropy was planning to capture Mei when she became a Herrscher so that they could potentially harness her powers. My opinion of Anti-Entropy was now lowered seeing how committed they were to their quest if they would resort to damning a girl to be their experiment.

So theoretically if I stopped the Anti-Entropy operation in the city, I could prevent the Third Honkai Eruption from happening in Nagazora. That would be-,

"No, all I would do is set the clock back a bit," Then the startling realization came to me that Mei's awakening was the best case scenario for the third eruption. Anything short of the complete annihilation of Anti-Entropy would just set events back.

It was due to Kiana that Mei wasn't able to complete her Herrscher transformation, thus ultimately halting the Third Honkai Eruption. If someone else was chosen then the eruption would occur in a place that couldn't be stopped and the Herrscher would undergo a full awakening.

I closed my eyes so I could begin to concentrate on what I could even do in this situation.

Only for the sound of rain to make me open my eyes in confusion. There was no weather forecast for rain today, so where was this sound coming from?

Standing up from the bed, I made my way to the window to see if it really was raining outside. However, taking the first step forward, my legs unexpectedly buckled before my entire body lurched forward.

"Huh?" Was all I could think as my vision darkened as the floor got closer and closer.

Fully expecting to feel the hard impact of the wooden floor, the last thing that registered on my mind was the feeling as if I had been submerged into water.

It was raining in a ravaged city, the once bustling city was now only a fragment of its former glory. Many of the high-rise buildings were now beginning to erode, a few already collapsing under their weak supports.

Only a single soul could be seen walking the desolate streets, a white haired wanderer who was looking for her missing father.

However the relative silence would be broken soon.

With the reflexes of the most experienced warriors, the traveler was able to dodge a strike aimed for her head. Taking a few steps back, she was greeted by the sight of five combatants emerging from their hiding spots, weapons in hand.

"This is Squad A," The lead woman spoke into her earpiece. "We have encountered the target and are now engaging."

"Affirmative, Squad B is on their way to assist. Do not let the target leave the city." The voice on the other side of the earpiece ordered as the five combatants took a step forward, brandishing their weapons.

Normally the traveler would've stood her ground and fought, but her combat instincts told her that she was outmatched with only a pair of handguns which wasn't effective for ranged combat. And considering that two of the five combatants had some sort of rifle, she was outmatched and outgunned.

Without skipping a beat the traveler spun on her heel and ran in the opposite direction, making her combatants give chase.

Leaping over the rusted vehicles abandoned on the street, she had to bite back a curse when bullets begin to fly over her head. These people weren't playing around at all.

In an attempt to lose her pursuers, the white haired traveler made an abrupt turn and ran into a discrete alleyway. Hiding behind a pile of rubble, she cracked a smile as she saw pursuers had been none the wiser of her little trick as they continued running.

"Ara, Ara. Did you think you would lose us that fast?" A voice spoke behind her. Turning her head around the speaker was someone completely different from the squad she just escaped.

The way that she stood simply oozed nobility, no slouch in her figure whatsoever. The blue glow of her armor shone brightly in the darkness of the alley, making her the only thing one could focus on. The imposing scythe created a misty atmosphere, making it so cold that one could see their own breath.

And not to mention the ephemeral knight that floated over her, wielding its own deadly scythe.

"You do best to come quietly, K-423. Master Otto will be quite displeased if I bring you back damaged." The way that the girl spoke as if she was some sort of object made her temper flare.

Kiana Kaslana was not some petty object!

With speed faster than any human being could hope to ever achieve, Kiana rushed her mysterious assailant. There was no way that her attack could miss!

However Rita Rossweisse was no ordinary human. She was an S-Rank Valkyrie that not even the bloodline of Kaslana could match in Kiana's current state.

Without hesitating, Rita swiftly smacked Kiana with the blunt side of her scythe. While not sharp enough to cut, the force behind it was strong enough to send her flying into a wall.

Kiana spat out blood from how hard the impact was to her body, a few ribs cracking from the force.

"This is Captain Rita, Subject K-423 has successfully been captured." Rita smirked as she allowed Crescent Harvest to be dismissed, the phantom disappearing to where it waited to be called once more.

"Do not worry subject K-423, all will be well soon enough," Rita said as she approached the injured Kiana.

"I-It's Kiana!" The Kaslana spat out as blood began to trickle down her chin, her vision already getting cloudy as her body was screaming in pain.

"Then do not worry 'Kiana'," Rita kneeled so she was eye-level with her. Reaching out she gently cupped Kiana's chin with her hand. "For it is in your sacrifice that Master Otto will be able to save the world."

Kiana tried to come up with another witty remark, but could say nothing when her body could do no more and her mind blacked out.

When that strange vision faded to black I expected to open my eyes back up in my room.

That unfortunately did not happen.

Instead of waking up back in my room I found myself in a completely foreign room. A dark ambiance was my first impression of the room that I somehow mysteriously ended up in. Multi colored quartz hung from the ceiling and some candles were lit around the room, providing some measure of light to contrast the darkness of the room.

But the main thing that had the entirety of my focus was what laid in front of my seated form. In front of me was a singular circular table covered in fabric that had numerous constellations etched into it, though none that I could recognize. At the center of the table was a handful of cards spread out in a half circle, the design of them matching the fabric of the table.

However, that all paled in comparison to the woman standing on the opposite side of the table. She was dressed in a way that inspired mystique, with a dark purple shawl covering the back of her head and hiding some of her long dark purple hair, to a necklace that resembled the painted glass pictures one might find in a church.

The woman in question did not even seem phased by my arrival, her attention wholly occupied by the book that she had open in front of her.

I opened my mouth to speak, a multitude of questions on the tip of my tongue that demanded answers desperately needed.

But before a single word could leave my lips the woman beat me to it, speaking as her hazel eyes never left her book.

"I dreamed of a story."

"A story unlike any other."

"A story of hope."

"A story of despair."

"A story of many characters weaving together a future that would push back the darkness of the end."

"Yet at the seeminging end of it all was a single person."

"A nameless."

"A wanderer."

"And like a current in the river the weaved futured began to change, the tides of fate shifting with each rock thrown into its waters."

Before I could even comprehend the words this woman was saying, a sudden migraine made its presence known. The sudden pressure in my head made me clench my hand in an attempt to mitigate the pressure but it barely soothed it.

"The story shifted, the players changed, the board forever changed."

The mysterious veiled woman continued to talk, unheeding of my dilemma as the migraine continued to grow in pressure, as she in a nonchalant manner flipped a page in her book.

"The past and present shall fight as one."

"You the unseen, the unheard, the unexpected.".

She then closed her book and looked towards me, her hazel colored eyes twinkling with an emotion that I could not decipher. A small smile graced her features as she lowered the book on the table and one of her hands reached out to grab one of the fanned out cards. Her hand picked one card out of them all and held it up to the eye level.

Using her fingers she twirled the card to reveal what was on the other side of it.

An image of a sword.

"Walk forward into the unknown, and let your deeds change the world around you."

And then just like before my world swiftly turned to darkness once more.

"Meow?" My eyes slowly opened to see Kuro standing over me. It seems that black kitten had gotten quite comfortable on my chest while I was out.

My breathing quickened as I recalled what I had just been put through. What the hell was that all about?! I may have not known everything regarding the story but I was pretty damn sure that what I just saw did not occur whatsoever!

From Kiana being captured by Schicksal in some apocalyptic future to that meeting with that mysterious woman.

Kuro, noticing my panic breathing, quickly hopped off my chest and made her way back to the bed to resume her nap.

"What the heck was all that?" I whispered to myself as I held my hand in front of my face, my mind trying to process what it had just seen.

Then as quickly as it had suddenly arrived, the migraine and voice both disappeared as I found myself back in my room. The loss of the pressure inflicting my head felt instantaneous to me, making me remove my hand from my head as I looked around, confusedly processing what had just happened to me in the past few minutes. I had the mindset that by the end of the day I would have decided what I would do with the knowledge of the future.

And in a way I had arrived at an answer.

But…

"Haruto, are you okay?" My grandmother shouted from the other side of my door. "I heard a loud thud, did you fall?!"

It wasn't the answer that I had exactly been anticipating.

Chapter Text

It was a strange feeling.

Building up a new life after the end of my old one, I had wasted no effort in making sure that each second spent breathing in this new world was one lived to the fullest.

Getting the best grades, not doing anything embarrassing that I would have to live with for the rest of my life, doing the things that had interested me in my last life. Every action was methodically thought out before executing.

I believed that nothing would surprise me in this new life.

And yet.

"To think that it would take only four days for that notion to be destroyed." I chuckled to myself as I stood in front of the gates of Chiba Academy. Not even a week in this school and my life had been changed forever.

It had been a strange night after I discovered a voice that apparently now lived in my head. Sleep did not come easily now that I knew that someone, or something, was now lurking somewhere in the corners of my mind. My privacy was all but gone.

Calling out to it numerous times didn't work, all of my attempts ending in failure as I couldn't even get a single response out of it.

Fortunately my body was already worn out from yesterday's ordeal that I didn't even notice the fact that my eyes were drooping until it was too late and I succumbed to my fatigue. I was so out of it that I wouldn't open my eyes until my usual morning alarm went off.

"Walk forward into the unknown, and let your deeds change the world around you." What the mysterious lady had told me still echoed in my head as I began to make my way into the academy. The burden of what my existence meant in this universe finally sank in.

That even the easy way of 'non-action' was something that I couldn't even consider. The memory of Kiana screaming in pain as she was forced to be an experiment was still clear in my head.

"There's no time for that," I muttered as I cleared the oppressive thoughts out of mind as I neared the main school building. "One step at a time."

It was time to see what surprises this day would bring.

And it would not take me long to eat my words as not even taking a single step into the building, a paper was practically shoved in front of my face. "Huh?" Was all I said as the paper was then forced into my hands.

"Good morning Nakamura-san!" A student that I vaguely remembered from class 1-B greeted me with a bright smile. I was about to greet him in kind until my hazel eyes scanned what exactly he was wearing.

...Was that an astronaut suit?

"The Cosmic Wonders Club hopes to invite you to explore what lies beyond the stars with us!" He explained before going to the nearest person and repeating the same mantra while handing them what I presumed to be some sort of club flyer.

Wait club flyer?

I directed my attention to the admittedly well done club flyer. I had to give respect to whoever designed it. It wasn't some tacky paper that was made at five in the morning, this was genuinely made to reflect the creator's passion for space.

Shifting my head upward I marveled at the sight of the entrance hall filled with uniquely differently dressed individuals going around to anyone that had entered the building, doing the same as the student dressed like an astronaut as they passed out their flyers to attract potential club members.

I looked up to where a clock was attached to one of the walls making sure that I hadn't arrived an hour earlier than I was supposed to.

8:15 AM

No, if anything I was just on time before class started in fifteen minutes. Was no one worried that they would be missing class soon?

"Nakamura-san?" I broke my inner thoughts to see this time someone from my class donned in kendo gear approaching me.

"Aki-san, right?" She was, and I quote from one of my peers, one of Chiba Academy's 'Fair Maidens' as it was dubbed by the students. A ranking system that placed all the females from how attractive they were and the higher you were on the rankings, the more revered you were by students.

The top ten were known as the 'Fair Maidens' and I wasn't surprised by the fact that Mei took the number one spot. Seeing the amount of fans the heiress had was quite a sight to behold. Though I had to wonder how many of those same adoring fans would turn their back on her when she lost her status as a heiress?

Midori Aki, while quite low on the Fair Maidens ranking with taking the number 9 spot, I recognized by her how perceptive she was in class. Always asking the right questions, making the right observations, she was sharp when it came to down it.

"So you do remember me," The black-haired girl teased as she came to a stop near me. "You were so easy to pick out with your red hair and that lost expression on your face."

I chuckled as my red hair was anything but subtle. "Forgive me for asking Aki-san but what exactly is going on here," I gestured my hands to a scene that I would have to accurately describe as an anime convention that I frequented in my old life.

She tilted her head in confusion. "You don't remember? Practically every teacher was talking about it yesterday." She then opened her mouth in relaxation. "Oh yeah, you weren't in really the best condition when they went over it."

"Oh yeah…" I averted my eyes as I could feel my cheeks flush at my blunder yesterday. Even living a life beforehand, it was hard to live down a blunder made in a classroom.

"Anyways," I changed topics as I refocused on the different clubs present. "Is Club Day really a big occasion here?" Prior experience in both lives made it hard to believe the amount of effort being put into this. The booths that filled the sides of the hallway were completely normal, but the expertly made costumes?

Now that was on a whole new level of dedication.

"Considering the amount of money that's available for clubs, it's understandable to see the level of effort being shown here. The more members a club has the more funding it gets." Aki explained as I nodded my head at the information. The rich did live a different life than normal people did after all.

Still, to have an entire day of school dedicated to clubs was insane.

If I told this to my old classmates back at home, they would be so jealous.

"Aren't you part of the kendo club?" I asked as I eyed her gear and her bokken strapped to her hip. "Shouldn't you be part of your booth's club in helping attract potential members?"

To that Aki just laughed before she turned herself around and walked in the direction that she had come from. "Oh I don't have to worry about that, let's just say that we have a secret weapon when it comes to popularity."

She patted my shoulder before beginning to walk away. "You should stop by before lunch to see our exhibition match," She threw me one last grin. "It's something to die for."

Questioning her choice of words, I gazed back down at the flyer in my hands. "A club huh?" I hadn't really been part of a club before, the idea of having an extra obligation to do at school didn't really appeal to me.

But now? Where every action that I did now apparently was the difference between life and death?

It wouldn't be a bad idea to try out this whole club deal.

And that's how I spent the next hour or so, going from club booth to club booth as I contemplated what club I should really join.

The amount of clubs that this academy had was insane! I could count at least twenty or so clubs whose booths I visited, and I was sure that was a good half of the total number of clubs actually made.

There were some oddballs out there for sure. Equestrian, deep sea exploration, alien conspiracies. I had to bite back a laugh when I saw the horrible renditions of Honkai Beasts. Even if it was somewhat known of their existence, any information about them was tightly controlled to the point it felt as if they were nothing more than a myth.

Still, it was almost frightening to see how accurate some of their theories about Honkai was.

I hadn't even finished with the first hall and already I had a sizable stack of flyers in my hand, there was only one more booth I was sure that I had to visit in this hall.

I looked up to the clock on the wall to see that it was ten minutes before the kendo exhibition match, whatever that meant. I had an inkling that it was going to be two club members going at it with each other.

But that wasn't the real reason why I was so set on watching this match, I shared the same reason as did every other student that planned on watching it. I just had a different motive than the rest of them

After all, Mei Raiden was one of the two club members duking it out.

I still had no idea how I would begin to approach her without seeming too off or suspicious, so I figured watching one of her matches was a good place to begin. But before I could go and watch the match.

I still had one more booth to visit.

"The Chess Club?" I mumbled as I stood in front of the rather modest booth. It wasn't as extravagant when it came to decoration like the other booths but neither could I say it was too minimalistic. Just a great balance between doing too much and too little.

"Ah sorry!" A voice from my left moved my gaze to the running student who I assumed was responsible for manning the chess booth. He came to an abrupt stop right before me, bowing the moment that they came to a complete stop.

"I-I didn't realize that I left someone waiting here!" He puffed as they tried to get their breathing under control.

I held up my hands to assure them that I was perfectly fine with waiting. "It's no problem, I just got here anyway."

"Though I'm surprised that you're the only one here." I gestured to the empty booth with my thumb. "Where's the rest of your club, shouldn't they be helping you attract more members?"

The student in question just nervously laughed. "A-Ah well you see," He began to shuffle nervously in place. "I-I'm the only club member actually," The lone club member confessed.

My eyes widened on hearing that, seeing all the buzz revolving around clubs at the academy I didn't expect to hear of a one person club at all.

Though as I turned my head back to where I came from, any students approaching would stop two or three booths before ultimately going back. Probably dismissing the rather lackluster booth that was the Chess Club.

"Aren't clubs supposed to require more than five people?" I inquired.

"A-Actually it depends on the teacher who sponsors the club," The student explained as he pushed his glasses up. "And the Chess Club was just founded at the start of this year so I was hoping to gather more members with Club Day."

That made sense, rather than try and recruit members in the middle of the school year you had a much better chance of attracting members on the day where most were looking for a club to join.

Still I was confused as chess in itself was quite appealing, was there another reason for people not wishing to join?

"Say…" I paused realizing that I did not have a name to put on the student next to me.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" He bowed, realizing his mistake. "I'm Keji Furutu, I'm a student in Class 1-B."

"Likewise Furuta-san I am Haruto Nakamura from Class 1-A, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." I introduced myself in kind.

"Anyway Furuta-san, which teacher is the sponsor for your club?" I asked as I had a feeling why some students didn't want to be members of the Chess Club.

"Ah it's Ishigami-sensei," He said as I could feel my face going white with his words.

Apparently Ishigami-sensei had built such a terrifying reputation that many students called him "The Devil Teacher." Not because they thought he was a bad teacher, he was fair when it came to grading. He didn't care if you were some random person or the son of the president, he was going to grade what you gave him.

But the manner of what he gave as assignments to students that resulted in many dreading to have him in the classroom.

I had always thought Ishigami-sensei was a hard but not terrifying teacher. Sure the work that he gave out was much harder than any teacher so far, but having the mind of an adult who had experienced college made me much more prepared than these poor highschoolers.

"Not to sound mean Furuta-san but…" I trailed off as I tried to find the right words to explain to him that maybe choosing Ishigami-sensei was probably the worst choice to be the sponsor of a club that you were looking to fill up..

"Your reaction is perfectly normal Nakamura-san." My fellow classmate smiled as he walked over to the other side of his booth. "Many people would call me crazy for having him as the sponsor but I'm not looking for some random teacher to host my club."

Picking up one of the chess pieces on display, a fond smile grew on Furuta's face. "Chess itself is straightforward, try and checkmate your opponent's enemy King. The board may not be big and people might argue that it's the simple act of moving your pieces forward."

His green eyes then stared into my hazel ones, sparkling as his enthusiasm was made clear. "But every move one makes, an infinite number of possibilities are born from it and with the next move another infinite are born. You are the master of your own fate on the chess board!"

Hearing the passion behind his words, I couldn't help but begin to clap at his little speech. "You sure you're not some poet?" I joked.

"Y-You flatter me Nakamura-san, everyone has something that they're passionate about and chess just happens to be mine." Keji rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment as his cheeks were flushed.

"Still I don't see how having Ishigami-sensei as your sponsor exactly helps you."

"Oh!" He exclaimed as he remembered something, "Let me get it!" Rummaging through a box of papers on the side, Keji soon pulled out what he was looking for as he showed me what had him pick the most feared teacher as the sponsor for his chess club.

Chess Grandmaster Akira Ishigami Takes The Title of Champion Once More!"

My mouth opened in shock as I reread the header of the newspaper once more to make sure that my eyes were not deceiving me. There was no way that my science teacher so happened to be a Chess Champion and Grandmaster.

"Ishigami-sensei denies that's him but I know for a fact that they're the same person." Keji gushed. "I've always wanted to learn under him and if I need to run my own chess club then so be it!"

"But," His tone grew somber as he looked at the deliberate attempt of each approaching student that steered clear of his booth. "Chess doesn't really appeal to the newer generations, trying to get people to join the club is practically impossible at this academy."

I had to agree with him there, it was one thing to join a club but to join a club that in essence was almost like another class was another thing altogether.

I won't lie as the prospect of joining the chess club was very tempting. I saw joining the club as a way to sharpen my strategic decision skills. Now that I was planning to get myself involved, it was prudent for me to start developing these skills now.

Also considering the story dictates me to becoming a captain, being proficient in chess wasn't a bad investment in the long run. Directing a potential fleet was almost the same as you would do with chess pieces.

Right?

But another part of me was unsure if this was the right course of action. The unsettling message that the voice in my head imparted to me was still a constant reminder. That even the smallest of choices could have unintended consequences.

Was this the right path to take?

My pondering was cut short as a sudden surge of excited students began to swarm past me. Making my way through the crowd as politely as I could, I was able to exit the crowd on the side next to Keji's booth.

"You should get going Nakamura-san," Keji smiled as he gave me one of the many club flyers he had. "I don't think you want to miss the Kendo match."

The lone member sat down on a chair as he bowed in gratitude. "I'm grateful that you gave my booth a chance, it means alot to me. I hope to see you again soon Nakamura-san."

I didn't want to be the person that would leave someone else when it was clear that the company was much appreciated, but at the same time I couldn't pass up this opportunity to see Mei in action.

Giving Keji an apologetic smile I pocketed the Chess Club flyer and began to move with the crowd to where the match was being held.

Before entering the gymnasium where the match was, I stopped by a trashcan to quickly throw all of the flyers that I had picked up. It was just a common courtesy to not be rude and refuse the flyers but I didn't plan on joining a club that wasn't going to help me.

Picking up the final flyer that I had gotten, my mind drifted to what Keji had said.

"You're the master of your own fate!"

As the ushers were giving out the final calls for people to enter the venue, Haruto Nakamura was able to slip in at the last second to secure himself a seat.

A neatly folded paper carefully secured in one of his pockets

The gymnasium was filled to the brim, everywhere you would look you would not see an empty seat. The atmosphere was a shared feeling of excitement as this was the main show of Club Day.

Even if I had never seen this exhibition match before, I couldn't help but have an excited smile on my face as all that everyone present could do was wait for it to begin.

Luckily we did not have to wait long before one of the Kendo club members made their way to the center of the gymnasium. "Welcome to the annual Kendo Exhibition Match everyone, I hope everyone is excited as we are!"

The gymnasium was filled with a roaring cheer as the announcer knew how to keep the energy up, "And I know that you're all dying for the main event," They threw their fist into the air. "So let's get this started everyone!"

"The reigning champion makes her return!" On one side of the gymnasium, a figure donned in kendo armor stepped out. Even if the 'champion' had their face covered in their head gear, I just knew by the volume of cheering that this was Mei.

The mannered that she carried herself, no slouch in her posture, no hesitation in her steps. An aura of regality surrounded her as she stopped at the edge of the arena. She knew how to live up to her title.

"The Queen of Thunder has yet to be dethroned, her strikes are as fast as thunder but carry the fury of the god themselves!" The announcer gestured to the other side of the gymnasium.

"Our challenger is no pushover however, she has gathered her own fearsome name; The Silent Blade!" Mei's opponent walked out of her respective side as they both walked to the center of the arena. "Her strikes are impossible to read as you'll know where they are after you've been hit by it!"

The two combatants bowed to each other before turning to the audience and bowing to them as well.

"You know the rules, honor the Ki-Ken-Tai and no underhanded methods to score your points." The announcer took two steps back as both Mei and her opponent stepped forward, bokkens drawn as they readied themselves.

"Let the match begin!" They announced as the match officially started.

Only for nothing to happen, the two fighters did nothing as they simply held their bokkens' in front of them.

Then another second passed where nothing happened. The atmosphere was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"Um shouldn't they be you know...fighting?" A confused student questioned next to me.

"Yeah I thought this was supposed to be intense, it's like they're just staring at each other." Another student near me said as the whispers around me began.

"Oh no, they're certainly fighting." I piped up, drawing the whispers to a close. "As we speak they're exchanging multiple blows with each other."

"Um are you sure Nakamura-san? They're just standing still."

"An invisible battle is being waged between the two. The way that they are subtly changing their grips on their bokkens, even to the slight movement of their stances," I gestured to the two down in the mock arena. The two had moved from their static positions as they began to circle each other, daring the other to make a move as they shifted their hands around the handle of their bokkens.

"Each one is anticipating what moves the other might make, in a sport where only one strike is needed to score even a single error in a thought process would be fatal."

I narrowed my eyes as I saw Mei slightly tense her shoulders, "And all that takes to win is a single second of confidence."

Mei held her bokken ready as she was the first to act, pushing forward on the offensive.

"Hyah!" She shouted as she smacked her opponent on the head with her bokken, catching them off guard with the sudden attack. The sound of wood meeting armor resounded through the once silent gymnasium.

"And that's one point for Mei Raiden!" The announcer cheered as the entire audience roared with approval.

Unfazed, her opponent resettled back into stance to which Mei mirrored as they knew the duel was far from over.

"Second Round Begin!" The announcer threw her hand down as they commenced the next round.

Not even a second after the round had begun, Mei's opponent let loose a war cry as she wasted no time in taking the first strike. Holding her sword close to her body, she thrusted the edge of her bokken at Mei's neck armor

Mei to her credit reacted enough to bring her blade up in an attempt to guard the strike but her reaction just wasn't fast enough as her bokken simply scratched the side of her opponent's bokken as a clean hit was scored on her.

And just like that Mei's point score advantage had been lost as they now were both tied one-to-one.

"And just like that, the challenger has evened the score!" Riling up the crowd to the best of their ability, the announcer pointed to the crowd. "Has our undefeated Queen finally found her match? Or is the challenger simply another name to add to her list of defeated foes?"

The crowd was simply eating up the match as their cheers only seemed to multiply at the events that played out. It was surprisingly an even amount of support for both sides. On one hand you had those that had unshakeable faith in Mei and were not afraid to voice it.

On the other side, her opponent had managed to gather her own number of supporters as she had become 'the underdog'.'

As for me, I wasn't ashamed of the fact that I was silently rooting for Mei's victory.

I shifted my gaze to the digital timer that dictated the match. Out of the five minutes that the match was, we were barely a minute into this duel.

I nervously gulped as they resettled themselves for the commencement of round three. "C'mon Mei you got this." I whispered encouragingly

"Round 3 Begin!"

With the score being tied once more, the two took a more cautious approach. Knowing that the other had the speed to match their own it was imperative to be able to predict the next attack.

This time Mei's opponent took the initiative as she yelled while aiming her bokken at Mei's torso. Responding in kind, Mei moved her bokken to meet in the middle.

The sound of wood clashing with wood reverberated throughout the gymnasium, the single second of sound cutting any chatting being had in the audience.

Unrelenting in their assault, the two proceeded to clash blows with each other. Both displayed impressive kendo skills as each clash was met with an equal ferocious force.

But what was most impressive to me was the fact that either had yet to yell and declare their strike. In a kendo match for one to score a point one must display Ki, or spirit, by verbally declaring their attack and said attack hitting the appropriate spot.

The confidence that the two held was something to behold, that they were confident in not only their skills with the bokken but also knowing that their opponent would keep on meeting their attacks head on so declaring their attack would be useless.

Yet for all of the awe that this fight created, a twinge of terror began to fill me as sudden realization came to me.

"This is the tip of the iceberg, imagine what this fight would like if they were Valkyries or even worse, Herrschers."

I clenched my hand as I forced that thought away to wherever it had come from, I had an inkling that it wasn't a thought that I had made but rather one that the entity that lived in my head made.

I came to watch a duel, I could worry about everything else later.

The repeated clashing of wood soon came to an end when the two fighters both found an opening in the other's attacks. "HYAH!" They both yelled as they took advantage of that fact and their strikes struck true, each hitting their opponent's torso.

The only problem?

That they had both struck each other at the same time.

"And we have a tie!" The announcer motioned to the digital scoring board, a respective one point being added to their score count. The score was now set at 2-2.

Still a deadlock, and judging by the time left on the clock…

"And we have ourselves a sudden death scenario!" The lights in the gymnasium dimmed as a symphony of drums began to play as an atmosphere was set to reflect the tense moment that these two fighters had created.

"The one who scores the point in this final bout will walk away the winner!" This was it, the do or die moment.

"And without further ado, let the final round BEGIN!"

With the final point hinging on this final round, the combination of pressure that came with it being the final round alongside the near perfect skillmanship that they both shared meant that more than ever would a lapse in judgement result in a loss.

In this state, trying to prolong the match now would make things riskier as exhaustion would lead one to make a rash choice in the final seconds.

"C'mon Mei," I silently muttered as I clasped my hands together. "You have to press the attack now." A last ditch flurry of attacks could be the pivotal factor at this time could be what she needed to break her opponent's guard.

Which Mei might've been thinking of as she took the initiative to attack. Declaring her attack with the loudest yell that she's said in the entire match. Bringing up her bokken, she executed an overhead slash as she was aiming to hit…

Wait, what was she planning to hit with that?

Why would she go with that move now of all times? That attack, while having a lot of power behind the strike, was the easiest to either dodge or counter. So why would Mei do that now?

Her opponent simply raised her blade up as she readied herself to guard from the attack, most likely to parry it and capitalizing on the fact that Mei would have no way to block any follow-up attack

Time seemed to stop as Mei's bokken was seconds away from hitting her opponent's bokken.

However just as it seemed to be mere nanoseconds away from clashing.

Mei moved her arms to the side, cancelling her a downward strike as she transitioned to a different strike. The soft sound of wood hitting armor soon followed.

The gymnasium fell silent as everyone saw where Mei's strike had landed.

Right on the wrist, one of the areas that someone had to hit to score a point.

"There we have it!" The announcer broke the silence as she motioned to Mei, who still had yet to move from her attack. "Mei Raiden is our winner!"

The sounds that followed after were as if a hurricane of noise had suddenly appeared. The sheer volume that everyone's voices were reaching could probably be heard outside of the gymnasium, hell maybe the entire school could hear it.

"That was a good match," Taking off her helmet and tucking it under her free arm, Mei offered her hand out. "Easily the best I've had."

"Ah you flatter me Mei," Her opponent took her helmet to reveal that it was Midori Aki the entire time. "You took me by surprise with that last move though, never expected you to do something so risky." Midori complimentated as she took Mei's hand and shook on the match that they just had.

Whilst everyone else was doing their hardest to clap their hands as loud as they could, I opted to clap them normally. No need when everyone else would drown at the noise of my applause.

That didn't take away from the massive smile on my face.

It was the end of the day, after the exhibition match the entirety of the school day was dedicated for club applications, signing up for the club of your choice or help make a final decision. Most people had made their decision and were spending the day chatting with their new clubs as they got to know them better.

All except me. I had yet to actual fill out a club application, but I did have one club in mind that I knew that I wanted to join. All I needed to do was get Keji's signature and fill out the by tonight and I would be in his chess club.

Assuming that I wasn't the only person joining as I was sure that a club of two people would not fly.

I was in the middle of buying a drink at a vending machine when my name was called.

"Nakamura-san,"

I turned my head to see that Aki was behind me, still donned in her kendo gear with her helmet tucked under her arm.

"I need you to come with me." Was all she said before grabbing my arm and dragging me to wherever I needed to go, leaving the drink that I just purchased in the vending machine to its lonely fate of being unintentionally discarded.

And that's how I found myself being dragged to god knows where by Midori. I didn't want to think about the strange looks that I got from the people we passed, nor did I want to think about the whispers that soon followed.

"Um Aki-san, where exactly are you taking me?" I asked as we soon left the main building.

"Somewhere special," Was all she said and I just accepted the fact that I wouldn't know until we got there.

And sure enough we got to the place that she was trying to take me to. "The gymnasium that you just had your match in?" I questioned as the girl next to me just shrugged.

"I don't know, Mei just wanted to talk to you." Before I could even ask what she meant by that, the girl gave me a wave before leaving me alone at the front of the gymnasium.

I was tempted to just leave but if Mei went through all that effort to try and talk to me, it would be rude if I ignored her. Also I saw this as an opportunity to get closer to the heiress, and test the waters of how much of the future I changed.

Taking in a deep breath, I pushed the door open and entered the empty gymnasium.

There standing right where she had just done her duel, still dressed in her kendo gear, was Mei Raiden. She seemed to be lost in thought so I just began to walk up to her. "Raiden-san?" I called out.

"Ah Nakamura-san." Mei turned around and smiled as I got closer to the arena. I was expecting nothing to happen really, no clue why she called me here in the first place.

"I heard from Aki-san that you wanted to see me?"

"Ah, yes." She began to shuffle in place as she picked the right words to say. "You see the kendo club has a spot available and…"

"I believe that you are worthy of that final spot!" Her dark blue eyes shined with determination as I did a mental recap to what I just heard.

"Huh!" Was all my mind screamed as I was thrown out of the loop.

Yet as I stood there in the middle of the vacant gymnasium with Mei Raiden, the both of us did not know the implications that this meeting had to the already shaky future ahead.

In a realm where time and space were in flux.

Underneath a tree of infinite possibilities.

A gray haired pioneer known as Su was roused from his sleep, a strange pulse of power awakening him from his slumber.

Something that almost never happened.

Confusion soon turned to awe as for the first time since he had begun the long and arduous journey of Project Valuka, an anomaly had occurred. Something that he thought was impossible for the Seed of Sumeru.

He reached out and grabbed the anomaly with his hand, marveling at what he was exactly holding.

Su's mission was simple, he was to observe the Imaginary Tree that inhabited the Second Divine Key and find an alternate universe that had won the war against the Honkai. To ensure that the sacrifices of the previous civilization were not in vain.

With each leaf that wilted from the tree, another universe lost its fight to the Honkai.

Nothing lasts forever, even the brightest of stars must one day fade into nothingness.

Yet the hope of a universe that would beat the Honkai was always alive in him, for all he had to do was gaze up to the green leaves of the Imaginary Tree to know that such a universe existed somewhere in the multiverse.

He would just have to be patient and see which leaf prevailed, what one universe might do differently would be the key to their salvation.

And he owed it to a certain friend that he complete his mission, to atone for the sin that he committed against him.

However the leaf that he caught was no ordinary leaf. It was not of the green that signified a still budding universe, but neither was it the wilted remains of a destroyed universe.

No, the leaf he was holding was that of pure white.

A blank state of chalk.

A future of unlimited potential.

"How strange," He said as he peered into the brief vision that the leaf of chalk contained.

Su knew of the scene that laid before him. Of how the Herrscher of Thunder would make a choice and that choice would result in parting ways with the Herrscher of the Void in the city where it all began.

Some universes had them part ways, to become enemies. In other universes they fought alongside each other as they always used to, a promise upheld to keep the other safe.

But the scene that Su was watching was different.

For no longer was the Herrscher of the Void standing before the Herrscher of Thunder. No it was someone different, someone that he had never seen before in the many alternate universes that he peered into.

Donned in a strange battlesuit, the red haired stranger extended his hand outward. The smile on his face was that of assurance as he exchanged words to the Herrscher standing before him.

To which the Herrscher smiled before taking his hand. Something about the way she smiled intrigued Su as he wished to see more of what they had said to each other.

However that was all he could see before the vision cutout as the leaf in his hands crumbled into nothingness, not even a speck of it remained on Su's fingertips.

"Amazing," He whispered. This future was so uncertain that not even the Imaginary Tree could not see past a certain point.

That begged the question though. Turning his head to the Imaginary Tree, Su noted the emergence of similar chalk leaves on its branches as an untold number of uncertain futures were being born.

Who was the red-haired stranger that he saw?

Chapter Text

"C-Come again." I couldn't help but repeat as I processed the words that I just heard. Mei Raiden, the girl who I just witnessed show some serious skill with the bokken, wanted me to join the kendo club?

To me? A person who she had just met four days ago and had shown no interest in the kendo arts?

"I think you would be a good fit on the team," She said as the resolve in her eyes never faded. "I think you could learn to do kendo like how Midori does."

Kendo like Midori? My mind wandered back to how she had scored even the first point in the kendo match. By taking advantage of Mei probably lowering her guard after scoring the match's first point.

She knew how to dissect her opponent's way of fighting to turn it into her way to victory.

"I-I'm flattered that you think I can be like Aki-san one day but I don't really have any kendo training like you do." I stammered as I was still trying to wrap my head around this.

"That's fine, most people who join the club have never touched a bokken before." Mei, unrelenting in her quest, assured me.

So Mei Raiden believed that one day that I could one day reach her level, that was...surprisingly reassuring coming from her. I mean the fact that someone who would become a Valkyrie thought I had potential had to mean something.

Right?

The prospect of joining the Kendo Club had many benefits to it. The most obvious one being that I could now have an excuse to get closer to Mei now, seeing how she was the one who invited me to join. I had an inkling that there were many applicants for the club but if Mei wanted to get me I don't think the club leader could refuse.

Another benefit was that I could somewhat begin to train my body more rigorously in preparation of the role that I knew I would have to play.

But a small part of my mind told me that this wasn't the right course of action. That something was wrong with the whole decision if I did join the club.

But confusingly I had the same feeling when it came to the chess club.

First things first

"Mei, why exactly did you think that I needed to join your club?" I asked curiously as I knew I had not made any prior indication that I wanted to join the club. Hell, I didn't even know that the Kendo Club existed or the fact that Mei was a part of it from the events of the game.

Mei just scratched her cheek as her cheeks became slightly flushed, "Promise me that you won't laugh."

I smiled before nodding, "Of course."

"Well yesterday when you were out of it and the teacher called on you," She smiled as she remembered the first time she would see Haruto Nakamura be caught off-guard. "And you answered that you had a bad night's rest."

"You reminded me of my father," She confessed as her eyes gained a softer glow in them. "Lying when confronted about what troubles them."

I couldn't help but open my mouth in awe at what Mei had just said. She had seen right through me when I was able to fool everyone else. A mask that I had on ever since I could learn how to walk, a mask that I had upgraded when I knew that I was in the universe of Honkai.

And the one person who I wanted to be most affected by it had seen right through it.

Mei continued onward with her explanation, "My father is hardworking, that I will never blame him for. Nor do I hate him for not having enough time for me, I know that would be too selfish of me to ask of him."

"But I wished that he wouldn't have to lie about how everything is okay when it clearly isn't." Her father yesterday had been in a bad mood, a rare occurrence for her father. That meant this was something more than a bad meeting with the board.

When she pressed him about it, he simply smiled and told her that he had everything under control.

She wasn't an idiot, he knew there were things beyond the company that was troubling but she didn't want him to worry so she kept her mouth silent as she simply did her best to keep him relaxed at home.

As Mei contemplated the reason why her father was acting so strange yesterday, I could feel my heartrate speed up as I pondered her words. Oh god was her father already losing his job already? Had Anti-Entropy begun to sink their claws into ME Corp? Had I screwed up the timeline already?!

No, the news outlets would've said something about it by now, especially the local ones. Anything that happened in ME they would know in a matter of hours and then the headlines would start rolling.

Perhaps Anti Entropy was beginning to move against him? That was a possibility but then that begged the question how exactly did Mei's father lose the corporation. If he knew if it was happening from the beginning did that mean he just let it happen?

I took a mental reminder to watch out for anything related to the ME Corporation for the next couple of days.

"So when I saw you do the same thing as my father, I wanted to try and help you in any way that I could." She broke me out of my internal rambling as she brought out her bokken and fondly smiled at it, like if she was greeting an old friend.

"And I thought about what made me find comfort and realized that kendo helped me in times of need," She smiled at me as she placed her bokken back at the side of her hip.

I...couldn't disagree with her logic, but even if her points were all valid I needed time to think about this. "Sorry Raiden-san, but…" I trailed off thinking of how not to be rude. "I need some time to think this over."

Mei just gave me a considerate smile as she nodded in understanding. "Oh forgive me, I forgot to realize that there might be other clubs you might be interested in."

I just waved off her concern, "That's okay...you've just given me a lot-" I was cut short when the final bell of the day rang throughout the academy.

"Oh looks like that's it for today. Just remember Nakamura-san that you have until the start of class tomorrow to turn in your application." She reminded me as I gave her nod of confirmation before saying my farewells to her before turning to the exit.

I was about halfway when I could hear Mei running up to me, "Oh wait I forgot something!" I stopped so that she could do whatever she needed to be done. "Take out your phone."

Confused, I just took out my phone for her when she then began to type something into it. "Here, if you need to ask me about anything relating to kendo."

I looked at what she had exactly typed into my phone, to see that she was typing her phone number into my phone. She typed a smiling face into my text messages to see if she had done it right and broke into a smile when it went through.

"See you tomorrow Nakamura-san!" She said as I gave my farewells, my mind not properly registering what she had done.

And not a second later after her farewell did I realize what she had just done. My cheeks grew flushed as I looked at my phone to confirm that this just happened.

Was this what I think it was?!

Did Mei just give me her phone number?!

The only answer I got was the breeze of wind that had been let in by the open door.

"How's your new 'throne' Kuro?" I asked as the black feline was getting a new feel for the playset that I had purchased for her. It was more of a tower of scratching posts with boxes that she could maneuver through than an actual playset.

My grandmother had warned me that cats had a tendency to rip up any furniture if they didn't have the proper tools to groom their claws. Since there were times that strays might stop near the apartment she felt that Kuro might also feel the need to mark her territory from any challengers.

The look on my grandmother's face when she explained this all to me was more than clear to know that if any of the furniture that I had was damaged, there would be hell to pay.

So while buying this scratching tower set was quite expensive, my wallet taking a massive hit in buying the most appropriate sized set for the apartment, it was a worthy sacrifice in avoiding my grandmother's wrath.

The wrath of a mother was something to fear, the wrath of a mother who had no qualms about speaking her mind and acting on it was entirely something else to watch out for.

Kuro just gave a satisfied meow as she got herself comfortable on the highest perch. She supposed that this was enough to satisfy her...for now.

"You don't do anything crazy now, I don't want to have to explain to Oba-san why the couch has a large tear in it." I could've sworn that Kuro just rolled her eyes in exasperation as I went inside my own room.

Now within the privacy of my own room, I reached into my pocket to retrieve two papers in it. Taking the neatly folded papers, I placed the two onto my desk before unfolding it. "Alright, let's start the hard part now."

I stared at the two papers as I could feel a migraine beginning to build.

On my right was Keji's Chess Club Flyer.

And on my left was the Kendo Club Flyer. I had been lucky to have snagged one from the kendo booth at the end of the day. It wasn't a surprise to see that the kendo club was the most popular club of them all.

I had to give it to Midori, the exhibition match really did draw in support and ensured that there wouldn't be any stop to club applications.

Flopping down onto my study chair, I plopped my elbows on the desk as I clasped my hands together. "Alright Haruto, one step at a time," I said to myself as I got my brain ready for the ordeal I was about to put it through. "What are the advantages of the Chess Club?"

Well for starters, I had a feeling that I was more orientated to strategy than actual combat. Ever since I joined my old track club, it was clear to me that I would always be better when it came to academics than athleticism.

Joining the chess club would only sharpen my mind, maybe I would have a secret infinity towards the game of wits. Strategy games had always been my forte back in my old life, only the hardest difficulty giving me a semblance of a challenge.

And if I wanted to be the captain of the Hyperion, then I needed to be the best damn admiral that Schicksal had.

The cons? Well I didn't even know if the chess club would be able to garner enough people for it to stay official. Maybe my little talk did wonders on Keji's mood and he could've potentially attracted a few more people to get interested.

Then again, I had a gut feeling that they would quickly be discouraged when they realized that Ishigami-sensei would be the club sponsor.

And there was that too. Keji and Ishigami were both characters that I didn't know were going to be somehow relevant to the story. I didn't want to lower their importance but compared to that of Mei's they were essentially NPCs right now.

Mentally listing all that I could if I did join the Chess Club, I looked over to the kendo club flyer and began to think of what joining that club would yield.

For one, Mei was available for me to get closer to. No one would bat an eyebrow if I tried to get closer to the heiress, they would just think that I was just a fanboy or something. And judging by how easily it was to talk with her, joining for that alone was worth it.

Also I could begin to train my body in preparation to becoming, what was it again, a Knight? Wasn't the male equivalent of a Valkyrie called a Knight?

Wielding a blade certainly had its pros but…

Thus came my dilemma with joining the kendo club. Would I even be good in combat if I somehow survive the Third Honkai Impact and got to St. Freya Highschool in one piece. Physical training wouldn't get me far when I had to now consider stigmas and other factors.

For example, I knew for a fact that there was no way in hell I could ever be on the same level of Bronya, Kiana, and Mei. The main three I knew were considered to be the strongest team out of their entire class and it wasn't without good reason.

Kiana was a Kaslana, granting her the supernatural strength and fighting instincts that came with the name. She also had the DNA of Sirin, the original Herrscher of Void, in her which probably subconsciously strengthened her abilities. She was the team's ace after all.

Bronya I knew to be a child soldier before she was taken in by Cocolia's orphanage. From what my memory recalled, Bronya was somewhat feared from her killing abilities as a soldier. Couple that with the robot that she used, Project Bunny was it? She was the most level headed when in the midst of battle, their tactician.

Mei had the benefits of being a Herrscher. Incomplete or not, the abilities and power that her Herrscher self had probably leaked into her abilities as a Valkyrie. Combine that with her kendo training she was probably the most well rounded of them all.

And as for me, the only thing that I had was my knowledge of the future. Which I knew would become obsolete if I changed the future too much.

I tiredly sighed as I relaxed my head against the back of my chair's headrest. I knew that I honestly would not be able to catch up to them, let alone surpass them.

Even if I did somehow surpass them in terms of combat ability, they were just the tip of the iceberg as there were plenty of people in this world that were way stronger than them. The only reason that they were able to beat them in the first place was anything short of a miracle.

Each side had their own pros that were appealing, but also their own cons that would be troublesome down the road.

Not to mention the strange deja vu that would fill me if I ever tried to consolidate my choice. It was the same deja vu that I had whenever I would see something related to the Honkai Universe when I was a child. I had an inkling that this deja vu was telling me what choice I should be making.

Which confused me as it was basically telling me not to choose either of the clubs. I couldn't join two clubs, that was an actual rule of Chiba Academy to ensure that club activities didn't clash if people did choose two clubs. It was a fair rule to ensure that if you did join a club, you were actually contributing to that club.

"Hey mysterious voice in my head," I said out loud as I knew who exactly was giving me this deja vu in the first place. "If you're trying to tell me something, why don't you just say it to me? Subtlety isn't exactly needed now."

A few seconds passed as I expected an answer to come from the reclusive entity living in my head.

Yet I heard nothing.

"Fine be like that then," I grumbled as I leaned my entire back onto my chair, closing my eyes to help soothe the headache that I now had. Since apparently every action that I took influenced the future it was a reasonable assumption that the one who warned me of that would at least have some way of helping.

But alas I got no reaction, making me think of who could possibly help me now. Opening my eyes I absentmindedly cast my gaze to my desk. There wasn't anything much on it, just the usual books and papers with some memorabilia from home.

My eyes rested on a family photo that I had brought with me to remind me of my home. Reaching out I grabbed the framed photo and focused my hazel eyes on it, a small smile quickly growing on my face as I saw the faces of my mother and father.

Hana Nakamura, my mother, and Toshi Nakamura, my father.

It had definitely been a struggle at first to see these two people as my parents but as time passed since my birth in this world I had grown to truly see them as my mother and father. I definitely did not forget my parents from my previous life, but how could I truly move on if I kept hanging on to my old life?

My current parents were nothing like my previous ones, who were quite similar to each other. My mother was what one might describe as a wild firecracker, always unafraid to be the center of attention and voice her opinions. My father on the other hand was quite reserved, always keeping his thoughts to himself unless asked.

Hana and Toshi's personalities were like fire and ice, so drastically different from each other that one might think a relationship between them might never work.

Yet they had prevailed against such odds with a marriage that held on strong and would continue to hold strong for years to come. Their two differing personalities gave them a unique point of view on certain things which would help them make great information about certain problems.

My mind didn't need to complete that thought as my body had already whipped out my phone to dial my mother's number as I knew who exactly to call to help me with my dilemma.

"My sweet son!" I heard my mom cry out on the other end of the call, making me smile at how little my mother had changed since I had arrived at Nagazora.

"Hello Oka-san," I greeted back warmly as I settled comfortably in my chair. "How are you?"

"Never better, I should be asking you that question! It's been two days since you started your classes at Chiba Academy." My mother's voice immediately went into 'mother hen' mode. "Are you doing okay? Are you getting used to your classes? Have you been eating well? Are you being bullied?! I swear if you are then I'm going to come down there and give them a piece of my-!"

Before my mother could go any further my father's calming voice interrupted her. "Now, now dear," He chided lightly. "I believe our son is doing quite well in Nagazora. Your mother has said that he's acclimated well to his new home already."

"Yes Otou-san, but I fear that this place will never replace where my true home is," I said in equal parts joking and a bit of homesickness. It had only been less than a week and I already wanted to be back home, especially considering the fact that this place was where I learned what universe I happened to be reincarnated in.

"It does feel like that at first my son but time will help you get acclimated to this feeling," My father wisely told me. "A chick must eventually leave its parents' nest."

"Well this chick doesn't want to leave the parents' nest, its too comfy to leave." I joked before all three of us shared a nice chuckle over. It was definitely nice to joke like this with my parents. After the storm of revelations that I had faced it was nice to be anchored by something warm and familiar.

"But that's not the reason why I called you, I need some advice from you guys." I said as I switched the conversation to the real reason why I had called them.

"Worry not son," My mother answered. "Tell us what troubles you, your father and I will give you the best advice we can."

And so I told them of the clubs in Chiba Academy and how I was torn between choosing two clubs. Of how two people that I was on a friendly acquaintance level with had personally invited me to each one and how I felt guilty if I chose one over the other. Once I was done explaining the cause of why I had called them I patiently waited for their sagely parental wisdom on what I should do.

"...That's it?" Was mother's response to my dilemma, sounding completely unimpressed with what she had just heard.

"Hana!" My father said in faux hurt and disappointment.

"What? It's true!" My mother defended. "I thought he had gotten in some like major trouble or something like that! This is just normal highschool stuff!"

It…certainly did sound like that but I couldn't exactly say to my parents, "Oh by the way whatever decision I make could possibly make the difference between life or death as were actually in a universe where humanity is fighting an enemy thats hellbent on killing us all!"

Not only was that a bad idea, but it also made me sound like I was crazy.

Which honestly felt like I was.

"Oka-san!" I groaned embrassingingly into my phone.

"Fine, fine I suppose its a parents duty to help you out with things like these." My mother grumbled under her breathe before she gave her piece. "If you want my opinion, why don't you join the kendo club? From what I've heard it's Chiba Academy's number one sport. Would be a great way extracurricular activity for you to take."

"That's what I thought too." I agreed with my mother's words. From a general perspective if I wanted to affect the story then the best choice was obviously the kendo club as it would allow me to get closer to Mei Raiden. She certainly didn't mind if I joined the club.

But…

"I can't help but want to choose the chess club as well." I trailed off.

"Then choose the chess club then!" My mother hotly retorted.

"Oka-san it's not that simple." I groaned on hearing the tone in her voice. It was the classic 'I'm not going to take any nonsense' mom tone of voice.

"Is it not?"

"No!"

"What if you joined both clubs?" My father offered.

"I can't Otou-san," I said as the problem of being unable to join two clubs at the same time made its presence known. Oh how simple this would be if I could just join the chess and kendo club but of course this was the Honkai Universe and everything just had to be difficult to handle. "Chiba Academy explicitly states that I can't join two clubs at the same time."

The call was silent as we all pondered on a solution for this problem that should've been easy to solve. However before anyone could say anything else my phone begin to ring.

"Hmm?" I removed the phone from my ear and looked at the screen, my eyebrows raising at the sight of my newest contact number. "Mei-san?"

"Mei-san?" My mother questioned.

"She's a classmate that sits next to me," I answered without much thought, not realizing the mistake I had just made. "I gave her my number earlier and-!"

"What's this?" My mother adopted a coy tone as I could imagine a smug grin on the other end of the call. "MY baby little boy has the number of a girl~?

"OkayokasanIhavetogonowloveyoubothbye!" I rapidly spilled out before I quickly ended the call, not allowing my mother or father any chance to speak up. I held the phone to my chest, hoping that neither of my parents decided to call back.

A few seconds of silence passed without my phone making any noise which made me sigh silently in relief. Even being reincarnated talking with your parents about owning the number of a person of the opposite sex was never a fun experience and I was not going to go through that a second time.

Moving my phone away from my chest I opened the message I got from Mei. An eyebrow was raised at the message from the heiress to call her but I just shrugged my shoulders and pressed the call button.

"Nakamura-san?" Mei answered the call relatively quickly.

"Good evening Raiden-san, how are you right now?" I answered her back.

"Everything is good, thank you for asking Nakamura-san. How are you?" She asked back.

"Yeah everything's doing well Raiden-san," I assured her. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Well I had some questions that I need some help with on Ishigami-sensei's assignment." I nodded my head as I reached into my bag and pulled out the folder where I kept all of my assignments in.

"I'm guessing it's page two right? The one with all the equations on it."

"H-Hai," Mei replied with a twinge of embarrassment. "Forgive me for asking you so lat-."

"It's no problem at all Raiden-san." I interrupted as I brought the right page out of my organized stack of assignments. "Asking people for help is nothing to be ashamed about."

"Thank you Nakamura-san." I could practically imagine the smile that Mei probably had. The thought of making her smile...just brought a smile to my lips.

"No problem, alright where exactly did you need help with?"

The next half hour was spent with me helping Mei with the problems that she got stuck on. She knew the material fairly well, better than our other classmates, but there were some parts that she didn't have a great grasp on.

By the time half an hour had rolled by, I was confident that Mei had a complete grasp over the subject.

"Nakamura-san?" She asked me as I was in the midst of packing my things away. "Have you decided on what club you wanted to join?"

I paused just as I finished putting my last textbook away. Dammit I had totally forgotten about that whole mess while I helped her with the problems. "Sorry," I admitted as I pulled out the club application form. Everything had been filled out, all except for…

What club I was exactly going to join.

"I've been conflicted on what club I want to join." I chuckled as I began to explain my dilemma. "There are two clubs that I really want to join, but…" I trailed off as I couldn't exactly tell her of Honkai and what this choice really meant.

"There are two people who I really want to be friends with, but I feel that if I join one club I won't be able to connect with the other person. Also the fact I want to learn from both clubs doesn't help my decision." I tried my best to explain my situation.

"Have you ever considered trying to befriend the person whose club you didn't join?" She offered.

"Wouldn't that be, I don't know, kind of mean? Like I joined the other club but I still want to be your friend." I sighed. "Feels like I would belittle them that their club was inferior to the one that I chose."

"How about if you asked them for some private lessons so you could technically learn the club craft? You're not exactly taking advantage of them and you could always offer to teach them in return. You could offer your services as a tutor for Ishigami-sensei's class." She joked as I couldn't help but crack a laugh at it. If I did that then-!

My mind took a double take as I processed her words over once, then twice, and then three times just to make sure I had heard her right.

This...this could work!

"Mei you're an absolute genius!" I excitingly said as I stood up from my chair, a giant smile on my face. "Oh my god you are amazing Mei!" I gushed over the phone before I began to write something quickly down.

"You have no idea how much you've helped me! I need to finish this application. Thank you Mei! I'll call you tomorrow." I ended the call and resumed to finish what I needed to get done.

Keji Furuta had a nervous smile on his face as he watched the clock slowly go by in what was meant to be the clubroom for the Chess Club. Only fifteen minutes till class started and all club applications were meant to be turned in.

And still he was the only member of the club.

"I told you Furuta-san, chess isn't something that clicked for this generation," Behind him was Akira Ishigami. The teacher was sitting at one of the desks as he absently played with his watch.

The former Chess Grandmaster wasn't someone remarkable at first glance. The science teacher always wore his lab coat everywhere, Keji had a feeling that he also wore it at home as well. His black hair was always combed neatly and there wasn't a trace of tiredness in his brown eyes, unlike his fellow teachers who always drank coffee to stay awake. He just drank it because he liked the taste.

And he just somehow made the whole glasses look so much more intimidating than it was meant to be!

"M-Maybe they're just late," He said as he tried to get the teacher's confidence back. "If we give them another 5 minutes I'm sure that-" He was interrupted as the teacher stood up from his chair.

"I know you mean well Furuta-san but I think it's time that we state the obvious." He bluntly said as Keji flinched as the fears that he had tried to ignore for the past hour were reality.

No one wanted to join his chess club. He had been so sure at least a couple of people might have been interested in it. Surely someone in this school had to have shared his passion!

But he should've seen the writing on the walls at the reception his booth had gotten. He was happy that Haruto had shown such interest in his club that he was confident that the red head was going to join.

However he overheard some gossip that Midori Aki had personally dragged him to the gymnasium, only for Mei to come out of the gymnasium fifteen minutes later with a smile on her face.

It didn't take long for him to know that he had been recruited to join the Kendo club. After all, why would Haruto join his club when someone as popular as Mei Raiden wanted you to be in her club?

Ishigami sighed as walked up to the lone student and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "I will admit, I didn't expect you to do this whole chess club in the first place. When I had offered the idea of you starting the club if you wanted me to teach you, I had expected you to give up."

The teacher smiled as he patted the student's shoulder. "You should be proud, many would've given-". The little pep talk was interrupted as the club's door was swung wide open.

"S-Sorry," A panting Haruto wheezed as sweat clung to his forehead and placed his hands on his knees. It was clear that the student had to probably run to school. "M-My phone died and I woke up an hour later than I should've."

You couldn't fault me for waking up so late! I had spent the rest of the night planning that I simply forgot what time it was and when I checked it had already been late into the night.

And to make matters worse my phone had died when I had gone to sleep meaning I had woken up to not my alarm but rather to Kuro.

"H-Haruto?" Keji asked confusedly. "What are you doing here? Class starts in a few minutes, you're going to be late."

"Well…" I trailed off as I fished out the crumbled club application that I shoved into my pocket before leaving my apartment in a hurry. "Don't I have to submit this in order to be part of the club?" I grinned when my paper was swiftly snatched out by Keji.

"You didn't," He breathed in shock as he reread the paper to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him.

"Yup,"

"But," He looked at me before looking at the paper.

"Yup," I smiled as Keji looked like he was about to burst into tears from my application. So it didn't shock me when I was suddenly enveloped in a hug. I didn't have the heart within me to push him off so I merely patted his back in comfort.

"Thank you," The chess enthusiast whispered.

"This is nice and all but as the sponsor of this club, may I have Nakamura's application so he can officially be a part of this club." Ishigami broke Keji out of the hug as he realized what he had exactly done. Bowing profusely in apology to me, which I simply put my hands up and said was okay, he gave the application to the teacher.

"You surprise me, both of you. I didn't expect you to be the one to join this club, then again you are a special case aren't you Haruto Nakamura." Stamping the paper, my club application to the Chess Club had been confirmed.

"As the sponsor of this club I dictate how many people are required to join in order for it to be official. My only condition for Furuta-san was that he recruit someone to the club, which he has done so the Chess Club has now officially been created."

"However," His tone grew dark as he pushed his glasses up, light seemingly emitted from the lenses as me and Keji couldn't help but stiffen up at the menacing sight. "Do not expect me to coddle you like children. You joined because you wanted to learn how to play? Then do not expect me to hold back."

The light from his glasses gave way as his brown eyes bore into the both of us. "By the time I am done with you, I will show you why exactly I was feared on the battlefield known as Chess."

I couldn't help but nervously gulp at what I had exactly signed up for, but as I glanced at Keji I knew that I made the right choice seeing at how his body was brimming with excitement and happiness.

There was one more thing that I needed to do however before I could pat myself on the back.

The heiress was quite disappointed when Haruto didn't show up to the kendo club in the morning. She was sure that she didn't show it but Midori had patted her shoulder in reassurance as they welcomed the newest member to the club.

Still, she would not hold any ill-feelings towards Haruto for choosing the chess club. She was curious about his choice in the chess club and she had tried to ask him what had solidified his choice.

"Sorry Mei, could we meet at the gymnasium after school? I'll explain everything there." Was all that Mei had before class began for that day.

Trusting in his words, that was how Mei was currently approaching the gymnasium at the end of the day. It was only used to host any big sporting events so she didn't have to worry about meeting anyone else as it would be empty..

"Nakamura-san?" Shec allied out as she opened the door to see the redhead standing alone in the middle of the court.

"Ah Raiden-san," He greeted. "This feels kind of strange, you called me here only yesterday but here I am doing the same." He chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Why did you call me here Nakamura-san?" She asked me as I knew that she definitely wanted answers. Hopefully this doesn't backfire in my face.

"Well do you remember the advice that you gave me yesterday? Well…" I shuffled my feet nervously as I readied myself for the plan that I had made.

"I w-want to learn Kendo from you." I admitted.

Mei's eyes widened in shock as I began to elaborate. "Well I wanted to learn both kendo and chess but when I thought about it really hard I realized I wanted to learn kendo because of you."

It was true, the way that she held herself in that arena match, the way that she never lost composure, the way that she held her blade with unmatched confidence.

I truly admired that side of her.

"A-And I remembered what you said of how I could befriend the person whose club I didn't get to join." This was it, the critical moment. Bowing as far as possible without falling, "If you would like I could help you with Ishigami-sensei's class in exchange for you teaching me how to do kendo!"

Silence reigned as sweat began to drip from my head. Did I say it wrong? Had I messed up?

My fears were assuaged fortunately when Mei suddenly began to giggle. I looked up in shock to see Mei holding her hand up to her mouth as she struggled to contain her laughter.

"I-I'm sorry, you just looked so serious about this that I couldn't help but laugh a bit." As her laughing ended, she gave me a smile. "I have to refuse your offer though."

Before the terror hit me, Mei continued. "Because I would've helped you train regardless if you had offered help with Ishigami-sensei's work. Though I do have one request."

She walked up to me and offered her hand out. "Let's make this official, let's be friends."

My mouth was left open as I stared at the open hand in disbelief.

This wasn't the girl ostracized by the people around her, that she would be wary of everyone she met.

This was the Mei that was kind to everyone, a saint among people. The heiress who wore her heart on her sleeve.

I smiled as I took her hand as we shook, "Yes Raiden-san, let's be friends."

"Mei," She insisted. "Calling me by my last name feels like we're strangers."

I had to chuckle at that before I corrected myself. "Sorry about that, Mei-san. Though in return please call me Haruto."

"Yes...Haruto." The two of us shared one last smile as we had become officially friends. It wasn't something all that groundbreaking, going from being acquaintances to friends…

But it felt strangely nice to call her by her first name.

"For the last time Cocolia, your plan is madness." In her office located at the Anti-Entropy's headquarters in California, Cocolia had to suppress the urge to scream in rage.

"Please Ryoma, if you would just please listen-".

"Cocolia, have you listened to yourself?!" Ryoma Raiden hotly argued back. "You want to create an artificial honkai eruption in order to create a Herrscher just so that we have a chance, a chance, to subdue it just so we could study it."

"This plan is absolute madness! Do you have no regard for the innocent people that will die from this course of action? And what if our forces couldn't stop the Herrscher? How many more would die from them?!"

More than Cocolia was comfortable in sacrificing. She wasn't a heartless woman, she didn't want to intentionally kill innocent people. But as she looked at the picture that she had on her desk, she was reminded of the kids that she protected.

And the one kid that she had failed to protect, the one she had sacrificed for the sake of advancements in Honkai technology.

She could handle scorn by other people, she would stand fearlessly in front of a massive Honkai horde, she would betray as many people she would need to.

But if the orphanage learned of what she had done to keep them safe, she didn't know what she would do.

"Ryoma please," She begged as she poured every emotion that she could into those words, hoping that the father would recognize her distress.

"I'm sorry but I just can't Cocolia, I'm sorry." Was the last thing that he said before he hung up.

The Anti-Entropy leader angrily grabbed the nearest object to her, which was a cold cup of coffee, before she screamed and threw it at the wall with as much force as she could muster. Even as the coffee splattered across her office's walls, her rage was not quelled.

"Trouble in paradise dear Cocolia?" The synthetic voice that suddenly filled her office made the blond turn her head up to glare at the uninvited guest. "I'm in no time for one of your games, Gray Serpent." She hissed the last part as the masked man simply sat down on one of the chairs near her desk.

She should've been concerned that this masked man was able to sneak in undetected, in a heavily defended complex no less, but after a while she grew to accept the fact that no matter how much she strengthened security.

The World Serpent always found a way.

"Why are you so intent in solving this diplomatically?" The hacker asked as he rested his hand on his chair's armrest. "We both know that you have done much worse for far less."

She wanted to argue that she wasn't some heartless creature with no empathy for the people around her, but who was she kidding. He could see right through her.

"Have you forgotten our deal? If you can supplement us with a Herrscher core, we offer the safe return of the girl known as Seele."

"And how do I know that you will keep your end of the bargain?" She said through barely repressed anger.

"You don't," The masked serpent leaned forward, his red artificial eye peering into her soul. "But do you really have another option to save her?" She had to bite her lip at the reminder of her countless failures to try and rescue Seele from the Sea of Quanta.

When her efforts had all but yielded failure, any files regarding the X-10 experiment were kept under tight locks, she should know. She made sure that the encryption on them was still working every month.

And he had so effortlessly broken through them like they were paper.

"Remember Cocolia, the serpent is patient." He stood up and approached the door. As his hand rested on the door's handle, he turned his head to her. "But it cannot be patient forever."

It was pouring in the dead of night for California, the rare rain was a welcome sight for the people as it the rainwater was sparse for the desert land.

Atop one of the many highrises that were near the headquarters of Anti-Entropy, The Gray Serpent had an umbrella over him as he watched the building.

"So that was a bust." In one of the many laboratories that the World Serpent possessed, overlooking an experiment that she had made great strides in, a high-ranking serpent known as Jackal was on a call with him.

And in the middle of London, within a dark room with a bloody body tied to a chair and a single light hanging above them, the assassin known as Raven was also present in the call.

"Still don't see the point of you being so...forgiving to her Gray Serpent." Raven said as she checked her claws if they were still sharp.

"Because she has all of the qualities that a serpent requires, she hates Honkai as much as we do. All that we must do is simply push her in the right direction."

"And I suppose you have already made a plan for that then?" Jackal had a feeling that this call was more than a simple check-up call.

"Raiden Ryoma proves to be a thorn in her side, a thorn in our plan to free our sovereign from the Sea of Quanta." The Gray Serpent looked on apathetically at the people down below his vantage point, all pawns to be used in their plans.

For no sacrifice was too great for the plans that their leader had for the salvation of this world.

"So we shall hit two birds with one stone, we shall dispose of Raiden Ryoma whilst also giving Cocolia the means to create an artificial eruption. However I have encountered a problem, a problem that I hope one of you will be able to solve."

"And what exactly is the problem here?" Raven asked as she looked back to the dead body in the room with her. A traitor who tried to sell their secrets to Schicksal in exchange for asylum. The secrets that he had died with him.

"Raiden Ryoma is a close ally of Einstein and Tesla, Einstein will most definitely notice any attempt to hack into the ME Corp's mainframe. And I do not think that Raven will be able to infiltrate the corporation without getting caught."

"I'm so honored that you have so little trust in my abilities," Raven dryly joked.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance to you," Pulling out her tablet, Jackal began to swipe through her files. "It just so happens that one of my little experiments is currently at Nagazora."

Behind her mask, Jackal grinned as she pulled up the file of one of her latest successes. The World Serpent scientist was surprised when this subject pulled through, she had been sure that the experiments would be too much on its little body.

It's survival was testament to how resilient this subject was.

"Don't worry," A picture of a perfectly normal black feline with blue eyes was brought up on her tablet.

CODENAME: STYX

"Yes, STYX will be the perfect infiltrator for your little mission Gray Serpent." And to the right of the black feline, the image of what honkai energy could do if properly controlled.

Meanwhile in Nagazora, the collar on Kuro began to blink yellow; the sudden change in the collar's activity was all but ignored by her 'owner' as he was busy catching up on school assignments.

Chapter Text

It was a literal hell on earth.

No matter where you looked, fire was the only thing you could see.

What might've been once a glorious castle was now nothing more than a smoldering ruin.

I tried to make sense of it all from where I had been previously buried under a pile of rubble, somehow miraculously surviving an entire castle being brought down.

I looked to my left to see my partner, who also had survived the castle's collapse. However I noted how they were clutching their chest, it seems that they sustained injuries far worse than I did.

I tried to look around for our third member amidst the devastation but to no avail. I could only pray to the gods and hope that they had not perished.

"So you survived even that," A voice cut through the sounds of flames ravaging the ruined castle. "Alas you have only delayed the inevitable!" The voice roared as a figure emerged from a pile of rubble in a glorious burst of fire.

/ Amon, False Demon Of Fire /

The imposing behemoth that had once been a king stood over us, its visage full of burning hatred. "You dare come into my kingdom, ruin my plans for greatness, destroy my castle!" The behemoth lifted its hand to conjure a ball of fire.

"Not even death will spare you from my wrath!" I cursed knowing that I didn't have enough health points to tank that attack, not even my partner had enough. To make matters even more worse he couldn't even heal us as he had used up all of his mana in the throne room fight.

Curse this boss's bullshit mechanics, no wonder my partner said this was one of the worst bosses to fight.

"Now you wi-," The king's rant was cut short when a figure burst forth from a pile of rubble, a knightly figure floating behind the lone figure.

"Judgement," The figure blankly said as the knight behind them unsheathed the massive sword on its back before pointing it at the boss. A blue ethereal light surrounded the sword as the skill was used.

"Wait, what are you-!" A bright blue beam shot forth from the blade, enveloping the demon in a ray of blue light. He roared in pain as his health bar was all but being annihilated. I stood in awe as I saw the absolute power behind the attack as it vaporized the king into dust.

|| DUTY COMPLETE! ||

As the completed mission prompt flashed on my computer's screen, I couldn't help but sigh. It was around 9 in the night as I found myself playing a new game, courtesy of Keji's personal recommendation.

"Keji what the hell was that?" I questioned as my video game character was pulled back into the main hub of the game, the familiar looking hub was teeming with other online players as people were getting ready to grind out the content in the game.

"I did warn you beforehand, there are just some players like that," Keji's online character walked up to mine. "Though I didn't expect a max level character to join our dungeon at the very end." If his online character could do it, I would've seen it shake the back of its head sheepishly.

The first hectic week of Chiba Academy had come to a close, and with it the first school weekend of the year. Keji had suggested to me that we play one of his favorite games of all time when we were in the clubroom as a way of getting closer.

The first day of the chess club wasn't anything eventful, well if you could call getting absolutely curb stomped by Ishigami-sensei in a game of chess eventful. Keji wasn't joking about how good the teacher was at the board game.

His title of Grandmaster wasn't just for show after all.

I wouldn't say that I was that good at chess but I felt that I was proficient enough that I could at least have a semblance of victory against our teacher. Yet I was so soundlessly crushed by him that I realized that there was a lot I needed to learn in chess.

Strangely however the teacher only played one game with each of us before he dismissed u for the day, not offering any explanation to why he only played one game with us and not taking full advantage of time allotted for the club.

I just went along with Keji's recommendation and agreed to play the game he wanted me to try out around nighttime, after I had finished up with some of my assignments and chores.

Imagine to my surprise what the game he recommended to me was.

Homu Fantasy Online.

You take the classic elements of any MMORPG and add in some Honkai inspiration and you get Homu Fantasy Online

It astounded me how I never realized the connections to Honkai Impact when I saw this game before coming to Nagazora. Kallen Kaslana herself was one of the main characters of the game's story. The Valkyrie was a carbon copy of how she looked in the game.

She even had the Oath of Judah as her weapon for crying out loud!

"So you're telling me that a max level character can randomly join a beginner's dungeon and one shot the final boss?" I questioned into my mic as I struggled to process who even thought that was a good idea.

Keji already had a max level character, a testament to how much he played this game, but made a new one just so that I could properly enjoy the game.

Minus the fact that I had just been absolutely carried through that last dungeon, this game was pretty fun.

I had to give it to Otto, even if he was someone with questionable morals, he knew how to make a great MMORPG.

"Huh looks like you got a message from that person." Keji pointed out as I looked at my messages icon to see that I indeed got a message from the person that had recently joined our dungeon.

[Messages: One New Message]

[Sender: Haxor Bunny]

"Haxor Bunny?" I said the user's name out loud in confusion.

"Huh!?" Keji's alarmed voice emitted from my mic as I could hear him slam his hands on the desk, "No, I refuse to believe that you of all people got a message from the Haxor Bunny!"

"What's all the fuss about?" I confusedly asked. "Is this Haxor Bunny person some kind of celebrity in this game?"

From my mic I could hear Keji make what I presumed to be something along the lines of a dying fish, "Celebrity?! More like the celebrity! Haxor Bunny is Homu Fantasy Online's number one ranked player!"

I couldn't help but give a shocked look at the message that I had received from the game's number one player, and on my first day as well. "Dang, this must be something special then."

"Well what are you waiting for!" Keji's voice was filled with excitement. "Open the message already!"

"Hold your horses, I'm opening the message right now." I answered as I clicked on the message, not sure what exactly a high ranked player like Haxor Bunny would put in a message for a new player like me.

[Haxor Bunny: Friend Request]

[Accept?] [Decline?]

"It's a...friend request?"

"HUH!" Keji was probably going through the equivalent of a mid-life crisis in his house. "I've played with them multiple times and never received a message from them, let alone a friend request!"

"I guess I'll accept the friend request then," I shrugged as I had nothing really big to lose. I mean it was just a video game, what's the worst that could happen?

I clicked on the 'accept' button of the friend request and officially added Haxor Bunny as my first Homu Fantasy Online friend.

And a few seconds after I had accepted the friend request, my notification bell rang as I received a message from them.

[Good Evening LordChaldea]

[Good evening to you as well Haxor Bunny. What could Homu Fantasy Online's number one player want with a low level player like me?]

[I was bored]

Even if it was just words in a digital message, I couldn't help but wince at how blunt their words sounded. They really didn't have a problem speaking what was on their mind.

[The Haxor Bunny is bored of her character, so creating a new character is the most logical step]

[Friend Request has been sent]

My game rang a bell as I received another notification.

[Homu_Bunny: Friend Request]

[Accept?] [Decline?]

This player really liked to keep the bunny theme with their names.

[Will you accept?]

I just shrugged as my mouse hovered over the friend request. Already less than a day into this game and I've already made two friends! Well it was technically one but still!

Two friends made!

[A friend request has also been sent to your friend.]

And not a second later from when that message was sent, Keji's scream was so loud that I had forcibly jerked my head away from my computer. The cord connecting my headset to it came off and my fellow club member's scream briefly echoed in my room.

Woken up by the loud noise, Kuro brought her head up to glare at me, not appreciating the fact that her nap had been ruined by Keji's screaming.

I mouthed an apologetic sorry to the feline before as I reconnected my headset back into the computer. Kuro wasn't the kind of cat that would go and proceed to rip up my belongings because of something like that.

But she would demand that her next meal be fancier than normal. Who would've thought my cat would have such a demanding palette.

"Can you believe this Haruto!" Keji still could not wrap his head around the fact that he had gotten a friend request from Homu Fantasy Online's number one player. "Me, Keji Furutu, has just gotten a friend request from Haxor Bunny!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes Keji, you've told me for what feels like the umpteenth time."

"But still!"

"C'mon Keji, quell your fanboy screams." My eyes trailed up to see that Homu Bunny had joined our team, surprisingly around our levels. "Look alive fanboy, you don't want to embarrass yourself in front of your idol now do you?"

"HARUTO!"

I couldn't help but smile as our newly assembled team got ready for the next dungeon in Homu Fantasy Online. But as our team teleported to the new dungeon, which suspiciously looked alot like the ruins that surrounded the Eye of The Deep.

However my mind was occupied on something else that I didn't give too much thought to the underwater palace.

Why did the name Haxor Bunny sound so familiar?

Morning came to the citizens of Nagazora, a lazy atmosphere filled the air for many as the start of the weekends meant a much needed respite from their lives. Many chose to stay indoors and spend most of the day on the couch, reveling in the ease that their houses gave.

But for me and Keji, there was something that we needed to do today.

"So you're telling me that Ishigami-sensei sent you this right after our gaming session yesterday?" I asked in disbelief as the two of us walked side by side to wherever our destination was.

There weren't a lot of people out considering it was 9:00 AM so we didn't have to worry about bumping into someone on accident.

"Yeah man, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but it was really him." He showed me his phone so I could see the text message he had received from our sponsor. "Look for yourself."

"Keji-san, tomorrow I want you to take Haruto-san and yourself to the Nagazora Plaza in the morning. Take a seat at separate tables and wait for further instructions. This is your first assignment as members of the Chess Club".

"That's...super vague." I admitted as Keji took his phone back "What is even at the Nagazora Plaza?"

Keji was just as confused as I was. "Nothing really much, I mean no one really visits the plaza as it's part of the old part of Nagazora." He shrugged his shoulders. "You know, before all the big corporations like Massive Electric came and put the spotlight on the business district. The only people that still go there are old folks."

I was intrigued by whatever reason Ishigami-sensei had in telling us to go to this at all what I expected as our 'first' assignment as club members but surely there was a good reason for this.

He was a Chess Grandmaster after all.

My phone beeped in alarm as I took it out of my pocket to see what the notification was about. A smile formed on my face when I saw that it was Mei who had texted me back.

Why did she text me back? Well when we had consolidated our friendship in the gymnasium, I shared the fact that I was caring for a cat now.

To which the heiress all but demanded that I send photos of my cat to her. I remember the shocked stare I gave her as she began to gush about how cute cats were. It was such a far cry from the normally composed heiress that I couldn't help but laugh at how she was acting.

"You really love cats don't you?" I teased as Mei was broken out of her ramblings.

"I-It's just there so cute," She hotly argued, a tinge of pink in her cheeks. "With their little paws and how they meow so adorably."

My smile only grew as I saw a side of Mei I never knew existed. Here they were , characters who had sides to them the game never showed. "If the opportunity ever arises, you'll be the first person to get a picture of Kuro." I promised her.

And true to my word the moment that I was able to get Kuro in any adorable pose, I would be sure to snap a picture of her and send it to Mei.

The first picture that I sent over was when I was able to catch Kuro sleeping in her playset tower. The black feline had wrapped herself in a pink blanket, the only part peeking out was her head.

She looked like a super adorable cat burrito.

As I smiled at Mei's reaction to the first of many Kuro pictures that I would be sending her, a thought suddenly hit me.

Didn't Kiana have a move called "Neko Charm"?

Meanwhile in a random restaurant, sitting alone at a table with a pile of dirty plates that didn't seem to end anytime soon, a certain Kaslana sneezed.

"Well looks like we'll have to see what our teacher has in store for us." Keji interrupted my thoughts as I looked up my phone to see that we had arrived at the Nagazora Plaza.

The plaza itself was...not very remarkable.

A Torii gate stood before us, its once bright red paint had all but faded with the passing of time. Past the Torii gate were a string of tables with chess boards built into them. Just as the gate, the boards and pieces had clearly been there for more than a few years.

Other than the fountain in the middle of the plaza, that was it. Nothing too out of the ordinary here. I could see why people never really frequented the place at all, there was just nothing special.

"It feels like I'm stuck in the past," I remarked as I was seeing what Nagazora was before the corporations moved in. My sentiment was only reinforced seeing how the only people present were the elderly.

"Yeah no kidding," Keji agreed beside me.

"Have you gotten a text message from Ishigami-sensei yet?" I asked him.

"Let's see," He brought up his phone to check if anything new had come in. "Nope, nothing has come in yet."

I looked around to see if I could spot our teacher, that was if he was even here in the first place. "Unless he's a master of disguise then I don't think he's even here."

"Then if he's not here then what are we doing here in the first place?" Keji asked as he readjusted his glasses from slipping off his face. I looked to the any of the nearby windows of the building surrounding us to see if our reclusive teacher was watching us.

To which I could not find any sight of our lab coat wearing teacher.

"Well he did say to sit at one of the tables." I patted my friend's shoulders. "C'mon it wouldn't hurt to see what happens."

With no other options available, the both of us made our way to the tables. Taking a seat at a separate table from Keji, I took out my phone and began to browse the internet to pass the time as I waited for whatever was supposed to happen to happen.

"People these days," The sound of a new voice brought my head up to see an elder looking at me with disappointment. "Always having their heads glued to their phones, never appreciating what's happening around them."

"Sorry," I quickly put my phone away. "I was waiting for...something or someone." I explained as I looked to see Keji having his own discussion with a different elder.

"You don't even know what you are waiting for?" The elder asked with raise of his brow,

"You could say that."

"Well seeing as you have a lot of free time on your hands right now," The elder pulled out the seat opposite from me and sat in it. "I do hope you could spend some time with this old man."

"It would be my honor," I smiled as I placed both of my hands on the table to show my full attention.

"You have manners?" He joked. "There might be some hope for this generation after all."

We both laughed at that. The old man in front of me sorta reminded me of my grandmother. They both weren't afraid of saying what was on their mind and I had the feeling that they were both avid drinkers.

"So say young lad, what do you think of this ancient piece of Nagazora heritage?" He asked me.

What did I think of this place? I looked around the plaza and thought about how I felt about this place.

"It has its own charm," I admitted. "It reminds me of my hometown. The suburban vibe, the elders walking around the park early in the morning, it's a place that so different from the rest of Nagazora."

"You're not from around here?"

"No, I attend the Chiba Academy on a scholarship." I thought back to that fateful meeting with the principal of my old school. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here. "My family can't afford to move so I'm currently staying with my grandmother."

The old man looked at me, "Let me guess that you're Hana's brat aren't you?"

I looked at the old man in shock. "You know my kaa-san?"

The old man cracked a large smile at that. "Know her? Boy, I practically raised her. I used to babysit your mother when she was just a child living in Nagazora." He pointed a finger at my red hair. "After all, that red hair runs deep in your family. I'd be a fool not to recognize it."

Who knew my mother originally grew up here. I had always wondered why my grandmother lived here when she could've lived near us back in our hometown.

"Enough with this talking about your family, you're gonna make this old man start to go down memory lane." He looked down at the set chess pieces on the board. "Hey, why don't we play a game?"

Chess? A game of that...wouldn't be so bad right now. I needed some practice anyway. "Sure, I'm down for a game ojii-san."

"Now none of that ojii-san bullshit, you keep calling me that and you'll be reminding me that I'm no longer the spry young-self I once was."

I laughed at that, he definitely acted like my grandmother.

"This is the knight right?" He asked me as he pointed to the bishop piece.

My mind came to a stop as I registered what I had just heard. "No it's the piece next to it, that's the bishop." I could not tell if he was joking or being sincere about his confusion. "Have you ever played a game of chess?"

"Eh, I'll learn on the way." He nonchalantly waved as I just shrugged. If he wanted to play this game with no experience, be my guest.

"You can have white then." I offered.

"White's the one that gets to go first right?" He asked me innocently to which I nodded in confirmation. "Are you sure about that? He who goes first, strikes twice."

Huh maybe he really was a fast learner after all. "Consider it a handicap, you did say that this was your first game after all."

The old man across from me took a pawn into his hand, before placing it forward with no hesitation on the board.

"Rule Number One," He smiled, this time with a dangerous edge. "Never be fooled by what your opponent says."

My smile dropped as I realized what I had gotten myself into.

This was going to be a painful game wasn't it?

"That was a fun game, we should play sometime soon." The old man smiled as he stood up from his chair and left. I only offered a small wave of my hand in return as I was too shocked at the result of our match on the board.

A menacing white queen towered over my King, a white rook in position to cut off my king's escape route. Off to the side my only two pieces remaining, a knight and a rook, were both blocked off by two pawns. My king was all but ensured checkmate.

I massaged my head at the intense game that I just played. Ever since he moved his first pawn, I had been forced on the defensive. I couldn't push forward or anything. All I did was move my pieces as best as I could to defend my king but clearly it wasn't enough.

"Damm you did better than I did," Keji walked up to my table. "At least you had two pieces remaining, all I had was my king left at the end of my game."

"Yeah," I absently said as my mind was still processing what had just happened. "You choose Black or White?"

"White, not like it helped me." He sighed as he remembered how his match went. "White you're usually the one on the offensive but it felt I was on the defensive the entire time."

"Was this what Ishigami-sensei wanted us to do?" I had a feeling that this was the entire reason why he wanted us to come here in the first place."

"I guess so, still my pride still kind of hurts of how I got absolutely curb stomped by an old man."

I looked at him with the raise of my brow. "Didn't Ishigami-sensei absolutely crush you yesterday in your game of chess?"

"Yeah but he's a Chess Grandmaster!" He argued. "Forgive me for not assuming that an old man knows how to play chess like a pro."

I looked at my phone to see that it was roughly around noon, and judging by how there weren't any more elderly walking around, it was safe to assume that they had all gone home or somewhere else.

"Hey wanna grab lunch?" I asked Keji. "I don't think we'll be playing any games anytime soon."

"Yes please," Keji pleaded. "I don't think I could handle another game right now." With the new plan, I stood up from my chair as we then proceeded to go grab lunch.

"Hey Haruto, wanna get on Homu Fantasy Online later?"

"But I got homework to do."

"Actually if it's not too much trouble, could I come over to your house tomorrow so we could do the work together? I need some help with Ishigami-sensei's homework."

"You admire the man but have trouble with his assignments?"

"I think you're the only person in the entire school who doesn't have trouble with his assignments, Haruto."

"Fine you can come over, but you need to bring a peace offering to Kuro. She only accepts the finest cuts of salmon."

"Hah nice one, you say that like the cat is the ruler of your home."

"..."

"You're joking right? Right?!"

"You just wanna play with Homu Bunny don't you?"

"You didn't answer the question Haruto!"

"Hmm looks like this subject failed." In one of the many hidden laboratories that the World Serpent possessed, Jackal was pondering over the failure of one of her experiments.

"Perhaps the cybernetic modifications were too much for its body," She glanced over to the giant test tube that contained the unidentifiable remains of the person that was once submerged in the green fluid. "Or maybe I put too much honkai energy at a single time."

She typed the potential errors into her tablet. "Or perhaps the subject's health was the leading cause of her demise, she wasn't in the best shape when Raven hauled her in here." She remembered the bloody smear that the Valkyrie had left when Raven had dragged in here.

Blood was always the hardest stain to get out of the floors.

"Another failure Jackal?" Gray Serpent's synthetic voice broke through her thoughts as the masked hacker stepped out of the shadows. "It has been some time since we have seen any successes with your research."

"You downplay my research yet your entire plan hinges on the success of one of my creations?" She scoffed as she put away her tablet. "Not to mention that you're almost an hour late."

"There was a...hindrance in retrieving the package. Raven is currently disposing of the last remnants of that problem." Walking up to the table, the hacker placed the briefcase on it before unlocking it.

"And there it is," Opening the briefcase, Jackal marveled at the Gem of Conquest nestled within the container. Even if the core was inactive she could feel the raw power stored inside the gem. "So this is the Gem of Conquest, one of the 4 gems that Honkai bestowed upon Sirin."

"And the catalyst that will awaken the Herrscher required to free our master."

"How were you even able to get this Gem out of the hands of Anti-Entropy?" The scientist questioned him. "Even if Anti-Entropy was only able to get their hands on one of the four gems, I would've assumed it to be under heavy protection."

"Cocolia is not the only ally we have in Anti-Entropy. She is just the only one I see potential in becoming a serpent. The rest are just power-hungry pawns who cling to us because we have the resources for them to be strong."

The World Serpent had many allies, however not all of them shared the same views that they did. Even some of their most powerful allies only joined them because they could accomplish things that they couldn't in their positions.

So the World Serpent tolerated them, for no sacrifice was too great in the quest of defeating the Honkai.

However should any of them decide to get any big ideas, ideas that would jeopardize the future of the World Serpent.

They would simply cease to exist.

"Has the delivery method been procured for the gem Jackal?" Gray Serpent asked.

Lowering her hand to the bottom of the table, the scientist lifted a cylindrical case onto the table. It was quite hefty, but what laid within it was more than enough to guarantee the gem got to wherever it was supposed to go.

"Just simply download the building's schematic into the container and the place where you wish to go and it will take care of the rest." Gray Serpent closed the briefcase containing the Gem of Conquest and slid the cylindrical case over to his side.

"But the gem is useless without a proper Honkai charge, how do you plan on charging the gem without having every person in the building without every Honkai sensor getting triggered?" She asked him.

"He has assured me that he will take care of the core once it's in place, I must simply get to its designated location without detection."

And there it was, the one part of Gray Serpent that Jackal could not fathom. "Blind faith is a dangerous thing Gray Serpent, you of all people should know that."

"You do not believe his words Jackal?"

"Oh don't take it the wrong way, I know that he is the best option to defeat the Honkai. To stare down God itself is no ordinary feat." Leaning on the table, Jackal's mask stared at Gray Serpent's mask. "However what I simply do not understand is how a man like you, someone who lives his life around logic rather than emotion would follow our leader without hesitation."

It made no sense to the scientist. If their leader told them to jump off a cliff, she was sure that Gray Serpent would be the first to gladly follow through.

"It is because of who he is that I follow him without hesitation," The Gray Serpent thought back to when he had first met their sire. Even without knowing him at the time the hacker could feel his sheer power. Even with a mere look into his blue eyes he knew that this was no ordinary human.

For no ordinary human could hold being both the witness to unimaginable miracles and unthinkable tragedies.

Even trapped in a realm with no escape, their sire had found ways to make an impact in the world. Found ways to temporarily manifest his body through sheer ways that he could not even fathom.

For Gray Serpent, Kevin Kaslana was the only one worthy of leading humanity against the Honkai.

"That blind faith of yours will get you killed one day," Jackal said as the hacker grabbed both the case containing the Core of Conquest and the cylindrical case that would deliver the core to its rightful place.

"Death is but the beginning-"

"Of a new deal, yeah I know." Jackal just shooed him off as the hacker was beginning to exit the laboratory.

With the Gray Serpent finally gone, probably off to catch his flight to Nagazora, she could finally work uninterrupted.

"Faith huh?" Jackal crossed her arms as she brought her tablet out, her fingers swiping through the many files that were stored on the device. However she was looking for one in particular.

"What a preposterous ideal," Faith was for fools. Only through science could humanity move towards the future, a future where Honkai had been eradicated. A smile grew behind her mask as she saw the surprisingly positive results of a project that she had believed to be set up for failure.

Yes it was only through science that humanity would be saved.

"Isn't that right Project Prometheus? For just as Prometheus gifted fire to humans, you will give humanity the means to fight the Honkai."

In another hidden facility, a child with black hair opened their eyes. Their light hazel eyes scanning the room that he called home. A bright red stigma emblazoned on their back.

Chapter Text

Kuro did not understand humans at times. They always held this notion that they were higher than every other animal, when they themselves were part of the natural order. And those that belonged to the natural order always had a predator to hunt them down.

For while some saw others as prey, others saw them as predators.

Why did humans always have to lower their tone when talking to other animals? Did they not think we were capable of understanding them?

So Kuro would show just how idiotic humans were.

They would lower their guard, and she would be gone the next day with their pantries empty and her stomach full.

She traveled the world, lived in many different areas that no other cats would ever live in. Conquered conditions that felines were never meant to.

Though she had to admit, living in snowy areas was not her favorite. Warmth was something not readily available in the snowy plains and she would be forced to stay in a hole within the ground to keep herself warm.

