Author's Note: Sorry for such another late update, but I've had to think and work on school. In the meanwhile, a lot of stuff is going on and we are in what I should call Chapter 7 or my Pre-assessment, seeing as I totally skipped the number six and the action part should fill that segment.

In other news, I am introducing a new character in this chapter as well, it is a character handed down to me by RYNO IV, who has entrusted me with this character. Hope you guys enjoy the latest update and keep those reviews coming, I literally FEED off of them. As it does take a lot of time and effort to write this stuff down in an at least decent manner, I would really appreciate it if I got some good reviews to boot me up, as doing this can get exhausting and rather demanding SOMETIMES, not all the time.

Arc II – Chp 7. ; 25 – Annual Exercision

A loud and boastful laugh filled the air. The morning sun rays shone through elegantly carved spaces of an elongated beautiful room draped in red and marble. Amongst an elevated stepping floor in the back center of the room sat the Pope of K.P.A. Italia himself, Innocentius, who had his legs over one another and rested his cocky head on his right fist. He looked amused as he read over a long report slowly scrolling down on a large signframe in front of him.

"This is priceless!" the man said with a laugh. He turned to the red archdemon to his right with a smirk. "It seems Musashi has put themselves in a rather tight spot. They have been captured by England and Tres Espana is after both of them! They are practically sandwiched in." He then let out another howling laugh.

"But, Your Holiness, do not forget that Musashi managed to best both K.P.A. Italia and Tres Espana at the same time when they did not have any Deadly Sin Armaments…" the archdemon, Galileo, told him. "I can make a safe assumption that they will undoubtedly work their way out of this so called mess."

"Hmm? You really think so?"

Galileo nodded as another door far behind him opened up revealing a maid carrying a fine glass of grape wine his direction. She approached the throne and held the plaster within reaching distance of the Pope with a smile. "Here you are, Your Holiness."

Innocentius merely took the glass into his hand and swiveled it around. Galileo eyed the Pope curiously before he took a sip.

"Something has come across my mind…" Innocentius lifted an eyebrow in curiousity to Galileo's statement. The archdemon cleared his throat before stating his question. "What I mean to ask is: How is it you were able to come across this kind of information. Statements of the students and these new mysterious transfer students, where is it all coming from."

The Pope smiled as he set the glass down. "Well, not long ago, I sent one of my rather close personal attendees to Musashi while they were down in Mikawa, just to keep a good trail of them. An automaton."

Galileo rose an eyebrow. "A machine?"

"Yes, a machine."

"You do know those things aren't as trustworthy as mercenaries are, right? They have a more righteous sense of "free will"."

"This one doesn't, I made sure of that…" The Pope took another swig of his wine. "She is of a more experimental capacity, a little research project of mine that is on going, something to combat what I've heard of being called, the "Shining Dark"…"

"Shining Dark?"

"Tes." The Pope turned to him. "About twenty or fifteen years ago, we came across some artifacts that may have belonged to a different world parallel to our own, a world that was indiscriminately destroyed and consumed by the dark and its inhabitants…" His features took a rather grim look. "Researchers have found out that all residents of that world were killed just by studying these fragments and they believe they may be related to the apocalypse in some way. Nobody really knows for sure, but it can be said our world is next, and then fighting each other will be the least of our concerns when that happens. So… I started an experimentation project to see if we could develop soldiers to combat against this dark threat that may or may not ever come. She was one of them."

"I see…" Galileo turned to the signframe. "And right now, she is on Musashi?"

"Tes. She is there, on Musashi, studying our current enemy, the enemy of the entire world, most specifically Class 3-Plum. Her model number is Laz-4MB7A, but I like to call her Amagi. She treated me well." He smiled at the ceiling. "Yes… Amagi, an experimental Combat Automaton, I wonder how she is doing right now…"

Elsewhere, the wind was breezing by, blowing long dark brown hair to the right in a calm sway. A girl was crouched on both feet, practically bending completely on the ground, it would appear as if she was sitting on her heels. Her eyes blinked, a fair shade of blue as she watched from afar what would appear to be a large group of students gathering on a tall wooden bridge leading to Musashi Ariadust Academy. She observed the group of students, their Chancellor catching her eye the most, but not in the way one would expect, but rather as a target.

"Chancellor Aoi…" The enemy of her nation.

The girl was wearing the female student uniform for Musashi, long flowing sleeves, tight body suit, and what looked like a large pair of black headphone cuffs. A black scarf with two straight dark purple lines decorated her neck, covering every inch of flesh up to her chin and the bulky headphones which were her audio receivers. Her height could only be compared to the short boy with the brown hair with the class, one of the new transfer students or maybe even Azuma.

"It seems they are getting ready for Physical Education. Not like it would be really important to relay this to His Holiness, but I really should study the way they fight and train, as to see if I can spot any weaknesses in their formation, but single and team/group efforts." She stood up, her scarf taking a little resistance to the wind and blowing with her hair. "I'll need to move quickly to assess their combat abilities in a proper manner, thus rendering this location unnecessary."

Up far ahead of her, far beyond her range of hearing, the teacher of Class 3-Plum, Makiko Oriotorai, was now turning around to face her students. "Alright, Class 3-Plum, assemble!"

