February 2014

"It's a day to celebrate, I believe."

It was finally happening. With so many months of engineering and collecting, she finally managed to create an artificial Honkai-rich environment.

Utilizing ME corps and, by extension, Ryoma Raiden's monetary capacity, enough Honkai crystals were collected to start the process. What really took up so much time was creating a mini-Honkai reactor but, thankfully, the process was mitigated somewhat. With ME technicians, something that would have taken several years to make was created within just 4 months.

Cocolia was ecstatic, but she knew she needed to subdue it for now. While it was a step towards releasing Seele from her quantum prison, it was merely a single step. She needed to be prepared to capture the Herrscher as soon as it had awoken. Schicksal won't be too far behind once the radiation hits the limit.

"Is everything ready?" Cocolia asked, staring into a screen that showcased the entire city of Nagazora.

Her only response came from her earpiece. "Yes, Ma'am. However, I should remind you that we'll be pushing the Honkai radiation to an unknown limit to cover the entire city."

"It's not your job to tell me this," Cocolia spoke back to the voice in her ear. "Your job is to maintain the increase of Honkai energy the Gem gets."

The goal was to force the Gem of Conquest, a powerful spoil of war Anti-Entropy got from the 2000 Honkai war, to stimulate itself from large amounts of Honkai energy and create an artificial Honkai eruption. This will force the Gem to immediately find a compatible host amongst the millions that lived in the city. The main target happened to be Raiden, Mei, who held a legendary stigmata, but Cocolia wasn't opposed to another if the Gem chose them instead.

Similarly, this would be perfect for her secondary project. The DNA of a powerful Herrscher might be the exact thing to mold the other kid's own with. Whatever powers the kid had mixed with the Herrscher's could be just the thing to make this horrendous world finally safe for her children.

"Ma'am, are you sure-"

"Completely," Cocolia said with finality. "Began submerging the Gem of Conquest in Honkai radiation."

"A-Ah, yes. Should we evacuate after?"

Cocolia sighed at this. These techs weren't as bright as their accomplishments suggested. She, herself, had already fled the city along with Bronya, knowing that she couldn't survive the eruption. Bronya and several teams would be sent in later, but only after the after-shocks were finished.

"What do you think?"

"Very well. Activating the reactor at maximum."

Character-Change: Phillip

Phillip was exhausted.

Ever since the restaurant incident, he has been batting off old customers and investigators from entering the building. At first, a simple sign and what little rope was left was able to convince the majority of the populace that the restaurant was under maintenance. However, in the middle of January, more and more people were trying to get a glimpse to understand why it was still shut down.

It took more than a couple of diversions and clones to keep them from doing so, but the number was still growing. So much so that he left several clones to handle the mess while he was away at school.

That, however, didn't go into the amount of official personnel that would come by. From police officers coming by to alert him of things he already knew, government agents to get details on the maintenance and supply, and even debt collectors coming to take back what Sho owed. The last two were easy enough: flash enough goods and be 'generous' and they leave you alone (thank god the slavers were dumb enough to keep everything in pocket). The first, however, required some acting and suggesting, and Phillip was terrible at acting. He was lucky Gabriel was around to tell him how to convince those that came.

It especially didn't help that, for the last few weeks, Phillip's senses kicked in. They alerted him that something was about to go down, and he should be paranoid at least. He had been sending out as many clones as possible to every point in the city, even places he had deemed out of bounds before, to figure what was about to happen.

The library was perfectly fine, but ME corps had been exactly like he thought it would be: overly-protected.

To ease off the tension, he had tried to go to the forest to fix whatever he could but he felt even more uncomfortable there than in the city. It felt like something was stalking him, waiting to strike at the best moment. Phillip eventually decided to not go back.

As of now, Phillip was in the school bathroom, washing his face to snap himself from the uneasiness he was feeling. He splintered away from Mei and Kiana with the hopes that Kiana would fend off any students that went after Mei, something that had increased in both numbers and severity.

It had gotten to a point that Kiana had been caught trying to battle her own classmates and Mei had to be near Phillip constantly after the last time she left him alone. The principal gave him detention for a few days, but Phillip still got out long before the kid came back.

Similarly, Phillip had forgotten how many times he had to rend Mei's desk apart and find replacements, just before school started, to prevent Mei from seeing the insults that were being written in permanent ink. He wanted to simply replace it with another desk in school, but a sudden loss of a desk would rouse suspicion he didn't want to be tied to Mei.

Phillip sighed at the memories and brought his cupped hands to splash cold water against his face. He leaned forward and placed his head underneath the faucet, soaking his hair and cleaning off the spitballs that have been shot at him from students.

I'm killing them at some point.

"Doubt that. Regardless, we need to confirm what your senses believe. It should be happening soon and we need to be ready."

You always seem to understand that better than me, Phillip replied as he rubbed his hair down with paper towels, which he dispensed into a large bin.

"I've lived inside you for a while now."

Phillip nearly spoke back when the entire school shook hard. Out of the single window of the restroom, a large purple dome appeared from the center of the city and began to expand to the edges. Energy flooded the school soon after, filling every space and tainting the air. Phillip stood still from the aftershock, slightly stunned, before noticing his hands.

The pink-purple lines from before returned, already getting to his elbows, and traveled faster than before. Gabriel took quick action to force them to recede, though the process proved to be more painful than the last time, sending Phillip to his knees.

The hell?!

"The energy hit everywhere, instead of a single point. I prevented the brunt of it, but I wanted some data on the effects it had."