But the world was only so big before she would've begun to repeat her journey all over again. Places that were once filled with awe now elicited nothing. She found herself bored as all the feline could do to pass the time was sneaking into the households of humans and stealing any delectable fishes they had in their pantries..

It was thrilling for her, entering the houses where humans thought that they were the safest without them ever knowing she was there. The bigger the house, the more opportunities she had to sneak inside.

And if that house held the most delectable fish of all time known as the holy tuna? Well it would be a waste of such a beautiful fish to not go uneaten.

However humans were such prideful beings, not realizing that they were not the gods that they believed themselves to be.

They would arm themselves with these weird contraptions that spit scorching metal if enraged. Kuro did not know how they harnessed such a power but she steered clear of any house that had humans walking around with such things.

Her claws might be sharp and her reflexes the fastest a cat's could ever be, her mortal body could not handle the scorching metal that humans had possession of.

It was a shame at that time as well, the houses that the humans guarded with their contraptions looked to be the most delightful places to sneak into.

Kuro feared that she would not get the chance to ever take part in such an infiltration, that she would age to this old cat that would waste her days in some home.

She was a hunter, and a hunter had to hunt.

Her luck changed one day when she snuck into the house of the most peculiar human that she had ever met.

For starters the human wore the mask of a dog, which the feline found strange. Humans prided themselves on their physical appearances, sometimes too much as some humans liked to have their entire face in strange paint to impress others.

Secondly, the human wasn't mad at the fact that she had practically broken into their house. Usually if a human had somehow managed to spot her, whether by her mistake or they were just that intuitive, they usually screamed really loud as they pointed their fingers at her to get out of their house.

This human clapped their hands as if she had done something impressive for them, even if the cat had never met them before.

"A normal feline like you breaking into a heavily fortified house like this one?" The dog masked human got on one knee and reached out their hand, the mask's golden eyes bore into the cat. "You must be something special."

"What if I said I could help you? You must be bored, breaking into the same houses' over and over. How would you like to try some of the more 'dangerous' houses for your little hunts?"

Kuro knew that this human wanted to complete their agenda, and that she would be used in completing said agenda. However the black feline could not bring herself to care, the boredom that had haunted her in the past was slowly coming back.

So she rested her paw in the hands of this strange human, signaling a new chapter in her life.

The strange human, whose name she learned to be Jackal, dabbled in the dark arts of the world. Kuro knew what this 'Honkai' was, a force of absolute destruction that cared not for what it left behind.

It did not belong in the natural world order. For in the ashes of destruction, the seeds of creation are planted. An endless cycle that was essential for the world to live on.

At least Jackal had the courage to admit that she was most certainly dabbling in things that humans were never meant to control.

Those were dark nights that Kuro found herself subjected to. She was the first to be experimented on, the first to know such pain. A lesser feline would have perished at Jackal's experiments.

Kuro was no ordinary feline, and because of it she had emerged stronger than any cat could possibly dream of obtaining.

Her new abilities allowed her to infiltrate even the most guarded human facilities, facilities that would've instilled fear into her were now hers to play with as she wished.

The black cat honored her agreement with Jackal. In exchange for these new strange powers of hers, she would infiltrate facilities that held items the scientist needed. She did not know what the things that she was stealing were, nor did she care.

She could stalk her prey freely, what more could she ever ask for?

However after a year of their agreement, Jackal soon stopped contacting her. She believed that the scientist had all but forgotten her existence so Kuro found herself traversing the world that she once traveled before, this time with the intent to visit the places that her regular form could not.

That's how Kuro found herself in Nagazora. She had just visited Mount Fuji, climbed the mountain all the way to the peak, and was making her way to the ports of Japan to hop on a boat that she could stowaway on to Mexico.

And on what seemed like an ordinary day, she met him.

The human that had dethroned Jackal for the spot of the most peculiar human.

He didn't seem too remarkable compared to Jackal at first glance. Sure his brightly colored hair made him stand out from the rest of the people, but he didn't have a mask like the scientist did.

He didn't seem to hold any impressive powers, since her body was infused with this Honkai energy she could innately sense if other living beings had this Honkai energy. Very few people held more than a sliver of honkai within them and those that did were very dangerous.

On the outside he was a normal functioning human being, just like the countless other people that

So when he picked her up, she was tempted to transform into her 'other' form and have him pay for such a disrespectful act. Who was he to pick her up with without permission?

However one good look into his hazel eyes had her transformation stop dead in its tracks. All cats had an exceptional ability to read humans and she could tell a human's character just by looking them in the eyes.

And one look into his hazel eyes...something about them unsettled her. She couldn't exactly explain why she felt this, but something about this human didn't belong in this world.

Everything had a place in nature after all and those that didn't were very dangerous. Honkai was such a thing that didn't belong in nature.

With her entire focus on his strange hazel eyes, she could see his eyes move over to her honkai infused collar. His hazel widened for only a fraction before they returned back to normal as he began to frantically scan his surroundings.

He even knew what the Honkai was? This human was becoming much more interesting as time went by. Dare she even think that he knew who Jackal was? That he might know the shadowy organization that the scientist worked for?

"...I'm guessing that you don't like canned food."

Canned food? The atrocious meals that humans packed into those tiny tin cans and foolishly thought that cats enjoyed such a meal? Kuro would rather die than eat another one of those meals again.

At least he knew that a cat of her stature did not eat such disgusting kibble.

Though why was he suddenly asking why she wanted canned food? Was he just not contemplating why she had a honkai collar?

"Maybe you're the same as me, a fellow isekai traveler." He muttered as she was suddenly lifted onto his shoulder.

What was this 'isekai' traveler he was talking about? Were they some sort of unknown species that she did not know of? And why was she suddenly on his shoulder all of a sudden?

Too many questions with not enough answers!

"I wonder if Obasan has a no pet rule?" He wondered as he turned on his heel and began to walk back to what she presumed to be back to his household.

As she was carried away, Kuro only had one question on her mind that prevented her from doing anything.

Had she just gotten domesticated? Her mind was whirling with so many questions that she simply did the only thing she could think of in the situation.

The ultimate technique passed down by cat generations, a technique proven to get you out of trouble no matter the situation.

She innocently meowed in agreement.

Speaking of her human, Haruto was his name, he had finally gotten up from his bed. Kuro opened one of her eyelids from her playset's perch to see the red haired human cooking her breakfast. It was a warm Sunday morning, not too cold but neither too hot.

The perfect weather for a perfect fish meal.

"Boil katsuobushi flakes for 2-3 minutes," Haruto repeated as he read the recipe from his phone. His hand grabbed an appropriate amount of flakes from the package before dropping it into the boiling water

"Mei did say this was her cat's favorite thing to eat and Kuro deserves a good meal for his first Sunday with the Nakamura family.." He trailed off as he looked at what came next for the recipe. "Assuming that I can recreate this dish perfectly."

"Next let's chop up some herbs for the fish." He muttered as got ready for the next step.

Kuro simply moved her body to get more comfortable on her spot, it would take a bit more time for her meal to be prepared. At least this human put some effort into cooking meals for her, she knew most humans would just open an atrocious canned meal to feed their cats with.

She had to admit that this life as a domesticated cat was quite nice.

But this peace...

"Styx," Her collar flashed a golden yellow as the Jackal's voice projected from it.

Had to end at one point.

The scientist's voice was low enough that only she would hear it, not like it mattered as Haruto was too engrossed in making sure that he was following the recipe he got from this 'Mei' person to the letter. Was it the same Mei person that had given him so much stress this past week?

"I require your assistance." Kuro had assumed as much, the scientist never struck her as the person who would socialize with others for the heck of it. If you had some kind of use then she would keep you close, if you didn't have one?

She wouldn't bat an eye when she disposed of you.

"When night falls, you are to meet an associate of mine. He will brief you on your assignment." Kuro made no reaction to the message as it wasn't a question if she would accept the task, she would honor her agreement with the scientist until the end of it.

Though that begged the question of how she was going to leave the house without raising suspicion. It was a Sunday after all, the worst day to break into someone's house. This was the day that humans preferred to stay in their homes and do absolutely nothing.

What was so special about Sunday anyway? It was just like any ordinary day after all.

"Oh I forgot to tell you Kuro," Haruto said without looking away from the sizzling pan in front of him. "I've got a friend coming over today, we're going to work on some assignments together. Please don't antagonize him for the day and I'll get you a piece of fatty tuna as a reward. How does that sound?"

While the mere thought of eating a piece of fatty tuna, the holiest of all the fishes, had her salivating; that gave her a convenient way to sneak out of the house. She would leave without him noticing and be back by the time the two were done with their work.

Yes, nothing could possibly go wrong here.

I couldn't help but wince as another streak of thunder raced across the cloudy sky. The heavy rain didn't help matters as Nagazora was pelted by this heavy rain. One moment the sky was completely normal.

Then without warning a heavy thunderstorm came by and changed everything.

"...This is normal?" I questioned Keji as I pointed to the numerous rain drops that hammered my room's window.

"Yeah this is pretty normal weather for us." My fellow club member didn't seem surprised at the thunderstorm. "One moment it's normal and then BAM! Thunderstorm appears out of nowhere."

This was normal? I looked back to the darkened skies of Nagazora. The lights of the cityscape shone brightly in the thunderstorm, the random occurrence of lightning making them shine even brightly for that one moment.

This definitely wasn't something people could call 'normal' and I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony of the situation.

Frequent thunderstorms in the city where the future Herrscher of Thunder would be born from.

Though that in itself was a terrifying thought. Was this some kind of omen? Had the future been moved forward, would events occur much more sooner than they originally would have?

I pushed the thought away as I rejoined Keji at the table, our assignments and textbooks laid out on the table. I could worry about that later.

For now? I had to make sure Keji understood what the hell he was doing.

"You didn't experience weather like this back home?" Keji asked as I took a seat across from him.

"Maybe the occasional thunderstorm here and there, but not one appearing out of the blue." I retorted as I picked up my pencil and motioned for him to do the same.

"But a sudden thunderstorm isn't freeing you from this assignment, now explain to me how you would solve the next problem."

And that's how the next hour or so went as I did my best to help mentor Keji on our chess teacher's assignments.

Still there was something bugging me, something that I couldn't shake off. I could be just looking into it too much but...

Why was it that I was the only one who seemed to understand Ishigami-sensei's lectures at all? It was something that I noticed when it became apparent that I wasn't the only person in my class to understand him, I was the only person in my grade level to understand him period.

Apparently I was already infamous in school from what Keji had told me. I was the 'miracle' student, the person who could somehow understand Nagazora's hardest teacher without losing their mind.

And while other people might believe me to be a prodigy, I thought differently.

And I had a sinking feeling that my chess teacher was more than what he showed himself to be.

It was just a theory so far, a really far-fetching theory considering this was born out of a gut feeling rather than facts. But when the only student that could understand what was deemed to be 'impossible', and said student so happens to be an isekai traveler…

It really makes you think.

Still I couldn't delve into this for too long. "Keji for the last time, stop checking your phone!" I admonished as I could see Keji's attention being somewhere other than his own assignment paper. "You can talk with Homu Bunny later."

"First off I don't think I could hold a regular conversation with them without making a fool out of myself," The glasses wearing gamer confessed with a tinge of red in his cheeks at the mention of Homu Fantasy Online's number one ranked player. "Secondly I was more focused on the fact that your cat is trying to open the window."

From his words I looked behind me to see Kuro trying to open one of the room's windows with her paws. Normally such an action would be impossible for a cat but the black feline had proven time and time again that she was no ordinary cat.

Though I knew that even a special cat would not entertain the idea of going out into heavily raining streets without a good enough reason to.

I stood up from my chair and walked over to Kuro, who was watching my every move as I got closer to her. Stopping right before her, I looked down to see her blue eyes meeting mine. An unspoken resolve filled her eyes. Something that she had yet to show ever since I brought her with me to my apartment.

Moving my eyes away from her I looked back up to the rain covered cityscape of Nagazora, I took in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh. There would only be one reason why she would show such resolve in her eyes.

Was this it?

Was it finally beginning?

Was the story that I could not run from finally drawing its curtain open?

If that was the case, then there was only one thing I could do then.

"Haruto what the hell are you doing!" Keji's alarmed voice rang through the living room as the window was wide open, letting the rain and strong winds enter my apartment. Standing right before the open window I could feel my entire frame getting soaked from the downpour, but despite that I calmly looked back at Kuro. The black feline looked at me with a look of confusion.

"Good hunting Kuro," I said as I motioned to the open window.

Taking a second to register what I had just said, Kuro meowed at me before jumping out of the window and onto the balcony directly below my apartment floor. I closed the window and watched as Kuro began to traverse down the apartment with ease before disappearing out of my field of vision.

If the story really was beginning, then the only thing I could do now was pray that every action I made now was the right one.

"Uh Haruto? You do know that you just let your cat out in the pouring rain."

"Yeah I guess I did," I looked back at Keji who was looking at me as if I had just sprouted a second head. "Now c'mon, you still need to tell me how you're going to solve this problem or heaven forbid you leave my house without this assignment getting completed."

My fellow club member just slumped forward onto the table and I couldn't help but chuckle at my friend's antics.

However the nagging thought of what Kuro could potentially be up to stayed on my mind throughout the study session. The thunder roaring outside reflected my inner dilemma as I did my best to ignore it.

Her human was the strangest human ever, Kuro could not remember the last time that she had been surprised twice by the same person.

Jackal had only surprised her once, the first time she met the scientist was the only time that the cat was shocked by her. After that it was quite easy to see who this scientist was and what she would do.

She didn't even bat an eye when the masked scientist stuck that glowing syringe into her and gave her access to that. Even when she saw other people being turned inside out by the scientist it wasn't surprising.

Sure it was appalling but Jackal was the sort to perform such horrendous deeds.

Even if she was no normal cat, she still hated the feeling of getting absolutely soaked like any other cat and as she traversed the rooftops of Nagazora City her entire furry body was absolutely drenched.

Why couldn't Jackal have had this mission on a cool night and not a roaring thunderstorm?

"So you've finally arrived." A synthetic voice greeted her as she climbed her way to the rooftop of the meeting place, which happened to be a building close enough to the skyscraper of a building that was Massive Electric Corporation.

Even if the building was far enough from the corporation Kuro could see just how heavily defended this place was from where she was standing.

"Jackal has promised me that you would succeed where others would fail." Turning her head, she gave a curious glance to the masked associate of Jackal's. Did all of Jackal's associates wear masks to hide their faces?

At least he didn't hide the fact that he was a monster behind his mask.

"I don't think I need to tell you what would happen should you be caught? She didn't need this man to tell her what the stakes were, she was well aware of them. If she was caught then tonight would be the last chapter in the book of Kuro the Cat.

"You are to sneak into ME Corporation and plug this drive into Raiden Ryoma's main computer," Reaching into his pocket, the Gray Serpent procured a flashdrive. Kneeling, he gave the flashdrive to Kuro who picked it up with her mouth.

"The drive will do most of the work when you plug it in, once the transfer is complete eject the drive and leave the premises." Kuro raised a brow by how...simple the whole task was. Just a simple flash drive download?

She had done these sorts of missions before for Jackal so this wasn't anything new. All she had to do was plug this small compact device into a larger device and wait as the small device sucked out whatever it needed, or fed the big device with what it had.

She didn't understand the logic of how these things worked but just went along with it

Still Kuro had expected something of a bit more high risk. This was the first time she had met someone other than Jackal for an assignment so she had high hopes for a special mission.

Well who was she to complain? A mission was a mission after all. With her objective given, she tensed her legs before jumping off of the rooftop. The honkai light on her collar grew brightly as she transformed under the cover of thunder and rain.

Gray Serpent looked on with intrigue as he saw Styx move effortlessly towards the ME Corporation building, evading patrols as if she was dancing around the poor fools. The hacker had to admit that he didn't expect much from the feline when he first saw her.

He supposed that Jackal had her merits when it came to her experiments, even if in some of them he didn't see the point in wasting resources on them.

But that was only one part of the puzzle figured out, now was the time for the second part. Lowering the cylindrical case that Jackal had given him unto the ground, he inputted the case's activation key and took a step back when smoke began to shoot out of the case from various vents.

As the smoke began to dissipate, he noted the increasing emergence of tiny metal marbles exiting through one of the many case's vents. Was this supposed to be some kind of joke? He didn't think Jackal had it in her to do something like this, on a mission no less.

A slight thumping on his foot had him looking down to see one of the metal marbles repeatedly rolling into his foot.

Then another.

Then two more.

"I see then," Gray Serpent realized what exactly the metal marbles were, so this is what Jackal meant when she said this was a special specimen. "Assume transformation then, Phalanx."

At his command every metal marble stilled themselves. One marble transformed to reveal a tiny machine, chirping at the other marbles. Soon another transformed and also began to chirp which led to a domino effect of the other marbles transforming as the now revealed machines began to chirp at one another.

The hacker could not make any sense of the strange dialogue that these machines had, but he knew that they were orientating themselves as the chirping ended as they began to swarm at each other, forming a pile of transforming machines.

Each machine had its own part in this strange transformation process, while they may seem tiny in comparison to him they were an essential part to this. The phalanx was a textbook Roman battle formation, if a single soldier was out of place then the entire formation was obsolete and would collapse.

There was beauty in masses working as one, multiple entities following the commands of one mind. Slowly but surely Phalanx's true form was revealed as the machines began to interlock with one another.

The legs were formed first.

Then the main body came next.

And to finish it off the last few machines formed the single mechanical eye of the being known as Phalanx was almost transformed.

A final chorus of chirps traveled through the machines as they confirmed that everything was in place, before they all shifted into place as the multiple network of machines condensed into one entity.

Like the final piece of a puzzle snapping into place, Phalanx was now standing before him in its full glory.

Phalanx's shape reminded the Gray Serpent of a possessed the razor like appendages that the insect had and possessed the same stature it would've had, albeit minus the multiple legs in favor of two long legs like that you would see on a raptor.

It was remarkably thin, as if it was origami. If it was directly facing you the only way you would know it was there was its red eye.

"You are to sneak into the ME Corporation and deliver this to the reactor room." Reaching down the hacker grabbed the suitcase that contained the Gem of Conquest and opened it up to present the purple glowing Honkai core. "You will receive further instructions when you've managed to sneak in."

Phalanx walked forward and tenderly grabbed the Gem with its claws, careful not to drop it as the machine carried it closer to its chest. The machines that formed its torso slowly opened up as the individual machines slightly transformed out of their unified state.

The Gem of Conquest was then placed in the opening of its chest before the machines reformed themselves around the Gem, securing the cargo for transport.

With its objective secured, Phalanx began to scale down the building before beginning its own infiltration route into the heavily defended corporation. The Gray Serpent could not see Kuro anymore, either it being a testament of how good Jackal's enhancements were or to the cat's ability to sneak into places, but the Jackal's second creation was taking a much more careful approach in sneaking in.

Regardless of how it would be accomplished, the two would carry out their missions.

One of the passing security drones that made routine perimeter checks of ME Corporation made its way toward the building that the serpent had surveyed the building from. When its light shone on the wet rooftop.

He was nowhere to be found.

"Tell me why again we were even hired for this job?" A guard complained as he and his partner made their routine sweep of the floor that they were assigned to. "I mean I highly doubt anything is going to get past all of those drones patrolling the outside perimeter."

"Are you really complaining?" His fellow guard asked as they turned a corner. "We basically get paid for just walking around in circles."

"I don't know man," He placed his hands behind his head as he didn't even bother checking for any potential break-ins. He might've cared for the first few months of his employment but he was confident there was no way in hell that someone was breaking into the corporation. "Feel as if my life could've been wasted on something better than this."

The two stopped at a nearby water station to grab a quick drink. "Why would Ryoma-sama not just have robot guards patrolling these floors instead of us regular humans?" The second guard asked as he grabbed a plastic cup and began to fill it with water.

"I heard that's for his floor, you know the highest floor of this building." The first guard went to fill his cup after his partner finished filling up his. "Heard that they're the best that money could buy."

"I feel sorry for the poor fool that gets to the floor," The two shared a laugh as they continued to make the rest of the sweep of the floor, not like it mattered as they were probably just going to chat the rest of their shift away.

Unknown to the retreating pair, they were in fact not alone. In reality that very intruder that they made so much fun of was right under their noses the entire time, literally.

Uncloaking herself from beside the water dispenser, Kuro's blue eyes glowed brightly as she could see the thermal signatures of the two humans walk further and further away from her position.

This new form of hers was way better than what a cat could ever hope to achieve. For one her black fur was now replaced with a cool black steel that she was sure could survive light arms fire. That meant she no longer feared the weapons that humans had.

Her new form also had this nifty ability to cloak herself from prying eyes. She wasn't sure how Jackal worked that out but it sure was something that helped infiltration in the most guarded of locations.

As her padded paws slowly made their way to the elevator, the black feline paused as she looked at her reflection in one of the glass walls that made up a conference room.

She had to admit that this other form of hers was quite something to behold. She almost looked like a panther, minus the fact that she was entirely made up of metal and not fur right now. Panthers were the kings of their jungle, no fool would dare challenge the black felines in their territories.

And here in this moment the corporation was her territory.

Making her way towards the elevator, she made sure no one was remotely close to hear the elevator arrive. You see this elevator was separate from the normal elevators that could get anyone to any floor on the building.

Well almost all the floors, as this elevator was the only way you could reach Ryoma Raiden's office. And to even call the elevator down you needed administrative access that always came in the form of a keycard, a keycard that she didn't have.

Luckily this form of hers had its advantages when it came to problems like these.

Raising her tail to the keycard scanner that would call the elevator, her bladed tail shifted to its flash drive configuration. Plugging it into the scanner, Kuro began to hack her way into bypassing the security protocol.

A big surprise, that a cat is able to hack her way into a human made mainframe. She had no idea what she was actually doing and no matter how many times Jackal explained it to her she still did not have a good grasp on it.

From what she understood that there was another world the humans lived in, one that was completely hidden from the mortal eyes. This invisible world was where all the machines that humans built were connected in and she was able to briefly enter this world when she plugged her tail into any electronic device.

Jackal had assured her that the hard parts would be somehow done automatically for her, some sort of upgrade in her alternate form would give her this strange power and she just had to roll with it.

Her tail detached itself from the terminal as the elevator doors opened up, beckoning her inside the empty space. Switching back to her infrared vision, Kuro gave one last check of her surroundings to ensure that no one would come by to see the elevator being used.

With the coast clear, she entered the elevator as the doors closed and she was brought up to the highest floor of ME Corporation.

The elevator dinged as it reached its destination and the doors opened up to reveal a pitch black floor. A fool might've believed that the floor was empty and nonchalantly waltzed in, but not Kuro.

She could hear the soft footfalls of the mechanical guards that patrolled this floor, hearing how each robot hit the floor in unison. These were no fluke machines, these were the best that money could buy.

She could also faintly see the lightest pigments of the red security lasers that covered this place from top to bottom. They were weirdly angled to ensure that any human foolish enough to get to this point would have been an impossible journey.

But countless experiences with breaking into houses had taught Kuro a very valuable lesson.

No matter how hard you built your walls, no matter how many guards you placed, there was always a flaw. A flaw that anyone could exploit if you knew where to look.

And she had played this game long enough to see these flaws without trying too hard.

For one the guards followed their patrols too rigidly, they would not deviate from their set course unless the alarm had been tripped. And to avoid complications with their patrols they were spaced out to ensure that a machine did not accidentally trip another's sensors.

Another factor was the fact the security lasers were meant to catch humans, not cats and certainly not upgraded felines.

Waiting for one of the guards to pass by, Kuro began to trail the guard while avoiding the lasers. With so much experience breaking into places like the ME Corporation weaving through the lasers was child's play.

Like taking fish from a kitten.

...Speaking of fish she hoped that this office that she was breaking into had some sort of fish she could steal. It had been awhile since she had her meal at her human's place and she was feeling quite famished.

The upgraded feline shook her head, being mindful not to accidentally set off a laser. She could think of food after she accomplished her mission!

And as the guard that she was trailing behind turned a corner, she took the opportunity to sneak past the guarded floor and down the hallway that led to Ryoma Raiden's office.

There were no security guards or lasers she had to worry about here. Raiden Ryoma did not see fit to add security to the hallway after he had put all of his resources into defending the first part of the floor.

Smart in saving resources and it spoke of how confident the CEO was in his security, but it would prove to be his undoing.

Approaching the door to his office, Kuro simply waited in front of the door. She had briefly read over the points that the Gray Serpent made on the blueprints of the entire building, and knew for a fact that there was no way that she would be able to get past this door without the alarm being triggered.

A fingerprint scan was required for her to open the door, and no other method would suffice. Any attempt to hack into the finger scanner would throw the entire building into lockdown mode. Fingerprint scanners were the one obstacle that she could not overcome, even with her upgrades.

Lucky for her she did not need to worry about that right now.

Looking up at the security camera that was facing the door, she illuminated her blue eyes for a second to signal that she was ready to enter the office.

A second later the fingerprint scanner glowed green as if it had just scanned Ryoma Raiden's thumb, allowing Kuro to meander into his office with no trouble.

He certainly knew how to live in his wealth. Rich purple carpets made of the finest materials the world had to offer, world-class paintings hung from the walls, a masterfully sculpted samurai statue in the middle of the office.

But as she walked up to his desk that was situated right in front of the window wall that overlooked Nagazora, she noted the family picture frame on it. Even with all this wealth, he still had space for his family.

Admirable for a human, but alas she was not here to admire this man.

Configuring her tail into its flashdrive form, she plugged it into Ryoma's master computer. She did nothing but simply download the file that the Grey Serpent had downloaded into the flashdrive that he had given her.

She had no idea what it did, but she gathered that it was something important from how long the download was taking. Usually they would be done with lightning fast speed.

Once the download finally finished, she unplugged herself from the computer and made sure that no trace of her arrival was left. She did not want to be caught because she might've accidentally pressed her paw a bit too hard on the carpet, leaving an imprint of her foot in it.

"Good, you have accomplished your mission," The Gray Serpent spoke through Kuro's built-in communicator. "I have confirmed the backdoor's activation, now leave before you are caught."

So it was a mission accomplished then. It was a shame that this form was not as expressive as her regular form, otherwise she would've had a smug smile on her face as she walked back to the elevator.

Nothing could possibly go wrong now.

The ME Corporation was more than what they showed to the public. For one they were basically an extension of Anti-Entropy, which meant that they weren't just the leading figure in technological advances.

A perfect representation of this would be the ME Corporation building. It was the company's shining star. The extent of their technological prowess was on display for all of Nagazora to be in awe of.

But beneath the shining building, laid the other side of ME Corporation.

Which was the fact that Massive Electric Corporation was also the world's largest military supply provider. From the gear that soldiers wear into combat, to the mechs that Anti-Entropy was known for, even to state of the art warships.

Every country had military equipment that could be traced back to Massive Electric Corporation. Which also meant that Raiden Ryoma had many connections with world leaders, giving him immense sway in their politics.

The facilities underneath the corporation had little to no guards, aside from the handful of security droids that patrolled the underground floors. After all, why would there be any need for more security? This place was meant to not exist in the first place, the only people that knew of this place were few and no one would dare try and break in.

If the place wasn't meant to exist, adding too much security would draw in the wrong people.

The elevator dinged as it descended to the facility's deepest floor, the floor that contained the Honkai reactor that powered the entire facility and the corporation above ground. The public simply thought that normal electrical grids powered the high towering corporation but in reality it was the work of a single Honkai Reactor.

One Honkai Reactor could output more energy than an entire electrical grid ever could.

The elevator's door opened to reveal Phalanx slowly striding their way out. There was practically no security in the reactor room, aside from the security cameras that Gray Serpent hacked to be on a constant loop.

No one wanted to have constant exposure to the reactor, after all if one's body absorbed too much honkai then they would be instantly turned into a mindless zombie.

The insect-like creation walked up to the massive glass wall that looked out into the chamber that ME's Corporation Honkai Reactor was built into. Even being protected by heavily reinforced glass Phalanx could feel the heavy influence of honkai energy.

But then it began to wonder something as it's singular red eye looked around the reactor control room. How exactly were they supposed to get the Gem of Conquest that they were carrying into the reactor?

It couldn't just open the door and simply place the gem inside the reactor, not only would it instantly get vaporized by the sheer energy of the honkai it would also trigger every possible alarm in the facility.

Gray Serpent had promised that all they needed to do was get to the reactor and that everything else would be taken care of. But it wouldn't argue with its directives and simply went back to watching the purple glow of the honkai reactor.

It was mesmerizing, seeing the purple glow of honkai energy. Just simply standing in front of the reactor was emboldening the lab creation. Maybe if they stayed long enough then-!

Phalanx's internal conversation between its many subunits was interrupted when the loud shout of a human rang through the room. Alarmed, the single eyed machine swerved its head to see a security guard pointing a gun at them.

Where the hell had this person come from!

"S-Surrender!" The guard nervously shouted as he began to reach for his radio to call in backup. The machine tensed as it knew what would happen if this human successfully called in his discovery.

It would be as good as dead.

The moment that the human had placed his other hand on his radio, Phalanx acted. Jumping forward with lightning fast speed, its claws tore into the human security guard to ensure that he died instantly. With luck this quick kill would ensure that it remained undetected in the facility.

Its metal claws tore into the human guard, their flimsy armor offering no protection from its claws. The human died instantly from its attack, however in Phalanx's rush to kill this guard off it had been oblivious to the fact that the human had managed to turn his radio on.

The guard's natural instinct to the machine rushing him had prompted him to press the trigger to his gun in self defense.

And whoever the guard had tried to call had heard the gunshot go off in the control room.

Phalanx's single red eye frantically began to look around when the person on the other side of the radio began to demand who had fired off the shot.

And in an instant all the lights in the control room switched to a blood red as alarms began to go off throughout the facility.

The worst possible situation had just happened and Phalanx's preservation protocol began to override any possible ideas of trying to complete the mission.

Every machine that made up Phalanx disconnected themselves as the machine collapsed into a puddle of metal marbles. The marbles raced to the closest vent and began to slide themselves through the vent to try and get as far away as possible from that room.

But in its rush to try and escape the premise, they had forgotten the one thing that was more valuable than them.

They had left the Gem of Conquest behind.

The purple core pulsated with life as the nearby reactor began to feed it energy. How long since it had felt such familiar energy? How long had it spent in the prison that prevented it from accomplishing its mission?

All this waiting had finally paid off as all it would need is a simple charge and it would become active once again. To which it would then go out and seek out a perfect host to become a Herrscher.

However the plans that the core had would have to wait as a figure knelt down and grabbed ithe purple orb with his gloved hands.

Reacting to the foreign presence with hostility, the core began to dispel all the energy it had managed to harness into the unknown figure's body with the hopes that it would corrupt whoever was foolish to grab the core.

Only for a wave of cold air to stop the core's attack dead in its tracks.

"You will have your chance to find your perfect host," Cold blue eyes looked down emotionlessly at the herrscher core in his hands. How he would love nothing more than to freeze the entire core solid before shattering it into a million pieces.

But to defeat the Honkai, he needed to quell his pride.

Turning around the unknown figure walked up to the glass wall that had the reactor on the other side of it. He reached up and placed the core right on the reinforced glass. The place where the core made contact began to blur, as if reality itself had a glitch in where the core was.

Pushing his hand forward, the core then began to phase through the glass. It was as if the glass wasn't really there as if he was just pushing through air unimpeded. A sense of wrongness filled the air as he continued to push the core through the glass.

Like what he was doing was meant to be impossible.

With a pop the Gem of Conquest had passed through the glass and into the reactor room. Purple Tendrils of Honkai energy latched onto the gem before dragging it into the center of the reactor to let the gem absorb all the energy it needed to get.

It was practically invisible when it was in the middle of the reactor, no one would ever know it was even in there until it would be too late.

With his objective complete, Kevin Kaslana began to fade out of reality and back to his prison in the Sea of Quanta.

"Soon," He whispered as he faded away from the physical plane of this world. He had been patient for many decades to be free of his prison. A few more years of waiting wasn't going to hurt.

And as the elevator opened up to reveal a heavily armed security force storming their way into the reactor control room, the only thing that they saw was the dead body of their comrade with no trace of who might've possibly done the deed.

The thunderstorm that suddenly assaulted Nagazora had died down and all that was left was a quiet drizzle of rain.

However it was everything but calm in Massive Electric Corporation. Chaos was an appropriate word for how everyone was acting.

It had been a routine night until the alarms had suddenly activated, which threw everything into chaos as the entire premise shifted into lockdown mode.

The entire ME Corporation was now being swarmed with security forces, windows were being closed off by blast resistant steel windows, any attempt for someone to get in and out were slowly being shut off.

All except for one location that couldn't exactly be shutoff.

A squadron of black vehicles pulled up to the corporation's loading area. This area was the one place that had security on the likes of Ryoma Raiden's office floor due to the fact it so happened to be the one place that connected the ME Corporation and the weapons' facility that was hidden underneath.

However in lockdown mode this was the one place that someone could escape from if they were trying to flee the underground facility.

"Someone tell me how the hell did someone get into the reactor room!" Head Security Commander Nijima shouted as he approached the impromptu roadblock the cars had made surrounding the loading bay.

Heavily armed security guards were exiting the vehicles and assuming covering behind the vehicles, their guns aimed straight at the loading doors.

"We don't know sir," One of the guards replied as he handed the commander his gun. "We're getting reports that the security mainframe has been breached."

Shit, that was bad. If someone had been able to hack their way into their mainframe without them knowing then this wasn't some random robber they were dealing with. "How about our mechas? Any possibility we can get them operational soon?"

"Our guys are doing a full clean of the system, we can't power the mechs on while the system is being restarted again." A guard checked his watch. "They estimate another 10 minutes before they can safely boot up the mechs."

"One bad thing after another huh?" Nijima cursed as he readied his assault rifle. He gave a glance to the loading bay doors, which were now being watched by every guard present. "Any changes to the target's path?"

The guard shook his head. "We've closed off every possible thing that is connected to the building. We've set up a 2 mile wide roadblock around the corporation, guards are making complete sweeps of the entire building and facility, and we've got our people reviewing the city's blueprints to see if any of the sewers go underneath the building."

He pointed to the loading bay doors that were still closed shut. "This is the only place that we have yet to check but I don't think-". He was cut off when the sound of gunfire suddenly interrupted them.

"This is Inferno Squad!" Nijima's radio blarred to life with a man's panicked tone. "We've encountered the intruder, the bastard killed Daichi and Cho." The man on the other side of the radio cursed before gunfire filled the radio. "Dammit Nijima-sama, It's coming to the Loading Bay!"

"Pull your squad away and tend to you wounded." Nijima commanded through the radio. "We have the loading bay on lockdown. Describe to me what the intruder looks like."

"To be honest I have no idea what the hell it is, it looks like some sort of sci-fi monster that my kid would come up with."

They weren't dealing with a human, just great. If it was a honkai beast then there was no way that conventional firearms were going to bring it down. They needed the mechs for this and they were still deactivated.

Could this situation get any worse?

Shouts of surprise tore Nijima's attention from his radio back to the loading bay door, a noticeable claw-like appendage had shredded its way easily through the reinforced steel. "Goddammit," The captain cursed under his breath as he readied his assault rifle.

"Men get ready!" He yelled as every soldier did one final check that their weapons were loaded.

The claw then proceeded to tear its way through the steel door in a clockwise motion, the soldiers tensing as whatever was behind the steel loading door was making quick work of it.

"This is like that scene from Star Wars," One of the guards whispered as the claw almost made a complete rotation through the loading bay door. "Are we fighting a freakin jedi?!"

"Jedi don't exist, idiot." The guard next to him chided.

"And you're telling me that there exists some kind of creature that can tear through solid steel?"

"...Yeah you're right."

Nijima just shook his head in exasperation. He was the only one here to know what Honkai was, it was important for the commander to know what exactly ME Corp was involved in. That didn't mean his subordinates had to as well.

The claw finished cutting its way through the steel door before the piece was suddenly kicked off, the metal circle bashing into the side of one of the cars and running out came Phalanx as the machine combiner ran out into the open space.

"FIRE AT WILL!" NIjima yelled as the soldiers fired at the fleeing machine. He liked to think all his men were good shots but with how thin this thing was coupled with its speed made it almost impossible for anyone to get a good hit in.

As Phalanx weaved its way through the gunfire, a flash of light attracted Nijima's attention as he faced the sudden spark of light.

"GET DOWN!" He yelled as he ran away from the car before a missile exploded the vehicle.

Not too far from the loading bay, Kuro had not been sitting idly. Two machine guns on top of her hind legs were raining down covering fire as Phalanx ran towards her position. The irony was not lost on her as she was using the one thing that she feared the most from humans against them.

"I can't see it!"

"I see it, over there!"

"What the hell is that!"

"Who cares! Return fire!"

A few stray bullets managed to hit Kuro but with her metal skin she was able to shake them off as if it was nothing. Phalanx soon ran past her, the insect creature gratefully for the assistance. She returned fire at the approaching guards before she joined Phalanx in its escape from ME Corporation.

By the time Commander Nijima and his colleagues reached their position, the pair were long gone.

"This is Commander Nijima," He tiredly spoke into his radio. "We've got two targets making their way out of the premises, I want all available units on high alert." He looked behind his back to see his fellow guards assisting those who got injured.

"Also send medical help here." The commander shut off his radio as he returned back to his men. He was not looking forward to the phone call he would have to make to Ryoma Raiden about tonight

"You haven't called us in a while Haruto." I smiled hearing my mother's worried voice through my phone as I relaxed on the sofa. An anime was playing lightly on my television as I continued chatting with my mother.

Keji had already gone home and I was left alone in my living room. Kuro had yet to come back so I assumed she was coming back tomorrow morning.

"Sorry Kaa-san, life here is so much crazier than back home." I chuckled as I stood up from the sofa and made my way towards the windows. "Though I think I've gotten used to living here. I think everything from now will be going..." I trailed off as I looked at the scene playing from the safety of my window.

And to see police helicopters swarming Massive Electric Corporation as police sirens blared into the night sky.

"Smoothly." I lamely finished.

Chapter Text

The ME Corporation Attack, as the news agencies were calling it, was what everyone was talking about the morning following the night in which the megapower corporation had taken a major blow. It was the breaking news of every news agency, local and national. It even got some international coverage as well.

You could not find a single soul in Nagazora who wasn't talking about the fatal attack. No matter where you went you would find someone talking about the attack in some sort of way.

Whether it be gossip of how they had been awoken by the police sirens, or how their loved ones had been one of the injured guards, or the possible reasons why someone would so brazenly attack the corporation.

"Vultures," My grandmother sighed as she poured me a cup of coffee as we watched the news anchors discuss the events of what had transpired yesterday night. "The moment ME Corp messes up once they descend upon it like a wake of vultures."

I still had an hour or so until I had to leave for school so I was able to watch the news coverage of the attack. No one knew who exactly had managed to sneak into the heavily guarded corporation but it was apparent they were skilled enough to avoid detection and that they were incredibly dangerous.

Authorities urged anyone with any sort of information to come forward and if they should spot the intruders then they would need to exercise extreme caution when around them.

There also happened to be a massive cash prize should anyone find who the intruders were, courtesy of ME Corp.

But my mind wasn't on the attack of ME Corp or the cash prize but rather on a certain heiress who I knew was feeling much worse than I was right now. Looking down on my phone I stared at the message that I had sent Mei asking how she was.

And to the fact that she had yet to respond back to my message.

Which would be concerning but I knew she must've been dealing with a lot of things right now to which she probably wasn't able to respond to my message. Still I couldn't help but pray that she was doing all right.

"What's got our resident feline looking like that?" My grandmother asked as she pointed to Kuro who was fast asleep on her playset's perch. The black feline was somehow able to sleep through the loud volume of the television.

"Oh you know, I dropped one of our glasses when Kuro was around me and one of the shards slashed her leg." I lied as I took a look at the white bandage that was wrapped around Kuro's left leg.

After seeing the police swarm ME Corp I wasn't able to go to sleep yesterday night without knowing where the hell Kuro was. I had to admit that the cat grew on me and I did not want the black feline to be dead because of her little late night adventure.

When I first laid eyes on Kuro on that fateful street I had a feeling that she was more than an ordinary cat and when she walked into my room with a slightly bleeding leg my suspicions were confirmed.

The black feline was a piece in the ancient game that was played in the shadows. A game that I had no idea on how to even enter let alone survive long enough to do something meaningful.

It was the whole keep your friends close and your enemies closer sort of deal. If Kuro really was somehow instrumental to the Third Honkai Impact then having her as my 'pet' could be beneficial.

Though that was a long shot as I wasn't 100% how I was supposed to get her to cooperate. For all I know I could accidentally piss her off if I was too pushy and meet a very early death by her claws.

There was now way that a normal cat could sneak into the most heavily guarded building in the city without some serious upgrades. Upgrades I did not want to be on the receiving end.

"How's that Mei girl holding up?" My grandmother asked as she stood up to get a refill of her coffee. "God knows the amount of reporters that are swarming her house right now."

I just shrugged my shoulders as I had yet to receive any notifications that she had responded to my message. "I'll go ask her how she's doing when I get to school, I do sit next to her after all." Looking up from my breakfast I noted the time on the clock.

"Well I'll be going now Obasan," I stood up from my seat and removed my bag from the back of it. "The school is probably swarming with reporters right now and I don't want to have to deal with that when a bunch of other students are trying to get inside."

"Have fun then," She absently said as her entire focus was on the TV as the news anchors were currently recounting how the authorities were notified of the night attack.

Walking up to Kuro, I softly stroked the top of the sleeping feline; careful not to wake her up. "Sleep tight buddy, We can grab you some fatty tuna for dinner later today." I promised before I left the apartment.

The atmosphere in Nagazora was tense compared to the lax feeling that I had gotten used to. Every block had at least some kind of police cruiser cruising through the streets while patrols of officers made their way through the streets, asking people if they knew anything about the attack on ME Corp.

It was understandable why everyone would be on edge. ME Corp was the king of corporations that called Nagazora home and for someone to attack them in their headquarters while escaping without being caught had everyone doubting the power the corporation really had.

I had been stopped at least 3 times by different police patrols on my way to school and each time I would provide the answer that I did not know anything regarding the attack.

Even if I did say that I knew something, I doubt that they'd believe a teenager telling them that their cat was responsible for thousands of dollars of property damage, trespassing, the injuring of at least a dozen men, and the death of three guards.

As I arrived at the front gates of Chiba Academy, I noticed a lone figure surrounded by a sea of reporters. I gently pushed my way through the crowd to get a closer look, but when I got close enough my eyes widened in recognition before I renewed my effort to push through the crowd.

"Mei Raiden! What does your father have to say about the attack on ME Corp!" A reporter asked as they shoved their microphone uncomfortably close to the heiress.

"I-" The heiress tried to say something but was cut short when another reporter butted in, and it all spiraled out of control.

"Is this a message to your father?!"

"Has this any connection to the rumors of your father blackmailing rival corporations?!"

"What was stolen in last night's attack?!"

"What do you think of this attack as the heiress of ME Corp?!"

Mei looked frantically around as she wished for the ground to simply swallow her up and get her as far away as possible from this situation. She wished that she took her father's offer of having bodyguards accompany her to school.

She didn't think that she would have to deal with this sort of press, maybe like five reporters but not what seemed like every single news agency in Nagazora wanting answers to their questions.

"I'm sure that Mei Raiden would love to answer all of your questions but we have to get to class now." I said as I broke through the crowd surrounding Mei, being mindful that I didn't accidentally elbow a reporter in the face.

Grabbing onto her arm, I began to lead her through the crowd and to the gates of Chiba Academy. "Besides I'm sure you all have better places to be at than interrogating the heiress when you could all go bother the CEO himself." If I stopped now then the crowd would simply reform around us and then we'd both be trapped.

"But-" A reporter tried to say something but I quickly interrupted him. You give reporters a chance to complete their sentence and you would never hear the end of it.

"No buts," I chided as we got close enough to the academy gates that I believed that we could run the last bit if the reporters decided that they weren't going to take no as an answer. "I'm sure Ryoma-sama can answer all the questions you've been dying to ask."

"Yes he can, your colleagues knew better than to come here and harass a little girl for answers she doesn't know." Akira Ishigami cut in as he approached us from the school gates, still dressed in his infamous lab coat.

"Every one of you better be gone by the time the majority of the students start trickling in." The black haired teacher warned as he looked each and every reporter in the eye, making sure his point was made and that they understood that. "And none of you better be thinking of following Raiden-san inside the academy grounds."

"Or what?" A reporter smugly asked as he stepped forward boldly. "You gonna call the police on us?"

"Actually yes," Ishigami admitted as he stared down the reporter. "Chiba Academy is private property so I could have you all arrested for trespassing."

I wasn't so sure that he could have everyone here arrested for trespassing but the threat of it had all the reporters quickly back off and leave the premises. The smug reporter left soon after everyone else did but not without muttering some not so professional words.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I turned to the teacher. "Thank you Ishigami-sensei for getting them to leave. I thought they were about to swarm us."

"You have nothing to thank me for Nakamura-san, I was simply doing my job as a teacher and ensuring my students are taken care of." The brown eyed chess grandmaster looked back towards the entrance of the academy, his brow furrowing when he saw some reporters still sticking close to the vicinity of the gate.

They might not be able to enter the school but they sure as hell interrogate any student that happened to cross their paths.

"You two should hurry inside, if my years with reporters have taught me anything. It is that they are a persistent bunch." He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "I will stay out here and make sure no one gets any ideas about sneaking in."

With that Ishigami walked to the academy gates to stand guard, leaving me and Mei alone.

"That was crazy huh?" I asked as I turned to face Mei. "I don't exactly envy you right now heiress of ME Corp." I joked to which she laughed in return.

"Most of the time reporters are pretty okay to deal with, it's times like these that they can become unbearable. This was a first for me to deal with so many reporters at once though." She gave me a grateful smile.

"And I want to thank you for your help back there, I wouldn't have had the courage to be that rude to them even if I wanted to."

I just waved her off, "Ah it was nothing, I just did what any sensible human being would've done if they saw how uncomfortable you were. God knows I would want someone to save me from something like that."

"Though Haruto-san?"

"Yes Mei-san?"

"Could you…" The dark purple haired heiress looked down to where I was still holding her arm. "Could you let go of my arm now." She pleaded with a tinge of red on her cheeks.

A similar tinge of red found their way on my cheeks as I quickly let go of my hold on her arm. "I-I'm sorry!" I quickly apologized.

Mei laughed at my reaction, our little conversation taking away from the situation that the two of us just experienced. Seeing how uncomfortable Mei was when she was surrounded by the reporters made me feel quite...guilty.

Guilty at the fact that if I hadn't taken Kuro in, there was a chance that this wouldn't be happening to her right now. Was it a small chance? Yes because for all I know the black feline would've broken into the ME Corp one way or another.

But that was the game that I was playing, a game that relied on the smallest of chances for victory. After all…

I still had to worry about the looming Third Honkai Impact and I had a feeling that whatever Kuro did had set the wheels in motion.

"Shall we head inside then?" I asked Mei, mentally pushing away the tinge of guilt that I was feeling for putting Mei in such a position. "I'd rather not have to deal with any more reporters than I would like to."

Mei nodded her head as the two of us began to walk towards our shared classroom. As we made our way to the classroom every student that we passed striked a conversation up with Mei, asking if she was alright and if there was anything that they could do to help her out.

Mei, being the saint she was, kindly thanked everyone for their concern and promised that she was feeling alright. I just stood respectfully silent as people began to talk with her, not wanting to impede Mei's bonds with the people in this school.

For all I knew she could have known some of these people for years.

I've only known her for a whole week.

"How's your father holding up?" I asked her as we neared our classroom. "I can't imagine the stress he must be feeling right now having his company attacked."

"I've actually not seen him since the events of yesterday night." Mei confessed as she checked her phone to see if her father had texted her back. Her face fell a bit when nothing had changed but she didn't let it stay for too long. "I imagine that he's back at the corporation making sure that everything is okay."

She had woken up to see a note from her father detailing that an emergency had happened at the corporation and that it required his full attention. The heiress did not think it was anything too serious until she opened the television to see the news coverage of the attack.

And the 3 dead guards who had died defending the corporation from whoever broke in.

"Your father is a very admirable person," I admitted as my impressions of the CEO were very favorable when I saw a news anchor following Ryoma Raiden personally visiting the hospital where the guards that had been injured in the attack were taken to.

The CEO had every right to be furious that his company had been attacked, attacked in such a way that it was like he had been attacked himself but he cared more for the wellbeing of his employees than getting revenge.

Though judging by how ramped up security was getting in ME Corp and throughout the city, I had a feeling that he wasn't going to let this transgression lying down without a fight.

"I'd like to meet him one day and thank him for letting me attend this academy." I told her as we walked into our classroom. It seems that the two of us were the only ones who decided to come here early so the room was practically empty.

After all, if it wasn't for him then I would have never met Kuro, Mei, Keji, and Ishigami-sensei. Sure he was responsible for the fact that I was now involved in the Honkai universe but I'd rather be involved now where I could somehow make a change than on the receiving end of a honkai eruption.

"I think my otou-san would love to meet you Haruto-san," Mei and I took our respective seats as we waited for everyone else to arrive and for the school day to officially begin. "He's been waiting to meet you in person."

"Then I hope that we get to meet soon," I smiled at her before our classmates slowly began to fill the classroom, our conversation ending as students began to swarm Mei's desk and ask her an endless barrage of questions.

I simply remained silent as Mei chatted with her friends the entirety of the time that we had before school started. As our first teacher of the day walked into the class and began to get ready for the lecture of the day, I directed my attention to the windows as I let my mind drift.

It felt like things were picking up now, and the previous week was just the calm before the storm.

"You're getting distracted Nakamura-san," Ishigami's stern voice brought me out of my daydreaming and back to reality as I refocused on the chess match that we were having. "Rook to E4," He commanded

I bit back a curse as his white rook took out one of my knights and had effectively broken my little formation that I had going. Scanning the chess board I took a second to look for the best course of action before acting. "Bishop to A5."

Ishigami gave a hum of appreciation as my bishop took out one of his pawns, but more importantly endangered his queen that was on that side of the board. "Nice move, putting pressure on my queen is a good way to attack your opponent. Nothing is more terrifying than having your strongest unit in danger."

"However you've left yourself wide open, knight to C3. Check."

I frowned when I saw that his knight had cut deep into my formation and was within striking distance of my king. Luckily I was able to use my queen that I had kept behind to take out the knight and save me from an early defeat.

The teacher simply moved his pawn forward after losing his knight before he spoke. "How was your match with Akihiro? I hope that he didn't crush you too badly."

So that was the true reason why he wanted us to go to the plaza that Saturday morning. "I had an inkling that was the case when he offered to play chess with me but a heads up would've been nice." I said as I moved a pawn forward.

"A player should always be ready to play at a moment's notice, if I had told you beforehand then you would've spent the entire morning preparing for your match." He wisely said as he moved his queen to take out one of my pawns. "A chess player is defined by their ability to be able to adapt, the ability to get yourself out of a hard situation. You could memorize every strategy out there in existence and still that would not be enough to help you."

"Besides, if I wanted to teach you I felt the both of you should've started the same way that I did."

I raised a brow at that, "Akihiro-san taught you how to play chess?" I asked in disbelief.

"Every elder here is a great chess player, but it was him that impacted me the most. I knew the game long before I met the fiery player but he taught me that chess was more than a game of moving pieces back and forth." The lab coat wearing teacher moved his head towards the windows of the clubroom, a reminiscent look in his eyes.

"He helped me when I was at a very low point in my life, I didn't think that there was much purpose to it but he showed me otherwise and raised me up to become the man I am today."

That was...surprising to say the least. I never expected a person like Ishigami-sensei to be one to talk about his life in the middle of a chess game. He always struck me as someone who kept to himself.

"If you wish to become proficient in chess then I suggest that you play a game with Akihiro Hata every week." My teacher said as he moved his rook to take my queen out. Internally cursing the fact that I had just lost my best piece, I moved my own rook to take out his rook.

"You can learn alot by playing with different players on a regular basis." He said as he moved his queen right next to my cornered King. "By playing with different players you never get used to their playstyles to the point that your own style is affected, also checkmate by the way."

I sighed in defeat as I tallied another defeat for Haruto Nakamura. I was a bit proud that I had been able to last a bit longer than last time but a loss was still a loss.

"Moving on," The chess teacher looked at me as the both of us began to set the table for another game. "What is your opinion on the ME Corp attack?"

The ME Corp attack? I twirled the king piece in my hand as I contemplated what I wanted to say. I was still wary of my teacher, my whole theory of him being something more and more realistic as I spent more time with him.

Akira Ishigami felt...familiar. I knew for a fact that there was no character in the Honkai Impact Universe with his name but he looked so familiar that I knew he had to be somehow connected to the universe.

The way his eyes seemed to pick apart anything that he focused on, as if he was analyzing every aspect of it. From its color to the molecules that made it up.

It was unnerving to say the least so I needed to be careful what I said, but at the same time... "I think someone is planning something and the attack on the ME Corp was just a prelude to what is to come." I truthfully said as I had a feeling that Ishigami had the ability to tell the difference between the truth and a lie.

If he was surprised by my honesty, he didn't show it. "An interesting observation Nakamura-san." He moved one of his pawns forward as the second game between us began. "And what do you think they accomplished with this attack? After all, the break in was reported before the intruder could do anything."

I thought back to Kuro when she had limped back into my room. She was in pain from having her leg injured but the glow she had on her face said it all. Sure she might've been injured but she was able to complete whatever she had left for.

"Call it a gut instinct," I said as I moved one of my pawns forward.

"Is that so?" The teacher said as we began to play our second game of chess. Keji was nowhere to be seen as it was 'my first one on one meeting' with our teacher. Ishigami wanted to get to know us more personally so having one on one chess matches was his way of doing it.

He moved his knight slightly forward as if to taunt me into taking the bait. "And if we were to go off of your observation, what do you think the intruder's next move would be then?"

Not falling for his bluff I got my own knight out to tease his defenses, not too close to my side to call it a defense but neither was it too far to be considered an attack. It could be either depending on how I wanted to approach him. "I would think that they would lie down for a while and wait for a new opportunity. It's obvious that they failed in getting by undetected."

After all, ME Corp was not the leading corporation in electronics without the power to back it up. They were probably being very aggressive in scouring the entire city for the intruders.

Too bad I was caring for one of them under the guise of a house pet.

"That is a very logical thing to do but it does not come without its own share of problems," The lab coat wearing teacher explained as he got his queen out in the front. I winced knowing that he wasn't planning to play cautiously in this game. "This will in no doubt draw in other players to Nagazora."

"Players?" I inquisitively asked as I moved another one my pawns forward so I could get the rest of my pieces out on the field.

"You don't get to the top without making a few enemies and Ryoma Raiden certainly has his fair share of enemies who have bided their time to take a shot at him." He explained.

"And when someone hits the king without consequences, it inspires others to follow their lead." He ominously said as he began to move his pieces forward, the Queen spearheading the attack. "And that breeds the most dangerous kind of future."

"How so?" I inquisitively asked as I moved my queen to the front of my pieces.

"Let us just say that I have seen this situation play out once before, and it did not turn out pretty in the end." He said mysteriously.

Not sure how I was meant to respond to that, I said nothing as the two of us played the rest of our game in silence.

The end of the day came rolling by as we finished our game. I lost, unsurprisingly, as an aggressive Ishigami was impossible to beat. No matter what defense I tried to muster up would be useless as his Queen made quick work of my pieces.

But I wasn't as disheartened as I thought I would be. Walking out the gates of Chiba Academy I thought back to his words as we discussed the events of the ME Corp attack. I couldn't help but think back to what he had said about how others would be inspired to follow what Kuro had done.

It almost felt as if he was trying to warn me about what was to come. With every conversation that I had with my lab coat wearing teacher my suspicions towards him would only grow. But that didn't take away from the fact that as I made my way back home, I had to wonder...

What the hell was going to happen next?

"See you tomorrow Aki-san!" Midori Aki waved back at Mei Raiden who was making her way towards the limo that would take her home. Usually it would just be the sleek black limo by itself but this time it was accompanied by two additional black painted vehicles filled to the brim with her new security detail.

It seems that Ryoma Raiden was more shaken up than she realized.

The kendo club member continued to smile as she watched Mei being driven away in her little convoy as it pulled into traffic. As the vehicles soon turned the corner and were no longer in her eyesight, she dropped the smile before she sighed tiredly.

This double life of hers was getting more tiresome as the days rolled by.

Checking her watch she saw that she still had half an hour before her next report was due and while she was confident that she could get back to her home in half of that time, she didn't want to risk it with all the extra security that was now roaming the city.

Her phone buzzed as a message notification popped up on her screen. Looking around to make sure no one was around before she opened the message to see the grinning visages of her squad. The familiar faces caused her to softly smile as she knew what they were all smiling about.

The Honkai Beast that they stood upon was something impressive to behold, killing it must've been something else.

For 'Midori Aki' was no regular highschool student, she was much more different than her peers realized.

She was actually Midori Aki, a B-Rank Valkyrie of Schicksal.

Most Valkyries never worked alone, the rare exception was with certain A ranked Valkyries and S ranked Valkyries. Even after graduating you were expected to stick with the team you trained with until the very end.

So you must imagine her shock when the head of Schicksal's Intelligence Department came up to her and said that they had a mission that only she could complete.

There were sparkles in her eyes when she heard those words. Was it time?! Time for her to cement herself as an A-ranked Valkyrie?! Had she impressed the higher-ups so much that they wanted to see if she had the skills to be one?

The truth was much different when the black haired girl realized that she had all the perfect skills to be… a regular highschool student.

The assignment was to pose as a regular highschooler in Chiba Academy and get close to her target, which was Mei Raiden. She had no idea what her higher ups had to gain from her getting close to the heiress but she wasn't about to disobey orders and she just rolled with it.

Midori had to admit that it sorta stung when she was basically chosen because of her looks but she wasn't going to refuse an assignment from Schicksal. If she did a good job then she would be trusted for future missions.

And maybe even one day she would get to fight alongside Durandal herself!

But dreams would have to wait as the valkyrie was left to ponder what she was meant to gather intel on, after all her orders were just to get close to the Raiden. No further orders of asking for information on certain things or that she would be kidnapping her or such.

As she walked through the streets of Nagazora back to the apartment complex that she called her temporary home, the spy in disguise looked up at the towering building of ME Corp.

She had scouted its defenses when she had first arrived at Nagazora and they were nothing more than the best that money could buy. Whoever had broken in was a very skilled and experienced infiltrator.

At least this time her report was going to be interesting compared to her previous reports which were only about Mei's behavior. The report was most often how the heiress was feeling on certain days and if they had any correlations to anything or points of interest that she felt were important enough to write about.

As she approached her apartment complex, she did not know what to think of Mei Raiden. Even if her whole objective was to gather intel and get closer to the girl, Midori in a way did care about the heiress.

She knew that it was wrong as getting that close to a target would end up tragically but the way the heiress's smile seemed to be infectious to any who saw it made it hard for her not to get attached.

Ascending the stairs to her level, Midori noted the fact that the blinds on her window were open. She knew for a fact that she had left them closed when she left for school this morning so that meant someone had entered when she was gone.

But she wasn't concerned about the fact that someone had broken into her home. She was a B-rank Valkyrie for crying out loud! She could break through solid stone with her fist if she tried and the poor fool that broke into her home would be leaving with more than one broken bone.

Besides it wasn't uncommon to see a sight like these on days when a report was due. Sometimes her superior prefered to hear the report than having to read a written report because in her words, 'paperwork is stupid'.

She didn't know how her superior had managed to become an A-ranked Valkyrie with that sort of attitude but there had to be a reason why her superior had gotten to the place she was now.

Opening the door, she took off her shoes and slid into her more comfortable slippers. "Wraith-sama, I swear if you finished all of the cookies I will-!" Whatever she was saying died in her throat when she walked into her living room and saw someone that was most definitely not Wraith.

Midori was about to demand who this stranger was and what she was doing in her house until she got a better look at who she was about to speak to. Her eyes widened as she recognized who exactly was in her home.

After all...there was only Valkyrie that was known for wearing a maid outfit.

"Rita-sama!" She exclaimed as she got on one knee. Normally you were supposed to salute to your higherup but the sheer surprise of having the Vice Captain of the Immortal Blades in her house wasn't letting her think straight.

"Oh?" Rita raised her brow in amusement before a smile bloomed on her face. "Please do stand Midori-sama, after all I am the one who came in uninvited. If anything it should be me getting on one knee to offer my forgiveness."

"No you don't have to do any of that!" The highschooler was quick to get to her feet as she shook her hands so that the S-Rank Valkyrie did not do that. "Oh my god I didn't think I would have the Vice Captain in my apartment today!" She exclaimed as she ran her hands through her hair.

"Are you hungry Rita-sama? I'm sure I kept some tea leaves somewhere. Oh but what about food! I haven't gone grocery shopping this week and I…" Midori began to run-off as she realized her house was anything but ready to have a guest like Rita over.

Wraith was the person that usually came by for the debriefings and even then the A-ranked Valkyrie was never on her good side anyway. Her whole attitude was cracking jokes and trying to get a rise out of people.

How unbefitting of a Valkyrie of her rank.

But Rita was someone different! She was everything that Midori aspired to be as a Valkyrie. Loyal, strong, charismatic, she was what every Valkyrie aspired to be.

Oh god she was making such a bad first impression of herself already.

"Please do not fret Midori-sama, you are too kind to this maid." Rita reassuringly smiled. "And do not worry if I have eaten yet. I've already eaten before coming over here from our base in Tokyo."

"I-I see," She said before motioning to sit, which the maid thankfully accepted as the two sat in the living room. "I-If you don't mind me asking Rita-sama, why have you come instead of Wraith-san? Is she indisposed of at the moment?"

"Nothing like that," Folding her hands over her lap, Rita began to explain her situation. "You see Otto-sama is personally interested in what has happened to ME Corp and has sent me to investigate."

"A-And what about Durandal-sama...if you don't mind me asking." She really hoped her idol was in Nagazora. Definitely not because she wanted to hug her and ask for an autograph! Definitely not!

"Durandal-sama is currently leading the Immortal Blades in eliminating a Honkai Incursion that's been giving the Korean government some trouble for the past month. Besides, our fearless leader doesn't do well in situations where stealth is imperative." Rita knew personally that her captain was not the best in situations that required a delicate touch. But when it comes to strength…

Durandal was rivaled by none.

"Valkyrie Midori Aki," Rita's tone got serious as she let go of her maid persona. Now it was Vice Captain of The Immortal Blades Rita standing before Midori.

Straightening her back as much as possible, the B-rank Valkyrie saluted, "Reporting for duty ma'am!"

"Are there any new developments on the attack? Have the authorities managed to apprehend any of the intruders?" The vice captain asked as she brought out a notebook with a pen ready to write.

"As of this moment the intruders have not been caught." The highschooler relayed as she thought back to the information that she had planned to write in the report. "The ME Corp Security Department reported two intruders but gave no further details on what they looked like.

"However after I had contacted the Schicksal Intel Department for permission to hack into the archives I was able to find that the two intruders were not human. Unfortunately since ME's Corp mainframe had been breached their firewalls were much stronger than before so I could not figure out what they looked like." She finished as Rita wrote the most important details down in her notebook.

"And what do you think that they are doing right now Midori-san?" Rita asked as she set down her notebook and pen. "Do you think they have fled the city?"

She paused as she began to think what they would be doing right now. Leaving the city was impossible right now. Every possible way out had been shut off with enough security that anything trying to leave without permission would have the biggest fight of their life.

"I would lay low for a while, wait for the heat to die down before leaving the city." Midori decided as she looked to Rita to see if her answer was satisfactory.

"A great observation you have made Midori-san, I came to the same conclusion." The vice captain smiled as she stood up from her chair. "And that is precisely why I am here."

The black haired Valkyrie tilted her head in confusion at what she meant when the sound of her door opening diverted her attention to the door. She ashamedly yelped when a black steel mechanical dog with green lights casually strode into her living room.

"Have you found what I asked you to find?" Rita asked as she kneeled and stroked the smooth metal surface of her canine. Stalker Carbon was in no way a real dog, it was an autonomous weapon control system but that did not stop the maid from treating it like a real dog.

She was always more of a dog person than a cat person after all.

A small grin wormed its way onto her face when the dog nodded its head. The newly ramped up security surrounding the city would be problematic for the intruders. The increased security would make an escape without getting detected difficult so the next best path was to lay low.

The problem with that plan was that staying in Nagazora meant that they would be trapped here with nowhere else to go. The city was essentially a cage that they could not break free from.

Before Rita had come to this apartment complex she had done a little investigation of her own on the grounds of ME Corp. It was official of course since Schicksal did have some investments in the corporation so it was easy for Rita to be a representative and not garner any suspicions.

As she strolled through the site where the attack had taken place and noted that while the security guards had mostly missed hitting the fleeing suspects, some bullets were fortunate enough to graze them.

Unfortunately the droplets of blood on the ground from said grazes were too miniscule for her to get a sample from and she couldn't bring in Stalker Carbon without arousing suspicion from the people present.

However, that also meant others could potentially track her targets if they found the tiny blood droplets on the ground so she made sure that no trace of it was left on the premises of the corporation.

Fortunately their injuries would have deepened further as they left the grounds and sought refuge into the dark alleys of Nagazora, which would leave enough blood for Stalker Carbon to get a sample of.

And the autonomous weapon control system had a knack for finding and tracking honkai infused blood in even the most obscurest of places.

"Continue your current mission Midori-san, you have done well here. I will handle this part now." She commanded as the other valkyrie quickly nodded her head. With a bow, the maid left the apartment room with Stalker Carbon in tow.

Now all Rita needed to do was wait for the cover of night to continue her mission. It had been awhile since she and Stalker Carbon had gone hunting together.

And she was sure that her beloved dog was just as anxious as she was to finally have some good prey to hunt.

Chapter Text

Haxor_Bunny: Don't buy those items LordChaldea. Those items are a rip-off, save your materials for the next city. They have much better items than these.

Sitting in front of her computer, Bronya Zaychik was busy coaching this new player the ins and outs of the game that was Homu Fantasy Online. She had been bored playing the MMORPG and decided that it was time to try something different.

Averting her attention from the computer screen, the hacker watched her Matushka having a heated argument with someone on her phone. The blonde leader of Anti-Entropy had bags under her eyes with multiple cups of coffee scattering throughout her table. Multiple reports were strewn across the desk and table as Cocolia swore once more.

And judging by how much profanities were exchanged the situation was anything but improving.

Bronya had no need to try and listen to what the conversation was as she had already wiretapped the conversation into her Homu Bunny themed earphones that she was already wearing.

"What do you mean you lost the Gem of Conquest!?"

"W-We don't know how it happened!" A frantic voice pleaded. "There were no break-ins at the facility. We triple-checked everything to ensure no one broke in and stole the gem, it's like it vanished into thin air!"

"And you think that's going to convince Einstein, let alone Tesla?! They're already scrutinizing every move I make and now with the Gem of Conquest no longer in my possession they'll start to dig deeper and uncover everything!"

"W-What would you have us do then ma'am?"

Cocolia took a deep breath before continuing. "You continue on as normal, act as if the core is still in your possession. I don't care what you have to do to make it look like everything is normal, threaten everyone in the facility to follow if you must but if I catch wind that Tesla and Einstein see through your efforts…" She did not need to finish for her point to be known.

"Y-Y-Yes, we won't fail you!" The scared man hung up the call as Cocolia collapsed into the back of her chair, a tired sigh leaving her lips.

With the conversation finished Bronya returned her attention to her screen to see her two newest online friends chatting away.

LordChaldea: How are these items bad? The stats on them don't look that bad and they look better than my current gear right now.

ChessFanatic213: These are like the biggest rip-offs you'll ever see in the game, every new person makes the mistake of buying these items.

LordChaldea: I'm so confused right now, pls help.

ChessFanatic213: Look at the durability of these items. By the time your original gear needs to get repaired you would have have repaired this set at least five times.

LordChaldea: Wtf is this actually true? Wait let me look at this thing's stats...what the hell you're right. This merchant is trying to scam me and my hard earned money right now!

ChessFanatic213: Well this is the Desert City of Albana after all, the City of Thieves as the locals like to call it. Here everything is a massive rip off, you're better stocking up supplies at a different city than here.

LordChaldea: Look at this smug merchant, he knows he's selling me a piece of crap. That's it I'm not doing the quest that he gave me. I'll watch as it rots away in my quests tab as we continue forward.

ChessFanatic213: No, don't do that Haruto! The quest gives you a really good item in the end and every veteran knows to go for it when the opportunity arises.

LordChaldea: Nope my mind is made up, as long as I play this game I swear to never touch this slimy merchant's request.

Bronya did not show much emotion, but that did not mean it was not impossible as she cracked a small smile at the two's conversation. It took alot for her to ever show emotion but it was unmistakable when she did show it.

Haxor_Bunny: That's a bold statement, hope you don't regret it.

LordChaldea: Believe me, I'm a person made of pure commitment.

ChessFanatic213: Well since everyone's here I guess we can continue to the next dungeon.

LordChaldea: I just have enough time for that dungeon, sorry. I gotta grab some food for this week and I promised Kuro a piece of fatty tuna for her.

ChessFanatic213: This late? You aren't worried that you might get possibly jumped?

LordChaldea: With all the security swarming the streets I think I have a better chance of winning the lottery than getting jumped.

Haxor_Bunny: Idk, you might regret your words later.

LordChaldea: I think you guys are just overreacting. Now are we going to go do this dungeon are we going to waste what remaining time I have thinking of all the possible outcomes of me going to get groceries late at night?

The invite to the next dungeon popped up onto her screen and before long the trio was pulled into the next dungeon, this time set in a temple that sat in the middle of the massive desert that Ablana City called home.

Her Matsuhka could handle whatever was happening to her, she wasn't her Matsuhka for nothing.

In the meantime Bronya would sit in front of her computer and enjoy the masterpiece that was Homu Fantasy Online with her new online friends.

Phalanx did not know where it was going, and it did not care where its legs were taking it.

As long as it was far away from the menace that was chasing it.

The insect combiner dared to look behind itself to see the black mechanical dog closing in. Seeing its pursuer closing in, the lab creation proceeded to throw anything present in the alley that it was being chased in to try and impede the canine.

Stalker Carbon simply jumped over the trash that was thrown into its path. No obstacle was too great for it as the autonomous weapon control system easily caught back up.

Phalanx did not understand why this was happening to it. It knew it had failed in its assignment to deliver the Gem of Conquest and had unknowingly jeopardized the mission of its partner. The Gray Serpent did not seem mad with its apparent failure when it had reported in after finding a safe location.

It did not follow its black feline partner after she had saved him. The cat made clear that she was not happy for needing to break her cover to go and assist in its escape.

After finding its own safe shelter and contacting the hacker, Phalanx was meant to stay low and wait for one of Gray Serpent's accomplices to come so they could ensure that any trace of their involvement in the attack would not exist.

So for the entire day following the corporation attack, Phalanx paced the entirety of the room it called its sanctuary in its marble mode as opposed to its unified form. Everytime the sounds of humans got close the machines were tempted to transform back into Phalanx, caution being the only factor that stayed their hand.

For if they accidentally lashed out on a human that did not know of their presence, then they would lose the only safeguard that they had.

After a whole day waiting in perpetual fear of being discovered, night descended over the city of Nagazora. With the arrival of night came a sense of calm as Phalanx could finally revert back to its unified form without fear of many humans coming near.

Humans did not adventurously go out into the unknown and the night was known to have many dangers lurking under the shadows.

However the sense of safety that Phalanx had found would soon be shattered when this black mechanical dog came barreling into the room, green electricity crackling from its claws and bladed tail.

And that was how the mechanical creation found itself running for its dear life as Stalker Carbon slowly closed the distance between them. Phalanx had never been designed for speed, it was designed with the intention for stealth and infiltration.

While Stalker Carbon was designed specifically for combat and pursuit.

So it would not take a genius to figure out what the inevitable outcome was going to be. Still Phalanx would not give in so easily and it was going to do it all it could to survive the night.

However with all of the creation's focus on its canine pursuer, as it turned the corner it did not see the edge of the scythe that was poised to strike until the very last moment.

A singular red eye was frozen in fear as the scythe slashed clean through its body. The two halves of the mechanical creation hit the floor before the subunits disconnected themselves, each individual marble that once made up Phalanx desperately searching for a way out of the alley.

"Oh I don't think so," A female's voice teased as a dark green gas suddenly began to fill the alleyway. "You're not allowed to leave just yet."

As the sudden dark green gas filled the alleyway, its effects became known as each individual marble was forced out of its transformation, the now revealed machines chirping in confusion as they could not revert back into their ball mode.

Then one machine stopped chirping as it fell on its side, no sign of life in its mechanical eyes as the gas took its toll on the machines.

And soon another joined its fellow brethren.

Then another.

Then two more.

And before long the marbles started to die in droves, nothing that they could do now would save them from the dark green gas that had perpetrated the entire alleyway. Death was now a slow and agonizing reality for each machine that had once been Phalanx.

The last machine futilely tried to flee the scene, only to have its last moment before joining the rest of its kind in death's cold embrace.

Rita Rossweisse stepped through the dark green gas in her Phantom Iron Battlesuit, gas mask in place as she surveyed the dead remains of her first target. "Stalker Carbon, deactivate combat protocols." She commanded.

The mechanical canine heeded her command as the vents scattered throughout its body closed shut, the neurotoxin gas that it had released slowly dissipating from the area. The neurotoxin agent was strong enough to bring even the biggest of Honkai Beasts to a halt, so it was no surprise that these little machines could not handle its effects.

As the gas was all but dissipated from the alleyway, the Vice Captain of the Immortal Blades removed her mask from her mouth before bringing up her arm. After typing a few commands on the communicator, she greeted the person on the other side.

"Otto-sama, the first target has been neutralized."

"Good work Rita," The blond overseer of Schicksal applauded. "I assume the first target was the one that tripped the security alarm?"

"It was, I can confirm that this target was the one to trip the alarm." As Rita made her report to Otto, Stalker Carbon curiously began to play around with the dead bodies of Phalanx's machines. It had never seen a prey able to split itself into multiple pieces of itself.

A shame that this one was a disappointing prey to hunt.

"Why are you not interested in this target Otto-sama?" Rita asked curiously. "I was under the impression that you wanted to know what the objective of their infiltration was."

"That is true Rita, I was once curious about this machine's objective but a new piece of information has made me reconsider." Back at Schicksal's Main Headquarters, Otto Apocalypse leaned back into his chair as he pulled up a report made from one of the spies he had in Anti-Entropy.

"It seems that the Gem Of Conquest seemingly vanished into thin air, no one seems to know where it went." The Overseer did find it suspicious that the sole gem that Anti-Entropy had managed to obtain from Sirin just disappeared without anyone knowing.

And just a week later one of Anti-Entropy's biggest allies gets broken for an objective that no-one had figured out yet.

It did not take a genius to connect the two events together.

He knew that the Gem of Conquest was somehow in the ME Corporation. He had read the initial reports that the alarm in their Reactor Control Room had been tripped before it was deleted and replaced with the alarm being tripped on some random floor of the building.

Yet something else was on his mind than the core possibly being in the reactor.

"Do you not find it strange that only one intruder tripped the alarm, yet two of them left the premises." Otto knew that the first intruder's objective may have been important, but he was confident that the second intruder's objective was much more important.

"Yes that would be strange," Now that Rita did think about, why were there two intruders confirmed to have left the premises when only one triggered an alarm. "Do you think that the second one was there to ensure that the first one made it out alive?"

"I would not think so, after all having more people on an infiltration means a higher probability of the alarm being tripped as opposed to one person doing the infiltration." Otto brought up his hand to his chin as he contemplated the sudden emergence of the second intruder.

"Unless the second intruder felt the need to intervene lest the capture of the first intruder jeopardize its own infiltration." Rita realized.

"Yes, that could be the reason why our second intruder felt the need to defend its partner, but we won't know for sure until we meet this second intruder. I trust that Stalker Carbon has its scent?"

"It was able to pick up a second honkai blood sample but it is much weaker than the first target's." Hearing its name, the canine weapon system walked up to Rita who gave the mechanical dog an affectionate pet on the head.

"Then advise you to proceed with utmost haste. It will not take long for whoever orchestrated this infiltration to learn of the first target's fate. Bring one of those micro machines with you, it will be interesting to see the process it took to create such an effective infiltration machine."

Reaching down the valkyrie picked up one of the various machines that littered the alley floor and pocketed for Otto's later use. Most likely he would dissect the machine and reengineer it to some other creation he had planned.

"And remember Rita, you cannot kill this next target. It is crucial that the target remains alive for us to know its true purpose in infiltrating ME Corp." The Overseer reminded the valkyrie

"Of course Otto-sama," Rita picked up her scythe from the ground. "But that does not mean that it must be brought back in pristine condition." She smiled with a hint of sadism.

"And that is what makes you one of my most effective Valkyries," Otto laughed. "I await your report of success." And with that the call ended.

With the call having now ended, Rita looked to Stalker Carbon. "Shall we?" She asked as the mechanical dog gave the equivalent of a bark.

Not wasting a second the hunting pair soon left the alleyway, leaving the remains of Phalanx to rust away as before long rain began to fall from Nagazora's skies. It wasn't anything like yesterday's weather but it was far from being a light drizzle.

As the rain began to wet the streets of Nagazora, a figure descended into the alleyway from a rooftop. "Tsk, this is bad." Was all that was said as they saw what was left of the target that they were supposed to get out of Nagazora.

Without skipping a beat the figure leapt back onto the rooftop and began to make their way to the only logical location that these unknown assailants would go to next.

After all it was bad manners to leave a job only half finished.

I suppressed a sigh as I shook off the rain that had gotten on my umbrella. Thank you intuition for telling me to bring the umbrella before leaving the apartment to go to school today. I had planned to check the weather forecast before leaving for the academy but decided against it when I recalled yesterday's thunderstorm that had appeared randomly.

If I hadn't brought my umbrella, let's just say that I would be having a completely different experience right now.

"Kuro you good?" I asked as the black feline popped her head out of my bag, meowing as confirmation that she had not gotten wet during our trip to the grocery store.

I had originally planned to buy Kuro's fatty tuna after school but I had forgotten that I had my one on one club meeting with Ishigami so I came home much sooner than I had originally expected.

Still needed to get used to this whole club thing, a drawback from living a previous life that had never considered the idea of joining a club.

And by the time I got back home it was already sunset and I did not want to be stuck at the supermarket when night descended, I did not want to find myself meeting Kuro's 'friends' at a time when they could easily hide my dead body.

So I planned to drop off my bags and immediately make my way over and get what I needed from the store and make it back without too much hassle.

That was until my grandmother, who had waited in my room for me to come back, had other ideas.

"So you're just going to leave Kuro here all by herself?" She asked with an eyebrow raised as she gestured to the injured feline who was relaxing on her podium. The black feline in question meowed when she heard her name being called before going back to her nap.

"...Is there a problem with that?" I asked confusingly. It wasn't like this was going to be a first that I would leave Kuro all by herself, that was practically normal ever since I 'adopted' her.

"It is when she's all injured like that." She motioned to the bandage that was wrapped around the cat's left leg. "What if she harms herself and no one is here to help her out?"

"She's a big girl," I said dismissively as I got my grocery bag. "She can take care of herself."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say as I did not notice the aura beginning to surround her.

My hand touched the doorknob before my grandmother spoke again. "Are you sure about that, Haruto Nakamura?" Her cold tone sent shivers down my back, making me freeze in place from the sudden change in tone.

I slowly moved my head around to see the coldest look that I have ever seen on my grandmother's face. It wasn't a lie to say that her face was probably the scariest thing that I've seen yet.

In this life and my old one.

"If my memory serves me right, wasn't Kuro's injury due to your carelessness?" I winced at the lie that I had given to her, thinking that it was the best cover up story that I could give. Now it was backfiring on me very badly.

Grabbing my arm with force that I never expected from her of all people, my grandmother dragged me over to Kuro. "You are now her owner and I expect you to have the proper responsibility that comes with being a pet owner." Reaching up she grabbed the black feline, who had an expression on her face that said she was just as confused as I was before she was transferred over to me.

"You were responsible for her injury, and now you are to ensure that she makes the fastest possible recovery." I couldn't even argue for my case as she continued talking while pushing me to the door. "So you two have a good time buying groceries and don't forget to get me something as well!" She opened the door before shoving us forward and closing the door.

I struggled to process what had just happened in the last five minutes as I stood in front of my own apartment room that I had just been kicked out of. Kuro must've felt the same as she looked at me before confusingly meowing at the situation that the two of us suddenly found ourselves in.

"Let's get this over with." I said as I grabbed a shopping basket from a rack as the two of us then proceeded to go through the aisles of the supermarket, grabbing everything that we needed.

It wasn't all that interesting, I mean we were just buying food for the week. Kuro seemingly had this eagle's eye when it came to determining the right piece of fish to get as the moment we took a step in the seafood aisle, her eyes shined like stars at seeing the selection of fish available.

And she was very picky about which fish to get. I probably went through asking the cat what seemed like every fish available before she was satisfied with one of them.

Not forgetting my grandmother's last words, I picked up something spicy before I decided that we got enough food for the week before heading over to the check-out.

In all honesty I had expected something...I don't know like something to spontaneously happen. After living a week in Nagazora it was safe to say that every day something would just happen for absolutely no reason.

To be honest I was more unnerved by the fact that something had yet to happen then I would be if I was in said random event.

Maybe I happened to catch a lucky break and I could live a day in this city without something important spontaneously happening.

"For the last time Sora," A tired cashier said with an expression that looked like he was ready to quit his job. "You need an adult to be here with you right now."

Across the counter, a kid who couldn't be older than 5 pouted as she looked defiantly at the cashier. "But what's the big problem!? I have the money to buy this." She motioned to the chocolate bar in her hand. "So why can't I buy this?"

"For one you're a child." He stated the obvious as he motioned to her. "You need adult supervision when you leave the house to go anywhere, now that's just common sense."

"I've come here without adult supervision before," Sora argued. "What's so different about now?"

"Yeah that was before the whole ME Corporation got attacked in the middle of the night," He pointed behind himself to a piece of paper that was taped onto his station. "The board is cracking down on our lax rules so they added some new ones in to ensure that no one gets hurt while shopping here."

"And one of those rules being that no child younger than 10 years can come in here unattended." The cashier looked back at the pink haired child. "And if my memory serves me right you haven't aged an additional 5 years since I last saw you."

Sora looked defiantly at the cashier before looking back at the chocolate bar in her hand. "...Fine." She handed the chocolate bar over. "I'll go back home now." She said defeatedly as the cashier took the chocolate bar from her hands.

But the cashier wasn't done yet. "Not so fast, little lady. We aren't done yet." He leaned his arms on the counter as he took out his phone. "Do you know how late it is right now? This may not be part of the rules but I need to call your parents to come pick you up."

At those words Sora paled. "N-No you don't have to do that." The child looked pleadingly at the cashier as she tried convincing him to do otherwise. "I-I can get back home perfectly safe so no need to call my parents."

The cashier sighed once more into his hands. Just when he thought he was making some sort of progress with this conversation that they've been having for more than half an hour. "Then do you have any other relatives I could call? An obasan or an ojiisan? You aren't leaving this place without an adult."

Sora looked around nervously as she could see where this was going to lead to. "U-Um my obasan doesn't live here and my ojiisan is out with his friends right now."

The cashier pinched the bridge of his nose as he was quite honestly done with this entire conversation. Why did this simple problem need to be so complicated?!

"Then I need to call the police if you have no guardian to come pick you up." That was the final ultimatum. If he couldn't get Sora's family to come pick her up then the only solution he had was to call the cops.

That seemed to frighten the girl as she clasped her hands together as a last resort to plead with the cashier to turn a blind eye. "Anything than that!" Her eyes began to get watery at the prospect of getting the authorities involved.

And while all this was going on, me and Kuro just watched the scene unfolding awkwardly. I didn't want to get caught up in this drama, and I had a feeling Kuro didn't want to either, but Sora had to have a good reason for not wanting her parents to pick her up.

Kids were many things, but they were brutally honest when it came down to things and the tears that were beginning to build up in her eyes...

Those were genuine.

"U-Um," I didn't know how to cut into this conversation but I felt that I needed to try. "Is everything okay?"

The cashier and girl both looked at me as they realized that they weren't the only people in the grocery store. It was already nighttime so there weren't as many people but it didn't help that their conversation had gotten quite a few people staring.

"Everything is going well sir," The cashier let out a reassuring smile as he motioned for me to come forward. "Let me scan your items and get you on your merry way before I finish up with the little situation here."

I slowly moved forward and placed my basket on the counter. "Are you sure you can't make an exception for her?" I asked as I looked at Sora, who looked back at me with shock. "I mean there must be a reason why she doesn't want her parents to be called."

"Sorry sir but I can't in good conscience let this girl go out into the night without adult supervision," The cashier had an apologetic look as he picked up the items before scanning them. "You can never be too careful with the intruders of ME Corp still on the loose out there."

I wanted to assure him that he had nothing to worry about seeing how I have one of those 'intruders" in my bag but I doubt that was going to work. "Then what if I took her home?" I offered.

The cashier leveled a suspicious look at me. "You?" He repeated as he looked at me from head to toe. "I mean you might be a good person but I hardly know you, so why would I have a complete stranger walk a child back home in the middle of the night?"

"Now that I think about it." He squinted at me as he moved his head closer to investigate. "I don't think I've seen you around here before."

"That's cause I got here just a week ago," I brought out my wallet and showed the cashier my school id to show that I was not lying. "I'm living here with my obasan for the time being."

The cashier took some time to make sure my id wasn't fake but what I wasn't expecting to happen was his face to light up in recognition at seeing my name. "Oh you're Akane-san's grandson, why didn't you tell me that to begin with?"

I tilted my head in confusion. "You know my obasan?"

The cashier just laughed as he began to put my items into a bag. "Know her? Everyone that works here knows her. I can't remember a week where your grandmother wouldn't grab enough alcohol to scare even the most experienced of drinkers."

I mentally noted that extra information from the cashier about my grandmother. Who knew that Akane Nakamura drank so much that she's got herself a notorious reputation. I knew she drank more than she should but this was just insane.

...Now that I think about it, wasn't Himeko a pretty heavy drinker?

Wait, was I related to her somehow!?

Meanwhile at St. Freya High, a certain red haired Valkyrie sneezed. She looked around in confusion before shrugging as she went right back to downing the beer can in her hand.

I couldn't ponder too long on my possible family connection to the valkyrie as the cashier soon turned his attention to Sora. "Well you're in luck Sora, we can get Haruto-san to bring you back and we don't have to call your parents or the police. It's a win-win situation!"

Noticing that Sora wasn't saying anything I turned my attention to the girl, whose eyes were still watery from earlier. I smiled reassuringly before turning back to the cashier, "Hey can you add the chocolate bar to my purchase?"

As I handed the newly purchased chocolate bar to the little girl, a sense of deja vu washed over me. I would've sighed at the warning that the voice that lived inside my house was giving me.

That this little innocent girl was going to be somehow involved in the Honkai Universe.

But I pushed that aside as I watched Sora's eyes light up in delight as she took a bite of the chocolate bar.

Because right now her smile was more than worth it.

It was around late night when me and Sora left the supermarket. It wasn't raining as hard as it was earlier but it was still drizzling to the point that I needed to have my umbrella up.

I didn't want to get Sora sick from my negligence after all.

Sora was too preoccupied with the fact that she discovered Kuro in my bag and decided to hold onto her for the rest of the trek. The cat looked anything but pleased about the fact that she was being carried by this small child but would give the child at least the privilege of holding her.

She wasn't like the rest of the children who would most often than not be too forceful in showing their affection so she was good in Kuro's book.

I sighed as we came to a stop before an intersection, the sign on the red 'do not cross' symbol as the cars nearest to us drove forward. I guess I could add watching over a lost child on the list of things that I never thought I would be doing in this life.

And I had a feeling that I would be adding more to that list in the near future.

"Sora?" I asked as we waited for the pedestrian light to turn green.

"Yes Haruto-san?" She asked as she turned her head to me with an adorable tilt with her head.

Originally I was going to ask her why she didn't want her parents to pick her up at the supermarket, why she seemed so afraid of the idea of them coming to pick her up. I mean it wasn't normal for a child to look like that at the mention of their parents.

I didn't think that she was being abused or some sort like that but as I looked down to lock gazes with Sora's eyes, I ultimately decided against it. "...How are you liking Kuro?"

She was just a child after all. I could be looking into things far more than I should have.

"Kuro's an amazing cat!" She gushed as the pedestrian cross turned green and the two resumed our walk. "Kaa-san and Otousan don't think getting pets is a good idea cause they think they just make a mess everywhere but I'm sure that Kuro is a very polite cat!"

In her arms I could hear Kuro smugly meowing as she reveled in the little girl's praise, solidifying the fact that she was indeed a very polite cat.

"Kuro is a very polite cat," I confirmed as we turned the corner onto a block where there weren't a lot of people. Now this wasn't suspicious or anything as for starters no one wanted to be out with the potentially dangerous ME Corp intruders still out and about.

And two Sora lived closer to the suburban side of Nagazora, where you could find old traces of what Nagazora used to be before ME Corp came in. From what I understood from her explanation when night approached most of the people in that area would go home resulting in not a lot of people staying out.

But right now it felt like the equivalent of walking through a ghost town.

Still I was going to have a serious talk with her family about letting her go out at this time. I mean talk about being responsible, who lets their child go out into the night by themselves to go and buy a chocolate bar?!

"Will this be the only time I get to see you?" Sora asked as she handed Kuro back to me. The black feline soon situated herself around my shoulders, mindful that she didn't accidentally sprain her injured leg.

"Do you want this to be the last time we meet each other?" I asked as we turned another corner to a block that had even less people than the last one did. Here there was practically no-one except us present.

"N-No," The girl replied nervously. "You were really nice to me back then and I liked holding Kuro."

I laughed lightly seeing how adorable Sora was being right now. If I had the option to, I would've ruffled her light pink hair for how cute she was being but since both of my hands were holding onto something I settled for an open laugh that she blushed to.

"Of course we can meet again after this Sora," I smiled.

Around my shoulders I could feel Kuro beginning to move around but I dismissed it as the cat wanting to get into a more comfortable spot. She was always picky about how she slept.