Tsukasa eyed her from his slanted poise beside Shirojiro. "We're already assembled…"

Makiko scoffed amusingly at his statement. "Well, as I am sure you are already aware, this will be our second examination of your physical and combat abilities. We are doing this because-"

"Teacher!?"

Makiko turned her attention to the one who raised his hand up to his chest level. "Yes, Hituro?"

"Isn't everybody supposed to be present today? Well, where's Toussaint? I haven't seen him yet."

"Toussaint, eh?" Margot said with a smile, leaning close to him, causing the boy to smile awkwardly. "Sounds like you two are pretty close."

"Well, we were back then and I'd like to think it is still that way, despite how long it has been, ehehee…"

Kimi only smiled. "Well, I can assure you, the fanfic writer probably needs a good friend."

"Yeah." Toori happily cut in. "Didn't we originally get that big book about "How to Make 1000 Friends" for him before we gave it to Yoshino?"

"Uh, I think so, but…" Azuma put his fingers together. "I don't think he liked that joke very much, and I mean Yoshino by the way…"

"Didn't Neshinbara merely put the book away?" Tenzou said, turning to Toori.

The chancellor shrugged his shoulders. "How should I know, it was years ago, but he obviously didn't read it, otherwise we'd all be on such cooler terms with him."

""Cooler terms?" Did something happen?" Hituro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He thinks something happened, but it wasn't really that bad…" Masazumi said, crossing her arms. "It is probably why he is absent today too…"

Makiko shook her head. "To answer your question, Hituro, no. I don't think anybody here has seen Neshinbara today, so we'll just have to go on without him and he will have to accept probably the first F he's gotten in all my years of teaching."

Hituro gazed down to the side as Toori let out a small chuckle.

"What are you laughing for, idiot?" Shirojiro said, turning to Toori. "That's over 50 F's he's got less than you."

"Oh, your words are so kind, Shirojiro." Toori waved it off with a smile, which Shirojiro measly responded with a slight scoff.

"Actually…" said a new, low voice from behind Makiko. The group perked their heads and turned to the direction of the voice to see Neshinbara coming up the last step, his bandages were changed and minorly dirty. "I guess I'd be counted as "tardy" now, but I won't be taking that F today…" He didn't smile at his comment, but was rather more serious about it. Masazumi could still catch hints of depression lingering in his dry voice, but she was glad to see him finally out of that dark room.

"Toussaint!" Hituro cried out, sprinting up to him. The shorter boy stopped in front of the secretary, smiling up at him. "I was starting to worry."

"Hey…"

Hituro could tell he was trying to find his name in his mind. "Hituro."

Neshinbara lightly bonked his head. "Sorry, Hituro. I haven't been thinking right lately." The other boy smiled lightly at him.

"I don't take offense to it, after all, it has been several years."

Makiko smiled at Neshinbara. "So, what got you to come up here today?"

Neshinbara tilted his head in Masazumi's direction. "A little pep talk, I guess…" Masazumi could only smile lightly at him.

"Well then…" Makiko waved her hand and opened a new signframe containing the register for her students' status, and scrolled down to Neshinbara's name and tapped "present". "I believe that accounts for everyone." She swiped the interface closed. "Assume your position with the rest of the class, you two."

"Yes, ma'am." Neshinbara bowed to her briefly as Hituro continued ahead. Neshinbara then proceeded to the rest of the group when Toori caught his sight.

"Hey, Neshinbara! Glad to see you're feeling better!" He held a hand up in greetings with a wide smile.

Immediately, the clerk felt a sharp stab in his right hand, an urge to grab Toori's neck. It was the curse, trying to force him to kill his "king" and complete the role. He had to resist it. Keeping silent and turning away quickly, Neshinbara sped up to the group's side. Masazumi watched him as he moved between Noriki, Adele, and Genji.

"Alright, everybody! Listen up!" Makiko announced. "This is abnormal, I know, but because of circumstances, I'm initiating the "Athletics Training" once again this year. Normally, we only do this once per year, and not too long ago, we already commenced this exercise. This time…" Makiko smiled, showing her teeth. "I am making it a requirement for the entire class to land one hit on me."

Following her statement, a loud gasp followed.

Hit her?! Tomo's eyes widened at the task. How can we do that? What has changed about in the past three weeks? What does she see?

Tsukasa merely blinked at her.

"That's it?"

"That's it." Makiko confirmed.

Tsukasa stood straight and faced Makiko with half-lidded, but furrowed eyes. "Are you telling me that this is all about landing a hit on you?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Tsukasa clenched a fist. "Well, that shouldn't be too demanding."

"Careful, Tsuka…" Margot said, catching the boy's attention. "It may sound simple, but so far, none of us have been able to land even one blow on her, we only nearly came close to hitting her the last time."

Tsukasa's eyes widened. "Whoa… really?"

"Really." Margot said in a darker voice.

Tsukasa turned slowly to his new teacher. "Well, we'll see how long that record lasts with us."

Kuina nodded quickly with an enthusiastic smile. "Yeah, this is gonna be fun!"

Makiko smiled. "Well, let's hop to it. You may use all opportunities open to you, any kind of abilities; it will be all or nothing!" At once, she sped around and dashed off with intense speed in the opposite direction of the students. "Come on, lazy bones!"