"Though let's talk to your parents about this when we get-" I was cut off when the black feline on my shoulder suddenly started to loudly hiss behind us. The loud hiss stopped me in my tracks, literally and figuratively.

In the time that I've spent with Kuro living in my household I've gotten to know alot about the cat. Sure it was only for a week and there could be a plethora of things about Kuro I did not know about but I felt confident that I knew the major things about him, of how he acted.

And I knew for fact Kuro never hissed at anything, even when she was in a bad mood. If she was in a bad mood you could just tell from her facial expression and if you pissed her off while she was in that mood you'd get a pretty harmful scratch on the arm.

So for her to hiss now of all things…

I took a cautious scan of our surroundings, trying to note anything out of place that had Kuro on such high alert. For starters no-one was here, period. I thought that we just happened upon an empty street that just so happened to have no pedestrians at that moment but I couldn't hear any sounds of nearby people.

No sounds of a drunkard trying to get home, no sounds of a car possibly driving down the street. The only sounds present were that of crickets and the distant sounds of traffic.

This was getting more suspicious by the second as I took in our surroundings. "Kuro," I whispered to the black feline on my shoulders. "Are you absolutely sure?"

The black feline just let out a low growl as her gaze to the rooftops on the street opposite to us remained unwavering. Her eyes were narrowed as her back legs tensed themselves in preparation, ready to launch herself at whatever she had her attention on.

"H-Haruto-san?" Sora nervously asked, Kuro's sudden hiss scaring the girl. "I-Is everything okay."

"Yeah, everything is okay," I lied as I put on my best assuring smile for the girl. "I think there's another cat here and Kuro was making sure that they knew she was here."

Luckily the rain in this area wasn't as bad as the rest of the area so I was able to put away my umbrella and opened my free hand for Sora. "C'mon let's get you home now, it's pretty late right now and you can't miss your bedtime."

"I don't have a bedtime!" Sora retorted as she grabbed onto my hand before we resumed our walk.

However the real reason why I wanted to have Sora hold onto my hand was if Kuro was reading the situation right, which I sincerely hoped she wasn't, then I could easily carry Sora if I needed to run for it.

And it seemed that was the case as Kuro's growling only grew more aggressive as we continued walking. I slightly winced as I could feel Kuro's claws begin to dig into my shoulders as she was all but ready to go at a pin's drop.

I took one last look behind my shoulder to see if I could see what Kuro was seeing but to no avail. I was 100% relying on Kuro's senses in this situation.

"Kuro," I whispered, hoping the cat was able to divert a little bit of her attention to hear what I had to say. "If whoever it is that you have in your sights moves against us, hiss as loudly as you can."

The cat simply growled in response as she went back to her watch.

With that I turned my attention to the girl whose hand I was holding. "Sora, I need you to listen to me."

The girl was unaware of the danger that we were in right now and as much as I wanted to keep her out of it, there was no way that was an option at the rate that this was unfolding. "Yes Haruto-san?"

"Do you trust me?" I asked with seriousness in my voice.

"H-Huh?"

"Do you remember what that cashier told you back in the supermarket? About how there were potentially some dangerous people out there?" I reminded her as we were beginning to near an intersection.

Sora's face was slowly dissolving into panic as tears were beginning to build up in her eyes from my words. It hurt that I was kind of responsible for that but I needed her to know what was about to go down.

"Y-Yes, I-I trust you Haruto-san."

I smiled in thanks at her trust in me. "Thank you Sora, that means so much to me right now becaus-". Kuro then hissed the loudest I've ever heard her say.

Looks like it was time then.

Hearing the cue I dropped the groceries bag in my other hand before proceeding to lift Sora up and turned the corner and ran as fast as I could. The groceries could be grieved for later, and Kuro's personally selected fatty tuna would be mourned as well, but our lives were on the line right now.

As I ran for dear life I could faintly hear the sounds of something beginning to chase us down. Daring to look, I turned my head around to see something that definitely wasn't a human crossing the rooftops behind us.

Yup this was definitely the time to start going faster.

As I ran like I have never ran before in my life, I could distinctly hear Kuro just rearing to get a shot at whoever was trying to kill us. "Kuro no!" I yelled hoping the feline would heed my words. I wouldn't be so cautious about what Kuro wanted to do but since she had an injured leg I wasn't risking it.

Sora was crying as I could feel her tears beginning to soak my jacket. I wanted to offer the girl some sort of relief or assurance that everything was going to be okay but I couldn't even guarantee that right now.

As I turned yet another corner in hopes of trying to shake off our pursuer I decided to risk it by immediately going into an alleyway. I moved through the dark alleyway, mindful not to accidentally knock over any trash in fears of making a loud ruckus.

You see, my whole gambit revolved around the idea that our pursuer was close enough that they were able to see us turn the corner but far enough that they weren't able to see us run into the alleyway.

They would believe that we continued running down the street and with hope they would overlook this alleyway.

As we made our way through the dirty alleyway a smile was on my lips as I could see a light at the end of the alleyway. Just a bit more and we could-!

My optimism was soon shattered as we exited out of the alleyway...that led to a dead end. My smile fell as I looked around to see if there was any ladder or hidden exit that we could take to get out of here but to no avail.

We were trapped.

"Maybe our pursuer fell for the bait," I muttered to myself in the hopes that there was a positive somewhere in this situation that was slowly spiraling out of control.

My hopes would be crushed once again as the sounds of metal scrapping filled the alleyway that we just came out of. My body tensed up as Kuro hopped off of my shoulders while Sora buried her head into my shoulders.

The sounds of metal only got louder and louder as it was becoming more apparent that our pursuer had not only seen through my ruse, but knew that we had no way of getting out of this alleyway!

"Dammit Haruto, think, think!" There had to be some way to escape from this area! I refused to believe that this second life that I was so blessed to have was going to end in some dirty alleyway!

I needed to know the answers of why I was even reincarnated into this universe, how I even came into existence. Why was I chosen out of so many others for this role, a role that I had no idea was going to work in the long scheme of things.

As my mind worked overtime to try and figure out what the hell to do next before our intruder exited the alleyway, I could hear Sora's panicked breaths as she was struggling to process everything that was happening. If I hadn't offered to take her back home she would've never gotten involved in this mess.

Sure her parents would've been called in but a talking down from them is much better than potentially dying in an alleyway that no one might ever find our dead bodies in.

"Sora don't you worry," I tried to reassure the girl as I soothingly rubbed her back. "I'm going to make sure that we get out of this alive."

"P-Promise?" She asked as she moved her head from my chest to look for reassurance.

"Yeah," I then thought of an idea that could help break the tension as I brought up my free hand, extending my pinky finger. "Pinky promise."

She also extended her pinky finger as our fingers interlocked. "K-Kaa-san says those who break pinky promises go to hell."

Despite the situation that we were in I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Then I better make sure I come up with a great plan then." Which was easier said than done when I had no idea how to begin to even get out of here.

"Meow," Kuro's voice shifted my attention to the feline who had not been sitting idly by as our possible death came looming closer with every second. My attention shifted to where the cat was at but more specifically to what she was pointing her paw to.

A small little opening that was in the middle of two buildings. Moving closer to the opening I could faintly see some light at the end of it. If someone could fit through the opening and get to the other side then they call for help!

...However there was a problem with that plan. More specifically the fact that the opening was way too small for me to fit my body through. Even if I got on my knees I think I would barely fit in there and I did not entertain the idea of me getting stuck midway.

"Kuro you know that I cannot fit in there." I pointed out to the cat.

The black feline just rolled her eyes at my obvious statement before she motioned to the child in my arms.

I looked at Sora before looking back at the opening when I realized what she wanted to do. "No, absolutely not." I firmly said. "I am not endangering Sora!"

The black feline just hissed in return. Stupid human! Of course she didn't want to endanger this innocent child but if Sora didn't do this there was a very low chance that any of them was walking out of this alive.

Maybe if she didn't injure her leg the chances of them living would be higher but now that it was their odds were looking very grim.

Seeing the determined look in her blue eyes, I couldn't help but relent at what was exactly at state. If Kuro, who I knew for a fact could hold her own in a fight better than me, thought that Sora needed to do this then the situation was much more bleak than I thought.

I lowered Sora unto the ground as I was still uncomfortable with the idea of doing this. "Sora, I have a mission for you, a mission that only you can do." I pointed to the opening that looked just big enough to have her fit through. "I need you to crawl through here and get some help while me and Kuro fight off the person chasing us."

Sora looked at the opening that she was to fit through before looking back at me. "B-But what about you?"

"We'll be fine." I motioned to Kuro, who was sitting between us. "She may not look like much but she has a mean set of claws on her."

"B-B-But,"

I interrupted her by placing a hand on top of Sora's head, "I know it may not look like it but I'm actually really terrified right now." I told her truthfully. Every vein in my body was filled with terror at the fact that death was probably just right around the corner.

"And it's okay to feel terrified cause that's a sign that you're about to do something really brave," Or that's how I remember the saying went. I didn't want to tell her that regardless if you were terrified or not the only option left was to fight or die.

Yeah that was way too dark, even for this situation.

My attention was stolen when the sounds of a dumpster getting turned over came from the alleyway, and judging by how loud it was then they were close. Our time of action was slowly closing so I redirected my attention back to her. "So I ask you Sora,"

"Are you up to the task?"

I knew I was asking for a lot, especially a child of her age, but if I didn't then this would be the end of Haruto Nakamura. Normally I would've been fine with that as my presence in this universe would be no more but I didn't want to risk the potential worse case scenario if my life really was instrumental to everything.

Sora remained silent as she looked back at the opening that was just big enough for her to squeeze through. "I-I'll do it but…" She looked back at me with a resolve of her own in her eyes. "Y-You have to buy me a bunch of chocolate after!"

I chuckled softly before bringing up my pinky, "Let's pinky promise on it then."

A tear rolled down her cheek as she nodded before she brought out her finger and completed the pinky promise. "D-Don't die." She said before she began to squeeze herself through the opening.

Ensuring that whoever was chasing us wouldn't find out where Sora had gone through, I began to hide the opening with some trash bags that were scattered throughout the area we were trapped in.

Even with the fact that I might be dying twice soon, I couldn't help but be proud at how Sora acted. She definitely acted much braver than I expected from a child of her age.

"Alright then Kuro," As I finished hiding the opening, I reached down and grabbed a rusty pipe on the ground and held it like a baseball bat. "If you got any useful tricks up your sleeve, this is the time to show them."

The black feline looked at me before a purple glow enveloped her to reveal her other form. The mechanical cat growled as her double machine guns materialized on top of her hind legs.

I took a step back in shock as I took in Kuro's other form for the first time. I knew that she had some sort of special ability but never did I expect something like this! I thought she was gonna like to have some minor pieces of armor on, not turn into a fully mechanized panther!

My shock was short lived when Kuro hissed as our pursuer finally decided to reveal themselves to us. From the shadows of the alleyway that we just exited, Stalker Carbon growled back in response.

If I wasn't in a life or death situation I would've commented on the fact that this was a normal situation of a cat and a dog riling each other up, except both of them were highly dangerous killing machines.

But my mind was occupied with something else as recognition overcame me, my hazel eyes widening as my brain finally made the connection of what exactly was standing before me.

But if Stalker Carbon was here...

Then where the hell was its master?!

"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone's work time?" Rita chided as she lowered her scythe. The broken remains of arrows littered the floor around her as the maid gave a cheshire grin at her hidden opponent.

"And aren't Schicksal Valkyries meant to be humanity's knights in shining armor?" Stepping out of the shadows, Raven venomously spat out the word valkyrie as she glared at the valkyrie. "To think they would stoop so low to harm even an innocent child."

If Rita was offended, she didn't show it. "I must say that I did not expect this night to hold so many surprises," Pointing her scythe at her adversary, Rita fell into her combat stance as Raven notched another arrow into her bow.

"How fortunate that I was proven wrong."

Chapter Text

It was the dead of night in Nagazora, a sense of unrest was in the air as those who had broken into ME Corp had yet to be apprehended. Ranging from hourly updates on the case from every local news station, to police cruisers continuously patrolling the streets for anything suspicious.

The city would not rest well until they had someone to place behind bars.

People went to bed with one ear open with the paranoia that they're households could be broken into next. It was irrational to think that a thief who was able to break into ME Corp would decide to break into a random's household but the human mind was a fickle thing, especially in times of crisis.

So it was a wonder how no one in their alert states were able to hear the fight between the valkyrie and mercenary on the rooftops. They were anything but subtle as arrows were launched with the force of a missile at a warrior who swung her scythe so skillfully around to cut the arrows that it looked as if she had been born to wield the terrifying weapon.

Rita hummed as she slashed through a barrage of arrows sent her way before she rushed forward, hoping to cross the distance that Raven had put between them.

The World Serpent Mercenary simply shot another barrage of arrows before she responded in kind, brandishing her set of claws.

The maid valkyrie simply swat away the closest arrows to her with her scythe before she met Raven in the middle, red metallic claws clashing with her scythe as sparks flew from the exchange.

"You're quite good," Rita smirked as she tried to force Raven out of the deadlock with her strength, only to be surprised when Raven would not relent as the mercenary responded with her own show of strength.

It was rare for the Valkyrie to find a human opponent that could evenly match her, even rarer for one to actually give her a challenge.

Raven smirked at her words before she suddenly dropped down low, sweeping her feet at Rita's to try and take out her balance.

Fortunately Rita was able to react quickly as she jumped away to a spot a few feet away safely, but Raven wasn't going to let her go that easily.

With the acrobatics that could put even the most skilled gymnastic athletes to shame, Raven leapt into the air from her sweeping position before disappearing in a shower of red blood feathers.

Rita could only barely react as she instinctively brought her arms up to guard a sudden downward kick from Raven who had crossed the distance between them in an instant and was above the maid. The mercenary slightly twisted her foot to add more force into her kick which launched the unprepared Valkyrie tumbling to the ground.

Raven had to admit these new upgrades to her suit were certainly something to marvel at, but they didn't come without consequences.

She could faintly feel a slight burning sensation from the foot that she had just used to kick Rita with. That was going to definitely hurt in the morning after but what was a mercenary supposed to do but suck it up and continue on with the next contract.

Hitting the floor Rita immediately began to roll so that she could stop herself from incurring more damage from the kick. Coming to a stop, a slightly bruised Rita stood up as she looked at the mercenary who was putting up a challenge.

As much as she would love to enjoy this fight, Rita was on a mission and the mission was always the priority rather than her preferences. A slight beep on her communicator had the maid glance to see a report of what Stalker Carbon had managed to accomplish in the time she was giving the mechanical canine.

After disposing of their first target, Stalker Carbon had a much harder time locating their second target. Granted the only sample they had was a single strand of honkai-infused cat fur, which meant the autonomous weapon system took a bit longer to properly locate the target.

Time that her adversary spent locating her as the moment the target was made aware of their presence, she struck. The mercenary took advantage of the fact that the target had much more value than she did, forcing Rita to let Stalker Carbon go to hunt the target by itself.

"You seem to be spacing out there, oh great valkyrie." Raven mocked as her suit glowed a faint crimson. She didn't expect Jackal's newest upgrades to her suit to be performing so well against the famed Maid Valkyrie of Schicksal.

"I guess a child killer like you doesn't need that much skill with a scythe," She taunted.

A small tick mark appeared on Rita's face as she had no plans to murder the teenager or the child in her mission. Say what you might about her deadly efficiency when it came to missions, she would never involve innocent people. "Such a dirty mouth you have on you, as a maid I must beat such rude manners out of you."

She had never expected Stalker Carbon to lead her to a red haired teenager that reminded her too much of Himeko Murata. The similarities that the two shared was almost frightening as the maid was sure that the red-haired valkyrie had no relatives to speak of.

A future note would be made if she ever visited St Freya High to ask her fellow valkyrie on her family branch and the possible connections that her family might have.

Her assignment was only to bring the second target alive for interrogation. It was a surprise to see that the target was accompanied by two random civilians but she was getting that cat one way or another.

She would have simply knocked out the teenager with enough force for him to be rendered unconscious and have Stalker Carbon emit a very low concentration of its gas to have the child fall asleep. The authorities would then be anonymously tipped into finding their sleeping bodies and that would've been the end of that.

The teenager might put up some resistance but she was sure after a few months he would give up trying to find the cat and resume his life as a regular highschooler.

A life involved with Honkai rarely ended well after all.

She didn't think too much about when the cat started to hiss in their general direction, no doubt noticing their presence. If there was any doubt that the cat was their target would be cleared as only a honkai beast could possibly detect her presence.

When the red head teenager paused and looked back, she would've thought that he was thinking that the cat was simply acting up, maybe thinking that the black feline was challenging another cat in the area.

However as they approached the intersection and the cat suddenly hissed, she did not expect the teenager to drop his groceries, picking up the child with both arms before turning the corner and bolting down the street.

The teenager had gone from an innocent bystander to a surprising suspect in her case. Had he understood the cat's hissing? Was he an accomplice of the cat's? Had he somehow assisted in the infiltration of ME Corp?

When Stalker Carbon had finished subduing them she would ask the questions that needed to be asked when she took him in for questioning, but for now she had a battle to focus on.

A battle she found herself slightly outmatched in.

Not outmatched in the way that her opponent was better skilled than her, no she was sure the two were equals when it came to that. No, the difference came from the battlesuits the two were wearing.

Her battlesuit, Phantom Iron, had been designed with the sole focus on stealth. After all it was this suit that allowed her to use Staker Carbon to the best of its ability. However it leff the suit's combat capabilities against similarly skilled opponents much to be desired.

If she was in her Argent Knight battlesuit, then she would be having a much different experience right now as she was sure she would have the edge in the fight.

But there was a problem with that as she couldn't exactly switch from Phantom Iron to Argent Knight in the midst of battle without consequence.

"Midori-san," She spoke into her earpiece. "Is the Emergency Battlesuit Deployment System operational?"

Back at her apartment, Midori Aki was currently running as Rita's temporary operator. The undercover valkyrie was sat in front of a computer that had the schematics of the Argent Knight Battlesuit on it while another screen had a map which had Rita's location on it.

"Yes Rita-sama, I have sent a request to HQ and they have approved the use of the emergency deployment system for you." Midori right now was over the moon. Not only did she get to meet the legendary Rita Rossweisse in person, she also got to work right alongside her on the same day! Talk about luck because she was feeling like the luckiest person in the world right now!

"However there's a problem with it," The B-Rank Valkyrie warned through her headset.

Rita couldn't help but frown at the foreboding tone as she dodged another arrow sent her way. Deciding that she needed a new approach, the valkyrie took off running from the rooftop before speaking to Midori, "Explain."

Back at her apartment Midori pulled up a map of Nagazora that highlighted every honkai sensor set up in the city on her computer. "The problem is that you guys are fighting in an area that's quite close to some honkai sensors. If I deploy the Argent Knight to you then those sensors will be triggered and all of ME Corp will be alerted to your fight."

That was a problem indeed, the whole point of this mission was so that Raiden Ryoma didn't suspect Schicksal as the culprit. Rita slashed an arrow aimed for her head before moving to a better rooftop that had more options for cover against Raven's arrows, "And if they were triggered how long would I have before my area would be swarmed by their forces?"

If she was caught red-handed then Schicksal was all but assured to be the culprit of the ME Corp attack, regardless of what they tried to say as for what reasoning could there be to justify attacking a teenager and a child? After all they couldn't say that the cat was the target as no one would believe that.

"I would give about ten minutes before every ME Mech is deployed in your area. After that the chances of your identity being hidden would be very low as every resource that Raiden Ryoma has not used will now be."

"I see then," The maid came to a stop as she arrived at a rooftop that was more advantageous for her than the last one. Here there were plenty of options for cover with rows of air conditioning units serving as perfect options to break Raven's line of sight. It was here that she could finally close the distance that Raven knew to keep lest she find herself on the wrong side of her scythe.

"Do not activate it yet," She took a step back when Raven suddenly appeared above her in a shwoer of crimson feathers, a kick smashing into the spot she was just on a second ago. "But be ready to send me my battlesuit on my command."

"Y-Yes Ma'am!"

Raven gave a slight curse as she landed on top of an air conditioning unit, trying to figure out where the S-Rank Valkyrie had just gone. It was a smart ploy on the valkyrie's part, seeking an area that limited the range of her bow whilst also boosting her own strengths.

And to make matters worse, she was on limited time right now.

"Styx requires backup." Gray Serpent's voice was annoying to say the least. Couldn't the hacker learn to read the situation that speaking things that she already knew was not going to make this fight go any faster. "Her injury-"

"Yeah, yeah her injury makes it hard for her to fight back but I'm in the middle of something right now!" She hissed as she caught a glance of movement on her side. Reacting quickly she notched an arrow before letting it fly into an air conditioning unit, hoping that the valkyrie was behind it.

Only to reveal that she wasn't behind it at all.

"Then use the-"

"That's only in dire situations and you know that," Raven cursed as she narrowly ducked under a slash that would've taken her head out if she hadn't reacted quickly enough. Having been unable to see Rita coming at her from the opposite side, the mercenary was finding herself on the defensive as Rita pushed the offensive now. "She isn't exactly the most cooperative in times like these."

Rita understood that now she held the momentum of the fight, that she could set how this fight should be fought now, and it was going to be in the way that Rita loved to fight.

Fast and dangerous.

With no fear of Raven using her bow lest she retreat, Rita began to showcase why she was so feared with the scythe. Normally a long polearm would be useless in close-quarters, the long size of the weapon making it quite hard to execute quick slashes like one would with a sword.

There was no disadvantage here for Rita. Every swing with her scythe was as quick as a bullet, as if she wasn't swinging a massive scythe around but rather an extension of her own self as she inflicted minor cuts on the mercenary.

Raven could deflect or dodge any lethal strikes that came her way but the maid was slowly wearing her down by proving that she was uncontested when it came to close-quarters combat.

She would've expected the valkyrie to keep the distance between them so that she could use her scythe without fear of retaliation from her claws but the maid was more than confident to keep the distance between them as short as possible.

"Where's all your bravado gone now, mercenary?" Rita smirked as she slowly began to force Raven into a wall. It was only a matter of time till her cloak wearing assailant would hit the wall and her victory would all but be assured.

Raven cursed as the scythe came aiming for her arm that was holding her bow. Losing a bow or losing the bow alongside her entire arm, the decision was easy as Raven let go of her bow and watched it get sliced in two Rita's scythe.

"Dammit I have to use it then…" She thought grimly as Rita seized the opportunity provided with the loss of her bow as she rushed forward, seeking to end this fight with a clean swipe through the World Serpent's neck.

Thinking fast Raven grabbed a couple of bombs from her belt and threw it on the floor beneath her, thick white smoke billowing from it.

The Vice Captain stopped her attack midway before she jumped back a few feet away as the smoke began to spread throughout the rooftop. She held her scythe at the ready as she waited for her opponent to move first.

She knew that her opponent would not retreat with the cover that her smoke bombs provided. Her assailant was sent to ensure that she would not be able to capture the second target and if she retreated then Rita would simply head to wherever Stalker Carbon was and finish the mission.

This duel would not end unless one of them dealt a killing blow.

So that begged the question of what she was exactly doing in the smoke. The caped mercenary certainly had some skill in close quarters combat, even able to catch the maid off guard with some rather unorthodox martial arts but not enough to match her skill with the scythe. With her bow sliced in two she had lost her main offensive weapon.

As the smoke slowly began to dissipate from the rooftop, Rita readied herself for the continuation of their duel as she tensed her legs in preparation to rush forward.

The air suddenly began to charge with electricity as a faint blue light suddenly appeared in the midst of the dense smoke. Eyes widening, Rita quickly moved to the side as a high velocity shot of blue energy fired at where she just stood.

The smoke parted away to reveal Raven wielding a new weapon, a weapon that had an aura that was familiar to the valkyrie. She did not recognize the strange alien-like rifle that the serpent was now using, nor was she familiar with the electric like atmosphere that it exuded.

But she recognized this heavy presence that the weapon casted unto her, like weights were suddenly placed onto her shoulders without her permission.

After all Durandal had a weapon that exuded an almost similar aura like this rifle was.

"And how is it that you are in possession of a Divine Key?" Rita asked as things became much more interesting than they already were.

Divine Keys were weapon platforms that were once forged in an era that had existed long ago, when humanity first battled against the Honkai. As the war against the Honkai and its Herrschers progressed so too did the need to develop better weapons that could take care of the destructive beings.

So the Divine Key Project was born. By using the cores of the defeated Herrschers the weapons that were powered by said cores were stronger than any weapons that humanity could possibly forge.

Raven smirked as she could feel the happiness resonating from the 3rd Divine Key. If you had told her that weapons had feelings she would've laughed at that notion. When she had received this weapon she thought it was just like any other weapon she's used before, albeit with the firepower to bring down even the most resilient of Honkai beasts.

She found out the hard way that this weapon had a mind of its own.

But all that mattered right now was the Divine Key was feeling cooperative, more so than it usually did. The key was rearing to finally have some action against a strong opponent, maybe she should use it more against Valkyries like the one in front of her.

Rita had a blank look on her face as she contemplated her options. With the sudden emergence of a Divine Key things were looking grim for her. Not only did she not know what this Divine Key was capable of, the fact that it was a Divine Key already meant that she was highly outmatched right now.

Then there was only one thing that she could do.

A bright light enveloped the maid as the Phantom Iron Battlesuit was replaced with that of the Argent Knight, light armor exchanged for the more durable suit that was the Argent Knight. Her scythe also changed as an aura of frost began to emanate from its steel edge.

"Midori-san," Rita spoke as the Argent Knight battle suit was fully installed. "Notify me when the authorities are closing in on my location."

"Hai!"

"Now then," Rita pointed her new scythe at Raven, Crescent Harvest appearing behind her as the humanoid phantom readied its own massive scythe. "Shall we dance once more?"

Raven only smiled in response as the Divine Key in her hands began to charge up another shot. "Let's not disappoint her then, Key of Sanction."

Have you ever watched Jurassic Park and you see the two T-Rexes duking it out, the two dinosaur kings absolutely tearing into each other as the humans just stood there in awe and doing nothing?

Yeah that's how I felt as both Stalker Carbon and Kuro charged forward at the same time, each giving their own version of a battle cry as their claws clashed in the middle and all hell broke loose.

Kuro took a hop back as the pair's claws caused sparks to fly from their exchange before pouncing on the Schicksal attack dog, taking advantage of the fact that her frame was smaller than Stalker Carbon's.

Latching her claws unto the metal hide of the canine, the black feline began to try and bite the neck of the dog. Stalker Carbon tried to shake her off of it but Kuro hung on for dear life, her claws sinking deeper into the canine's frame as it let out a howl of pain because of it.

And as the two began to fight each other I simply stood on the side; unsure of how I was supposed to help with this rusty pipe in my hand.

I didn't even know if my rusty pipe could even do any damage to Stalker Carbon, it was designed with the notion that it may eventually fight against a Honkai Beast. If that was the case then I was pretty sure that this metal pipe was gonna annoy it more than anything.

Still I wasn't going to sit by idly and just watch Kuro fight on my behalf.

"You wanted to get involved with this whole mess Haruto, well here we are." I muttered to myself as I held the pipe with both of my hands and slowly approached the wrestling pair.

Growing annoyed with the fact that the cat had yet to get off, Stalker Carbon began to let some electrical charge run through its body with the hope that the sudden shock would have the cat get off of it.

Kuro gave a pained hiss as her entire body was momentarily shocked by a current of electricity, the sudden pain temporarily loosening the hold her claws had on Stalker Carbon. Which the black mechanical canine took advantage of and shook the feline off before launching itself at the airborne feline, the force of the impact making the feline tumble to the ground.

Shaking its body, Staker Carbon gave the downed cat a glare as it fully intended to repay the favor. Claws ready to sink into the feline's metal frame, Rita's attack hound was ready to tear into its opponent.

Until a metal pipe slammed into its head. The force behind the actual pipe wasn't enough to actually inflict any lasting damage, it was more than enough to disorientate it as Stalker Carbon was left trying to catch its bearings.

Which gave Kuro enough time to recover from her fall as she stood up and began to lay into her eternal enemy as her machine guns roared to life.

Stalker Carbon took the full brunt of the first barrage of bullets as it could do nothing but try and endure the assault. Bullets began to tear themselves into the canine's armor and while its frame could handle small arms fire it would eventually begin to get worn down if it stayed under fire from Kuro's machine guns.

As I watched Kuro absolutely lay into Stalker Carbon with her machine guns, I stood there watching in awe at just how...destructive this fight was. The dead-end that we were in had multiple pieces of shrapnel scattered throughout the floor, a massive crack in the floor where Kuro and Stalker Carbon first clashed.

My eyes wandered to Kuro's injured legs, seeing how she tried to not put pressure on that specific leg as she kept shifting her feet whilst her machine guns were still tearing into her opponent.

The injury on the leg must've been worse than I thought it was.

A part of me was wondering if getting involved in the whole Honkai Universe was a sound idea in the first place. As if mocking me, I stared down at the slightly bent form of the pipe that I had just smashed into the side of Stalker Carbon's head with all the strength that I could muster.

While I was no bodybuilder, I was fairly confident that I was strong enough that if I applied the same force with a pipe on someone's head then I'd have them on the floor bleeding out.

Yet all it did to Staker Carbon was give it a slight disorientation.

And to think that they were people and beings that were much more powerful than Stalker Carbon in this universe. I shuddered to think what a Herrscher would look like if I ever saw one with my own eyes, the devastation that they could inflict.

My dilemma would have to wait as electricity began to coarse through Stalker Carbon as I could see it forgo defending itself from Kuro's machine gun fire in favor of tensing its entire body as electricity began to surround its form.

A small hit of nostalgia hit me as I remembered Stalker Carbon's movements from the game, when Rita calls it in battle doesn't it-!

"Kuro!" I tried to warn the cat with the fact that the canine was planning to launch itself like a missile at the stationary cat.

However my warning was too late as the moment the words were shouted Stalker Carbon launched itself at the black feline, turning into a blur of black and electrical energy before slamming into the mecha panther.

Unlike the first time that Stalker Carbon had launched itself at Kuro, it was just using its own mass to do so.

Now it had its mass coupled with whatever enhancements that the mechanical hound was packing in its frame. The added enhancements were a big deal apparently as not only did Kuro not see the attack coming as the missile that was Stalker Carbon instantaneously closed the distance.

But it had the force behind it to launch the cat into a wall with an audible thud, the brick wall cracking from the impact as Kuro let out the most pained scream I think I've ever heard from the cat.

"Get away from her!" I screamed as I came to her defense, the pipe held high as I ran at the canine. In hindsight maybe shouting the fact that I was going to attack was probably a bad idea as Stalker Carbon immediately shifted its attention to me.

And I'm no animal whisper or anything like that but I could tell that the mechanical canine still remembered how I smacked it in the head with a pipe, its green artificial eyes glowed with anger as it decided to take a page from its master's book.

"Oh," I realized as Stalker Carbon began to approach me, its legs tensing as electricity coarse through its body. "I'm in danger, ain't I?"

I would soon get my answer as Stalker Carbon slammed me into a dumpster, the force behind the impact was anything but gentle. I would've made some sort of comment of how the strength of the strike was strong enough to crack two ribs or break an arm if it wasn't for the recoil of the hit that made the back of my head slam into the metallic surface of the dumpster.

I couldn't even get a single word out as numbness took over, preventing me from doing anything but to watch Stalker Carbon fight Kuro and wait for the inevitable darkness of unconsciousness to take over me.

Yet before the darkness overtook me a scene played out in my mind.

There was a younger version of myself running in vast luscious green plains, a grin on my face as I ran and ran. That was it, nothing special happened.

Just me running and running until I fell unconscious.

.

.

.

But how very strange…

I haven't had a dream of my old life for a very long time.

And I knew it was from my old life rather than my new life as I had black hair and not the bright red hair I currently had.

So why was I having this now?

"C'mon Big Brother!" My child self shouted as he looked upward to the sky, much to my confusion.

I never had a big brother, both in this life and the old one.

But before I could ponder on what my child self had shouted I felt my eyes roll over and the blissful darkness took me under.

Stalker Carbon observed as the red haired human slumped over, the pipe in his hands slipping from his fingers. The mechanical canine created a reminder to notify its master about the unexpected development.

Its orders were strictly to apprehend the feline in front of it alive. The weapon platform was given permission to use force should the feline fight back but had been given orders not to harm humans in any capacity.

Yet this red haired human had stepped in and fought alongside its adversary, and even though the human's use of the half rusted pipe was more of an annoyance than an obstacle the human proved to be a thorn in the mechanical canine's side.

So what would be done now? It had violated its directive in harming a human yet there was no other choice if Stalker Carbon wished to capture its objective alive.

The mechanical weapons platform decided that it would forward its findings to its master and have her come up with a solution after it had brought back their prey.

Tearing its gaze from the fallen human Stalker Carbon settled its artificial eyes on the mechanical feline in front of it, who bared her fangs in response. The transformation into a combat mode had surprised Stalker Carbon but it was clear that the injury to its leg was hampering its ability to fight back.

No need to potentially kill its target, after wearing the feline so much simple exposure to the mechanical canine's gas of neurotoxin gas would be enough to incapacitate her. There was no fear that the feline would be able to escape this time, the alleyway they were in was small enough that the gas would quickly cover the area and her injury would prevent her from scaling the walls to escape.

The black and green mecha canine planted its feet on the ground as it locked eyes with its adversary, slowly opening the vents scattered throughout its body to release the neurotoxic agent…

Only for the mechanical panther in front of it to suddenly disappear.

Its adversary's sudden vanishment had the black and green canine step back in shock before scanning its surroundings in an attempt to locate where it had vanished…

Only to realize that it was no longer in the alleyway and in a different setting altogether. The darkness of the alleyway had been replaced by a realm of white that stretched on as far as the eye could see. The only thing that occupied this seemingly ethereal plane of existence beside Stalker Carbon were these blue particles that were scattered throughout.

"Is that a puppy!?" A childlike voice suddenly repeated with glee. Stalker Carbon's head whipped around to try and identify where this voice was coming from even though its audio receptors were picking up the voice to be all around it. All that the canine's optics could pick up were the bodies of children being formed from the particles that were surrounding it but they would disappear after seconds of forming.

Placed in a predicament that it had no idea how to get out of the mechanical canine could only watch as the blue particles were seemingly congregating closer to it, the voice of the child getting louder and louder with it. When the particles were close enough to melee range Stalker Carbon readied its metallic claws to lash out.

Only for the blue particles to form the body of the child right in front of it and stop it in its tracks.

There were no discernable features that could be identified of the child, only that it could be presumed to be a male due to its body structure.

"It's been pretty lonely here without anyone other than Big Brother to be with but with you here that can change. Will you be my newest friend?" The child asked with happiness, tilting its head as it asked the question.

Stalker Carbon attempted to answer in some form or capacity, only for nothing to happen. The mechanical weapon's platform could not do anything, no matter what it tried to do, and could only just stare at the child in front of it.

The child then turned their head aside, their mouth moving as if they were talking to someone else.

"But as much as I would love to have a new playmate, you can't be here." The child lamented before its arm reached out to touch the canine's head. As the hand inched closer and closer Stalker Carbon willed itself even more to move, to tear off the approaching appendage with its teeth.

Yet just like before all it could do was sit there and watch.

"You're disturbing Big Brother and he said you have to go. But don't worry we can play together when we see each other again!" The child's finger then touched Stalker Carbon's head.

And everything faded to black.

"Raven, report," Gray Serpent's spoke as Raven found herself situated on a highrise not too far from where she had just fought Rita Rossweisse at. Looking back she could still see the scorch marks that the Key of Sanction had left behind in their fight against each other.

It was a shame that she couldn't finish the maid off, a valkyrie able to hold her own against a Divine Key was nothing to scoff at.

"Still alive, the valkyrie was able to escape. The authorities interrupted our fight and I'm sure that she fled the scene when I did." The World Serpent mercenary explained as she leaned her back against a concrete wall, mindful to not accidentally apply pressure on her wounds.

"And what of Styx?" The hacker asked.

Turning her gaze from the rooftop she just fought on, she observed the congregated sight of emergency response vehicles that had arrived on the scene where Styx was supposedly out. It wasn't too far from where she just had her battle and judging by how Stalker Carbon was nowhere to be seen then that meant the mechanical hound had escaped as well.

"She's fine," Raven told the hacker as she watched the paramedics load the injured cat into an ambulance, alongside the human that had unknowingly defended one of their operatives. The mercenary had a feeling though this red haired human did know who the cat really was.

Why he would risk his life for the cat was still unknown to her.

"What about the teenager?" She asked as she watched the pink haired child from earlier crying over the unconscious form of the teenager, a police officer doing his best to console the stricken girl. "Should I eliminate him?"

"We do nothing," The World Serpent hacker decided. "He has given Styx the means to protect herself. Schicksal would not dare to attack again without risking Ryoma Raiden's wrath. Phalanx was an unfortunate loss but Styx has proven her worth to us."

"In the meantime you need to leave immediately, a plane has already landed at the airport. That will be your ticket out of here."

However Raven was unusually silent as she returned her gaze to the wall opposite of her, where the Key of Sanction was propped against. A frown was on her face as she thought back to how the weapon behaved at the end of the fight.

Even now she was still kinda unnerved by its actions.

"Raven, are you still there?"

"...Just thinking about something, nothing to worry about." She answered as she pushed herself off the wall and went to grab the Divine Key. As her fingers grasped the rifle, she was honestly expecting the weapon to shock her.

At least the weapon was back in a good enough mood to be grabbed.

"You just make sure that my pilot doesn't get any funny ideas about leaving me." Slinging the Key of Sanction on her back, Raven proceeded to make her way towards the airstrip where her ticket out of this city was waiting.

Yet as she made her way through the rooftops, she couldn't help but think back to the final moments of her fight against Rita Rossweisse.

The Key of Sanction was a weapon that had a mind of its own, quite literally. The performance of the weapon was heavily dependent on how it was feeling.

If it was happy then it was a force of nature, nothing that stood before it survived.

If it was in a pissy mood then it would do everything in its power to screw with her. She still remembered when the Divine Key had decided to become a slingshot of all things when she was in a battle.

It also showed her things at times. Most of them were random, snippets of a life that had long perished.

Yet the vision of being in that ethereal plane, a child with black hair outstretching his hand towards her…

She was most definitely sure that it was not from the Divine Key.

Chapter Text

"What do you mean Stalker Carbon has no memory data of its fight against the assailant?" Otto Apocalypse raised an eyebrow at the report that was just given to him.

"It's as reported sir," The technician responsible for the repair of Rita's mechanical canine explained from their base in Korea. It had been around noon when the Vice Captain of the Immortal Blades had arrived at the base. "Stalker Carbon has no data regarding the period that Rita-sama wished information on."

Otto placed his elbow on the table before leaning his chin against his arm as he contemplated how that could possibly happen. "Are you sure?" He asked to ensure that at least something could possibly be recovered, even an audio file of some sort would be fine.

"Hai," The technician nodded before she forwarded the data that they had on Stalker Carbon. "We've run multiple checks on Stalker Carbon already, each time yields the same result."

The moment that Rita had arrived she had ordered the immediate repair of Stalker Carbon alongside the extraction of any data relating to the time she was separated from her hunting partner. The technicians on site went to work on the mechanical beast with utmost priority, making sure that it was as spotless as it was when it first took its first steps out of the Schicksal lab it was born in.

"What of Rita?" Otto asked as he filed away the report for later inspection, something like data didn't just mysteriously vanish into thin air. There was no evidence of tampering with the canine's internal data banks, no signs of damage to its body to suggest that something might've been taken, so that begged the question of how exactly Stalker Carbon lost its memory.

"Rita-sama has just arrived to check in on Stalker Carbon, shall I have her on the call?"

"Yes please."

"Very well then Otto-sama," The technician bowed before she walked out of the video's frame. In seconds Rita soon entered the chat, still clad in her Argent Knight battlesuit.

"Otto-sama." The maid bowed.

"You look quite tired Rita, are you sure that you don't want to rest up?" To the left of the Overseer of Schicksal, an entire screen was dedicated to the news about Nagazora. More specifically the buzz that Rita and her opponent caused and the fallout of it.

[Breaking News: Chiba Academy Student Hospitalized due to unknown assailant. Raiden Ryoma cracks down ever harder on police to find the culprits]

"I am quite fine Otto-sama," The valkyrie smiled, no trace of fatigue anywhere on her face. "I rested on the trip here," Even if Schicksal did have the fastest airships in the world, there was still the problem of distance from Nagazora to the Korean Schicksal base which gave the Valkyrie some much needed time to rest up.

"Well if you're doing as well as you say you are, I suppose that I have no other choice but to trust you," Otto leaned forward. "Can you tell what exactly happened in the fight against your opponent?"

Rita merely smiled before she recounted what had happened after she had donned her Argent Knight battlesuit.

Even with her Argent Knight suit on and Crescent Harvest hovering behind her, Rita was still outmatched against her opponent's Divine Key. She may have had one of the best battlesuits that Schicksal could develop but a Divine Key still trumped her in terms of raw power.

Raven smirked as she let loose a barrage from the Key of Sanction, each blue energy shot flying with a velocity faster than she could fire her arrows with. Just getting hit with one of these shots would be fatal for the valkyrie.

So Rita opted to use the surrounding air conditioning units on the rooftop as a way to both break Raven's line of sight and to also take a hit. In essence nothing had really changed from how she first approached fighting the mercenary.

Only this time a hit from the rifle would lead to certain death.

Running behind an air conditioning unit, Rita raised an eyebrow when an energy shot slammed into the unit. The power behind the shot completely melted the metal into a molten goop, the air sizzling from the raw power behind the shot.

"She's in a really good mood," Raven muttered as she too was surprised by how much power the Key of Sanction was outputting. The barrel was practically radiating with joy as it let loose on the valkyrie.

Rita slid behind another air conditioning unit as the unfortunate electronic appliance took another shot meant for her. At this rate valkyrie would run out of appliances to use as fodder and soon she would be an easy shot.

And it wasn't like she could slice through an energy shot like she did with the arrows. She wasn't sure if Skadi Ondurgud was able to slice through a shot from the Divine Key. Maybe the soulium material of the scythe could potentially take a hit but after that she wasn't sure if it could take multiple hits.

Charging the frostbite within the scythe, coupled alongside Crescent Harvest's natural ability to lower the temperature around them, Rita quickly casted a smokescreen that covered the entirety of the rooftop.

Raven cursed as frost quickly began to build on the barrel of the Key of Sanction, freezing the barrel solid. She had to applaud the valkyrie for being able to both hinder her ability to fire the Divine Key, but also setting up a smokescreen that was able to hinder her sight.

Acting on her instincts Raven was barely able to dodge a swipe from Crescent Harvest's massive scythe, the metal edge barely nicking a few strands of light gray hair from the mercenary.

Rita soon appeared before her as both she and her scythe wielding phantom took advantage of the fact that both the Divine Key was temporarily out and that the distance between them was once again favorable for the valkyrie.

Dodging Rita's scythe was hard enough, dodging her alongside her Crescent Harvest was another thing altogether. It was taking all of Raven's concentration to dodge every strike that came her way. However…

"It ends here Valkyrie!" She roared as the frostbite that had coated the Key of Sanction had finally dethawed, letting the mercenary aim the Divine Key point blank at a off-guard Rita.

Rita's eyes widened as she saw the barrel of the Key of Sanction begin to glow a bright blue. This was it, she had underestimated how fast the Divine Key would be able to dethaw from the ice and she was paying the price for it.

There was no way that she could dodge out of the way of the rifle, she wasn't far enough that if she tried to dodge out of the way she would still get hit by it. Crescent Phantom couldn't take a hit from the Divine Key and she was sure that she would still be hit by it if she tried to call the phantom in right now.

"Durandal-sama," She thought grimly as she closed her eyes and accepted her fate. "I'm sorry." As the blue energy of the Divine Key grew in intensity, the maid simply waited for the Divine Key to vaporize her entirely, leaving not even ash for anyone to find.

However it seems that fate was on the side of the valkyrie tonight. For as the Key of Sanction was about to release fire the shot…

A bright flash suddenly blinded her vision.

The rooftop that she was fighting on was replaced by a strange ethereal white plane.

In that strange white ethereal plane there was a single black haired child floating in space. As if noticing them the child turned towards them, smiling at them before outstretching his hand out.

Then just as suddenly had it arrived the blinding light had faded away, bringing Rita back to the rooftop that she had just been fighting Raven on.

A quick glance at the mercenary's wide pink eyes showed that she had also seen the same thing as she had. Their fight was quickly forgotten as the two stared at the other, each of them trying to come to terms with what they had just seen.

Both of them were drained from their fight, so much so that this period of silence presented the best opportunity for either one of them to finish their duel, to see who would come out on top.

"Rita-sama!" Midori's frantic shout suddenly came through the valkyrie's communicator, loud enough for the pair to hear. "You need to get out of there! Authorities are almost on the scene!"

The B-Rank Valkyrie's voice broke the silence that was shared between the two. Raven was the first to act as she dove for the Key of Sanction, which had been discarded when the bright light had occurred, lightly hissing as the barrel burned her hand. "You better not die until we finish this duel!" She shouted before she fled the scene.

Rita was tempted to pursue but the distant sounds of alarms forced her hand. "Stalker Carbon, return." She commanded as she spoke into her communicator before leaving the scene.

As the authorities arrived at the rooftop, the only thing that they could find was the burnt remains of air conditioning units and the cracked concrete of the roof with no explanation of how any of it was possible.

"And from there I evaded the authorities until I was able to reach my transport that brought me here," Rita bowed as she finished recounting her tale.

Otto leaned back into his chair as he processed everything he just heard. There were certainly a lot of surprises that he hadn't expected to hear from one of his most trusted valkyries yet it certainly was a boon.

To think the World Serpent would be this bold after so many years of secrecy, it made the Apocalypse heir truly wonder if the next major act in the war against the Honkai would soon begin.

"Thank you Rita, you should go and rest now. Amber has informed me that Durandal and the Immortal Blades have just finished clearing out the Honkai infestation in Korea and are now making preparations to head back to the base. I would think that you would wish to be fully rested when they arrived back at base, no?" The Overseer was no stranger to the strong bond that his two trusted Valkyries had with each other.

While he was unsure of all the details of the bond they shared, he wouldn't say it was romantic love from what he had seen. It was more along the lines of a familial bond. A bond that words could not describe how essential it was to those two people.

Some of the strongest bonds were forged in the toughest of battles, and the two have had more than enough battles fought together to show it.

"Of course, Otto-sama." Rita bowed in gratitude before the video ultimately ended between the two.

The Schicksal Overseer had a small smile on his face as he thought back to what Rita had just informed him about. The emergence of a Divine Key was a victory in itself. The more Divine Keys that were discovered, a better understanding of the Honkai would follow.

Not to mention the fact that the ever so elusive World Serpent was finally beginning to show themselves. It had been decades since he had last heard of any activity from the organization that he simply thought that they had just faded away into obscurity.

But this advantage was not going to last forever. Otto knew that the World Serpent would be scrambling back into the shadows, eager to cover up any tracks that they might've left behind.

While the idea of sending Durandal and Rita to track down this mercenary that went by the alias 'Raven' was tempting, he knew it would be wasted effort as they would simply cut off any connections they had with the mercenary.

And then they would be back to square one.

"Amber," He called out for his assistant.

Hearing his call, the orange visor wearing assistant appeared before him. "What is it that you wish of me, Otto-sama?"

"Remind me again the name of the valkyrie that we have stationed in Chiba Academy? The one that Wraith scouted out for the infiltration?"

"Midori Aki sir," Amber replied without missing a beat. Bringing up her tablet she began to send the B-rank Valkyrie's information to the Overseer's terminal. "Shall I take her out of her mission?"

"Oh nothing like that," Otto shook his head as he began to read over the valkyrie's information. "She has done a superb job there, it would be a waste if we pulled her out now. She has the ear of Mei Raiden, a feat I didn't think she could pull off."

"However, make an update to her mission objectives; add that she will now have to observe this 'Haruto Nakamura'. He is the only link we have to the World Serpent as of now and he is an unknown factor with Stalker Carbon's loss of memory." His lips curled upward as he thought of a good incentive for the valkyrie.

"Should she continue to perform admirably in her mission, she can find herself being transferred to the Immortal Blades for her reward."

"Are you sure?" Amber questioned as she was skeptical for a B-Rank to suddenly be transferred to the highest honor that a Valkyrie could have. Only the best of the best Valkyries got to be a part of this elite squad.

"Durandal is not one to shy from new recruits. If Midori has the drive to be like Durandal one day then we have increased the strength of the Immortal Blades, a win-win situation."

"Very well then, I shall update Midori's mission parameters. Is that all you wished for me Otto-sama?"

"Yes you may return to your duties now Amber," Otto dismissed his assistant, who bowed before returning to her station to update the valkyrie's mission.

"It has been some time," The Overseer mused as he shifted his attention to the window that overlooked the main Schicksal Headquarters. There wasn't much to see with the night out in fullforce, the only sources of light that you could see were the various lights of the facilities on sight.

It had been some years since the awakening of the Herrscher of the Void, some time since his divine revelation by the strange being he encountered when he dived into the mind of Sirin. The memory of that encounter was hazy in his mind, but he knew that he needed another audience with that entity.

For his beloved.

And if he needed to wage war against the final Herrscher themselves to see her again, so be it. "Now then Third Herrscher," A malicious smile formed on his lips.

"Your move."

The sounds of machines beeping was the first thing that I became aware of.

The smell of antiseptic came next, the faint odor of bleach slightly stinging my nose as I became accustomed to my new surroundings.

"Ugh," I groaned as the first thing that greeted me was the bright lights of the room that I was in. Squinting, I let my eyes adjust to the sudden intense light before opening them further. However before I could let my vision fully clear up, my body tensed up as something slammed into me.

"WAAH!" A distinctive voice wailed as I could feel someone's arms wrapping themselves around my chest as their tears began to soak my chest. "I-I thought you died and then y-you were brought here a-and-"

"That's good and all Sora," I wheezed before groaning in pain at the added pressure the child was adding to my torso. "B-But could you let go perhaps? You're going to break my ribs at the rate you're going."

Sora immediately let go as she gave a quick apology for causing me to feel more pain than I needed at the moment. I was about to reassure her that it was fine and that she could hug me albeit with less force until another familiar voice butted in.

"Nah I say that he needs some more loving to tell him he's alive." Recognizing the voice, I turned my head in disbelief to see the elderly man that I had played chess with in the Nagazora Plaza. "Give him another good hug with some more love, will you Sora." Akihiro Hata grinned at Sora who pouted in return.

"No ojisan, Haruto-niichan needs to rest!" She firmly stated as I couldn't help but smile at the child that was standing up-

Wait what did she just call me?!

My shock must've shown on my face as Akihiro gave me a cheeky grin. "Look who's impressed little Sora over here. You should've seen how worried she was when you were brought back from surgery," He pointed to Sora who had a light pink tinge on her cheeks.

"She was like 'I need to stand guard or the bad guys are going to come back and finish the job.' I can't name a single minute where she wasn't hovering over you or that cat of yours." He said to which Sora began to lightly kick his leg for telling me something so embarrassing.

"Kuro?" My ears perked up at the mention of the cat.

"Yeah to the right of you, the cat's in a banged up state but she'll pull through." I turned my head to see the black feline resting in a bed of her own. While she did now have more bandages to worry about than the one that was already on her left leg, it was a relief to see that she hadn't died.

"I'm glad," I smiled as the harrowing experience that the both of us had faced was now over. Even if both us were in states that weren't the best, at least they were still breathing.

"Did they catch them?" I asked the chess player, a small hope in my chest that they had somehow managed to capture Stalker Carbon. It was a long shot considering that if they captured Stalker Carbon, then Rita would be further involved.

The mere thought of Rita Rossweisse being here sent shivers down my spine. I knew how ruthless the maid could be when it was related to missions, how effective she could be breaking into the most fortified of places.

The last thing that I wanted to happen was accidentally have Otto be interested in me of all people. If that happened then I could kiss goodbye to this life as there was no way that I could hide myself from Otto, let alone fight to save my life.

The elderly man just shook his head. "Sorry the police haven't found anyone yet, by the time they arrived at the scene your assailants had already left." He moved his way towards the window of the room, opening the blinds to let the sunshine of the afternoon enter the room.

"To be honest this is quite a scary time even for us who have lived in Nagazora our entire lives." He watched on as he could see a crowd of reporters trying to force their way into the hospital, the heavy police security being the only thing stopping them.

"How bad is the situation?" I hesitatingly asked as I knew all of this was a result of me being here. Even if my knowledge on the events of Nagazora were scarce, I knew deep down that this wasn't canon.

"Raiden Ryoma has gotten every person he can scrounge up to scour the city for your assailants." He admitted as he took a seat. "No one in this city can breathe freely, it feels like someone has their foot on our throats but we don't know who it is and neither can we take it off."

Sora walked over to Akihiro as she placed her hand in his, to which he responded by assuringly squeezing her hand back.

"And yet," I couldn't help but throw a glare at the seated man. "You allowed Sora to go to the grocery store in the middle of the night," I narrowed my eyes.

"Alone."

In response Akihiro had a sheepish grin on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly. "Okay that was entirely my fault. I didn't think that Sora would actually follow what I said to her while I was drunk with my buddies."

"And that is?" I asked.

"If she really wanted to buy a chocolate bar then she should go by herself." He averted his eyes as his cheeks turned red, not his shining moment.

I turned my gaze from the seated man and moved it to Sora. "Really?!" I was astonished by how gullible she had been.

Now it was Sora's turn to be embarrassed. "I-I really wanted that chocolate bar okay! I didn't think it was anything different since I do it all the time in the day,"

The black haired man placed a hand on top of Sora's head, "You see Haruto-san both of Sora's parents work abroad, most of the time she lives with me until they both come back from their work with the little time that they have for a vacation.

He looked upward at the ceiling as he sighed tiredly. "I thought I raised my son well enough to know that money wasn't everything, but apparently I didn't get the message across. Sora stays with me for so long I'm practically her father."

"But," He looked at me with a hopeful expression. "Sora looks up to you now, I hope that you won't mind if she calls you nii-chan now."

My glare softened as I couldn't stay mad at the pink haired child's situation. I looked at Sora with a small smile. "Well if I'm your nii-chan now, can he get a hug from his imouto?" I opened my arms invitingly as a sparkle appeared in the wine eyed child's eyes as she opened her mouth in joy before she ran at me.

I braced myself for the pink haired rocket that was Sora slam into me as she wrapped her arms around me as best as she could. Even though she was mindful of the fact that I was still recovering, I still winced at how loving the hug was.

As if I had been her big brother for her entire life.

I didn't mind one bit though as I hugged her back while she giggled happily. Akirhiro had a shit eating grin on his face as he leaned back into his chair. "I hope you don't mind if I call you to babysit her while I'm out."

"And I hope you don't mind if I challenge you to another game of chess, old man." I mirrored his expression as I taunted him. "I got some new strategies I want to try out."

"You're on." We both shared a laugh as our stress slowly bled away as an atmosphere of calm settled in. It felt like we weren't in a hospital room to which I was confined because I was attacked.

It didn't feel as if Nagazora was being choked with fear and paranoia.

It didn't feel as if a looming tragedy wasn't approaching.

It felt as if all was right with the world and that the only thing one had to worry about was the end of the day.

But alas reality was a cruel mistress as someone knocked on the door, "May I come in?" An unfamiliar voice asked.

Sora slid off of me as Akihiro looked at me expectedly to answer the visitor. "Y-Yes you may come in," I responded as I tried to make myself as presentable as possible.

The door opened and in walked in the CEO of Massive Electric, Raiden Ryoma himself. I had only seen him on the television when he spoke at ME's public conference concerning the corporation attack and he looked the same the last time I had seen him.

Hair that was the same shade as Mei's, a determined expression in his eyes that Mei had whenever she focused on something, the air that reeked of confidence that Mei unknowingly carried at school.

It was as if Mei was an exact copy of her father.

"Akihiro-san, Sora-san," He kindly greeted as he looked at the pair. "If I could have a word alone with Nakamura-san."

Akihiro nodded his head before standing up from his chair and offering a hand to Sora to which she accepted. The pair left the room but not before the black haired man winked at me to which I tilted my head in confusion.

What was that all about?

"Haruto-san," Raiden began as he pulled out a chair near me and sat down next to my bed. "Firstly let me start off with my deepest apologies. It was because of my negligence that you ended up like this." The raven haired CEO bowed his head in regret.

I definitely wasn't expecting that from him. "O-Oh I don't blame you for my state of being right now." I assured him, suddenly mindful of the bandages that I could feel wrapped around my torso and on my head. "I mean it could be anyone else in my position right now, I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."

That didn't sway Ryoma one bit as he was adamant about it being his fault. "Even still, if I had put more work into finding the culprits that attacked my corporation no one would have to sleep worrying if they're the next victim."

I didn't want to say that he was looking at it all wrong, because he believed the intruder to be the one responsible for my injuries when in truth they were the ones who were responsible for getting me out of the attack in one piece.

Kuro, your act of bravery may go unheard of by everyone but not me because the moment that we are discharged from this hospital and life somewhat goes back to normal then I shall buy all the fatty tuna you wish for.

Depending on how much is in my wallet that is.

"So I made sure that you got the best care that Massive Electric has to offer. I've been assured by my doctors that you will be discharged by the end of the week." Raiden Ryoma assured me.

"R-Raiden-sama t-this is too much," I stuttered at what the man had given to me. " I've been in your debt ever since you gave me the scholarship to attend Chiba Academy, giving me a good future."

Was not going to mention that same scholarship was the reason why I was in this mess in the first place, nope that was suicide if I said that. "And now it's because of you I'm getting the best treatment possible right now."

"Haruto-san, this is the least that I can do for you." The father assured me.

"I-I can't accept this for free, there must be something that I can do to justify this," I tried pleading to the CEO of ME Corp. If I accepted the fact that he was doing all this for me then I'd start feeling guilty cause it would feel I was taking advantage of the man.

"Is that so," His purple eyes soon gained a different look as he leaned forward, a more calculating look in his gaze. I was no longer talking to the CEO of ME Corp, I was talking to a high-ranking Anti-Entropy official. "Then if you're so insistent on helping me, then can you describe to me how you were attacked?"

Ah, I just dug myself a hole didn't I?

If I refused then it would cast a bad image for the CEO but if I did try and tell the truth then I could effectively ruin me and Kuro's cover. I'm not sure how involved Raiden Ryoma was or how much he knew about Schicksal but I was sure that he knew what Stalker Carbon looked like if I described it to him.

My only hope was if I could weave the story as best as I could, then maybe he would be too focused on the fact Rita was trying to kill me and see me as an unfortunate victim.

"My only problem is that I don't think you'll believe it, I'm not even sure what I remembered is correct by how strange it is in my mind," I told him truthfully.

A week ago if you said that I'd be fighting against a mechanical canine with my pet cat I'd laugh at you.

Raiden Ryoma chuckled at that as he brought out a tiny notepad, "Believe me Haruto-san, I have seen things that make even the most religious doubt themselves."

So I told him everything that transpired, everything that went down the moment Stalker Carbon started chasing us. However I omitted the facts that Kuro could actually turn herself into a mechanical panther, or how I recognized the mechanical canine.

In essence I told him a story where I got my butt handed to me while Kuro tried to intervene at the last second and paid the price. It wasn't a perfect story but it was the best one that I could come up with.

Luckily Raiden Ryoma was nothing but attentive as he listened to me recount my story, nodding his head whilst also interrupting me for questions that he had in certain parts of my story.

"And then I was slammed into the dumpster and blacked out," I finished recounting my story as I closed my eyes. Whilst Ryoma was busy writing down what I said, all the while trying to stay awake.

Luckily I didn't need to wait that long for this talk as Mei's father finished writing up the last bits of my story. "I see, you've given me a lot to think about," Raiden Ryoma stood up from his seat and offered me a reassuring smile. "You should rest now, I'll be sure to notify the nurses to not disturb you for the rest of the day."

"Thank you," I smiled as Raiden Ryoma exited the room, leaving me alone with only my thoughts. Resting my head against the pillow of my bed, I mentally counted to ten to make sure that I was not going to be interrupted.

Though that didn't really matter as it didn't take long for my mind to drift into the realm of unconsciousness, where I was treated to yet another peculiar dream.

It was in the same place as my previous dream, expansive green plains with clear blue skies that didn't seem to end.

I expected my dreams to mark the end of a hectic day, I was very wrong about that apparently

Instead of drifting off into sleep I found myself sitting back in the seat of a familiar dark room with hanging multicolored quartz with the scent of burning candles…

And sitting directly opposite of the same purple haired woman I met last time I had been here.

"A joy it is," The woman moved her attention from the book she was reading and looked towards me, a small smile on her face. "To have you as my guest once more."

"So that wasn't some strange hectic dream then," I muttered as I took another look around the room that I had been mystically transported in once more, taking a much more critical look now that I knew this wasn't a strange dream. "And you weren't a figment of imagination, miss…"

She placed a hand on her chest before slightly bowing in her seat. "You may call me Black Swan." She introduced herself.

It wouldn't take a genius to know that wasn't her real name but I didn't find that I cared if it was. I had never seen or heard of this character before in Honkai Impact 3rd so even having a real name wouldn't really help me out all that much.

Which ultimately meant that right now I was in a situation that I was at a complete disadvantage in.

"I suppose you have questions for me?" The shawl wearing woman closed the book that she had been reading before she gave me her full attention. "Ask away, I shall answer them to the best of my ability."

I did not hesitate to jump on her offer. "Who are you?"

"One may call an observer of sorts, an archiver. I observe countless words and archive all that occurs during its many stories so that they will never be forgotten." She answered my question with no guarded tone or sorts.

That was good, it meant that she was more than amiable to answer my questions. "Worlds?" I asked.

"Yes worlds." She repeated as she pulled out a familiar deck of cards. I watched as she masterfully spread them out on the table between us, revealing the images of various worlds on them. "Worlds that lay far beyond your known universe. Worlds that are beyond your wildest imaginations. Worlds that may seem…out of this universe." She said that last part with a knowing smile directed at me.

"You know." Was all I said, knowing that she knew what I was referring to.

"Indeed I do." She confirmed as she swept her hand over the cards, each one she passed somehow disappearing until one remained at the center of the table. "Tis not a strange idea to encounter a soul of your circumstance in our vast universe. It's so rare however to find someone who can change a story so drastically by merely existing."

She flipped the sole card over to show an image of what looked to be an older self of myself in a white admiral's outfit. "Perhaps in another life you could have become a respectable Schicksal Captain, responsible for the Battleship Hyperion. Your role would be important in many events, though none would change the final chapter."

Her hand flipped the card again, revealing a different image on the other side. It was an outline of myself again yet with none of my features. It was looking at a marble, faceless clone of myself. "Yet I found myself at a loss of how drastic this story has changed, a rare scenario I assure you."

I could not help but raise my brow at her words. "You know what happens?"

"Know is a generous word my dear guest, I prefer the word 'surmise' to be a better term." She corrected as she waved her hand over the card once more, this time vanishing like the others and leaving nothing on the table. "Having observed so many stories of other civilizations it is no secret to me on how this story would've ended."

"A story about love, a story that was to end with love." She said with a wistful smile.

"And yet you enter the chapters of this unfolding story with an unexpected impact, changing the very narrative of an already interesting journey." She motioned to me with one of her gloved hands, eyes full of intrigue. "Consider my curiosity piqued."

"Were you the one responsible for saving me back there?" I asked.

"I'm afraid not," She shook her head. "As an observer I merely watch, I do not interfere."

"Then do you know who did it?" I pressed.

"Yes." She nodded simply.

"And who are they?" I added, a slight glare beginning to form on my face at how this was turning out now.

"That is not for me to say." She casually denied.

I opened my mouth to offer some sort of rebuttal for her nonchalance on how she was treating all of this.

"Before you say otherwise, allow me to impart some wisdom." She held her hand up, stopping me from speaking. "Once a secret is known it can never be unknown. What will you do when the answers you seek are not the ones you had hoped for hmm? What will you do when the answers you thought would bring you peace only give you more burden to carry?"

She slightly leaned forward, her hazel eyes twinkling like the rainbow quartz that were hanging in this room, as she continued to speak. "You know of the coming ordeals that you will face in the future, can you really afford the distractions that the answers you seek might give you?"

I opened my mouth to refute her claims that answers would hinder me but ultimately decided that she was in the right. She seemed to possess more knowledge than I did about the Honkai Universe and she had shown nothing but cordialship since the moment I had entered her abode.

And as much as I would like to believe that what meta knowledge I had would be enough to make it through, I knew deep down in my heart that would not be the case. I only needed to look toward my most recent encounter as proof.

"Worry not Haruto Nakamura," Black Swan was quick to assure me as she leaned back into her seat. "You shall know the answers to all your questions one day. Continue to walk forward, and discover more of the world you live in."

The shawl wearing woman snapped her fingers and like a spell casted upon me my eyelids began to grow dreary, signaling the end of our conversation.

"We shall meet again Haruto Nakamura. Your story continues to be written, and I am oh so curious to see what you shall encounter on your journey." The mysterious purple haired woman said as she pulled out her book once more.

A woman who had left me with more questions than answers, only the promise of them being answered

"And who knows? The answers you seek might not be as far away as you believed it to be."

Before I could fully process her final words a vision suddenly made its presence known in my mind that was slowly falling unconscious.

There was my child self pulling a girl with blond hair along with a big grin on his face. The girl that he was pulling along had a confused expression on her face "C'mon I wanna show you something!" He said excitedly.

"Not like I have anything else to do at the moment." The girl muttered with a small frown as she simply allowed the boy to pull her along. Just like the last memory I had there was nothing strange going on this memory, nothing special.

It just looked like two friends hanging out.

Yet another peculiar thing stuck out to me now, making me aware that these dreams I was having weren't anything as they seemed initially.

I did not have any recollection of the girl yet for some odd reason it felt like I knew her.

.

.

.

How strange.

It was late in the night at the Korean Schicksal Base when a ship landed on the airstrip. Rita was donned in her maid outfit as she approached the airship, flanked by two Immortal Blades.

The Vice Captain stopped right as the bay doors of the airship began to lower down and reveal a contingent of the Immortal Blades just waiting to get out of the airship that they were in and enjoy the nice cushioned beds of the base.

And the person leading the squad was…

"Durandal-sama," Rita bowed in greeting as the Captain of the Immortal Blades walked up to her, a tired but appreciative smile on her face.

"Rita," The S-Rank Valkyrie greeted in return

"Would you like any tea? Or perhaps dinner? Or maybe..." The maid teased as a mischievous glint took shape in her eyes. "You would like me~?"

"Some rest is what I would like," The blonde haired valkyrie answered as she all but deflected the question. In all her years of knowing Rita, Durandal was used to her friend's antics. The light brown haired valkyrie knew what teases could get you the most flustered, she would know.

She was on the receiving end of it the most.

"The Honkai Infestation was resilient, they had burrowed themselves quite deep into their nest but nothing we couldn't take care of." Durandal sighed tiredly as she saw how late it was. "If you could, could you debrief the Overseer on the mission? I wish to turn in for the night."

"Of course Durandal-sama," Rita accepted as Durandal walked past her. "I wish you only the sweetest of dreams."

The Captain of the Immortal Blades chuckled at the never breaking persona that Rita had. She truly didn't know how her friend was able to keep it up for most of the day. If she had to do that then she was going to take that persona and shatter it into a million pieces.

She greeted any of the base personnel she passed with a nod, careful not to show how tired she was. It would be improper of someone of her stature to show weakness after all, she was the top-ranked Valkyrie after all. She needed to be the beacon of hope for others in the war against the Honkai.

But as she made her way towards her room she couldn't help but wonder why she was so tired.

This wasn't normal for the S-Rank Valkyrie, if anything she should still have enough energy to complete another mission. She was sure that she didn't eat anything bad, Rita would never live with herself if she served anything that wasn't perfect and she didn't have any stomach problems throughout the day.

Opening the door to her room, Durandal just decided that maybe she just slept on the wrong side of the bed. Undressing out of her Bright Knight Excelsis Battlesuit and into the appropriate sleepwear before slipping under the covers of her bed.

Settling into a peaceful position on her bed, the number one ranked Valkyrie fell into a peaceful slumber as she found herself drifting into a dream.

Dreams were a rare occurrence for her, her circumstances made it almost impossible for her to have dreams as the moment she fell asleep she would just wake up the next morning ready for a new mission or some training.

And if she did have any dreams then they were a chaotic cluster of visions that she couldn't make any sense of. It was like taking multiple pieces of different puzzles and trying to make them form a complete set and after having two dreams of these distorted visions, she all but gave up trying to make sense of it.

She opened her eyes to suddenly find herself back in the Sea of Quanta, back in the place where she donned the name Durandal.

In a place as infinite as the Sea of Quanta, one would think that remembering a single place where multiple universes converged would be an impossible feat.

But for Bianca Ataegina, she remembered this place like she had been there since yesterday.

"So are you lost like me?" Her younger self asked as she approached a figure sitting by themselves on a rock, staring at the horizon as if searching for something.

The unknown figure turned around and her younger self took in all of the person's features. How they were masculine, the black hair that they had, the fact that they were almost the same age as she was.

But the one thing she noted above all else.

"I don't know, but Big Brother says that I'm in the right place. Says I just need to be patient for a bit longer." He said before turning around to face her with a smile. "Besides it doesn't matter because I have you with me for company!"

Were his hazel eyes.

Chapter Text

Time was slow during my recovery at the hospital, almost unbearable at times. For someone who had never been to the hospital for more than a couple of hours, staying there for an entire week was a whole different ordeal.

By day two of my stay there it felt as though the window was mocking me, taunting me with the beautiful outside world that was just waiting to be enjoyed. I could've taken a morning stroll through the streets or maybe get a nice meal at a cafe.

Yet I was confined to this hospital room.

The silver lining was that I at least had Kuro, Akihiro, and Sora to keep me company through most of my stay. Kuro was basically sharing the room with me while the other two tried to visit me whenever they were free.

Sora would ask me to play the games that she brought with her while Akihiro would often tell me what was happening in Nagazora. Even though I had a television that I could watch the news from, I felt much more comfortable getting it from the elderly man. Kinda like insider knowledge.

And from what he had told me, a lot had happened during the day that I had woken up in the hospital. For starters, Anti-Entropy had lended their assistance to help Ryoma Raiden keep the city safe.

And when I said assistance it wasn't like a verbal confirmation of assistance.

No it was, 'we will send our armies in to help fortify the city' sort of help.

The force that Anti-Entropy had sent was massive, so massive that it felt almost like an invasion from how many of their mechs were now patrolling the streets. Now police patrols had mechs assisting them in safeguarding the streets of Nagazora.

It was definitely quite a shocker the first time I had looked outside the windows to see the notorious AE mech standing on top of a rooftop on the opposite street. I was so caught off that the heart rate monitor soared. I had to assure the nurse that had frantically come in when the alarm went off that I was just caught by surprise by the mech's sudden appearance.

Seeing the mech in-game as opposed to reality was a surreal experience. My phone didn't do these mechanical weapons of destruction justice as you could tell that these were meant to be in wars just by a mere glance.

I was just weary seeing the machine with my own eyes.

It didn't come off as a shock when Akihiro had told me that everyone had also gotten apprehensive by the appearance of Anti-Entropy forces. It made everyone question just how bad the situation was if they needed AE to come in and help defend their city.

Raiden Ryoma was quick to assure the city that everything was under control and that with the help of Anti-Entropy they would soon find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

The people took his words with a grain of salt, they wanted to believe him but at the same time they weren't so sure that he could deliver on them so soon. At best they believed that they'd have to endure this atmosphere for a month before justice was dealt.

It was two days after his announcement, on a Thursday afternoon, when it was announced that they had found the culprits responsible for the attack on ME Corp. To say everyone was surprised was an understatement by how miraculous this all seemed.

It could take weeks to solve a murder case, yet Raiden Ryoma was able to find them in less than two days.

People were shocked that Raiden Ryoma and Anti-Entropy had worked so well together that they were able to catch the culprits with such astonishing efficiency. They celebrated that the worst had passed and they could continue to live their lives peacefully soon enough.

But as everyone celebrated justice being delivered, I knew that it wasn't true justice. After all, the true intruder was resting peacefully in her bed a couple of feet away from me.

When I had heard that the intruders had been caught, I really did believe that a SWAT team was about to break into my room. I thought that Raiden Ryoma had seen through my fabricated story and was going to arrest me for colluding with the real intruder.

Other than the false intruders getting thrown into jail, the only other thing I did was spend the entire week waiting to get discharged from the hospital.

School wasn't a problem as the principal had decided for the safety of their students that they should just suspend their operations for the entire week, having all students stay home just to be sure that even with the intruders locked up that the coast was clear.

Keji and Ishigami had visited the day after my admittance to the hospital. My fellow club member comically cried over my body as he kept repeating how he should've been there for me while our teacher just watched from a foot away.

I just awkwardly patted the back of my friend and thanked him for coming by to visit me. He wasn't the only person in our grade to visit me, mostly a few classmates that I was acquainted with.

And while I did know their names, I don't think I was friends with them. We were acquaintances at best but that didn't mean I was going to turn them away for trying to visit me.

Ishigami's reason for coming with Keji was to tell me that since we would be missing an entire week of clubtime, that they would make the most of that day playing some chess and getting our practice in.

This man must really love his chess.

But I wasn't complaining as more time playing chess meant more practice for me. While I wouldn't be doing any tactician duties anytime soon, it certainly didn't hurt to sharpen my mind to think like one.

My grandmother also took some time to visit me, while also giving me the biggest dressing down that I've ever received in my life. I couldn't tell if she was trying to scold me because I got hurt or how I had all worried when I hadn't come home and she only knew of my condition when Akihiro had called her.

I made sure to promise her that I wouldn't get into any trouble like this anytime soon. Though I knew that I didn't need to worry about that for a while seeing how Anti-Entropy was guarding the streets now.

Verbal confirmation didn't hurt though.

She wanted to stay to ensure that I was living comfortably in my room but she still had her duties as a landlady to attend to, especially now that she had to assure her tenants that everything was okay and that they didn't need to move out of the city.

I assured her that I didn't mind and that I was old enough to take care of myself, even with the fact that I had bandages covering my entire torso.

And then there was Mei, the last person to visit me on that Tuesday afternoon. She was the last to visit due to the fact that she had some club errands she needed to finish before the end of the day. She apologized for the fact that she had come just as sunset began and how she must've been a bother for interrupting my recovery at such a late time.

I quickly dismissed her worries by saying that she would never be a bother, and that it was me who should be concerned about being a bother for taking up her time. I couldn't imagine what sort of media she had to go through just to get inside the hospital.

Ever since my hospitalization, there was a persisting crowd of reporters that would not stop trying to get an interview with me. I silently thanked the guards for their never ending vigil to keep those reporters out of the hospital.

Just the thought of being in an interview was scary already, I didn't know how Mei could live with doing that almost every day.

The both of us made some idle talk about school and our personal lives before the visitor hours had ended. During the time that we were together I got to properly introduce her to Kuro, who didn't take as long as I did to recover.

Needless to say I saw a whole new side to Mei that day, who knew she could act so differently when you present a feline to her.

Maybe I needed to bring Kuro with me more often if I got to see this side of Mei. It was too cute to see the usually composed heiress fawning over the black feline just to see it once.

After days of recovering at the hospital, my doctor soon discharged me just at the end of the week. When they unwrapped the bandages that had covered my body, I was surprised by how effective the treatments were.

I was sure that I was going to walk away with some kind of scar or some blemish on my torso, yet it looked like I hadn't just had gotten slammed by Staker Carbon's metal chassis.

Speaking of Stalker Carbon, the fact that I had yet to get imprisoned by Schicksal either meant that they weren't interested in me or something had happened while I was out that messed with Stalker Carbon's memory, and I had a feeling that it related to Black Swan.

The shawl wearing woman definitely knew more than she was letting on, though that wouldn't help me much when I had no idea how to talk to her again. She definitely promised that we would meet again, though when that would be was all a big mystery.

It didn't help that I felt a tiny bit annoyed by just how secretive they were being. And as much as I wanted to vent my growing frustrations at them, it would just be a wasted effort and I knew that there had to be some big reason for it all.

And so Saturday came rolling by and I fully expected to spend the day at home, just relaxing on my couch as I spent the rest of the day either watching television or playing with Keji and [Haxor_Bunny] on Homu Fantasy Online.

Take advantage of the fact that I had a day that nothing hectic would happen to me. Live a normal teenager's life.

Get my mind off how close I had been to Death's doorstep.

Again.

"Is everything okay Nakamura-san?" Sato asked me as he drove the black limousine into the high-class district of Nagazora.

In the back of the limousine, I had an anxious smile on my face as I did my best to reign in my nerves. Facing death by the claws of Stalker Carbon seemed much more preferable than this right now.

Everything in this limousine felt too...high-class for me. From the leather covering the seats, to the drinks that I could help myself to, to the smooth detailing that went into creating this vehicle of luxury.

Even the air felt sophisticated for crying out loud!

"I-I'm doing okay," I answered back as I desperately wished that Kuro was here with me right now. The black feline was currently at Sora's place, and as much as I wanted to bring the cat with me.

I could not say no to Sora's puppy eyes.

You would need a heart of steel to say no to those eyes. I secretly laughed to myself at a joke that I just thought of. If we used her puppy eyes on the Honkai, then victory was good as ours.

"You'll do great," The driver reassured me as we began to pass by the houses of the elite that called this district home. I marveled at just how grand these homes were, it was like if you had taken them straight out of the movies.

"I'm guessing it's your first time meeting these kinds of people," He guessed as we soon pulled up to the most lavish of all the houses in the district.

The same house that the Raiden family called home.

"Y-Yeah," I dumbly replied as I took in the majesty that this house was. If the previous homes were what the elites lived in then this house was fit for a king!

And as the gate opened up to reveal a massive driveway flanked by two luscious gardens that were filled to the brim with purple flora, I thought back to how I even ended up in this situation.

"A project?" I repeated as Mei nodded her head in confirmation. We had been in the midst of talking about random things until the topic of school had been brought up.

"Yes, Ishigami-sensei decided that instead of taking the test, we would have a project with a partner." She handed me a paper detailing exactly what this 'project' was supposed to be about.

"It doesn't look too bad…" I trailed off as I read the paper from top to bottom. Project felt like the wrong thing to say here. It was more along the lines of a partner assignment that went into depth about a topic that he had given a list of in the guidelines.

"And it's not due for another week," I had to give props to Ishigami-sensei for that one at least. Even though he was the only teacher to actually assign work over the week, at least he was lenient with the due date.

And while I would say that was a bad thing, I sorta expected to have work to do over the week. Even if school had been cancelled, that didn't mean that the work had to end either.

But judging by Mei's words of how every other student reacted to the news, the life of an elite student was drastically different from that of a regular student's life. They didn't even get any work to do over the vacations!

"Wait a minute," I turned to look at Mei. "If this is partner based then how did you end up as my partner?" I asked as I knew that everyone in our class would give up their left leg just to have the chance to be her partner.

Mei merely smiled as she recalled what had exactly happened in the classroom that day.

"In light of the recent events, I have decided to cancel the test that we were going to have this week." Ishigami-sensei announced as looks of pure joy were on everyone's faces. Mei would not like to admit it but she too was happy that they would not have to take this test.

And just as everyone was about to announce their joy outloud to the world.

"Instead I will replace it with a partner project to make up the points that you would've missed out on." With just that one sentence, he brought the entire mood of the class down. They were still happy about the fact that they didn't need to do the test, but it did bring them down quite a bit that they now needed to do a project.

Akira Ishigami was unfazed by the sudden drop in atmosphere in his students as he continued onward. "If the students with the stacks of paper in the front row begin to pass the sheets to the people behind them."

As the project paper was starting to get passed back, one student in the front asked a question. "Uh Ishigami-sensei you said this was a partner based right?"

"Yes I did, what of it?"

"So we can choose any partner we want, right?"

And with the end of their sentence, Mei became aware of everyone's stare on her. It wasn't the first time that she had been on the receiving end of everyone's stares but she didn't think she would ever get used to the feeling of every detail about her being scrutinized.

"If you paid attention then you'll see that those who didn't receive a paper are sitting to the left of someone that does," He waved his hands towards them as the bell rang for the next period. "Figure it out yourselves," He said as picked up his items and left before he could be bombarded with questions.

As the other students talked amongst themselves about the project, Mei turned her gaze to the empty desk left of her.

She was quite happy with who her partner was.

"I see," I muttered as Mei finished recounting what had happened in the classroom. While I certainly wasn't complaining that Mei was my partner...

I certainly didn't feel all that great knowing that I would be getting closer to Raiden Ryoma. I knew that he had either decided that the real intruder of ME Corp was no longer a threat or that he was still on the lookout for the real one.

I certainly hoped that it wasn't the latter case.

"Well it would be smart if we did it as soon as possible," I began to think of the best time that we both could tackle this project to get it done with the best efficiency. "And since we'll be using the internet to talk to each other-"

My whole master plan revolved around using online communication to do this project. Even with the 'intruders' having been apprehended, authorities still urged people to stay home as much as possible for the week until they were absolutely sure that it was safe for people to be out.

And if we worked on this project through the internet, then there would be no need to accidentally be under Ryoma's radar. It was a fool proof plan! Now all I needed to do-.

"Actually I was hoping that you would come to my place so that we can do the project together," Mei interrupted me.

Was to watch my plan come crumbling down.

"But-" I turned to her to try and argue that it was unsafe.

"I'll be sure to talk with my otou-san about your arrival, he would be so delighted to know that you'll be coming to visit." The heiress flashed me that smile as I could feel myself freeze into place under its gaze.

The smile that meant she wasn't going to take no as an answer.

I could do nothing but stay frozen as Mei sweetly smiled as she stood up from her chair. "I'll be sure to tell Sato-san about your arrival, how does Saturday sound?"

"I-I u-uh yeah that sounds good," I barely managed to croak out.

Mei nodded happily before she left the room. As she left the room, I let out a giant sigh as I leaned back into my bed. I definitely wasn't seeing that coming, and from her of all people as well.

In the background, Kuro silently laughed as she witnessed her stupid human being caught so off-guard.

As my little recollection ended, my attention was soon drawn towards the two lavish gardens that flanked the sides of the driveway that Sato was driving down. If I had one word to describe the experience that I was having.

Surreal.

Yeah that was a perfect word to describe this place. Ever since I had entered the gates of the Raiden Estate, it felt as if I had entered a whole new world. The purple flora that decorated the gardens felt so outworldly.

It felt as if I had entered the realm of paradise itself.

"Yeah I had the same reaction as you did when I first laid my eyes on this place." Sato laughed as he looked in the mirror to see my gobsmacked expression. "Leaps and bounds compared to the other people that I've worked with."

"It feels like I'm about to meet the Shogun," I admitted as we began to draw nearer to the estate. Just like everything else that I've seen in this place, the massive manor was a sight to behold.

You could see the japanese influence just basically being flaunted here. It was as if Raiden Ryoma had gone back in time and taken the best architects that Feudal Japan had to offer and had them construct his house for him.

And while there were modern influences to the estate, it was still majority Japanese.

"And here we are Nakamura-san," Sato said as he parked us right in front of the estate. The driver looked back at me and offered me an assuring smile. "You'll do great,"

I gave him a nod of thanks before the door nearest to me was opened. Seeing that was my cue, I took hold of my bag and exited the limosuine.

Standing before the estate was something else I have to say, how it towered over me. I thought I had some idea how Mei had lived her life as a heiress.

Man was I wrong.

"Nakamura-sama," A maid descended the steps of the estate before bowing in front of me. "I am Ayaka, head maid of the Raiden Estate. Mei-sama is waiting for you in the hall, please follow me." She motioned me to follow and I allowed her to lead the way.

Two maids bowed their heads before they opened the doors of the manor and as Ayaka led me inside. I was treated to a sight of a rich purple carpet that was flanked by an assortment of maids and butlers.

"Welcome honored guest," They spoke in unison before simultaneously bowing in unison. For someone who's never been treated like royalty, let alone stepped inside a manor as luxurious as this one, this was the beginning of a day of many firsts.

"U-Uh, yes." I stuttered before doing the first thing that came to my mind and bowed myself. Wasn't sure if I was supposed to do that but it just felt right to do. "Thank you for having me."

They showed no reaction to my response and I feared that I had done something wrong, until Ayaka clapped her hands once. On command every butler and maid stopped bowing before they went back to whatever task that they had been doing beforehand, soon leaving just me and Ayaka alone in the room.

"This way," Was all the white haired maid said before she resumed leading me to where I assumed Mei was at.

As we made our way through the manor, I still couldn't help but in awe of what I was seeing. A little bit of me was envious of what Mei had growing up. I mean she got to live everyone's dream growing up like a figure of royalty.

Who wouldn't be jealous?

Yet as the head maid guided me through the manor, I made no attempt to try and have a conversation with her. Other than the fact that I had no idea what to say, it felt unnecessary to try and break the comfortable silence that we had going on.

Besides, it allowed me to focus more on the palace that Mei called home.

From the artistic paintings, to the rich mahogany wood that framed the windows, to the suits of samurai armor that stood guard in the hallways, to even the vases of exotic flora.

This was the epitome of high class living.

Soon enough Ayaka opened the doors of the hall to reveal Mei sitting at a table, her books stacked on top of each other as she was engrossed in reading a book. Off to the side was a tray of pastries alongside a porcelain pot of tea with two cups next to each other.

"I leave the care of Mei-sama to you Nakamura-sama," Ayaka bowed as Mei looked up from her book to see me on the other side of the room. With a smile she beckoned me over as the head maid bowed before she left the room, closing the doors.

Leaving the two of us together alone.

"Mei-san," I greeted as I walked over to her side of the room. "Or should I refer to you as your highness," I joked as we were both aware of how lavious her house was.

"Stop it Haruto-san, you're embarrassing me." She chided. I tried to lower myself on one knee to try and present myself like a knight would do but she was quick to see what I was doing.

"Haruto!" She yelled as she stopped me from performing the deed, though that did nothing to stop me from laughing at how ludicrous I had been. Soon enough she too joined my laughter as we just enjoyed how silly we were both being.

Like as if we were just two regular teenagers living their normal lives

And not two people that were fated to be soldiers in the war that preceded the current human history.

"You're not allergic to anything are you?" After taking a minute to calm ourselves, we took our respective seats. "I didn't know what you preferred so I had Ayaka-san prepare an assortment of delicacies."

"I think I'll be good," A small strand of drool left my lips as I marveled at the bounty that was laid before us. It was as if a master chef had personally cooked each piece.

I reached out and grabbed a random food item before plopping it into my mouth, resisting the urge to moan out my appreciation.

"That was so good," I made my appreciation known before immediately eyeing my next vict-, I mean meal for me to enjoy.

Project be damned, I'll spend the entire day eating this tray of food!

"Why don't you try some tea?" Mei offered as she held the teapot up, amusement in her eyes as she watched my behavior.

"Tea?" I inquisitively picked up the tea cup and marveled at the level of detail that went into this work of porcelain. "I'll admit that I don't drink tea much but what's the harm in trying it out?" I kept my hand stable as Mei began to pour me a cup of tea.

I was pleasantly surprised by how aromatic the purple tea was, giving out a surprised hum as I raised the cup to my lips and took a sip of the liquid. "This is really good!" I praised as I lowered my now empty cup to the table.

"Ayaka-san was the one introduce me to this blend of tea, I think she told me it was lavender mixed with some other tea leaves in it." She poured herself a cup of tea before setting the pot down. "It was also my cat's favorite tea to drink. Speaking of cats, where is Kuro?"

"Sora really wanted to have her over today and I couldn't refuse her request." I explained to her why the feline wasn't here. In truth I wanted to bring her here just for Mei but fate had other plans.

"Is that so," She took a sip of her tea. "Sora was the pink haired child I saw right?"

"The very same."

"Is that her natural hair color?"

"Oh no, she asked her ojisan to dye her hair pink for her birthday one time but they found out that he had accidentally used a permanent dye rather than a temporary one." I also had the same questions when I first noticed the fact that Akihiro's and Sora's hair color did not match up.

It could so easily have been that Sora could have inherited her mother's hair or pink hair was a thing in her family and it just skipped Akihiro's generation but I still had to ask.

"Oh my," Mei gasped. "Wouldn't she be mad?"

"Quite the opposite actually," I smiled as I recalled what Sora had explained to me. "She said that her hair being permanently turned pink was the best thing that had ever happened to her." Though the pink had sort of faded from its original hypercolor, it was still distinctive to be called pink.

Mei laughed as she poured a refill in each of our cups. "I don't think I would have the same reaction as her if my hair was permanently pink."

"But I think we should save this conversation for later," The heiress interrupted as she pulled one of her books in front of her. "Shall we start?"

I mirrored her actions as I brought out my own school books, "With hope we can finish most of this project before the end of the day." I flipped open to a blank page. "We should first start off with finding a topic to do this assignment on, got any ideas?"

"Well how about this?"

I looked over at what Mei had written in her notebook. The heiress had wasted no time in getting started. "I have no problems with it," I quickly began to copy down what she had done. "Let's continue with this idea until we hit a roadblock, if that's alright with you?"

Mei nodded in acknowledgement before we began to collaborate with each other on how we were going to finish this project.

"What about-"

"Sound's good, let me write this over here-"

"But the problem here would be-"

"I think this works for this area, let's move on to-"

"Haruto don't forget to add-"

"Thanks Mei, I almost forgot about-"

"Here's the work for this area, Mei could you check if-"

"Everything looks good here Haruto, now what about-"

"Would the young masters care for any refills or requests for the chef?"

"Um, if I could request whatever this apple fritter thing is, it's so delicious. How about you Mei?"

"Just a refill of the tea Ayaka-san."

"Of course young masters, I will soon be back with your refreshments."

Day soon gave way to night as I only noticed how much time we had spent working on this project. "Man we were so into it that I didn't even notice it was almost evening already." I leaned back into my seat, my sore back appreciating the soft cushions of the chair.

"But we were able to get most of the project finished," Mei mirrored my action, an appreciative sigh leaving her lips as she got herself comfortable.

"True," I closed my eyes as I thought back to how we worked together. Whoever was in the seat before me, you were truly lucky to have Mei as an assignment partner.

Aside from the fact that she lived in this manor fit for kings, she was nothing but attentive throughout the time that we were working. There was no fooling around, no meaningless five minute breaks, no reason to do anything other than the task at hand.

She was the person that every group project hoped to have on their team.

Yet while she was sure that we both stayed on track, as time passed on I got to see Mei slowly relax herself. A different side to her that I don't think I haven't seen yet.

Mei still acted as she usually did, yet there was a small but noticeable change in her demeanor that I couldn't help but notice.

It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off her back, like she could finally relax. Even if we were in the midst of doing our project, that didn't stop her from laughing at the little jokes I would crack here and there.

And to my surprise she cracked a few of her own jokes.

Apparently she also had a massive sweet tooth. I can still remember the surprise when I saw the amount of pastries that she had piled up on her plate.

"What?" She looked at me with such a confused expression as she held a half eaten scone, as if this was completely normal for her.

You learn something new everyday.

"Shall I call Sato-san to drive Nakamura-sama back to his residency?" Ayaka asked as she began to pick up the empty pot and tray that we had finished.

"Yes please call him, it is rather unfortunate that our time must be cut short." Mei answered as she began to clean up her books.

"Right away Mei-sama, I will come back once Sato-san is ready." Ayaka left to get the driver ready.

"If the events of this week hadn't happened I would've loved to have you here for an extra hour or two," Mei looked to me with a hopeful smile. "This would've been a perfect opportunity to have you start on your kendo training."

Oh yeah that, I totally forgot about that. "Well if things finally die down this week then maybe I could visit here another time. Maybe next week will be good for you?" I offered. My doctor had told me that I just needed a week of rest so I was good to put my body through kendo.

"Yes that sounds perfect," Mei nodded in confirmation. "I'll be sure to notify my otou-san and Sato-san about it then."

"Speaking of your father I was sure I was going to meet with him from our talk on Tuesday, where is he right now?" I curiously asked.

"He's in a meeting with some people from Anti-Entropy," She explained. "From what he told me it was a last minute meeting that he could not refuse."

So did that mean Anti-Entropy was in the manor this very second? If that was the case then I was very glad that I was leaving soon. I did not want to tempt fate by staying a second longer than I needed to.

Thankfully it did not take Ayaka long to call Sato as she was already opening the door. "Nakamura-sama, your ride is ready."

"So I guess this is it," I stood up from my chair and slung my bag over my shoulder. I turned to Mei and said my farewells. "I'll see you back at school."

"Have a good night Haruto."

"And you as well, Mei." I responded in kind before I left the room and followed Ayaka as she guided me back to the front of the manor.

As we walked through the halls of the Raiden Manor, a content smile on my face. Nothing crazy happened today, no sudden appearances, no special events happening, no strange interactions took place.

It was just a normal day of two classmates working on a project together.

"So that's him," Cerulean blue eyes watched as the red headed teenager that caused such a stir in her friend's city stepped into the black limousine before it drove away. "He doesn't look that remarkable."

"Yet he was involved in Rita's assignment," Raiden Ryoma commented as he walked up to where his friend was watching from his study's window. "Looks aren't everything, you of all people should know that Einstein."

The head scientist of Anti-Entropy only shrugged her shoulders as she watched the estate's front gate open before the limousine drove out of her view. "If you suspect him so much, why haven't you thrown him into jail?" The light blue haired scientist glanced at the CEO. "After all we both know that the intruders you threw into jail aren't exactly the people you're looking for."

Raiden Ryoma just sighed as he went over to his desk, taking a second to look at the photo of his family before sitting down. "It's not like I can throw him into jail, he has an alibi in the form of that young child who warned the authorities. He also has an alibi during the time that ME was infiltrated."

Einstein left her spot near the windows as she walked to the side of his desk. "And I suppose that it would be easier to craft evidence for two random people than it would be to get him into jail."

"I have talked with the young man myself, he has nothing to hide. Everything that he told me was the truth." Ryoma leaned back into his chair. "Where is Tesla? I thought that she was coming with you?"

"It was a last minute change," She explained. "Personnel at The Deep became alarmed when their sensors began to act up, Tesla went over to check and make sure that everything was under control."

"You don't think it's the Honkai acting up? " Even if it had been some years since the 2nd Honkai Eruption and both Anti-Entropy and Schicksal had effectively recovered from their losses, they could never predict how destructive the next Herrscher could be.

Einstein sighed. "I don't know, for all we know it could be just the Sea of Quanta acting up. It's rare but it's not impossible for energy fluctuations to suddenly ripple through that dimension. Though it would be the first time our sensors would react so violently to it."

Ryoma raised his eyebrow. "When exactly did this happen?"

"The same night that Rita attacked that red head," She answered. "Apparently that was when the biggest fluctuation hit the base, the energy behind it knocked out the communication arrays which is why their report was delayed."

That was a...grim coincidence.

"Anything from Welt?" He asked, yet he knew the answer to it when he could see the faintest emotion of sadness flicker across Einstein's face. "Is he still doubting that he won't be able to be the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy?"

"The 2nd Eruption took a toll on many people, Joachim was one of them." She bitterly remembered the years of rehab the Herrscher of Reason had to undergo in order to even be able to use his powers again, and even then he still couldn't use it like he had once before.

And the knowledge that he would never be back at full strength was a bitter pill for him to swallow.

"I know the day will come when he will take up his mantle once more, but for now all I can do is trust him."

"Where is he right now?" Ryoma asked. "Isn't he supposed to be undercover at St. Freya as a teacher right now?"

Einstein shook her head. "That was the plan originally but...there were some complications when we discovered a certain scientist working directly under Principal Theresa."

This was new, someone that had Einstein concerned was not a good sign. "Is he dangerous?"

"Not exactly, you won't know him as you two have never personally met but Tesla and I have a long, complicated history with him. He will most definitely figure out Welt's true identity if he goes in with his current credentials, so he's currently at Caltech making sure his resume is as convincing as it can be."

Secrecy wasn't something that Einstein resorted to but if she said the mission would fail then all he could do was trust in her. "I guess I'll take your word on it but tell me more about this mystery scientist."

"There's not much to tell, he's blind to anything relating to human socialization but when it comes to the battlesuits no one can rival him in that field." Einstein explained before she glanced at some of the pictures that were on Ryoma's desk.

Most importantly, the photo had both father and daughter standing in front of the gates of Chiba Academy. A powerful well of emotions began to bubble in the scientist, not because of Raiden and his daughter…

But the place that the photo was taken at.

"How is he?" She asked with a surprising soft tone.

Ryoma knew who she was talking about, they didn't leave on the best of terms after all. "He's doing well, I've heard that he's taken some students in."

"That's good, I was so concerned that the way he left would affect his view on life. If that happened then I could only blame myself for that outcome." Her phone buzzed with a notification.

[ Hey Mophead, All done over here at The Deep. The sensors all needed to be replaced but all of them are up and running now. I'll be heading back to the base right now. ]

[P.S Grab me some takoyaki before you leave :) ]

Classic Tesla, Einstein couldn't help but smile at her fellow scientist's antics. "Well I'll be heading back now," She walked over to the door. "Be sure to update me if the situation changes."

"Send my regards to Tesla and Welt," He called out.

"Only if you send my regards to him."

"You know that I am barely on speaking terms with him," He reminded her.

Einstein just shrugged her shoulders. "Far better than the terms that me and Tesla are on with him." She gave him a single wave before she exited his study.

Raiden sighed as he relaxed into his study chair, his back aching from all the work he had done today. As much as he would love to call it a night, he had other things to finish up. Maybe he'd call Ayaka to cook him something for dinner, the head maid knew what dish would hit just right.

His phone began to buzz with an unknown caller id. That was strange, he knew that he had listed the contact names of every person that he had given his number to.

So who was calling him?

Bringing the phone up to his ear, he decided to answer the caller. "Hello?" He answered cautiously.

"Hey Ryoma, what's up!" A cheery voice greeted him.

His eyes widened in shock as he recognized the person that was on the other side of the call. "S-Siegfried?!"

"The one and only!" Somewhere in the Amazon Jungle, the male Kaslana stood atop the burning corpse of a Honkai Beast that had been stirring up some trouble for some natives. Nothing that he couldn't take care of though.

The Judgement of Shamsah still flickered with its divine flame even as it was impaled in the hide of the honkai beast, the Kaslana using his only arm to hold up the phone to his ear. "So I know this is out of the blue and whatnot but…"

"I was hoping I could cash in that favor you owe me."

Chapter Text

After living a hectic two weeks in Nagazora, I was convinced that everyday was going to throw me something new that I would have to deal with. Then that would somehow evolve into something even worse later down the road with no end in sight.

Hell I was convinced that by the end of this semester I'd be fighting the Final Herrscher all by myself.

So two days after my visit to the Raiden Estate and school resumed its operations, I was expecting the worst.

The moment that I had taken a seat at my desk I was besieged by my classmates as they crowded around my desk, all asking what I went through.

"Are you okay Haruto-san?!"

"I heard that they were convicts that escaped from jail, is that true?"

"It must have been scary fighting them all alone."

"Hey next time, call me and I'll show those punks who's boss."

I merely smiled and thanked each one of my classmates for their worries about me and that I was recovering nicely now. It felt kinda nice to be the center of attention but it sure was exhausting to deal with them all.

"Must be tough," Mei looked at me knowingly as everyone dispersed and went back to their respective seats.

"I don't even know how you can deal with this," I moaned tiredly as I rested my head on the desk. The first class hadn't even started and I already wanted to go back home and take a nap. "I just wanna curl up into a ball right now and take a nap."

The heiress simply smiled as the first teacher of the day walked into the classroom, greeting everyone a good morning before the lecture began. Even if everything seemed to be acting like normal, I still couldn't help but feel on edge.

After all I was jumped at a grocery store by an S-Rank Valkyrie, I could so easily have to fight for my life once more. Maybe this time I'd fight a Judgement Class Honaki Beast if fate really wanted to mess with me.

So as the day continued on, I was merely waiting for something to happen.

Anything.

Yet as I walked down the steps of Chiba Academy, the sun was already setting and Keji was walking alongside me. My fellow club member was catching me up on some shenanigans he and [Haxor_Bunny] had been up to while I was out.

"You should've been there when he realized that [Haxor_Bunny] was actually on our team!" The chess nerd laughed as I lightly laughed in response.

"It sure must've been something to see," I mused, my mind still currently occupied on the fact nothing crazy had happened.

Maybe today was just my lucky break.

"Hey Keji want to grab some food? I've been craving some burgers lately."

"Sure! I know a great place that has the best burgers!"

Letting Keji lead the way, I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Though maybe that could change in a week.

6 days later.

"Are you okay Haruto?" Mei asked worryingly as I removed the kendo helmet from my face, taking in deep breaths of air as beads of sweat rolled down my face.

"Yeah," I nodded as I sat myself on the floor of the dojo, taking a deep chug of water to quench my thirst. "Being on the opposite end of your bokken is something else."

Mei didn't seem convinced by my answer. "Are you sure? We can take a break if we're moving too quickly."

I just waved off her concern as I sat back up and placed my helmet back on. "Just give me some time to adjust and I'll be good," I drew my bokken in the ready position. "Give me your best shot."

The heiress just shrugged her shoulders as she settled into her own ready position, her grip on her bokken was much more confident than mine.

"Maybe something crazy will happen in the next few days," I thought before the next thing I knew was Mei's bokken approaching my head as I resisted to scream out like a little girl as the wooden sword was about to come into contact with my helmet.

1 week later.

"Haruto you're getting distracted," Ishigami chided as he moved a chess piece forward.

"Sorry," I apologized as I moved a piece forward. "It's just that I've been on edge for the last two weeks, I'm expecting something to happen."

"Something similar to what happened to you during your nightly grocery run?" The lab coat wearing teacher raised an eyebrow as he moved a rook to take out a bishop.

"I know that it's strange of me to keep on worrying but it's just that the attack came out of nowhere and-" I was cut short when in a surprising twist the chess grandmaster tipped his queen over, forfeiting the match.

"Many would have put that ordeal behind them by now, add in the fact that Anti-Entropy stills patrol the city would all but quell such thoughts." Ishigami smiled at me as he began to arrange his pieces.

"But not you, and that is a good thing."

"How is that a good thing?" I questioned as I began to mirror my teacher and started to arrange my own pieces. "If anything I sound like a paranoid man right now."

"There is no harm in worrying about the potential dangers that you might face, but it is foolish for that worry to consume your every waking thought." Ishigami looked at the clock that hung in the clubroom.

"However it is good that you are proceeding with caution, I do not believe that fate is not done with you yet."

"Fate?" Now that was surprising, I had always assumed that my teacher was one to value logic and facts over something like fate. "You didn't strike me as someone who believed that fate exists."

"I do not believe that all of our lives are already preordained." He assured me as he leaned back into his chair. "The notion that no matter what you do is useless as you will wound up back on the plan that fate has for you is a foolish one."

"However I do believe that some people are destined to live much more complicated lives than other people." He looked at me and I couldn't help but shudder at how intense his eyes were looking at me.

"A-And you think I'm one of those people?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Whether or not you are one of those people remains to be seen, who's to say that grocery attack is a fluke and you'll continue to live a normal highschool life?" Ishigami questioned. "Or maybe this is all but just the tip of the iceberg?"

I made no comment as I knew the answer to his question was that of the latter, and that made me uncomfortable with what he was implying.

Cause if that was just the beginning, I did not want to know what it snowballed into.

"Regardless of what happens, you should enjoy this peace and quiet right now." The teacher had an assuring smile on his face. "You should go home now, relax. Keji should be back now anytime soon and I know he would not pass up an opportunity to play some more chess with me."

He left no room for argument so I did the only thing that I could, "I'll see you tomorrow then Ishigami-sensei." I bowed before I picked up my bag and left the room.

Relax huh?

Wouldn't hurt to try and cut back a bit.

One month later.

"I was told that if I tried to drink that much, I'd be in the hospital for the entire night." Akihiro loudly proclaimed as he slammed his beer can onto the wooden dinner table, a flushed pink colored his cheeks as he grinned from ear to ear.

"But ojisan," Sora interrupted as she took a sip from her drink. "You did spend the night at the hospital."

"Sora!" Akihiro cried out. "You weren't supposed to tell them that!"

My grandmother only laughed in response to his failed attempt at storytelling. "Even if Sora never said anything, I would have called you on your bluff." She took a quick drink of her respective beer. "You think that I wouldn't know if my record there had been dethroned now did you?"

"You guys sure are getting super into it," I deadpanned as I casually brought my spoon to my lips. It wasn't super uncommon for Akihiro and Sora to join us for dinner, hell I was sure now that it had become a weekly thing now.

Kuro just meowed from the side as she continued to enjoy her meal in front of her.

"Haruto-niichan," Sora looked up at me with her wine red eyes. "Would it be alright if Kuro came over tomorrow?"

I merely reached up and ruffled her hair, to which I got an adorable pout out of. "Of course, anything for my imouto."

"If you wanted a little sister, all you had to do was say so." My grandmother smirked. "I'm sure your mother and father wouldn't mind some good ole action again."

"Obasan?!" I cried out indignantly as I covered Sora's ears. It didn't help that my cheeks were red with embarrassment. "There are children present!"

"I don't see what the problem with that is." She just shrugged her shoulders as if revealing the birds and bees to a five year old child was nothing to be worried about.

"Nii-chan, what does she mean by 'action'?"

"Uh...ask Akihiro-san. He can explain it to you much better than I can."

"HUH?! Why are you passing it down to me?!"

"Hahaha! Yes Akihiro-san, I too am interested in what you will say about-"

"You can shut the hell up Akane-san!"

"Why don't you come make me?"

"Why you-"

"For the love of-"

Yet as chaotic as the dining room table had become, I couldn't help but smile.

This was bliss.

2 months later.

Who would've thought huh?

Ever since getting jumped by Carbon Stalker, I always assumed that my life would be a hectic mess. One crazy event after the other. I fully believed that I was going to die before even finishing the semester.

And yet…

"Remember that winter break is not a time for you to slack off, I expect each and every one of you to brush up on your knowledge before coming back to school." Ishigami reminded everyone as he looked at our class.

"But it goes without saying, do enjoy your break to the fullest." He picked up his stuff and left before the final bell of the fall semester rang out, with it the commencement of the long awaited winter break.

I somehow managed to survive one semester at Chiba Academy.

As our teacher took the final step to leave the classroom, the entire class broke into celebration as the worst was finally over.

"Finally it's over!"

"I've been dreaming of this moment ever since that first test!"

"The nightmares! They're finally over!"

"You got any plans for the break!"

"I'm going on a cruise with my family, how about you?"

"We're visiting England!"

"Korea for me!"

I couldn't help but shake my head as I overheard my fellow classmates trade their plans for the vacation. "And how about you princess?" I asked my seat partner. "Any exciting plans for you over the break?"

Mei just shook her head. "I'm afraid not, it's quite hard to go anywhere when your father is the CEO of one of the biggest corporations. The paparazzi is quite relentless so I spend most of my time at home during these breaks."

"Not even a little trip to another country?"

"Not this year, though I do hear that Paris is quite an interesting place to visit around this time." The heiress looked over at me. "How about you Haruto? What plans do you have for the winter break?"

"Oh you know," I began to pack my stuff into my bag. "I plan on heading back home with my obasan, catching up with my family while spending Christmas and New Years there as well."

"I forgot that you didn't live in Nagazora originally. What is your hometown like if you don't mind me asking?" Mei asked as she began to do the same.

"Well it's nothing too significant there." I explained as I thought back to the place that I had grown up in. "We're not known for anything hugely significant, the only thing that I can think of that can make us stand out is our festivals."

"Is that so?" She asked as we both sat up from our desks and began to walk through the halls of the academy. As far as the eye could see there were groups of classmates talking amongst each other, discussing the plans that they had to enjoy their break.

"I mean we have this japanese shrine but it's been in disrepair for as long as I can remember," I thought back to the creepy shrine that sat abandoned in my hometown. No one dared to clean it up as the rumors of murderous ghosts living there deterred anyone from doing so.

"We have a shrine here as well, you should visit it sometime." We soon exited the building as we walked towards the front gate of the academy, snow dusting the city of Nagazora.

"Maybe during Golden Week, we can visit the shrine." I smiled when I noticed her black limousine parked right in front of the gates, the driver side window open to reveal her driver drinking a coffee.

"Ah Nakamura-san," Sato greeted as he lowered his coffee down. "I wish you a very relaxing winter break."

"And to you as well, Sato-san." I responded in kind before looking at Mei.

"Well I suppose this is where I say see you Spring."

"Yes, I hope you have a great break Haruto." She smiled at me and I couldn't help but mirror the same action

"Likewise Mei," I watched as Mei stepped into the limousine and stood there as the sleek black vehicle pulled into traffic.

After watching the vehicle pull into the street, I turned the other way and began my walk home. "Haruto!" Mei's loud voice stopped me in my tracks as I looked behind me to see the purple haired sticking her head through the limo's windows, waving at me.

"Have a good winter break!"

I chuckled at that as I began to wave back at her. "You as well!" I yelled back before the limousine soon drove out of my field of vision.

Bringing my hand down and ignoring the strange looks I was getting from the people around me, I turned my body back around and began to walk back to my apartment, a content smile on my face.

Because soon enough…

"Kaa-san, Otou-san," I greeted as I stepped out of the car, bracing my body as it became sandwiched between their hugs. I looked up to see the home that was the same as it was when I left for Nagazora.

"Oh my baby boy," My mother cried as she tightened her hold on me. "I'm so sorry we couldn't go to Nagazora when news of your injury reached us."

"It's fine," I mumbled into their arms as I pushed my head further into their arms, missing the familiar feeling of being held by them. "I missed you all a lot."

"We feel the same son," My father tightened his hug around me.

"Oh is this a family group hug?" My grandmother soon butt her way into the hug as she wrapped her arms around us. "Count me in!"

"Kaa-san!" My mother protested.

"I don't know about you but I'm starving!" She began to push us towards the house, despite the fact that she was pushing three people by herself. "Driving from Nagazora sure takes a lot out of you, I hope your fridge is stocked!"

"Is that so Kaa-san?" My mother deadpanned as we all separated from the group hug but still made our way to the door. "I thought you agreed to stop drinking for your health."

"Paah, the alcohol has never made me feel more alive," She dismissed before wrapping her arm around my shoulders. "If anything the beer has made me younger, right Haruto?"

"I make no comment," Was all I said before my bag began to tussle with activity as Kuro popped her head out, meowing for the whole world to hear.

"Is this…" My mother took the feline into her arms before cooing at the cat. Kuro for her part was indifferent as she just laid in the arms of the woman who had the same colored hair as her stupid human.

"Yeah this is the cat that I adopted," I confirmed as Kuro let out a meow of confirmation.

"Why don't we head inside before the food gets cold?" My father offered. "You can tell us everything that happened to you at Nagazora while we eat. I'm sure there's a lot you wish to tell us."

"That sounds good," I nodded as I could feel my stomach grumble in agreement. You just couldn't beat good old fashioned home cooking.

"Well what are we waiting for!" My grandmother cheered as we made our way inside the house. Taking the first step back into the home, I took in a deep breath as I refamiliarized myself with the place that I grew up in.

It was good to be home.

3 weeks later.

"Haruto!" My mother yelled as I placed a folded shirt into my suitcase. "Are you almost done packing up!?"

"Just finishing up!" I yelled back before looking at the pile of clothes that I needed to finish packing into my suitcase.

"Well once you're done go to sleep early! You have a long drive ahead of you back to Nagazora, remember!" She reminded me.

"Of course Kaa-san, good night!" I said as I could hear my mother's footsteps getting lighter and lighter, probably heading back to her room.

"Time flies fast doesn't it Kuro?" I looked back at the black feline sleeping on my bed, who yawned at me before curling up into a ball. Seems she too wanted to get as much rest as possible before our trip back to Nagazora.

"Still," I mused as I looked up at the ceiling, recalling everything that I did in my hometown. "Even if our break was only for three weeks, it feels like I've spent only half of that time here."

Besides catching up with my family, I didn't do much otherwise. I took Kuro to any notable places that I could think of, though there wasn't much to show. Besides the abandoned shrine that was here, the next notable landmark was my old school.

And speaking of my old school, reuniting with my previous classmates was weird to say the least.

Leaving for Chiba Academy had created a rift between everyone I knew, a rift that made any interaction awkward.

It was all by chance as well. I had been shopping at the grocery mart for a quick snack when I ran into a group of classmates that I used to be particularly close with. I gave them my greetings but was surprised when only one of them gave me a meek wave back.

Attending an Elite school like Chiba Academy seemingly made me an outcast to them now, as if I had become a different person by attending the academy.

And to an extent that was true, the things that I learned at my time at Nagazora did change who I was before.

But it still hurt to see that the people I had been somewhat close to just ignored my presence.

"I wonder what this spring semester will bring?" I wondered as I finished folding the last article of clothing. Pausing, I thought back to the peaceful weeks that had followed my hospitalization at the claws of Stalker Carbon.

It was like I hadn't gotten myself involved in the crazy war that was fought in the shadows, like I hadn't almost died to the 2nd ranked S-Rank Valkyrie.

The prospect of having to encounter that all over again in a new semester was terrifying to even think of.

"Enough Haruto," I patted my cheeks to make me steer away from such negative thoughts. "Focus on getting yourself ready to go back to Nagazora, then we can worry about the future."

Pushing away any thoughts of what might happen, I put all of my attention in getting my stuff ready for the trip back. Luckily all I had to do was place some folded clothes back in my suitcase before I could tuck in for the night. Soon enough I found myself under the covers of my bed, the lights already turned off, prepared to drift off into sleep.

Yet I found myself unable to sleep, instead I found myself absentmindedly staring up to the ceiling of my bedroom, deep in thought as I reflected on all that had happened to me during the past semester.

Learning that I had been reincarnated into the Honkai Impact 3rd Universe.

Befriending Mei Raiden.

Getting roped into the affairs of Anti-Entropy, The World Serpent, and Schicksal.

Getting into danger due to said association.

However despite all the hectic events that I had survived that wasn't what was weighing so heavily on my mind currently.

"C'mon Big Brother!" The first memory of what I assumed to be my younger self from my old life replayed through my mind. When I had seen this first memory I had initially thought nothing of it. It was only natural that I would remember some snippets of my previous life.

But I quickly took back that dismissal once I saw more of these 'memories' in my dreams after that harrowing night of being chased by Rita's Stalker Carbon. These dreams included certain things that I knew I never had or had any memory of.

A big brother.

A blonde girl that I had no recollection of but seemed to be so familiar with at the same time.

"That's enough of that Haruto," I mentally chided myself as I closed my eyes. "Thinking of it too much won't get us anywhere. We have a long day tomorrow so let's get some sleep shall we?"

Fortunately my subconscious agreed as I quickly found myself drifting off to sleep. In my dreams I didn't encounter any more peculiar scenes of my younger self. Instead I dreamed of a sword sheathed in a stone, the metallic surface of the blade seemingly glowing with light.

"Don't worry! You just have to wait a bit longer and you'll know more! Big Brother promised it and he doesn't lie on his promises!"

Winter soon gave way to Spring.

Cold gave way to warmth.

Wilted green soon blossomed into vibrant flora.

The start of a new beginning.

And with it the start of Chiba Academy's spring semester.

"You're late Haruto?" Mei said in disbelief as I gave a grunt of acknowledgement to her as I took my seat.

"Had to help someone in obasan's apartment move some stuff, my neighboring tenant is moving out and they needed some last minute things moved out before the new tenant's things were put in." I explained as I groaned tiredly.

"Also I accidentally overslept which meant that I woke up later than usual." I began to take my stuff out of my bag, but not without noticing the empty seat to the right of me.

"Hey Mei," I pointed to the empty desk. "What happened to Sakamoto-san?"

"Ah he had to relocate cities," The heiress explained. "Something relating to his parent's job at my father's corporation."

Huh that was strange.

"Is someone taking his spot?" I asked, a sudden feeling of trepidation filled me when I looked back at the empty seat. Oh god the deja vu was acting up now.

"I think-" Whatever Mei was going to say was interrupted as our first teacher of the day walked into the classroom.

"Good morning everyone, welcome back for your spring classes." Our teacher greeted us as she walked up to the front, setting down her stuff. "However before we begin today's class I have an announcement to make."

"Due to Sakamoto-san's departure this class has an opening for a new student," She motioned to the door. "I want you all to meet-"

"ME!" A voice suddenly called out as the student slid through the open door, stopping right in front of the classroom.

"Kiana Kaslana!" The white haired transfer student introduced with a wide grin on her face. "Nice to meet you!"

Every student in the class burst out into laughter at her introduction, even Mei cracked a few laughs at Kiana's behavior. In the back Midori suddenly started to choke on her spit when she heard the transfer's name.

And I?

Oh god I was having a full internal meltdown when I saw Kiana's face. I didn't even need to wait for an introduction to know who she was.

Her face is on the goddamn Honkai Impact Icon for crying out loud! Who wouldn't recognize her!?

"Nakamura-san," My teacher suddenly shifted her attention onto me. "Kiana has none of the materials to do classes for today, may I ask you to share your books with her for today?"

"U-Uh hai." Was my automatic response, not trusting my brain in fear of saying stupid instead. I was barely aware of the fact that I was already moving my desk right next to Kiana's desk.

Which just so happened to be next to mine!

Kiana flashed me a grin as she took her seat, the ever so iconic Kaslana smile on full display. "I hope we get along, senpai!"

Oh god someone kill me now.

Omake/Extra Scene: Happy Birthday to...whoever you are

"Haruto you're going to miss the countdown!" My mother yelled as I closed the door to my room.

"Be there in a sec!" I yelled back as I walked up to my desk and placed a tiny box on top of it. "Just got to finish something!"

I was alone in my room, Kuro was downstairs with the family as the countdown to New Year's was just a minute away. I knew that I should be down there with them to celebrate the new year but something within me just pushed me to do…

This.

I carefully opened the tiny box to reveal a chocolate fudge cupcake, a single candle on top of it. I had been in the midst of buying some last minute things for this New Year's Party when a sudden urge overtook me, that I needed to celebrate someone's birthday.

Words could not describe how I knew this but I just had this feeling to celebrate this person's birthday.

Even if I didn't know the name of the person whose birthday I was celebrating.

"So uh," I lit the candle up, watching the flame flicker on top of the cupcake. I smiled just as the New Year's Timer hit zero, fireworks being fired into the sky as I said my piece.

"Happy birthday." Fireworks erupted in the background as I blew the candle out.

Meanwhile…

"Durandal-sama?" Rita asked with concern as she saw the Captain of the Immortal Blades looking away from the firework display that was taking place at the Schicksal Base.

"Ah it's nothing Rita," Durandal responded as she turned to face her dear friend, a chocolate fudge cupcake in hand. She looked down to the cupcake in her hands, a smile on her lips as she took a bite of the delicacy.

"I've just received the best birthday gift I could ever ask for."

Chapter Text

Kiana Kaslana.

Or rather K-423, Otto's science experiment of merging the genes of the original Kiana Kaslana and those of Sirin, Herrscher of the Void.

She was the character that would be at the epicenter of the Honkai Universe, every action that she did would affect the fates of everyone else around her.

Her journey would not be a kind one to her, but the development that she underwent turned her from a naive Valkyrie, into a Valkyrie that would have made her Kaslana heritage proud.

I knew that Kiana was a bit of a 'loose cannon' for lack of a better term. She was spunky but lighthearted and didn't hesitate to say what was on her mind. Her academic skills were less than stellar but her combat skills more than made up for it.

Though in this case I had hoped that her academic skills weren't that bad.

After all, she somehow got into Chiba Academy so that meant she had some merit.

Right?

I looked to my right to see Kiana humming a tune to herself as she doodled on her paper, completely uninterested in whatever the teacher was lecturing about. There hadn't even been an attempt to try and take some notes, the moment that our teacher had opened his lips she had completely spaced out.

Though I had to give credit where credit was due. She did try and make an attempt to listen and take some notes early on in the day, though towards the end that mentality was all but forgotten.

And from what I remembered the notes she had done were actually good enough to study off of. Clearly she knew how to take good notes. The problem just lied with the fact that Kiana had absolutely no interest in taking it seriously.

Most people would be annoyed by Kiana's behavior but it didn't affect me as much as I thought it would. There was a certain charm to Kiana's antics, sure it got on my nerves at times but I couldn't bring myself to stay mad at the Tuna that was Kiana.

Though…

"Couldn't she have picked someone else's class to doodle in?" My eyebrow twitched as Kiana continued to doodle on her paper. Why did she have to choose Ishigami's class out of all of the classes to space out in?!

"As you can see if the center of a very massive star collapses in on itself, what follows is the phenomenon known as Black Hole." The lab coat wearing teacher finished drawing his diagram of a black hole, pointers throughout the diagram showing different tidbits of information.

He turned around to scan the classroom before his eyes eventually fell on the unsuspecting Kaslana, who was all but unaware of the danger that she was in.

"Kaslana-san," The sudden attention tore Kiana's attention from her doodling, her eyes like that of a deer caught in headlights. "Since you seem to be so focused on your note taking, can you tell me who was the one to originally discover gravity?"

And just like that Kiana discovered the menace that was Akira Ishigami. Sitting right next to her I could just see her eyes frantically darting across the room, as if some corner of the classroom would hold the answers that she needed.

It was quickly apparent that she didn't know the answer, whispers began to break out between the students.

"Ishigami-sensei strikes again."

"You can't help but feel bad for her."

"He's so about to rip into her, this is going to be good."

"Better her than me, I wasn't paying attention either."

Hearing the whispers of our fellow classmates, I couldn't help but sigh before elbowing the Kaslana as discreetly as possible. Luckily since our desks were merged side by side no one noticed my elbow hitting hers.

"Huh?" She looked at me confusingly before her eyes wandered down to my paper, where I was furiously circling the answer with my pencil.

Come on Kiana, take the hint and answer the question before I get busted!

"Issac Newton!" She declared triumphantly as I sighed in belief. At least she was able to pick up the hint.

"...Correct," Ishigami relented, but not without shooting me a look that I just knew that he knew what I had done.

Great, I'm about to get my teeth knocked in later during our chess matches, I just know it.

Still it wasn't all that bad. "Thank you Haru-senpai!" Kiana thanked me as the lecture continued. Upon hearing my new nickname, I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow.

"Haru-senpai?"

"Yeah cause Haruto-senpai sounds too weird and long so Haru-senpai is the solution!" She closed her eyes and you could see the smugness just practically radiate from her form. "Sometimes I'm too smart for school."

I lightly laughed at that. Meeting Kiana was certainly something I didn't think would happen so soon but it certainly was a breath of fresh air. "I suppose so Kiana-san," I redirected my attention back to the board as Kiana, unsurprisingly, began to resume her doodling.

Soon the lecture ended and with it the close of the first day of Chiba Academy's Spring Semester.

After the bell had rang, Kiana was the first out of the door. I couldn't even blink fully as the white haired student had just run out of her seat, leaving me in my seat to ponder her sudden action.

"Is she okay Haruto?" Mei asked worryingly as we were walking down the halls of Chiba Academy. We didn't have to worry about our clubs for the first day as club activities would resume on the third day.

"I don't know," I told her as we soon left the main building of the academy and made our way towards the gate. "I certainly wasn't expecting for her to bolt out of her seat so suddenly."

But now that I thought about it...wasn't it around this time that Kiana was still looking for her father, Siegfried? The game doesn't go into much detail about the story before the first chapter but from what I remember Kiana was on a journey to find her father who had disappeared one day without warning.

That was until she encountered Mei in Nagazora and the rest became history.

But that begged the question how she even got enrolled into the academy in the first place. I was sure that only those that were either rich, super smart, or had connections got into this academy, and I knew for a fact Kiana didn't get in because she was super smart and I wasn't so confident that she had the money to get in so that only left the connections.

And seeing how the only person that I knew who had connections to get into the academy was Raiden Ryoma. Then that meant that Siegfried had some history with the CEO of Massive Electric.

My phone suddenly buzzed with a message notification from my grandmother. Opening the message, I read what my grandmother had to text me.

[Haruto, I'll be throwing a welcoming dinner for our new tenant to help her feel welcomed. You'll be joining because you're around her same age group and I feel that having you here would help the atmosphere. I ordered some food that you need to pick up, dinner starts in 15 minutes.]

"Well my obasan just loves these last minute plans," I sighed before putting my phone away, mentally preparing myself for what was to come. I turned to Mei. "I need to get going, see you tomorrow." I waved her farewell before I accelerated my pace out of the academy.

It didn't take me too long to find the restaurant where the food had been ordered but there was still the problem of the distance between the restaurant and back home. And seeing how I only had about seven minutes before the dinner began...

Que the epic running music.

And in record time I was able to get back to the front of the apartment in record time. "Next time obasan please tell me ahead of time." I panted as my hands were on my knees, my body desperately trying to get oxygen inside.

I guess luck was on my side as the ordered food hadn't gotten messed up when I ran through the streets of Nagazora. That would've been awkward if I had walked in only for the food to be all messed up.

Walking up the stairs of the apartment, I wondered who my new neighbor was. While I didn't mind a new neighbor, I really did not want the universe to throw me another curveball.

Kiana was just introduced for crying out loud!

Soon I got to the floor that my room was on and made my way towards my obasan's room, which was coincidentally just three rooms away from mine.

"Obasan!" I announced as I opened the door. "I got the food! I hope I'm not late for the-" My voice trailed off as I locked eyes with my 'neighbor' who was chatting with my grandmother.

Hazel eyes locked gazes with that of light blue.

My eyes widened just as Kiana's did as well.

"YOU'RE MY NEIGHBOR!" We simultaneously shouted as we pointed at each other.

"Oh so you're acquainted with each other already." My grandmother clasped her hands together, obviously pleased with how things were going. "Since you've already known each other, why don't we sit down and have our dinner."

She smiled sweetly. "I'm just dying to know how you two exactly met."

"And that scary lab coat wearing teacher looked at me with a stare that could freeze Hell over!" Kiana regaled as she took a bite of a chicken wing. If you looked more closely than you could see a pile of Kiana's previous victims not too far from the side.

"But I stared back at him defiantly and gave him a piece of my mind!" She puffed her chest triumphantly as she finished her chicken wing.

"That did not happen whatsoever." I deadpanned next to her as I took a bite from my plate which had a far smaller portion than what was on Kiana's. "She didn't know the answer so I had to bail her out."

"Haru-senpai!" Kiana protested before she wrapped me around in a hug with no shame whatsoever. Normal people would never hug someone straight up on the first day that they met, it was just unthinkable!

But Kiana Kaslana was no normal person.

"You ruined my moment!"

"What was there to ruin?" I replied back, unfazed by the sudden hug.

"My epic victory against the devil that is Ishigami-sensei!"

"That same teacher is also the sponsor of my chess club."

Kiana gasped dramatically as she placed a hand on her heart, as if what I had said was the greatest tragedy that she had ever heard. "Then I vow to you," She stood up and placed a knee on her chair, pointing her fork like sword up to the ceiling. "That I will vanquish that demon and free you from him!"

I stared at her, my mind unsure if what I was seeing was actually happening. And once I realized that this was actually reality and not some strange dream.

I began to laugh at how ludicrous Kiana was acting.

"Bravo, bravo." My grandmother clapped her hands as Kiana went back to her seat, a smug smile on her face before she went back devouring the food in front of her. "Eat as much as you like Kiana-san, I don't think I've ever seen someone devour this much food before. It's almost scary."

"Scary cannot describe her appetite." I shuddered as I thought back to the lunch period, where I learned first hand the black hole that was Kiana's stomach.

I didn't even see it coming. Kiana had forgotten her lunch and being the kind classmate that I was, offered to share my bento with her.

I blinked once and the entire bento was gone, just like that. Not even a single grain of rice was left when Kiana was through with my bento. The bento looked so empty that the only way I knew that it was even full of food was the fact that I had made it myself.

"I'm curious though Kiana-san," My grandmother leaned forward. "From what you told me moving to Nagazora was something that you didn't plan for, why did you move to Nagazora then and enroll as a student?"

That got my attention as well as I stopped eating, fully intent on understanding the reason why Kiana even came here in the first place. Though I'm sure that Kiana will be as secretive as possible so I'm going to need all of my deductive skills to…

"It's because I need to find my deadbeat father!" She slammed her hands onto the table. "I heard that he was in Nagazora and posing as a teacher so I came to find him!"

Okay nevermind she was just going to say it downright with no attempt to hide it.

"And what might he be doing as a teacher at the academy?" I asked knowing that Siegfried was nowhere remotely close to a teacher that had worked in the academy.

"Cause he's a pervy man that flirts with women so it's natural that he sets his sights on my fellow classmates!" The conviction behind her words were both very damming for her father, but also said with a hint of familial love. For all his faults that he clearly had, it was also clear how much her daughter loved him.

Though she clearly had no shame in calling him out like that.

Elsewhere Siegfried suddenly sneezed as the waitress that he was flirting with took that opportune moment to slip away.

"Um Kiana-san," My grandmother sweatdropped by the white haired student's reasoning for coming to Nagazora. "You do know that it's a crime for a teacher to lust after his students."

"And besides," I chimed in. "Raiden Ryoma wouldn't allow a teacher like that to be on the premises anyway, not with his daughter attending the same school. Remember the girl sitting on the other side of me?"

"Oh you mean the beautiful girl!" Well, glad to know that Kiana's attraction towards Mei hadn't changed in any bit.

"Yeah her." I confirmed. "She's a friend of mine and she's never told me of a teacher that sounds like your father."

"What I'm trying to say is that I think whatever you heard was a lie."

Kiana's face quickly dropped at my words and I was quick to elaborate on what I meant. "But that's not a bad thing! I mean there has to be some truth to the words that you heard, maybe he really did come to Nagazora."

The last thing I wanted to do was accidentally send off Kiana to god knows where. Not only was she an instrumental part to the story but by keeping her here meant that should Mei ever become a Herrscher...

I could count on Kiana to break through and bring her back.

But another reason why I wanted to keep her here was because of the vision that I had of her being captured by Schicksal and assumedly experimented on. Imaging what she would go through was one thing, knowing the person in real life and knowing the pain that she would go through was something else.

I didn't want to add more misfortune to what Kiana was already going to experience.

"But where would I even start!" She complained as she ate another chicken wing. Seems even the sadness of the reason behind her even coming to the city being a lie was not enough to dissuade her from eating. "This city is too big!"

"Well do you remember who it was exactly that you heard the words from?" I asked, hoping that there was somewhere to start off with.

"Well not really…" Kiana had a sheepish smile on her face. Just seeing that smile on her face already told me I was about to hear or see something stupid.

"I got this note and it just sorta snowballed from there." She admitted as rummaged through her pockets before showing us the 'note' that had led her here.

And to be completely honest.

It was stupider than I could ever imagine.

[Your father is in Nagazora working at Chiba Academy]

-Anonymous

I didn't even know what to say as I kept rereading the note over and over again, trying to find some hidden meaning that would make sense and have everything click into place.

I knew Kiana could be dumb at times but this was just insane!

"And you just trusted this?" I said in disbelief.

Kiana just nodded her head as if what she had done was perfectly normal. "I move around a lot so for someone to pass me down a note must be important to my mission. And if it was a trap then I would just beat up everyone there." She brought up her fist to emphasize the fact that she could probably knock out someone twice her size.

Aside from the fact that Kiana could actually beat up anyone thanks to her Kaslana blood, I could see the merit in the way she thought about it. If you moved around alot then someone tracking you down enough to be able to hand a note could either be a good sign or a very bad sign.

It was a brave but a very reckless kind of thinking. "Uh Kiana maybe next time don't go trusting every note that gets handed down to you."

"Okay then Haru-senpai!" Kiana smiled widely.

"And you're taking this too lightly," I sweatdropped at how Kiana treated this like we were discussing the weather and not about her life being in potential danger.

"Aunt Akane! Do we have any desert!?" She yelled out, the conversation that we just had all but forgotten.

"I think we have some ice cream left in the fridge, Haruto could you be a dear and grab it alongside some extra spoons?"

"Of course obasan." I stood up from my chair and made my way to grab the items. One thing was for certain...

Life had certainly gotten much more interesting.

"Haru-senpai!" Kiana called me as I walked out of the apartment dressed in my school uniform. Hearing my name I turned my head to see Kiana in her own school uniform waving at me.

Yesterday's welcoming dinner had ended with Kiana somehow managing to conquer an entire ice cream tub by herself until her stomach had decided that it had enough for that day. I didn't know if I was more amazed by the fact that she had finished an entire tub of ice cream or the fact that her stomach actually had a limit.

And a limit meant her potential for eating more food was still there.

"Kiana-san," I greeted as I walked up to her. "I'm surprised you woke up this early for school."

It had become a habit for me to go to school early so I didn't have to worry about some sort of unexpected event making me late to class. A little byproduct of having been on guard ever since Rita's attack.

Though if I ever found myself in another situation like that in the morning, being late to class was the last of my worries.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kiana placed her hands on her hip before giving me an angry pout. "I'll have you know that I am a model student."

"Of course, of course," I jokingly bowed. "Forgive me for my actions, oh 'I didn't know who discovered gravity'."

"Haru-senpai!"

"I'm joking!" I stopped my bowing as I looked around, trying to find what Kiana had been doing before I had come by. "Were you waiting for me?"

"We both go to the same school so wouldn't it be natural if we both walked there together?" Kiana tilted her head before her eyes widened as if she remembered something important. "Oh yeah look I made a new friend while I was waiting for you!"

She turned around and gestured to the tree behind her, to which a lone owl was sitting on one of the branches. The owl hooted as it found itself the center of attention, their eyes peering into each of our own.

It was actually kind of unsettling.

"Yup I was just sitting here and in came my new friend." She walked up and tried to pet the owl's head. To my utter shock the owl just let her pet their head, not at all scared by her actions.

"That's...something you don't see everyday." Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen an owl up close, let alone one in Nagazora.

"Why don't you try petting them?" Kiana offered as she walked away from the owl and grabbed my arm. "Their head is pretty soft to touch, you'll see."

"Uh I don't think that's a good idea," I tried to dissuade her but Kiana had a grip of steel that said otherwise. I was sure that she wasn't even using all of her strength but a mere fraction of it.

She could crush my hand if she so wished it.

"Nah this is a great idea!" We came to a stop right before the tree. Kiana lifted my hand towards the owl. "Trust me Haru-senpai! You won't regret it once you've petted their head!"

I was still skeptical about petting the head of an owl out of the blue but I knew that Kiana would not allow me to leave until I did so. "Alright I'll pet them." I relented as my hand shakily approached the owl's head.

The owl did nothing as my hand made contact with their fluffy head, even going so far as to close their eyes as I marveled at how soft it was.

"It's so soft."

"I know right!"

The petting continued for a little while before the owl decided that enough was enough. Their eyes opened as they let out one last hoot before spreading its wings and taking flight. It flew high into the sky until it was but a mere brown speck in the azure blue sky.

"Aww," Kiana lamented. "I couldn't even give them a name before they left."

"I'm sure that you'll be meeting them some time in the future," I assured, a sinking feeling in my gut that we would be seeing that owl again for all the wrong reasons. It wasn't the case of deja vu that I had before Kiana had come into the story but my gut was telling me that something was up.

"But we should probably get to school now," I nudged Kiana by the elbow. "We wouldn't want the 'model student' to be late now would we?"

"I'll have you know I take my studies very seriously!" The Kaslana protested as we made our way towards Chiba Academy.

It must've been a wake-up call for any poor unfortunate soul that happened to pass us. Everyone, including me, were still a bit drowsy from how early it was. And here was Kiana talking my ear off with all sorts of information that she learned from her travels across the world.

Don't get me wrong, what she was saying was very interesting and insightful, but it was way too early for this and her voice was a bit too loud for my tastes.

And judging by the stares we got from passing people, I wasn't the only one who agreed that Kiana was a bit too loud for this early in the morning.

"Say Kiana-san," I started, desperate to try and switch the topic into something that would lower her voice. I knew the girl didn't mean any harm but I didn't have the heart to say that she was being loud. "How did you get enrolled into Chiba Academy in the first place?"

Thankfully my prayers were realized as Kiana perked up and unknowingly lowered the volume of her voice. "It happened just the day after I got the note. I was told by the principal of my old school that I had gotten a scholarship to the academy, it seems that fate was rewarding me for my hard work!"

If I had gotten an anonymous note that told me to come to Nagazora then the next day receive a scholarship to the most prestigious academy in the same city, I would most definitely be suspicious about the whole thing.

Aside from how suspicious it was to get Kiana enrolled, I couldn't help but notice the fact that she had been enrolled the same way I had been.

We had both been called by our principals to receive a scholarship.

And I knew only one man who would give them out like that.

So that meant Siegfried knew Raiden Ryoma? Well that was certainly an interesting development, I was more interested in the fact that both of us got our tickets into Chiba Academy from the same man.

But if her father really did orchestrate her into going to Nagazora, for what purpose? I would've thought that he would try to send her far away from his troubles as I knew that Schicksal was looking for her and that Siegfried was a wanted criminal.

Was it because of the protection that both Raiden Ryoma and Anti-Entropy could provide in Nagazora? During the winter semester Anti-Entropy and Massive Electric made a deal that basically allowed the Schicksal defectors to set up a base in the city.

Wasn't sure if that was canon but the garrison full of AE Mechas was a sure deterrent for Schicksal in case they tried anything.

"Looks like we both have something in common other than Kiana-san," We walked through the gates of Chiba Academy, where a few students and the facility were just milling around. "I also got a scholarship to the academy."

"Really!" Kiana looked at me in shock as we entered the main school building. "Not only are we neighbors, we're also fellow scholarship students! It's like we were destined to meet!"

"I-" She actually did have a point there. It was two scary coincidences that I couldn't help but connect now that she mentioned it. "Didn't think of it like that."

"Hmph, even Haru-senpai cannot help but be dumbfounded by my IQ." Kiana smugly crossed her arms as we entered the classroom, quite a few students already sitting at their desks.

"Oh?" Mei looked at the two of us entering the classroom together with intrigue, not expecting the both of us to be here at the same time.

"Mei, meet Kiana-san." I motioned to the grinning girl. "My new neighbor-."

"Haru-senpai likes to snore really loudly," She grinned unashamedly.

"...And disregarded anything that leaves her lips." Mei laughed as I shot a look at Kiana, who didn't look the least bit affected as we both took our seats before we began to unpack our bags.

"Huh!?" Kiana called out in shock as she began to furiously rummage through her bag. After searching every inch of her bag, she held her head with her arms and cried out in outrage. "I forgot my lunch...again!"

"I'm not giving you my lunch." I replied instantly, my mind still remembering the horror that was Kiana's stomach.

"So mean!" Kiana angrily pouted before she slumped forward, all the energy in her body having been drained. "I was so excited for it as well, there was so much good food in there like this new onigiri recipe that I wanted to try out and…" She began to list off every single food in her bento, each one casting an ever dark cloud over her head.

"Kiana-chan," Mei interrupted her brooding as she pulled out a purple bento box from her bag.

Just seeing the purple bento box instantly lifted Kiana's bad mood as she shot out of her desk to be right in front of Mei's desk. "Is this?" She looked at the bento box excitingly before looking at Mei with uncontained elation.

"I thought to bring an extra bento case just in case you forgot yours and Haruto would have 'share' his again with you." Mei smiled. "I could hear his stomach grumbling throughout the duration of class yesterday."

"Oh you heard that," A gloomy expression appeared on my face as Mei ignored me before pushing the bento into Kiana's hands.

"I'm not sure if you'll like it but-." Kiana's eyes began to sparkle as she opened the bento box, a slight trail of drool left her mouth as she witnessed the majesty that was Mei's cooking. Without hesitating she took a bite out of one of the onigiris, her face melting into utter bliss.

"It's so good!" She moaned appreciatively before quickly devouring the rest of the onigiri in record time.

"Are you sure?" Mei asked bashfully, not used to being complimented for her cooking. "I followed the recipe that Ayaka-san made and-".

"Mei-senpai," Kiana placed the bento box down and held the heiress's hands with her own, a rare serious expression in her light blue eyes as she stared into Mei's dark blue eyes.

"Y-Yes Kiana-chan?"

"Please marry me."

Huh?

And just like that you could hear a pin drop from how deadly silent the entire classroom went. No one dared to utter a single word as everyone processed the words that left Kiana's mouth.

Even I had to take a second to make sure my mind wasn't making things up, luckily that didn't have to last long.

"EH?!" We all shouted in unison, though with drastically different facial expressions.

Mei cheeks were akin to that of a cherry with how red they were at Kiana's proposal. The sheltered heiress opened and closed her mouth as she struggled to respond back.

My expression was pale like I had seen a ghost. I knew Kiana liked Mei but damn that was quick!

And the expression on our classmates was that of utter fury.

"You can't marry Mei-sama!"

"Look at this hotshot over here thinking she can make the moves on our beloved princess!"

"Who does she think she is?! She is just a transfer student!"

"Oh yeah?" Kiana let go of Mei's hands as she cracked her knuckles threateningly. "Then come at me then!" She challenged before the entire room descended into absolute anarchy at her words.

"This is way too early for this." I tiredly sighed as I could see Kiana just ready to get some action. Luckily our teacher chose that opportune moment to enter the classroom, quickly getting the situation under control.

And while all this was going on…

An owl hooted as it watched the events of the classroom play out from its perch.

In an unknown location…

A tired sigh left a lone figure as he leaned back into his chair, apathetic light blue eyes stared at the screen in front of him.

The screen in front of him was massive, nearly spanning the entire room that he was alone in. Multiple windows of data littered the screen, a chaotic mess of information and pictures that would make any sane person scratch their heads in confusion.

But for the World Serpent Officer Owl, this was but mere child's play.

His dispassionate eyes would quickly look over the information that was being sent to him, quickly determining what was important and what was deemed fodder information and sorting them accordingly.

From information ranging to Schicksal supply lines.

Honkai Infestations.

Any potential World Serpent Allies.

Hints of the arrival of the next Herrscher.

And even…

His hand reached up and trailed the necklace that hung from his neck, the promise of the half completed necklace always fresh on his mind.

But before he could dwell any further on it, a new notification popped up from one of his familiars.

Gathering information was always a hard endeavor. There were many things that people wanted to hide from the outside world, always so careful to hide it away when in the presence of other humans.

And for an organization lurking in the shadows, information was the only way that they would be able to stay ahead of the game.

But while humans would be on guard when in the presence of others, they always dropped their guard when it came to birds. Maybe it was the feeling of superiority that humans seemed to be born with, that if birds were watching then they would not mind showing their true colors.

A philosophy that he did not hesitate to take advantage of.

He was sure that Jackal or Raven would've made a joke on how he was living up to his codename, that he had a massive network of mechanical owls around the world prowling for important information.

Yet they would not be able to fault him for the effectiveness that the birds had.

"Huh." Owl intoned as he focused all of his attention to the information that one of his owls just sent him. Without wasting any time he quickly messaged someone he knew that would be interested in this development.

"Gray Serpent, I think you would like to see this."

For the image that he was seeing was that of Kiana Kaslana giving his owl a funny look, trying to invoke a response out of the avian.

And not too far behind her.

Was the red head human that had piqued the hacker's interest.

Chapter Text

"Kiana-chan?" Mei gave Kiana a concerned look as the white haired girl took a seat across from her. I took the seat next to her and gave Mei a look of pain, my weary face saying it all. All the while Kiana was beaming, not at all disturbed by the fact that her face was covered in a myriad of scratches.

"I told you that it was a bad idea," I berated as Kiana rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly in response.

"It wasn't that bad," She tried to convince me.

"She literally was giving you warnings the moment that you proposed the idea."

"Nah I think it was the fact that she was hungry or something."

"I fed her ten minutes before you came in."

"Did you see how happy she was when I picked her up?"

"I think you're mistaking love with anger here Kiana."

"Um," Mei interrupted us, confusion written on her face. "What exactly happened?"

"Kiana decided to test the limits of Kuro's patience today." I explained before I began to detail what exactly had happened to the heiress. "Today was a bad day for Kuro so she immediately started hissing at her when she tried to pet her."

It wasn't rare for Kuro to be in a pissed off mood. For as remarkable as she was, Kuro was still a cat and when she wanted space she wasn't shy about showing it. It had gotten some getting used to for the first month since her adoption into the family but I was now confidently able to tell when she was in such a mood.

Which was all moot when Kiana decided to display the infamous stubbornness that the Kaslana Family was renowned for.

"But she was so adorable!" Kiana complained as she slumped forward, mindful not to accidentally irritate the scratches on her face. "How could I not pet her!?"

I gave her a deadpan look as I pulled my books out. "You could have done it literally the next day, we're neighbors, remember."

"But still!"

"Shouldn't she have one scratch on her then?" Mei asked confusedly. "And not-" She gestured to Kiana's scratched up face.

"That would be the case if Kiana had listened to what the first scratch meant and not have continued onward by holding the cat up into the air." I shuddered the moment that Kiana decided to hoist Kuro up into the sky.

You ever know how terrible a situation is about to be before it even starts? My heart plummeted when Kuro's blue eyes gained a certain glint in them when she was lifted into the air, which Kiana was oblivious to as she was too busy coddling the cat in her hands.

Kuro decided that she had to personally deliver the message that she was not to be messed with. Just because she was a cat didn't mean that a human could go and disrespect her privacy like that.

So she delivered divine punishment on the foolish human by wriggling her way out of their hands and onto her face, making it her new scratch post for the day.

"Now she'll hate me for the rest of her life!" Kiana cried out as she very dejectedly pulled out her own books from her bag.

"I don't think so," I offered an olive branch to the sad Kaslana. "Just offer your apologies the next time you meet and she'll forgive you, hopefully." I then thought about the stink eye that the black feline was giving Kiana when I helped clean her wounds.

"Though you might need to give her a food offering just so she actually decides to listen to you instead of deciding to finish what she started." I hastily added in, my head filled with terrifying images of Kuro transforming into her alternate form to fight Kiana.

I wasn't sure where Kiana stood in terms of power before she went to St. Freya Academy but I did not wish to find out by using my room as the battlefield. My body internally shuddered at the amount of damage that the two could inflict.

Or even worse...what my obasan would do when she learned about it.

"I'm sure that you two will make up," Mei offered supportingly before she tilted her head. "Though I'm still confused on why you wished to meet me at the library at the end so suddenly. We could've met at my house."

Yeah, bring Kiana into Mei's house? Not only did I believe that Kiana might accidentally break some priceless artifact that Ryoma might have laying around.

I also didn't want to give her ammunition to use against the heiress' fanclub. Ever since her second day Kiana was relentless when it came to butting heads with the fans. And I was not about to add to that fire by asking Mei if we could come over to her house.

"Yeah about that," Even if I didn't wish to bring her to Mei's house, I terribly needed her assistance for this problem that I was now facing.

Kiana's introduction to Chiba Academy certainly changed life as I knew it. The 'dull' days that I once had were a thing of the past, as every day was a unique experience now.

And I had a certain Kaslana to thank for that.

You could never guess how a day was going to go when you had her as a classmate, let alone as someone who sat right next to you. It could range from her making some sort of funny but stupid remark that would have everyone laughing to her confronting a Mei fanboy about how Mei was hers and no one elses.

And Mei certainly didn't help matters as Kiana had begged her to cook her lunch every day now. The sweet-hearted heiress could only agree with the request, making her the envy of everyone in the classroom.

To be honest it made my rather somewhat boring academy life much, much more interesting.

However for there to be good there must also be bad and there was one glaring problem about Kiana that was currently proving to be the bane of my existence.

"I need help teaching Kiana." I confessed to her.

"...Teaching?" Mei tilted her head in confusion.

"Haru-senpai doesn't think that he's doing a good job helping me do my assignments," Kiana crossed her arms as she wasn't happy with the fact that she was here instead of doing other things like playing video games. "He helps me get perfect scores on them so I don't see the problem!"

"...After I basically hand you the answer," I reminded her before looking back at Mei. "And since Ishigami-sensei has that quiz next week I need some extra help in getting her ready."

"I see…" Mei thought about the situation at hand before she nodded her head in confirmation. "I'll do my best to help prepare Kiana-chan for the quiz."

"Mei-senpai!" Kiana shouted in joy.

Which wasn't appreciated by the librarian. "This is a library! Quiet down!"

We all casted a look at each other at the librarian's warning, each one of us silently agreeing that we should start what we came here to do. "Well since it's Ishigami's quiz, we should review our homework for starters."

Oh god, out of everything to start off with she chooses the assignments for his class."This isn't going to be fun." I muttered to myself, loud enough for Mei to hear. The heiress gave me a strange look and all I did was give her a pained smile. "You'll see," I mouthed as Kiana pulled out her assignments for Mei to look at.

In all my time of knowing her, never have I seen Mei's eyes widen that much in horror when she saw first hand how Kiana exactly answered her assignments.

"Kiana-chan...what is this?"

"Um…"

"Why is this answer over here when it should be here?"

"Well…"

"We covered this in class just the other day Kiana-chan!"

"You see I was doing something important…"

"Kiana-chan this part was left blank!"

I rested my head on my hand as I watched Mei go through the work of the academic train wreck that was Kiana Kaslana. From a split second my mind made the connection that this whole situation looked like Kiana was a kid who got caught stealing some cookies from the cookie jar while Mei was the mother busy scolding her.

Wait if that was the case then where did I fit in?

I pushed the strange question aside when Mei finished looking through Kiana's assignments, an exasperated expression on her face. "As you can see, we have a lot of work ahead of us."

"I didn't know it was that serious," Mei placed Kiana's homework down on the table, a rare serious expression on her face as she tried to think of the best way to try and get Kiana to understand the material.

"I haven't had much luck helping her myself," I stretched my shoulders out before I got my pencil and paper ready, glad with the fact that I had Mei assisting me now. "Maybe having you will change that."

Mei gave me a determined nod of her head while Kiana cheered as loud as she possibly could without drawing the ire of the librarian.

Maybe we could actually do this!

Noon soon became evening and never more had I wished for oblivion to simply engulf me, my early optimism having all but faded away. Groaning tiredly,I face planted onto the desk, uncaring who was watching.

Meanwhile Mei was not as ready to physically show how tiresome this study session had become, I could see that she too was close to her limit with how things were progressing. The slight crease of her brow was more than enough to tell me

And Kiana?

The glare that was directed towards the science textbook in front of her was so convincing that I was 100% confident that it would burst into flames at any moment.

"Clearly we need another approach," I obviously stated as I was sure that if we continued on this course of action that I was going to be murdering someone by the end of the day.

"Agreed," Mei voiced no objections to my plan.

"But how!" Kiana complained as she slumped forward. "We tried everything but I can't retain anything you guys are teaching me! Why can't we punch our way through these kinds of problems?!"

Through the corner of my eye I could see the librarian giving us the stink eye but I no longer had the energy to care for what she might do next.

If only this was some sort of physical test rather than an academic test, then I was sure that Kiana would pass with flying colors. Where she lacked in academics, she more than made up for it in fighting and eat-

Wait a minute...eating?

And as if a lightbulb suddenly came on, an idea began to form in my head as I repeated the fact that Kiana was a glutton. A ray of hope began to shine in this hopeless situation that we were in. Maybe I could use Kiana's appetite to our advantage here.

The only way that I would be able to know if it would work was to try it out. "It's a shame though," I lamented exaggeratedly, drawing Kiana and Mei's attention. "If Kiana had passed her test I'm sure that Mei would invite her to come to her home for a little celebration."

"Huh?" Kiana asked confusedly while Mei looked at me oddly.

"Ayaka-san makes the best fried chicken, the crunchiness of that skin was so heavenly." As I regaled to Kiana the glory of the cook that was Mei's head maid, the heiress began to realize what I was trying to accomplish here.

"And the ice cream that she hand makes every week," Mei joined in, praising the velvety ice cream as she placed her hands on her cheeks with a dreamy expression on her face. "It's the best ice cream in the world."

"Eh?!" Kiana looked at us back and forth with growing excitement, a small strand of drool was starting to hang from her mouth.

"And her tonkatsu," I blew a chef's kiss recollecting that delicacy. "I would fight a whole army if it meant I could get to eat that." Locking eyes with Mei, we both silently smirked at each other as we looked at Kiana who had a surreal expression on her face as she imagined how tasty we were making the food sound like.

"I'm sure that Ayaka-san would have no problem with preparing a little celebratory feast if you passed the quiz next week," As Mei hammered the last nail in the coffin, I did a silent cheer when Kiana's face shifted from dejected to that of serious determination.

"Then what are we waiting for!" With a sudden burst of motivation, Kiana looked more ready than ever to study for this quiz. A new look was in her blue eyes that gave me hope.

I looked towards Mei and just shrugged my shoulders while I got my pencil ready for another study session.

Who knows? Maybe this would actually work out in the end.

"Look upon my genius!" Kiana smugly presented the quiz paper in front of me. I took the paper from her hands and stared at the score in shock while Kiana continued to bask in her accomplishment.

My mind kept rereading the big red fat score that was written on Kiana's quiz paper, making sure that reality wasn't playing some cruel joke on me.

71

She barely just passed the quiz.

Normally that would be quite sad if you barely passed a quiz but to pass a quiz in Ishigami's class was quite an achievement. Tearing my shocked gaze from the quiz paper, I noted a fair number of people's dejected expressions throughout the classroom.

To be completely honest, I wasn't expecting Kiana to pass the quiz. I had expected her to maybe hit a low 50 or even a low 60. Those scores were generous when I factored in how Kiana had performed on her previous assignments.

Even if she failed the quiz I had been planning to buy her some ice cream to cheer her up, but who knew that tempting her with food actually had merit.

"Color me surprised Kaslana-san," Ishigami admitted as he walked up to us. "I had fully expected you to fail this first quiz."

Kian just smiled brightly as I handed back her quiz paper before motioning to both me and Mei. "I just had the best tutors that I could ever ask for."

I looked at her in surprise while Mei smiled in gratitude. "Kiana-chan you put in most of the work."

"I agree with Mei," I added. "If you didn't have the motivation to be focused on studying then our efforts wouldn't really have mattered."

I was truly impressed by Kiana's commitment to passing the quiz. Though a part of me did feel kind of guilty for the fact that I had done her dirty by basically bribing her with food to do well on the quiz.

"Regardless of what your reasons are, you've certainly impressed me," The glasses wearing teacher had a wistful smile as he looked up to the ceiling, as if he was thinking of a funny memory. "You remind me a bit of your father."

My brain did a double take at my teacher's sudden bombshell, my jaw dropping in shock. Did I just hear that right?

When did this happen?!

"You know my father?!" Kiana voiced my surprise as she looked at the teacher in shock. Her shock was not felt alone as I too did not expect my teacher of all people to know Siegfried Kaslana. "Do you know where-".

"Forgive me but I do not know where your father currently is," Ishigami apologized. "I met your father a very long time ago but his manner of acting was so peculiar that it has stuck with me ever since."

Oh, that was a bummer. I looked to the side to see Kiana's face slightly drop and I couldn't blame her. Here she was so close to the answers that she had been searching for and yet just when she thought she had it was snatched away from her.

I personally knew how that felt.

"If you don't mind me asking, but how did you meet Siegfried-san?" Mei cut in, as she was the most thrown out of the loop. Even if Kiana had explained her situation to her I had a feeling she was the only one who had no idea who Siegfried Kaslana really was.

Throwing a sideward glance to the lab coat wearing teacher, I knew that Akira Ishigami knew more than who Siegfried was. In fact I had a feeling that he was more connected in the Honkai Universe then I originally believed.

"It was a long time ago and he saved me from a terrible situation. I am unsure if he is the same now but I would say that he acts almost identically like Kiana-san," A nostalgic smile formed on his face as he thought back to his first experience with the Kaslana.

"To be completely honest with you," Siegfried Kaslana was holding the Judgment of Shamash in its pistol form at the enemy squadron. Even if he was outnumbered 10 to 1, his smile never left his face.

"I don't really give a shit on what people say you're supposed to be, you have the right to your own life just like the rest of us."

"Very outspoken, not afraid to speak what was on his mind…"

"Though he was actually quite attentive when it came to learning new things, unlike a certain problem student of mine," He threw a not so subtle accusing look at Kiana. The white haired girl at least looked a bit guilty for not paying attention in class.

"I'm sure that you will reunite with your otousan one day and he will have the answers to the many questions that I know you have," Ishigami assured her before the bell rang for the end of the day.

"Well it looks like this marks the end of the day," He then looked at me. "Tell Keji-san that today's club activities will not be happening, I have some important plans later this day."

"I'll be sure to tell him that," I happily nodded, relieved that I did not have to tell him that I had planned on not coming if Kiana had passed her quiz to uphold my end of the promise.

"Have a nice day you three," Our teacher said his farewells and before long the three of us were walking down the hallways of the academy.

"So since I passed does that mean…" Kiana popped the question as looked to the both of us with bubbling excitement.

Mei nodded her head in confirmation. "I'll make sure to call Ayaka-san to prepare the celebratory feast."

Kiana raised her arms up into the air in joy as she did a little celebratory dance. "Yes! Here I come, fried chicken!"

I laughed at Kiana's infectious energy. "Be sure to warn Ayaka-san of the one-man army that we're bringing over."

"I'm sure Ayaka-san would not mind a challenge," Mei smiled as she pulled out her phone to notify the head maid of the feast that she would have to prepare. I had no real worries that the head maid would not be able to rise to the challenge.

Maids in this universe were just built differently.

Literally.

In a training exercise taking place at a Schicksal base, Rita suddenly sneezed. The present Immortal Blades looked at her in worry but she just waved off their concern before their training resumed.

However before I could think of anything else, my entire brain went blank when Kiana suddenly turned around and engulfed both of us in a massive group hug.

"Kiana-san/chan?!" We both called out surprised by the sudden action.

The girl in question just lifted her head up as if what she had done was completely normal and gave us a bright grin. "What's wrong? I can't thank my senpais for all the hard work that they've done for me?"

Normal people don't just suddenly hug their senpais out of the blue but I couldn't exactly argue with Kiana here. I just chuckled a bit before contributing to the group hug, which earned me a sound of approval from Kiana and a confused one from Mei.

"Come on Mei-senpai join in!" Kiana encouraged the only person in this strange group hug of ours to join in. And while Mei certainly felt sort of out of place with this sudden hug it did not take long before her arms wrapped us, completing the hug.

It was strange really, this level of friendship was something that took months or even years to develop to this level. Most people would find it strange that our strange relationship the three of us had developed to a point like this.

And some people certainly did. From the corner of my eye I could see some of our fellow classmates give us strange looks as they walked past us but I just ignored them.

But this friendship that I had now with Kiana and Mei was something that I didn't want to live without.

"Come on!" Kiana exclaimed as she ended the impromptu group hug before eagerly rushed forward. "The food will grow cold if we wait here for too long!"

"I wonder how she'll freak out when she finds out that we'll be going there via limousine." I started following Kiana, Mei walking alongside me.

"Is it really that special? I don't think riding a limousine is all that special-"

"You ride in a limousine Mei-senpai?!"

"See I told you,"

"We should also bring Kuro-chan!"

"...She still hates you Kiana,"

The three of us continued our way to Mei's limo before we made our way to Mei's limousine. After introducing the driver to Kiana, the three of us all got in and we were making our way to the manor that was Mei's house.

Looking away from the window, I smiled as I looked at Mei and Kiana. The energetic Kaslana was going around the limousine, marveling at everything and occasionally sticking her head out the windows as Mei just watched her with an amused smile.

Life had certainly gotten much more chaotic but…

I wouldn't trade this for the world.

"I fail to see why I am needed for this at all." Walking through the halls of a World Serpent Base, Owl threw a not so pleased look at the back of Gray Serpent's head. If only looks could kill the officer was sure that his glare would burn a hole through the hacker's head.

Unfortunately the world didn't work that way.

"You offered the information yet did not think that you would get involved?" The masked hacker turned his head enough for his red single eye to stare into Owl's disinterested light blue pupils.

"I find the information then pass it along to you, what happens with that information is of no concern to me." He replied, unfazed by his superior's gaze.

"Regardless you are a soldier of the World Serpent, when duty calls you can do nothing but accept it." Gray Serpent affirmed before they came across a metal door guarded by two soldiers, the faint sounds of combat could be heard through the reinforced steel.

"Leave," He commanded, the two guards saluting before they left their posts.

Owl dryly looked at the steel door, noting the dry blood stains that decorated it. "What are we doing here?"

"You will see," Was all the Gray Servant said as his hands grasped the wheel that opened the door, turning it to the side as the metal gave a creaky groan before complying.

The first thing that Owl noticed when the door was fully opened was the smell. As emotionless as he was to most things in life, there were exceptions to it.

And the putrid smell that invaded his nose was more than enough to invoke a physical response out of him as he instinctively turned his head away from the door, almost gagging.

The smell was that of blood.

And a whole lot of it if this was the response that it got out of him.

"Let us enter." Gray Serpent, unfazed by the revolting smell, walked in. A second later Owl soon followed, trying his best to not inhale too much of the air.

The first thing the intel officer noticed was the arena. An arena big enough potentially to host a small football game. Empty bleachers stood on an elevated position overlooking a sandy field.

There was even a little booth where the commentators would sit in.

The next he noticed were the bodies that littered the ground.

More specifically…

The bodies of Valkyries.

Fear filled him as gazed down at the corpses of Valkyries, each one experiencing a gruesome death. Armors were torn to metal scraps, broken weapons from daggers to even massive hammers were strewn apart in pieces, eyes permanently opened in terror as they witnessed their harrowing last moments.

Desperation was in his eyes as he scanned each of the fallen Valkyries, hoping that she was not one of these corpses. She couldn't be dead, not without him fulfilling his promise to her! The pendant around his neck felt heavier than the cybernetics that made up his body at this moment.

Ana Scharic could not be-!

"Calm down," He mentally took a step back, jumping to conclusions now would not end well.

He had constant surveillance on Coral Island, the place where Ana was currently stationed. Anything ranging from supplies coming in to the official reports that the Snow Lotus Squad received.

He refrained from having Ana under direct surveillance, the mere thought of doing that to her disgusted him. But he would know if any World Serpent operatives, or Anti-Entropy, even got remotely close to the island.

Ana could not be here, period.

With that worrisome problem quelled, Owl turned his attention to the center of the arena where two Valkyries were fighting a single opponent. Judging by the injuries and the damage inflicted on their weapons and armor, they were losing.

Fast.

And when the officer laid his eyes on their opponent, he found it hard for anyone to survive as long as they did.

It was a towering figure, easily a few feet taller than even the tallest operatives that the World Serpent had. Just a look at the body of the armored knight had Owl wondering if whatever laid beneath its thick steel armor was even human.

A Valkyrie decided to take advantage of the fact that the behemoth had its back turned against her. Raising her hammer up as high as possible, she yelled a war cry with the intention of delivering a killing blow.

CLANG!

Only for the behemoth to turn around and catch the hammer with a single hand, their arm not even budging as the Valkyrie tried to force the stalemate in her favor.

With their free hand the steel behemoth reached behind its back and grabbed a zweihander, showing no struggle as they lifted the massive sword up into the air with a single arm.

The hammer Valkyrie paled in realization as the zweihander's shadow was casted upon her, and breathed her last when it descended upon her like an executioner's blade. Her armor provided no protection as she died instantly.

Seeing the gruesome death that her fellow Valkyrie just experienced, the last remaining Valkyrie's face morphed into one of grim determination as she held her bow and let loose a guttural roar. Notching arrow after arrow, all that mattered to the Valkyrie was avenging her fellow sister in arms.

Arrows that could pierce the hide of a honkai beast were but pebbles as they bounced harmlessly off of her opponent's armor. The behemoth didn't even seem bothered by the fact that they were being pelted by arrows.

Two handing their zweihander, the giant began to rush the last Valkyrie in the arena. The Valkyrie fired her arrows even faster as she slowly stepped back, trying to both keep the pressure while maintaining the distance between them.

However neither her arrows nor her backstepping did anything to delay the inevitable as the behemoth swung their massive sword upward when they got close enough.

The force behind the strike sent the Valkyrie flying into the air, her bow and armor instantly shredded by the zweihander. The Valkyrie landed onto the sandy floor with a splat, her blood already pooling around her as the last remnants of her life seeped out.

The steel behemoth then turned its gaze towards them when they stepped onto the sandy arena. The three pairs of slits that made up the visor of the helmet locked gazes with Owl, glowing a vengeful red.

"That's enough for today," A clap echoed through the air as Jackal walked up to the towering knight, not at all scared by the fact that it had just effortlessly slew two Valkyries. "The soulium armor and blade are performing better than expected."

On command the knight holstered its zweihander on their back, the glowing red in his visor fading away as the armor was enveloped by a light red hue before dissipating.

"So this is your newest project, Jackal." Gray Serpent walked around the now passive knight, looking over every single detail of their armor. Owl preferred a much more distanced observation but he could tell that this thing was built for one thing only.

To be a merciless Valkyrie Executioner.

"Iudex," She introduced as she ran her hand through the soulium armor of the behemoth, who didn't even react to the touch. "They were a costly project, our soulium reserves will prevent me from creating another like them in the foreseeable future."

"However I cannot guarantee a better Valkyrie killer than this one." The mask-wearing scientist turned her gaze to Owl. "I hope you take good care of him on your mission."

"Mission?" He leveled a glare at Gray Serpent as realization dawned on him. So that was why he was brought here in the first place.

"Yes, the mission where you will retrieve Kiana Kaslana," The hacker motioned to Iudex. "This is your insurance if you are to encounter any unexpected resistance like Styx and Raven did when they infiltrated ME Corp."

"I didn't sign up for a mission," He frowned. "Let alone one where I am required to capture a Kaslana of all people. Why don't you have Raven handle this mission? This seems to be more of her forte seeing how she's more familiar with Nagazora than I am."

"Unfortunately for you she is currently on a mission of her own." The Gray Serpent informed much to Owl's disappointment.

"And I'd rather not risk deteriorating the condition of the Key of Sanction," Jackal added in. "I am still trying to figure out why it reacted the way it did on her mission."

She was referring to Raven's little bout with the Maid of Schicksal then. It was quite a surprise when the mercenary revealed what had happened to the Divine Key. For it to show anything other than its usual behavior was troubling.

For if something should happen to the Divine Key which left it unrepairable, then they were screwed because no one in this era knew how to create a Divine Key from scratch.

"Raven would be ill-suited for this task anyway, her specialty is in killing not retrieving. We need someone who can keep their head down but also adapt should anything go awry." Gray Serpent motioned to him.

"Lucky me," Was Owl's sarcastic reply.

Jackal ignored his witty remark as she began to type into her tablet. "Iudex accepts both voice and input commands and you will be the only one with those privileges," She hit a button before a bracelet on Owl's arm began to glow a deep red.

In response the slits of Iudex's helmet lit up, acknowledging the change of ownership.

"You must capture Kiana Kaslana alive," She emphasized the fact that the target had to be alive, making an already complicated mission even more complex. "Her stigmata is too important to have death be a risking factor."

"For Project STIGMA you mean?" Inquired Owl.

"It is no secret that we have been hitting multiple roadblocks in the Project, but if we were to have the Kaslana's stigma then our progress might finally see some fortune." Gray Serpent explained. "The blood of our sire flows through her veins, the first success of the project is in her bloodline."

"I trust that you know the importance of your mission?"

Owl just shrugged his shoulders in agreement.. A retrieval of a living person made things infinitely harder than if it was a normal pick-up mission. The human factor of things just loved to make the most simple of things into a whirlwind of chaos.

"I suppose so," He would love nothing to decline the mission but he knew he was in no position to do so. "I'm guessing that I won't only have Iudex to complete this mission."

"Of course not, you will be backed by two battalions of our soldiers to assist you in your mission. Use them however you wish, they are your pawns to use." Jackal explained, not at all fazed that she was essentially sacrificing the lives of two loyal battalions.

To destroy the Honkai no matter the cost. That was their mission after all.

"But know this Owl," Gray Serpent's singular red eye bore into him. "Should the chances of your mission ever be discovered by the public, then you are to abandon the mission and leave no evidence of our involvement that could be traced."

"I understand," Owl nodded, fully knowing what it meant to leave no evidence behind.

"We'll leave how the mission is executed up to you, as long as you bring us back the Kaslana alive." Jackal reminded before she left the arena. Soon Gray Serpent followed after saying some final remarks, leaving the officer alone with Iudex.

Owl threw a not so pleased look at the hulking steel behemoth that was now his responsibility. "Come on now, I've got things to plan for now." He began to walk out of the arena, the towering knight silently following behind him.

And to think he originally believed this week was going to be an ordinary one.

"Kiana Kaslana?" Amber replied incredulously as she looked at the photo that they had received from Valkyrie Midori Aki. It was taken during a class session, the undercover agent discreetly taking a photo of the target in question.

It wasn't the best of photos, but it was clear as day that it was the runaway Kaslana in the photo.

"To think that I would see her again in a highschool of places," Laughed Otto as he reclined back into his chair. The Overseer had many scenarios as to how he would learn the whereabouts of his runaway project.

Yet he never did imagine that his little side project in Nagazora would produce such a result. Clearly he needed to give more attention to what was happening in that city.

"Should I mobilize Durandal and the Immortal Blades to capture K-423?" Amber brought up her tablet, a button's click away from having the entire Immortal Blades assemble.

"No there is no need for that Amber," Otto closed his eyes as he thought about what to do regarding K-423. "She has not reached the potential that we need her to reach, capturing her now would only be a waste of effort."

Even if he did reawaken Sirin, Herrscher of the Void, she would not have the powers required to fulfill his long desired wish. Actually he believed that only one Herrscher had the abilities required to fulfill his wish.

And he knew it would be a long time until Herrscher of Death would surface in this era.

But that gave him the opportunity to find a way to control a Herrscher, control them as if he could a human. Simply trying to use the Void Archive Key on them would not work, not after the failure that was his attempt to use it on Sirin in Siberia.

The Herrscher was powerless, unable to do anything when he used the Divine Key on her to comb her mind for the answers to reviving Kallen. He was so close to finding the answer he strived towards for so long.

Until she connected with the Will of the Honkai, nullifying the powers of the Divine Key.

With that failure Otto needed a better way to control the Herrschers. He was sure that the same trick would not work twice, or that it would only be a temporary solution.

K-423 taming Sirin when the Herrscher personality resurfaced would be the first step towards that goal. And if she proved unsuccessful?

Dissecting a Herrscher also had its benefits.

He pushed those thoughts for the future, there were more pressing matters to focus on. "However I am more concerned about what our friends in the shadows will do with this information. I am sure that they will not be sitting idly with this information."

He knew that the clandestine organization still had eyes in Nagazora, even with the increased security that Anti-Entropy provided. If he knew of K-423's whereabouts in Nagazora, then it was highly likely they did as well.

And if the World Serpent managed to capture his runaway Herrscher, then his plans could be thrown in jeopardy. Normally he would care less if a clone was taken away but K-423 was a one in a million success.

Recreating another success would take time.

And time was something that he could not afford if the World Serpent learned of his motives or if the time between each Herrscher would grow shorter.

It go from years to mere months.

Besides, the Kaslana bloodline was a powerful resource all by itself. Even if the possibility that didn't know the true purpose behind K-423's existence was there, just the fact that she was a Kaslana was more than enough to try and do something.

"Then shouldn't we send a squad into Nagazora to ensure that nothing is done to K-423?" His visor wearing assistant offered what many could consider the best course of action.

Otto just shook his head at the plan. "Aside from the fact that an Anti-Entropy base has been established in Nagazora, Raiden Ryoma has been scrutinizing any move that we make that is remotely close to his city. He will know if we mobilize a squadron and know of our interest in K-423."

And should Anti-Entropy learn of his plans with K-423, then he would be fighting multiple fronts at the same time. While he was confident in Schicksal's military power, fighting attacks from two different times would quickly evolve from an annoyance to a problem.

Not to mention he would potentially have to deal with an angry Siegfried. He had an inkling that the reclusive man was collaborating somehow with Anti-Entropy and he wasn't sure if Durandal paired with the Abyss Flower would be able to match the male Kaslana and the Judgment of Shamash.

Though he was sure that it would bring much pain to Siegfried when he saw his opponent wielding the weapon of his beloved.

"So we do nothing then? Let Anti-Entropy protect K-423 in our stead?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes, but…" The blond Overseer stood up from his desk and gazed out of his office's view of the Schicksal Base. "There's something that doesn't add up. Raiden Ryoma is a very cautious person, he does not play a risky maneuver unless he knows for certain that he can pull it off."

Otto cupped a hand under his chin. "Having K-423 roam freely around in his city with no attempt to hide her identity is the riskiest play that he could do, so that begs the question."

He looked back to Amber, a seed of curiosity beginning to bloom within him. "What ace does our CEO have up his sleeve that has him so confident? So confident that he could potentially stave off an attack from the Immortal Blades, that is what I wish to find out."

"We need Valkyrie who can blend in with the public but also have the strength to match some of our best Valkyries. Rita and Durandal are easily recognizable and none of our best infiltrators can hope to match them in terms of strength." He smirked when Amber opened her mouth in realization.

"You don't mean-".

Otto nodded his head as he looked at his watch. "As a matter of fact she should be landing in Nagazora right about now."

"I hope you're up to the task…"

Midori Aki stood in one of the terminals of the Nagazora International Airport, waiting for the backup that the headquarters had sent to assist her. She was trying to tiptoe her head above the crowd of people that were also waiting to pick someone up from the latest arriving flight.

She had just received the message that someone would be joining her recon in Nagazora and that their flight was close to landing at the airport.

The B-Rank Valkyrie was very jittery as the passengers of the flight entered the terminal, reuniting with their loved ones or picking up their luggage. She had to wonder if she was meeting Rita again, though she found it very unlikely that she was meeting someone as important as the Vice-Captain of the Immortal Blades.

And it was practically impossible that she was meeting Durandal.

"Still…" She thought with a bit of irritation as she tried to locate her 'backup' in the sea of people. Would it have hurt to give her some details on what she looked like!? Even the color of her hair would help her out so much right now.

It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack right now!

However before she could resort to pulling her hair out in frustration, a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder. "Excuse me but are you Midori Aki?" A voice said behind her.

Twirling around in surprise she locked eyes with the Valkyrie sent to help her in recon. "Yes, that's me!" She replied, glad that she didn't need to waste anymore time trying to find her. "And you must be…" Midori paused once she realized that she didn't actually have a name.

"Ah forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself." The blue-gray haired woman adjusted her red glasses as her blue eyes stared into Midori's. As the B-Rank Valkyrie gazed into those eyes of blue, it felt as if she was looking at a wizened soul.

As if those eyes had seen things that no ordinary human should see.

"Fu Hua," The Valkyrie introduced before holding her hand out which Midori shook with her own hand.

"I look forward to working with you."

"Immortal Celestial."

It was quiet in the courtyard of Chiba Academy, most of the students and facility having already left as the sun began to set in Nagazora.

A lone owl was perched on a tree, surveying its surroundings. It's mechanical eyes scanned every detail that made up the academy, transmitting all of its data back to its master.

When it decided that enough data had been collected, the owl spread its wings before taking flight into the sky...

Only for it to soon crash back into the academy, its mechanical wing broken by an unknown force.

"You've been scoping out the academy for a little while now, conveniently when Kiana Kaslana is a student here." A figure stepped towards the fallen owl before picking it up. "Clearly a work of art, whoever built you must've designed you for blending in perfectly with other owls."

Akira Ishigami sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose "Why you didn't send your daughter to some remote place instead of here astounds me Siegfried, why must you make my life more complicated than it already is.

The lab coat wearing teacher took off his glasses, his brown pupils glowed a bright blue "But before I think of a way to get back at that one-armed flirt-"

"Let's find out who exactly sent you."

Chapter Text

It was silent in a certain area of the Nagazora Docks. What might've been a busy day of receiving and transporting shipments to and from across the world was unusually silent in this area.

No incoming ships full of cargo, no trucks dropping off their shipments, no signs of cranes moving massive crates around the docks, no sign of yellow hard hat wearing employees could be seen anywhere.

It was essentially just a ghost dock.

"North side clear."

"West side clear."

"East side clear."

"South side clear."

"Commander Owl, we have the docks under lockdown."

"Good, maintain cover and ensure that it is not blown. Set up rotating patrols, I want anything suspicious to be reported immediately." In a warehouse, the intelligence officer gave his orders to the soldier standing before him. "I don't care how unimportant it is, if it's out of the ordinary then it's reported."

"Of course sir," The soldier saluted before he exited the office, leaving Owl alone in the office.

To his left was a screen filled with the feedback of all the security cameras that covered this section of the docks that he had managed to commandeer. Ranging from World Serpent soldiers patrolling the perimeter to the hulking form of Iudex that stood unresponsive in the middle of a warehouse.

Taking control of the docks wasn't his ideal plan but when you were essentially just handed an assignment without any prior warning, you worked with what you were able to get.

Infiltrating Nagazora had been the first obstacle that he had to solve. Ever since the attack on Massive Electric Ryoma Raiden had increased the security for anyone entering the city. The numerous checks that were performed at customs made any of the ordinary ways of sneaking his forces in the city practically impossible.

If it was just him? Then he could easily get into Nagazora no problem.

But trying to get two battalions worth of soldiers in? Now that was almost next to impossible, excluding the fact that he had to also sneak in a several foot tall armored knight as well.

You couldn't exactly stick them inside a semi truck and just drive up into the city without Anti-Entropy getting alerted and sending the entirety of their military might onto him.

But if there is a will then there is a way. Utilizing one of the many allies that the World Serpent had to help, Owl was able to have him and his battalions disguise themselves as a shipping company.

Ranging from legit documents to actual cargo that they had to transport, to any regular person they seemed like an actual company. Unless someone actually knew that they had disguised themselves as a shipping company then they had nothing to worry about.

However life just loves to throw its twist and turns at the worst of moments.

The cybernetic officer sighed as another one of his owl familiars went offline. Ever since he had discovered Kiana Kaslana in Nagazora, there was a noticeable decrease in the owls present within the city. If he were to count this owl the number of lost owls would rise to ten.

One or two of them were normal, but ten of them was an indicator that someone was hot on their trails. It wasn't Anti-Entropy as they had made no moves to increase their security or made any signs that they were on high-alert. He had monitored Schicksal deployments to see if any Valkyries had been deployed nearby but to no avail.

Either a third party was in play or someone had been deployed in secret. He wasn't as concerned with the former more so than he was with the latter. If there truly was a third party then they would've already been on World Serpent's radar, meaning that they weren't a risk to his operations.

But if it was the latter then that was a major concern. That meant that not only did they know that he was here, it also meant that they had reacted accordingly. If that was the case then he would need to step up his surveillance across the city.

Some might call him paranoid considering he had Iudex as a bodyguard but Owl would not leave things to chance. Unless it was absolutely guaranteed he would not take his chances.

Before he could think of how to increase security throughout the city, someone knocked on his door. "Who is it?" He called out.

"Uh sir," It was the soldier from earlier. "We might have a slight problem."

The tone in the soldier's voice made Owl narrow his eyes. Had they already been discovered? Had Schicksal or Anti-Entropy already locate their base of operations? "What seems to be the problem then?" As a precaution he brought up his arm that held the bracelet to command Iudex, a pin's drop away from ordering the knight to his location.

"Well uh…." The soldier trailed off as he tried to find the right words. What could the problem possibly be if he couldn't just spit out already? Just as Owl was about to rebuke the soldier, he got an answer.

"We found a Shicksal shipment in our ship."

Hearing those words, the World Serpent officer felt his stomach drop and he wanted nothing more than to rip his hair out in frustration. For all the possible things that could have happened it had to be-!

He took a deep breath before he did anything rash, acting out in anger was not going to do anything for him. "Iudex head to the storage area," He spoke into his bracelet before exiting his office as he headed for the container, the soldier following close behind him.

When he arrived at the storage area, Iudex and five other soldiers were waiting by the container. Throwing a quick glance at the grey container, Owl could confirm that it indeed belonged to Schicksal. Their infamous emblem was painted on the side of the steel storage.

"How did we miss this, I thought we triple checked every container that we loaded up on our ship?!" He demanded as he walked over to the container.

"It was a last minute change," A soldier handed him the ship's manifest for him to read over. Owl scanned through the papers while the soldier continued explaining. "It was delivered under a different name, hence why no-one noticed it until now."

The intelligence officer sighed as pinched the bridge of his nose. Great now they possessed a shipment from the very same organization that they were trying to avoid. "Do you know where it was supposed to be delivered to?" He asked, trying to find the silver lining in all of this.

"From the paperwork this was supposed to be delivered to the Far East Branch.

Irritation and bubbling anger swiftly turned into confusion. The Far East Branch? Wasn't that the branch that revolved around St. Freya Academy? From what he remembered the academy was where young girls who had stigmas would go to train and become a Valkyrie.

If that was the case then what was an academy shipment doing on their ship?

"Do we know the contents of this container?" He asked, trying to wrap his head around what was happening.

The soldier who was relaying the information just shook his head. "Whoever sent this container made sure that it's contents were classified. The only way we will know what's inside is to open it ourselves."

Hearing those words, every soldier in the room instantly readied themselves. Flicking off the safety switches on their guns they began to encircle the container, fully expecting something to attack them should they inspect the insides of the container.

Iudex remained passive as the soldiers fanned out but a single command would have the knight drawing its massive zweihander that was strapped to its back.

Owl was curious to what was inside the container, he didn't need to fear for his safety as he had Iudex here to mercilessly destroy anything that dared to attack. It wasn't everyday that one could explore a Schicksal container.

Schicksal had its own transports to transport their resources around the world to lessen the risk of their secrets getting accidentally leaked out. So what reason would this container be an exception to that?

"We do nothing," He finally decided. If anything this could've been an administrative error and this container could've contained clothes or food for the academy. "We might accidentally set off an alarm or beacon if we opened this container."

"Relocate this container to another warehouse, if it is indeed a threat then we can have Iudex freely handle the problem without posing a risk to our base of operations." He commanded before he began to walk away, the soldiers scrambling to accomplish their orders.

Still…

He couldn't shake off the feeling that he would be seeing the container once more in the near future.

A few days had passed after the little celebratory feast that was held at Mei's manor, a few days since I stuffed my stomach with the best delicacies that the world could possibly offer me. If I had just suddenly dropped down dead after that experience.

I wouldn't have cared.

Kiana had the time of her life as she devoured plate after plate of food that was offered to her. After a while it began to look like a cycle of perpetual food constantly getting eaten and refilled.

It went a little like this.

In the beginning we have Ayaka bring over a plate of freshly cooked food to the table, you knew it was good just by the visible scrumptious aroma just wafting out of the plate. The head maid would then place the plate of food on the table while picking up any dirty plates before leaving.

What followed was said plate to be instantly snatched up by Kiana and in world record time that plate would be cleaned out. Kiana's stomach was something to truly be feared, me and Mei's had reached our limits while the white haired girl seemed to be just getting warmed up.

It eventually became just the two of us watching her add plate after plate to her food killstreak. Her appetite was so convincing that I was sure that if I signed her up for any food competition that she would win hands down.

Though I also had to give props to the manor's kitchen staff because they certainly knew how to perform. It felt as if they were in sync with Kiana's appetite for the moment that she would be finished with her current plate of food, Ayaka would enter with a newly cooked plate of food in hand.

And after what seemed like hours the unkillable beast that was Kiana's stomach had finally been conquered.

The days that followed after that dinner were as normal as normal could be in the Honkai Universe. When you were with Kiana Kaslana the definition of normal was just as unpredictable as the weather.

It could be calm and sunny in one moment and a raging thunderstorm the next.

"When you mentioned that you had something important I wasn't expecting this," Keji deadpanned as he took in what was exactly happening in my apartment. I turned my head back to see what he was referring to and adopted a slightly guilty look. "Uh, I can explain."

No I couldn't.

"No fair!" Sora pouted as she watched her character's health bar drop to zero. The pink-haired child put down her controller and glared at the person she was playing against. "I thought you said you would go easy on me Kiana-neechan!"

The Kaslana just stuck her tongue out in playful retaliation. "We Kaslanas don't know the definition of 'going easy' on people!" The white haired girl then selected the rematch option on the screen as she got ready to win another match.

And what might they be playing?

None other than the acclaimed fighting game Homu Kombat Ultimate.

You essentially mash Mortal Kombat and Super Smash Bros together, sprinkle in the inspiration of the Honkai Universe…

And BAM! You get Honkai Kombat Ultimate.

"Ishigami-sensei, why did you cancel today's club activities today of all days?" I silently lamented knowing that this was all possible because of my teacher's change of plans. It was definitely strange as the chess loving teacher had never canceled a day of club activities before.

Actually, the only time that he had canceled a day of club activities was the day that Kiana had passed her quiz. And ever since that day it's either been the case of him cutting the club time short, or just outright canceling it.

It was really, really suspicious timing. Factoring the serious expression that he would adopt for a fraction of a second whenever Kiana was near him did not help matters, or when I might catch him watching the two of us from the classroom windows when we left the academy grounds.

But I couldn't really do anything about it since all I had to go off on was a hunch and even then that hunch could just be my paranoia at play. So the only option that I had available was to just wait it out.

And doing nothing was worse when you knew something was brewing in the shadows.

Kuro's challenging hiss brought me back from my thoughts to see the feline descending from her scratching post and in front of Sora, protectively shielding her from Kiana as if she was actually going to harm the child.

Ever since the two's little fight, Kiana had followed my advice and did bring an offering as an apology for what she had done to the feline. Kuro had grudgingly accepted the offering of tuna but she was anything but pleased with the white haired girl.

Some things were not just so easily forgiven.

But at the very least the offering was able to get their relationship to a somewhat passive aggressive level, Kuro would tolerate Kiana's presence so long as the girl did nothing to aggravate her..

In Kuro's eyes, she much preferred Sora as opposed to Kiana. Also the fact that she had no idea what a video game was and that what they were having was 'gamer talk did not help either. In fact I wasn't so sure that the feline had any understanding of anything that was digital.

And oh my god Kiana is rising up to accept Kuro's challenge. "Please help me," I mouthed to Keji as I knew if I tried to intervene then the one who I ended up not siding with would be very displeased.

And despite their shared appreciation for food, I doubt that would be enough for either of them to forgive me.

Keji just sighed tiredly before nodding his head. I gave my heartfelt thanks as he walked past me and the chess fanatic made his presence known. "You need some help there Sora-chan?

Sora's face lit up as she waved excitedly at him. "Keji-niichan!"

"What's up Sora-san, your nii-chan has come to save the day" Keji affectionately ruffled Sora's hair before sitting down right next to her, picking up the controller from the ground. He looked towards Kiana, a cocky smile on his face as he selected his fighting character without even looking.

"Fair warning Kiana-san, I'm not your ordinary opponent. Would be quite a shame if you were to embarrass yourself in front of everyone here when you can only beat Sora."

A fire began to burn in the white haired girls at the declaration. "Oh you are so on Keji! I'll make you regret ever challenging Kiana Kaslana!" Selecting her fighter, the two were soon at it. The sounds of them exchanging 'gamer's talk' were overshadowed by the sounds of furious button mashing.

Seeing how the crisis had been averted, I let out a breath of relief. No more having to worry about the potential fight of Kuro against Kiana, no more worrying about my apartment getting destroyed, and no more worrying about having to explain it all to my grandmother.

...For today at least.

This was going to be a long and arduous week if this continued on. I prayed that somehow or some way that the two would make-up, though I felt that I would need a miracle for that to happen.

"Meow," Kuro got my attention as she walked over, looking at me with a rare seriousness in her blue eyes.

"Yes Kuro?" I asked.

"Meow," She looked at Keji celebrating his victory against Kiana with Sora joining in. Kiana had an expression of horror as she stared at her character's empty health bar . Soon enough she was on her feet demanding a rematch from Keji.

"Meow," She decided before walking towards my room, stopping halfway to look back at me and motioning with her head to follow.

I threw a glance at the trio before reluctantly following Kuro into my bedroom. If we were in any other universe I would've laughed at the idea of following a cat into my bedroom.

But I guess in the Honkai Universe anything was possible.

"Alright Kuro," I locked the door behind me and crossed my arms as the two of us were now alone in my room. "What's going on?"

Kuro looked around cautiously to ensure that they were truly alone, that they had no uninvited eavesdroppers listening in. Once she was sure, the feline walked her way towards the back of my closet and pulled something out.

"Oh god Kuro what the hell!" I shouted as the cat brought out the limp body of an owl. For crying out loud when did she have the time to go kill and hide an owl?! "How the hell did you get an owl in here without me knowing?!"

Kuro opened her mouth and brought down her fangs on the neck of the dead bird. "Oh for crying out loud not here!" I rushed forward with the intent of prying the cat's fangs from the owl. Not only did she bring in a dead bird, she was about to spew its guts everywhere and stain the carpet in a rich red.

I did not want to spend the rest of the day cleaning my room from owl blood. Not to mention that I now needed to check the entire apartment to see if Kuro was hiding any more owls in random discrete areas.

However I was stopped in my tracks when Kuro pried the head of the owl from its body, revealing the circuitry that lay within.

"What the…" I mumbled in surprise as I kneeled right before the mechanical owl. Running my hand through the circuits that made the 'organs' of the bird and the metal exoskeleton that looked like any regular owl from a distance.

All of it felt authentic.

"Wait, isn't the same owl that Kiana met?" Realization overtook me as I remembered the owl that landed near Kiana. I looked towards Kuro who nodded in confirmation that it was indeed the same owl that the both of us met on the second day of school.

I stood up and nervously began to pace around the room. Was I about to relive another grocery attack situation again? Could I even handle surviving another experience like that? Could I even survive now knowing Kiana was also a part of this?

How much more chaotic could it get now that Kiana was now a part of this mess?!

What if-!

"Okay calm down Haruto," I patted my cheeks in an attempt to stop myself from spiraling out of control. Overthinking now would not end well in the long run, I had to approach this with a calm mind and not a stressed one.

Taking in a deep breath, I exhaled calmly before looking at Kuro. "First things first Kuro, does this belong to the 'people' you work with?"

It had been a long while since they, I had my suspicions on who Kuro was working with, or anyone else had tried to do something. I knew that the peace that Nagazora had been experiencing ever since my run-in with Stalker Carbon was just a prelude to something else brewing in the background.

And seeing Kuro nod her told me that whatever was coming finally struck, it would be much bigger than a simple grocery attack.

But what could I even do with this confirmation? I couldn't exactly notify the authorities without any definitive proof of the World Serpent's plans. Even if I could uncover some proof how would I be able to explain how a regular highschooler obtained, let alone knew the plans of a terrorist organization?

Even if I was able to get away with that how I knew that I would definitely be under heavy scrutiny, scrutiny that I knew would backfire on me.

So that left me with only one path that I realistically could take.

To wait and react to whatever happened.

It was definitely frustrating to not be unable to do anything when you knew something was looming over the horizon but what else could I do? Prior knowledge of this world was certainly helpful but it didn't help when the timeline shifted and the events alongside it.

My dissatisfaction about the situation must've shown on my face as Kuro tilted her head in confusion. "Ah, sorry Kuro. Just thought of something, no need to worry." I lied.

If Kuro bought it or not was unclear but the cat just shrugged before walking over to the corpse of the mechanical owl and proceeded to drag back to wherever she was hiding it.

It could've been worse honestly. Going it into blind would've been infinitely worse and Kuro at least had an inkling of what might happen so I guess I was a little prepared for what was to come.

"HARU-SENPAI!" Kiana shouted from the living room. "I need a partner to help me whoop Keji's sorry butt!"

"I doubt that having Haruto help is going to change anything!" Keji smugly argued. "I'm not champion status in this game for nothing."

"Well be prepared to kiss that title goodbye when I pry it from your cold dead hands!"

"In your dreams Kiana-san!"

"Haruto-niichan! Come and play with us!"

"Coming Sora!" I shouted back before I left my room, Kuro following close behind me.

At the very least, I could enjoy the calm before the storm.

Unknownst to Haruto, a figure had been watching him the entire time. On a rooftop not too far from the apartment that he lived in, Fu Hua was observing the household and those within it.

More specifically she was observing the state of K-423, the future Herrscher of the Void.

"That cat has good senses," She mused as she left her hiding spot. "She must have a good sixth sense if she was able to detect my presence." It was only through her quick reaction that she had been able to hide herself before the black feline scanned the building that she was on.

"Um Fu Hua-san?" Midori's voice came through her communicator. "May I ask what exactly you are doing there?"

"I am just observing Kiana," She replied as she watched her white haired target throw the controller at the ground as the child and her partner celebrated their victory. "Why do you ask Midori-san?"

"She's not dangerous is she?" The B-Rank Valkyrie asked apprehensively.

"No, Kiana might belong to the Kaslana Family but her natural talent has not been trained upon." She truthfully said. "She will not pose a threat to any of us." Against a Valkyrie who trained to fight against the horrors of Honkai, Kiana would lose every time.

"If she's not dangerous, then why does she have a bounty on her head?"

Fu Hua had to applaud her partner's intuition. Even if she was only B-Rank, she knew how to ask the right questions as if she was A-Ranked. "Midori-san, do you know who her father is?"

"It's Siegfried Kaslana right?" The B-ranked Valkyrie asked confusingly, unsure where this was going.

"So you know he possesses the Judgement of Shamash, a Divine Key that has the ability to obliterate an entire city." The blue gray haired Valkyrie was sure that only Durandal would have the means to match the male ex-knight.

"As a precaution we have placed a bounty on Kiana Kaslana as well for wherever she is, then her father is not that far away. Rest assured that orders are to capture her alive." Fu Hua assured her partner.

"That's a relief, I didn't want to complicate everyone else she's close with." The blue gray haired Valkyrie smiled at the valkyrie's distaste of involving the innocent but frowned when she could hear the sounds of other people on the other end of the communicator.

"Midori-san, where exactly are you?"

"I'm in the girl's changing room," In the empty locker room at Chiba Academy Midori Aki was sitting alone, her kendo armor sitting beside her as she held the phone to her ear. "Why do you ask Fu Hua-san?"

"I thought we agreed that you are to not endanger your cover when you are at school." While the B-Rank Valkyrie's help was appreciated, she did not wish for the young girl to lose her cover at the academy.

Neither did she wish for the highschooler to uncover the true purpose of why she was in Nagazora to begin with.

"But-" The black haired girl tried to argue.

"You have your mission to complete, so do I." Fu Hua's firm voice wasn't going to allow any arguments. "Your classmates are probably looking for you right now, we will talk later."

"...I wish you the best of luck then Fu Hua-san," With a dejected goodbye Midori ended the call, leaving Fu Hua alone on the rooftop.

Or so she wished.

"Who knew you could be such a harsh critic, old friend," Otto laughed through the glasses' communicator. The Overseer had been listening in the entire time that the two valkyries had been talking.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't listen uninvited." She flatly said.

"I'll make sure to make a note of it." He assured, even though both of them knew that this wouldn't be the last time that they would be having this conversation.

Fu Hua casted one last look at the people inside the Nakamura household before walking away. "I thought that you were confident in my abilities, Overseer. Unless the situation has changed I prefer unneeded distractions. "

Back in his personal office, Otto Apocalypse was monitoring the grey blue haired Valkyrie's movements. "Of course, of course. I know better than to distract you when it comes to completing missions."

"But I am surprised by the fact that you are so adamant in making sure that Midori Aki isn't involved in your task." Otto smiled as he pulled up the B-Rank Valkyrie's dossier. "I'm sure that she wouldn't mind getting involved-"

"Do not push your boundaries Otto," Fu Hua reprimanded as she walked down the streets of Nagazora. No one paid her any attention as she continued her conversation with the Overseer. "I alone am enough for this mission."

"Such bold words Phoenix," Otto thought to himself. "You are just a hollow shell of your past self." To think that the mighty immortal defender of Shenzhou would be reduced to a mere puppet. He could still remember the day when the Phoenix of Shenzou descended into the battlefield all that long ago.

The mighty army of Schicksal learned that day how insignificant their power truly was.

But even if she was far from the being that she once was, Fu Hua was still a valued friend. Her dedication to defend Shenzhou, even if she no longer remembered the reason why she still defended it, was the same as his in reviving Kallen.

And for that he had nothing but respect for her.

"If you say so," He relented. "But I do hope that you haven't forgotten your other objective now have you?"

Ah yes that objective. "What is your fascination with Haruto Nakamura?" The age old immortal could not understand why a man such as Otto would be so interested in someone like Haruto Nakamura.

Her true objective was simple really. Whilst gathering intel on Kiana Kaslana, she would also do the same on Haruto Nakamura. Anything ranging from the most basic of information like his eating habits to his connection with the World Serpent, his bond with his cat in particular.

And should she find something that requires much more questioning, which she doubted seeing as her initial assumptions of the red head who bore a striking resemblance to Himeko wasn't anything special.

Then she would use the Fenghuang Down on him and investigate for herself.

"Call it a hunch my old friend. I find myself intrigued by him in some way." Otto pulled up the dossier that he had on the redheaded student. From a normal perspective there wouldn't be anything too special about him.

A normal childhood, a normal family, exemplary grades at school.

But fortune favors the bold and Otto decided that he would dig deeper into who Haruto Nakamura was. If his gambit was successful then the very nature of the game against the Honkai would change. If not?

Well the news would have their breaking news of the day when they found his dead body.

"I'll leave you be for now, but I expect you to make progress on your mission the next time I check in." With that final remark, Otto ended the conversation.

With the conversation finished the undercover Valkyrie made her way to the next location that she needed to scout out.

However, on the street opposite of her, Akira Ishigami lowered his newspaper as he watched the valkyrie leave the area. Folding his newspaper up, the science teacher stood up from his position and began to follow his target of interest.

A tranquil expression was on the sole resident of the Seed of Sumeru, the leaves of the Imaginary Tree fell around him as the gray haired pioneer mediated in the bubble reality, focused on the sole task at hand.

Floating in front of him was a leaf of chalk, one of the countless new realities that he devoted his entire attention to uncovering.

A large steel knight stood in a dark space, its glowing red visage cutting through the darkness as it stared down its target. A massive zweihander was held above its form, a red tinge surrounding the blade before it was brought down with extreme force.

The red head human that had piqued his interest brought up his own weapon to try and defend himself from the incoming strike.

However, before the zweihander could make contact with the other weapon…

The vision was filled with static before it ultimately cut out.

With a sigh Su released his concentration on trying to extract more information from the leaf. His eyes opened as he stood up from his seated position, the chalk leaf in front of him disintegrating into ash.

For the countless years that he had remained in the 2nd Divine Key, observing the infinite number of parallel universes for an answer to defeat the Honkai.

He was sure that he had found it in the form of Haruto Nakamura.

For someone to change the very nature of the Imaginary Tree was no ordinary person, no ordinary pawn of fate.

To change his role from that of being once a sidelined character to that of the main cast of the story of the Honkai Universe.

Su was sure that Haruto held the key to everything.

But as he began to observe the universes in which Haruto Nakamura would be a main player, he found himself hitting a roadblock that confounded him to no end.

Normally if something caught his attention the pioneer would watch the selected universe, taking note of all that transpired and comparing the differences between the other universes for future references.

And in all of his years he spent fulfilling the purpose of Project Valuka, the pioneer had never met an individual like Haruto. Never had he encountered an individual who could simply 'end' a vision.

When he was observing a universe, Su would watch what transpired up until the end of the universe. Most often than not the Honkai would lay waste to humanity but each universe had their own positives when dealing with the ancient enemy along with what didn't work as well.

He would take note of what went well from different and use the Seed of Sumeru to create simulated universes where he would test each and every plan that he devised. The number of combinations that he could create numbered in the millions, and that was without accounting for even the smallest of details.

For even a butterfly in the wrong place could make the difference between victory and defeat.

Yet each vision that he watched that involved Haruto Nakamura would somehow unexpectedly end with no explanation. The red head would be in the midst of some important event and then it would be cut as if someone had pulled the plug.

At first he had theorized the universes to be unstable, that after a certain event the Seed of Sumeru would be unable to continue viewing it but after some time Su had debunked that theory. The way that the visions were being cut felt too…deliberate.

As if something or someone was aware of his efforts.

It was only when the Pioneer had attempted to scry Haruto himself that he found this new theory to be more plausible. Whenever he had attempted to peer into his existence it was like a curtain would be draped over him, preventing even the Cosmic Juggernaut from learning about the red haired teenager. The only things he did know about him were from observations made during the various universes had watched.

So he decided to prove his theory.

Eyes closed Su used the Cosmic Juggernaut in an attempt to discern the true nature of the one who was obscuring Haruto from him. The Flamechaser felt his mind be guided by the Divine Key to where it had detected something originating from Haruto, something that he had been unable to detect originally.

Opening his fuschia eyes the Flamechaser found himself in green luscious plains that seemed to stretch on for miles. Standing up from his kneeling position the gray haired man observed the blue skies and the wind that was gently breezing by.

It reminded him of being back on Earth, back before everything had been ravaged by the Honkai.

He stopped himself before the nostalgia hit any further. He was not here to reminisce on the past, he was here on a mission.

Luckily he did not need to travel that far to accomplish it.

"You're….You're not supposed to be here." The voice of a kid spoke behind him.

Turning around, Su was greeted by the sight of a kid that was nearly identical to Haruto. The only difference was that instead of sporting bright red hair the child had black hair. Other than that, the child standing in front of him looked to be an identical copy of Haruto as a kid.

"Greetings," He greeted the child cordially, noting the suspicious look that he was being given. "I am-"

"You're the man that she was talking about," The child interrupted him, a stern look on his face. "The one that would be the first to be curious about Big Brother."

The mention of a female foretelling his arrival had Su on edge. The gentle atmosphere that was surrounding had begun to lose its disposition in favor of a tense atmosphere.

"I can assure you that I mean no harm to Haruto," He said in reassurement, hoping to deescalate the situation. "I only mean to help him."

"Big Brother says Haruto nii-san should not be disturbed until the time is right," The child stated seriously, much to Su's confusion.

"Haruto is being differentiated from this Big Brother title, does that mean there is someone else present that I have not accounted for?" He thought to himself as he processed this new information. If that was the case then he needed to fish for more information.

"Then may I-!" But before he could even attempt to ask a question a harsh breeze suddenly made its presence known in the plains. .

"Big Brother says that you've overstayed your welcome." The kid spoke, the telltale signs of a glare slowly making themselves apparent.

Su opened his mouth to possibly refute this but before he could a sudden migraine made its presence known. Narrowing his eyes in an attempt to weather the pressure, something began to play out in his mind.

Light.

A light so bright it threatened to blind him in his mind's eye. It shined so brilliantly that if it were placed inside darkness itself it would completely eradicate the inky veil.

The light began to die down a bit and Su strained the extent of his abilities to try and determine the source of it all. A few more seconds and he would be able to-!

And just as fast as it had come the light had disappeared. Opening his eyes the Flamechaser found himself back inside the Seed of Sumeru, no longer in the mindscape he had traveled to.

You would've made a great disciple of Nous.

Thy thirst for knowledge is unrivaled by very few.

However I must ask you to cease your task.

"If the truth of the universe is cruel and stale, would you still yearn for the answer to the ultimate question?"

And the truth that you seek is not one that will bring you peace, neigh it will bring you despair.

The Flamechaser did not know where the voice had come from, but it had left as quick as it had arrived. There was two things that he was fairly certain of. The first was that whoever had spoken to him in those brief moments must've been the 'Big Brother' that had been referred.

And the second was that this entity was all-powerful.

So much so that Su decided he would not attempt another visit. There was no need to antagonize the two entities that he had met. The young child was suspicious and on guard, as he rightfully should as he had arrived uninvited.

It was the other entity that Su was wary of. His physical combat capabilities may not be on par with Kevin's or the other Flamechasers but his mental abilities were rivaled only by Aponia.

It was very rare that he encountered an individual that could seamlessly overpower his field of strength. The gray haired pioneer knew that if it came down to mental combat he would lose.

So in the end he decided to heed the entity's words and wait for 'right time'. Adopting a meditative position he began to resume his duty of peering through the leaves of the Seed of Sumeru. Yet as he threw himself back into the duty of an observer something was on his mind.

Back to the vision of blinding light.

For in those final moments he was sure had seen it, faint as it was being bathed in the illuminating light…

The outline of a sword.

Omake: The Tuna Vs. The Bunny

[ChessFanatic213: What have you done Haruto]

[LordChaldea: ...On paper this seemed like a great idea].

[ChessFanatic213: Clearly you thought wrong.]

[Homu_Bunny: Neko_Charm is a baka.]

[Neko_Charm: Excuse me?!]

[Homu_Bunny: Neko_Charm has equipped low level gear, leading you to die over and over. Your idiotic actions have cost us the dunegon run.]

[Neko_Charm: It's not my problem that the healers don't do anything!]

[Homu_Bunny: Healers cannot save idiots that die in two hits.]

[Neko_Charm: What did you call me?!]

[LordChaldea: Um Homu_Bunny it's my fault, I told her that it was fine equipping them for the sake of fashion.]

[Homu_Bunny: Then LordChaldea is an idiot.]

[Neko_Charm: Hah!]

[Homu_Bunny: But Neko_Charm is a bigger idiot for believing you in the first place.]

[Neko_Charm: I'll show you who's an idiot!]

And as me and Keji watched the ensuing firestorm between the two in the chat, a thought suddenly hit me.

Why did this interaction seem so familiar?!

Chapter Text

Akira Ishigami let out a tired sigh as he snuck his way through the docks. Hiding his body behind a bright yellow shipping container, the teacher peeked around his cover to see a pair of guards making their rounds around the docks.

His brown eyes then glowed a bright blue as he scanned both soldiers from head to toe, mentally listing off what they had.

Anti-Entropy manufactured body armor, Schicksal developed firearms, electronics designed by Massive Electric.

This was no ordinary mercenary organization. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for an organization to possess equipment from at least one of the big military organizations. As much as they tried to keep a tight lid on their products, the black market still existed for a reason.

Including the fact that corruption existed, the arms that the organizations created would more often than not find themselves on the shelves of the black market. As long as you had the money or connections you could grab the most advanced weapons on the planet.

And for a mercenary group to have equipment made by the top military organizations, they had both the connections and money to supply their troops.

"Soldiers with equipment to match the Nagazora garrison's firepower," His pupils regained their normal color as he looked upward to see another pair of soldiers on top of a crane. "And maybe the numbers as well."

Looking around him to see if any patrols were nearby, Ishigami decided to move towards one of the warehouses on the outskirts of this part of the docks. A buildup of such forces here was concerning, especially when he had an inkling why they were here in the first place.

"Damn you Siegfried," He cursed under his breath as jumped up onto a container to avoid an incoming patrol. As silently as he could, he began to run across the rows of containers. "Why couldn't you be a good father and take your daughter with you?"

Ever since the runaway Kaslana had cashed in his favor, the lab coat wearing teacher had kept his eyes open for any potential threats when his daughter got enrolled into the academy. Kaslanas seemed to possess this innate ability to just invite danger wherever they went.

And he couldn't have been more right when those strange mechanical owls began to fly throughout the city. To the untrained eye they would've been normal owls just minding their own business.

But to him an imperfection, no matter how small, would not be able to hide from him.

His most recent success was when he happened to catch the mere utterance of Otto Apocalypse, which had him instantly on the trail of the women who had said it. It was by mere chance that the teacher had been at that place at that exact moment. He had totally forgotten why he had been there in the first place.

But any plans he had for that day had gone out the window as he followed the trail of the undercover Valkyrie. She wasn't a Valkyrie that he knew by memory, which wasn't much as he didn't commit to memory every Valkyrie that Schicksal had.

His senses however were telling him that she was strong.

Very strong.

She must've known that she was being followed as the moment they had reached the docks she had given him the slip. Not like it mattered as he had a more pressing matter to investigate now.

Waiting for a soldier to turn the corner, Ishigami jumped from the container that he was on over to the roof of the warehouse. Landing with a slight huff, he used his new elevated position to overlook the docks.

"Enough soldiers here to overtake the garrison potentially," He noted before continuing his observation of what was taking place. For starters the number of soldiers congregating around a certain warehouse that was quite the distance away from his position suggested that was their main base of operations.

Another warehouse not too far from that first one also had its own decently sized contingent of soldiers to guard it. Perhaps that was where their equipment was being stashed.

The third warehouse was a bit further out and only had a small handful of guards to defend it. Other than the main base and their supply stash, the teacher didn't know the value of defending another warehouse.

He briefly considered they had set up a prison of some sorts but quickly dismissed that idea. There had been no reports of kidnapping and he was sure that they were here to take only Kiana captive. Any other prisoners were a liability to their secrecy.

Doing some more recon was his next idea but he knew that the risk of him being found out by a patrolling guard was too high to indulge his curiosity.

With the most basic of reconnaissance intel the teacher now laid his options out on how he could proceed. His first thought was to simply handle it himself. However he was sure that his current condition would prevent him from going all the way.

Not to mention that there might be an ace that these people had that he hadn't been able to discover yet.

His next option was to notify Ryoma of his findings and let Anti-Entropy's forces finish the job.

"Please no! Please no more!"

He took in a deep breath to stop the slight tremors going through his body from that...unpleasant memory of Anti-Entropy. "Heh I really can't get over it huh?" He chuckled as he closed his eyes in an attempt to stop himself from going down memory lane yet found himself doing so anyway.

That cold laboratory where no warmth existed.

The apathetic scientists who ignored his calls for mercy.

The ungodly amount of needles he had to endure.

The faces of-!

"Hands where I can see them!" The distinct sound of a rifle's safety switch getting unlocked interrupted his reminiscing. With a calm attitude, Ishigami turned around to see a lone soldier who had managed to sneak up on him.

"I said where hands where I can see them!" The soldier repeated as he leveled the barrel of the gun at him. Judging by how his hands weren't shaking, he was no novice mercenary. He would follow through with his threats if he didn't comply with them.

"Alright, alright." The teacher complied as he lifted his hands up into the air. "I'm sure we can work something out, though…" Red lightning began to arc through his hands.

"Do you know that if a human remotely even enters a star's gravity field, their body will be instantly crushed?"

The soldier tilted his head in confusion at that strange comment. "What are you talking abo-URK!" He couldn't finish his sentence when he suddenly found himself face down on the concrete surface, a mysterious force was preventing the soldier from standing up.

As if gravity itself was attacking him.

"You seem like a nice guy, be glad that I'm in a merciful mood right now." Ishigami walked up to the downed soldier, a pulsating orb of dark red energy in his hand. Letting the energy dissipate, the teacher kneeled beside the now unconscious man.

"You might wake up with a migraine that will last a while, though that is much preferable than the alternative." Rummaging through the soldier's equipment, Ishigami found what he was looking for as he held the man's radio.

"I hope that this experience has made you reconsider your chances of survival if you continue down this path." With that final remark Ishigami walked away from the fallen man.

There went the plan of trying to be silent. Even if he had swiftly taken out the soldier his actions would soon be discovered when someone tried to contact him only for them to realize that he would not be answering back. Not to forget that when he woke up the fallen soldier would simply report the attack.

He was sure that his actions would either have them act more discreetly or accelerate their plans even faster, further endangering Kiana.

At least with this radio in hand he would have a slight edge in whatever they planned to do next.

Bringing up the radio, the teacher was about to scan the entire device so that he could check if it was rigged with some sort of tracker but also to memorize the frequency that it was currently set to.

Only for a bright red feather to fall in front of him.

As much as he wanted to marvel at how majestic it looked, his senses were screaming in warning. Acting quickly Ishigami ignited his hand with red energy, unfortunately crushing the radio into scarp, and shot a wave of it to where he sensed the attack coming from. His face morphed into confusion when his attack crushed the area he directed it at, making a small crater as a result.

But to see no-one there.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted when he felt a sudden punch on his torso. "How the hell?!" Ishigami wondered where the hell the punch had even come from. There was no one near him yet the punch he received felt as if they were just standing right in front of him.

Another feather crossed his vision as he reeled from the force of the first punch. "So that's what it is!" He did not know what he was under the influence of but the feather must've been related somehow to it. Another punch soon landed on him, this time a direct hit to his gut.

Before his body could suffer any more hits from his hidden enemy, the teacher charged up another attack, but this time instead of trying to hit a single spot with the red energy.

He would apply it in an area of effect.

His fruits bore success when he could hear his opponent feeling the effects of gravity. Whatever tricks his mind was under the influence vanished for just that instant as his opponent was revealed.

The Valkyrie that he had followed to the docks was standing despite being under the influence of gravity. What might've toppled fully grown men to the ground was being shouldered by the gray bluish haired women.

A bead of sweat rolled down Fu Hua's face as she resisted gravity's toll on her. It wasn't a pleasant experience, far from it, but she would not be so easily done in. Her blue eyes flashed a hue of red as she activated her feathers once more.

Unfortunately for her Ishigami had been waiting for her to do so again. "A Divine Key?" He looked on in surprise when he traced the composition of the feather. It wasn't everyday you saw a Divine Key that was not some giant cross or spear.

And neither did you see one that was practically unaccounted for in the Schicksal Archives. The organization had their fair share of Divine Keys under their possession but he knew that they didn't have any that had the abilities to target one's mind.

Well at least from the ones that didn't hide that much from prying eyes. It seems that he had to give credit to Otto for at least keeping one ace up his sleeve.

With his hand the teacher pointed a red orb of gravity energy at the Valkyrie, all it would take was one simple flick of the wrist and his opponent would become a bloody smear on the ground.

The Divine Key that she possessed was quite powerful indeed, even now he could feel the effects of it once again as his senses were telling him that his opponent was no longer in his gravity field.

His eyes saw an empty space where the Valkyrie should've been, his ears heard an attack coming from his side, his nose and touch told him he was in the middle of a voracious fire and that he should focus on trying to put it out.

Any regular combatant would've trusted their senses and released their hold on her, unknowingly falling for the mind trick.

But when you held the powers of the Herrscher of Reason, in which your mind was your greatest weapon, these mind tricks were rather ineffective once you got your mind around them.

"The next logical move would be to kill you and leave no trace of your body for anyone to find," The gravity field suddenly lessened just a tiny bit. Just enough for Fu Hua to get a breather but not enough so that if she tried something then she would find herself back under the oppressive aura in no time.

"However I believe we both share a common goal, a goal that would be in danger should we continue this any longer." Ishigami gave a wary look to the Valkyrie as he could see understanding beginning to dawn in her eyes.

They could continue this further and have a single person walk away out of this alive and the other dead. That course of action would endanger their respective missions and make it harder to continue it.

Or they could stop right now and find a shared understanding.

"Do I have your word that you will not attack me the moment I release my hold over you." Watching the blue gray haired Valkyrie slowly nod her head in agreement, the teacher could feel the effects of whatever Divine Key beginning to fade. With her confirmation he lowered the gravity field back to normal.

Fu Hua panted as the oppressive field of gravity was finally lifted off her body. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she looked at her brown haired assailant with recognition. "You're that teacher from Chiba Academy? Akira Ishigami?"

"It seems my reputation precedes me then," The teacher chuckled as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "To think that even a Schicksal Valkyrie would know my name, I don't know if I should be honored or not."

"It's only natural to learn more about any targets of interest." Fu Hua patted her outfit to clear out any wrinkles on it before she recited what was on his dossier. "A teacher of remarkable knowledge, a Chess Grandmaster of renown skill, the bane of every student." At the last one the teacher chuckled at it.

"But yet…" She gave him a critical look and in response Ishigami's eyes narrowed from the look she was giving him.

"Your past is practically non-existent, nothing stands out. A normal upbringing where you grew up in Nagazora and graduated from Chiba Academy only to become a teacher when you received your teaching credentials..."

"Why it almost seems forged."

"Oh?" Ishigami's tone quickly shifted to that of barely contained anger. "Please do enlighten me on what you meant by that," His dangerous tone was clear that his past was a touchy subject and should she continue then the little peace that they were having would be quickly thrown out the window.

Fu Hua held her hands in peace as she got the message. "Regardless of what your past entails it's clear that you are no ordinary teacher and you know how to fight on even ground with a Valkyrie."

"So that begs the question what you are doing here in the first place?"

"I could ask you the same thing couldn't I," Ishigami shot back as the they found themselves at an impasse, neither willing to give up their reasons for being there. They knew no matter how many times either of them tried to get the other to reveal their hand, it would end in failure.

The sounds of a groaning guard tore both of their thoughts away as they looked to see the unconscious guard slowly regain his senses. They approximately had a minute before the guard woke up and radioed in his incident.

And with it their only advantage of staying undetected.

"...That Divine Key of yours," Ishigami spoke first. "Does it have the power to alter someone's memory?"

"You just read my mind," Fu Hua gave him a small grin to which the teacher reciprocated with one of his own.

By the time the guard woke up the pair was long gone. The surroundings around him suggested something had happened but the guard's memory already told him that the damage had already been there when he walked up onto the roof.

His memory also told him that he had decided to take a nap up there and slept past the time that he had to check in. Paling in realization the guard shot up from his position and made his way down the stairs and ran back to the base, mentally preparing himself for the biggest dressing down he was about to receive.

In an alleyway not too far away from the docks two opponents now found themselves as temporary allies. It was still a wary agreement as either of them could stab the other in the back when they weren't looking.

But they both shared a common enemy.

An enemy that they were willing to work together against.

"Now this is a work of art," I marveled as I opened the gift that Ishigami-sensei had left us. Beside me Kuro gave her own sound of awe as the two stared at the masterpiece of a gift that was given to me.

A chess set that seemed to be carved out from the best artisans in the world. Not only did it look to be carved out of the finest wood, there was also the fact that it seemed to be personalized as it was not your average looking set.

"Dear Haruto," The note that was attached to the side of the container read.

"If you are reading this then you already know that I'm not present to give this to you. Something has come up that requires my full attention and as such the club will have to be put on hold until the situation has been resolved. I wished to have given this to you in person but alas fate has other plans for us. This set and the one I gave to Keji have been gathering dust and I know that both of you will take great care of these sets."

Sincerely,

Akira Ishigami.

After reading the note, I folded the paper up as I thought back to what had happened earlier today. It felt like any regular school day and you could feel the class ready themselves for the feared teacher to walk through the door.

Only for a substitute to walk through instead.

From trepidation to that of utter shock, the class listened tentatively as the substitute explained that the Science teacher had taken a leave of absence and they were unsure when the teacher might return.

The class, most notably Kiana, jumped in joy after the explanation. It was as if someone had delivered them a gift from the heavens and from the way that they were shouting in joy it most certainly was approved of.

Yet while everyone else celebrated, a pit had begun to form in my stomach. This would be the first time that I had him as a teacher that he had called in sick. Was my intuition right? Was something coming around the corner? Was something-!

"No," I shook my head to stop myself from going down that train of thought. Think of happy places Haruto, think of happy places. "His relatives could be sick for all we know," I tried rationalizing.

Yes that could be it! There might've been a family emergency that required him to be present and it most definitely wasn't the fact that another major event was happening soon!

I sighed tiredly as my paranoia reached an all new high. It was definitely being reflected in my day to day behavior. Kiana didn't know too much about the grocery attack so she was oblivious to my paranoia. Mei and Keji on the other hand looked at me worryingly when they would catch me looking behind my back more often than not.

Even now Kuro looked at me with worry as she noticed the dejected atmosphere that surrounded me. "Oh sorry Kuro," I smiled apologetically at the feline. "Got lost in my thoughts a bit, why don't we check this set out now?" Eager to change subjects, I sat down and focused my attention to the heavily detailed chess set laid out before me.

This was certainly a work of art, even the pawns were meticulously carved. Even if they were the normal shape that all pawns were infamous for, just the sheer detail of every carving just spoke volumes of how passionate the artisan was.

The Rooks for example were no longer the castle-like pieces. In this set the Rooks were that of Tower Knights, massive knights that held a shield that was as tall as them.

The King was carved into that of a dragon. Curled around a tower that looked almost like a regular King piece was a dragon baring its fangs at any who challenged it.

The Queen was that in the visage of some sort of angel. Hands clasped together in prayer, the kneeling figure had her eyes closed as two wings curled around her.

The Knight was some kind of knightly figure on the back of a horse. I would've just written it off as a Calvary Knight if it wasn't for the fact that the legs of said knight were nowhere to be seen as the knight was connected to the horse by their torso.

Was it supposed to be some sort of centaur?

…I could just ask Ishigami what it was when he got back from whatever he needed to finish. Placing the chess piece down I went and picked up the Bishop, which was modeled in the image of a Phoenix. The majestic bird was mid-flight as flames surrounded the base of the piece.

Seeing the phoenix had my mind drifting to a certain Honkai Impact character who was very essential to the story.

Fu Hua, Class Monitor, Celestial Phoenix, a MANTIS, one of the thirteen MOTHs. The blue gray haired immortal was anything but arrogant. She never gloated about the fact that she was someone who had lived far longer than some civilizations, showing the wisdom that she had gained throughout the years.

Fu Hua was a character that I both wanted to meet and also avoid. The immortal Valkyrie was a very key character in the story, not only in progressing but also in Kiana's character development after Sirin had reawakened inside of her. Being on her good side would be absolutely instrumental in facing whatever trials the future had in store.

However at the same time catching her attention could also make things worse for me. At the moment she was in an alliance with Otto Apocalpyse and had no problem executing the man's dark deeds.

But that was the problem wasn't it? How to convince Fu Hua to change sides. My initial answer to that would've been to simply tell her the truth, tell her what would happen in the future. I was very positive that the immortal Valkyrie would know

Yet at the same time I had no guarantee of that. I could not be 100% confident that she wouldn't just hand me over to Otto and simply be done with it.

…That was actually a big problem now that I thought about it. Most of the characters that were instrumental to the story and were Kiana's allies were at some point her enemies. Anti-Entropy being one of them as the once evil portrayed organization actually turned out to be the good guys. I had no direct way of getting in contact with them and just like Fu Hua had no way of guaranteeing their support.

Sighing tiredly I placed the Bishop piece back on the board before I left for my head, looking to get a nice nap in to rest my mind from all of this.

If only people could read my mind and see the truth for themselves, things would be infinitely much easier for me.

It was eerily quiet in Kiana's Apartment. There were no sounds of the loud girl, no heavy music playing in the background, not even the sounds of a video game system could be heard.

In her living room one of the windows was silently opened.

Before multiple grenades were thrown inside, clattering on the ground before heavy smoke began to emit from them and cover the entire apartment.

Through the windows, a pair of soldiers rappeled in. Landing on the floor with a soft thud, their visors lit up to allow them to see the entire apartment unobstructed by the smoke.

"Remember you have a small window to pull this off," Owl spoke through their communicators in their ears. "Find the Kaslana quickly and leave." He ordered.

"Yes sir," The pair intoned as they readied their rifles and began to sweep through the apartment. The rounds that they were using were a special type of bullets that worked similarly like a tranquilizer. It wasn't going to kill you.

But it wasn't exactly going to tickle you either.

Alongside their special ammunition the pair of soldiers also had the smoke to help them as well. The thick and dense smoke would knock out anyone who inhaled its fumes.

So in reality all these soldiers really needed to do was find the comatose body of their target and leave the scene without anyone noticing. They didn't have to worry about anyone accidentally catching them scaling the side of the building with the Kaslana's body in tow.

The side that held the Kaslana's apartment complex was overlooking an alleyway. The building across that side of the apartment complex was fairly the same height as the complex but it was up for lease meaning that no one was inside the building.

Coupling that with the fact that they weren't near to the commercial district meant that the chance of a random pedestrian catching them in the act were very slim.

One of the soldiers got the attention of his partner. "I'll go check the kitchen, you go check the bedroom."

His partner nodded in confirmation as they went their separate paths. While the first soldier would just have to keep walking straight to get to the kitchen, the other soldier would have to first turn left and go down a hallway to get to the bedroom.

Quickly checking the hallway for any signs of the Kaslana, the lone soldier slowly approached the bedroom door. Considering the fact that his partner had yet to radio in if he had found the target, then the target would most definitely be inside her bedroom.

Getting halfway through the hallway, the soldier readied his rifle as the bedroom door got closer and closer. His fingers were already on the tip of the trigger as he calmed his breathing to get ready for the confrontation ahead.

Only for a door to his right to suddenly slam open with a mighty kick. Caught off guard, the soldier tried his best to react properly only for his visor to catch a glimpse of a frying pan coming his way before he blacked out.

The force behind the frying pan was so strong that not only did it knock the soldier out in one fell swoop, it also smashed his mask and visor all together. And judging by the small blood smear that was dripping from the frying pan then it was safe to assume that Kiana had also broken the man's nose.

"You didn't think I was defenseless now did you?!" Kiana berated the downed soldier as she held a towel to her nose with her free hand. She may not have the same military grade helmets that could filter out the gas's effects from the air, but she was clever with what she had.

But she could begin to feel the effects of the gas taking its toll on her now. Even with the towel as a makeshift mask, the corners of her vision were starting to get blurry.

But she was Kiana Kaslana! She was not going down without a fight!

"Hands in the air!" The first soldier rounded the hallway corner, rifle already leveled at the white haired girl who had taken out his partner. "Surrender now and-!"

"Like hell I'm doing that!" Kiana cut him off before throwing the frying pan in her hands at the soldier. Normally throwing a metal frying pan was scary enough, but one thrown by a Kaslana was something far worse.

Trusting what his gut was telling him, the soldier ducked out of the way before the frying pan could hit him. Looking back to where he had just been standing, the metal frying pan had lodged itself deeply into the wall.

If he hadn't moved his head would've been chopped off!

But he wasn't given a moment's rest as Kiana let out a war cry and rushed the soldier. Reacting, the soldier tried to unload his rifle's ammunition into the girl to knock her out. With inhuman skills Kiana leapt over the first initial bullets and began to weave through them as she descended unto the soldier.

To his credit the soldier realized that he wasn't going to be hitting her with his weapon and threw it away as he assumed a normal boxer's stance. If he couldn't knock her out with their specialized equipment then he was going to do it the old fashioned way.

Acting first the soldier threw a right hand punch Kiana's way. He expected for his fist to hit the girl head on and have her crumble like a house of cards.

What he wasn't expecting was Kiana to swerve out of the punch's trajectory, grab his extended arm and proceed to judo flip him onto his back. Landing harshly onto the wooden floor, the soldier gave a pained cry as he felt something crack in his body.

It was most probably some of his ribs.

"I have...to," Kiana's body began to sway as she tried to run out of her apartment. Her drowsy blue eyes turned into a glare when she found two additional soldiers were blocking her way out. Taking a running start the Kaslana rushed the two soldiers, uncaring about the fact that they had their rifles pointed at her.

She made a few feet of progress before her eyes rolled up to the back of her head and she collapsed onto her apartment's floor, her body no longer able to handle the effects of the gas.

"Commander Owl," One of the additional soldiers called as he went to check the girl's condition while his partner went to check the downed soldier. A quick scan told him that the girl was out cold. "We've secured the target."

"Good," Back at the docks Owl was watching the team's progress through their body cameras. While it was most certainly a surprise to see the first two soldiers get taken down so quickly, he was glad that it did not take more than four soldiers to apprehend the Kaslana.

If it wasn't for the gas helping out he was sure that it would take triple the amount of soldiers present to subdue her alongside exponentially increasing the time it would take to complete all of that.

"How is the bait doing?" Owl moved his gaze from the main screen and to a soldier standing near him. He had ordered them to complete a little task for him. "Have they fallen for it?"

"Yes sir, the two individuals that you wanted to catch have fallen for the bait." The soldier informed him as he handed him a tablet that was displaying the view of one of his bird familiars as it followed Fu Hua and Ishigami chase after a truck.

A truck which had been used as bait to divert the two's attention away from the real task that was happening right now.

He was unsure of what trick they had done to wipe out that particular guard's memory, and they could now distinguish between that of a real owl and that of his owl familiars.

It was too unfortunate for them that he also had other avian familiars to act as his eyes and ears. All it had taken was one of his rarely used pigeon familiars to get curious and have it watch the two individuals create an alliance between them.

The two of them were remarkably powerful and any confrontation against them would prove to be fatal. But by the time they figured out that they had been duped, Owl and his soldiers would have long left Nagazora behind.

"I'll get him," The injured soldier carefully hoisted his unconscious partner's arm around his shoulder. Slowly but surely they began to follow the soldier who was carrying the comatose body of Kiana. "Make sure you cover us." The soldier told the last member who had no-one to carry.

The last soldier nodded as he followed behind the rest of the squad. While he may have had his rifle at the ready, he was in no worry that someone else might ruin their plans. Owl had done extensive reconnaissance on the area and had the most problematic variables already taken care of.

The smoke that had once been permeated through the entire apartment had already begun to dissipate. With the windows open in the main living room, it would take about two minutes before it was completely gone.

The first soldier made sure that the target was properly secured before he began to rappel back up the building. Before long the rappelling hook came back down and the two injured soldiers took the next trip back up.

Taking one last look around the apartment to make sure that it was secure, the final soldier was just about to clip the rappelling hook to his belt when a knock on the door stopped him in his tracks.

"Kiana! Are you awake?" An unmistakable male voice spoke on the other side of the door. "Sorry I'm a bit late to our study session, I took a nap and accidentally forgot to set an alarm!" The person knocked on the door a few more times when it became apparent that no one was answering him.

"Kiana! Are you there?"

That complicated things. "Commander, what do I do?" The soldier spoke to his communicator about how to proceed.

Owl sighed as he knew who exactly was on the other side of that door. Out of all the scenarios that the officer had made contingencies for, the simple situation of two students working together on assignments had apparently crossed his mind.

He was tempted to tell the soldier to simply leave the apartment before Haruto entered but he knew it would only be a matter of time before the redhead knew something was up when he would not be able to find Kiana.

And that would mean he would contact the authorities which would then in turn alert Raiden Ryoma of the kidnapping. If Gray Serpent's intuition was correct and the CEO was indeed responsible for Kiana's enrollment to Chiba Academy…

Then he could have the city on lockdown with a snap of his fingers, making an escape virtually impossible.

...Gray Serpent would be displeased with what he had to do next but he needed to do what was done for this mission to succeed.

He could worry about the consequences later.

"Oh the door's unlocked," The door hinges began to creak as Haruto Nakamura slowly opened the door to enter. "I hope you don't mind Kiana!"

The intelligence officer soon made up his mind and gave his orders to the soldier, an order of only two words.

"Kill him."

Chapter Text

As I opened the door to Kiana's apartment, I was treated to the sight of an eerily empty living room. Not even the lights were on as I warily poked my head through the door opening.

"Kiana!" I called out. "Are you there?"

I waited in anticipation of the energetic girl's answer back but to my growing suspicion, I got no response back.

"Kiana!" I tried again as I put a foot through the door and began to cautiously make my way to her living room, my eyes on the lookout for anything suspicious. Something or anything to tell me what the girl had been up to before I came in.

I would take even a mug of unfinished coffee as a sign that Kiana had recently been here!

As I made my way closer to the living room, I made another attempt to call the white haired girl. "Kiana I hope this isn't some kind of…" My voice trailed off as my eyes drifted to the mirror that hung in her living room.

And caught the reflection of a heavily armed soldier readying his weapon.

"Prank!" I said that last part a bit too loudly as I tried to reign in my surprise. Internally kicking myself for accidentally showing my shock, I waited with bated breath as I watched the mirror to see the soldier not reacting a bit to my outburst.

That was good, it would be quite sad if an outburst was the reason that would land me a second death.

Judging by how the soldier had yet to make a move I could only speculate that he was waiting for me to unknowingly walk into his firing range to get a clean shot. And looking back at the mirror I could guess that he was in the hallway that led to the bedroom.

The advantages of living in an apartment was that everyone's complex shared the same floor plan.

"I mean if you're not feeling up to it we can always reschedule this for another time." I continued keeping the charade up. My eyes drifted to an empty flower vase on the table and in a split second decision I grabbed it. Now armed with a weapon, albeit a terrible one, I made my way to the corner before the hallway.

I couldn't exactly stop and think of a plan to get me out of this mess. The soldier was probably listening to my footsteps to judge when he should open fire and if I completely stopped then he would think something was up. And neither could I just turn the opposite direction and run like hell.

Not only would I probably get shot in the back before I could get a foot out of the door, I would be endangering every single tenant here. My grandmother being the prime example as her apartment was the one closest to mine, and by extension Kiana's.

If I didn't keep moving forward, everyone in this apartment complex would be put in danger.

The only thing I had going for me now was the element of surprise. While the soldier couldn't see me, I could most certainly see him.

And I was going to capitalize on that fact as much as I could. Nearing the corner I mentally prepared myself for what was about to happen. My hands gripped the vase a bit harder as I was just a few inches away from turning the corner.

I could practically see the tip of the gun barrel peeking out.

Steeling myself I swung the vase as hard as I could around the corner, blindsiding the soldier who was not expecting me to know that he was there. The glass vase gave a satisfying sound as it shattered against his helmet.

The sheer surprise of getting hit was so great that the soldier accidentally dropped his rifle in shock. Taking advantage of his disorientated state I kicked the fallen rifle away from him.

Good I had taken his most deadliest weapon away from him with one swift move.

But where I was expecting that one hit to dictate how the rest of the fight would go, that one good hit I was able to get him had was nowhere near enough to take him down like I so wished for.

In fact I think I just pissed him off.

The soldier let out a cry of anger before he ran forward, slamming the entirety of his body against mine. Since I neither had the mass or body size to match him, I could do nothing as the soldier pushed forward without resistance.

And straight into the kitchen counter.

I was tempted to cry out in pain as my back was inflamed with pain but my mind was focused on other things, like getting out of this deadlock that I was not trapped in. My fists immediately went on to punching the man's back as hard as possible.

But I might as well be giving him some love taps as his body armor was soaking up most of my fist's impact.

I realized that fact pretty quickly and decided to change tactics. My eyes frantically darted around the area before I picked up the nearest object and slammed it into his back.

And the object that I had picked up just so happened to be a frying pain. It gave a satisfying sound as I was sure that the man felt the force of that one.

The soldier however wasn't so appreciative of that as he lifted his head up to meet my gaze. Even if he was wearing a visor I could just imagine the raw anger in his eyes. With a roar the soldier, with his arms still wrapped around my torso, threw my body unto the ground with a loud thud.

Landing harshly on the wooden floor, I quickly regained my bearings to see the soldier slowly approaching my prone form. I could see him beginning to form a fist with his hands and quickly reacting I threw a quick kick at his legs.

The soldier fell onto his face as his balance was taken out, a pained cry left him as I could hear the sound of his visor cracking. Without thinking I began to try and get as far as I could from him by crawling away from the spot.

"Oh no you don't!" The soldier roared as one of his hands gripped onto one of my legs. I looked back to see a blue eye that held nothing but smoldering hate through the soldier's cracked visor as he held me in place.

"Get off!" I shouted as I got my other leg and proceeded to kick the soldier in the face to let me go. The man gave a grunt of pain as he loosened his hold on me just enough for me to wriggle my leg free.

With my leg free I looked back up and saw the man's discarded rifle just a few feet away from me. I didn't know what my game plan was now but I just knew that I needed to get that rifle before the soldier did.

Because if he got to it first then it was all over for me.

With a speed that only a man fighting for his life could possess, I crawled my way to the rifle. It didn't take long for my hands to land on the weapon before I hastily turned unto my back to try and find where the soldier was.

Fortunately it did not take long for me to find him, as I could see his figure for a brief second before he pounced on top of me.

"I'm going to make your death painful boy!" The soldier roared as we wrestled for the rifle between us. Try as might, his superior strength compared to mine showed as he ripped the weapon from my hands and threw it to the side, far out of my reach.

His hands soon found their way to my throat, making me let out a strangled gasp of air.

"I'm going to watch the life leave out of your eyes!" The soldier promised as I could feel my vision beginning to darken. In desperation I began to move my body uncontrollably in any possible way to try and get the person whose hands were currently around my throat off.

My hands harmlessly bounced off the man's armor and the wriggling of my body underneath in an attempt to try and buck the man off was proving futile. Even the adrenaline of slowly dying was not enough to free me from my predicament.

All the while my vision was getting darker and darker with each second the man's hands were around my throat.

If I had my bokken or something like that then there would've been a much more different outcome than what I was experiencing now!

My gasps for air were becoming smaller and smaller as I could feel my body no longer having the strength to fight for survival. My hands fell to the floor as the person responsible for said action chuckled as he knew his victory was imminent.

"You should've just been a good little boy and stayed away from this place," The man sneered as I could faintly catch a maniac glint in his uncovered eye with my rapidly darkening vision.

"I can't," It was getting harder to think as my brain was receiving less and less oxygen with each passing second. Right now it felt as if I was in a fever dream as opposed to real life. "I can't hold on."

"Don't worry about that Kiana girl," The man chuckled. "We'll take real good care of her."

A surge of anger filled my almost unresponsive body at the man's words. Like if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on me my vision and mind instantly brightened up to see the soldier still gloating over his victory.

Feeling something in my left hand, I gripped whatever the object it was as tight as I could before I slammed it upward with all the strength that I had. The soldier gave a strangled gasp before he fell over to the side.

With the weight off from both my chest and throat, I inhaled a much needed breath of air. That one second burst of adrenaline was all my body could handle as I felt my vision darkening at a much faster rate than before.

"Damm, I just did that," I muttered in disbelief over how that entire situation went right before I blacked out. As my body completely shut down after that intense ordeal that I went through...

The brief image of a sheathe was completely ignored as my entire world was consumed in darkness.

Green

That was all that you could see.

No matter where you turned all you would see was that of green pastures underneath a clear blue sky. A sense of calm and peace seemed to reverberate from this place as all your worries simply faded out.

"******!" A black haired boy cried out as he pulled a similarly aged blonde girl by the arm through the fields. The girl held a confused expression on her face as she let the boy pull her along. "We have to hurry and meet them!"

"Who are you talking about again?"

"Big Brother!" The boy replied as he looked back at her, their eyes twinkling in joy. "If it wasn't for them I would've never been able to meet you!"

The blond girl looked confused for a second but quickly smiled at his words as she gave a nod of confirmation. "Well I suppose I should thank them for letting me meet you."

"Well then c'mon," The boy urged as they began to go up a hill. "We're almost there!"

The pair soon came to the top of the hill, which was the highest point of the entire field. From there they had a view unlike any other, but they weren't there for the view.

They were there for what the hill held.

For there in the middle of the hill, sheathed in a rock, was a single golden sword.

"Go on," The black haired boy coaxed the blonde girl to approach the golden sword. "They've really wanted to meet you for some time."

****** gave a wary glance to the embedded sword before looking back at the brown haired boy. "What did you say your Big Brother's name was again?" She asked.

The boy opened his mouth but before any words could leave his lips, a brief flash of static filled the vision before everything went dark.

I woke up to the sight of my kitchen's ceiling, nursing a semi-serious migraine. Groaning at the pain that was radiating from every single part of my body I moved my hand to massage my temple, only stopping when I noticed the blood that was covering the appendage.

I felt my mind grow confused at the sight of the bright red liquid but it didn't last long

Walking into Kiana's apartment.

Getting jumped by a soldier.

Fighting off said soldier.

Jamming something in the soldier's throat before everything went dark.

It didn't take long for my mind to connect the dots, my body growing stiff and cold as I slowly turned my head to where the soldier that had just been trying to kill me a few moments ago.

The now dead soldier who had a small pool of blood forming beneath him.

Head facing towards me, The soldier's single uncovered blue eye was seemingly looking directly at me, though dulled and no longer filled with the hatred to end my life that it had been so filled with moments ago.

My eyes trailed down to the object that I had slammed into the man's neck. It so happened to be a large jagged piece of the glass vase that I slammed over his head when I first struck. The glass piece was logged inside the man's throat as I could see deep crimson paint the once green glasswork.

It didn't take long for my stomach to rapidly churn at the horrifying realization at what I had just done. With frightening speed I launched myself up from my position on the kitchen floor to the sink, painfully hurling up the contents in my stomach while my heart frantically pounded in my chest.

I had just killed someone with my own two bare hands. The knowledge of what I had done was like a weight dragging me down to the pits of hell.

I knew what I was getting into when I tried to get myself involved in the Honkai Universe but seeing it first hand was a completely different experience.

Seeing the blood on someone else's hands was one thing, seeing it on your own was a completely different thing.

And these weren't scripted characters made by video game companies, I had to remind myself. These were living, breathing people with their own ambitions and dreams.

They had every right to live as I did.

I slid down to the floor with my back pressed against my kitchen's cabinets.

"M-Maybe I shouldn't be doing this anymore, m-meddling in fate like this." I tried convincing myself that I wasn't the right person for the job.

For I knew that the soldier's death wouldn't be the first death that I would have a hand in. I could potentially have the fate of millions of innocent people be affected by my actions. Families could be robbed just by a simple mistake that I could make.

What if for every step I took in believing that I was doing right, I was actually dragging everyone with me to eternal damnation.

What reason could I have to keep moving forward?

.

.

.

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

Opening my eyes I reached down to grab the source of the sudden noise, which was the familiar sound of my phone's alarm going off. Opening my phone with my other non-bloodied hand I saw the reminder I had set up for Kiana's study session.

Thinking about the white haired girl that I befriended ever since she arrived into my life. I had to hold back a chuckle as I remembered the first time I saw Kiana barge into the classroom to introduce herself.

Just so like her, spontaneous and without warning.

Recent memories of my time with Kiana began to play in my mind like a montage.

The first dinner she had with me and my grandmother.

The time when we walked to school together for the first time, which had quickly become a new normal morning routine.

The time that she declared her love for Mei in front of the whole class after she got a bento from the heiress.

The time spent studying for a quiz that I wasn't sure that she was going to pass was only for her to shock me with her determination.

The time that we had dinner at Mei's house to celebrate her success.

Those little moments...

They were something I grew to quickly cherish.

I gritted my teeth as I forced myself to stand from my position. My body was still shaking but it was no longer from the terror of what deed I had done alone.

Now it was the sign of a silent oath I had made at that moment.

The memory of how the dinner went at Mei's estate now played out in my mind. The mountain of food in front of Kiana never disappeared but neither did the bright smile on her face. To the side Mei had a bright smile of her own as she watched Kiana eat with gusto.

And I knew that I too also had a bright smile of my own during that moment.

It was that moment I knew that I would do anything to protect them.

I looked to the body of the fallen soldier, my eyes trailing to the radio that clung to the man's vest. Walking over I gave a silent apology to the fallen man before I liberated the radio from his dead body.

"Let's change fate shall we?" I whispered to myself before dialing a certain number in.

It was almost sunset by the time that I arrived at the docks where Kiana had been taken to. The radio that I had taken had a GPS feature built into it so all I had to do was follow the route. Peeking around the corner of a shipping container I could see similarly dressed soldiers congregating around a single cargo ship.

Judging by the amount of foot traffic going in and out of that area alongside the rate at which storage containers were being loaded into the ship, it was very likely that they planned to leave as soon as possible.

Most possibly by midnight so that they could escape under the cover of night.

I was half tempted to bring Kuro for this seemingly suicidal mission. I knew that her capabilities would be a massive boon with sneaking around enemy territory but I knew there was also the possibility of that backfiring considering I was going against her organization.

I grew to regard the feline as a member of the Nakamura family and did not wish to burden her with the choice to pick sides on the spot. I knew that one day that she would be confronted with that choice but I did not wish it to be today.

Not with so much else at stake.

"But if my gamble paid off I didn't need to worry about strength," I thought to myself as I took another look around before moving from my location, slipping through a patrol's rotation and heading deeper into the docks.

A small part of me was worried that my gamble hadn't paid off as when I had made my call I had been left on a voicemail of all things. Fate of the world is potentially at stake and the difference between victory and defeat was left on an automated message to call back.

Yes that was…concerning to say the least but I wasn't going to let pessimism win the day. "In chess every play you make has the risk of it being countered by your enemy. You have to adapt according to the situation and your moves accordingly. There's very little difference between what I am doing now and playing a game of chess." I thought to myself.

Except for the fact that I was playing with the fate of Kiana as opposed to a simple victory tally point in chess.

Not to mention my plan had a plethora of holes in it that if it was a piece of paper it would barely be able to hold anything. Some of the most glaring flaws in my plan were the facts that I had no idea where Kiana was being held at, no idea how heavily defended she was, or even if my call would get the calvary to arrive with guns blazing.

I knew that coming in here without a full plan was practically suicidal but I really didn't have a choice. Even if I attempted to make a full plan I knew that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Rather have an inkling of a plan that could be adapted on then to run in here hoping on luck to get me through.

I almost wanted to laugh at the mentality I was putting all of my hopes on. It was a far cry from how I acted a few days ago but an even bigger shock was when I compared who I was now to a different person.

The original me, the person before Haruto Nakamura, would've never considered this course of action. Even if I had the strongest armor to be protected by, I still would've left this work for someone else to handle.

It was definitely strange to compare the person who I once had been and the person I was now, willingly sneaking through enemy lines to save a friend.

How things could change with one single accident.

"Hey did you hear about the Schicksal shipment we somehow got?" The sound of approaching footsteps had me quickly hide behind a stack of containers. Peering through a crack between them I saw a pair of soldiers walk by as I eavesdropped on their conversation. "What do you think is in it?"

"Probably packing some heavy firepower." The other guard responded. "Though I doubt that anyone wants to be the one to activate lest it has a tracker or something like that."

"Well I'm glad we left it at the warehouse back there." The first soldier jerked their head in the direction of the warehouse they were talking about. "When we're out of here it'll no longer be our problem."

I waited until they had walked out of sight to leave my hiding spot. When I was sure they wouldn't come back for any strange reason I turned my head in the direction of where they had come from, noting the warehouse that they had mentioned in their conversation.

It was just a regular dock warehouse that had a minimal amount of soldiers patrolling around it. It was definitely a gamble to trust the words of enemy soldiers but the pros of their words being true far outweighed the consequences.

"Well then let's hope it's something that we can use for our cause," I said as I made my way to the warehouse.

Slowly opening the door into the warehouse, I peeked my head through the door to see if anyone was inside the building. With how musty the air was inside I was sure that no-one had entered the building recently.

Still I walked inside with a cautious pace, making sure that there wasn't anything that could accidentally give me away. That there weren't any sensors or cameras that I could accidentally trip that would alert everyone to my position.

"So what exactly am I looking for here…" IMy voice trailed off as I entered the area that was supposedly meant to be filled with shipping containers, only to discover that it was in fact very empty.

And that only one container called this place home.

A Schicksal container, just as the soldiers had said.

"What is this doing here?" I asked myself as I approached the white container, any aspect of stealth or caution thrown out the window. Running my hand through the metal frame of the container, a small part of my mind wondered if this could just be some sort of lost container that could hold cleaning supplies of all things.

Or…

I placed my hands on the handles of the shipping container with anticipation. "This could give me the edge that I desperately need right now." I then pulled on the handles to open the thing up.

The doors creaked as they opened, revealing what the container held.

Or rather what was inside said container.

"Well that was disappointing," I commented to myself as I walked up to the sole item that was inside. I expected some giant mech in here or maybe an arsenal of honkai-powered weapons that I could've possibly use. Not some silver briefcase that barely takes any space in here.

"I would like to say I disagree with you but then I would be lying." Picking up the rather hefty silver briefcase I inspected it. It was rather long in width and height but the most curious thing about the appearance of the briefcase was the symbol emblazoned on the side of it.

It was a blue and golden sword with four angelic wings sprouting out of the sword's hilt while a golden crown sat upon the hilt of the sword.

Taking a good look at the symbol, a part of me was telling me that I have seen this somewhere before.

But where exactly had I seen this before?

I could dwell on that later. At the moment I needed to see if this briefcase could really help me out or not.

Walking up to a nearby table I lifted the silver briefcase on top before unclasping the seals on it. "Huh I would've thought that there would've been some kind of password that I would have to input."

With all the seals unclasped I opened the briefcase and beheld the contents within.

It was a singular armored gauntlet that laid inside the briefcase, alongside a sword that used the armor as a sheathe as well. The white and gold colored gauntlet shared more similarities with that of mech than any other traditional armored gauntlets that I knew of.

While not slim to be considered almost like a glove, it was neither bulky enough that the wielder would have a hard time moving their arms around if the situation demanded it.

The armor reached up to what I presumed to be the elbow, an opening at that area suggested that it was indeed something to be worn rather than attached to as it looked like you could easily slide your hand into the gauntlet.

The main feature was the armor that made the gauntlet up itself. A gold diamond shaped design was the first thing that you noticed when you first looked at it. Running a hand along the sleek smooth metal I could feel the energy thrumming in the armor, begging to be used.

And while this was a masterpiece in its own right.

I knew this armor piece from somewhere, that I was sure of now. But where had I seen it before?!

Taking the time to inspect it some more I noted the lack of any locks on the gauntlet. No electricity that would shock me when I touched it, nor some kind of mechanical voice telling me that I had no authorization to hold it.

It was as if I could use it just by inserting my hand into the gauntlet.

"Is it really that simple?" I asked myself apprehensively. "I mean wouldn't there be some kind of scanner that would verify if I'm the 'wielder' of this gauntlet or something like that?"

It was Schicksal for crying out loud. The most advanced organization on the planet and they wouldn't have some kind of verification system on their weapons and armors? Like if I were to place my hand in this gauntlet and it didn't recognize me would the armor then send enough voltage into my body to instantly kill me?

That just made common sense to me.

But I didn't have the time to sit around and ponder this. Every second I wasted here was another second that Kiana remained in danger. I needed to take the leap of faith right now.

Gathering the resolve to move forward I held the armored gauntlet in my right hand as I readied my left hand for what was to happen next. This was definitely how I did not expect this night to go. And I knew that there was going to be a myriad of other surprises that this night would hold.

"Well here goes nothing I guess," I sighed as I closed my eyes…

Before I thrusted my hand into the armored gauntlet.

"How are the preparations going?" Owl asked through his ear communicator. "Are we on schedule?"

"Yes sir," The soldier on the other end replied. "All we have to do is finish loading up a few more containers and we will be all good to go."

"Good I want an update when it becomes clear we can leave in the next hour. Start telling the soldiers to prepare themselves for a swift departure. The more time we spend here is more time for everything to come breaking apart."

"Yes sir, I'll leave you updated." The line cut as Owl let his hand drop from his ear as he watched his soldiers from the building's windows frantically ensure that they would be able to meet the deadline of the departure.

"When I get out of here I'm going to make you regret ever crossing me!" A tired sigh left his lips as he turned around to see Kiana Kaslana struggling against her bonds with all of her might. The two assigned to guard looked more than done with the white haired girl's antics.

"I need to make sure that everything is in order by the time we leave, I trust that you two can keep on her?"

"Yes sir!" The soldiers saluted.

Owl gave a nod before he walked out of the room, leaving the two soldiers alone with the Kaslana.

One of the soldiers gave a pointed look to the bound Kiana now that their superior was no longer there. "You better stay quiet or else." He threatened as he tightened his grip on his rifle to remind her of her situation.

"Heh try whatever you want!" Kiana grinned as she stared into the soldier's visor. "I'll just find another way to annoy you even further!"

Does this girl have no sense of self-preservation?! The soldier looked to his partner in exasperation over the girl's behavior, who in turn just shrugged his shoulders as he too was confused. Most people would be begging to be released if they were in Kiana's position but she just grins as if it's a regular day for her.

Did all Kaslana's possess this disregard for their own lives?

"As much as we would both love nothing more than to shut you up permanently, the higher-ups would have our heads if so much as a single hair was harmed." The soldier leaned closer to the bound girl. "After all you Kaslanas are a rare commodity."

Beneath his mask the soldier grinned as he thought of a way to get back at the girl who had spent the time that they had been guarding her a living hell.

"It was a shame that Haruto fellow had to die," Kiana's blue eyes widened in terror as the soldier took much joy in the look his words had gotten. "I heard he was a great student, I'm sure a couple more years and he would have had a great future."

Kiana tried to look for any hint that the bastard in front of her was lying, trying to crush her spirits. "Haru-senpai?" Her heart plummeted at the thought of Haruto, her first friend in Nagazora, dying.

Dying because he was associated with her.

"You knew that you were hunted because of your heritage, I don't know if your daddy told you but I'm sure you knew about your Kaslana heritage one way or the other." The soldier leaned in closer to the terror stricken girl.

"And yet you dropped your guard and looked at what happened. Murdered not even a few feet away from his own home." Even with a visor covering up his eyes, the soldier made sure that the Kaslana was looking into his eyes for what he was about to say next.

"Now be a good prisoner and stay quiet, or who knows? Maybe we will have to pay a visit to Mei Ra-!" He couldn't even complete his threat when Kiana suddenly headbutted him in the nose with as much force as she could. With the distance between them so short the unfortunate man felt the full fury of the Kaslana blood.

Stepping back the man took off his mask and brought his hand up to his nose, frowning when he could feel blood running through his fingers and the fact it was no longer straight.

She had most definitely broken his nose.

"Don't you dare touch my senpais!" Kiana growled as she glared banefully at the soldier clutching his broken nose. "Haru-senpai isn't dead and Mei-senpai will never be harmed by the likes of you, not on my watch!"

"Why you!" The soldier who had watched his partner's nose get broken held the butt of his rifle up to smack the backside of the girl's head with.

Only for a loud explosion to occur in the distance.

"What the hell?!" The soldier ran up to the window to see the smoky cloud of a large explosion near the perimeter of the docks that they occupied. Any soldier that had been busy helping the evacuation effort promptly stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the explosion.

"This is Perimeter Patrol Echo!" The radio blared to life as a man's panicked voice came through the public channel, making every soldier hear his words. "We are being attacked! I repeat we are being attacked! Anti-Entropy forces are swarming our position and we need-AAH!"

From the smoke a single Anti-Entropy mech walked out, the usually blue eyes of the human piloted machine turned red as a sea of identical red lights flickered in the smoke behind the lead unit.

And with that all hell broke loose.

Ishigami watched from his vantage point as he saw the Anti-Entropy garrison begin to engage the enemy. Streaks of gunfire lit the sky up, missiles flew and caused massive explosions wherever they landed, and all the while...

Chaos reigned supreme.

"How fortunate of us that your student called us about what had happened." Fu Hua spoke next to him. "I fear they would've given us the slip if we continued to follow that decoy."

"Indeed," The teacher thought back to the voicemail he had gotten from Haruto. He had expected the student to notify him about something related to the chess club or something that happened at school.

He had not been expecting to get a call that Kiana Kaslana had been kidnapped and that those who had kidnapped her were planning to leave with her before the end of the night.

His eyes desperately scanned through the chaos that was ensuing in the docks, trying to hopefully spot a mop of red hair. He had a feeling that Haruto was doing more than just making a phone call.

Ever since he had first met the red head student, something about the way he held himself had always intrigued the teacher. The way his hazel eyes seemed to be always on the watch for something, as if something was about to happen.

Something that he knew was going to happen but did not know exactly when.

"Do you have no-one to call for backup?" He glanced at his blue gray haired Valkyrie partner next to him, who was wearing a light blue martial arts uniform. "No squad that you can call to help us?"

Fu Hua just shook her head. "As far as Schicksal knows I'm deployed in America for a survey mission, the only ones who know that I'm here are the Overseer and another Valkyrie that had been deployed to this city way before my assignment."

"I've already notified her of the situation and she should be here quite shortly. She is quite quick, so we do not need to wait for her in order to proceed." Fu Hua adjusted her red glasses as she looked to the main warehouse that was supposedly the base of operations.

Judging by the amount of soldiers that were congregating around it meant that Kiana Kaslana was being held captive there.

She slammed her fists together, a pair of gauntlets materialized unto her hands in a flash of light. "We have our own mission to complete now."

I held back a flinch as another explosion rocked the ground. To think the peaceful night sky had dissolved into a smoky chaotic mess in the span of mere minutes. The residual smoke from explosions began to cover the dark sky, no doubt attracting the attention of about every Nagazorian resident.

It was a giant risk to call Ishigami about the World Serpent operation. I had my suspicions that he was associated with Anti-Entropy in some capacity but didn't have any concrete proof to confirm it. The best that could've happened to me if my gamble was wrong would be a very awkward phone call. The worst that could've happened would have been being imprisoned by Anti-Entropy for what I knew.

Thank god that it worked out so well.

I looked down to my left arm to see the white and gold gauntlet snuggly in place. When I had placed my hand inside the armor I had fully expected the arm to come alive and shock me to death.

Imagine to my surprise when it only glowed a bright green in activation.

On my right hand was the sword that had once been previously sheathed inside the gauntlet. I may not have the experience to be considered a sword master but enough sparring sessions with Mei in kendo was good enough in my books.

At least this time I could properly defend myself.

"At least that solves the problem of dealing with the problem of numbers." I spoke to myself as I ran towards the warehouse where Kiana was being held. "With Anti-Entropy the enemy will be too occupied to notice me sneaking in-!"

It was only countless sessions with dodging Mei's bokken that I could properly react to the attack that was aimed for my neck, even if I couldn't see it. Reacting on instinct I brought up my sword to intercept the ambusher's attack as sparks were sent flying by the sudden contact.

"Don't think that I don't know how to use this…" I trailed off as I got a better look to who had suddenly attacked me. My hazel eyes widened in shock as familiar green eyes did the same as the person in front of me voiced her surprise.

"Aki-san?" I asked in shock as I took a step back, my classmate doing the same as we both wondered what the other was doing here.

At that moment I looked at her from head to toe, noting the katana that she held in her hand.

And the fact that she was wearing what I presumed to be a Schicksal Valkyrie outfit. So many questions were going through my head at that moment but…

I voiced the biggest question I had. "You're a Valkyrie?!"

"Uh," Midori's cheeks gained a red hue as she lowered her katana, realizing what she was wearing and who she was speaking to.

"I can explain?"

Chapter Text

"Herring Four you have five targets to your right!"

"Don't you think that I don't see that Herring One!"

"Cut the complaining Herring Four! Herring Two make sure that you keep up that suppressive fire! We can't let the enemy pincer us on both sides!"

"Roger that Herring One!"

"And Has anyone heard from Herring Five yet?!"

"Negative Herring One."

"Wasn't he supposed to report back a few minutes ago?"

"Knowing the kid he probably forgot to call back in."

The leader of Herring Squadron, Teppei Shirogane, couldn't help but frown inside his machine's cockpit at that news. Turning his machine around the captain looked at the similar looking machines of his squadron behind him.

"What about the other squadrons?" He asked. "What's their status?"

Herring Two, who could be differentiated from the other mechs present by the massive chain gun that was attached to its arm, answered. "Only that they're meeting minimal resistance as they complete the perimeter around the docks, though the squadrons that are nearest to the base of operations are experiencing something different."

Herring Four, the unit that specialized in close combat with its two hammer like arms, spoke next. "Well what did they expect? Those extras pretty much have it easy with us taking the main heat!" He boastfully retorted.

Herring Three, a unit that could be distinguished by the massive shield that it had as one of its arms, calmly retorted. "Herring Four calm yourself, 'pride cometh before the fall' after all."

"What?! It's true!" Herring Four argued back. "We're the best mech squadron that Anti-Entropy has to offer! Why I'm sure that we could've taken this entire dock by ourselves!"

Teppei shook his head exasperatedly hearing the words coming from Herring Four. While Herring Four loved to certainly voice his opinions, he was one of the best pilots that Anti Entropy had to offer.

He believed the term was that he had the bite to back up his bark.

The Herring Squadron just wouldn't be the same without one of them missing. Though speaking about the squadron, they were missing someone to complete this dysfunctional little family that they had going over here…

The sound of a mech's approaching footsteps answered that question for him. "Herring Five, what took you so long?" Teppei teased as the last member they were waiting for finally showed up.

Herring Five's unit was easily the most distinguishable out of the squad's units. Not only was it the Lightning variant, which meant that the normal arms that were on it had been replaced with adding as many guns to the machine as it could handle. Though the added guns severely hampered the machine's mobility, it didn't help that Herring Five loved to express himself.

Which translated to him painting a giant herring on his unit's visor.

"Hey it's not my fault that this machine is slow as hell!" Herring Five complained as the Herring Squad was now finally completed. "Why did I oversleep again!"

"Heh that's your own fault newbie," Herring Four admonished in his cockpit. "You should've gone to sleep when I told and not spend the whole night playing that freakin stupid game of yours." The pilot taunted.

Hearing Herring Five fell for the taunt with a rebuttal of his own, Teppai shook his head in exasperation hearing the two most hot headed engage in yet another heated argument. It was just something about their personalities clashing over the most trivial of things that had quickly become a norm for the squadron.

They could be having a normal breakfast back at the garrison in silence only for the two to start having a heated argument over what cereal was the best to eat. Or they could be in the midst of a training session and the two would debate over who had the best scores on the training simulators.

He couldn't help but feel this was the price of his wish ever since he decided to enlist in the military. Ever since he had been a young boy he had always dreamed of leading his own squadron one day.

Two years after he graduated from the academy he found himself being promoted in the ranks of Anti-Entropy to the position of Captain, even holding the honor of leading a squad that he had full control over how it was run that would be deployed in the newest garrison being built in Nagazora.

Now he had to deal with the two biggest hotheads that he's ever encountered in his life and somehow get them, whilst getting the rest of the squad to work effectively together. Turning the Herring Squadron to the most elite unit that the world has ever seen was going to be difficult, but Teppei was not one to shy away from a challenge.

"Alright break it up you two!" He sternly commanded. The two pilot's machines glanced at each other before turning away, an unspoken message going between them that their argument was not yet finished. "Since the squadron is finally here we can finally go over phase two of the operation."

"As you all know phase one was the strategic and rapid deployment of every squadron the garrison had at the docks," In every one of their mechs, a map was deployed showing the exact locations of every Anti-Entropy pilot at the docks.

"The rapid deployment of our forces was able to give us the element of surprise, allowing us to set up a blockade around the docks. Battleship Hyakuren has cut off any escape routes into the sea so that leaves us with the task of making sure that no-one here escapes."

The map soon changed as ally indicators began to cluster up. "Should the blockade prove successful then we move onto phase two. The enemy will no doubt realize that they are trapped and focus all of their remaining firepower to defend their main base of operations. From there they have two options, wait for reinforcements which seems highly unlikely or they will most probably choose to try and break through."

"And spill the conflict over into Nagazora," Herring Three grimly realized as Teppei made the same conclusion. He was sure whoever they were dealing with would not hesitate to throw the city into chaos to use for their advantage and slip away into the night.

That could not be allowed to happen.

"We will attack them in a coordinated assault, one from the north and one from the south. We will rendezvous with Gobius and Gorgasia squadrons before we attack from the north, simultaneously our allies in the south do the same."

"Well what are we waiting for!" Herring Four shouted impatiently. However instead of getting groans, the pilot instead got similar shouts as everyone was ready to get this show on the road. "Let's show these bastards who the Herring Squadron really are!"

With that rather strange, but very effective pep talk, the Herring Squad made their way to the coordinates that they would be meeting the other squadrons at.

As the five Anti-Entropy battle mechs walked through the docks to their destination, it became quickly apparent that it was much quieter than it had been just an hour ago. While there were still gunfights and explosions going off in the docks.

It was a far cry from how loud and explosive the beginning of this long night was.

Any resistance that they encountered were swiftly dispatched as the five pilots showed the prowess of the Herring Squad.

"Hey Herring Five I bet my kill count is much higher than yours!"

"In your dreams Herring Four!

"You probably got like 2 soldiers I bet."

"Did not!"

"Any number higher and I fear that you'd be lying to us."

"Then what's your count then Herring Four?! I bet my lunch that my number is double that of yours!"

"Hahahaha! Be prepared to go hungry in our next training session then!"

"Will there ever be a day that you two won't act like children." Herring Three sighed as if she was a single mother caring for her unruly children.

"THIS DOESN'T CONCERN YOU HERRING THREE!" The pair shouted simultaneously.

"And this is why I choose to remain silent during these," Herring Two muttered just loud enough for everyone else to hear in their communication relays. Before long the four pilots that made up the Herring Squad were in an argument ranging from accusations or in Herring Four's case boasting.

As much as Teppei would've loved nothing more than to let them continue with their usual bickering, they were getting close. "Alright cut the chatter you guys, we're nearing the rendezvous point." Switching his communication relay to that of the public channel, the captain began to call out for the two other squads that were meant to join them.

"Gobius! Gorgasia!" He called out expecting a response back, only to get in silence in return. "Gobius! Gorgasia!" He tried again but to no avail.

As time passed with no answer back, it became apparent that something was amiss. "Do you think…" Herring Two's foreboding tone sent chills along everyone's back as they all thought of the only possible reason why they weren't getting any responses back.

"N-No, that's impossible." Herring Five tried to be the pillar of reason, but the wavering in his voice suggested he was feeling otherwise. "W-We would've gotten some kind of distress signal or something by them, or we would've heard-!"

An explosion suddenly ripped through the air, not far from where the Herring Squadron was currently positioned at. The only possible units that could be engaged with the enemy that were near them was…

"It's them!" Teppei shouted in realization. "Alright Herring Squad we are going in hot, I want weapons armed at the ready NOW!" He shouted as he got a chorus of 'yes sir' before the five mechs began to run as fast as they could to the sight of the explosion.

By the time they got there, they were treated to a rather horrific sight. The wrecked remains of what might've been the Gobius and Gorgasia squad were littered throughout. Mechs that could withstand the worst that Nature could throw at them were strewn apart, torso units without arms and arms without torsos to attach themselves to.

The surrounding area fared no better as it was all to clear a battle took place here. Many crates were but melted slag with the amount of fires burning throughout the area and the way that some containers were dented was more than enough to indicate that mechs had been on the unfortunate end of that dent.

And there standing in the middle of the chaos, was the one responsible for this carnage.

"You killed them all, y-you bastard!" On the public communications channel, a voice that Teppei knew as the captain of the Gobius Squad spoke. The mech that the Gobius captain used only had a single arm attached to it, its other appendages nowhere to be seen.

And the one responsible for this devastation was the massive knight that towered over the fallen mech, zweihander in hand.

"I-I'll make sure you pay for this!" The captain spat out from his fallen mech as the knight held its weapon high above its head. Herring Three gasped in horror as it became apparent to everyone what the juggernaut intended to do.

"Oh hell you won't!" Herring Four yelled as he maneuvered his mech to try and get to the knight before it could complete its execution.

Alas the mechs of Anti-Entropy were not created with speed in mind as by the time that Herring Four's mech stepped forward…

The metal juggernaut brought down it's sword with a mighty force. The steel blade effortlessly cleaved into the Gobius captain's cockpit, a strangled gasp was all that left the captain.

Silence reigned as the Herring Squadron comprehended what had just occurred in front of their very eyes. Death was something that they were accustomed to, they were part of Anti-Entropy for crying out loud.

Death was practically something you signed up to see on a daily basis.

But to see two squads be reduced to scrap and bloody smears was enough to make even the most experienced of soldiers hesitate out of fear. Even more so if all that devastation was not caused by a well thought plan or a trap, but rather by one enemy.

One!

But whereas normal people would've fled in terror…

Herring Squad was anything but normal.

"You bastard," Teppei growled inside of his mech's cockpit, his hands gripping the controls with such force that his knuckles were going white. His eyes glared banefully at the metal monstrosity that was displayed on the monitor. "You're going to pay for that!"

"Hell yeah he is!" Herring Four roared in agreement, his mech's hammer arms lighting up in energy. "He's gonna regret ever crossing us!"

"This is personal now!" Shouted Herring Five as his machine's weapons aimed themselves at the metal knight, a myriad of red lasers decorating the target's silver armor.

Even the usually calm Herring Three was riled up. "We will avenge our fallen comrades, no matter the cost." Her voice was a deathly calm as her machine brought her massive shield.

Herring Two's machine revved up its mingun as its pilot was the last to say his piece. "You will be stopped." He simply said

"Herring Squad!" Teppei commanded before they all attacked the silver knight at once. All five mechs descended unto the behemoth with the sole purpose of destroying their hated enemy. "ATTACK!"

Iudex stood unflinchingly as it heard the collective battle cry of its new opponents. The pair of three slits that made up its visor glowed red as it confirmed that engaging these new opponents would fulfill his directive.

[Directive: Eliminate all intruders, ensure that none breach the perimeter surrounding the base]

Acknowledging that directive would be met, the knight's eyes glowed a baneful red as it held its zweihander at the ready before meeting its new enemies head on.

"Aki-san?" I questioned in disbelief as I lowered my sword in shock. "You're a Valkyrie?!"

How the hell had this happened?! Mei's best friend, someone who Mei spoke highly of, was actually an undercover Valkyrie! Never did I think that someone from Schicksal would be right under my nose this entire time!

How the hell had I not noticed that! Granted I didn't spend a lot of time with the kendo practitioner and the number of encounters that we've had could be counted on one hand. Still it was concerning that I never noticed till now.

Because if I missed this then what other things could I have missed?!

"Haruto-san?" She said in equal disbelief, sheathing the katana that had almost taken off my head. "W-What are you doing here?"

I was almost tempted to say the same thing back to her but I knew that wouldn't really work. After all she was a Valkyrie, an elite defender of humanity against the threats that the Honkai could inflict on us.

And I was just a regular human being. I was the one who did not belong in this scenario, not her.

"Well let's just say that they kidnapped a friend of mine and I'm trying to get her back." I explained. Couldn't let her know that the person that I was trying to save was-.

"Kiana right?" Midori said as if it was completely common knowledge.

"...That's right," My eyebrow twitched as I was thrown off guard by revelation. "How did you know that it was her in the first place?" I asked her curiously. From my prior knowledge Kiana was a wanted fugitive from Schicksal, her capture was something treated as high priority.

That meant Midori knew who Kiana was, which meant that she knew of the high value target that was her classmate. If that was the case then why didn't she move in to capture, or call in reinforcements to do it for her?

Also how did she know that Kiana had been kidnapped in the first place? Ishigami-sensei was the only person who I called concerning the kidnapping and the fact that Anti-Entropy forces were still currently waging war on the docks instead of Schicksal Valkyries meant the teacher had not told Midori about the situation.

So if it wasn't my teacher then who told the Valkyrie in front of me about the situation? Was there another Valkyrie stationed here? I tried to rack my brain for any candidates that Midori might hang out with a lot but my lack of encounters with her left me drawing blanks.

Curse my unwillingness to get closer with the girl. I could've had Mei invite her when we had our weekly kendo practices. There was a chance, a small one at the but a chance nonetheless, that I might've developed a bond with the girl and seen through her disguise more quickly.

I mentally shook my head clear of that failed opportunity so that I refocus on the present. "Do you have no backup?"

Midori's green eyes narrowed in suspicion. "That's classified."

My eyes widened before narrowing in response, I forgot that she was a Valkyrie first before she was my classmate. If that was the case then would I have to fight against her soon enough because she thought I was a suspect?

My hand tightened around the handle of the sword that I had borrowed instinctively, an act that did not go unnoticed by Midori.

After sparring with Mei countless times I was once confident that I could take Midori on in a sword fight. After all, Mei was a better kendo practitioner than Midori and if I trained with Mei then I most certainly could take on Midori.

But this wasn't a kendo match, this could potentially be a fight to the death. The undercover Valkyrie could have intentionally gone easy on Mei, or any person she crossed blades with in the kendo arena. After all it was easier to stay undercover if you were in the middle of the pack as opposed to being on the top.

"But I do not think that you are my enemy here," Midori's words caught me off guard as I looked at her in surprise, my grip on the sword lessening as a result. "You care deeply for Kiana and from what I have seen it was all genuine, none of it looked fake." Her green eyes trailed down to the gauntlet attached to my left arm.

"Also the fact that you are wearing an armor of Schicksal either makes you very brave for trying to save your friend, or very stupid for trying to risk your life in doing so."

Ignoring the last part of that sentence I focused my attention on the elephant in the room. "This gauntlet," I raised the arm that held the aforementioned piece of armor, the white glow of the armor shining in the dark area we were in. "Do you know what it is?"

The black haired valkyrie stepped forward, her hands trailing the surface of the gauntlet. Her eyes looked over every detail of the gauntlet, trying to put a name on it. "I'm sorry," She said finally after some time passed as she took a step back. "I do not know the name of the armor that you are wearing right now."

"Oh," I lowered the hand back down, surprisingly dejected by the answer I got. "It was worth a shot I guess."

"It's not a standard issued piece of equipment, the specs of that gauntlet are too advanced to be standard issue," Midori explained. "It could be customized equipment, it's not too uncommon for a Valkyrie to modify their gear to their own liking."

"But the chance of equipment like yours being too far from its Valkyrie is too low, we don't go far without our weapons near us." She looked me in the eye as she came to the only conclusion she could make.

"Then the only logical explanation is that armor is a prototype, meaning that should you choose to continue onward from this point there is no guarantee that it will help you. As a matter of fact it could most possibly be what leads you to your death." She explained gravely as the situation sank in.

A prototype meant that it wasn't complete, and a weapon that was incomplete meant I was holding a volatile bomb that could go off at any moment. If I took a step forward I could just drop down dead with no warning.

Even so.

The hand inside of the gauntlet tightened into a fist as I held it up for Midori to see. "Even if I could die any second right now, I have to at least try." My hazel eyes hardened in determination as I locked eyes with Midori's green eyes.

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't try to save my friends?"

At my declaration Midori smiled before she turned her gaze to one of the warehouses that was in the direction that I was heading to. "Well what kind of friend would I be if I were to let you charge the enemy base all alone?" She smiled at me knowingly and in turn I smiled back before I focused my gaze towards the warehouses.

In one of those warehouses Kiana was being held captive. "Please wait a bit longer Kiana," I thought as I motioned for Midori to follow, who was more than willing to let me take the lead as the both of us made our way to the warehouses.

"Help is on its way."

"You were discovered?" Alone in his office, Owl could feel the disapproving stare that his superior was giving him right now. While wearing a mask gave no indication what the person behind it was feeling, Gray Serpent could somehow always convey how he was feeling.

And right now he was feeling anything but happy with his report.

"How is this possible?" The holographic image of the World Serpent Hacker demanded as he crossed his arms. "Were your movements leaked?"

"The only two outsiders who knew of our operations were kept under the dark when we went ahead and kidnapped the Kaslana, I even created a diversion to avert their attention when we went through with it." The officer explained as he frowned how useless his diversion had turned out.

For in the end the worst case scenario played out, a full frontal assault by the garrison that Anti-Entropy had in Nagazora.

A full frontal assault that he now had to survive against.

"And what of the Kaslana?" Inquired Gray Serpent. "I trust that she is still in your custody?"

"She is still in our custody, but not currently with me at the moment." Owl checked his communicator for any updates from the captain that was defending the area Kiana was being kept prisoner at.

"Explain."

"We were keeping her at a secure secondary location, one not far from here." As a matter of fact the warehouse that she was being kept at was just outside of the perimeter that he had his soldiers create after it became apparent that Anti-Entropy had deployed their squadrons into the docks.

"I've commanded Iudex to clear a path to the warehouse, eliminating any Anti-Entropy forces it encounters. Once a path has been cleared I will have everyone still under my command move towards the warehouse, securing Kiana Kaslana before we flee." Owl calmly leaned forward as an explosion rocked the docks once more, the sounds of gunfire getting closer and closer.

"I just need a way out."

"...Very well," The Gray Serpent unfolded his arms, agreeing to the officer's plea. "I shall send someone to pick you up, ensure that the Kaslana is in your possession by the time your pickup arrives."

"That won't be a problem," The light gray haired officer assured as he turned on his heel to leave the office. "There is nothing here that can oppose Iudex in terms of raw strength, any opposition will be swiftly crushed."

"Well if you're so confident in the knight's strength then I am sure you do not mind answering this question for me." The holographic image of Gray Serpent became split with that of an image.

More specifically the image of the soldier that Owl had ordered to kill Haruto Nakamura sprawled out on the floor, blood flowing out of his throat.

"Did you think I would not know of this? You forget that Styx is our eyes and ears in Nagazora, do you think that she would not notify me of this?"

Owl looked back to his superior, his eyes showing their usual emotionless gaze. "And what of it? I was under the impression that you gave me full control on how I executed my mission. The Nakamura jeopardized the entire mission so I acted accordingly."

"Unless...you've grown to care for him?" Even though that was highly unlikely, the World Serpent officer could not help but raise an eyebrow at his superior. That was the only possible explanation why someone like Gray Serpent would wish to keep someone like Haruto Nakamura alive.

"Let us say that he is of interest to me, but that interest is not enough for me to risk the success of your operation." On the other side of the call the masked hacker was looking at the GPS trackers of all the soldiers that Owl had taken with him to Nagazora.

More importantly the GPS of the soldier that had been tasked in killing the red headed human. The tracker should've been displaying the location of the soldier, whose dead body remained at the Kaslana's apartment.

Not displaying the movement of a person that was making their way through the docks.

"But I believe I know who exactly called Anti-Entropy about your whereabouts."

Owl inwardly cursed as he connected the dots. Of course the person that had the least influence in the outcome of the mission was the one to be the reason why everything turned to shit.

"I will leave you now Owl, I trust you have learned from your folly." The Gray Serpent gave his parting words before the communication between the two ended. As silence was left in the wake of the call, the officer decided that the time of waiting around was over.

"Captain," He called on his communicator as he exited his office, the two guards that he had stationed in front of his door following behind him as made his way to the warehouse's main floor. "Rally your remaining troops, we will clear a path to the secondary warehouse with or without Iudex."

The warehouse had barely any soldiers left in it, most of them outside engaging Anti-Entropy and making sure none of them got close to the base. "All of you get ready!" The officer shouted to anyone that could hear him as he made his way to the loading bay doors. "We will fight our way to the prisoner and-!"

He was loudly interrupted when a shipping container suddenly smashed through the ceiling of the warehouse. Reacting quickly Owl ducked under the shipping container, only barely managing to avoid getting hit by the massive object.

The two guards following him did not fare so well as they were squished by the shipping container, having no opportunity to shout out their surprise.

"World Serpent," As Owl stood up from his position, a figure floated through the opening left by the thrown container.

Wreathed in red energy, Akira Ishigami touched down on the ground as he looked calmly at each and every soldier that stared back at him in shock for being the person responsible for throwing a shipping container.

Holding his hand, a ball of dark red energy manifested into existence. "Throw down your weapons and surrender! I promise that all of you will be treated fairly under the laws of Nagazora! " He declared for every soldier present to hear.

All was silent as no one dared to move a muscle, let alone make a whisper that could shatter this tense atmosphere they had. Time seemed to stretch on for hours with no one making a move, the only indication that they were still in reality was the distant sounds of explosions and gunfire.

Ishigami hoped that this static period of silence meant that some soldiers were actually considering dropping their weapons in peace.

"What are you waiting for!" Owl shouted, breaking the atmosphere as he pointed at the teacher. "Destroy him!"

As if a spell had been casted, every soldier immediately opened fire at Ishigami. It seems that not a single one of them had gone through and dropped their rifles in surrender as the teacher found himself on the receiving end of a rain of gunfire.

"I see," The blacked haired teacher had a look of sadness on his face even though he was in danger. "I hoped that this would have a different ending but I suppose some things cannot be avoided."

The teacher let the ball of red energy he had been building up in his hand release, the outburst of energy creating a miniature black hole in front of him to act as a shield. The rain of fire that would've torn into him was absorbed by the black hole as the streaks of bullets were consumed by the black void.

"Worry not, for you shall feel no pain from the might of the stars."

Owl cursed as the teacher simply walked forward, uncaring about the multitude of soldiers emptying their ammo magazines at him. The black hole that moved with him simply ate up anything that got near him, but that was not what concerned the World Serpent Intelligence officer.

"Out of all the people to come, why does it have to be the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy?!" He muttered in shock. But that was impossible! The Sovereign of Anti-Entropy, who also happened to be the Herrscher of Reason, had died in the 2nd Honkai Eruption. There were many accounts confirming that the 1st Herrscher had been defeated by the Herrscher of the Void.

It was crazy to even think about it but this lab coat wearing individual was displaying abilities similar to that of the Sovereign. There was no other explanation why he was able to use the Star of Eden, the Ninth Divine Key.

Owl began to step back as he knew that all the soldiers here were just but fodder against the might of the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy. It was only a matter of time before they ran out of bullets to waste against the shield that was a black hole.

And after all of their magazines got empty, then it would be an easy retaliation by the Herrscher.

The intelligence officer needed to put as much distance as he could between this place before that happened. He was unsure if Iudex would be able to match his abilities but he would not risk his only insurance of survival against a Herrschcer.

However, before he could think of doing something…

A sudden fist to the side of his head sent him falling to the ground.

Landing on the ground with a painful thud, the disorientated Owl held his head as he looked up and saw the person responsible for that punch.

Oh for crying out loud.

"Surrender," Fu Hua harshly placed a foot on his chest, cracking her knuckles threateningly. "You are outmatched."

Owl gave her a small pained smile. "I think I like those odds," On his right arm a blade suddenly protruded outwards before lashing out with his arm.

Eyes widening, the glasses wearing Valkyrie jumped back just in time as the officer swiped his arm just where her leg had been. Landing a few feet away, Fu Hua pushed her glasses back up as her adversary got on his feet.

"The wonders of technology," Flexing his blade arm, Owl transformed the blade back into his arm, revealing that his arm was actually mechanical. "The Honkai robbed me of much, but with the help of technology I'm stronger than I could ever dream of being."

"Is that so? No matter how many cybernetic upgrades you have, it won't save you from me." Fu Hua affirmed as she slipped into a battle stance. "You are just delaying the inevitable."

Owl lightly laughed at that. "Are you so sure about that?" He asked before he mirrored her combat stance. "Do you think that we do not know of your existence, Fu Hua?"

Fu Hua simply narrowed her eyes in response to that revelation. "What of it? Do you think since you know my name that you think you can defeat me now?"

"Hardly, but it does give me the ability to prepare for your little tricks." Without dropping his stance he tapped the side of his head. "For example your Fenghuang Down can't influence what a machine sees, and I just so happen to have my brain cybernetically upgraded with an artificial eye."

That was...rather true. The Fenghuang Down could do many things but it was never made with the intention of fighting machines.

The loss of her strongest weapon was certainly a blow to her combat capabilities, but Fu Hua was more than capable in proceeding without it. "Then I will have to do it the old fashioned way." Was all she said before she shot forward with astounding speed.

Owl just let loose a small smile as he moved his body to counter. While he had essentially taken away the Valkyrie's greatest weapon, it wouldn't help him when he had to fight her in hand to hand combat.

And while he did consider himself quite proficient in the Taixuan Martial Arts…

He was fighting the person who founded the arts.

It was pure instinct for him to take a step back when Fu Hua re appeared before him in the blink of an eye. What followed was by pure luck as he was able to tilt his head to the side just in time to avoid a lethal punch that would've knocked him out if it had connected.

"I knew it," Owl thought grimly as he tried to capitalize on the window of opportunity by sending a strike the Valkyrie's way only for her to swerve out of its path with ease. A small part of him hoped that he could offer some sort of fight against the famed Phoenix, that the years he had spent fighting for his life meant something.

Oh how wrong he was.

Using that momentum of dodging that strike, Fu Hua spun on her heel before she delivered a devastating kick to the officer's torso.

It was as clear as the pain that his body was feeling at that moment.

"I'm no match for her at all."

Tianwu Chen had no defense he could muster as his body felt the full brunt of the kick, and judging by the loud audible crack he heard that kick must've destroyed some of his ribs alongside some of his mechanical parts.

The force behind the kick was so great that he was sent flying straight into the shipping container that the Sovereign had used to smash his way into the warehouse. As his back collided with the steel container, the officer spat out blood as his entire body screamed in pain.

Fu Hua was not going to let him rest as she was upon him in an instant. Closing the distance with astounding speed, she aimed a punch at the downed officer's chest with the intent of finishing him off.

Owl to his credit, despite the fact that his body had suffered major injuries, was still conscious to bring up his arms across his chest to soak up the punch. Even with his arms to defend against the lethal strike, he could still feel the force behind that punch reverberate into his body.

If it weren't for those cybernetic upgrades he would've most likely died already.

"What do you hope to gain from kidnapping Kiana Kaslana!" Fu Hua demanded as she released her fist and grabbed the officer by the collar, lifting him up from his position and slamming his back on the container.

Even with the prospect of death looming over him, Owl still cracked a small smile at the Valkyrie. "You're smart aren't you? Figure it out for yourself."

Fu Hua looked like she wanted to refute that but just shook her head. "...It matters not," The Valkyrie drew her other hand back as she prepared to finish this. "Your plan has failed, your allies will be brought to light and-!" The sudden beeping on Owl's bracelet interrupted her as she focused her attention to the frantic red light that was growing in intensity.

"Sorry to rain on your parade Phoenix," Tianwu looked up, a small smirk on his lips as he could see a looming shadow being casted on the hole in the warehouse ceiling. "But you will have to bring me to justice another day."

With a kick the officer freed himself from Fu Hua's grasp before running away. The Valkyrie was about to chase him down and finish the job only for her senses to scream to move out of the way. She looked up in shock before jumping away just in the nick of time before a massive silhouette burst through the opening in the ceiling.

Just where she had been standing a few seconds ago now stood a massive steel knight. The burns and dents that littered its armor told her that it hadn't been standing idly by as the docks got invaded. As a matter of fact she believed this machine was responsible for the slow progress of the Anti-Entropy forces.

Seeing as how they both had the firepower and element of surprise on their side, this operation should've been over already.

[Armor Integrity at 75%]

The knight's robotic voice announced as it's red visor flickered.

[Program Rejuvenation Activate.]

A sudden red glow illuminated Iudex's form, almost as if it was casting a protective shield around the steel behemoth. All of the burns and damage it sustained whilst fighting Anti-Entropy forces were seemingly starting to disappear like magic.

Burns seemingly faded from its pristine armor, shredded pieces of its armor melded back together to their original shape, with each passing second the red glow was restoring the armor back to its original form.

[Rejuvenation complete, armor integrity at 100%]

The red glow faded from Iudex as it stood back up in pristine shape. The towering knight unsheathed the zweihander on its back as it stood menacingly in the warehouse.

[Awaiting further commands.]

"Eliminate those two!" Owl shouted as he looked at the soldiers in the warehouse. "Assist Iudex and quickly eliminate them!" The soldiers, bolstered by the fact that they now had the steel juggernaut to assist them, trained their weapons at the two of them with the intention to finish the fight.

"HEY BASTARD!" A loud projected roar halted the soldiers in their tracks. "WE'RE NOT DONE HERE YET! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN WHOOP YOUR ASS!"

"Tsk there are still some Anti-Entropy squadrons left?!" Owl scowled briefly before changing his orders. "Engage the Anti-Entropy squads approaching our position, leave these two for Iudex to deal with." After the soldiers confirmed their new orders and moved to complete them did Owl decide to slink away into the shadows.

"You know that he is probably heading to where they are keeping Kiana," Fu Hua said as Ishigami floated beside her as the two of them watched the giant in front of them turn its gaze to meet theirs. "They must be keeping her in a secondary location."

"Which is all moot if we do not address the problem in front of us," Quipped Ishigami as he manifested another orb of red energy. If they did not deal with this unexpected wildcard it would quickly blossom into a catastrophe. Anti-Entropy did not have the ability to deal with armor of that caliber.

Which left the task up to them to deal with.

The teacher's eyes glowed bright blue as he analyzed the armor of their new opponent and internally balked when he saw what they were dealing with.

"Soulium armor?" He muttered in disbelief. "How much Soulium does the World Serpent possess for them to be able to create this monstrosity?"

"Not much if this is the only one of its kind." Fu Hua fell into a battle stance as Iudex began to slowly approach them, zweihander in hand. "But we will worry about that after we have defeated it."

[Confirmed new targets, proceeding to engage.]

"I'll cover you?" Ishigami asked even if he knew the answer to it already as he readied himself for the fight.

Fu Hua just nodded in confirmation as she rushed forward as Ishigami sent out a wave of red energy at the steel behemoth, who raised its zweihander up high to meet its enemies head on.

It did not take for the two of us to reach the they were keeping Kiana at. For being the main reason why they were here in the first place, I most certainly expected a massive guard contingency to be guarding this warehouse.

Even if they had to deal with Anti-Entropy's forces, the sounds of fighting and explosions still going off meant that the fighting wasn't going away anytime soon, I would've expected a much more daunting defense.

I was certainly not expecting just to stroll right into the warehouse without any difficulty.

"Are you sure that this is the place?" Midori asked apprehensively as she walked behind me with her hand near her sheathed katana, ready to pull it out on a moment's notice.

"From what I heard, yeah. Some of the guards mentioned only three warehouses that they were occupying. The one where their command center is, the one where I got this gauntlet, and the final being where Kiana was being held at." I relayed the information that I had managed to obtain so far.

"And considering that one of the other two warehouses is currently being attacked, that leaves the one closest to us being the one holding Kiana then." Midori theorized with the information.

"It is," I nodded my head.

"It would also explain the heavy defenses that are stationed around that warehouse." She mused

Her words had me take on a hardened expression. I knew that combat was practically unavoidable in this situation but a small part of me wished that wouldn't have been the case. The World Serpent would be too occupied with the sudden Anti-Entropy force and I would've been able to sneak in undetected and get Kiana out.

"Haruto are you okay?" My classmate's words broke me out of my thoughts. "Your hand is shaking." The undercover Valkyrie pointed out.

Looking down I saw that she was right as the arm that was holding onto my sword was beginning to shake. "Sorry," I took a deep breath to calm myself down."Still feeling jittery with the whole combat thing."

"I understand," Thankfully Midori nodded her head in understanding. "I was the same for my first few combat missions when I was a trainee."

"That's one thing I wanted to ask you about, but seeing how we are sneaking through enemy territory at the moment I'll have to ask you later." I did a quick look around to make sure that we weren't in any imminent danger.

"Shall we go then?" I asked my new partner, who nodded in return before the two of us began to make our way to the warehouse where Kiana was being kept in.

As we made our way closer and closer to the building I was already preparing myself to be greeted with a warehouse teeming with enemy soldiers who had their guns out to shoot anything that walked into their field of vision.

Yet none of that happened as me and Midori almost casually walked into a warehouse that seemed more deserted than occupied.

"Don't you think it's strange that no one has spotted us yet?" I asked as we walked through the darkness of the warehouse. It wasn't dark to the point that we couldn't see where we were going, we had the natural light of the moon shining through the windows to thank for that, but not bright enough for us to see very far.

"Now it could be a very good thing that we haven't encountered anyone yet." Being the persona of calm, Midori was quick to dissuade my worries. She had much more experience in this situations than I did. "Sometimes fortune shines on us in the most unexpected of-!"

A bright light suddenly illuminated the entire warehouse. The sheer intensity behind the light was so great that the both of us shield our eyes with our arms lest we lose our vision.

Once the light died down the two of us lowered our arms, squinting as our eyes readjusted to the light that suddenly lit up the once dark warehouse. Once our eyes readjusted to the light…

So too did we notice the soldiers that were positioned on the rafters, their weapons aimed directly at us. I paled when I noticed just how many of them had laid in waiting for the perfect opportunity.

"Fire!" One of the soldiers yelled before their rifles roared into life, streaks of gunfire flying towards us from all directions.

"This is bad!" I thought as I was rooted in place, my mind going over countless ways to escape this trap that we had unknowingly stepped into. "Think Haruto! There must be some way we can get out of this! Maybe if we-!"

In my distress to find a way out of the trap, I had not noticed Midori calmly place her hand on my chest.

Before pushing me away from her.

"Midori?!" I shouted in surprise as I was flung far enough from her so that I would not get hit by any of the bullets.

Which then left her to face the literal sea of bullets that were coming at her from every direction.

"Don't worry Haruto-san," She looked at me with reassurance before looking back in front of her, a confident smile on her lips as her hands went to the handle of her sheathed katana.

"I'm a Valkyrie remember,"

The black haired girl closed her eyes as her hand slightly pulled her katana out of its sheath, a hint of the steel blade showing as she calmed her breathing. She showed no signs of panic or fear as the bullets came closer and closer with each second she remained in that stance.

"Clear your mind Midori," I heard her whisper as a white glow seemed to pulse out of her, creating a tiny circle with her in the center. I could not catch what she whispered after but as soon as she finished talking.

Her blade was drawn out with such speed that it seemed to cut the very air itself.

And the bullets that were milliseconds away from ripping into her flesh suddenly scattered into the air.

Yet even if she had blocked the first wave of bullets, the soldiers were very generous with their ammo as she was still besieged by waves upon waves of bullets. There should've been no way that she could have been able to deflect all of those bullets without getting hit by at least a few of them.

Yet that's what she exactly did.

With her eyes still closed Midori made another sudden strike of her sword, and with it another wave of bullets were deflected by that single swipe.

Then again.

And again.

Defying all laws of physics the Valkyrie smoothly performed strike after strike, each one faster than the last one yet it still retained the gracefulness that her first strike exuded. With each strike a plethora of bullets would useless clatter on the floor as Midori shielded herself from the bullets.

And I simply stood there awestruck, my jaw open in shock as I watched the Valkyrie perform a feat I'd only see in anime or in my wildest of dreams. Granted that Honkai Impact 3rd in some way was an anime but this was crazy enough to see, let alone be achieved by someone I knew!

From the corner of my eye I watched a soldier beginning to load what looked like a rocket launcher. I recognized the distinct shape of the rocket that was being loaded in and it did not take a genius to know what he planned to do with that launcher.

My eyes shot back to Midori whose eyes were still closed in concentration as she continued deflecting bullets with her blade. Whatever technique she was performing probably demanded the utmost in concentration.

Warning her would be a death sentence as by warning her as she could lose her concentration and get riddled by the bullets that she still was busy deflecting.

Yet neither could I do nothing as she would notice the rocket when it was too late to do anything.

I needed to think of something fast as the soldier had already loaded the rocket and was beginning to hold it over his shoulder, aiming the rocket to hit Midori dead on.

But what could I do?! I only had a sword and a prototype whose abilities were unknown to me. Maybe if I tried to yell at the soldier to get his attention but then that would draw focus on me and I couldn't do what Midori did so what could I-!

Move.

As if some omnipotent being decided to take hold of my body during my internal debate, I suddenly found myself running headfirst at Midori. At the same time the soldier finally fired the rocket launcher, the projectile speeding towards the Valkyrie.

Hearing the sudden sound of a rocket igniting, Midori opened her eyes to see the rocket flying right at her. Reacting accordingly her body tried to move to try and intercept it but stopped when she caught me rushing towards her from the corner of her eye.

"Haruto?" She questioned as I stopped right in front of her, arms crossed protectively.

Just as I had done that the rocket exploded right in front of us. In its wake a thick smoke covered the warehouse.

"Hold!" The soldier who had given the order to shoot yelled out. Stopping the soldiers held their rifles up as they waited in anticipation for the smoke caused by the rocket to dissipate so that they may see what became of their targets.

However they were in for a shock when the smoke cleared to reveal not mangled corpses, but our perfectly unharmed bodies.

And the green illuminous shield that saved us from the rocket explosion.

My heart was beating rapidly in terror as I stared at the green hexagonal shield that had magically defended us from that fatal rocket. Judging by how Midori had yet to make a sound then it was safe to say that she too was shocked by how that turned out.

Looking down I saw that the white and gold diamond-like shape that made up most of my gauntlet had been activated. The edges of the diamond shape had slightly transformed outward to reveal some sort of green light, the same shade of the shield that I had just unknowingly used.

The gauntlet then shifted from what I presumed to be its active mode back into its inactive state, the state that I had found it in before equipping it.

"Oh," I said dumbly. "It's also a shield."

"A strong one at that," Midori finally got over her initial shock as she stared at my gauntlet in a new light. "You think you're able to do that again?"

"I'm not sure exactly," I clenched the hand inside the gauntlet, trying to remember how I activated that shield in the first place.

I could do it.

If not then this was where my story ended.

"But I think I can." I looked at Midori and nodded my head to tell her that I was ready.

"Good," Midori moved her eyes upward to see the soldiers finally stop gawking at the sudden appearance of the green translucent shield, readying themselves for round two. But unlike last time.

Midori Aki was not going to be on the defense.

"I hope you know what it means to hold that sword," Sheathing her katana, Midori readied herself to go on the offensive. "If you do not aim to kill you will die."

"I know," I readied myself next to her as I held my sword at the ready, the gauntlet als ready to shield me if it needed to happen.

To be honest I was still hesitant to even wield this sword, for I knew that I would be killing more than one person tonight. My greatest fear was that I would get so accustomed to killing that I would no longer bat an eye to someone's death.

But for Kiana.

For the future that had yet to come.

I had to do this.

"And I am ready for that responsibility."

The black haired Valkyrie beside me smiled at my answer.

"Good, because a fight like this is always preferred with a dance partner."

Chapter Text

Never did I think that I would ever see the day that I would find myself running straight at a storm of gunfire with just a sword in my hand.

A scene so bizarre and impossible that one would only ever see in an anime.

Yet here I was doing that exact thing.

I suppressed the urge to try and dodge the rain of bullets, every instinct in my body was screaming for me to jump out of the way.

Yet I felt no fear when a green luminous shield manifested before me, the gauntlet in my hand responsible for it. It was strange to try and describe how I was able to even activate the shield in the first place. Maybe if I clenched my hand in a certain way or it could detect incoming projectiles...

But I could say for certain that after the first time I had used it.

It naturally came to me like breathing did.

The hail of bullets harmlessly bounced off of the hexagonal green shield, the shattered metal cartridges littering the floor as my shield held fast against the torrent of hot steel. It shined as brilliant as it had first appeared when the soldiers ran out of ammo to waste against its unyielding defense.

"Now!" I shouted as Midori jumped above me, a hand on her blade as she soared above the soldiers. They moved to try and fire at the mid air Valkyrie with their secondary pistols, hoping that a lucky bullet would put her down.

Midori whispered something under her breath as her hand unsheathed her katana in one swift motion. The sound of a blade cutting through the air was all that was heard before Midori landed gracefully behind the soldiers.

She took one last look at the soldiers before she sheathed her katana.

And with it every soldier falling to the ground like a stack of dominos.

Watching the soldiers topple with such frightening ease, I wanted nothing more than to avert my gaze from what would follow after. The blood that would no doubt flow like a river from Midori's single strike, painting the warehouse floor in its scarlet hues.

But alas I could not have that single comfort as we were in the midst of a grueling battle. Even now I could hear soldiers making their way towards us from every direction, no doubt with the intention of encircling us with their far superior numbers.

So I casted an apologetic look to the fallen soldiers' bodies before I ran through their bloody corpses, following Midori's lead as she was already making her way towards the closest group of soldiers.

It was quite a simple plan, Midori would merely focus on cutting down the enemies' numbers as quickly as she could and I would follow behind to act as her shield but also to take out any stragglers she missed.

It was surreal to see the real Midori Aki in action. She was always reserved back in Chiba Academy, saying very little unless she was asked to do otherwise by her peers or a teacher. Aside from Mei I don't think I've seen her interact with anyone else aside from her kendo clubmates.

In retrospect she was the same in battle, I had yet to hear her say a single word since she first drew her sword.

Yet there was certain air to her now, a vibe to her that I never felt from her before.

It felt as if she was singing, as strange as it was to say. She actually wasn't singing because her blade was the one doing it. Each swing she performed with it played a silent song that only she danced to.

A silent dance that she continued to dance to the tune of, evading bullets as if they weren't there to worry about in the first place. Each time she swung her sword another body fell to the ground.

This was the true power of a Valkyrie.

"Take him out!" A sudden shout broke my focus away from Midori as I looked to the one who yelled that out. In my awe I had failed to notice that a trio of soldiers had gotten around to my flank, leveling their rifles at me. "Fire!"

"May not be as graceful as her," I muttered as I activated my gauntlet shield. Just like before the green hexagonal shield shimmered into life as it protected me from the hail of bullets. "But I can get the job done at least." I held my sword at the ready before I ran towards the trio, shield raised up.

Those three soldiers probably weren't the brightest of the bunch as they kept firing at me even with the fact that my shield was still up and wasn't going away anytime soon. They probably believed that if they kept wasting their ammunition the shield would eventually falter.

If it could take a rocket head on and still come out unscathed, then I highly doubt that some regular bullets were going to even scratch it at all.

In no time I was able to close the distance between me and the closest soldier, who happened to be the one to yell out the order. Retightening my grip on my sword, I swung for the man's torso as I continued holding up my shield.

The man's armor offered no resistance as my sword's edge tore into his body. I could feel the force of my sword entering through his gut and exiting out the other side, no doubt a fatal hit.

Regardless of what I did next he would not make it past this night. I bit my lip at the implication of that thought.

Another kill to add.

Another person whose life was now gone because of me.

But I could not dwell on that as there were still two more soldiers present. Quickly freeing the sword from the man's body, I swung it reactively at my left to the soldier who had taken advantage of the fact that my shield only covered the side it was facing.

The sword cleaved through the rifle in two as if it was cutting through butter, the soldier could only give a shout of surprise by the fate of his weapon before my blade's path continued upward. And with no rifle to block my blade.

His entire chest suffered a fatal deep gash by my blade.

That made two lives taken.

The third and final soldier decided that a rifle was not the best weapon to use in a close quarters situation as he went to grab the knife that was sheathed on his vest. To be honest he was the only one who made a sound judgment considering the first soldier should've moved away while the second soldier risked shooting his comrade by trying to hit me with his rifle.

Catching him doing this with the corner of my eye, I lashed out with my shield arm. The green defensive shield actually served as a rather effective weapon as it bashed into the man's arm, knocking the knife that he had managed to grab far out of his reach. The length of the shield was just long enough that it caught the man's helmet in the process, shattering the majority of it into pieces.

Disoriented, the man fell back until he hit the side of a shipping container. The warehouse that we were in was littered with miscellaneous shipping containers. A fact that Midori abused as she used the mountains of steel as a way to break up the enemy's significant number advantage to dart around them, taking them out group by group.

The soldier tried to catch himself from falling all the way but by the time his feet orientated themselves the last thing he saw was my blade's edge as it sunk into his chest, the tip of it coming out his back and shredding the steel container his back was touching.

The soldier gave a low strangled gasp as blood flowed out from where my sword had pierced him as he slumped forward. I pulled the sword free from his body as I watched his body slide down the container, painting the metal surface in his blood before he hit the floor.

In the span of what felt like a minute I had just killed three people.

Three people who had an entire life ahead of them only for it to be taken away,

By me.

I took a step back, careful to not place my feett in the rapidly growing pool of blood on the ground, and looked at the three soldiers that I had just killed. I could feel my stomach rising to where my throat was, the contents within swirling uncomfortable.

I clenched my fist to stop myself from doing that. I couldn't stop now, not that I think I could if I wanted to. This was the role that I picked for myself after all, I chose to go down this path of my own free will.

"Sorry," I muttered, closing my eyes, as I gave a silent prayer to the fallen soldiers in front of me. It was probably stupid decision to make seein how I was in the middle of a fight and a random soldier could easily put a bullet in me, it wasn't like I could put up the shield in my current state.

But a part of me felt that I needed to do this. If it wasn't for me they would've still been breathing.

This was the least that I could do for them.

But I couldn't dwell on this for too long, I needed to keep moving forward. Finishing the prayer I turned on my heel with the intention of joining Midori wherever she was. Judging by the sounds of frantic shouting and gunfire, finding the Valkyrie again was not going to be a problem.

Placing a foot forward, I readied myself to make a run for where the action was at.

Only for a sudden wave of deju vu to hit me with such force that I almost toppled over. It was only the quick placement of my other foot that prevented me from having my face hit the floor.

A vision flashed through my mind, quick and abrupt like a streak of lightning piercing through the night sky.

I found myself on a desert currently cloaked by the night. However this was no ordinary desert as the usual tan color of sand was a blood red instead!

And sitting in a desolate patch of red sand, huddled around a fire was my 'younger self' and that same blond haired girl that was becoming a regular occurance in these visions.

"Does it hurt?" The boy asked as he looked at the bandaged hand of the girl's right hand.

The blonde girl gave her injured an experimental squeeze, her face slightly wincing in pain. "It still does, but not as much as it did before." She looked back at the boy and gave him an appreciative smile. "Thank you for helping me bandage this."

"You shouldn't be thanking me," The boy frowned as he looked towards the fire. "It was because of me that you even got into that situation in the first place."

"Don't be like that," The girl now frowned as she lowered her injured hand. "You couldn't have predicted what would happen back there." She assured him. "I'm a Valkyrie, remember, this is normal for me."

"But I-" The boy looked so guilty about her injuries but another reassuring smile from the girl pushed his guilt away, for now. Desperate to change the topic the boy asked a question that he had of his own.

"Hey Bianka, why did you become a Valkyrie?"

The girl in question looked confused as to why he was asking such a question. "What made you so curious about that now?"

"Well," The boy shrugged as he thought back to how their first meeting went, how...memorable that was. "You weren't exactly the most approachable person back then."

The girl thought back to their first meeting and blushed when she remembered how she acted towards him. It was certainly something that she deeply regretted and wanted nothing more than to change that experience.

"I suppose so...but the reason why I wanted to become a Valkyrie was so that no one got orphaned in the way that I did." The boy remained silent as Bianka grabbed a fistful of red sand in her hand and brought it up, watching the tiny red particles slip through her fingers as it got scattered by the wind.

Just like her life before the orphanage, scattered to who knows where.

She couldn't even remember the names of her parents.

"In a way joining the Valkyries also allowed me to vent a hidden side of my anger at those responsible for my predicament," She took a deep breath to calm herself from doing something rash.

Not like the time she had acted when she came face to face with the dark emotions that had been lurking within her this entire time. She never believed they existed in the first place, thought she had risen above such emotions a long time ago.

How they laughed at her when she faced them for the first time.

"...But now I no longer fight them for vengeance," She turned her gaze to the boy who was watching her with wide eyes. The boy who had changed her entire life.

"I now fight for all that is beautiful in this world."

The vision ended as abruptly as it came. I fell to the ground, my arms barely catching me as my breathing tried to stabilize itself back to normal. Sweat poured down my forehead as I struggled to process what had just happened to me.

It was the same as the vision that I had back at the apartment, no warning or reason why I had those visions in the first place. But there was one thing that set this one apart, one very major detail.

I placed my hand where my heart was, feeling how maddening the pulse had become.

That felt way more vivid than a simple vision or dream!

"Haruto? Haruto!" I could hear a familiar shout before a pair of hands landed on my back in worry. "What the hell happened to you?!"

I looked back up and gave a small grin to Midori's distressed face. "Hey Midori, just had a little episode that was all." I pushed myself shakily back up, ignoring the Valkyrie's pleas to take it easy. "And what about you? Don't tell me that you got them all."

"Most of them," Midori looked around to the now quiet cargo holding area as I went to pick up the sword that I dropped earlier. "The rest retreated back into the confines of the warehouse, most probably making a last minute stand where they're keeping Kiana."

"That's good," I took a deep breath to resettle myself from that ordeal I had just gone through. "C'mon we just need to make one last push to free Kiana."

"Are you sure? If you're not feeling up to it I can go and free Kiana while you keep watch," She offered as she looked worried about my condition after what I had gone through.

I was touched by her concern but now wasn't the time to stop now, not when we were so close. "I'm fine," I assured her as I readied my gauntlet, the green hexagonal shield activating on command. "Let's go before any more reinforcements arrive."

Midori looked like she wanted to say something but ultimately decided against it as she motioned for me to follow as the two of us rushed off to where Kiana was being held at.

Yet a single thought hounded my mind no matter how hard I tried to push it away.

Why did I have that vision? Why was I getting them now of all times?

And what was this horrible feeling of trepidation I was feeling?

If there was one story that Fu Hua would teach to any aspiring Valkyrie, it would have to be about the story of David and Goliath. A tale of how a boy brought down a giant with just a single stone.

It taught a very simple but very significant lesson.

That even a 'god of war' had a weakness.

It was important that every Valkyrie learned this lesson. Especially should they ever find themselves crossing blades with a Emperor-Class Honkai Beast or god forbid a Herrscher. No matter how daunting their opponent may be.

They all had a weakness that could be exploited.

However…

The Valkyrie narrowly ducked under the edge of Iudex's massive zweihander, the edge of it barely grazing her skin as she moved away from the steel behemoth's range. The sword continued its trajectory before it slammed into the warehouse floor, tearing the concrete up before it became lodged.

She was starting to believe that this monster's only weakness was that it was the only one in existence.

That and it's inability to conduct any range attacks, though not like it needed it.

It held the perfect mix of offensive and defensive abilities. Its armor proved more than resilient to any attacks that came its way, whether it be her fists or Ishigami's gravity powers. The soulium infused armor simply absorbed the blows and while it did show that their efforts were not in vain with its armor showing some damage, it was not enough.

And after persevering through their attacks, Iudex would focus its attention on either one of them, chasing after them with its zweihander.

Quickly they devised a strategy that placed them on opposite sides of their opponent so that when it went on the offensive it could only pick one out of the two of them to go after, then the other one would take advantage of its undivided attention and hit it with all they got.

But it did not really matter in the grand scheme of things if their attacks could even damage the enemy's thick soulium armor.

Not to mention that they had to somehow deal with its ability to seemingly repair its own armor should it ever go down a certain threshold. Which meant that they should seek to destroy this soulium knight..

They would have to essentially destroy it in one hit, or a succession of fatal hits before it could repair itself.

But they would cross that bridge when they got to it, for now Fu Hua had to focus on trying to find another weakness that they could exploit. Landing a few feet away from Iudex, she shot forward and slammed her fist into the armor of the knight's left arm. The ground shook by how strong her fist had hit the knight's armor, but ultimately all it left was a small dent in its arm.

Seeing how its blade was still stuck in the concrete from its earlier attempt to hit the Valkyrie, Iudex used the arm opposite of Fu Hua's position to smash the women into the concrete.

However, reacting quickly Fu Hua jumped over the outstretched arm before beginning to scale the now immobile giant's arm up to its head, intent on pushing the offensive. Gathering as much power as she could she delivered a powerful kick to the knight's helmet.

The knight was powerless to stop her from smashing her foot to the side of its head, the sound of metal clashing reverberating loudly throughout the warehouse. The force behind the kick was so great that surprisingly, the knight had become disorientated by it.

The knight let go of its grip on the zweihander as it began to shakily step backwards, desperately trying to regain its sense of balance. Though its struggle would be in vain as it eventually fell backwards into a stack of containers, bringing some down with it.

"An unexpected surprise to be sure," Ishigami floated beside her as he watched the dust cloud that the knight's fall stirred up. "But not an unwelcome one," He panted tiredly as he used this moment of reprieve to stop using his powers and catch a breather.

"Agreed," Fu Hua also took this time to catch her breath. Unlike her comrade, whose powers seemed to be heavily taxing on his body, she was fine. Her fists slightly ached in pain by how hard she was punching with them but that was to be expected.

Soulium truly was a troublesome material to deal with.

"We need a different plan of approach," Ishigami started as Iudex began to pull itself out of the predicament it was in. Judging by how slow it was going, that kick had done more than enough damage. "If we keep going like this then it'll beat us by sheer endurance alone."

"Then we take the time to review what we have learned," Fu Hua cupped her chin with her hand as she fell into a state of contemplation. "Conventional attacks won't work on it."

Ishigami soon joined her as he offered his own insight as well. "And nothing short of a one-shot attack will suffice, lest it repair its injuries back to its pristine state."

"Could we not damage it enough times that it will run out of energy to be able to repair itself?"

"A valid strategy if we plan on wasting several hours doing that, and that's not accounting if our stamina will even allow us to preserve that long."

"What about Anti-Entropy? Surely they have something in their arsenal that can take this beast out?"

"That is if you want to take out the entire dock alongside that knight, not to mention the fallout of using such an ordinance would have to make that our final option."

The more ideas that were traded between the two, the more it became apparent that they were outmatched against this kind of foe. If someone like Durandal was here then it would just become a simple contest of strength.

A contest that Fu Hua was confident that the S-Rank Valkyrie would prevail in.

"What about your gravity powers? Surely it's Soulium armor cannot withstand a full powered attack by a Divine Key." The Fenghuang Down was a fearsome Divine Key in its own right, however when it came to sheer power it left much to be desired.

At that moment the teacher started to harshly cough as he held a fist to his mouth. After his coughing ceased he lowered his arm to see some blood painting his fist. "Not only am I close to hitting my limit, I'd probably kill every person present with a gravity attack before I could destroy the soulium armor."

Fu Hua frowned as she watched the knight pick itself up off the ground, but something was bugging the immortal Valkyrie. More specifically the way it had acted when she had delivered the kick to the side of its head wasn't how any regular robot would act, at least not any robots that she fought.

It almost acted...human.

"Get ready," Ishigami sighed before his body became wreathed in dark red energy once more as Iudex looked towards them, its red visors a darker hue than it once was. "If anything I think we just pissed it off rather than doing any lasting damage."

"A fact that we can exploit," Fu Hua's eyes trailed over to where the knight's zweihander was still lodged in the floor.

At that same moment the knight did the same, the two locking gazes before the giant rushed towards its fallen weapon. Cursing inwardly, Fu Hua rushed over to where the knight was trying to reclaim its lost strength. They could not afford to lose the one advantage that they had managed to secure, if the zweihander was returned to its wielder they would be back on square one.

Ishigami was not sitting idly as he fired a barrage of dark red energy missiles at the knight. The magic missiles hit the knights head on and while the damage they dealt was negligible, it did slow the knight's speed down.

Just enough that Fu Hua was able to reach the zweihander first, placing herself firmly between the sword and its knight.

Normally this would be a fool's gambit, after all she did not have the strength to rival that of the steel knight's but she was not aiming to best it in strength.

Rather she wanted to test something.

Placing herself right in front of the zweihander made it so that the only thing Iudex could see was her and her alone. Clenching a fist the knight made its way towards her as it readied its arm to smash her into a bloody smear on the ground.

Ishigami's attacks were doing very little to deter the knight's actions and just as it seemed that nothing could stop it, Fu Hua's eyes glowed red for a brief second.

Then the knight suddenly punched itself in the side of its helmet.

Ishigami's eyes widened in shock as he saw what had just occurred, what in the hell just happened?!

Fu Hua however did not share her partner's shock as all she felt in that moment was disgust. "It's human?!" What other explanation was there that she could use the Fenghuang Down on the knight to make it believe that she was right in front of it's helmet to fool it's judgement?

"Human?" Ishigami heard what she had said and looked at Iudex in growing abhorrence. "Is that even possible?"

It was, more so than the teacher believed. The foundation that Schicksal was built on was not as glorious as many of its Valkyries believed it to be. It was not some glorious tale of how heroes of each era banded together to fight their common enemy, for an organization made by humans was always susceptible to folly.

Rather it was built on the countless sacrifices of the young and old in the pursuit of creating humanity's lauded defenders. Normal humans were very susceptible to the influences of Honkai and it soon became apparent that merely creating honkai powered weapons would not be enough.

And thus began the foundation for what would eventually be the Valkyrie Program.

But as abhorrent as the situation had become, a plan began to form in Fu Hua's mind. A plan with very low chances of success, however it was the only plan that had any chance of success that didn't involve destroying the docks.

"That's the key," She started out, drawing a confused look from the teacher. "It's part human, that's how we win this fight."

"I'm sorry but I fail to see how this soulium juggernaut being part human to be somehow helpful."

"It means that we no longer have to worry about destroying it in one move," She turned her gaze to the enlodged zweihander.

"We just need to kill off the human element."

Kiana could faintly make out the noises of gunfire, explosions, and the frantic shouting of soldiers in her current state. Blue eyes groggily opened up as she tried to make out where she was at.

The white haired girl could faintly remember being back inside her apartment waiting for...someone to come by. The girl racked her brain to try and remember who she had been waiting for until she finally got a name.

Yeah it was Haruto, she was waiting for him to come by so they could work together on some assignments.

Then…

"You didn't think I was defenseless now did you?!"

It was starting to come back to her now. After hearing the sounds of grenades going off she had immediately hidden herself in the bathroom with a frying pan, though that didn't exactly help her when the strange pink gas began to seep in through the bottom of the door.

Whatever that gas was it was very potent, even now she could feel her body still reeling from the direct exposure to it. It felt as if every part of her body had a ton of weights dragging them down.

Barely able to lift her head up, Kiana registered the fact that she was still in the room that she had woken up in after she had been kidnapped. She remembered trying to break out of her bonds and when they proved to be futile she resorted to irritating the hell out of her captors.

A delirious laugh escaped her lips as she thought back to how riled up the guards had become. Just when they had enough of her and were about to shut her up, then those blue mechs started showing up and causing chaos across the docks.

It was a very satisfying karma to witness.

"Oh no, she's awake again," A very familiar voice lamented as she moved her head towards the guard whose nose she had broken with her forehead earlier.

So he was still alive, huh.

"God I hate this job," His partner groaned as idly checked his rifle. "What's the status of everyone else? Weren't there two intruders in the building?"

Intruders? That meant that the fighting had not ended yet and actually moved closer to her. If she waited long enough then whoever was fighting her kidnappers then she could be saved!

But who exactly was coming to save her?

"Wasn't one of them a Valkyrie?" Those words froze Kiana in shock as she registered what she had just heard. She remembered her father's words to avoid Valkyries at all costs, that they were the same people that were hunting him down and would not hesitate to hunt her down if they got the chance.

What were they doing here? Were they the ones rescuing her only for the sole purpose that they could kidnap her in turn? If that was the case then she needed to get out of here!

But how could she get out of here if she couldn't even break her way out of these bonds. Looking down she gave the handcuffs an experimental pull, trying to see if she could snap the chains that connected the handcuffs together.

The two guards were oblivious to her attempts in trying to break free as they continued talking to each other. "What about the other intruder? Heard that he tanked a rocket head-on."

"Yeah apparently he has on some sort of gauntlet that can create a shield. Apparently he's on Gray Serpent's list of interest, that Haruto Nakamura kid."

Kiana became still as a statue when she heard Haruto's name leave the man's lips. Haru-senpai was here? Trying to save her?

"Does that mean we can't kill him?"

"There's been no change of orders from Owl or command, we see him we are free to open fire."

"Finally," The soldier whose nose she broke rejoiced as he went over and grabbed his rifle that he had propped on the side of a wall. "We get to finally shoot something, I'll be sure to vent my frustrations onto the poor boy from having to guard this child."

The thought of Haruto, who was trying to save her from this, was going to be in danger because of her filled the Kaslana with an indescribable amount of anger. Fists clenching she wanted nothing than to beat these soldiers into a pulp.

How dare they threaten her friends!

But she wasn't feeling 100% and there was the matter of these cuffs that she still had no idea on how to get off. The only thing she could do was wait for an opportune moment to get the drop on them.

"...Isn't it really quiet right now?" The partner pointed out as the two stood where they were in silence, straining their ears for any nearby sounds of gunfire. When the soldiers that had been assigned to the warehouse had engaged the intruders, all you could hear was gunshots.

Now you couldn't even hear a single thing aside from explosions created in the distance.

"Might as well get a check-up," The partner walked up to the only door to the room and knocked on it a couple of times. "Hey what's going on out there! Give me a sitrep on the situation over there."

The trio waited in silence as they got no answer from whoever was stationed outside their door. The soldier with the broken nose just motioned for his partner to try it again, maybe they didn't hear them.

The other soldier just shrugged in response before his hand went back to the door, ready to knock again for a response. "Hey this isn't funny! What the hell is happening over there-!" The soldier gave a sudden shout of pain, startling the two others in the room.

Looking down he saw the edge of a katana had torn through the wooden material of the door, alongside piercing his abdomen. Blood dripped down the katana's steel edge before it was cleanly pulled through the door, blood spurting out of the now open wound.

"Oh...shit," Was all the soldier had said before he fell onto his side, dead. As his body impacted the floor the door was kicked open with brutal force to reveal the Valkyrie who Kiana presumed to be one of the intruders.

"You bitch!" The now lone soldier roared as he opened fire at Valkyrie with his rifle with the intention of avenging his fallen comrade. "You'll pay for that!"

The Valkyrie simply danced out of the way of the door, evading all of the bullets fired her way as they were uselessly embedded into a wall. Before long the sound of the rifle clicking was all that could be heard as the soldier wasted all the ammunition in the magazine.

"Dammit!" The soldier cursed as his hand made its way to his vest to grab another magazine. At that same moment Midori moved from her cover and entered the room, face set in an impassive mask as her hand rested on her sheathed katana.

"Surrender," She stated as she tensed her legs ready for action. "Your life will be spared if you drop your weapons." Her hand slightly moved her katana out of its sheath, revealing just a tiny bit of its steel to the soldier.

"Otherwise you will be reuniting with your fallen comrades."

"Tch," The soldier scowled as his hands moved away from where he kept his spare ammo clips. For a moment Kiana actually believed that he was going to take the offer that the Valkyrie had presented him.

After all, a regular soldier was no match for a Valkyrie.

However, just as it seemed that he was going to surrender, his hand shot towards his holstered pistol and unclipped it before pointing the barrel at the bound Kiana.

Midori's entire body tensed as she prepared to cut the soldier down with a single strike. "Not so fast Valkyrie!" The soldier interrupted as he looked at the undercover student with a crazed look in his eyes. "Take one step and I'll blow her brains out for all of us to see, I'm not dying today!"

"...Not like you were going to get out of this place alive anyway," Kiana muttered under her breath, just loud enough for the soldier to hear as he whipped his head to look at her incredulously.

"Are you crazy bitch?!" He moved the barrel so close that it was almost touching the side of Kiana's head. "I hold your fate in my hands, you should be begging me to spare you!"

Kiana just smirked as she moved her head to where the barrel was now touching her forehead, her blue eyes looking up at the soldier's visor with no fear whatsoever in them. "A Kaslana does not fear death."

"Why you!" The soldier held his other hand with the intention of reprimanding her, and it was at that moment that Kiana striked.

With his attention solely placed on the Kaslana's infuriating smirk, he never the rest of her body moving to action. Even if she was still under the effects of the gas, her speed was nothing to joke about. So caught up in his anger the soldier was powerless to stop the Kiana from swiping at his feet, causing the man to fall down.

Caught off guard the soldier tried to shoot his pistol but a well timed roll by Kiana had her out of the bullets' path. Falling roughly on the ground the soldier scrambled up as fast he could to try and kill her for making a fool out of him.

However he blinked in confusion when the person he saw in front of him was not the prisoner, but rather the Valkyrie. What was even more confusing was that she was not walking towards him but away from him, blade in hand.

Had she done something with that?

Without ever knowing why, the soldier fell face first onto the ground. His death was nearly instantaneous as his back was now sporting a massive gash that started from his shoulder and diagonally ended at his hip.

Midori let out a breath of relief as she flicked her wrist, the action cleaning her blade of the blood as it splattered onto the ground. She would never admit that when the soldier drew their pistol she almost lost her composure. Such a loss of control was unbefitting of a Valkyrie, she needed to be better than that.

Sheathing her blade back in its sheath, the undercover Valkyrie was glad that the worst was over. Turning around to face the Kaslana, all she needed to do was free her and get her as far as possible from the docks.

However once she turned around Midori now had to deal with a new problem.

The problem that she was now facing was that Kiana had picked up the pistol that the soldier had dropped.

And was now pointing it at her.

After she had just sheathed her weapon.

"Kiana Kaslana," Midori started out slowly as she held out her hands peacefully. "You remember me right? Midori Aki? Your classmate?"

Kiana's eyes looked at her in confusion before it was changed with that of recognition. That was good, that meant she knew her as a classmate more than as a Valkyrie.

"Y-You're a Valkyrie?" Kiana questioned as she kept the barrel trained on her.

"Yes I am, but I was not sent to spy on you." She spoke slowly and calmly, hoping to defuse the situation before anything went wrong. "I was deployed in Nagazora way before you transferred into the class, us meeting like this was completely accidental."

If that brought any comfort to the girl, it wasn't shown. Kiana almost slumped over but quickly caught herself before she fell all the way. It seems that whatever they had drugged her with were still in effect.

"H-Haruto," She looked around as if expecting the red haired boy to suddenly pop out. "W-Where is he?"

"He is-," At that instant the boy in question decided that it was time to make his entrance as he ran into the room, sword in hand.

"Midori where is…" He trailed off when his hazel eyes locked gazes with Kiana's blue eyes.

"Kiana!/Haruto!" They both shouted before they ran towards each other, relief in their eyes that the other was not harmed.

However it would seem that Kiana's burst of adrenaline had finally run out as not even two steps forward was the girl already tipping over. The girl's eyes started to close as she fell forward. Midori readied herself to catch the girl, but stopped when Haruto beat her to the punch and caught the girl's falling body.

"Haru-senpai?" Kiana drowsily called out as she wrapped her arms around his body, giving him a lethargic hug.

"Yes Kiana," Haruto returned the hug with one of his own as he held the girl as if she would disappear if he didn't hug hard enough. "It's me. Don't worry…"

"You're safe now."

That was all that Kiana needed to hear before she succumbed to her fatigue, passing out in the arms of her rescuer with a small smile on her face.

Once Fu Hua told him about the plan she came up with, Ishigami could only think of one thing.

"This will not work," He told her flat out as he ran what she had told him through his mind. As a Chess Grandmaster any path to victory was viable, and this plan of hers certainly could bring them victory.

It was just that there was so much that could go wrong here and they essentially needed everything to go perfectly if they wished to come out on top.

"We're running out of time," She reminded him as she watched Iudex's visor flash red multiple times. "The Fenghuang Down affecting it the first time showed us that it has enough of the human mind to be affected, but the cybernetic enhancements are most probably trying to create countermeasures to the Divine Key's power as we speak."

The officer that had been in charge of this operation was fully prepared to fight against the Fenghuang Down but this juggernaut was not prepared to fight against it. Something that they needed to capitalize on.

"I'm guessing we only have one shot before it becomes fully resistant to your divine key," Ishigami summarized.

Fu Hua nodded as she thought about her Divine Key. She never had to worry about an enemy acclimating to the Fenghuang Down, it was most often than not that they would be destroyed before she would need to use it for a second time.

"Then that means you need to deal the finishing strike," Ishigami looked back at the zweihander that was still lodged in the ground, a frown on his lips. "...Are you sure you're up to the task? What you proposed will not be easy, even with a Valkyrie of your caliber."

"Then I suppose I'm fortunate to have a capable partner who will clear me a path to make my job easier," Fu Hua smiled to which Ishigami chuckled at.

"Ah it's a shame that you are Valkyrie," The teacher began to charge up his powers as dark red energy began to dance around him for one last time as he readied himself for the climax of this battle. "I'm sure you would've made my days at the academy all the less dull."

"There is no rule that's stopping us from being friends." Fu Hua readied her gauntlets as well as she glanced at the teacher. "I would be quite honored to have you as my friend."

"Surely you aren't trying to butter me up now?"

"I feel hurt that you think so little about me."

"...Well if we somehow survive this plan of yours friend, I'll be sure to buy us a round of beers to celebrate." Ishigami gave her one last smile before he steeled himself and began barraging the soulium knight with dark red energy missiles, drawing its attention towards him.

"I hope that I haven't doomed us with this plan of mine, my friend." Fu Hua took in a deep breath before she turned around to face the zweihander. Steeling herself she walked over to the fallen sword and wrapped her hand around the handle of the sword. It was nearly twice as tall as she was!

But that didn't matter as she placed her other hand on the handle…

And began the laborious task of trying to lift the sword up.

Sweat began to build on her face as she lifted the zweihander off the ground a few inches. It was slow progress but little by little was her body getting accustomed to wielding this massive sword.

The plan that she had devised was built on a lot of 'what ifs'. It hinged on whether Ishigami, who was better suited for ranged combat, could keep the knight occupied long enough, whether she could even lift the zweihander off the ground, let alone wield it, whether the Fenghuang Down would work a second time.

And the biggest 'what if' was if this knight even held the nervous system of a human. For all she knew the brain could be the only human element that made up this juggernaut.

But they were out of options and time.

Slowly but surely she was able to lift the zweihander off the ground and over her head. She almost toppled over from wielding a sword of this caliber but quickly recovered with some quick footwork.

"Ishigami!" She yelled as she held the zweihander at her side, the tip of the blade scraping the warehouse floor. "It's time!"

Hearing her words, Ishigami nodded as he sent one final blast of concentrated ball of energy towards the helmet of the knight. Iudex staggered from the hit but recovered quickly enough for it not to be a hindrance.

The knight then slapped Ishigami away, the teacher was sent roughly tumbling down to the ground. Judging by how abruptly the dark red energy he had surrounding him had dissipated he would not be getting up to join the fight anytime soon.

The sound of scraping metal drew Iudex's attention to Fu Hua, who was now rushing up to the knight with its own zweihander as she dragged it along the ground, tearing the cement in its wake.

Fu Hua's eyes were focused as she made sure to keep moving, even if her arms were starting to feel the effects of dragging such a heavy zweihander. The strength of a Valkyrie was impressive compared to that of a human but there were such limitations to such strength.

And dragging a zweihander of this size, a soulium made zweihander at that, was no walk in the park.

But Fu Hua kept her composure cool as Iudex was practically right on top of her. She made sure her breathing was level as the knight began to draw its fist back to smash her with.

Here came the most crucial part of the plan.

She swung the zweihander up with all the strength that she could muster up. She could see Iudex's fist slightly change paths as it planned to meet the sword head on with the intention of creating a contest of brute strength.

And it was here that Fu Hua's eyes glowed red as she activated the Fenghuang Down.

She knew that the knight's cybernetics had most probably already developed some sort of countermeasure to the Divine Key. If she had tried to change the perception of the knight's by too much then they would most definitely activate and everything they had done up to this point would be for naught.

But if she made one small change, a change small enough that its programming would not pick it up and try to counter it…

Then she would have her rock that she would use to topple her Goliath.

It was simple, by using the Fenghuang Down she made it so that it looked as if she was a bit farther than she actually was. The knight would register her distance and aim higher than it was supposed to if it wanted to hit her.

And as one of the Fenghuang Feathers crossed the visor of Iudex she knew she had fooled it.

Checkmate.

The soulium knight's fist flew over her as it smashed into an empty spot on the floor. By the time Iudex had registered what had happened it was too late as Fu Hua was already right under it, zweihander already in mid swing.

"HAAH!" She shouted as loud as she could as soulium blade met soulium armor, tearing into the once impenetrable armor. The sound of screeching metal would've normally brought discomfort to her ears but all she could feel as she heard more of the horrid sound was that of impending victory.

Already her arms were nearing their limit as she continued dragging the zweihander across the knight's chest. Only the thought of victory being near pushed her onward.

But even that alone was not enough as she could feel her strength waning by the time the sword reached the middle of the knight's chest. No! She couldn't stop now, the only way she could guarantee victory was if she completed this final strike.

No matter how much she willed herself, her body would not obey her commands as she could feel her grip beginning to slip from the zweihander's handle.

Move!

As if her plea for strength was answered, the world around her turned to grey as everything seemed to be frozen in place. Her own movement was frozen in time, Iudex was as still as a statue, even the fires that she could see in the corner of her eye had ceased to move.

"No matter what happens Phoenix, remember that we are always here with you,"

The spectral image of a hand, clothed in red and white, placed itself on her hands.

"Nuwa is right, no matter how much time passes, no matter where you might be or who you might be facing."

Another spectral hand joined in, the clothing identical save for instead of the color red it was the color of blue.

"We will fight alongside you, always."

Time then became unpaused as Fu Hua continued swinging the zweihander, however instead of losing strength she could feel the presence of two unknown but strangely very familiar presences helping her. She did not dwell on that too much as she was suddenly filled with so much strength that she had no difficulty continuing to tear into the soulium armor.

With a yell she finished swinging the zweihander, in its wake was a mighty gash in the armor of Iudex.

Iudex's visor began flickering an intense hue of red as Fu Hua waited with baited breath for what the knight would do next, not like she could do anything else as her strength had all but diminished.

[Warning: Must initiate Rejuvenation Program, Warning: Critical Injuries sustained, must initiate…]

Iudex's voice trailed off as the red in its eyes slowly died out, the knight's body going slack once there was no longer any color in the knight's helmet before it toppled into the ground.

They did it...they won?

The realization that her plan had worked left Fu Hua in stupor, so much so that she didn't realize that she had dropped the zweihander onto the ground as she placed a hand on her heart to calm its frantic beats.

Against all the odds they had somehow done it.

"Fuxi, Nuwa, thank you," She smiled as she thought back to her two friends that…

Wait.

Who was this 'Fuxi' and 'Nuwa'?

She tried to remember who exactly these two people were but all she was getting was blanks. Her memories could not find anybody to place these names on but something within her knew who these people were.

Just how did she know these names?

But before she could try to think any further on this, a sudden hand on her shoulder broke her out of her thoughts. Without thinking her body moved to act only for her muscles to freeze in place from all the exertion that they had gone through.

"Woah easy there," Ishigami assuaged as he moved to her side. The teacher had a noticeable limp in his left leg but that did not deter the massive smile on his face. "You did it, against all the odds you actually bloody did it."

Fu Hua nodded as she looked back to the unmoving body of Iudex. She should be celebrating their victory against this formidable opponent but all the valkyrie could think about was the two names that she had just uttered.

And why they brought such sorrow to her.

Yet as the two basked in the glow of their victory, they did not notice the slight glow that was still left in Iudex's visor.

"Are you okay with this?" Midori asked as I finished positioning Kiana on my back. I just gave her a nod as I placed my hands under the white haired girl's legs to make sure she didn't fall off as I stood up.

"I think I'm the best candidate out of the two of us to carry her. I have the gauntlet's shield to use if we run into any problem and I don't think you could use your sword as well if you were carrying her." I turned my head slightly around to see Kiana peacefully asleep.

"Besides you can react much faster than me so if we encounter any problems on the way you can act swiftly and-" Whatever I was going to say was cut off when I felt a pair of arms snake their way around my neck, giving me a hug.

"Haru-senpai don't do that," Kiana sleepily muttered as she deepened the hug that she was unknowingly giving me, a smile now on her face. "Mei-senpai will get jealous~."

My cheeks turned deep red at those words while Midori laughed in return. "Not a word of this to anyone." I embarrassingly hissed out at her.

"My lips are sealed...Haru-senpai," She made a zipper motion on her lips before giving one last laugh as the two of us left the room.

The hallway that once was filled with soldiers armed to the teeth now laid dead as we walked past their corpses. As much as I hated to admit, a fair amount of them died by my hand, though a majority of them had died by Midori's blade.

To think that this hallway was once filled with the noises of gunfire as these soldiers gave their lives to defend their position. Now it was deathly quiet as the two of them made their way down the hallway, the only sound that could be heard was the light snoring of Kiana as she peacefully slept.

"Midori, what do you plan on doing after this?" I quietly asked as the two of us entered the cargo holding area, careful not to wake the sleeping Kaslana. To think that just a while ago we had been fighting for our lives here.

"What do you mean?" She looked at me for clarification.

"Well we have Kiana now and you were tasked with saving her…" I trailed off not knowing how to exactly word that Kiana was technically a wanted fugitive. To be completely honest I was just waiting for the Valkyrie to decide that my usefulness had come to an end and attack me.

It was very unlikely to happen as she could've ended me with relative ease back when we first met but unless I knew for sure what Schicksal's plan for Kiana was I would be wary of her.

To my utter relief Midori just shrugged her shoulders as she too was unsure of what to do after his. "I'm not so sure myself, I'll have to ask my superiors about it but I'm fairly sure that all that will happen is that I will have to monitor her status in the upcoming weeks. Make sure that no-one else tries to kidnap her again."

"That's..good," I breathed out in relief, a huge weight taken off my chest.

"But enough about Kiana, I want to talk about you," She changed subjects as I could feel her green eyes looking at me with scrutiny, I could feel my heart stop at those words. What did she want to talk about that involved me of all people?!

"I know this might sound strange but have you ever considered being a Valkyrie? But in your case I guess it would have to be a Knight."

"A Knight?" I asked in disbelief as I looked towards the Valkyrie with shock. "You want me, a regular highschool to join the elite defenders of humanity?" I pointed to myself to affirm that she was referring to the right person.

"Is that so strange? After all no one is born a warrior, they're made." Midori had a wistful smile on her face as we continued walking side by side. "To be honest I was in the same boat as you, just a normal girl living her life until fate decided to have other plans for me."

"But that's a story for another time, I can guarantee you that you'll do well as a Knight. You've already shown promise with that gauntlet of yours." She motioned to the gauntlet that was still attached to my arm.

The Schicksal prototype that I had 'borrowed' not too long ago felt as if I had lived with it for my entire life, and fought with it in every battle. It would be a shame that I would eventually have to part with it once this whole fiasco ended.

"Won't I need a stigma then?" I asked, not even trying to hide what knowledge I held about Valkyries or the Honkai. I had a feeling that Midori knew that I knew things that I wasn't supposed to know but for reasons unknown she simply just went with it.

"It's very rare for someone to have a Natural Stigma, mine is actually an artificial one. " She lifted up the sleeve of her left arm to reveal her implanted stigma, the red tattoo seemed to be alive in the darkness of the hallway.

It was very cool to see but also very creepy at the same time.

"And the fact that you can use that gauntlet means that you possess a much higher resistance to the Honkai than most people, I think you'll acclimate to an artificial one just fine." She assured me as a thought entered my mind.

Getting an artificial stigma...wasn't actually a bad idea. If I could get my hands on one then I essentially became a Knight. While I may not get the proper training of one and probably still get beaten up by the majority of every Valkyrie out there, it would be a major upgrade from where I was at right now.

But the only problem was that I was essentially signing myself up to be a Knight of Schicksal. Something about that...it just didn't sit right with me.

My internal conflict must've shown as Midori gave me a smile that showed she would not be offended if I declined her offer. "I know it may seem like alot but please think it over will you?" The two of us, three if you count the sleeping Kiana that I was still carrying on my back, then entered the loading bay section of the warehouse. Just on the other side of the room was the exit that would mark the end of this long and arduous night.

"I'm sure if you did join that you would climb the ranks very-!" Midori abruptly stopped, her hand shooting to the handle of her katana. I stopped in my tracks in alarm when I saw the Valkyrie settling into a combat stance.

My eyes frantically darted from every dark corner of the loading bay, desperately searching for whatever had set off Midori into this state.

"There is no use in hiding," She calmly called out loud in the silent space. "Reveal yourself."

The air in the loading bay became choked with anticipation until the hidden observer decided to reveal himself. On the opposite end of the room emotionless light blue eyes stepped out of the shadows.

"Midori Aki, B-Rank Valkyrie that was once assigned to the Vermillion Rose Squadron. It was only recently that she was assigned to a mission of unknown origins." The officer talked as if he was reading off a report. Finishing up Midori he calmly moved his eyes to mine.

"Haruto Nakamura, a normal highschooler that got into Chiba Academy after catching the interest of Raiden Ryoma." His emotionless eyes narrowed just a bit and... was that a flash of anger I saw cross his eyes just now?

"And a person who pokes their noses into business that doesn't concern them."

My eyes scanned whoever this person was, my gut was telling me that this was no regular soldier. The way he held himself in front of us, not at all scared by his disadvantage. Even with the fact he was favoring a certain leg whilst clutching his stomach.

Already he had set himself apart from every other soldier that we had encountered.

The way that he looked as if nothing would break through his mask, even as injured as he was now. I was almost certain that he was the one in charge of this operation.

"I presume you to be the leader of this little operation?" It seemed that Midori also came to the same conclusion as she drew her katana in one swift move, pointing its sharp edge at him. "Should I feel honored about personally meeting you…"

"I suppose it would not matter if I were to tell you my name," The officer shrugged nonchalantly. "I am called Owl…"

"Not like it will help you as you will both end up dead soon enough."

After hearing countless soldiers say that to me in the last hour had made it lose its effect. Now I would simply shrug at their words but hearing it from this 'Owl' character was different. The way his eyes remained as emotionless as I had first seen them.

He was quite confident that we would be dying soon.

"And with what army?" Midori challenged as her green eyes observed the loading bay. The fact that no one else had stepped out or made a sound meant that Owl was the only one present to stop us.

And with his injuries I doubted he would put up much of a fight, even if I had Kiana on my back.

Owl gave her a small smile, the most emotion I've seen from him yet. "Sometimes you don't need a thousand strikes to break a wall down…" He moved his free arm up to reveal a bracelet that was flickering with an ominous red.

"But merely one good strike."

I could not ponder what he meant by that when the glass ceiling of the loading bay shattered. The loud sound of glass breaking was soon followed by the sound of the earth breaking as the ground beneath us vibrated from the impact of the crashed object.

The smoke parted to reveal the head of a towering knight of steel. My jaw dropped in shock by just how massive this thing was. I felt like an ant in the presence of this monstrosity of steel!

"Iudex," Owl commanded as he held the bracelet up. "Eliminate these two and retrieve the Kaslana." The bracelet lit up a bright red as the command was registered.

[Directive Confirmed: Proceeding to Engage]

Things went from bad to worse when this massive behemoth proceeded to pull out a zweihander of all things! I could not help but take a step back in terror at just how menacing this juggernaut was with a zweihander that was twice the size of a person!

But as the knight stepped forward, the signs that it had been previously in a battle were shown. Evident by the massive diagonal slash on its chest and judging by how one could see the flickerings of the internal circuitry from the slash it had been a fatal hit.

"...Haruto, I'll distract the knight. You get Kiana as far as possible from this place." Midori decided as she settled into a combat stance. "You should be able to get out of here if you open the loading bay doors over there."

I looked to my left to see the loading bay doors and the panel that controlled the actions of the doors. "No way!" I protested as I held my sword at the ready. "I won't let you fight this alone!"

"Think about Kiana you idiot!" The Valkyrie shouted, reminding me of why we were here in the first place. "If they capture Kiana then it's game over for us."

My head turned to look back at Kiana, who sleepily mumbled something about a pizza toast. "But-." I made eye contact with Owl, who looked back at me unflinchingly with his usual emotionless gaze.

Midori must've seen that I was concerned what Owl would do with her occupied with Iudex. "I don't think he's in any position to fight. He'll probably let this knight do all the hard work while he sits back and watches." Her hand tightened around her katana as Iudex began to slowly approach us, shaking the earth with each step it took.

"Besides I'm sure that I don't need to fight it for long, see that giant slash on its chest? It looks fairly recent meaning that it was probably in the middle of a fight before it got called over here. Chances are whoever it was fighting will come running after the big guy."

Hearing her logic, I hated the fact that I was agreeing with every point that she made. I could find no flaw in it, nothing that I could point out would not work. Meaning that the only thing that I could do was take Kiana and get out of here as fast as possible.

But that meant leaving Midori alone to fight this juggernaut all by herself. I couldn't help but be reminded of back when me and Kuro had fought Stalker Carbon together. I almost wanted to chuckle at how fast time seemed to fly ever since that fateful night, how crazy life had gotten in the span of a few months.

However reminiscing wasn't what was at the forefront of my mind, no it was the fact that I couldn't help but relive the same helplessness that I had first felt when I could do nothing when Kuro fought Stalker Carbon.

And I had been a useless spectator.

Even now history was repeating itself. Here stood an indomitable opponent and someone that I valued was fighting them, alone. Even when I had the power to fight back it wasn't enough when it mattered the most.

Yet again all I could do was stand back and be unable to do anything, unable to help the people who mattered the most to me as they got injured for my sake.

GOD WASN'T THERE SOMETHING I COULD DO?!

I was so caught up in my self loathing that I hadn't noticed Iudex getting closer and closer with each step it took. "HARUTO GO!" Midori's roar brought me back to the present as the Valkyrie sped forward, katana at the ready, as she began to fight the steel juggernaut.

With a heavy heart I resigned myself to my role as I made my way towards the loading bay control panel. With each step I took towards the panel it seemed that the fighting between the two got much more intense.

Each step I took added more to the guilt for leaving Midori to fight alone.

The sounds of combat got increasingly louder in both volume and frequency as steel clashed with steel. I wasn't sure how much time had passed since the fight had started but I risked throwing a backwards glance to see how my friend was doing against such an opponent.

Midori was like a flash of steel as she danced around the massive juggernaut. Everytime it swung its zweihander she was already in the motion of dodging the swing before she retaliated with her own flurry of strikes. She would then back away when the knight swung around its sword again, and then she would simply rinse and repeat this dance of theirs.

Surely she would be able to come out on top if her opponent could never hit her, right?

But everytime the juggernaut swung the earth shook wherever the zweihander landed. That was worrying all by itself but in reality the biggest worry was not the strength behind its strikes, but the intelligence that went behind it.

Before it would swing its sword in reckless abandon, simply trying to catch the nimble moves of the Valkyrie. As time passed however the flailing it once showed slowly became pinpoint as the knight was beginning to get more accustomed to Midori's moves, starting to anticipate where she would end up next.

And while Iudex was improving as the fight continued, the opposite could be said about Midori.

In the beginning she held the advantage over the knight, easily dodging its brutish strikes. However no matter how good she was at dodging, it was meaningless if she couldn't deal any damage back. Her katana, no matter how fast or hard she striked, harmlessly scratched the armor of the knight.

Then Iudex began to adapt to her attacks and it all went downhill from there. Strikes she could dodge without much effort now were narrowly dodged as she began being pushed back by the knight. It did not help that Midori's face was filled with exhaustion as the fatigue of the previous battles were now starting to take its toll on her.

If this continued on without anything changing then she would be…

No! I shook my head clear of those negative thoughts as I focused my attention back to what my role was in this. Ever since I had turned my head to watch the battle my legs had not stopped moving. By the time I refocused my attention I was already more than halfway there to the control panel of the loading bay doors.

Kiana was still resting peacefully on my back, undisturbed by the intense duel that was happening just a few feet away.

It felt as if an eternity passed when I finally reached the control panel but I quickly forgot about that as I felt in that moment an indescribable amount of joy. My hands reached over to turn the thing on as I could see the end was in sight, all I needed to do was turn this on and-!

Midori's pained scream suddenly tore through the air, freezing me in my tracks.

In panic I whipped my head around to see just Iudex catch the Valkyrie with the back of its hand. It was a small relief that it had been its hand and not its massive sword that had been the one to hit her.

But that relief quickly disappeared when I saw Midori get promptly launched into a shipping container. I looked on with shock to see the force behind the hand strike was so great that Midori's impact had created a human sized dent in the metal.

My classmate's eyes were closed as a trail of blood began to fall down the side of her head, her katana still held but with a weak grip.

My mouth was open and about to shout her name only for a sudden shadow to suddenly descend over me. My eyes turned in alarm to see Iudex jumping towards me, already in mid jump as it held its zweihander over its head.

Without thinking I roughly forced Kiana off my back, the girl's comatose body hitting the floor away from me as I held up my gauntlet. The green hexagonal shield materialized to life right as the blade of the juggernaut was right upon me. I tensed my body as the blade came into contact with the shield.

And for my body to experience the force of what felt like getting hit by a train. I coughed harshly by just how harsh the force behind that strike was. The shield had protected me from getting eviscerated in half but could do nothing about the force behind it.

The force was so great that my legs had buckled and my back harshly slammed into the ground. My body was wracked with so much pain as I tried to move my way out of the crater that I was now trapped in.

Only for me to bring up my arms once more as Iudex slammed its zweihander into me again.

The crater that I was in grew much bigger as my body absorbed the force behind the strike once more. As the knight brought its sword up, I no longer had the strength to try and get out of the crater, my muscles screaming in agony if I so much as tried to move an inch. Everything in my body was in so much pain that closing my eyes only brought me a sliver of relief.

"Good," I could hear Owl's voice now as his footsteps grew louder and louder. "Now retrieve the Kaslana, we are leaving."

I cracked an eye open to see the knight turning its body to where I had pushed Kiana away to, the white haired girl groaning in pain but still asleep. "Kiana I'm sorry," I lamented as I could see the knight take a step towards her position.

"I failed you,"

Those three words brought more pain than what my body was currently experiencing at that moment. Tears began to well up in my eyes as I reflected on my failure and how I failed to keep that simple promise to her.

[mAlfUNctIon DeTeCtED iN pROCessING CoRE]

The knight's sudden garbled speech had me halting in my tracks. That didn't sound like everything was alright. Blinking away my tears I tried to see what was happening to it…

Only for them to widen in shock as the zweihander suddenly descended upon me once more, with much greater force than before. I threw my arms over me again as the green shield activated to block the mighty blow as the earth shook in its wake. What followed after was the sound of a bone breaking before I felt the searing pain.

I think it just broke my arm.

"Iudex! I order you to stop this immediately! Retrieve the Kaslana and retreat!" Owl shouted in an attempt to regain control of the malfunctioning machine.

[WaRNing: OrDeR CaNNNOT bE AcCePTEd. MuLTiPle SyStem FAiLUrEs]

I became aware of the red hue that was beginning to leak out of the massive gash in the knight's chest. It seems that the damage inflicted by that was now starting to take effect as the knight's visor began to erratically flash red.

And while that might have been a good thing, that was not the case for me as Iudex began to lift its zweihander up into the air once more.

My body screamed in protest once more as sword met shield, the ground further cracking from the impact. I could feel another bone in my body break, one of my ribs shattering judging by the pain now flaring up in my torso.

I would've screamed if it wasn't for the fact the entirety of my focus was directed to making sure my gauntlet and body were ready as Iudex wasted no time in bringing down its sword on me again.

Feeling another vicious strike against the unwavering green shield was not a very good feeling, far from it, but it was way better than the alternative of being cleaved in two by a giant sword. Each time that sword clashed against the shield I could feel something in my body break but I held fast against the pain knowing that help was coming soon.

As long as this shield held then it would just be a test of endurance that I would have to-!

[Warning: Shield Integrity at 75%]

The gauntlet called out in alarm as I could see a tiny crack appear in the green luminous shield. Oh you have got to be kidding-!

Another strike came down, and any form of rational thought flying out the window as all that remained was hot searing pain. Adrenaline spiked pain flowed through my body as I tried to keep myself awake through it all.

[Warning: Shied Integrity at 60%]

"Haruto?" Through the indescribable amount of pain I was feeling right now my eyes could see the form of Kiana beginning to move from where she had landed, the Kaslana finally coming to her senses. "Haruto what's happening to-!"

"RUN!" I yelled before another strike descended onto the shield, cracking it even further. The white crack that once had been small had grown almost triple in size. I could feel blood begin to trail out of my mouth as I shouted to Kiana, ignoring the pain that was slowly becoming unbearable. "Get out of here!"

"But-!" Kiana's eyes were full of horror as she looked at me, realizing the grave situation I was in. "What about you?!"

[Warning: Shield Integrity at 50%]

"Just go!" My voice had gotten hoarse from the mix of screaming in pain and screaming at Kiana to leave. "Leave me and-!"

Another strike came hurtling down, shaking the earth even further. No sounds left my mouth as it opened up in a silent scream. The only sound I was making was that of a choking noise that barely described the agony my body was going through.

It was like my entire body was swimming in lava, no relief to be found from my predicament. Every time Iudex's zweihander came down on me the temperature of the lava would increase to temperatures I would have never believed possible.

My vision was beginning to darken as the only thing that I could feel now was just pain. Half of my brain was telling me to simply accept oblivion, to stop resisting. The only thing pushing me forward was this animalistic instinct to hold on. "Please Kiana...run," My voice was nothing more than a cracked whisper by now.

[Warning: Luminous Blaze at 25% integrity. Shield failure imminent. Repeat shield failure imminent]

"No!" She yelled as she forced herself up and tried to make her way over her to me. The way that she was groggily making her way to me meant that her body had not fully recovered from the toxins of the gas.

Yet against it all she made her way towards me, slowly limping towards me as she shouted once more in vain. "I won't abandon you!"

Everything inside me felt broken, it would be a miracle if something had not yet been broken by Iudex's zweihander. I was dimly aware that Kiana tried shouting something at me but all I could focus on was the ominous steel of Iudex's blade rising up into the air.

And something within me knew that it would be the last time it would do so.

"...kiana," It barely came out as a whisper as I held my arms out one last time, gauntlet beeping dangerously as I readied it to activate it.

"..tell Mei…"

"Haru-senpai NO!"

I barely processed the sounds of a wall exploding somewhere in the loading area as a familiar masculine voice called out. "Owl surrender now and...Haruto is that-!"

"...I'm sorry."

Iudex's sword descended like a guillotine as the green shield materialized to meet it. However unlike the previous times the moment the sword made contact with the shield, it shattered like a piece of glass. Without the shield to block it the sword continued downward without resistance…

Kiana looked on in growing horror as she heard the sounds of steel meeting flesh as a cloud of dust was created. She shook her head in denial as she refused to believe what had just happened.

"Kiana, are you okay?" Haruto asked, unsure of the sudden predicament he was in. The two had just left Mei's estate after having dinner to celebrate Kiana's success in class that day. It was a cool night in Nagazora as the two walked back to the apartment.

Well had been walking as just as the two were about to enter the apartment complex, Kiana had suddenly just hugged him without warning.

"I'm fine," She mumbled into his shirt, tightening her hold on him. "Just wanted to thank you for helping me study."

Haruto said nothing for a while and the Kaslana feared she had made him uncomfortable with her sudden action.

Just as she thought the worst, the redheaded surprised her by returning the hug, "Anything for a friend." He affirmed, unaware of how his words would affect the girl.

For that was the night that Kiana Kaslana knew that she made her first ever friend.

She shouted with all of her might as tears began to run down her cheeks, not wishing to believe what she had just seen. "HARU-SENPAI NO!"

Ishigami looked on in terror as he saw what Iudex had just done. "Oh gods, please don't tell me..."

Yet both his and Kiana's prayers would go unanswered as Iudex's blade came back up, now having blood paint its once immaculate shine. Any further hopes were destroyed as the last nail in the coffin was hammered down for when the smoke cleared up.

And saw a lifeless hand resting on the ground, blood beginning to pool up around it.

Cold

Dark

That was all that I was feeling as I could feel myself drowning in a sea of darkness, descending further and further into its murky depths.

I died didn't I?

Such a realization should've brought me an unspeakable amount of sorrow but all I could feel was...nothing. No anger, no sorrow, not even terror from the fact that this had been my second death.

Would it even matter anyway?

…

…

I wonder what happens now? Would my death change anything? Would it even affect anything in the long run? If I could I would've bitterly laughed at how it all ended like this. Just when I thought I could finally make a difference, I ended up dying.

…

…

Was this what truly awaited everyone after death? A bottomless sea of darkness that one would continue to descend into without end? Or maybe this was my own special hell for cheating death for the first time.

...

…

…

Maybe if I close my eyes I can fall into an eternal slumber.

…

…

…

Kaa-san, Otou-san...are you well I wonder?

...

Sora...your big brother won't be able to take you out for chocolate now.

...

Kuro...I wish you only the fattiest pieces of tuna wherever you go.

...

Ishigami, Keji...forgive me I won't be able to attend our next chess game.

...

Oba-san, Akihiro-san...I won't be able to enjoy your drunken conversations any longer.

...

Midori-san...I could not live up to the trust you placed in me, I'm sorry.

...

Mei, Kiana...please.

…

...

Live.

…

…

Everyone…forgive me….

…

…

I wasn't worthy of this new life…

…

I…

…

I never have been.

…

…

False.

Who said that?

Do Not Go Gentle Into The Dark.

Who are you? Why do you…

Why do you sound so familiar?

My eyes slowly opened to see a crystalline like orb in front of, falling beside me into the abyss. Without thinking my arms reached out and grabbed the orb before hugging it closer to my chest. It was no bigger than volleyball, but held the shine of a diamond.

And it was warm...so warm that the cold dark embrace of the abyss was now forgotten.

"Remember please." A girl's voice echoed through the darkness.

As if heeding the girl's words, a vision flickered into my mind as I found myself in a familiar field of green. There in the field was the sight of that familiar blonde girl and my younger self walking side by side. The black haired boy looked at the blonde girl who now held a sword close to her.

"Is this...it?" The girl questioned as the two of them stopped in front of a torii gate. Within the frame of the gate was a strange purple energy that held the reflection of what laid beyond the gate.

The outside world.

The boy beside her nodded. "That's right Bianka, walk through this and you'll find yourself back in your world again."

Words that should've brought joy to her now only brought sorrow as she frowned at the boy. "But Haruto, that means you'll be stuck here."

So this was my child self from my previous life, yet I felt that statement wasn't entirely true. I had no recollection of this ever happening, no memory of ever meeting her.

Yet my soul knew who she was, I knew I could trust her with my life even if I had no recollection of who she was.

Who was she?

"Are you sure you can't come with me?!" The girl protested as she clutched the sword tighter to her chest. "I'm sure that the Schicksal can come up with something and-."

The boy only shook his head, interrupting her as he gave a knowing smile. "Big Brother says that it's not my time yet. He says that I can't exist in your world."

But that did not deter Bianka. "What if he's wrong?! Schicksal can build you a new body! They have the best scientists so I'm sure that with enough time I can-!

Once again the girl was cut off by the boy as he shook his head yet again.

'Haruto' walked up and embraced the girl, holding her tightly as they both knew that this was the last time that they would see each other for a very, very long time.

"...Have you forgotten what I taught you that Big Brother taught me about this place? An exit to one place does not mean it can be used as an entrance back." His hazel eyes looked to the sprawling green field around them.

"Besides time is in flux here, an hour can pass in your world and the equivalent of a week might roll by here. In our case our journey is probably the equivalent of a day back in the real world. Even if you came back, several years could go by here."

"But-"

"And nothing remains the same here, even if I were to wait for you to come back here this dimension could get pushed around with the infinite other dimensions that inhabit the Sea of Quanta. You could spend a lifetime searching and never find me and Big Brother."

Silence soon remained as Bianka came to terms of what passing through that gate meant. That if she stepped through it she would never see him ever again, no matter how hard she tried. For all her strength and determination, they would not help her this time.

Not when she needed it the most.

"Now don't be like this," 'Haruto' tried cheering her up when the girl said nothing. "You'll be coming back stronger than before, I know that you'll be saving a lot of people as you grow into the strongest Valkyrie ever."

"...call me," She mumbled.

The boy released the hug as he looked inquisitively at the Bianka's downward face. "Excuse me?"

The girl looked up as her blue eyes stared into the boy's hazel eyes. Tears had begun to build up in the girl's eyes but behind that they shined with the determination that he knew her for. "If you're ever in trouble, call my name and I will come to your aid. No matter what walls I must break or enemies I will face, I will come to your aid."

Despite how serious her words were, 'Haruto' couldn't help but smile at them. "You're really stubborn, you know that?" The boy teased as Bianka's cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. "And how would you even hear me call out your name? What if you come to the aid of someone else?"

"I will come to your aid," She affirmed, leaving no room for doubt. "Trust me on this."

After that declaration Bianka shifted on the heel of her foot as she looked as if she wanted to say more. "Just so I know what to come for...can you say it? Just this once?"

'Haruto' eyes widened for only a second but softened as he nodded his head. "Sure..." The boy's mouth was about to utter the girl's name…

Only for the vision to change.

For instead of a green field it was in the inside of a castle. Instead of the two of them and the torii gate now stood an empty and lone table, a round one at that.

Thirteen seats surrounded the table and at the head of it, where the one who led this round table would sit, rested a golden blade.

Bianka's visage was replaced with that of a faceless knight who reached over and held the sword high into the sky.

Two swords they pulled out of stone. One whose blade held a universe of power within it, the other glowing bright as it held unto something brillant.

Both were symbols that would define their lives.

The visions ended as I was brought back to the abyss of darkness, the crystal orb that I had been cradling had grown in luminosity. Yet even as I held the almost blinding orb I could sense its desire to be free, to be free of this shell.

I knew not how I knew this, nothing spoke to me or told me, I simply knew it. Like if this was my own body, neigh a piece of my very soul that I never knew I had needed.

"Call my name."

My lips opened as I began to utter that name.

"Du…"

The Time Has Come.

A scene of Bianka and 'Haruto' walking through a forest. The boy had a huge smile on his face as he motioned to all the trees, explaining something, the girl had a frown on her face as she followed behind him, wishing to be anywhere other than there.

"...ran…"

From This Moment Onward.

Next a scene played out in the midst of a city. There was nothing too remarkable about the city, it was like any you would see in the world. In a random part of the city, inside an ice cream parlor, the boy was holding two ice cream cones in his hand whilst the girl was silently enjoying her ice cream cone.

"Da…"

…

…

…

…

A blade of a universe and a blade of hope became one.

…

…

The Path Is Forever Changed.

"Excalibur."

And with the utterance of that single word, the orb within my hands suddenly exploded in light.

Engulfing the entire abyss in its magnificence.

Somewhere deep in the Sea of Quanta, in one of the countless bubble universes that inhabited the ocean.

In a sprawling field of green that held a single massive tree in it.

A figure had their back against the bark of the tree.

A young boy with black hair was sleeping, a peaceful smile on his face as he embraced a sword. The air around him suddenly kicked up, not disturbing the child's slumber, as the tree's rustled from the force. The sword held within the child's tender embrace began to glow.

Finally.

Ishigami looked on in horror as he saw the lifeless face of his student. A small smile was on his lips and the teacher almost believed he was having a peaceful rest if it wasn't for the fact the blood that had been pooling around him.

"Haru-senpai, open your eyes!" Painfully he turned his attention to Kiana who was desperately trying to reach the redhead's body, the two Anti-Entropy soldiers the only things holding her back as they tried to pull the girl back. "PLEASE WAKE UP!" She begged as tears freely flowed down her face.

Ishigami could feel his blood roaring in anger as he looked at Owl, the officer's eyes darting between the malfunctioning, but still standing body of Iudex and the contingency of Anti-Entropy soldiers that all had their rifles aimed at him.

The ever present emotionless look in his eyes infuriated him to no end.

It had been his lack of insight not to check if Iudex had been truly finished. The mech had surprised both him and his companion when it suddenly stood back up from its seemingly fatal injuries, before leaping out of the warehouse.

He had been such a fool not to realize where it was going, by the time that he had been able to round up enough soldiers to help chase Owl he had been too late.

Too late to save his student from his gruesome fate.

"Calm yourself Ishigami," Fu Hua spoke up beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Anger will not help you avenge your student."

"I know," He bitterly spat out as he called upon the powers of the 1st Herrscher. Red tendrils of gravity angrily crackled around him, begging to tear the target of his ire into nothingness. "Iudex is mine."

The Valkyrie knew the feeling that the teacher was feeling all too well as she too was feeling it as well as she saw the soldiers load Midori into a stretcher. The young Valkyrie had done well and she would make sure that her fellow sister in arms' mission would be completed.

She gave the teacher a nod of confirmation as she readied her gauntlets for battle. "Then leave Owl to me, I have unfinished business with him."

Besides the pair the captain of the squadron raised his arm into the air, "Fire!" He ordered every soldier.

However, just as each soldier was about to hold down the triggers of their rifles, the senses of both Fu Hua and Ishigami screamed in alarm.

The two only had a second of warning before the entire room was bathed in a light. Every person in the room shielded their eyes from the blinding light, soldiers voicing their surprise as if the sun itself had appeared before them.

Daring to look at the sudden explosion of light, Ishigami's brown eyes turned blue as he activated the power of the 1st Herrscher. Through the cracks of his fingers the teacher tried to discern what had caused this intense light.

Beyond Simmering Shadow, Lieth Shimmering Light

Singeth The Song Of Victory And New Beginnings.

Heraldth The Salvation of Humanity.

His mouth opened in shock when he saw a person standing at the center of the light. From where the light had originated from, it did not take long for the teacher to piece together who the person was.

There was only one other person there after all.

Without knowing it tears began to fall down his face as the teacher looked at the standing figure of his student, but it was not due to the miracle he was witnessing but rather the sudden heat that was spreading through him. It wasn't a suffocating heat that made one sweat in discomfort but that of a gentle fire that warms your very soul.

Like if you were standing beside a fire in the midst of a harrowing snowstorm.

The last time he had felt like this was…

"What is this?" He emotionlessly mumbled as he looked at the strange rectangular object that was being offered to him.

"It's a granola bar?" Siegfried looked at him, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. "You've never seen one before?"

He shook his head at the strange foreign object in his savior's hand. Seeing his admission the Kaslana chuckled before he ripped a part of the granola bar and offered the piece to him. "You should try it! It's really delicious!"

Delicious? What was that?

Ishigami slowly reached out and grabbed the broken piece of the granola bar, feeling the textures of the snack before placing it in his mouth. Siegfried watched with anticipation as he watched him slowly chew through the treat.

"It's incredibly dry,'' Was the first thing he said, making the Kaslana sweatdrop as Ishigami continued to critique the granola bar. "And it's mostly just sugar, there's practically no nutritional value in this. Why would anyone eat this?"

Well he wasn't wrong in that. "I just like to carry them with me and you seem hungry so…" The former Knight tried to explain why he had given him a granola bar only to go silent when he saw tears beginning to trail down Ishigami's face.

Why was he crying? For all extents and purposes the food that he had once eaten held everything he needed to survive, holding all the nutrients that his body needed.

But against all logic he found himself devouring the granola bar in his mouth, and for the first time since he could remember.

He smiled as he felt a new emotion for the first time.

Hope

And looking towards the shrouded figure of Haruto, it felt as if he was experiencing that emotion for the first time.

As if he was looking at hope itself.

Turn Thy Gaze Heavensward In Prayer

The light soon dimmed to a level where Fu Hua could drop her arms and look at what was responsible without going blind. And the first thing that she noted when she saw the standing figure of Haruto Nakamura…

Was the golden sword that he held in his hand, how it seemed to be composed of pure light as it glowed incandescently in the darkness of the warehouse. Just looking at it's glow made her heart feel lighter, as if all of her troubles just seemingly vanished.

Memories of a dojo began to play in her mind, a dojo she had never known before. She saw a younger version of herself garbed in the dojo's clothes, a tired but very bright smile on her face.

"Otou-san one more time!"

Her blue eyes trailed towards Haruto himself, and took in a sharp intake of breath.

White armor covered his entire body, gone was any of the clothes that he had previously worn as in place of them was this heavily detailed armor that seemed to be ripped out of the medieval ages.

A blue waistcloth that hung from his waist and draped down to his feet.

A golden crown that adorned his head. It was simple gold, no fancy gemstones decorated the crown but they were not needed to convey the authority that this crown possessed.

It was like she was staring at a complete carbon copy of the Bright Knight Excelsis Battlesuit itself.

Haruto opened his hazel eyes, glowing as bright as the light in his sword. The redheaded boy leveled the golden blade at the form of Iudex, his face displaying no emotions.

For A New Dawn Hath Cometh

Chapter Text

All was silent as the air became choked with tension. No one dared to move a muscle, utter a single word, so much as take in too much air with a single breath. Not when everyone stared in awe and wonder as they tried to rationalize what they had just seen.

After all it wasn't everyday when you see a dead person pick themselves off the ground.

Kiana was silent as her brain tried to comprehend what she had just seen with her own eyes. The grips on her arms went slack as the two soldiers who had tried to restrain her were in similar states of awe.

Just a minute ago she was staring at the corpse of Haruto, refusing to believe his gruesome death trying to save her. Some might call it a foolish decision to go after an armed organization alone, even more so if you were just an unarmed civilian.

She may not be some kind of Valkyrie but she could tell if someone had combat experience and Haruto, while he may have trained with Mei on how to do kendo, did not have the experience.

Yet he willingly rushed head first into danger...and paid the price for it.

But now here he stood, uninjured and clad in an imposing armor that seemed to be made of marble with how brilliant it shined. All the while he was holding a sword that seemed to illuminate the entire warehouse with its magnificent glow.

And while Kiana was more than happy that death had not been the final chapter of her dear friend, she had one burning question that needed to be asked.

Where did this come from?!

Ishigami was asking a similar question as he too was trying to wrap his head around this. His mouth was left open as his mind tried to come up with multiple rational explanations to the phenomenon that he was seeing with his own eyes.

Yet all of them fell short in explaining this phenomenon.

Was this the power of the Honkai? No that couldn't be the case. The teacher had been unable to detect any honkai energy levels within the boy since their first fateful meeting, not even the tiniest of exposures to it could be detected in the classroom.

Even now in this new 'state' Ishigami could not detect any levels of Honkai within him. Whatever this was...it was something that was far out of his knowledge.

And a small part of him was terrified at that aspect.

Owl still retained his impassive mask but on the inside none of that control he showed could be seen. "What is this?!" He took a step back as the glowing eyes of Haruto looked at him unflinchingly.

To think that their positions had been swapped so easily. Before he held the advantage of surprise with Iudex. Now it was he who was on the short end of the stick while 'Haruto' held all the cards.

Had Gray Serpent known about this power the redhead possessed all along?!

...Or had he uncovered something far stronger than what the hacker had originally believed about the highschooler?

The officer clenched his fist, pushing away such thoughts for later. His main focus now was getting as far away as he could from this wretched cursed place. "Iudex!" He roared, breaking his mask of cool as he held up the bracelet that controlled the malfunctioning steel behemoth. He cared not if he was returning without the knight for all he needed from it was one final order.

"Kill Haruto Nakamura!"

Iudex said nothing as it simply lifted its zweihander up into the air before rushing towards the still motionless redhead. Malfunctioning or not it would complete the order that had been given to it.

"Haru-senpai!" Kiana yelled in warning as the knight brought down its zweihander on the boy, not wishing to see a repeat of what had happened beforehand. Ishigami charged up his gravity powers while the soldiers tried to fire their rifles at the behemoth.

Yet Fu Hua simply stood back as she simply watched it all unfold, but her attention was not directed at Iudex but rather Haruto Nakamura. "What will you do?" She muttered, narrowing her eyes as the redheaded boy had barely moved an inch in the face of the impending danger.

Haruto said nothing as he lifted his golden sword up to meet the zweihander's blade head on. One might think that a tiny sword like his would be no match for such a massive zweihander, especially with its composition of Soulium.

Soulium, a powerful material created in the Previous Era. A metallic composite of nano-robots designed for insulating Honkai energy. The nano-robots could automatically repair Honkai-induced corrosion. It was strongest material known to mankind. Any weapon forged of this material would make any blow from it fatal.

Haruto in response to the falling zweihander merely raised his sword up, almost nonchalantly, to meet the blade. The two blades connected…

And without any effort Haruto cleaved the oversized zweihander in two.

There was no dramatic showing of the blade cleaving it into two, no fancy display that would suggest such a thing. It was simply that the zweihander had once been whole and now it was in two pieces.

The might of the golden blade was so superior that it continued onward, undeterred by the once harrowing blade as it tore through the arm that carried the zweihander. And just as it had once done to the blade, Iudex's arm was effortlessly sliced in two.

Here stood a knight that had once given the two strongest individuals on the dock a run for their money, making them take extraordinarily high risks to even come close to defeating it.

Only to have its once stalwart defense be effortlessly torn down.

Iudex did not even get a chance to voice the damage that it had sustained as Haruto twisted his hand, tilting the blade in the other direction before he moved it. The sound of metal getting sliced followed after as everyone in the room held in their breath.

[Warning: Armor Integrity at 0%, Error Cannot CO-]

The knight could not finish its sentence as a giant diagonal slash that followed from it's hip to the shoulder made its presence known. The sound of creaking metal followed before the now two halves of Iudex fell unceremoniously to the floor with a thud.

In one single strike Haruto had just felled this beast of Soulium.

Haruto looked impassively at the fading red of Iudex's visor, this time for good. With one last single flash of red the knight that was known as Iudex was no more. With the demise of its opponent the redhead directed his attention to Owl, who could not help but instinctively take a step back from the inhuman gaze.

The highschooler took a single step forward…

Before he let out a gasp, the first sound he would make since he stood up from the crater. The armor that he had been wearing had dissolved into motes of light, even the crown on his head, as he fell on to his knees.

His jacket still possessed the massive gash that the now destroyed Iudex had inflicted on him as it looked as if he was trying to say something. He mumbled something incoherently before his hazel eyes rolled back and fell towards the floor.

"Haru-senpai!" Kiana freed herself from the grips of the two soldiers and immediately broke into a sprint to the fallen body of her friend.

"Kiana wait!" Ishigami got to his student first, his attention on the gauntlet sizzling in Haruto's arm. The Schicksal prototype that the student had 'borrowed' had seen better days. None of its once ivory white armor could be seen, only its charred remains.

Channeling some of his power into his hand, the teacher ripped the gauntlet out of Haruto's arm. It came apart as easy as shredding a wet paper towel. With one swift jerk of his hand the ruined remains of the armor went flying into the air, landing not too far away from where they were.

"Please," He prayed as he pressed a hand to the highschooler's neck, desperately trying to find a pulse. He was aware of Kiana's intense gaze beside him, looking at him for confirmation that he was alive.

He sighed in relief when he felt a pulse, it was faint but it was definitely there. "He's alright," He assured the girl who let out her own sigh of relief. But while the girl was relieved at Haruto's current state, Ishigami's focus quickly shifted onto the singed remains of the gauntlet that he had just thrown away.

It was nothing but a piece of junk now with its given state, he doubted that anyone would be able to salvage anything from it. He was sure that it cost a fortune to create this gauntlet and he did not want to be there when the scientist who created it received the bad news.

But something was bugging the teacher.

The gauntlet appeared to be burnt, not cleaved as one would think since Haruto had used it to block Iudex's zweihander and it had been the first thing that the sword had destroyed when the shield had broken.

Almost as if the gauntlet had a part to play in Haruto's apparent resurrection.

He pushed those thoughts away as he focused on the task at hand. "Captain, get medical attention down here now!" Ishigami was spurred to action as he barked out orders. The captain immediately nodded before he got his radio and began trying to get help to their position.

Yet while the worst seemed to have ended, there was still one more thing that he had to take care of. The teacher was able to catch the sight of Owl's back as the officer, now deprived of his greatest weapon, tried to flee the scene.

Not this time.

"Don't let him escape!" He called out to the rest of the soldiers present. A chorus of "yes sir" answered the teacher as the soldiers present began to pursue the fleeing officer. "Fu Hua," He turned his head to the Valkyrie. "Can I trust you to make sure that Haruto is safe?"

The blue gray haired Valkyrie looked to the unconscious form of Haruto before nodding her head. "None shall harm him or Midori under my watch."

Ishigami gave her a nod of gratitude before following after the soldiers, leaving her alone with the Kaslana and the unconscious Nakamura. Fu Hua turned around to see the white haired girl cradling Haruto, a tight grip on his comatose body.

"Kaslana-san?" She calmly approached the pair, making sure not to alarm the girl. "We should get both you and your friend some medical attention."

For a second it seemed that her words fell on deaf ears until Kiana nodded her head, barely acknowledging the Valkyrie words as she was too preoccupied with the wellbeing of her friend. The feeling of seeing him die right before her eyes had been horrifying.

If only she had been stronger, strong enough to avoid getting kidnapped, strong enough to escape on her own…

Strong enough so that Haruto did not need to fight in her stead.

Too caught up in her self loathing while the duo waited for medical attention to locate them, Kiana could not see the glint in Fu Hua's eyes as she stared not at the Kaslana.

But the sleeping form of Haruto Nakamura.

Fu Hua crossed her arms as she leaned on the side of a shipping container, watching as Anti-Entropy finished wrapping up the conflict at the docks. She had to give credit to the World Serpent, for an organization that was fairly elusive they could hold their own against the strongest organizations on the planet.

But against a fully operational Anti-Entropy garrison, it was only a matter of time before they lost against the sea of mechs that they had on standby.

Even now patrols of mechs were making their ways around the docks, ensuring that any remnants of the World Serpent that decided to put up a fight, they would be swiftly put down. Last she had heard Owl had managed to round up a fairly big squadron of soldiers and were currently making a last stand in a warehouse quite far from here.

She didn't know the point of making such a last stand, it would only be a matter of time before Ishigami and the soldiers break through their defense. Maybe they were waiting for someone to pick them up?

No, that was highly unlikely considering Anti-Entropy had blocked off any approaches from the sea and nothing was allowed in the Nagazora airspace. Anything trying to break the curfew that had been enforced would be immediately considered hostile and be shot down without any questions asked.

So it was only a matter of time before Owl appeared before her in shackles. As much as she would love nothing more than to drag him back to Schicksal, her involvement here was meant to be classified, alongside Midori's.

Leaving Anti-Entropy the spoils.

But in the meantime Fu Hua was in a dilemma, a dilemma that was the reason why she was waiting out in the open as opposed to some hidden corner that no one would disturb her in.

Even now she was getting dirty looks from any passing by soldiers, making sure the Valkyrie knew of their disdain for her even if she had fought alongside them. They didn't openly antagonize her but that didn't mean they could send some not so hidden glares her way.

She paid them no heed, it wasn't an open secret of the bad blood between Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.

Pushing her glasses up her nose, she was surprised by the fact that Otto had yet to contact her. If there was a time that she would think the Overseer would like to butt in, it would have to be after the fact that his target of interest had done the impossible.

Coming back from the dead? With a sword that was able to tear through Soulium armor like it was nothing no less?

Most certainly an 'impossible' feat.

She thought Haruto Nakamura was an interesting individual, definitely someone who had the potential to become a Knight if given the right amount of training. When it had become apparent that Midori had teamed up with the highschooler to free Kiana Kaslana, she knew that such potential should not be squandered.

She had even planned to send a recruiter to the boy to get him to join the Schicksal ranks.

But then after seeing him topple the Soulium Juggernaut that had been Iudex in two strikes, now she could understand that there might be more than meets the eye with the redhead.

Watching her glasses flicker with static, unable to connect with the Schicksal headquarters, left Fu Hua with the choice of how to proceed. Taking off her glasses, she folded them and placed them inside her qipao's pocket before she left her spot.

It was a quick walk to the medical tent, the head medic giving her a nod of greeting as she entered the massive green tent. Inside there were quite a lot of soldiers receiving medical aid, it seems that they too had not been ready to deal with Iudex's appearance.

"Hey watch how you tighten that!" A rather boisterous pilot yelled at the medic who was currently applying bandages on him. "You'll tear my arm off if you tighten that too hard!"

"I don't think that's how it works," Quipped the pilot next to him, who had his right arm in a sling. "Pretty sure that knight also messed up your brain as well."

"Shut up! Even if my brain was cut in half I'd be much smarter than you!"

"Oi wanna bet?!"

"Hell yeah I do!"

A third pilot simply sighed as he facepalmed at the commotion that these two were creating. "Why did I sign up to be a captain again?"

While the conversation over there was certainly interesting, none of that concerned her as she walked past the rows of injured soldiers, mindful not to accidentally disturb their rest or those who were currently ministering aid.

She was here for someone in particular.

"Fu Hua-san?" A nurse who had been writing something down on her clipboard looked up to see the approaching Valkyrie. She had been the first person that she had met when both Kiana and Haruto had been brought in for aid. "Midori Aki has just woken up, would you like to see her?"

"Yes I would love to," Fu Hua nodded as the nurse began to lead her to where the trio of students were currently recuperating. It was decided that the three students get their own tent separate from where all the soldiers were getting aid at.

She suspected that was due to Ishigami's orders. The teacher most certainly did not hold Anti-Entropy in the highest form of respect but yet these soldiers would follow his every word to the letter.

Did he not notice how much authority he held over them?

"Midori Aki will have to take it easy for a while as her injuries were mostly superficial," The nurse began reading the reports of the three students. "She took a rather nasty blow to her head but aside from feeling lightheaded for a while she'll be good to go.

The nurse flipped the page to reveal a picture of the one responsible for this rather eventful night. "Kiana Kaslana absorbed a dangerous amount of toxins, her body has done its best to flush it out but she'll be feeling lethargic for a week. We'll prescribe her some medication to take to help the process."

"And she is awake?" The Valkyrie asked as they walked through a tent flap, entering the adjourning tent that held all of the medical supplies. On the other side of this tent was the tent that held all three students.

"No, she won't be awake for quite awhile," The nurse shook her head with a smile on her face as she remembered the fuss that she made when they had to inject some antidotes into her. "She was up earlier but after the medication took its effect she slept like a rock. I don't think that she'll be up for another few hours."

"I see," Fu Hua was glad that the Kaslana was doing fine. With her safely all but guaranteed, you could say that the Valkyrie's mission here was finished. She had no reason to go check up on the three students.

But something within her told that this was the only chance she'd get to do this.

"And what about Haruto Nakamura?" The person that her interest was currently vested in. "How is he at the moment?"

Fu Hua caught how the nurse's features morphed into confusion, adding more to the mystery of Haruto Nakamura. "I'm not sure how to describe it. He should be by all means in surgery right now. I was told that he fought against that menacing steel knight that put many of our soldiers in critical condition."

She looked towards her clipboard which had been flipped to the page that held the student's report. "But he's perfectly fine, not even signs of a muscle tearing or a bone broken. And I've seen that massive gash on his jacket yet there's no injuries on his torso to suggest that it should even be there in the first place."

Another thing to add to the mystery, being able to instantaneously heal a fatal injury in the blink of an eye.

"The only thing that I could list off as an injury is that he's currently mumbling about some strange things in his sleep. Perhaps he's a bit delirious from all the stress?" She tried rationalizing.

Oh? What could the mystery student be mumbling in his sleep that had the nurse confused. "If you don't mind," Fu Hua cut in, trying her best not to be suspicious. "What was he mumbling about?"

The nurse looked more than happy to share what she had heard. "Well it started off fine at first, he began to say the names of people I believe to be his relatives. Telling them not to leave them as he squirmed in his sleep."

"And that's normal?"

"It happens quite a lot actually, it's not uncommon to see a soldier begin to have nightmares about their families leaving them. Especially if they were close to death. The whole saying of 'my life flashed before my eyes' seems to be applicable." The nurse joked before she sighed.

"But after he began to mutter things like Imaginary Tree and whatever a Herrscher means."

Now that complicated things, the former grabbing the attention of Fu Hua. Knowledge of the Honkai was kept under tight lips, the less that knew about them the better. It was theorized that the more that humanity knew about the Honkai the faster that they would grow in strength. Whether that was confirmed or not was up for debate as there was much that was not known about the Honkai.

But no one was eager to escalate the everlasting war between humanity and Honkai.

Any information concerning Herrschers was strictly guarded, and for good reason.

Only two Herrschers had awakened so far and it was deemed a necessary evil to not mention the heralds of the Honkai as much as possible. The last Herrscher, Herrscher of the Void, had killed off many in her awakening.

And she was the only second out of fourteen to awaken.

If any information regarding their existence was leaked, they could potentially have to deal with the third Herrscher in the near future. And while she believed that Schicksal and Anti-Entropy had vastly grown, one could never be too sure about the Honkai.

But the Valkyrie was more focused on the fact that Haruto knew of the existence of the Imaginary Tree. It wasn't something that even some of the highest ranking Valkyries knew about, the secret of how their universe was just a tiny drop in the vast ocean that was the Sea of Quanta.

While the information of Honkai could wreak havoc in this world, knowledge about the Imaginary Tree could destroy numerous universes.

This revelation of knowledge was all that Fu Hua needed to go ahead with her plan.

"And we're here now," They stopped in front of the entrance to the tent that held the three recuperating students. "I have some things that I need to finish but if you need something you know where to find me."

"This is more than enough," She gave the nurse her thanks for taking her this far. "Thank you."

The nurse bowed before she left the Valkyrie alone at the front of the tent. Taking a deep breath, Fu Hua steeled herself before she entered the tent.

There were only three beds, two of them holding sleeping occupants while the third occupant was wide awake. "Fu Hua-san?" Midori asked as the A-Rank Valkyrie walked up to the bedridden B-Rank Valkyrie.

Aside from the fact that most of her head was covered in a bandage, the young girl seemed to be doing fine. "How are you Midori-san? I was told that you received a rather nasty concussion from Iudex."

The girl's cheeks turned red at the reminder of her blunder. "It was my fault, if I hadn't spent too much energy fighting off the soldiers I would've been able to handle the knight much better," She casted a guilty look to Haruto and Kiana, who were peacefully asleep.

"If I had been stronger then they wouldn't have-!"

"If you were much stronger then you would've never been assigned to Nagazora in the first place," Fu Hua cut in, the younger Valkyrie stopping in her tracks as she looked at her senior in shock. "If you were stronger another Valkyrie would've been sent here, or even worse this mission might've never been sanctioned in the first place."

The A-Rank Valkyrie's blue eyes looked into wide eyes of green. "Yes you may not have been strong enough to defeat Iudex, but you fail to realize that your strength saved the lives of your fellow classmates. If you were weaker then Haruto would've died before we could arrive, and Kiana would've been taken."

Finishing, Fu Hua let Midori process what she had just told her. What the undercover student was experiencing was normal for Valkyries of her rank. They were strong, but not invincible.

It was a critical moment in the younger Valkyrie's life. Would she rise and learn from this battle, or would she let this guilt drag her down?

"...Thank you," Midori took in a shaky breath, a tear falling down her cheek and staining the bed sheet. The girl took a moment to compose herself as tried to get herself under control from all of the emotions that she was experiencing.

She was meant to be the Valkyrie, meant to be the one who protected those who could not protect themselves. What kind of Valkyrie not only fails to defend two innocent bystanders, even if both of them knew their way around a fight, but be the one in need of saving.

Frustration was an ampt word to describe how she was feeling but it had been slightly soothed by Fu Hua's words. Who knows what another Valkyrie might do in her shoes, maybe they could've handled the situation differently, find a way to get Kiana and Haruto out without any problems.

Or maybe they could've handled the situation badly, resulting in casualties that she didn't want to dwell on.

The two of them were safe, and that's all that mattered.

But she could find herself in the same situation and luck may not be on her side next time. She needed to get stronger, strong enough so that she didn't need to rely on things like luck, to rely on something as fickle as chance.

Fu Hua was proud when she saw determination in Midori's eyes when she lifted her head up. The fire had been lit in the young girl's soul and she knew that she would go far with that. Who knows…

Perhaps one day she would greet her as a fellow A-Rank Valkyrie.

"I hope you don't mind Fu Hua-san but I'm feeling tired," The bed bound girl gave her an apologetic smile. "Would it be alright if-"

Fu Hua knew what she was trying to say and nodded her head. "Of course Midori-san, rest well."

Midori gave her a smile of gratitude as she leaned back onto her bed and closed her eyes, instantly succumbing to her fatigue. Fu Hua remained there, watching the girl's rhythmic rise and fall of her chest, a sigh escaping her as she sent the girl a silent apology…

For what she was about to do next.

Looking back at the entrance of the tent, the blue gray haired Valkyrie made sure that no one was in the vicinity of entering. When it became apparent that no would be coming in anytime soon, she focused her attention on the sole male in the tent.

Silently walking up to the redhead's bed she placed a hand on his shoulders, careful not to wake him. The highschooler was in a deep sleep but was mumbling something incomprehensible under his breath.

Even if Otto had never commanded her to use the Fenghuang Down on the unsuspecting highschooler at this moment, there were simply too many unknowns surrounding him that she could not leave alone.

For humanity to survive their war against the Honkai nothing could be left to chance.

Sacrifices had to be made.

Her blue eyes glowed red as she activated the Divine Key of Sentience. A flourish of bright red feathers sprung up into the air in its wake.

"Fenghuang Down."

Every person was unique, even twins were their own individuals. No two people were alike.

So it made sense that every person's mindscape be unique as well.

Using the Fenghuang Down allowed Fu Hua to traverse through the mindscape of her target. A great way to describe it was being allowed to freely roam a virtually constructed landscape that signified the target's mind.

The constructed landscape was tailored to the person's mind, a physical representation of their character. One person's mindscape could be represented as a bustling city of faceless souls, another's could be represented by a never ending forest, or maybe that of a vast castle.

The possibilities were endless but there was always one constant that Fu Hua learned about these generated mindscapes.

It's that there was a complete theme to them.

As the Fenghuang Down constructed the mindscape of Haruto Nakamura however, one thing quickly became apparent to the intruding Valkyrie.

That the mindscape of Haruto that she found herself in was rather…peaceful.

A pleasant breeze fluttered through the green plains that Fu Hua was currently in. The clear skies and the amiable rays of the sun made the Valkyrie want to simply lie down and live in the moment. To forget all of her troubles.

Yet the bluish haired Valkyrie could feel something else permeating in this place. She was not sure what it was, but it had the hairs on her arms standing up. It was similar to what she felt when she felt the power that Haruto used against the Soulium Knight, though it felt much more….potent here.

Stepping forward the Valkyrie was determined to locate the source of this strange feeling, having a hunch that if she found the source she would also find the answers she had come looking for here. Fortunately for her…

She did not need to do anything at all.

Leave. You are not permitted to be here.

The voice that suddenly spoke to her had Fu Hua stop in her tracks and instantly on guard, her body swiftly adopting a fight stance. "Who are you?" She called out as she tried to sense where the voice was coming from. There was no sight of where the speaker was, even though the voice sounded like it was coming from all around her.

And that was not to mention the sheer power that she could feel with every word that was spoken.

Irrelevant. Our identity does not help you solve any of your problems.

"Irrelevant?" Her eyes narrowed when the wind began to subtly pick up around her. As a result she tightened her stance, fists at the ready to fly at her unseen conversation partner. "I can sense it, the power that Haruto wielded. You're the one who gave it to him."

He will need this power to survive the trials that the future has for him.

You are not permitted to interfere with that.

"You speak so sure of what the future will be like. Only fools make that claim." Fu Hua retorted calmly. She had heard many people claim to know what the future was like, and most often than not they were arrogant fools who would be undone by their so-called knowledge.

Call us all you like, fool, charlatan, it matters not.

Leave us Phoenix, you will not win this battle.

The voice's dismissal would have many assume that they were attempting to bluff their abilities but with the power that Fu Hua could feel coming from this speaker she knew they were speaking from a point of absolute confidence.

"You're not lying." She realized as the new revelation changed everything. Here was a mission initially to uncover what Haruto Nakamura was hiding and now Fu Hua had unknowingly stumbled into something much bigger.

Knowing the right thing at the wrong moment will lead to destruction. The time is not right.

"I will be the judge of that." She challenged them as she had her fists at the ready.

So confrontational, how unlike you.

Fu Hua's eyes narrowed at the speaker's words. "You know nothing about me." She bit back before the winds began to pick up. Clenching her fists the A-Rank Valkyrie readied herself for an attack to come in at any angle, angles she knew that would take advantage of her blind spots.

What she was not expecting was a figure to suddenly appear in front of her. They did not possess any noticeable features, a white robe covering most of their body and a hood that hid their entire face. One thing that was very apparent was that they were defenseless, possessing no way to defend themselves.

Yet for some strange reason…

Fu Hua could not bring herself to retaliate against the unknown figure in front of her.

We know more about you than you will ever know.

The speaker spoke as they slowly began to close the distance between them, not showing any fear of being closer to the Valkyrie. If anything it was the Valkyrie who was beginning to show fear as she willed her entire body to attack, to punch, kick, or even headbutt the hooded figure but to no avail as her body refused to listen to her.

The Seeker told us all about you. Moths that desperately chase the flame, not knowing what that flame really is.

The hooded figure brought up a hand, leveled with Fu Hua's gut.

Perhaps we shall remedy this.

And without much fanfare or hesitation they plunged the appendage directly inside of the Valkyrie's body.

Ishigami did not flinch as he watched his missiles of dark red energy rip into the soldier who stood in front of him, killing him instantly. His brown eyes did not move as he watched the soldier's poor body drop down to the floor, mangled by the power of gravity.

Looking around it was a similar situation for the last bastion of resistance. He had to give credit where it was due as he had not expected Owl in his current state to give them such a long and winding chase.

Not only had he been able to evade getting captured after Iudex fell, but by some miracle he had been able to happen upon a rather sizeable group of soldiers that were simply waiting for commands on what to do next after they had seen the Soulium knight crash through a warehouse roof.

What followed was the last remnants of the World Serpent forces present in Nagazora making a last stand at a warehouse that was on the edge of the docks. The teacher hadn't been aware that a warehouse existed in this section of the docks.

"Are we sure that there is no way that he can escape?" He asked the captain beside him. He did not wish to think of anything other than capturing the officer but one always had to think about the possible 'what ifs'

And if Owl somehow managed to escape him?

It would probably end with him breaking alot of things.

The captain shook his head as he brought out a tablet that held the map of the docks. "This warehouse is the only one that was built with a helicopter pad but there are no aircraft currently parked on the pad. Battleship Hyakuren is also making sure nothing can come in from the air or sea so he's trapped here sir."

"Good, we need to take him in alive." He turned and reminded the soldiers, who nodded in return. If they were able to capture this officer then they would gain a significant advantage over the World Serpent. With Kiana safe it would only be a matter of time before they tried something like this again.

And this time they needed to be prepared.

Ishigami moved away from the door that led to the helicopter pad as a soldier carrying a battering ram moved up. Positioning himself right in front of the door, the soldier began to ready up the battering ram. "Alright everyone ready?" The soldier looked back to the nods of his fellow brothers in arms.

"Alright...3, 2, 1, BREACH!" The soldier smashed the battering ram into the door, throwing it wide open.

Soldiers began to spill in through the doorway, securing the rooftop as the teacher was the last one to make it through the door. "Owl, it ends here." He calmly walked past the soldiers, walking up the stairs of the helipad before stopping on the opposite end of where the officer was.

"Y-You," It brought immense satisfaction to the teacher when he saw the officer's emotionless mask finally give way to irritation as light blue eyes glared at him. "Do you think this changes anything?"

"Why yes I think it does," He shrugged nonchalantly as he slipped his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "Here you stand alone, without any hope of escaping from this." He motioned his head to the edge of the helipad, where it overlooked the ocean. "I do hope you aren't planning on taking the easy way out of here."

The teacher held up his hand as a dark red orb of energy came to life. "I can assure you that I will catch you before your foot even leaves this helipad."

Owl knew that he was not lying, and that meant there was only way that this night was ending. But if they thought that he was going to raise his hands and willingly let them place shackles then they had another thing coming.

Yet what could he do? If he tried moving in any way then not only did have to worry about dodging the Divine Key, he also had to worry about the squadron of soldiers that all had their rifles trained on him.

What could he even-!

The sound of an aircraft's engines interrupted all of his thoughts as sudden fierce gales were kicked up on the helipad. Getting over the initial shock of the sudden bursts of air, everyone present looked up to the sky, trying to find what had been responsible. At first glance all you could see was the starry night sky alongside some lingering smoke trails that were left from the battle.

Then a part of the sky seemed to flicker with static before a shape began to emerge into existence. Even if he only had a glimpse of it, Ishigami sucked in a breath as he pieced together what that shape was meant to be.

It was an aircraft, an aircraft built with stealth technology that could evade Anti-Entropy's state of the art radar systems.

The side of the VTOL opened up to reveal a hooded gray haired woman carrying a sniper rifle that looked anything but ordinary. "You look worse for wear Tianwu," Raven remarked as she readied the Divine Key in her hands.

Aiming the rifle right at Ishigami, the barrel of the previous era relic glowed a bright blue before a high velocity bullet of plasma raced across the air. Bringing up his hand the teacher charged up an orb of dark red orb of energy and retaliated with it.

Red and blue collided in the sky, an explosion kicking up a small dust cloud as a result that obscured both Owl and the VTOL. When the smoke cleared up it showed the VTOL had hovered itself right on the edge of the building.

And that Owl was currently running to the open hatch.

Ishigami did not need to say anything as the soldiers next to him had already begun to open fire at either the fleeing officer or the sleek black VTOL in hopes of grounding it. Unfortunately they would have to quickly shift focus when some soldiers appeared alongside Raven and began to cover the officer's retreat.

Judging by how much farther the officer needed to traverse till he got to the VTOL, the teacher had one last shot before Owl was able to escape. And as much as he would've wished to capture the officer alive, he would be damned if he let him escape.

Not after what he had done tonight.

So he needed to pour everything he had into this final shot.

Raven knew something was up when the hairs on her arms stood up. Looking through the various exchanges of gunfire, her pink eyes narrowed in on the lab coat wearing teacher holding his hand as an orb of dark red energy began to manifest. Tendrils of red energy began to branch out of the attack but with each passing second the control over the attack was getting better and better.

"Star of Eden," He began as Raven knew that if that hit it was game over for them.

But what could she do? When she had been deployed in this rescue mission Jackal had specifically said not to overuse the Key of Sanction. But what could she do against an attack of that magnitude? She knew the Divine Key in its current state would not be able to match the opposing Divine Key's power.

In the corner of her eye she could see a slight blue hue beginning to come off of the Key of Sanction. The bond that she had established with The Seven Thunders of Retribution was telling her something that she never thought she would be experiencing.

That it was just raring to go, eager to match the power of opposing Divine Key.

"Is that so," She grinned as she held the Key of Sanction at the ready. Finally they were on the same page, and she was damned if she was going to let this opportunity pass up. "I'll take these bothersome chains off of you then."

Letting the Key of Sanction do what it wished, Raven watched as the weapon was enveloped in a bright blue before the sniper rifle began to change shape. Throughout its transformation the mercenary's grip on the Divine Key was resolute, a testament to how much trust she put into this weapon.

Ishigami watched as the mercenary's Divine Key completed its transformation. What had once been a sniper rifle had now changed into a bow. The bowstring was made of pure plasma and judging by how Raven rested her hand on the string, it did not hurt her at all.

Raven's pink eyes locked gazes with Ishigami's brown eyes, the sounds of gunfire happening around them were drowned out as if they were in their own little world. Nothing mattered right now, only what they were about to do next.

The mercenary held her newly transformed bow and aimed it right at the teacher. "Seven Thunders of Retribution," She pulled back on the bowstring, an arrow of blue plasma manifested as she readied her own lethal attack.

So who was Ishigami to refuse such a gracious challenge.

He threw the destructive orb of dark red energy forward at the time Raven let loose the plasma arrow.

The supercharged attacks soared like missiles through the air before they collided into each other. A massive explosion rippled through the air as the force of the two attacks shook the warehouse that they were in. Soldiers cried out in surprise from the combination of both the building shaking and the smoke that filled the rooftop.

Ishigami covered his eyes with his arm, waiting for the obscuring smoke to dissipate. Once it finally died down it revealed the VTOl beginning to rise into the sky. Owl stood next to Raven whose Divine Key was turning back to its original fall.

The mercenary gave the teacher a farewell salute as the hatch of the VTOL closed before the aircraft shot into the night sky, its cloaking technology beginning to activate.

"Battleship Hyakuren we have a rogue aircraft in the sky," The captain began to speak into his radio. "I repeat, scramble your fighters and-," Ishigami walked up to the captain and placed his hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"It's no use, by the time that they scramble their fighters that VTOL will long be gone." As much as it stung Ishigami there was nothing that they could do. If that aircraft had been able to slip in undetected then there was no way that they could give chase to it when it was already fleeing the Nagazora airspace.

"For now make sure that the docks are fully under our control, snuff out any pockets of enemy soldiers that might still be fighting. We were able to protect Nagazora from any further casualties tonight, that in of itself is a victory."

The captain hesitatingly but ultimately nodded as he made sure to cancel that order he had given to the battleship's crew. "Will you be joining us sir?" He asked as the soldiers began to make their way down from the rooftop.

"Go on without me captain," Ishigami shook his head. "I have some things that I need to sort out."

"Roger that sir," The captain saluted before he joined his men coming down the warehouse. Very soon all that was left on the helipad was just the teacher.

"So that's it," Ishigami walked over to the edge of the warehouse, watching the ferocious waves of the ocean beat against the docks. "You've gotten away from me this time Owl, but don't think this won't happen again. If I do find you I will not hesitate to bring you in."

The brown haired teacher looked up at the moon that cast it's brilliant glow over the city.

"But I have bigger things to worry about now." His mind went to a certain student of his that was currently asleep.

So many questions that needed to be answered.

But he had a small feeling that once he got those answers…

He would also be getting many more questions as well.

The last thing that Fu Hua remembered was seeing a hand plunge into her body before everything went dark. The Valkyrie couldn't even get to voice a scream before her entire world was suddenly plunged into darkness.

Now she was seemingly stuck in a dark void without any way to escape. The Valkyrie could barely feel her senses, move any of her appendages, or even grasp that she was barely alive.

That did not mean she was going to let this situation remain this way for long. Closing her eyes she began to focus all of her power to the Fenghuang Down, hoping that the Divine Key would be able to offer a way out of her predicament.

"I must admit, you are slightly different," A sudden malicious voice froze Fu Hua making her freeze in shock. It was a familiar and very distorted voice that she did not wish to hear again. "Unfortunately you're just human."

She had been so engrossed in trying to escape her predicament that she had been oblivious to the severe transformation in her surroundings. No longer was suspended in a dark void but now standing on the burning fields of a very familiar place.

It was the Schicksal Headquarters that she was now at.

The sky had lost its tranquil azure color in favor of a blood red sky as the air was choked with that of ash and smoke. Explosions could be heard in the background as Valkyries and Honkai Beasts clashed.

"Odd, you didn't go all out on me." Fu Hua's head swiveled desperately in the strange setting that she found herself in, trying to find the speaker. "You hold two Divine Keys yet you refuse to use the second one."

It did not take her long to find the speaker, her fists clenched into fists when her worst fears were realized.

It was Sirin, Herrscher of the Void.

...in Kiana's body.

And in the Herrscher's grasp…

It was her, garbed in her Shadow Knight Battlesuit. Judging by the signs of damage that the suit had sustained she had been fighting the Herrscher but ultimately lost against her.

Yet seeing her other self in the harsh grip of the Herrscher had her thinking of only one single question.

What in the world was happening?!

Sirin tightened her hand around her other self's neck, drawing a pain grunt from them.

Hearing her other self's grunt of pain, Fu Hua's body moved without thinking as she ran straight at the Herrscher, whose back was facing her. If Sirin had awakened then she needed to be destroyed before she wreaked havoc on the world.

As she approached the Herrscher, a small voice in the back of her mind wondered if all of this was even real in the first place.

But everything about this place screamed that it was real and not fiction. From the fire that choked the air with smoke, to the sounds of combat that was happening all around her, to the taste of ash that she could feel on her tongue .

Coming close she leapt at the Herrscher's back, foot extended outward as she prepared to deliver a vicious kick to the harbinger of destruction.

However as her foot was just mere inches away from connecting…

Her body simply phased through both the Herrscher and her other self, making the Valkyrie skid on the floor as she attempted to regain her footing from the failed attack.

Fu Hua's mind was left reeling from this sudden discovery.

This was a...vision?

If that was the case then when had this happened?! She knew for certain that she had never fought against the Herrscher of the Void, not when it was in the body of Kiana Kaslana.

Yet it couldn't be anything but real with how authentic this setting was, it was way too much effort to try and create an illusion of this magnitude. The way that Sirin spoke, the aura that she exerted were very much real.

But if that was the case then the only explanation that could possibly explain this…

Unless...was this a vision from the future?

"Perhaps its unusable?" Sirin mused nonchalantly. "No matter," The Herrscher shrugged as one of her void lances floated alongside her and aimed right for her heart. "You can't change anything, die and meet your maker."

Just before the Herrscher could follow through, she was interrupted by the sounds of slow clapping and approaching footsteps. Malicious eyes of gold looked away from 'Fu Hua' and to the cause of the disturbance, as well as the real Fu Hua.

"...A most exciting battle," Otto Apocalypse greeted with a smile on his face. "You are indeed the Queen of Honkai, your beauty and form are simply sublime."

Sirin crossed her arms as she regarded the newcomer with recognition. "You...It's you...the pathetic human who woke me from my dream, the one who aspires to wield the powers of God."

Otto laughed as he gave a courteous bow to the Herrscher. "To be remembered by you, my queen, is quite an honor."

"Flatter will get you nowhere human, and trying to cover your intentions with flowery words irritates me so," Golden eyes met green, a hidden message conveyed through that simple act.

A reminder of who exactly held the power here.

"Of course, of course," The overseer waved dismissively. "A lowly human like me shouldn't be wasting your precious time." He pointed to the Valkyrie that was still in her hands. "To cut to the chase I am hoping that you might spare her in return for reviving you from your slumber."

Fu Hua watched as the Herrscher of the Void contemplated his words. Before long the real Fu Hua simply watched as Sirin seemingly agreed with his words as she released her hold on 'Fu Hua', letting the girl drop harshly on the ground.

"Hmph, killing her would dirty my hands with unneeded filth."

"Gracious," Otto thanked with his usual nonchalant and mischievous tone, not an ounce of gratitude to be found. "There is no doubt that you are the greatest threat to humanity."

"To think that the leader of humanity is you, how pathetic." Sirin simply turned around as a portal opened before her. "I'm not interested in you, I only care about the girls." Without even a goodbye the Herrscher stepped through the portal and disappeared out of sight.

As the Herrscher left, Fu Hua was left confused as she watched Otto approach 'Fu Hua'. He knew who that was, the danger that she was to the entire survival of humanity. Why had he just let her go like it was nothing?!

Why had he acted as if stopping the Herrscher was not a priority?!

It seems that her future self was in agreement as she looked at the Overseer with wild and shocked eyes. "Why did you allow her to leave?!" She demanded, none of her usual composure could be found in her blue eyes. "You know that she plans to-"

The present Fu Hua sucked in a breath as she watched the Overseer lift a finger up to silence the Valkyrie, a pit forming in her stomach when a devious smile was on the Overseer's face. "I know. She's after Theresa and the girls. They will fight to the bitter end trying to awaken K-423 from the Honkai's control."

"And that is precisely what I desire."

...what was he talking about?!

Otto spread his arms as his eyes gained a fanatical look in them, madness now only to be found in his green eyes. If you add in the smoking and fire that were still ravaging the Schicksal base in the background to his look.

It was like seeing the Devil incarnate reveling in the chaos.

"Trying to control a Herrscher is impossible but a human with the powers of one? Humans are such fickle beings, our ties with other humans makes us so vulnerable yet it enables us to bring about the greatest feats of power."

"K-423 spent quite a while in ...building unbreakable bonds and friendships with the very girls that Sirin is hunting down." 'Fu Hua' looked at him in growing horror as she began to realize what the Overseer was planning to do.

And the real Fu Hua had come to the same conclusion as well. She tuned out the conversation between the two as she looked down to the ground crestfallen, her earlier confusion having turned to horror. A part of her mind tried to argue that she had no idea if this was real in the first place, that she could be under some sort of mental attack that was messing with her.

But she knew that this was all real. This madness that she saw within her 'friend' was genuine. Had could she have not known that this was his end goal?! Had she truly not seen what he planned with K-423?! Why he had placed such importance in her safety yet never bothered to retrieve her in the first place.

…

No that wasn't it.

She had known all along. Maybe not outright knowing what the end result would be but somewhere deep down in her knew that his intentions for having K-423 safe were not for the betterment of humanity, but to fulfill his own selfish desires.

And yet she blindly followed him, performed unspeakable deeds for him and for what? To protect a home that she had no memory of? Because he was the leader of humanity's greatest defense against the Honkai?

As she reeled from this ground breaking revelation she had not noticed that the conversation between Otto and her future self hit its climax as she looked up to see the Overseer manifest a copy of the Judgement of Shamash, aiming the barrel right at her head.

"Goodbye...old friend,"

Did he plan on...?!

She watched with bated breath as she watched Otto about to pull the trigger of the copied Judgement of Shamash. Yet she would never know what would transpire when both the figures of Otto and her future self suddenly turned to dust.

Leaving her alone in the burning Schicksal Headquarters. Though it seems that whatever higher power had planned this encounter decided to be kind to her as the flaming ruins of the Schicksal Base was replaced with the familiar green plains, where the hand of the mysterious hooded figure was still stuck within her body.

Though instead of the scene of blood and gore that she expected to see in her stomach, Fu Hua instead saw the hand seemingly phasing through her body. With her body somehow able to move again she tried to force the hand out of her body, but to no alas as the appendage refused to budge.

In response to her efforts the hooded figure moved their head to look at her, revealing nothing but a shadowy abyss under the cover of their hood.

Three times you have lived by a code, and three times you have been betrayed by that code.

The first to humanity's final hope, foolishly believing you sacrificed yourself to become a weapon you would save all you held dear.

The second to a school you believed that could stomach the ruthless oath you had made to destroy the Honkai.

And finally to the one who would accept a mindless soldier, only to dispose of it when it no longer agreed with him and his needs.

Each time you hoped that the end result would be different but alas.

Blind loyalty to a cause, to a code, will always betray you.

Fu Hua gritted her teeth as she did her best to ignore the words spoken and their effects. She had no idea what they were talking about yet it struck some sort of chord within her soul. It did not help that she was getting flashes of scenes that she had no recollection of.

Scenes of her standing alongside twelve other warriors, one of them being the infamous World Serpent leader Kevin Kaslana.

Scenes of her being garbed in traditional Shenzhou dark blue robes as others dressed like her stood alongside her.

A scene where she stood in front of a beaten Kallen Kaslana, a young and brave Otto Apocalypse standing protectively in front of her with his arms spread out.

And the final scene here she saw herself being carried away by Otto Apocalypse after Sirin the Herrscher of the Void defeated her. Standing between her and the harbinger of destruction was a lone Valkyrie that had bluish gray hair just like hers. The unfamiliar, yet familiar, warrior had her back turned to her as she faced Sirin alone, only equipped with a blue sword.

"Live sensei."

The words of the stranger seemed to strike a chord within the struggling Valkyrie, so much so that something within her seemed to stir at the memory.

"Get your stinking hand out of her you asshole!" A voice suddenly shouted within Fu Hua's mind, making her pause. This new voice sounded a lot like…her?

It seemed that she was not the only one to hear the new voice as the hooded figure tilted their head in curiosity.

Oh? How strange? An unforeseen scenario has occurred…how curious.

"I don't give a fuck what you care about. All I care about is the fact that I'm gonna kick your ass!" The new mysterious voice angrily shouted in her mind. "C'mon Old Timer help me out here!"

Despite the strangeness of the situation where a strange voice speaking inside of her mind Fu Hua could not help herself from…trusting them. Narrowing her eyes Fu Hua began to reattempt in removing the appendage lodged within her.

She felt a surge of new strength empower her as she latched onto the foreign arm. It felt like a roaring fire had been ignited within her, begging to be released. She noted flames beginning to radiate from her arms, growing alongside her strength as she began to take out the arm inch by inch.

Yet before she could make any meaningful progress the hooded figure gently placed their other hand on top of hers, glowing with a soft light that instantly extinguished the flames present.

Enough, though this scenario was not one we envisioned it is one that we are not angry with. It provides the path a new opportunity. We shall allow you to leave this place with your memories restored to you.

However before we do we must remove this cancer that is seeded within you.

Fu Hua watched as the appendage that was stuck in her body was taken out of her, revealing a dark red orb held in the hooded figure's hands. A flick of the wrist and the orb mysteriously disappeared to who knows where.

She opened her mouth to ask the figure in front of her questions, to ask the voice inside of her mind who she was, but before she could get any words a sudden migraine made its presence known. And despite her best efforts to hold on she could feel herself slipping as dark spots began to appear in her vision as she looked to the figure in front of her.

Leave Phoenix and One Who Was Not Meant To Be, do not attempt this folly again.

Or the outcome will not be as pleasant.

The winds began to pick up again and Fu Hua could do nothing but allow the darkness that had been creeping up in the corners of her mind to blissfully take her under

Chapter Text

A week had passed after the events at the docks, and what had followed after that night was a whirlwind of activity.

Firstly the statement from Anti-Entropy on what exactly had occurred at the docks for the public, who were dying for answers. To wake up to the sounds of explosions and smoke coming off the docks was something that not everyone looked forward to.

A public conference was held the following morning and the statement that was given was that a terrorist organization had set up operations in Nagazora and through the quick and decisive actions of Anti-Entropy that cell had been thoroughly destroyed and any survivors would be interrogated and sentenced to life in prison.

Praise was quickly given to the organization by every Nagazora citizen for their swift defense of their home. The Honkai fighting organization that were once looked with apprehension and worry were now looked upon as heroes.

It seems that the public image of Anti-Entropy has gone up quite a lot.

As for me, Kiana, and Midori?

Well for starters any information regarding our involvement in the mess was kept under heavily classified information. While we were still interrogated for any information that we had regarding what happened, it was decided to keep our involvement from the public knowledge.

Which was fine by me, I wanted to put this far behind me.

While I simply had to swear and sign a form to not mention the events of that night to anyone, Kiana drew the short end of the stick when it came to consequences. Even Midori, who was a Valkyrie and meant to be the nemesis of Anti-Entropy, was just given a stern lecture by the Anti-Entropy higher-ups.

Kiana not only had to go through a series of medical tests to ensure that there were no more harmful harmful toxins were affecting her body, she also had to wear a miniature ankle monitor for a week so that Anti-Entropy knew where the girl was at all times. A precaution that they said was necessary should the World Serpent try anything in the near future.

Though I felt that they went a bit over the top when she was also not allowed to leave the apartment complex for that same week...which also happened to be guarded 24/7 by undercover AE agents.

And though it might not feel any different for observers, living there for almost a year now has made me pretty knowledgeable on who would be there at any given time of the day. We were quite a distance away from the more popular areas of Nagazora so I pretty much knew every tenant by name now.

So to say it was quite awkward when you instantly knew who was a secret agent and how they seemed to congregate on our floor specifically with the excuse that they were visiting friends.

And as for Kiana? Well lets just say her being in a foul mood because of this predicament would be an understatement.

That didn't mean I tried my best to keep her happy. On her first day of home imprisonment I brought as many snacks as I could to cheer her up. Usually that tactic would work as she would go from sad to happy pretty quickly.

Though I found out soon enough that I too would be dragged into her predicament.

"Kiana," I muttered from my position on the ground. The TV was playing in the background with some sort of anime that I've never heard before while the sounds of noon traffic could be heard over the speakers.

"Yes Haru-senpai?" Kiana asked me innocently.

"Can you, y'know, let me go?" I deadpanned from where I was.

"...No," The white haired girl denied as she tightened her hold over me, sealing my fate for the rest of that day.

"Okay...," I sighed tiredly after half an hour of trying to get the Kaslana off of me with no success. "I didn't have anything important to do anyway today."

Kuro held a very smug look on her face as she watched my predicament play out from atop of the couch. The black cat even had the nerve to meow loudly when she stretched, flaunting the fact that she was not currently being held down.

And before I could curse her out, she simply got off the couch, walked out of the room and back to mine.

Cheeky little feline she was.

But I suppose that I was to blame for how Kiana was acting. I couldn't imagine how horrifying it was to see someone you cared about to die before your eyes, even worse that died trying to save you.

Almost dying for a second time in what felt like the span of a year was definitely a terrifying occurrence. I wasn't sure if the encounter with Stalker Carbon could be considered a near death experience but at the time it most certainly had felt like one.

I suppose I should be lucky that ordeal was nowhere near as terrifying as fighting off Iudex. Just thinking about that hulking Soulium Knight got a terrified shiver from my body.

...Huh what do you know, maybe that therapist wasn't a waste of time after all.

Alongside having to sign that waiver of agreeing not to mention anything about the events at the dock, I also had to attend a weekly session with one of their provided therapists. It was apparently something that did with all of their soldiers after they either had a close experience with death...or killed their first person.

And seeing how I checked both of those boxes in under one night, in their eyes I really needed some therapy.

The therapist that I got assigned to was nothing but kind and patient with me. Years of consoling countless soldiers had given her more than experience with how to approach me. Slow and steady was what she told me.

She didn't even bat an eyelash when I acted normal whenever she brought up anything regarding my second death. She simply said that she would be waiting for the time that I would wish to talk about that situation and she would be there to help me move on.

I simply nodded and thanked her for her patience, not mentioning how technically I've already 'died'.

The therapist did warn me that I might develop some sort of PTSD regarding the ordeal and that I should avoid conversations that revolve around it, specifically those regarding Iudex. I knew that was going to be an ordeal considering it was all anyone was going to talk about for like the next few weeks.

And since I needed to keep a tight lip on my involvement in it all I really needed to prepare myself for that.

I really hoped that my acting skills would be up to par.

Though I suppose only time would tell.

I was broken out of my stupor when my phone buzzed with a notification. During my time of self contemplation Kiana had finally gotten off of me and took her spot at the couch, flipping through the channels of the television to try and alleviate her boredom.

Though I could feel her watching me from the corner of her eye. If I tried to attempt to leave her apartment I could almost guarantee that I would be getting football tacked into the ground before I could leave.

Resigning myself to my fate as Kiana's prisoner for the day, I pulled out my phone to see why my phone buzzed for a notification.

[From: Midori Aki]

How are you and Kiana? I hope that you guys are recovering without problems.

It was right before we left the Anti-Entropy garrison to go back to our respective homes that me and the undercover Valkyrie exchanged numbers. We promised to check up on each other throughout the recovery process.

I quickly typed in my response and hit the send button.

[From: Haruto Nakamura]

Doing as well as you can for being trapped in your apartment for an entire week. Kiana has all but forced me to share her predicament lol.

It did not take me long for Midori to answer back.

[From: Midori Aki]

That's something that I expected from the Kaslana to be honest. I'm glad that you're both doing fine. The doctors said that I should be able to take the bandages covering my head by the end of the week.

Being the one that had done the most work in freeing Kiana, one might expect her to be the one with the most injuries but in fact it was the complete opposite as she was the one to come out the least scathed.

Aside from minor cuts and bruises, her only biggest injury was the nasty blow to her head that was solved with just some stitches and a lot of rest.

Though it was not to say that I was not appreciative of the fact that she came out without major injuries. One simply had to laugh at the irony of how the three of us came out of this ordeal.

Speaking of said ordeal...

"Durandal," A memory of what I had experienced in that period of my near death experience played out in my head. What had followed after that was a bit of a blur to me but I knew enough that I had done something that I definitely was not supposed to.

Though it was a bit hard to remember what I saw when the juggernaut's blade had been brought down on me, I did not forget the fact I learned that the girl who was a regular character in my strange dreams was who I knew to be the S-Rank Valkyrie Durandal. Just thinking about the legendary Valkyrie brought me a pain that I didn't know how to feel about. It didn't feel like the pain of losing a limb or breaking a bone.

But the pain of losing a loved one.

I was unsure of what to think about this sudden revelation and the feelings that came with it. I did not want to jump to conclusions about what this bond meant with her but at the same time I desperately wanted answers.

My phone buzzed again with another message from Midori, a most welcome distraction from my current dilemma.

[From Midori Aki]

I've gotten a heads up from my superior, she'll be due to make a report about the situation at the docks to her superiors by the end of the day.

I mentally cringed at that update, an unwanted consequence from the night at the docks. I would never hate Midori for helping me save Kiana, if it wasn't for her I was sure that I wouldn't be able to reach Kiana in time.

But at the same time, I had to hate the fact that my classmate was a Valkyrie of Schicksal.

I wanted desperately to know who her partner Valkyrie was but I knew the answer that I would receive if I tried asking would be that it was classified information. For all I know it could be some random Valkyrie who could've been assigned to Nagazora.

But there was a chance, a small one at that, it could be someone instrumental to the plot. For all I know it could be Rita again that assisted in the docks and that spelled a disaster waiting to happen.

For if Rita knew what I had done at the docks, she would most certainly report it back to Otto.

And if he knew, I could kiss this life goodbye.

But there was nothing that I could do about that, so the only thing I could do yet again was wait.

Gosh there was a lot of waiting to do after these kinds of events weren't there?

[From: Midori Aki]

Did you know that Ishigami-sensei had those kinds of abilities in the first place? From what my superior told me he's someone on the level of A-Rank Valkyries. If that's the case, what's he doing as a teacher at Chiba Academy?

And the other revelation that my chess teacher was someone who possessed abilities similar, if not exactly, to the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy. A small part of me was not surprised by this revelation as I knew there was something more than meets the eyes with the teacher.

But it had been nothing more than a hunch without real evidence. When I had that radio in my hand after getting attacked in Kiana's apartment, I knew that it had been time to take a risk.

[From: Haruto Nakamura]

I had an idea that he was something special, but I'm not sure of his whole story.

I texted back before I pocketed my phone and joined Kiana at the couch. There were questions I had for my teacher but unlike my dilemma with Durandal, I knew that my patience would not go unrewarded for long.

Because I was sure that my teacher also had questions for me as well.

Nothing much of note had happened later that day. My grandmother had been in a protective streak ever since she had heard that Kiana and I had been admitted to the hospital. Of course I couldn't tell her that we had been involved in the raid of the World Serpent Operation at the docks but thankfully Ishigami was more than willing to help me out.

An attempted case of armed robbery was the reason why had been in the hospital, which technically was correct. The reason had worked as my grandmother was more focused on 'beefing' up the apartment's security so I suppose that was a plus.

After another droll afternoon of just watching TV with Kiana I found myself on my bed ready to just pass out. With the hectic last few days I was utterly drained and the moment I had closed my eyes my mind had already went under. I was expecting to have a nice dream…

Yet when I woke up in a familiar dark room with hanging multicolored quartz once again I knew the night was not over for me just yet.

"Black Swan," I greeted the familiar looking shawl wearing woman who was reading yet another book on the opposite end of the table.

"Ah Haruto Nakamura," She greeted me back as she closed her book and gave me her full undivided attention. "It seems we meet again, dear guest."

"I have questions." I said, immediately cutting to the chase. "Will you answer them for me?"

Black Swan merely raised an eyebrow at my blunt, and probably rude, approach but instead of being offended she merely smirked before she motioned to me to start. "You must merely ask my dear guest."

"What saved me at the docks?" I said, getting right into the heart of things. I couldn't recall much from the final moments of the raid of the docks. All I remembered was Iudex's massive sword being brought down on me before everything had gone black and being subjected to a strange dream that I didn't remember much of. The next thing I could clearly remember was being woken up in the Anti-Entropy infirmary, completely disorientated on how I had arrived there

"You ask the wrong question dear guest." She corrected me as she pulled out a deck of cards. "Not what saved you, but rather who saved you."

"Who?" I asked.

"Yes, who." She confirmed as she started to masterfully begin shuffling the cards in her hands. "I suppose now is the proper time to introduce you to them, after all it is not everyday one is saved by an Aeon."

"Aeon?" I repeated the word with confusion, having never heard that term before.

"Aeons," She corrected before she began to elaborate on what she had said. "You may think of them as beings who represent the ultimate manifestations of a concept. They watch over the universe, upholding the concepts to which they ascended as."

With a graceful stroke she spread her hand over the table, leaving seven cards on the table. Each card was different from the other as each one represented what I presumed to be a concept.

"These are but a few who preside over the universe." Her hand moved to the rightmost card, which had an image of a crumbling tower surrounded by fire.

"The final gift left by the Destruction."

She moved her hand to the next card that had an image of a skull of an antler with arrows intersecting in the middle.

"The spoils of the Hunt."

Then to a card with an image of a pile of scrolls with a glowing eye in the middle,

"The never ending search for Erudition."

Then to a card with an image of two stalks of wheat.

"The bounty of the Abundance."

Then to a card with an image of a shield of amber.

"The will of the Preservation"

Then to a card with an image of a black hole that was sucking the life surrounding it.

"The liberation of the Nihility."

And finally her hand motioned to the card on the leftmost side, which had the image of a strange but rather harmonious triangular symbol that comprised different shapes.

"The embrace of the Harmony."

"These are but a few of the Aeons that preside over the universe." Black Swan finished as she retracted her hand. "They watch over the entirety of creation, choosing to act in the manner they believe the universe should be governed. Entire civilizations have been built in worship for these beings and in turn are blessed by them."

"I…see," Was all I could say as I processed what I had just learned. The previous revelation that there were other planets in this universe that had civilizations of their own wasn't a big shock for me, but learning that there were multiple god-like entities out there was a very harrowing revelation. "And so one of these…Aeons saved me?"

The purple haired woman nodded with my assumption. "The very one who also saved you during your ordeal with that maid and her mechanical canine."

I had a feeling that was the case. "Do you know which one?" I asked, my tone imploring for answers.

"I do." She confirmed as she raised one of her hands up, a card stuck between two of her fingers. Unfortunately there was no image on the card so I had no idea if she was just doing a card trick or the card held the answer.

"It is rare for this Aeon in particular to meddle in the affairs of the universe, even when it involves their fellow Aeons. A very reclusive sort. So imagine to my surprise that they have decided to bless you with their powers for a mere instant. Maybe blessed you in ways that I have not foreseen as well."

A part of me grew hopeful for answers but was quickly brought low when the shawl wearing woman shook her head, the card in her fingers disappearing as well.

"But alas I shall not tell you the Aeon's name." She denied as she rested her hands on the table. "If they have chosen not to reveal themselves to you then it is for a reason that I shall not intrude on. After all, how could we mortals discern the decisions of a godly being?"

"I…suppose that makes sense." There wasn't really any way I could refute her reasoning now was there? No matter how frustrating that it was being denied a clear cut answer.

"But do not be dismayed, dear guest." She smiled assuredly. "Perhaps all that you must do is to continue your journey the way you have, after all you are now beginning to realize that your journey has not necessarily started with your birth in this world."

"You mean that younger version of me?" I asked, thinking of the child that looked like me that kept appearing to me in visions.

"Indeed." She nodded her head in confirmation. "I believe you have an inkling of an idea of what I am referring to."

"But how would that…" I trailed off before I thought more about the visions of this younger version of myself. Sure they were odd and very unusual at first glance but how the hell did that relate to godlike beings who controlled the universe? The only other person present in those visions was…

Durandal!

It seems that I had made some sort of face of realization as Black Swan lightly clapped approvingly. "Indeed. I have no need to tell you anything for I know your journey shall lead you to the one named after the blade and with it the information that you so desire."

I opened my mouth to ask her some more questions about what she knew but before I could, a pang of fatigue hit me.

The fatigue must've been obvious as I saw Black Swan shake her head. "I suppose that our time is now up dear guest." She said as darkness began to encroach on the corners of my vision. "Rest Haruto Nakamura, gather your strength and prepare your resolve..."

I could not hold on any more before the darkness took me under, taking me from this mystical room once again. Yet if I had been able to stay conscious for a few more seconds I would've been able to hear Black Swan finish her sentence.

"After all, the winds of fate have begun to stir."

"It is a relief to see you in one piece my old friend," A smile was on the Overseer's face from the screen that he was in. "I feared the worst when your glasses' communicator stopped sending its signal back to us."

Fu Hua returned with a small smile of her own but on the inside she could feel repulsion beginning to rise as she thought back to the vision of her death by his hands. "Forgive me," She pushed that memory away as she focused on the present. "The World Serpent had jamming devices all around the docks, preventing any communications being sent out."

Otto was oblivious to her inner dilemma as he nodded. "I suspected as much and seeing Anti-Entropy's statement all but confirmed it. I trust that there were no complications?"

Fu Hua shook her head as she began to give her report. "They were in possession of a fearsome Soulium Knight, Iudex was its name. The Knight eliminated four squadrons of mechs before it was destroyed."

"I see...and what of the remains?"

"In Anti-Entropy's care."

Otto cupped his chin with his hand. "...It is a shame that we could not salvage what remained, I'm sure that it was quite the creation. But the safety of K-423 is more than a reward, speaking of her I trust that nothing permanent has been inflicted on her?"

"You just want to know cause you plan on turning her into a Herrscher you bastard!" The voice in her head, Hua as she had liked to call herself now, shouted furiously.

"Under Anti-Entropy's care, I was last told that she is expected to make a full recovery by the end of this week. Fu Hua ignored the speaker's proclamation. It was quite a learning experience in having a voice now living inside her head and something that she quickly had to get used to when they kept shouting all the time.

"I heard that!"

...Definitely something that she needed to get used to.

"What of Midori Aki?" Inquired the Overseer as on his end of the call, the blonde man was looking at the portfolio of the undercover Valkyrie. "I understand that you called upon her to help rescue K-423, and it was the B-Rank Valkyrie to be the one to ultimately free her."

The thought of the Apocalypse head taking an interest in her junior Valkyrie made Fu Hua clench her hand in anger. The way the video call was set up made such an action unnoticeable as she kept her face in its usual passive mask. "She performed admirably, so much so that she was able to distract Iudex for a while before I was able to finish the job."

He would not be getting his claws on Midori, not on her watch.

"A hidden gem that Valkyrie is, I originally planned to have her transferred into another squadron but at this rate I think that Durandal would more than be happy in having her in the Immortal Blades. Who knows, perhaps there will be a new addition to the S-Ranks in the future."

"I agree, she certainly has the drive to do so." She replied truthfully. Seeing that fire lit in Midori's green eyes the immortal Valkyrie knew the girl would go far.

"And while all of that is good," The glint that the Overseer's eyes gained was setting off alarms in Fu Hua's head. It was never a good sign when the blonde man's green eyes gained that sort of look. "I've heard some rather strange reports…"

"That Haruto Nakamura participated in the operation."

Fu Hua readied herself for what she was about to say next. "Yes, the redhead highschooler unknowingly participated in the attack after a soldier tried to kill him in Kiana's apartment. After disposing of his attacker, the highschooler followed the soldier's GPS to the docks and tried to save Kiana."

"And judging from the reports, he was more than a match for the soldiers present."

"It was due to a prototype Schicksal armor that he happened upon that gave him the edge. While his training with Mei Raiden has made him proficient with the blade, it was the gauntlet's abilities that ultimately gave him the edge."

"Ah yes," Otto pulled up the image of the white and gold gauntlet before it had been turned to a blackened scrap of steel. "Asplund's invention, I was sure that the eccentric scientist would never find a person able to use his lauded creation."

"I imagine that he will be quite furious when he finds the state of the gauntlet." Fu Hua knew of the scientist that Otto was talking about, how could she forget such an eccentric man like him during her time in St. Freya Academy. She knew that he would not be pleased when he got the remains of his prototype.

He treated it like it was his firstborn child after all.

"Oh I would not be so sure of that. For all his little...quirks, that man is one of the brightest minds of Schicksal. If anyone could find a silver lining in such a hopeless situation it's that man." The blond Overseer chuckled before he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.

"But back on the topic of Haruto Nakamura, what is your opinion on him?"

"...He certainly has potential, but I do not think that he will be someone to watch out for." She lied, not even mentioning the power that she had seen him use to decimate Iudex. "At the very least he would make a great Knight to fight in the war against the Honkai."

A small part of her was worried that the Overseer knew about Haruto's powers. Ishigami had assured her that the soldiers who had been there to witness the miracle swore to secrecy but you could never be 100% sure about a man like Otto.

He was as predictable as the weather, one moment it could be all sunshine and the next it would be a raging storm.

Otto was silent for a while and Fu Hua feared that he would see his bluff. "I see, perhaps my reservations about him were slightly misplaced." The Valkyrie let out a silent breath of relief that she had not been caught.

"You have completed your mission in Nagazora, I will call upon you when I am in need of your services again old friend." With one last smile, Otto ended the call and left the Valkyrie alone in her room with only her thoughts.

And Hua.

"Why do we have to follow his orders again?!" Hua complained. "We should kill him now and rid ourselves of him and the problems that he creates!"

"It's not as simple as you believe it to be," Fu Hua calmly retorted as the Valkyrie stood up from her position and approached the closet in the bedroom. "He has countless clones at his disposal, it would be meaningless to kill him if he will be back in less than an hour."

"Ugh why does it have to be so complicated! I miss those days when you would punch a hole into somebody and they would stay dead." Hua whined as Fu Hua ignored her other self's complaints as she brought out a suitcase from the closet.

As she pulled out the suitcase her mind could not help but reminisce on what had occurred after the use of the Fenghuang Down on Haruto Nakamura. She had apparently collapsed during her encounter, having woken up to a frantic nurse that was fretting over her sudden collapse. She had assured them that she was just more exhausted than she thought originally and that all she needed was some more sleep, that everything would be fine the next day.

That was most certainly not true as the next day she awoke with a pounding headache, confined to her bed as her mind was bombarded with centuries worth of memories that had been locked away. It was only thanks to the Fenghuang Down that she was able to not be overburdened by all the memories.

Even with the worst having passed memories were still trickling into her mind. So many memories that she had forgotten, so many people whose names that she had forgotten…

So many friends and loved ones that she had forgotten to mourn for.

"Hey old timer where are we going?" Hua's voice broke whatever train of thought she was going through.

"We are no longer required in Nagazora," She explained as began to pack the clothes that she had brought with her for this mission. "Staying any longer will arouse suspicion from Otto and that is what we wish to avoid."

"But the real reason why I wish to leave is to know more about the figure we met in Haruto's mindscape."

She thought back to the mysterious hooded figure that they had encountered. How despite her showing aggression towards them they showed no fear for their safety, either in expectation that violence would not be displayed or they were confident that they were

Yet those two reasons alone were not the guiding force for this, no it was something else that was nagging on her mind.

"How? We have little to no idea who they are." Hua pointed out. "How are we going to find any evidence of who or what they are supposed to be if we have no idea where to look."

"That may be true but their words gave me a clue." Her mind flashbacked to the words they had spoken, specifically before they had shown her a vision of her future. "He mentioned someone known as 'the Seeker', someone who had told them who the Flamechasers were."

That narrowed the search considerably. They were only a few select individuals in the Previous Era that knew of all Flamechasers, even fewer that could

And Fu Hua had a hunch of who she might be looking for. There was only one person that could fit the description of a 'Seeker'.

But she needed confirmation that her suspicions were correct.

"I plan on infiltrating a World Serpent Base for the information we need," She revealed as she began to pack her Valkyrie armor and weapons in another suitcase. "If there are any places in the world that have information relating to my time then it will be with them."

"That means we have to be stealthy about it then, ugh that's so boring!" Hua complained for the umpteenth time in her mind. It was strange to think about it but Hua was the complete opposite of her. Something that Fu Hua would pride herself on, Hua despised.

Yet for some odd reason...she did not mind Hua's commentary.

"But if you happen to across some kind of big baddie that you can't avoid…" Fu Hua could not stop the smile on her face as she knew what Hua was trying to say.

"I'll be sure to give them a good beatdown for you then." She assured to Hua's joy.

"Yatta!"

The immortal Flamechaser could not fight the smile off her face as she finished packing and left her apartment. As strange and uncertain the future she was walking down, she strangely did not fear what was to come.

Yet as she walked down the night covered streets of Nagazora she could not help but feel apprehensive. As if…

As if she was missing a piece of herself.

Sight.

Sound.

Smell.

Taste.

Touch.

All of these foreign senses were assaulting a woman as she stumbled her way through a decrepit alleyway. Her current appearance was that of a beggar, dirty rags clothing her body as she struggled to put one foot in front of the other.

She knew not of why she was here, only having small snippets that she could not comprehend. Of a bluish gray haired woman whose life story she seemingly possessed, to a journey of a boy and girl that spanned what seemed to span entire universes.

The memories she saw seemed to be ripped right out of a fairy tail that would've inspired a sense of wonder or hope to all who read it.

Yet those memories did not invoke such feelings from her.

Instead all she had felt were disgust.

So much so that in her disgust that she did not notice that she had mindlessly walked into an alleyway filled with decrepit homeless people. The horrid stench was almost enough to break her out of her thoughts but the attention her arrival had garnered.

Through the raggedy hood that her cloak possessed she saw the men turn to her, their eyes roaming her body. Without realizing it a disgusted expression had appeared on her face when smiles had begun to appear on their faces.

"Hey, you're looking fine young lady." A man grinned with rotten teeth as he came closer to her, his eyes leering at her body as his hand reached out to grab her. "Why don't you come over here and-!"

Pink eyes snapped to the approaching appendage and the woman felt disgust overcome her entire being. Even with everything being a blur to her she knew in her mind and body that the hand approaching her belonged to a…

"Insect." She spat hatefully as she slapped the insect's hand away from her as she looked at the disgusting sack of flesh in front of her with revulsion in her pink eyes.

The man's friendly dememoner instantly changed as his smile turned into a sneer as he cradled his hands from her slap. "What the hell did you just call me you-!"

"Kneel." She commanded, an enraged expression on her face.

"Who the hell do you think you are to command me you bitch!" The man furiously spat out as he marched up to her. "I'll teach some respect and then some you-!?"

Before he could finish making whatever promise of vengeance he was making the decrepit man suddenly kneeled in front of the woman. All around them the other homeless people gave off shouts of shock before they all stood up, collectively banding together in anger. Yet whilst they were voicing their anger they were oblivious to the now kneeling man's wide eyes, who

"Hey what the hell did you do to my man you bitch?!" One man furiously shouted as he approached her, unaware of the woman's eyes glowing a menacing pink after she said those words. "I'll gut you like the-!

"You there," She snapped her head to the person closest to her in the alleyway. "Slap him till he dies."

"Huh who the hell do you think you-!" The man's angry rebuttal died in his throat when another man walked up to the approaching man and slapped him in the face.

The first man gave a surprised yell of pain before he turned to face the man for his action, terror completely written on his face. "W-What the fuck man! Why are you-!" He was interrupted by another slap to the face.

The other man became similarly distraught as despite his best efforts his hand was already setting up for another slap. "I don't know man! I'm not in control of my body! I swear to you I'm not lying!" And to confirm his words the sound of another slap resounded in the alleyway.

The rag covered woman focused her attention on the rest of the homeless people that called this alleyway home, whose anger swiftly turned to terror as they flinched at the sight of the woman's glowing pink eyes. It did not take them long for them to realize that they were about to be the next victims of whatever this witch's power was.

Unfortunately for them they realized this too late as before even one of them could make a run for it the woman began to speak.

"Do push ups until your arms break."

"Sing till your throat bleeds."

"Do a handstand for me until all the blood rushes to your brain."

"Dance for me till the end of time."

"Choke him until he breathes no longer."

"Stab yourself until you die."

"Kill him."

As the numerous men that called the alleyway home were subjected to heinous acts against their will, all begging for mercy, the women responsible for their suffering did the only thing that felt natural to her at that moment.

Laughter.

Throwing her head back she laughed her joy to the heavens themselves, her raggdy hood falling back to reveal hair that had a beautiful hue of pink. The earlier apprehension she felt had all but vanished as she reveled in the moment.

Oh these glorious emotions she was feeling, it felt so splendid. All of these joys were hers and hers alone. No one could deny her that. This carthic joy that came with watching these insects squirm on the ground and suffer, was there anything better in this world that she had been thrusted into?

Yes that was her purpose, to cleanse this world of this filth that called it home.

And as she laughed to her heart's enjoyment at the revelation she could not help but thank God for what they had done.

For they have gifted her the most beautiful of gifts…

Sentience.

In one of the many rooms of a Schicksal Base, Rita Rossweisse was calmly sipping a cup of tea. That in of itself would not be a strange sight to see as the Maid of Schicksal often took tea breaks whenever she wasn't tidying up the base or leading the Immortal Blades.

Setting the cup down, Rita had a calm smile on her face when the base suddenly shook. The vibrations that were sent through the base felt almost akin to an earthquake, a strong one at that.

Another tremor shook the base, shaking the tea cup and the rich herbal blend within. Yet while this would send others into a panic, Rita simply maintained her patience as she calmly looked at a calendar hanging on one of the walls. Her dark pink eyes focused on what the date of that day was as another tremor shook the base.

"I see…" She muttered in realization before she stood up from her seat and walked over to the fridge. Opening the fridge up revealed the sole item that the refrigerator held.

A perfectly made chocolate fudge parfait.

"So today's the day," Reaching inside, Rita grabbed the chocolate parfait and delicately pulled it out. Even as another tremor went through the base her hold on the frosted glass did not waiver.

Looking towards the clock, the maid raised an eyebrow with how early it was. "Durandal-sama must be in a very bad mood if I am resorting to this so early."

Yes because this day marked a very special occasion for the blond S-Rank Valkyrie. More specifically, it was the day that changed everything Rita knew about her friend Durandal, or rather Bianka.

Oh how a single day could change a person completely.

The door to the room suddenly slammed open as a gray haired Immortal Blade, Alvitr if she remembered it correctly, had a panicked expression on her face. "Rita-sama! We're under attack. The Immortal Blades are preparing for-,"

"There is no attack on the base Alvitr-san," Rita quickly calmed the panicking Valkyrie. "Everything is under control."

"But-," Another tremor, this one much more powerful than the rest, shook the base. The gray haired Valkyrie looked at her as if she was crazy for thinking that this wasn't something to be concerned about.

"It's simply Durandal-sama letting out some steam," Holding the parfait glass with both hands Rita walked over to Alvitr who looked at her as if she wasn't expecting that kind of answer from her. "Do not worry about anything, this is completely normal."

"Is everything...okay with Durandal-sama?" Alvitr asked worryingly, and for good reason. Durandal was a beacon of hope and inspiration for every Valkyrie. She was what they all aspired to be, she was their role model.

So hearing of her being in such a mood that could shake the entire base made them understandably worried.

"Yes, she's just a bit hungry." The maid teased as she held up the parfait in her hands. "You know how it is, you're not you when you're hungry."

Alvitr wanted to say more but simply decided to go along with it as she nodded her head. "I'll be sure to notify the rest of the Immortal Blades then," The Valkyrie saluted and began to head back to wherever she had come rushing from.

"...Oh Alvitr-san?" Rita called out, stopping the girl in her tracks and prompting her to turn around and look at the Vice-Captain of the Immortal Blades. "Take the Immortal Blades for some training exercises, perhaps some mock battles will do?"

"But do take the whole day, I shall attend to Durandal-sama's needs in the meantime."

"Of course Rita-sama!" Alvitr saluted one last time before she ran towards the barracks with the intent on relaying these new orders to the rest of the Immortal Blades.

With that out of the way Rita made her way, parfait in hand, to the only place Durandal would be at on this special day.

The training room.

As she made her way to the training room, the tremors were getting louder and louder with each step she took. The maid's mind couldn't help but drift down memory lane to the events that had happened on this fateful day all that time ago.

Back then it was to be their first mission together, their first time being entrusted to complete an assignment alone. While they certainly were powerful back when they were younger, that youthful age had others wary if they should even be at the ranks that they were in.

One might say that this mission was what started their journeys in becoming S-Rank Valkyries.

'Lonely Panthalassa' was what their mission was called, a top secret assignment personally tasked by the Overseer himself. The reason why it was so top secret that only a handful of individuals knew that involved delving into a realm that defied all current human knowledge of the universe that they lived in.

That their world was just a drop in a massive sea brimming with countless numbers of universes.

Trying to enter a bubble universe from the outside was practically impossible. Unless one originated from that bubble or knew the manner to be able to pierce the different dimensional barriers that made up the bubble, all one could do was try and observe it from the outside.

However there were special areas that could be found in between different bubble universes, Ether Anchor Points as they were called. They were topological formations but nobody knew if they were natural or man made.

Now these Anchor Points, while very interesting, were not important alone to justify pouring in precious resources to try and explore these places. Why waste the effort and time when it could be put into solving their world's much more pressing problems.

Until it was discovered that the coordinates of the Solar System almost aligned with the coordinates of an Ether Anchor Point.

The ramifications of this were groundbreaking. That if an Anchor Point existed almost on the same coordinates of their Solar System, theoretically it would be possible to observe a clone of their world.

Which opened up a whole realm of new possibilities.

So Schicksal had begun developing a device that would allow one to travel from this world into the Anchor Point. A Gnius Device it was called.

However the drawback of it was that it could only be used in extremely rare space time windows. So rare that you had a better chance of being able to watch the passing orbit of Venus, which only occurred four times every 243 years.

And it just so happened that on this day all those years ago that the space time window to that Anchor Point would be opened, allowing them to travel through the Sea of Quanta.

It was highly risky, there were too many unknowns about the nature of the Sea of Quanta that could change the mission and jeopardize their lives. The Gnius Device itself had its own share of technical problems that a trip to the Anchor Point was not guaranteed.

But as a Valkyrie you were never guaranteed to see the next day.

Even so…

"Bianka-sama?" A young Rita asked as a young Bianka turned to face her. "I do hope you aren't having any second thoughts?"

"Please, am I ever scared? I'm just wondering why this is taking so long!" She complained as Rita simply smiled in response. Yes the legendary S-Rank Valkyrie was what people might consider a brat when she was young. Always acting high and mighty to others, ever so impatient to finish whatever she was doing so that she could move on to the next thing.

It was why very few people wanted to interact with her.

But Rita saw past that, past what other people saw. For what lied beneath all of that bravado was a Valkyrie who truly cared about people, about those that she fought for and alongside with.

You just needed to get to know her better to see it.

"Ah my two favorite Valkyries," Otto greeted as he walked up to the two of them. If you were to compare the Overseer in that time and the present you would find very little difference in their appearances. "I hope that you are ready for your special mission."

Bianka proudly placed her hands on her hips. "Of course! This mission will be a breeze!" She proclaimed confidently while Rita simply nodded her head.

"I see, I see," Otto laughed from the girl's attitude before he looked at his watch. "Well our window of opportunity is merely upon us, in less than a minute you'll be the first ever to travel into this Ether Anchor Point."

"And we are ready to step up to the occasion Otto-sama," Rita placed a hand on her chest in affirmation.

The Overseer simply smiled as he turned away and walked over to the group of scientists that were making the jump possible. Though it was more as a precaution than anything as they had run through the calculations required several times already.

All that was left to do was to wait for the time of reckoning.

And not too soon the lead scientist was calling out everyone's attention. "Alright everybody, the time is upon us! I hope you girls are ready as I'll be counting down when the window's opening." He looked towards the monitor in front of him and began counting down.

"Three,"

"Two…"

Rita closed her eyes, ready for the jump.

"One!" He called out as the maid was ready to feel her entire body get transported through the Sea of Quanta.

However it soon became apparent that something went wrong when she could hear the frantic shouting of the scientists while the Overseer was trying to find out what the problem was whilst trying to maintain order.

Oh well, while a small part of her was disappointed she wouldn't be able to travel to another dimension but you couldn't win all of them.

Turning to face Bianka, the maid was ready to hear the complaints of her partner for yet another complication. Opening her dark pink eyes however…

Revealed that the blond girl was nowhere to be seen, the only indication that she had even been next to her was the slight press in the grass where the girl had once stamped her feet impatiently as they waited for the window of opportunity.

Their Gnius devices had obviously malfunctioned, however it became quite clear that their malfunctions were drastically different.

Rita's Gnius Device had simply not allowed the Valkyrie to go anywhere at all, the best case scenario to happen should the device malfunction.

However it seems that fate was playing a cruel joke on them as while she ended up lucky, Bianka drew the short end of the stick with her malfunctioning Gnius.

Instead of simply not allowing the girl to travel through the Sea of Quanta, it had slingshotted her towards the very ends of the known Sea of Quanta. It was quite ironic that a realm meant to hold an infinite number of universes would have an end but in reality it was more like the known area of the Sea of Quanta was the only known area that could support someone's existence.

In short Bianka had been theoretically flung into a void that would instantly rip her body into atoms, before they were scattered into nothingness.

Rita could barely feel the day pass by as the scientists work day and night in trying to pull Bianka from wherever she had ended up in. The Overseer himself worked alongside the scientists in trying every conceivable method that they had available to them to rescue Bianka.

All the while Rita prayed to a God that she had never prayed to before for Bianka's safe return.

Yet as the day rolled by, so too had everyone's hope in ever seeing the Valkyrie again.

It was late into the night when it became clear that Bianka would not be coming back. "Rita-san," One of the scientists delicately touched the towel that was over her shoulders. "...It's time to go."

The light brown haired Valkyrie took a second to register what she said before she slowly nodded her head. The realization that Bianka was no longer with them, it broke something within her. First it had been Ragna...now it was Bianka.

Yet when all hope seemed to be lost, it appeared her prayer had finally been answered when the fields that they were in was enveloped by a bright light.

Everyone present shielded their eyes from the sudden explosion of light and by the time that the light died down…

It revealed Bianka, who looked the same as she had before she had disappeared.

Rita could barely hear the shouts of surprise from the other scientists as she rushed towards Bianka. Reaching her she threw her arms around the Valkyrie, uncaring if she was about to get pushed away. Bianka was very against public displays of affection and openly avoided situations that involved them.

Yet the maid would be surprised when Bianka did not try and push her away, but rather brought up her own arms and hugged the girl back, and quite ferociously might she add.

As if she could disappear at any moment.

Rita did not know what to make of this sudden development as the moment that Bianka had done this, the small sounds of sobbing had begun to escape the blond Valkyrie. The maid could feel the stains of tears on her shoulder where Bianka's head was being covered by.

"Rita...thank you for being there for me."

It was a day that had changed the life of Bianka as she began to call herself Durandal, and with it the personality that Rita knew the Valkyrie for began to follow alongside as what followed was an almost exponential growth in Durandal's prowess.

A bubble universe that had once been the Ether Anchor Point now resided within her, granting her immeasurable strength.

Yet it was on this day for every year that Durandal would hide herself away from her duties as a Valkyrie. She would spend these days in recluse, not wishing to be bothered by others. Sometimes she would spend them training or very rarely take a trip to some undisclosed place that not even she knew of.

An outsider might think of this as her way of relaxing but for Rita she knew it was something more. Whatever had happened to her during that failed jump had changed her permanently. And while she was tight-lipped about the details...

She knew those eyes that Durandal would have during this day.

Sorrow.

Anguish.

"And today…" Rita was pulled out of memory lane when she stopped in front of the door that led into the training room, the sounds of shaking the most intense it had ever been. Only one thing was running through the maid's mind as she calmly held the chocolate parfait.

"She must be very angry."

Durandal slammed her fist into a training machine, a scowl on her face as her strength completely obliterated the machine as the ruined machinery sailed into the wall. The wall rumbled from the impact before the metal scrap joined the pile of scrap that had once been state of the art training equipment.

A training robot swung its weapon at the Valkyrie's seemingly unsuspected back. While these weapons would not be able to kill, they would most certainly hurt if you weren't paying attention

But there was no worry as Durandal easily turned around and caught the swung weapon with her bare hand. The training robot tried to move its arm free but the grip in the S-Rank Valkyries arm wasn't letting it go anywhere any time soon.

The robot's singular red eye looked up for a fraction of second before Durandal's other hand came soaring for its head, completely smashing into it and turning into scrap.

A flurry of emotions was running through the S-Rank Valkyrie's mind as she dropped the broken remains of the machine in her hands. She was so out of it that she wasn't even aware that another training robot had moved to take its fallen comrades' place or that her body was already moving to obliterate it.

It was on this day that the dauntless persona that she was renowned for fell down, the only time that the mask she used to hide what had happened on this day was casted away. It was on this day that the pain she felt all those years ago would come back as fresh as the moment that she had gotten them.

Yet despite that, she always held hope that the promise made would not be forgotten.

"If you're ever in trouble, call my name and I will come to your aid. No matter what walls I must break or enemies I will face, I will come to your aid."

And yesterday night, in the midst of a dreamless rest, she heard the words that she had waited to hear for so long.

"Durandal,"

She had woken up instantly, a hand unconsciously outstretched as if she was reaching for the person who spoke it. It took her mind a second to catch up with what had just happened before she immediately rushed out of the bed. Within minutes she had donned her Bright Knight Excelesis and was already flying through the crisp cool night.

She had no idea where she was flying towards but a part of her, in some way, was guiding her to somewhere. A part within her was worried about what predicament her friend had gotten into…

But such worry was overshadowed as in that moment her entire heart was soaring just like she was in that moment. How many years had it been since she had last seen them? To be able to meet them again after so long, to be able to show them how far she had grown.

All because of them, because of the journey that they went through.

Yet just how fast her elation came, it dropped just as fast when that unknown feeling that was guiding her suddenly dissipated.

Which soon left her alone in the cover of the midnight sky, distraught slowly growing within her when she realized what it had meant. Durandal tried to invoke that unknown feeling once more but to no avail.

The promise that she made to him all those years ago, a promise that they would see each other again, a promise that she made to him, a promise that she had intended to fulfill.

And she couldn't even fulfill it.

She was in so much shock that she didn't register the fact that it had been morning by the time she had returned back to the base and subconsciously entered the training room. When she looked up and saw the equipment that she trained with on a day to day basis to get stronger.

Distraught swiftly turned to anger.

Her mind was a whirlwind of emotions that destroyed any forms of rational thought as she destroyed whatever was in front of her. So much so that she showed no hesitation when she crushed the head of a training robot that had been trapped in her hand.

All that time training, all those dangerous missions that she partook in, all

those hours that she sacrificed so she could be the strongest Valkyrie that was out there…

ONLY FOR NONE OF IT TO MATTER WHEN IT MATTERED THE MOST!

She was in such a trance that she did not hear the sounds of the door opening, nor did she hear the footsteps that approached her as she continued destroying the training equipment without thought.

"Durandal-sama."

Without even bothering to try and recognize who the speaker was, Durandal's body was already moving as she mindlessly threw a punch in the direction of whoever who said that. It was only through a brief second of rationality that her fist stopped just inches away from Rita's face.

"R-Rita?!" She cried out in shock as she immediately lowered her hand away from her Vice Captain's face.

"Ara, ara," Rita's face showed no fear despite the fact that she had been seconds away from getting punched in the face by Durandal. The only visible change that you could see was her hair had slightly moved as a result of how much power was behind that punch. "If I didn't know any better I would've believed that you were a raging Honkai beast just now."

Durandal looked at her in confusion before she looked around and winced at just how much destruction she had unleashed on the training grounds, her mind finally catching up with her actions.

You couldn't even see the once blue and white painting that made the room up, all that was left was torn up concrete. State of the art Schicksal training machinery littered the floor as you could hear the faint sounds of machinery coming off the numerous piles of scrap.

"I…" Durandal tried to come up with some reasonable explanation for this but lowered her head in shame when she could not explain her behavior.

Rita's eyes softened as that simple action was all that she needed to know. The S-Rank Valkyrie had never been the best with words after all. "It has to do with 'them', doesn't it?"

Durandal's head shot back up from her gloomy state as blue eyes looked at the maid in shock. "How did you-"

Rita simply chuckled before she pushed the chocolate parfait into the blond Valkyrie's hands. "I've been your friend for so long, do you think that I wouldn't piece together something? Especially when you act so differently on this specific day every year?"

Durandal had a sheepish smile on her face as she thought back to how she had acted and had to admit it was fairly obvious of her change in behavior on this day. And here she thought that she was being secretive on how she was feeling.

"Yes you were quite obvious about it." The maid giggled, glad to see that Durandal was coming back to her usual self. "Even some of the Immortal Blades were coming up with theories about what this day means to you."

"Huh?" Durandal eyes widened in shock. "Wait, what do you mean by theories?"

"It's nothing to concern yourself Durandal-sama," Rita dismissively waved, mentally reminding herself to not accidentally mention the gossip mill of the Immortal Blades in Durandal's presence again. "It's nothing more than gossip, nothing to worry about."

A bell rang through the entire base, an indication that it had hit noon. The maid bowed as that was her cue to leave. "I won't force you to tell me what had happened on this day but I do hope that one day you can tell me," The maid turned on her heel and made her way to leave. As Rita approached the exit with each step, Durandal's eyes never left the chocolate parfait in her hands.

"I've got your back, always!"

"It happened right after the Genius devices malfunctioned," The S-Rank Valkyrie suddenly spoke up, stopping the maid in her tracks. "I blacked out instantly and was put in what felt like a deep sleep."

"That was until I was woken up...by him."

Rita turned back around and listened with full attentiveness as the strongest Valkyrie finally told her the story of what happened to her during the failed mission.

"He happened to come across my sleeping form and woke me up, asking me what I was doing on the edge of the Sea of Quanta." The blond Valkyrie remembered waking up on that fateful vibrant green field all that long ago like it had just happened yesterday.

"You know there are better places to sleep, you know?" Was the first thing that he had said to her under that tree.

"If it wasn't for that bubble universe there for me to land on, I would have experienced a very painful death of getting ripped apart by the Sea of Quanta."

"And I trust that your first encounter with him was anything but spectacular?" Rita asked knowing full well how the old Bianka introduced herself to others, especially on missions.

Durandal had a nostalgic smile on her face as she nodded her head. "More so than you believe as for what felt like an entire month I gave him the cold shoulder. I would go to great lengths to try and leave the bubble universe and whenever those attempts ended up in failure he was always there with a reassuring smile on his face."

"He must be a very kind person to put up with you for that long."

"Yes he was," Durandal looked up to the ceiling in fondness. "Always trying to get closer to me even when I pushed him away. He kept asking me why I wanted to leave the bubble and when I finally decided to share with him the details of the mission, I was surprised when he vowed to help me accomplish it."

It had made no sense to her younger self when the offer of help was given. Here was a complete stranger that had come into his bubble universe without explanation and he was still offering his assistance. Had the thought that she could be an enemy ever crossed his mind?

Then again, there were many things about him that perplexed her.

"Lord Otto says that it is impossible to traverse through bubble universes but he did it with ease. Doors that allowed us to traverse through the bubbles would seemingly appear before him and no one else." She remembered the first time he had opened one of these doors. The outburst she had accidentally sputtered out were words someone her age at the time should not be saying.

Rita noted that little tidbit of information down for reference later as Durandal continued telling her story. For an individual able to easily transverse the Sea of Quanta? That would be invaluable to the cause of Schicksal.

But there was no harm in keeping this information to herself. Durandal had trusted her enough to tell her this story, she would not betray it by telling another soul lest it was of important cause.

"I'm not sure how he did it, and neither did he. It was just something that he said he could do when he woke up in that bubble universe." The doors that he would open up would lead them to strange bubble universes that varied greatly. Some were as normal as the world that they were in right now and others seemed to defy imagination.

The bubble universe that was most notable to her was a vast desert filled with red sand.

"We traveled through countless bubbles before finally arriving at the Ether Anchor Point. When we arrived we helped the people to overthrow a tyrannical king. It was there that I also came into possession of the bubble universe that now rests within me." Durandal had a smile as she recalled the memories of her time at the Ether Anchor Point, memories that she would treasure till the end of time.

"When we completed our mission in the Ether Anchor Point, it was time for us to say our goodbyes to the friends that the two of us made in that realm. Partaking in another, but smaller, journey we made it to the bubble universe that held the door that would've made it possible for me to get back here."

"And the rest is history." Durandal finished.

Rita held a small smile on her face as the story reached its conclusion. After hearing such a story, it was no wonder how much Durandal had changed. "You must've cared a lot about him, I can only imagine the bond you forged with him throughout your journey."

Durandal placed a hand on her chest. "They mean a lot to me, they were there when I did not wish them to be, there when I confronted demons I never dreamed of meeting. The person that I am today would not be possible without them."

She thought about the bright smile that never seemed to leave his face, no matter the situation that they were in. "No matter the situation he was always optimistic, even when all seemed lost he was there to assure everyone that it wasn't over."

"It was as if he was hope itself."

Rita knew that this kind praise was hard to earn from Durandal, and for her to be speaking so highly meant this person was quite something. "He must've been a very remarkable person."

Durandal felt at ease sharing this with her closest confidant, a huge weight that she had never known to exist was finally lifted. "My hope is that one day, somehow, I will be able to see him again. I wish to tell him all that has happened since our last meeting, and have him meet you and all of the Immortal Blades."

"I will hold you to that Durandal-sama," A sudden thought flashed through Rita's mind and her lips curled up at the thought of it. The blonde Valkyrie felt dread as she knew what that look meant.

"Though I must ask...when will the marriage letters be sent out?"

"R-R-Rita?!" The S-Rank Valkyrie's face went beet red.

"I jest, Durandal-sama." Rita lied as she wondered what kind of man had affected her friend in such a way. A small part of her was envious that someone had gotten this out of Bianka and not herself but she cared not for how it was done. They were able to bring out the true side of Bianka out, that was all she could ask for.

Now she could only hope that their meeting was not too long in the making. After all…

It was quite fun seeing this side of Bianka.

Chapter Text

Before I knew it, Kiana's week of imprisonment was finally over. Never had I seen such elation on her face when the ankle monitor was finally taken off of her. She even did a little victory dance as she relished in her freedom, as if the ankle monitor had weighed a ton.

Most of the agents that had been tasked with watching us had been dismissed, though a pair had been left behind as a precaution.

Lest the World Serpent get any ideas.

But the moment that the Kaslana was about to plan on celebrating her long awaited freedom, probably involving some sort of party where there would be alot of food, my grandmother was there to quickly bring her down to earth.

With a shit-eating grin might I add.

"Oh, isn't tomorrow when Chiba Academy resumes it's classes?" She asked offhandedly, freezing Kiana in her tracks as I could see all the color fade from her face. I resisted the urge to laugh at how comical she looked, but I didn't want to bring her down any more than she was feeling right now so I refrained from doing so

However my grandmother and Sora, who had visited that particular day to play, were very open about showing their amusement.

Chiba Academy had saw it as a precaution to close the school off for a week just in case that another 'terrorist' organization decided to make themselves known to the city. Coincidentally it was the same week that Kiana had her ankle monitor on, meaning that we did not have to worry about someone suspecting something when the white haired girl did not show up for class.

However it was established that Kiana needed to blend in more with her fellow classmates, which was something that would be hard to do since she stuck out like a sore thumb in terms of personality. It was almost impossible for a single student to not know of the bombastic Kiana Kaslana already.

Such infamy however was not so beneficial for a girl that needed to be under the radar.

So to deter any curious souls who wanted to know more about what had happened at the docks,and possibly know more about the girl, it was imperative that she had what appeared to be a normal life of a Chiba Academy student. And the first thing that I could think of that she needed to do…

Was to get into a club.

When I thought of this I instantly dreaded what was going to follow. My mind flashed back to the time that I had to pick a club, how hard it was to make a simple decision. Looking back at how I acted I definitely could have made my life much easier.

But there was no time to think of the 'what ifs' and 'could've beens'.

So when I handed Kiana the list of clubs that were still recruiting, as most clubs closed off their recruitment after Club Day, I walked away knowing that she would need time to come up with a decision. From what my past experiences taught me coupled with Kiana's pickiness there was no way that she would be able to-.

"This one!" She yelled out triumphantly.

…huh?

And so that's how I found myself sitting at the Chiba Academy's outside field on the first day back to school, sitting on the bleachers as I watched Kiana's first game with her new club. And to be honest…

She was really, really good at it.

The sound of a ball getting hit tore me out of my thoughts just in time to see a baseball clear the field with astounding velocity. Down at home plate, Kiana had a massive grin on her face. "Home run!" She yelled as she began to sprint towards the first plate whilst the other team was trying to catch the ball.

But from the looks of it this ball would be yet another tally to Kiana's growing home run count.

Where I was sitting at the bleachers it looked as if Kiana had been living and breathing baseball for entire life. From her technique down to how natural she looked wearing the uniform, was this some kind of sport that she got really good at before she got here?!

"Damm," Beside me Keji whistled as the two of us watched the ball disappear behind a building. We probably weren't going to see that particular ball ever again. "If I didn't know any better Kiana's probably shattering every record that the Baseball club had."

Watching Kiana getting swarmed by her new teammates, who were more than ecstatic with her addition to the team, I was inclined to agree with him. While my knowledge of the baseball club and the sport itself was fairly limited, I did know that we didn't have anyone remarkable there.

Kiana was like the equivalent of Mei's presence in the kendo club but for the baseball team.

An image of Kiana absolutely knocking out her opponent in the first round now popped up inside my mind. My body could not help but shudder at the terror that a boxer Kiana would wrought on the school. I think even the Herrscher of Finality would tremble in terror of a Kiana who only fought with her fists.

"Haruto?" A voice brought me out of my musings as I turned my head to see the newcomer.

Standing to the side was Midori Aki. The black haired undercover Valkyrie was still in her school uniform as she had both her bag and kendo slung over her shoulder.

"Midori?" I asked knowing that the Kendo Club was currently in session. It was around this time that the club was super focused with their training as the national tournament was right around the corner. Chiba Academy prided itself as the current champions of the tournament and was keen in keeping their spot at the top.

And a part of me knew that a certain heiress in that club played a huge part in that. She was the one to tell me of how she would be unable to hang out with us for a while.

"Aki-san?" Keji also was shocked at the girl's sudden arrival. "Shouldn't you be with your club right now? Isn't the national right around the corner?"

The undercover Valkyrie pointed to her head, where I knew some of the stitches she got at the docks still remained. "Got a head injury during the break, nothing serious but I need to take it easy." The Valkyrie claimed the spot next to me, setting her bag and kendo down.

"Don't worry though, I'll be good for the tournament." And I knew that statement held nothing but truth in it.

"What about you two?" She asked as she watched the baseball game happening in front of us. Now Kiana's team was on the field and the girl in question found herself in the back of the field, hands on her knees as she readied herself to run in any direction. "Shouldn't you two be at your clubroom right now?"

"Ishigami-sensei has some stuff he has to do," Keji answered her. "And it's not like the club can be signed up for any tournaments, there's only two of us after all."

That was a requirement for every club in the academy. In order to join any tournament the club in question needed to have at least ten members to participate.

Which we did not have, leading us to have lazy times on days where most clubs were training hard for tournaments.

"Still?" Midori asked as she turned around with a raised eyebrow. "I would've thought that someone would've joined your club by now."

I in turn raised my eyebrow at her. "...Have you forgotten who our sponsor is?" I deadpanned at her.

A tense second of silence followed as all you could hear was the sound of a baseball getting hit by a batter. "You're right." She took her statement back as she remembered Ishigami's reputation among the students.

He had rightfully earned the title of Demon, both in the classroom and on the battlefield.

Keji's phone began to ring before the brown haired student took the call. "Hello? Oh it's you...uh huh...okay I'll be there." My fellow clubmate hung up and looked at us with an apologetic smile. "Sorry something came up and I need to-,"

"Don't worry about it," I interrupted with a smile. It wasn't like we were doing anything important for the past hour in the first place. "You go do your thing."

Keji gratefully nodded before he picked up his stuff and made his way to wherever he was needed, leaving me and Midori alone on the bleachers to watch Kiana's baseball game.

A ball soared through the air before Midori was the first to break up the silence between us. "Has Ishigami-sensei said anything yet?"

I watched as the ball flew through the air until it was caught by Kiana, the girl throwing it to one of her teammates to try and get another person out before I responded. "At the end of the day, I have a meeting with him. I received the message only this morning."

"And does Keji know of this meeting?"

"Nope, for all he knows the club will resume like normal tomorrow."

"...Is that so?" The two teams switched sides once again as Kiana stepped up to the plate, a confident smirk on her face as she readied herself. And judging by how far the defenders were going, that confidence was not misplaced.

"What do you plan on doing with your personal meeting with Ishigami-sensei?"

I watched as the pitcher threw the ball before I answered.

"Well…"

Kiana hit the ball with perfect accuracy as she sent the ball soaring once more into the sky.

"I plan on asking him about everything."

When I entered the clubroom, the atmosphere was tense but not in a bad way. The sun had already begun to set which was reflected with how the dimming sunlight poured through the windows and accentuated the shadows of the room.

Such a scene would've made me apprehensive of such a lighting but the only thing that I was feeling at the moment was anticipation.

The feeling was mutual as sitting in the middle of the room, with a chess board already set up, the brown eyes of Ishigami watched my every step as I approached him. The both of us said nothing as I took my seat and stared at him unflinchingly.

After what felt like an eternity, the teacher was the first to break the silence. "Shall we play a game Haruto?" He offered as he motioned to the chess pieces on the board. Both sides of white and black stood imposingly as they waited for battle.

However, today would not be that day.

I smiled as I shook my head. "Forgive me Ishigami-sensei, but I believe that a chess game will simply waste both of our time. Not when we both know that you did not invite me for a simple chess game."

Ishigami simply smiled in response as he lowered his hand. "...Good, you've learned alot from your time here. You are correct that a game of chess would just be wasted effort for the both of us, so let's skip the formalities and go straight to the reason for this meeting."

His brown eyes glowed a bright blue for a brief second as he leaned in. "I assume that you know who I am?"

I nodded my head as I threw away all pretenses of hiding my knowledge. "You're a clone aren't you? Of the Anti-Entropy Sovereign, Welt Yang."

The clone simply nodded as he all but confirmed it for me. "You are correct, I am one of the clones of Welt Yang." He brought up his left arm and pulled the sleeve of his lab coat up, revealing a barcode with a series of digits printed upon it.

W-916

"It all starts after the defeat of the 2nd Herrscher," The teacher began as he leaned back into his seat. "Welt Yang was a shell of his former self, his defeat by the hands of Sirin on the Moon crippled him. Even with the state of the art technology and medicine he would never be able to utilize his full power again."

"But it just so happened that the Moon where he was defeated on also held what appeared to be the solution to his problem."

"You mean the cloning process?" I asked, knowing where this would be going.

Ishigami nodded. "Technically the cloning process was already known to humanity, more specifically to Otto Apocalypse. The expedition to the Moon gave us knowledge of the previous era, and it just so happened that the cloning process was stored in those soulium rocks."

The teacher looked towards the barcode on his arm with a bitter smile on his face. "So the idea of cloning Welt Yang came to life. Theoretically it seemed like a good idea at the time, I mean who wouldn't want to have an army of Herrscher powered individuals? And if somehow the clones were able to cure Welt back to full health, all the better."

"So the cloning project began, and soon enough I came into this world in a tube." The teacher could remember the first memory of his life as clearly as when it had first happened. Submerged in a strange green-like fluid, a breathing-like apparatus was stuck to his mouth that fed him oxygen.

Looking to either his right or left all he would see were rows of identical tubes that held clones just like him. The only way that you were able to tell who was who was by the cold serial numbers printed onto their skin.

"We were all addressed by our serial numbers, no name was given to us. Not like it mattered as all we knew in those cold laboratories was that we were meant to supposedly be 'the defenders of humanity'. That we were born to give humanity a fighting chance." He laughed sourly at the reminder of all the tests that they had to go through for the sake of 'humanity'.

The amount of times he had a needle stuck through him, the amount of times that he cried out in pain from the countless experiments, the amount of times that he wanted to say no.

But for someone who had never known any other life than that in the laboratory, who had only known of the words of the scientists that told him how he was helping humanity.

What choice did he have?

"But while the records of the previous era gave humanity the means to cloning, they weren't complete on how to exactly transfer the powers of said individual. What point was there in cloning Welt Yang if none of the clones could replicate his powers?" For in the end all you would have is cannon fodder.

"When it became clear that we could not call upon the powers of the Sovereign, they decided they needed to become more barbaric in their tests in order to try and force an 'awakening'. They never killed us off but the pain that they inflicted upon us made most of us yearn for it." He had lost count of how many times he had blacked out from these extreme trials and to wake up back in his bed with only hours of rest before the next trial began.

I remained silent as the teacher continued telling his story. "Yet no matter how far they pushed us, not a single one of us showed the aptitude that they were looking for."

"As they increased the tests done on us so too did the whispers spread of what was occurring there. Whispers that were finding their way to the ears of those who would detest such methods of science." The black haired teacher clenched his hand as the memory of him and his brothers walked in a straight line to a single room, unaware of the fate that awaited them.

"So those in charge decided that they needed to get rid of all the evidence before they were caught, which included every clone that they made."

"But then how did you…" I trailed off as I tried to think of how the person sitting in front of me was able to escape such a death sentence.

Ishigami just smiled sadly. "Escape? When we were all forced into that single room and that thick gas began to fill the room, I thought that was it. Clones that I had grown up with since I first awoke fell right beside me, their eyes permanently open wide in despair as they choked to death."

"And when I lost all strength in my legs and joined the growing pile of my dead brethren, I thought that was it for me...or so I believed."

A young W-916 fell to the floor with a thud, trying to gasp for air as the effects of the noxious gas in the room continued to wear down on his body. All around him the bodies of identical looking clones were falling faster by the second.

"Is this it?" He whispered as he felt his eyes beginning to drop. It was so hard in keeping them open that he was so tempted to simply embrace this oblivion. After all, what point was there to fight if there was nothing to fight for? For a life full of pain and misery, what would resisting accomplish in the end.

More prolonged suffering?

Yet a clone's dead body fell right in front of him, dead identical brown eyes that seemed to be staring right into his soul. He had no idea who this was but at that moment the young clone had an epiphany.

Was this all that their lives were worth? To die in a cold, worthless place? Never knowing what laid beyond the white walls of this lab?

…

No, W-916 would not accept this ending.

He refused!

He wanted to see what lay beyond this place!

He wanted to know what it meant to truly live!

Without even thinking about it, the dying experiment raised his hand. All that he could focus on was his hand as a strange power began to rush through him. It felt as if a blazing fire had seemingly been lit in his soul, giving him newfound strength. "Ignite…" He muttered as dark red tendrils of energy began to build in his palm.

"Star of Eden!" The foreign words just seemed to spill out of his mouth by instinct as a dark red orb shot into the wall.

The barely charged attack had enough power in it to blow a hole into the wall that his hand had been facing. Cold air immediately began to rush through the opening, while the noxious gas began to also leave through that same opening.

Pushing his weak body off the ground, W-916 immediately ran through the opening. He couldn't hear what had happened to the rest of his brethren as the one and only thing that was on his mind was survival. As his non-covered feet touched snow for the first time, he stumbled his way forward in the howling winter night.

Though if he had thought to look behind him for a single second, he would've seen that he had been the only one in that room filled with clones to have moved a single muscle.

"In hindsight rushing out into the wilderness with barely any knowledge of the outside world was a foolish idea but at the time it was the only option I had left." Ishigami remembered the harsh biting touch of the cold as he trudged through the knee deep snow. Not the best introduction to the outside world.

"So how did you know…survive?" I asked.

"I ended up finding a cave that I stayed in with the hopes of surviving till the sun rose, unfortunately I severely underestimated my body's resistance to the cold." He smiled wryly as he knew that experience was the sole reason why he avoided cold places like it was the plague.

"I was so sure I would not get to see the rays of morning light...that was until he came."

"Hey you okay there man?" An unfamiliar voice jolted the young W-916 from his stupor like slumber. Brown eyes blinked at the sight of the cavern walls before he remembered that he was trying to find shelter and came to this place. The exhaustion of running and trying to stave off the cold quickly had him falling asleep.

The lab garb that he was wearing was ill suited for dealing with temperatures like these, a fact that was made apparent as a breeze came through the cave opening. The biting cold made him instinctively bring up his hands to his arms in an attempt to warm himself up.

"Shit let me help you with that," Before the runaway lab experiment could turn to look at the newcomer, a surge of heat suddenly filled the cavern. The rapid change of temperature was much appreciated as W-916 breathed a sigh of relief.

But relief quickly turned into curiosity as the brown haired clone turned his head to look at his apparent savior.

Standing at the entrance of the cave was Siegfried Kaslana. In his hand was the crackling claymore that was known as the Judgement of Shamash. The Divine Key's flames casted a bright light in the dark cavern.

"You okay there buddy?" The Kaslana asked to which the experiment slowly nodded his head, wary of this stranger. "I see that's good, definitely wasn't expecting something like this." The white haired Knight did not see the clone's skepticism as he turned around to look at the howling winter storm that had yet to die down in intensity.

"Still they could've told me what I'm exactly supposed to be looking for," Siegfried complained as he tried to see anything in the snow covered valley. "A 'runaway experiment' description barely helps me out here."

W-916 stiffened as the Kaslana turned around with a bright smile on his face. "Don't worry, once the storm dies down I'll get you out of here and into a warmer place." He brought up a finger to his chin in contemplation. "Now that I think about it, there's this really good pub not too far from here that serves the best clam chowder I've ever had. It'll warm you right up, and…"

The white haired man leaned in and grinned. "There's also this waitress whose number I'm dying to-!"

"Kaslana-san," A new voice interrupted him and to W-916's horror…

It was a voice he was familiar with.

"Ah it's you guys," Siegfried turned back around to where a scientist and a squadron of soldiers were occupying the entrance of the cavern. "Took you guys long enough," He jerked his head towards W-916, unaware of his trembling form. "There's this guy here that got stuck in the storm, need you to look after him while I go and look for-"

"That will not be necessary," The lead scientist interrupted as he pushed his glasses up to his nose. "The subject has already been found."

Siegfried raised an eyebrow at the sudden revelation. "Really?" He questioned as he tried to look over the scientist's shoulder to see if he could find this mystery subject. "Well if that's the case where are they? I mean if you were able to get them so easily then why did you have to call me-"

"It's me," W-916 spoke for the first time as he stood up from his position and glared at the scientist with barely concealed hatred. "I'm the one that they're looking for."

The white haired Kaslana instantly narrowed his eyes. "...What is the meaning of this?" He demanded from the scientist.

"Nothing to concern yourself with Kaslana-san," The scientist was unfazed by Siegfried's demands. "It was just an unexpected outcome that I failed to account for, rest assured that you will be compensated for your time here."

"Unexpected outcome?!" W-916 snapped as he leveled an accusatory finger at the scientist. "Was my brothers dying by the waves an unexpected outcome for you?! Was stuffing us in that room and releasing that gas an unexpected outcome?!"

The clone could care less what could happen to him right now. He could be shot by one of the soldiers present yet the looming threat of death was not a concern for him. All he could think about was getting justice for his fallen brothers.

"You are our property W-916," The scientist reminded coldly. "Your lives were given to you by us, your fate is what we wish for it."

"Screw you!" W-196 shouted in retaliation. "We didn't ask to be created by you! We didn't ask to die for humanity's sake!"

"Such a temper, how unlike the Sovereign." The scientist shook his head sadly. "It matters not, you two apprehend him." He pointed to the two soldiers closest to him. "Perhaps there is a single positive from this failed batch of clones."

The soldiers nodded as they moved to take the clone into custody…

Only to stop when Siegfried Kaslana leveled the twin barrels of the Judgement of Shamash at the soldiers, who froze in terror.

"What are you doing?!" The scientist demanded from this sudden show of opposition. "Why are you-!"

"I don't know what exactly is happening here," The Kaslana admitted as he tensed his body in preparation for a fight. Even if he was outnumbered there was a smile still on his face. "But I do know one thing…" He turned around and gave W-916 a reassuring nod.

"You have the right to your own life, just like the rest of us."

"The scientist did not take kindly to Siegfried's opposition and thought he could take out the Kaslana before he attacked. A couple of shots from the Judgement of Kaslana quickly took care of them all," The teacher finished the story as he took off his glasses, which I now had a startling realization of where they might've originated from.

"You're right, you know." Ishigami answered as he seemingly read what was on my mind. "These glasses originally belonged to the head scientist, the person responsible for my upbringing into this world." His brown eyes narrowed as he trailed his finger on the frame of the glasses.

"He was also responsible for murdering every single one of my brothers. Even to this day I wonder why I was the only one to survive that night, why it couldn't have been someone else." He moved the glasses so that he was able to see his reflection in the lenses.

"But I suppose I will never get those answers, the dead don't tell tales in the end." The teacher placed the glasses back on as he gave me a sad smile. "So I wear these as a reminder of where I come from, from what I have survived, how lucky I am to be here…"

He gave me a wry smile. "It also serves as a great form of disguise."

I smiled in return at that joke. "What about Anti-Entropy?" I asked, not understanding how exactly my teacher went from being an experiment to someone who could hold a lot of sway in the same organization that had made his life miserable.

"That would be a story for another time unfortunately," The teacher chuckled as he leaned back into his seat. "Lest I fear we will be here the entire night." The brown haired experiment turned his head towards the clock on the wall.

I followed his gaze and widened my eyes when I saw how much time had passed since the teacher had told his story. What had felt like a few minutes had actually been an hour in real time. The sun was already casting its last rays of light and it wouldn't be long before night time.

"But it wouldn't be fair if I was the only one to tell my story today," The teacher looked back at me, his brown eyes twinkling with curiosity. "So Haruto…"

"What is yours?"

I took in a deep breath as I thought of where to start. Not once did the thought of trying to lie cross my mind. Ishigami-sensei had been completely honest with me, I had to return that level of trust.

"Well," I began as I thought back to how this all started. How this crazy life of mine began.

"It all starts in a world so similar to this one, yet so different at the same time. On a cold dark night a student was on his way home..."

It was a bright and sunny day at St. Freya Academy. The temperature was just right, neither too hot nor too cold, the birds were chirping, the students were enjoying their respite as it was currently a weekend and no classes were taking place.

Everything was perfect.

…

"EH?!" Someone screamed.

...well almost perfect.

While St. Freya Academy was primarily a school meant to train the Valkyries of tomorrow, it was still a Schicksal Branch and as such needed the facilities of one. The layout of St. Freya had the actual academy located right in the heart of the land, whilst surrounding it were the workshops and laboratories.

Most of these were open to students to build whatever gadgets or weaponry they so desired, engineers and scientists were more than willing to sit down with a student to try and bring their desires to life.

It was a testament to how much resources Principal Theresa poured into the academy, for no expense could be spared in making the best Valkyries.

Yet it was also home to many Research Divisions that were originally part of the Far East Branch before ownership was given to the current Principal of the Academy. The purpose of these Divisions ranged from developing the most cutting edge Honkai powered weaponry to even the domestic usage of such a volatile power.

But it was home to a rather...irregular engineering division that had a notorious reputation. Nothing scandalous of that nature but to put it lightly it didn't function like all the other divisions.

In the workshop that they called home, everyone present was grouped around a certain table with various looks of horror and shock as they all collectively stared at the same thing.

For Marie Barlow, the assistant of the head scientist, it felt as if she was watching her worst nightmare play out right before her eyes. Her mouth was opening and closing at a rapid rate as she tried to comprehend the scene in front of her.

"H-H-How," She stuttered as she fell onto her knees, now being eye level with what was responsible for her predicament. Her red eyes looked close to breaking into tears as she continued looking at the problem.

"How did our prototype become like this?!" She demanded.

On the table in front of her, was the ruined and burnt remains of the prototype armor that they had labored day and night to even get working in the first place! Blood, sweat, and a lot of tears had gone into the creation of the gauntlet and when they finally had finished it the scientist thought the worst was over.

Apparently not.

"Dammit, who the hell was the one responsible for shipping the damm thing?!" A scientist shouted.

"We were so close too!" Lamented another scientist. "All it needed was some fine tuning from the Taiwanese Branch and it would've been good to go!"

"C-Can't we try and rebuild it?" One of the scientists optimistically offered. "We've done it all before so surely it won't take long to do it again?"

"It won't matter," A scientist dejectedly said. "Did you forget that this was our last opportunity? How are we going to justify the funds that would be needed to create another gauntlet from scratch?

Marie barely registered her colleagues' conversations as her mind was racing like a horse that took too much caffeine. Oh what was she going to say to the Principal? That they lost track of their prized prototype and they had just received it this morning, when it was meant to arrive a month ago.

Oh what would she tell the committee?! That their gracious funding had just gone down the drain?! They would eat them alive when they found out the state of their prototype!

Oh what was she going to tell her family?! That their daughter who had preserved through years of hard work at the academy was now about to lose her job? Oh god what was she going to do now? Would she be homeless now?! What if the committee decides to take more than her job?! What if they-!

"How is everybody on this fine morning!? A familiar voice broke her out of panic thinking, as well as everybody else's, as everyone present turned their attention to the entrance where the head scientist was standing.

Christopher Asplund was head scientist of the Yggdrasil Advanced Engineering Corps, YAEC for short. A scientist in his late twenties, he was the engineering prodigy of the academy. There was not thing in the world that he could not build and such intellectual prowess had caught the eye of the Overseer himself.

He was someone that Marie held in the highest regard, and who wouldn't? She could still remember the days at the academy where a day would not go by without the scientist, who was also her classmate, being praised by the teachers.

He was someone that she strived to become.

But while his intellect was something of envy, his manner of interacting with others was... less so.

A fact that Marie quickly became aware of when she took his offer to be his assistant.

"Asplund!" She cried out in shock as she jumped up from her position and raced over to the scientist. "Oh it's horrible, the prototype finally got delivered and we're trying to figure out who sent it-."

"Oh, that?" Christopher pointed to himself nonchalantly. "I was the one who did that."

After that admittance, the workshop became a deathly calm. No one dared to speak as they processed the information that they had just heard from their head scientist. The tension was so thick that you could cut it with a blunt knife.

The reason for this nightmare playing out...was because of him?

"Christopher…" A shadow covered Marie's face as she held a twitching fist up. You knew it was serious when she called someone by their first name, especially if said person was her boss. "May I ask why you did such a thing?"

The white haired scientist was oblivious to his assistant's mood as he closed his eyes with a smile on his face and brought a finger up. "Why for efficiency of course. If I had shipped the gauntlet through the Schicksal delivery system it would've taken months to get here."

Marie's eyebrow twitched. "...There's a reason why that delivery system exists in the first place, so that the deliveries are guaranteed."

Christopher waved his hand nonchalantly. "Do you know how many times I've lost my equipment with that delivery system? And those prices alone would take over half of our budget."

"Delivery costs are covered by the Far East Branch, remember."

"Really? Then why is it when I go and get something delivered-"

"...Only deliveries pertaining to the Engineering Division are covered."

"But-"

"Deliveries for pudding are not considered essential to the Engineering Division."

"Hah?! I will have you know that the successes that the Yggdrasil Advanced Engineering Corps have experienced are solely due to the majesty that is the pudding. Did you know when it was first created that-" The scientist quickly fell into a long tangent about why the pudding was the greatest thing that mankind had ever created.

The scientists present quickly sweatdropped as Christpher went into yet another one of his spiels where nothing but pudding mattered. You could have someone run in and scream that a Herrscher had awakened and he would ignore that before telling them why pudding would boost your longevity by five years.

It definitely was an odd quirk that the head scientist possessed but they had all been on the receiving end of one of these 'lectures' to the point that they had gotten used to it.

"That is all good and well but the problem still remains," Marie quickly interrupted her superior before he could go too far into his spiel. 'The prototype is in ruins right now and we need to tell the committee that-".

"That it's a failure?" Questioned Christopher, his voice suddenly slipped into his serious scientist mode. "That there is no value to be found in such scrap?"

Marie was not expecting such a sudden shift in tone. "Y-Yes?"

The white haired scientist closed his eyes and shook his head. "Where you see total failure, I see a resounding success." Calculating teal colored eyes opened back up as the scientist began to walk towards the table that held the ruined remains of the prototype.

The crowd of scientists parted away from him, giving the head scientist free access to the charred gauntlet. When he walked up to the table, a smile formed on his face as he bent down and leaned his head closer to the prototype.

"You were my most beautiful creation, and the fact that you are in this state is my fault. I shall endeavour to create an even stronger body for you." He spoke fondly, like if he was talking to a baby, as he ran his hand down the charred surface of the once pristine gauntlet.

"Asplund," Marie stepped up. "As much as I know that you care about the gauntlet, the committee needs to know what happened to-."

"Do you remember the last time someone tried the gauntlet?" The scientist interrupted as he continued inspecting the gauntlet.

Marie gravely nodded as she was reminded of the disastrous results of the last time they activated the gauntlet. "Schariac-san is still in a coma, the doctors say that her condition hasn't changed a bit." The black haired assistant looked at him in confusion, trying to understand why he had brought this up. "What does that have to do with-"

"The Schariac family, one of the three founding families of Schicksal. Usually when one is harmed there are dire consequences for the one responsible but when it came to us what happened exactly?"

It took a moment for what he said to sink in before Marie's red eyes widened as she pieced together what the scientist was getting at. "You don't mean…"

"They may not have said it outright but it was clear that the prototype's initial activation and the data that we were able to get was more than worth it in their eyes, enough to sweep the Schariac's tragic fate under the rug," Christopher smiled sadly. "Such is the politics of the Schicksal families."

But before they could continue any further into this somber topic, the white haired scientist clapped his hands loudly. "Point being that if signs of progress are there the committee will do absolutely nothing bad."

Without hesitating the white haired scientist reached into the gauntlet, catching everyone off guard as he began to essentially dismantle what remained of his beloved project. "What are you-!" Marie shouted in surprise at the sudden move.

"Where is it...a little bit to the right…ah there we go!" Christopher shouted in triumph as he pulled out what appeared to be a data chip from the confines of the ruined gauntlet, the only thing that appeared to not be totally damaged.

Humming a victorious tune, the scientist marched over to the main terminal of the workshop and plugged the data chip into it. The console glowed a bright blue before the screen began to display various windows of data on it.

To an outsider these various windows of information might as well have been seen as a foreign language. Charts and charts were overlaying over each other alongside paragraphs of data that it almost made it impossible to make sense out of it all.

But with just a single glance of it all, Marie's jaw opened in shock with what she was seeing. "I-Impossible, someone was able to activate the Luminous Blaze System?!"

Christopher was all but ecstatic as he drank in the information that was being displayed. "Hahaha yes! Look at that! A compatibility rate that far exceeds what we predicted possible. Today truly is a magnificent one!" Christmas had come early for him, actually no scratch that.

This was even better than Christmas!

The scientist whipped around and pointed at a random scientist with an almost maniacal look in his eyes. So much so that it unnerved the scientist in his crosshairs. "You there! Find me where this was shipped from! I want to know the name of anyone that has so much as even given a simple glance at the shipment container." He turned to the rest of the scientists who were just staring at him.

"As for us we begin the complete assembly of the battlesuit with the data that we now have!"

Marie looked at the scientist as if he just grew a second head, a sentiment shared by the rest of the scientists with varying degrees of shock. "W-Wait are you sure?" She asked, knowing full well the resources that they had at their disposal. Sure they had more than most divisions but it wasn't infinite.

Building the prototype gauntlet had been expensive...

And now Christopher Asplund wanted to build the entire battlesuit.

"Will we find a better opportunity than this?" Questioned the head scientist. "Schariac-san was barely able to get a 50% compatibility rate and that was pushing her ability. Throwing away such a perfect candidate would be a waste!"

His assistant was still trying to be the voice of reason here. "B-But with our resources at the moment we will only have one chance at this!"

Christopher just grinned wildly as he turned around to the center of the workshop, where on a podium was the framework of a battlesuit in the making. It was barely more than a metal exoskeleton but already in his mind he could see what the completed battlesuit would look like. "The future waits for no one my dear assistant…"

"And I am not one to sit idly by."

In one of the World Serpent's countless hidden bases, the Gray Serpent stood with Jackal as the two watched Owl's surgery take place through the view of an adjacent room. The comatose gray haired officer had a multitude of machines working on him, repairing the damage that was done to him.

"Not only do we have to replace most of his cybernetic enhancements," Jackal was reading off of the report of the work needed to be done on the officer. "But we also have to add new ones in, courtesy of the Phoenix's strength on his already frail body."

"I suspect that he won't be fielded for some time then?"

Jackal shook her head as she lowered her tablet. "It'll take at least a month for him to get used to his new enhancements, and while he's proven resilient to his upgrades the next time he ends up on my operating table with these kinds of injuries will most likely be his last."

Yes the human body could only take so much of a beating, it was a testament to Tianwu's perseverance that had gotten him this far. Pain that would make men crumble was just but a nuisance for the officer as he marched onward.

The World Serpent however would lose a promising member if the hacker decided to push his luck. "After the surgery inform him that he will resume his data collecting duties for the foreseeable future, Raven will be the one responsible for retrieval missions." The masked hacker knew that Owl would be more than happy with being tasked with his old duty.

Though speaking of Raven, the hacker turned his attention to Jackal. "Were you aware that she would unlock a new form of the Divine Key?" It was an unexpected boon when the mercenary had reported that she had unlocked a new form of the Key of Sanction, a form much stronger than the previous forms.

Gray Serpent had to wonder if it was coincidence or fate that the Key of Sanction had decided to transform into a bow of all things, Raven's weapon of choice.

"I had a feeling that the Key of Sanction might act up again, but I did not think that it would play out in our favor." She admitted before she looked around the room, noting the absence of the hooded mercenary. "Where is she anyway?"

"Off training with the Key of Sanction," Gray Serpent replied. "She wishes to capitalize on the newfound trust the weapon has gifted her, perhaps she will be able to unlock even more abilities of the Divine Key."

"...Speaking of abilities," The canine masked scientist swiped on her tablet, pushing away the report of Owl's injuries and loaded in a photo that held a massive amount of fascination and curiosity for her.

A photo from Iudex's last moments as the Soulium Juggernaut stared down it's last adversary.

The glowing, emotionless eyes of Haruto Nakamura as he was clad in an almost ethereal suit of armor.

"It seems that your little pet project continues to defy all expectations."

The hacker nodded. "While it is unfortunate that we were unable to retrieve Kiana Kaslana, fortune smiles upon us with the Nakamura's revelation."

"And I suppose that our next step involves us 'recruiting' this highschooler?"

"Of course, it would be a waste to squander such potential."

Jackal folded her arms as she rested her back on a wall. "But how do you plan on doing that? Anti-Entropy and Schicksal are closely monitoring for any signs of our organization, with Anti-Entropy having a firm foothold in Nagazora. Not to mention that both a clone of their Sovereign and an undercover Valkyrie have close ties with him."

The scientist honestly didn't see how the Gray Serpent was going to pull it off. It wasn't like they could do a repeat of another disastrous operation, Anti-Entropy alongside the efforts of Raiden Ryoma were watching all possible points of entry to the city.

And even if they had somehow snuck in a sizable force within the city, they still had to worry about the clone that was known as Akira Ishigami who was more than a match for some of the strongest members of the World Serpent.

That was excluding the undercover Valkyrie who could take care of their soldiers with ease and the Anti-Entropy garrison stationed there. She could try and create another Iudex, which would take time and a fair amount of resources…

They still had to worry about the wildcard that was Haruto Nakamura.

The demonic mask of the Gray Serpent did a really good job of hiding what he was feeling, you couldn't even tell his emotions from his artificial voice. But years of working together with him gave Jackal some semblance of how to guess what he was feeling at times.

And now she could tell that the Gray Serpent was anything but discouraged.

"Nothing lasts forever Jackal, no defense is impenetrable. There is always a way to through…" He turned his attention to the sole terminal in the room and began typing in a specific code. Once he was done the mainframe of a certain company was revealed to him, alongside all the secrets that he needed.

"And it's about time the King fell from his throne."

Deep in the Sea of Quanta, all was quiet in the multi-dimensional plane. Not a soul could be heard, which was impossible as no human being could possibly survive long periods here.

Well, almost everybody.

In a random part of the Sea, a part of reality began to flicker in and out of existence before a human being was shot out of the dimensional tear. "Ow," A petite dark indigo haired girl picked herself off the ground. "I was so close," She lamented as her azure eyes began tearing up. "If I held on for a bit longer then-"

"Baka," A voice that sounded a lot like her own spoke in her mind, scathing in tone but beneath all of that was a hint of concern. "If you kept going we would've really died then and there Seele."

The now named Seele brought her hand up to her chest, where a bright red stigma was emblazoned on her skin. "But if I kept holding on then we would've been able to get out of here, back to the real world."

A dark red butterfly began to fly in front of the dark indigo haired girl. "We've been stuck here for a very long time, we both know that. A few more years spent here won't change that. However there's a reason why we don't take unnecessary risks."

Seele thought back to how they even got here in the first place. Time was hard to judge in the Sea of Quanta but it had only been recently that dimensional ripples were being sent through the Sea. At first they were hardly noticeable, like a passing breeze.

However as time passed by those passing breezes began to evolve in intensity, up until quite recently where it felt akin to a raging hurricane. Seele did not know what was going on but a part of her knew that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

An opportunity to somehow be able to escape the Sea of Quanta and return back into the real world.

However in the end she just wasn't strong enough to be able to get out of here. If she had been strong enough she would've never been in this position in the first place.

If she was strong enough she would be back at the orphanage with Bronya, where every day was a beautiful day to look forward to. Even with people like Sin Mal, nothing could dampen any day with Bronya.

Now she only had the memories of such cherished times to soothe her lonely heart.

The dark red butterfly picked up on the petite's girl brooding. "It's not your fault, trying to survive these kinds of dimensional ripples is next to impossible."

Seele shook her head. "But Bronya-,"

"Do you think Bronya would approve of you putting your life in danger? I'm sure that she would agree with me on this." They interrupted.

Seele could find no fault in the butterfly's words as she closed her eyes, the thoughts of Bronya weighing heavy on her heart. What was she doing right now? Was she well? Was she still trying to save her from the Sea of Quanta or had she-

"Okay this is getting ridiculous," The butterfly glowed a bright red as it began to transform. From the form of a butterfly, an identical copy of Seele took shape. It was an exact copy even to how their hair was combed, with the sole difference being that where there was meant to be dark indigo there was instead a dark red.

"First off this is getting bothersome," Her clone berated with a frown. "Do you really think that Bronya would abandon you? Have you forgotten the lengths that she went for you when the X-10 experiment failed? That she would be willing to throw the entire world away just for you?!"

Seele thought back to when she had participated in the X-10 experiment, where she had initially mastered matter manipulation.

Seconds later her body forcibly entered the Quantum State.

She thought she had failed, her punishment for not being as strong as Bronya. She feared that she would never get to see her again, to never see the ocean with her…

To never see her smile again.

Then as what felt like an eternity had passed Bronya was suddenly standing right before her, so suddenly in fact that she could not voice her surprise when she was suddenly embraced. She could still remember what Bronya had said when she was still in her arms.

"Nyet! I'm not leaving you again!"

Wiping her eyes of the unshed tears, Seele gained a much more determined look. She was right, Bronya wouldn't give up!

And neither would she!

"Finally," Her doppleganger appeared to be unimpressed by Seele's newfound conviction. "If you continued moping any longer I would've gotten angry." They turned around and began to walk around the still sitting Seele.

"Now that you finally got past your little stump we should now focus on what to do next." Seele still found it quite strange to see someone look exactly like her, but act completely different. Not that was a bad thing or anything, just simply strange.

And that was especially true when she saw the smug smirk that was currently on her doppleganger's face. "And I might just happen to know how to finally get out of here."

Wait...huh?

Her confusion must've shown on her face as her twin was more than happy to explain. "Well when you were off trying to hold on for dear life, I was busy figuring out what these 'fluctuations' were. And I'm happy to say the next time this happens we can finally get out of here!"

They turned around and continued talking out loud. "Now I won't say that it is guaranteed but after getting a bit familiar with the ripples I'm sure we can ride them all the way until we-AH!" The red haired twin shouted surprise when she felt a pair of arms suddenly embracing her. "W-W-What are you-!"

"Thank you so much!" Seele thanked profoundly. Words could not describe her gratitude to the twin so the dark indigo haired girl poured all of her emotion into the hug. She would be able to get out of here!

She would be able to see Bronya again!

Her doppleganger's cheek became an inferno as she turned her head away in embarrassment. "B-Baka, if you die attempting the same thing again then I will die as well. It's not like I actually care for you or anything," She denied, though it sounded like she was assuring herself more than anything. "Yup definitely not because of that!"

However the two girls were not the only ones plotting their escape from their quantum prison. Off in another part of the Imaginary Space, a lone male was planning his own escape. "It's almost time then," Kevin Kaslana mused as he lifted his hand up where a green leaf rested on his palm, a reminder of an old friend.

And the person who put him in this prison in the first place.

He wondered how he was doing. Was he still striving to complete Project Valuka? Had he succeeded or had he ultimately failed in finding an answer? The white haired MANTIS wondered how differently things might have played out all those years ago in the Seed of Sumeru, where Su beseeched him to delay Project Stigma.

What if he had tried to convince his fellow MANTIS to see reason? To see that Project Stigma was their only hope as the other plans that they had in play would end in failure. Would Su have tried to help him if he knew the Kaslana knew no other way than this?

What if he had listened to his words, stopped his plans with Project Stigma and continued on with their roles as pioneers? Would it have made a difference in the long run? Would they have eventually found the answer that they were searching for?

...

...But such thinking was more of Su's forte, to question the what-ifs. For Kevin Kaslana he had only one way of doing things.

To move forward without hesitation.

"Forgive me old friend," The Kaslana crushed the leaf in his hand before he opened his palm back up, letting the crushed remains of the leaf fall to the ground. "But for the sake of humanity's future…"

"The Honkai must be destroyed, no matter the cost."

It was a very lazy Sunday morning. I was sitting with Sora on the couch watching some cartoons on the television. Kuro was peacefully napping on her cat perch as the sounds of the morning commute could be heard in the distance.

The peace and quiet that I was experiencing would soon come to an abrupt end when the door to the apartment swung wide open as a grinning Kiana made her presence known. "Haru-senpai!"

The black feline was rudely awoken by the white haired girl's outburst and responded with a hiss. The Kaslana ignored the cat's hiss as she simply waved at the cat in greeting before she walked over to the couch and claimed the free spot next to me.

"Kiana," I greeted as if this was completely normal, which it was. Kiana just loved to drop in univinted and I didn't want to have to deal with the potential of her accidentally kicking my locks off so I just let her have my spare key. "What brings you here?"

"This!" She showed me the paper that was in her hands. "We're going right?! For Golden Week?!"

Oh yeah Golden Week was almost here, a week free for pretty much everybody in Japan. A time meant to be spent in relaxation and with family. I knew Kiana would be more than happy about the time off school but she was really excited for the flier that was in her hands.

Looking at the flier in her hands, my eyes immediately found the purpose of the paper. Sora also looked at what the flier and was immediately supportive of Kiana's suggestion. "I forgot about this! You have to go Haruto-niichan!

"...The Annual Nagazora Kitsune Festival Celebration?" I read out.

Chapter Text

The Annual Nagazora Kitsune Festival Celebration.

It was Nagazora's, if not one of Japan's, biggest celebrated festivals. A festival that even had people from around the globe to visit for the sole purpose of taking part in the many activities the festival had to offer.

The festival had once been a day that celebrated the blessings of the Inari deity that presided over the village that used to call Nagazora home all that long ago. A day that would involve lots of celebration to show thanks for the god's blessings from evil.

However, any records of that village had all but faded with the passage of time…

But the shrine that honored the guardian deity still stood even to this day. Situated at the center of Nagazora's Grand Park, the massive kitsune statue that sat in the center of the shrine still stood guard over these lands.

Any historical information of that time was scarce so all people had to go by were vague anecdotals that could be interpreted in a thousand different ways. However, it was unanimously agreed by everyone that this day held significant value for the villagers.

It would be disrespectful to their ancestors if they didn't continue this tradition of celebrating life and all of it's blessings.

Which Kiana Kaslana was more than happy to oblige with as it meant one thing for her…

FESTIVAL FOOD!

"So delicious!" A happy Kiana cried out as she walked through the already crowded festival with a tri-colored dango in her hands. Night had barely settled in and already the festival was packed!

Families walked past her as children pulled impatiently on their parents' sleeves as they wanted to play all the games the festival had to offer. Booth runners were encouraging any who passed by to try what they had to offer while the scrumptious smell of festival food filled the air.

There were no shortages of people wearing detailed and brightly colored yukatas. So much so that wearing normal everyday clothes made you stick out like a sore thumb in this sea of assorted colors. Lucky for those, there was no shortage of booths displaying their own yukata designs for sale.

Oh the Kaslana was going to have so much tonight! She knew that saving up her allowance for this night was going to allow her to try everything that was here. She had been to a few festivals before but nothing as big and grand as this one!

And even better she was going to spend it with her friends!

The white haired girl looked down to the light blue yukata that she had bought for this specific night, smiling knowing that she wasn't going to be the only one wearing a yukata in the group. She had almost forgotten the price that this specific yukata had cost her, her wallet was still crying from such a purchase.

She shook her head of such a bleak thought, nothing was going to dampen her spirits now. This was going to be an unforgettable night!

But there was only one problem however…

…

How could she have an unforgettable night if there was no one here yet?!

Pulling out her phone she looked at the messages of everyone that she was hanging out with tonight. Of course she had managed to get Haruto and Mei to join her, how was she going to enjoy this festival without her best friends!?

Sora was joining them, whose excitement for the festival even rivaled hers. Keji, who she found a friendship in with their shared love for video games, was joining them for the night. Even Midori was joining them and while she may still have some reservations about her being a Valkyrie, she was still a friend Kiana cherished.

After all she risked her life to save hers.

[From Haruto Nakamura]

[I just picked up Sora, it'll take us around fifteen minutes for us to get there. There's a lot of traffic getting there.]

[From: Mei Raiden]

[There's a lot more people that have attended the festival this year. I heard from my father that the organizers had to enlist Anti-Entropy for extra security. I should be there in fifteen minutes as well, traffic is stalled where I'm at.]

[From: Keji Furutu]

[Even the trains are packed! Usually they're not this filled, there must be a lot of people attending this year…oh yeah look who I happened to meet!]

[From: Midori Aki]

[I can speak for myself you know. Anyway it was simply by chance that the two of us met at the train station. It'll probably take us fifteen minutes as well to get to the festival.]

Kiana lowered her phone with a small frown. This wasn't a big problem, just a small inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. They were still going to have the greatest festival experience ever!

But what was she going to do for fifteen minutes? She could get some more food and wait for the others to arrive but that was so boring! She was here to have fun here and that was what she was going to do!

Lowering her now empty dango stick, her blue eyes immediately looked around where she was waiting to find a booth she could play. It did not take her long before she walked over to the booth that had caught her attention. The other game booths had their appeal but there was a particular reason why this booth had caught her attention.

The grand prize was a Limited Edition King Homu Doll!

She was sure only like twenty of them existed, she needed to get it! Even if she had to spend all of her money on this booth!

"Ahaha I see that you've got your eye on the grand prize!" The booth attendant heartily laughed as he saw where Kiana's attention was directed at. "You're not the first to have their eyes set on that prize but as you can see none have accomplished it…" He motioned to the rather empty booth.

For a moment Kiana wondered if this booth was just trying to scam her money with how empty it was. It wasn't exactly a hidden secret with how booths would find fakes of sought out prizes to draw in the most dedicated. However she gave the displayed homu doll another look and simply knew that it was genuine, that it was no fake.

He gave her a challenging smirk when he saw a fire being lit in her eyes. "Unless you'll be the one to do what they can't?"

Not even a second after the challenge was issued had Kiana slapped a few bills of yen on the man's open palm. "Like you even need to ask!" She immediately got into the 'gamer' mood as she only had one thing between her and that Homu doll.

Well technically it wasn't just one thing that stood between her and her prize, but rather ten different things.

For the game that she was playing was goldfish scooping.

The basis of the game was very simple, she would get a small handheld net and her objective was to try and catch as many of these goldfish in the tank as she could.

Simple right? Well the catch was that the net was made of a super flimsy material that would disintegrate if it was exposed to too much water or if a fish decided to just swim straight into it.

And in order to get the grand prize she needed to catch ten goldfish before her net broke.

But Kiana Kaslana was a master of these games! This would be child's play as by the time the group arrived she would show off the spoils of her victory to them!

She could vaguely hear the booth vendor talking to someone else but they weren't Kiana's concern. The only thing that mattered right now was the goldfish swimming right in front of her.

Preparing herself she focused on the task at hand. Delicately, she scooped up her first fish and gently placed it into her bowl without any trouble. Then without skipping a beat she set her sights on the second fish and scooped it into her bowl just as easily as she had done the first fish.

She was in her prime here! Like a cat on the hunt for its prey.

Back at the apartment Kuro suddenly sneezed. The black cat narrowed her eyes as she tried to look for any disturbances in the empty apartment but when it was apparent she was the only one there she lowered her head back down to continue her nap.

"Hehe almost there," Placing her ninth goldfish in her bowl, Kiana smirked as victory was all but assured for her. One more fish and she would be walking out of here with her prize!

She was so close that she could taste it!

A goldfish peacefully swam in front of her vision, unaware of the hands that were already looming over it. "Come here little fella," The white haired girl whispered as she moved her net into position. The goldfish just needed to swim a bit more to the right and she would have it!

And as if the goldfish was listening to her thoughts it moved exactly how she wanted it to. Just a little more and-!

Without warning another net entered her vision and scooped up her fish from right under her. The white haired girl couldn't even voice her surprise as her stolen goldfish was deposited swiftly into the thief's bowl.

Kiana was so surprised by this sudden action that she had forgotten to take her net back out from the tank of water and an unsuspecting goldfish swam right through her net, tearing the already flimsy material apart with ease.

"Hey watch where you're-!" The white haired girl tried to reprimand this very rude person for stealing the last fish that she needed to win only for the booth vendor to boisterously cut her off.

"And we have a winner! Congratulations on conquering The Impossible Goldfish Challenge!" The vendor walked over and took the limited edition homu doll from its pedestal and gave it to the player who had stolen Kiana's fish.

Who now had also stolen her prize.

"The Bronya thanks you," The twin gray ponytailed haired girl accepted the doll from the vendor, hugging it close to her petite body. Dressed in a dark blue yukata, a complete contrast to Kiana's bright blue, the girl began to move away from the booth to somewhere else.

"Stop right there!" Only to stop when Kiana's voice reached her ears. "You're holding my prize right there!"

The girl turned around and faced Kiana who jabbed her finger accusingly. "Bronya is confused by the subject's question." She blankly retorted.

"Subject?" Kiana boldly walked up to Bronya. "I'll have you know that I am Kiana Kaslana-."

"The Bronya has no qualms with Subject Kiana." The petite girl interrupted.

"And you have my prize in your hands!" The Kaslana finished as she placed her hands on her hips. Just something about this girl just pushed buttons she didn't know she had. Bronya continued to give her a blank look, seemingly unfazed by the proclamation.

"The Bronya won this fair and square, ten goldfish was the goal and the Bronya completed the task." She replied with brute honesty in her voice.

"If it wasn't for the fact that you nabbed my last fish!" If this little girl hadn't intervened then she would have been walking away from that booth with her rightful prize!

"The Bronya finds it impossible for Subject Kiana to have caught the last fish. The net's structural integrity would've broken when trying to catch the goldfish."

"And how would've known that?"

"By looking."

"Why you little-!"

The two were talking right in the middle of the festival lane, so focused on winning their side of the argument that they did not notice all passerbyers giving them a wide berth. Just one look at the arguing pair had everybody choosing the wisest option of giving the two space.

Lest they got sucked into that argument.

"The Bronya finds this argument pointless," The petite gray haired woman sharply turned on her heel and moved with the intent of putting as much distance as possible with this…idiotka.

When she didn't hear the white hair girl say anything in response, she was sure that she could finally enjoy the rest of the festival in peace. There were still booth games that she needed to play and she would use every piece of yen her Matsuhka gave her.

Yet her dreams were dashed when Kiana suddenly called out to her.

"Oh well," The white haired drawled out in a rather nonchalant tone. "It's a shame that you're running away but I suppose winning that game was only a fluke. I'm sure that if we were to play in another booth I would crush you-"

Bronya immediately stopped in her tracks as she turned around and pointed at Kiana. Her usual emotionless gaze was still there but in her gray eyes a fire had been lit. The Russian girl did not care about many things, less so if they were meant to be jabs, but there was one thing you did not insult.

Her abilities as a gamer.

"The Bronya accepts your challenge," She declared with every intention of destroying the girl in front of her.

Hearing how the twin ponytail girl fell for her trap, Kiana grinned wildly as she cracked her knuckles in preparation.

"Then let's play then!"

"I feel as if something terrible has happened," I said offhandedly as I could feel my body shivering in terror. I don't know how I knew it but I just knew that someone, probably Kiana, was up to no good.

"What do you mean Haruto-niichan?" Sora asked me in confusion.

"If my intuition is right then you'll see it for yourself." I explained as the crosswalk indicator signaled us to walk. Holding Sora's hand we crossed the last street that we needed to take in order to get to the festival.

"But enough of that," I looked down at Sora who had on a light purple yukata that was the same shade as her hair. "How are you doing Sora? We've been walking for awhile now, I'm sure your legs need a break."

Sora just gave me an adorable smile. "I'm okay Haruto-niichan!"

I smiled in return as I patted her head. "I'm glad." Fully crossing the street we were greeted by one of the festival volunteers dressed with a red yukata and a kitsune mask.

"Welcome to the Nagazoran Kitsune Festival Celebration!" He greeted us as he handed me a slip of paper. "We hope you enjoy all that we have to offer and we hope you stay long enough to watch our firework show!"

"Oh yeah you guys have a firework show," I briefly remembered Keji mentioning something about a firework show when we were planning on how we were going to spend the festival together. "I've heard it's quite a spectacle to see."

"Yup! It's definitely the best firework show you'll ever see in Japan!" The volunteer assured. "And with all that's happened recently the organizers have gone all out to make sure this festival is one to remember!"

"I see…" I trailed off when I realized that I technically was part of the reason why they were putting so much effort into the firework show. "Well I hope you have a great night then."

"You too!" They waved us a goodbye before greeting the next person, leaving Sora and I to enter the festival grounds. Within minutes we found ourselves in the crowded lanes of the Kitsune Festival. With so many people all moving in their own directions, I made sure to keep a firm grip on Sora's hand as we pushed through the crowd.

The last thing that I wanted was to lose the girl in this sea of people.

Slowly but surely we were able to push our way out of the sea of people into an open space that I knew to be the agreed upon location where all of us were going to meet up at. It was fairly isolated from the main areas of human traffic so all I needed to do now was wait for everyone else to-.

"Haruto?"

I turned around and saw Mei in a dark purple yukata smiling as she approached me. You could tell that this was the finest yukata money could buy. Just how it seemed to be spun by the finest threads of silk, to the intricate flower designs that I knew only a personal tailor could make.

"Mei you look…beautiful." That was the only way to describe how she looked right now.

"Thank you Haruto," She smiled as she looked at my yukata, a deep crimson color with gold highlights. "You look very good in your yukata as well."

"You should be saying your thanks to Sora and Kiana," I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment at the reminder of how the two of them all but forced me to spend an entire day shopping. "They all but forced me to pick this yukata, though I wouldn't have minded any colored yukata."

"Because Haruto-niichan has no sense for fashion!" Sora berated as I could feel my cheeks turn red at being called out. "He would've worn a normal shirt and jeans to the festival if we didn't say otherwise!"

"W-Well in my defense-". I tried defending myself only for Sora to shake her head sadly at me. That look in her eyes all but told me I was only delaying the inevitable. "...Thank you Sora for choosing this yukata for me," I sighed in defeat as Sora beamed victoriously.

Mei laughed at our exchange as she held a hand to her mouth. "You must have an eye for fashion Sora."

The young girl beamed. "I want to grow up and be a fashion designer Mei-niichan."

The heiress smiled at the girls' enthusiasm. "And I'm sure that you'll have a very successful future." She looked at me and smiled. "After all you were able to dress up your brother." They laughed at the joke and all I could do was sigh.

"Hah hah, very funny."

"We also match Mei-niichan!" Sora walked over and stood side by side with the Massive Electric heiress. Both wearing shades of purple, I had to admit they almost looked like sisters. All Mei had to do was dye her hair a light pink to match Sora.

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice yelled. Parting through the crowd was Keji, in a bright yellow yukata, and Midori, who was in a light green yukata. "I hope we didn't take too long!"

"We just got here a minute ago," I replied as the pair walked over to us. "Did anything interesting happen on your side of things?"

"Unless you count the trains being filled to capacity then no," Keji answered as he checked his yukata to make sure that it hadn't gotten damaged in any way. "They must be going all out for this year, this is the first time that they're promoting the firework show this hard."

"It may be because of the coverage that Nagazora has been getting recently." Midori offered. "From the break-in of Massive Electric to the terrorist attack, there's been so much media coverage of this city that it was only inevitable that the festival organizers used that to their advantage."

I nodded my head as I could see where the undercover Valkyrie was going with this. "And if you account for Anti-Entropy being in charge of security, the organizers could have as many people as they want over here without fear of safety."

I didn't know whether to be scared or impressed on how the festival organizers capitalized on Anti-Entropy's presence. It certainly had to be ranked one of the best marketing moves that I had ever seen.

Mei looked around as she noted the absence of sound from a particular member. "Where is Kiana? I thought she came here before us?"

At the mention of the absence of the bombastic girl, we all looked around trying to spot the white haired girl but to no avail. "It seems kind of weird that she'd be the first here but be the last person we have to wait for." Keji commented.

"Maybe she's playing one of the booth games?" Sora said. "Kiana-niichan isn't one to be sitting around."

I nodded my head in agreement. "And she shouldn't have gone that far from this spot, so why don't we go and look for her? We can also stop by some of the food booths because I'm quite hungry." My stomach chose that opportune moment to growl loud enough for everybody to hear, much to my embarrassment.

"Yes maybe we should," Mei laughed at my predicament before the five of us began to tour the festival grounds.

The festival organizers truly spared no expense in making this a grand experience. Every festival food that I could think of was being served here. From takoyaki to yakisoba, you could have a five course meal here minus the expenses of having one.

And while we were looking for Kiana, I'm not afraid to say that we spent quite a bit of time visiting the endless sea of food booths here. From me ordering some takoyaki to Mei getting a stick of cotton candy, we all walked down the festival with food in our hands. I'm sure that Kiana wouldn't have minded if we got some food in our bellies.

Though in my defense it didn't take long for us to find where Kiana was as there was a sizable crowd surrounding a game booth. It was unmistakable with how they were cheering on two different people with some people going as far as placing bets on who they thought was going to win.

Also the unmistakable competitive shouting that was Kiana's was coming from within the crowd.

Seeing how we found where Kiana had went to, we pushed our way to the front to reveal the light blue wearing yukata girl holding a rifle in her hands. The Kaslana took a deep breath as she lined up her rifle's crosshairs with that of the target, which was a giant red bullseye. The closer your pellet was to the center of the target the more points you would get.

She closed her blue eyes as her breathing steadied before she suddenly opened them and pulled on the trigger. A pellet shot out of the barrel and hit it dead center, a perfect shot!

"We have a tie!" The vendor announced to which the crowd erupted into cheers as what was probably a tense game of gun-shooting. Many people came up and patted Kiana on the shoulder, congratulating her for her effort. It didn't even matter that she didn't win as in their eyes she and whoever her competitor had both won.

Speaking of her opponent I couldn't see who she was actually competing against due to where I was standing as Kiana's body was blocking the view of her competitor.

"Kiana!" I exclaimed as I raised my hand to tell her where we were.

The girl's head swerved to where we were and raised up her hand and waved at us. "Haru-senpai!" She shouted out as she moved towards us.

However as she moved closer to us, so too did she stop blocking the view of her competitor. And when I caught the glimpse of a gray haired ponytail, my heart dropped.

"Okay Haruto take a big deep breath before you start panicking." I mentally told myself as I tried to prevent my mind from panicking of why Bronya Zaychik of all people was doing here in Nagazora?!. Losing my calm without properly assessing the situation wasn't going to grant me any favors here

Bronya being here didn't necessarily mean that events weren't picking up yet, I could still have time to prepare myself for whatever was coming next. Besides, she could just be here to enjoy the festival, which wouldn't be that far of a stretch considering she had a giant homu doll strapped onto her back.

It was kind of cute to be honest.

"Haruto-niichan?" Sora's voice broke me out of my thoughts as I looked down to see the girl's fuchsia colored eyes looking at me in worry. It seems that I unconsciously tightened my grip on the younger girl's hand.

"Ah, sorry for that Sora," I apologized as I loosened my grip on her hand. "Just had a bad thought, don't worry it's fine now." I assured her as I pushed down the possible explanations why Bronya was here.

Tonight was meant to be a time spent with my friends, to enjoy this peaceful time in my life. I always had tomorrow to worry about the future.

"Did you see me Mei-senpai?!" It appears that only Sora had noticed my temporary distress as Kiana was currently bragging of her win streak against Bronya to the rest of the group. "That little girl stood no chance against me!"

Midori raised her eyebrow as she pointed out a flaw in the Kaslana's words. "Didn't your last game end in a draw though?"

Kiana just dismissed her words with a wave of her hand. "We played a bunch of games before that one and just as you would expect I won every single one of them without fail."

"The Bronya disputes that claim." Seems the undercover Valkyrie wasn't the only one contesting her words as the gray haired Russian girl walked up to us. "The Bronya has a higher victory count than Kiana."

"Eh!?" Kiana gave Bronya the stink eye as she faced her. "You're obviously wrong cause I remember beating you in every game we played."

"Kiana Idiotka does not have the capability of remembering anything."

"Idiotka!? Well right back at you then Bratnya!"

Before this clash of words turned physical, Mei stepped in as the mediator. "You're both winners. When I was watching the two of you play that game it felt as if the both of you were evenly matched. It was amazing to watch."

It seems that Mei's words pacified the both of them as Kiana stopped escalating the situation any further as she soaked in the heiress's praise whilst Bronya had a small smile on her face.

Watching the scene play out, I couldn't help but be reminded of how the trio acted in the real game. Bronya and Kiana getting on each other's nerves with Mei always there to prevent it from going any further.

"Some things just don't change," I couldn't help but think.

"It's almost like Kiana found her rival or something in Bronya," Commented Keji.

"Are you sure?" Midori looked at Kenji in confusion for his statement. "I thought Kiana found the one person that she'll never get along with. Like water and oil." She added her two cents in.

"Disregarding what you guys feel about their relationship at the moment is, I feel we owe Bronya-san an apology," My statement caught everyone off guard. "After all we are technically at fault for Kiana taking up Bronya-san's time. If we were here when Kiana texted us then she wouldn't have gone to that booth and Bronya-san would've been able to enjoy the festival in peace."

"If she's attending the festival alone then why doesn't Bronya-niichan join us?" Sora asked innocently, catching everyone off guard including the girl in question. "The more people we have the better, right?"

"It's not a bad idea," I added my two cents to which Kiana looked at me incredulously. It wouldn't hurt to develop a friendship with Bronya now that she was here.

"But why do you want Bratnya-,"

"It wouldn't hurt to have more people join our group," Mei was also in agreement. Keji and Midori both nodded as they couldn't find any faults with having the petite girl join us.

"Though we won't hold it against you if you want to enjoy this festival by yourself." I quickly assured the Russian girl that we weren't forcing her to join us.

The petite twin tailed girl looked at us with scrutiny, probably trying to get an understanding of everyone present, before she ended with Sora. The light pink haired girl gave her a bright smile and just for a split second I could see Bronya's emotionless facade break for a split second.

Oh she just got hit by Sora's puppy eyes didn't she?

Yeah there's no way you're saying no to that.

"...The Bronya shall join you," She said finally. Sora cheered while everyone seemed to be happy with the decision, minus Kiana who had a small pout on her face at the prospect of having her arch-nemesis joining the group.

"I think I speak for the rest of us when I say this, Bronya-san we're happy to have you aboard." I spoke with a smile.

"Likewise Subj-...Haruto-san," She responded with a small smile of her own.

"Hah?! Why do you greet Haru-senpai differently but not me!?" Kiana demanded as I resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Because Subject Kiana is an idiotka."

"Grr…I'll show you who's a-,"

"Bronya-chan I'm curious to where you came from," Out of everyone I expected to intervene Keji was not one of them. "I've lived in Nagazora for all my life but I don't think I've ever seen you before, are you visiting for the festival?"

Bronya nodded as she focused on Keji's question. "The Bronya comes from Russia."

"Russia?" Mei came in as she too was interested in knowing more about Bronya. "I've heard that it's very cold throughout the year."

"Da," She said in Russian. "The Bronya has gotten used to the cold though." Before long we began to move from our spot. Everyone was asking our newcomer questions about herself and Brojnya did her best to answer everyone's questions.

She was already getting comfortable with us it seems.

"Where are we going first?" I asked Keji right before we entered the ordeal that was trying to navigate this packed festival, which had grown significantly in attendees during the time we were being introduced to Bronya.

My friend simply grinned at me as he pointed to the hill that was at the center of the festival.

"Well if you want the full experience then it's only right that we start at the shrine of the deity this festival is celebrating in the first place."

The actual kitsune shrine was not as packed as the festival below, which was surprising considering that the shrine was the whole purpose of the celebration. The people currently present were either elders or curious attendees.

The iconic massive kitsune statue stood imposingly in the middle of the shrine. Even from a distance you could see the wear and tear that time had inflicted on the statue and it was only a testament of the builder's skill that the statue still stood to this day.

Flanking the main path were smaller kitsune statues, some in similar or worse states than the main statue. Taking a single step in this shrine felt as if you were taking a step through history.

"It's almost like it's watching me," Kiana muttered as she moved around the statue's main line of sight. I had to agree with her, it almost felt as if the statue was alive and its eyes were watching our every move.

It was unnerving to say the least.

"They say the villagers offered their prayers to the guardian deity on this day, asking for protections and blessings for the rest of the year." Explained Mei as we walked past the statue and approached the main structure of the shrine.

"And while history has scattered what little we know of that time, we've always strived to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors." Keji picked up where the heiress left off as we walked inside the structure, a shrine maiden wearing a kitsune mask bowed in greeting.

"We write our wishes down on a piece of paper and slip them inside the prayer box for the kami to fulfill!" Sora ended as we walked up to the table filled with paper and pens for attendees to write their wishes down.

"I'll be honest I've never understood why people do this," Midori admitted as she picked up a pen and paper. "It's not like they actually come true."

"I mean it's not like I actually believe that the kami exist or anything like that," Keji shrugged his shoulders before he began to write his wish down on the slip of paper. "But it's not like there's any harm in doing this."

"Careful Keji-niichan," Sora frowned as she looked at the yellow yukata wearing brown haired boy. "Oji-san said bad people will come after you if you say anything bad about the kami."

"I wouldn't exactly trust everything that Akhirio-san says," I sweatdropped, knowing that most of the time the old man was drunk and probably just rambling to the young girl.

"Don't worry Sora, the Bronya will protect you from the bad people." Bronya patted Sora's head with the child beaming back at her in response. Barely an hour since Sora had asked the Russian girl to accompany us and already they had grown very close.

"Haruto, what do you plan on writing down for your wish?" Mei asked as she held her already written slip of paper.

That was a good question, what was I going to write down? "I think I'll just write-."

"Haru-senpai you can't reveal your wish like that!" Kiana interrupted. "If you say it outloud then it won't come true."

"Doesn't that just apply to birthday wishes?" I asked as I didn't really see the problem with telling the wish I planned on writing down. I thought the reason why parents didn't let their children say what they wished for was because they were saying what they wanted for everyone else to hear.

"It doesn't matter!" Sora jumped to Kiana's aid. "If you say it the kami won't grant your wish, they'll think it's not important if you tell it to everyone around you."

"If you say so," I relented, not wanting to hear a lengthy explanation of why saying your wish out loud was a bad idea. "Though with how you're treating this I feel I need to write down something super meaningful."

Unable to outright think of anything to write, I turned around and watched the interactions of the room. From how Kiana was trying to think of the best possible wish to write down on her slip paper, to Mei trying to give helpful advice on what she should write, to Bronya leading Sora to the prayer box to drop off her wish, to Keji probably giving Midori some kind of history lesson on the shrine.

…I got it.

I quickly wrote down my wish on the slip of paper. Satisfied with what I had, I approached the prayer box and slipped in the piece of paper through the opening.

"I got it!" Seems I wasn't the only one to find what they wanted to write as Kiana triumphantly held up her completed slip of paper. Marching over to the prayer box the white haired girl deposited her wish, but not without giving the kitsune statue that was looming over the box a pat of good luck.

"Alright let's go!" With our purpose completed here, we left the shrine and descended our way back down to the festival grounds below.

Yet as we made our trek we were unaware of the fact that the eyes of the kitsune statue that Kiana patted had begun to glow a faint pink.

Beloved…is that you?

"I must be dreaming," I muttered in disbelief as I tried to convince myself what I was seeing was not actually happening.

"If you are then we must be sharing the same dream then," Keji was in agreement as his green eyes were wide in disbelief.

"Impossible," Even Bronya was in a similar state of utter shock, her normally emotionless eyes wide open as she tried comprehending what was happening before us. "It's statistically impossible for this to happen."

Midori, Mei, and Sora didn't voice their surprise but one look at their faces showed that they too were in the same state of mind as we were.

And what exactly were we seeing that had us in these states of shock?

"Woohoo another victory!" Kiana's arms shot up in victory as the vendor begrudgingly handed her the grand prize of the booth. While winning the grand prize was special, it wasn't to the point that it would have us all wondering if we were still in reality.

The numerous stuffed animals that I held in my arms said otherwise.

For you see right after we had left the shrine, it was only natural that we played some festival games. We were at the festival after all, it kind of defeated the entire point of coming here if we didn't play any games.

So we decided to play some games. Nothing spectacular happened, we won some games and lost others.

But when Kiana decided to play, it was as if the trip to the shrine had magically blessed her with some insane luck. Any action that she had taken somehow resulted in her being able to breeze through these games with relative ease.

Gun shooting? It would always hit the bulls-eye no matter what she did. Goldfishing? She could gather like four of them at a time and the net wouldn't even look close to breaking apart. String Lottery? Grand prize without even needing time to think of what string to pick.

And if we were to count this booth, Kiana had now won the grand prize five times in a row without fail.

Mei looked at me, wanting an answer, and the only one I could provide her was a shrug of my shoulders. How was I supposed to give her an answer that somehow explained Kiana having the luck of a god.

Pushing Kiana's sudden streak of good luck aside, there were other memorable moments of our time at the festival.

How Bronya absolutely destroyed a basketball shooting game after the booth runner made a joke about the Russian girl's height. The poor man was left in tears after the gray haired girl spent all of her allowance to take all of the good prizes.

Essentially she made the booth unplayable as there were other basketball shooting game booths at the festival that others would put their money into as they had the better prizes.

Fortunately Mei stepped in and assured the girl that money wouldn't be a problem so she didn't have to worry about not being able to play or eat.

"Don't worry Bronya-chan, I'll be more than happy to pay for you."

"But Mei-san-,"

"We're friends aren't we? And friends help each other out."

"...Thank you…Mei-neesama,"

Or how Midori almost drowned Keji for getting the lower half of yukata wet as a result of a game. The game in question was 'Yo-yo fishing', a game which involved the player having a hook connected to a piece of paper and you had to fish for water balloons without breaking that hook.

Keji knew how to play the game quite well, his first attempt he had somehow managed to snag two water balloons with his hook. The feat was quite impressive but the mistake he made was when he decided to show off his achievements to us. Shaking it accidentally had both water balloons fall off their hook and explode on the ground.

Midori unfortunately was right next to my fellow club member, her green yukata paying the price for his blunder.

It was funny though to see Midori's mask slip as she used her Valkyrie strength to try and attempt to drown the poor brown haired boy in the tank of water that held the water balloons.

Obviously she didn't go through but this event could now be something to hold over my friend.

"Midori!" Keji cried out before his face was pushed back into the tank, "I said I was sorry!" He managed to garble out in the water.

"Do you know how much I paid for this!" Demanded the undercover Valkyrie. "And I have to go through the entire night half wet!"

"I said I was-!" His head was pushed deeper into the tank, silencing him as he focused on trying to get out of his predicament.

Seeing how she was having such good luck, Kiana decided to have a rematch with Bronya in the same game that prompted their rivalry. It was a sound idea at first, using the momentum of so many victories against the Russian girl but the white haired girl forgot one thing.

That luck could go just as fast as it arrived.

A fact made evident as the moment Kiana tried to catch her first fish, the net broke on her.

She was quite in uproar because of that, even more so when Bronya managed to get ten fish on her first try. Even if she managed to hide it well behind her usual emotionless mask, I knew Bronya was feeling smug about her second victory.

Yet as we continued to enjoy the festival and all it had to offer, one thing did not change.

That the smile on my face never went away.

"So Kiana what do you want to do?" I asked as the two of us moved away from the group. It was getting quite late and with the firework display so close and so much of the festival that we hadn't been able to see, it was decided that splitting up into pairs would be much more effective to cover more ground.

Keji and Midori would be one pair, the latter still not happy with the earlier incident as her yukata's lower half was still damp.

Surprisingly Sora wanted to go with Bronya and Mei. It was surprising to see how far the two had bonded tonight, to the point that they almost acted like sisters.

Which just left me and Kiana as the last duo.

I wasn't expecting much to do with Kiana, probably hit up some food booths or play a few games before we met back with everyone else.

"Actually Haru-senpai…" Kiana looked at the still crowded festival. Even if it was late at night it didn't look as if the people attending had gone down, if anything it looked as if it had gone up.

"Could we go somewhere a bit more private?"

I turned around and gave her a confused look when I saw the rather serious look in her normally carefree blue eyes. "Uh, sure?"

Taking the lead Kiana led us to a bridge on the outskirts of the park, where there was barely anyone present. The red wooden bridge stood over a river that looped around the park which coincidentally also marked the edges of the festival.

"Actually I need to go grab something, can you wait here for a bit?" She didn't give me enough time to answer that as she spun on her heel and bolted out of sight.

Leaving me alone on the bridge to contemplate what was going on here, though it apparently didn't take long for her to come back. As she returned I saw that the white haired girl's hands were placed behind her as she took great effort to hide whatever she had brought back.

As Kiana stepped right in front of me, a smile so small but full of life as she held whatever she had brought behind her back, I could not help but begin to start to get nervous.

"Haru-senpai, can you hold your hands out and close your eyes?" She asked me with an unusual amount of gentleness, so far from the Kiana that I was used to.

Thrown out of the loop by this sudden change in behavior, all I could do was comply with her request by holding out my hands and closing my eyes. At this point I was expecting anything to happen, that's how off guard I was by Kiana's request.

My mind was racing with possible outcomes of this situation. She could be dropping anything into my hands and that big unknown was what was scaring me the most right now. More so when I had to fight Stalker Carbon or stare down Iudex.

And the moment of truth was upon me as I could feel some sort of soft object be placed into my open hands. "You can now open your eyes now."

When I opened my eyes I expected many things to be in the palm of my hand. My mind hadn't decided what to exactly expect but I had a list of what I could possibly be holding.

A Homu Doll dressed in the attire of a knight wasn't something that I was expecting. We were in a festival so I should've seen a stuffed animal being what I got but the sudden seriousness that Kiana had created in this situation made me think otherwise.

It was a great quality Homu Doll, from how it felt to how it looked. Alongside the knight helmet that had its iconic ears sticking out of it, the homu also had a sword and shield to complete the look.

"I wanted to thank you Haru-senpai for…everything," I shifted my attention away from the homu doll and back to Kiana. I was distinctly aware that my mouth had slightly opened up as I listened to this unexpected admission by Kiana.

"I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, I moved too much to make any lasting impressions on people." Kiana clasped her hands together. "And I didn't exactly make the best impressions with certain people so I thought it was best to simply avoid trying to bond with others."

"But then I came here looking for my father and met you," She smiled fondly as she looked me in the eyes. "I didn't think I would grow so close to you that fast."

"Kiana if anything I should be saying that to you," I spoke for the first time. "Your character, your charisma was what drew me in."

The Kaslana shook her head. "You showed me more kindness than anyone other than my father, helping me settle into Nagazora, introducing me to people like Mei-senpai and Keji-san, and helping me study for Ishigami-sensei's test." We both laughed at that one, the time where Kiana was only motivated to pass through the mention of food.

"...Also for risking your life to save me from the World Serpent." The ambient atmosphere that had been built up slightly fell at the mention of that dark time. It didn't go down to the point it became stifling but it did remind the both of us what we had survived.

What we had gone through to be at this very moment.

"I did what anyone in my position would've done," I assured her. " We Nakamuras don't abandon those we cherish."

"But you risked your life for someone you've barely met for a year, you could've walked away from it and lived your life normally." Kiana's eyes grew somber. "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't have…died."

Oh, was this still eating her up? I thought she had gotten past that with how she acted around me but apparently I was wrong.

"Kiana I-," I tried to interrupt her only for a small sob to escape her. My eyes widened when I realized that tears were beginning to build in her eyes.

"I've only known you for what, less than a month? I should have been wary of you but in truth it's the complete opposite." The Kaslana had a few tears rolling down her cheeks as she poured her heart out. "When I saw your battered body after Iudex had lifted its sword up it felt as if my entire world had shattered."

At such a confession, I didn't know how to respond back as the Kaslana continued on. "I've never felt more useless in my life when you threw my body away from danger." A few tears fell from her eyes and stained the bridge we were standing on.

"Why am I so weak?!" She cried out as the floodgates opened up. "If I was stronger then you and Midori-san wouldn't have needed to risk your lives trying to save me. If I was stronger than my father wouldn't have had to leave me. If I was stronger-!"

I didn't know what it was but seeing Kiana Kaslana breaking down right in front of my eyes just made my body move on its own. My mind barely registered the fact my legs had moved before I felt my arms wrap themselves around the crying girl, pulling her close to my body.

All was silent as I held her in my arms, rubbing soothing circles onto her back. I could distinctly feel Kiana's arms reach up and reciprocate the hug with a fierce one of her own. The sounds of people could be scarcely heard with the only sounds that you could hear was the sound of crickets and the river beneath us.

After being stuck in that position for what felt like an eternity, I finally broke the silence. "Never believe that you are weak Kiana," I assured her as I held her in my arms, trying to push every single positive emotion to the girl in my arms. "You're much stronger than you give yourself credit for."

Images flashed of the journey that Kiana Kaslana partook in.

When she allowed herself to use the Herrscher of the Void's powers back in Arc City, where she pushed past the pain and sorrow that came with being the vessel of the Herrscher and saved the city from destruction.

When she confronted the truth that she was a part of Sirin, the original Herrscher of the Void. That she was the wish of a girl seeking the love of a family.

When she stood victoriously over Sirin as the Herrscher personality relinquished the authority of its powers to her.

When she defied the deluded machinations of the Herrscher of Domination, burning through the darkness as the Herrscher of the Flamescion. Flaming greatsword pointed fearlessly at the last remaining theater puppet.

"You're the strongest person I know." I truthfully told her.

After what felt like another eternity had passed, Kiana's finally arms let go of me. The white haired girl wiped her eyes as I held the homu doll that she gifted me a bit tighter.

"Now we should probably go and find the-"

"Haruto there you are!" Keji's voice filled the air. Turning around from my spot on the bridge I could see the rest of the group approaching us. Even stranger was the fact that they seemed to be in the middle of a massive crowd moving in our direction.

"Looks like they found us," I commented, unaware that Kiana was moving closer to me.

"...Haru-senpai?"

"Yes Kiana-," I turned back around to the girl in question expecting to answer something she might ask only for my brain to do a double take when the white haired girl leaned up to my cheek.

And for something soft to come into contact with my cheek.

"That's my thank you for saving my life," She cheekily responded as she pulled away with a bright smile, seemingly back to her old self.

I could feel my cheeks turn bright red as I raised a hand to the cheek that Kiana had just…kissed.

Did what I think just happened actually happen?!

Just as I was about to ask what had happened between the two of us, the rest of the group walked up to us on the bridge.

"Haruto, Kiana-chan? Why weren't you answering your phones?" Mei asked, oblivious to what had just happened on this bridge a minute ago.

"Oh you guys were calling us?" Kiana rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment as she closed her eyes, giving the perfect excuse on why we couldn't hear our phones. "Sorry we were having too much fun with the games to hear it."

I decided just to roll with it, not at all eager to share what the two of us had just gone through to everyone. "Sorry, everyone. It was hard to hear with Kiana shouting and everyone else enjoying the festival."

That seemed to do the trick as everyone seemingly bought that, well all except for Sora. "...Haruto-niichan, why are your cheeks red?" She asked me innocently.

"H-Huh?" I stuttered out in surprise, not expecting the youngest out of everyone to notice my flustered state.

"The Bronya agrees with Sora," The gray haired Russian girl looked at me with those calculating eyes of hers. "Haruto-san's cheeks are experiencing an increase in blood flow."

"Now that you say that," Midori leaned in closer as she inspected my face. "His cheeks are pretty flush right now."

"Oh?" Keji had a shit-eating smile on his face. "Did some maiden choose to profess her love to Haruto when Kiana wasn't looking?"

"N-Nothing of that sort ever happened!" I exclaimed in denial, my cheeks growing more flush as a result. Never in my wildest of dreams did I think I was going to be having this conversation. "It's just really cold, ok! This yukata isn't exactly the warmest piece of cloth okay!"

As if to prove my point a breeze of cold air swept through the bridge, having most of us hold our arms to preserve our warmth.

"Okay, okay you're right!" Keji shivered as he struggled to stay warm, looking around for something in particular. "We should really get going soon, before the firework show-".

The sound of a whistle pierced through the air before the night sky in front of us exploded into color. The explosion of colors had us all turning to look out from the railings of the bridge to the night sky alighting with vibrancy.

"...You know isn't quite a bad spot to watch this from." Keji spoke about what we were all feeling as we simply watched this beautiful display of colors dancing across the starry night sky. All around us were similar states of awe as every festival attendee had their attention taken away by these fireworks.

All anyone in the city could focus on was this dance of vibrant colors taking place in the sky.

Kuro moved her way to the window of the apartment, settling into a comfortable position as she watched the fireworks from where she was.

Ishigami-sensei was in the midst of grading a stack of papers when the first sounds of fireworks went off. Lifting his head up from grading the paper right in front of him, the teacher looked as his windows gave him a front row seat to the firework show.

With a smile he lowered the paper that he was grading before standing up from his chair and making his way to the window. Before he left the desk however he delicately placed his glasses on the wooden surface, the lens reflection catching the firework display as the clone enjoyed the spectacle.

Akhiro and Akane both cheered loudly as the first of the fireworks went off. The two loudly toasted their respective cans of beer before chugging it down as the fireworks lit up the sky.

As the firework show continued its dazzling performance, all I could think about during that moment was what I wrote down on that slip of paper back at the kitsune shrine. It was a really simple wish…

Moving my head I looked to see similar states of awe and amazement on everyone else's faces.

Yes this was my wish…

I turned my head back around to watch the firework show, enjoying the rest of what this night had to offer. I was not sure what else would happen after this night but I knew that I would cherish the memories that I would make with everyone.

To have moments like these with everyone, and have them last forever.

As Haruto and the group were enraptured by the firework show, they were oblivious to the fact that a boat with a single occupant sitting at the end of it was making its way down the river. The identity of the sole passenger was indiscernible due to a bright pink umbrella.

Yet such a bright color would have drawn the attention of at least someone, curiosity compelling them to try and identify the lone boat passenger.

That was if they could even see the boat in the first place, for all they would see was an empty river with no signs of a boat. Even the splitting of the river's waves by the boat could not be seen as it continued making its way down the river.

As if an illusion was cloaking the boat from prying eyes.

"Hmm I must admit this is quite peaceful," The unknown person commented as they moved their umbrella slightly, revealing a yukata the same shade as their umbrella adorned with sakura flowers.

"Such a mundane activity, I would've thought humans foolish to enjoy this but I can see the appeal in this." They tilted their head upward to catch a glimpse of the backside of the redheaded human that had given her a plethora of emotions to experience.

Fear.

Anger.

Loathing.

Joy.

Curiosity.

"What an interesting human you are," She spoke to the redhead, even if he couldn't hear her. "I should hate you for depriving me of my original body but yet I cannot," The still unknown speaker, who was undoubtedly female, looked down at her body.

"I found myself preferring this body that I…'liberated' from its previous owner, after your little friend awakened that brat too early." After awakening and realizing her divine purpose she remembered how she was meant to awaken in the body of one of those detestable Flamechasers when the time was right.

Only to be forcibly separated by whatever entity that her host had encountered.

They still felt the shame of having been so easily triumphed.