And?

"I'll tell you later. You should focus on the other two."

Phillip's eyes widened. Kiana and Mei were out there and definitely didn't have his unique advantages.

Willing himself back to his feet and exhaustion washed away, Phillip didn't hesitate in barging through the door of the bathroom and into the hall. What waited for him there reminded him of the effects of the Imprisoned One on Tatooine.

Students filled the halls, but something was off with them. While their clothes remained the same, their skin had turned gray, they swayed as they walked and groaned with every step. As he came out of the bathroom, all of them turned to him and charged forward, none of the lag they had prior.

"So that's what happens if you were enveloped by the Honkai energy."

Phillip didn't care. He quickly analyzed the crowd to find any traces of either Mei or Kiana. Seeing neither, Phillip coated his hands with blue electricity and sliced through the first few zombies with a side slash from his right hand.

"Get the hell out of my way!"

Character-Change: Kiana Kaslana

Kiana clicked through her "phone" as she leaned against a bookcase. She had excused herself from Mei a floor after Phillip left to handle the ringing it gave out, believing Mei would simply climb the stairs to the roof, a place most people still didn't go to due Phillip-sen- Phillip's reputation preceded him.

Kiana still wasn't sure if he deserved to be called "senpai" just yet. Sure, the two of them talked quite a bit, and the arguments died down to nothing the last few months. However, he reminded her of her father, sometimes a little too much. Maybe the "pervert" part was more on her part than his, but there were a few other ways he reminded her of the old man.

Anyways, Kiana was currently at the library to look through the device in her hand. The "phone" really didn't function as a phone: there was no way to communicate with other people and there was only one app. However, this one app was exactly what Kiana needed at the moment.

The app was special in that it was capable of determining sources of high Honkai energy. The device she had been using to track down her father was flaring up with activity. It gave off a bright light and beeped like crazy, which was the reason Kiana left Mei, playing it off as a call.

Kiana was trying to figure out exactly what caused it to act up like this. If it was a beast, the phone would rumble, not flare up like this. It was more likely that something bigger was coming, but what exactly? A Judgement-class? Or would it be...

Kiana looked out the window next to her, slightly exasperated. It was from there that she noticed the thunder clouds from earlier seemed to congregate near the center of the city. Not a second later, a large pillar of light leaped from the ground to the sky, pushing the clouds away.

Kiana braced herself for the shockwave, keeping herself from falling as the school shook.

"A Honkai eruption? Here!?"

Her whisper was hushed by the sudden sound of screams that echoed through the room that slowly turned into guttural groans. Knowing what was meant to come, Kiana pulled her guns from her bag: twin pistols wielded akimbo. Sneaking close to the corner of the bookcase, she noted several students that gave low groans. Not wanting them to make the first move, Kiana shot the only two that were at the far end of the room in front of her, before turning the corner to handle the rest.

Once the library was cleared, Kiana began prep work. Counting the clips in her bag, her mind wandered to her friends.

She didn't have too many worries for Mei in this scenario. Girls always had the advantage when it comes to Honkai adaptability. Given who Mei was and what ME Corp was, it was likely she had a high resistance to the energy.

Her fear was Phillip. The only known males with good resistance were from very strong families, like Kaslanas. So, anyone born outside of those lines was likely to become these zombies. Considering Phillip's looks, he wasn't connected to these families and it was certain he was already-

Kiana snapped herself out of these thoughts. She had to think positively. Once she got Mei, the two of them could comb the school and the city for the one male. Maybe Phillip was extremely lucky and had a strong enough resistance to fight off the eruption's effects. She thought all of this with a smile.

A smile that didn't meet her eyes.

Character-Change: Raiden, Mei

Mei stumbled onto one of the roof's benches, tears already filling her eyes.

Phillip left suddenly once they met up with Kiana. Mei knew that the boy was getting more and more fatigued as time passed, and he couldn't hide the spitballs that were stuck to the back of his head. She knew he would simply tell her that she shouldn't worry, but the guilt that he had to defend her hurt more and more.

Not too long after, Kiana left to handle a call from her phone. Mei didn't want to bother the girl, knowing the call could probably be truly important. However, she couldn't stop herself from becoming scared as the two people that protected her were no longer around. She was afraid of what the students would do now that she became safe to attack.

She had every right to be, it seemed.

Almost instantly, the student's jeers and taunts became far more volatile. Every attack against her name would be followed with thousands more. She tried to quickly traverse the stairs to minimize the amount, but students were quick to pick her out of the crowd. An immense crowd followed her up the stairs, sending as many insults as possible before she cleared the roof doors. Only then did the mob finally die down, not wanting to enter that area without a warrant.

To be honest, the taunts against her specifically weren't too bad. After so many months of dealing with it and friends that helped, she had gained a small resistance to them. Rather, the insults done to her friends hurt the worst.

A large amount of the students seemed to believe Phillip came from a shady alley, that where he came from was home to slavers and he was hired to pull girls out of the school to sell. That the only reason he was her friend was that he could sell her for a good price.

Then there was Kiana. Apparently, she was a whore that slept with every teacher to stay in the school. It was the only easy-to-explain reason why she even managed to get into the school, much less how she stayed in it once her grades were shown.

Instead of thinking these things to be out of her control, her mind latched to the one thing she thought could explain why the students now went after her friends: the relationship they had with her. If they weren't her friends, if they didn't know her, maybe they wouldn't be attacked like this. They didn't deserve to be hated just for being her friends.

Her thoughts were silenced as the doors of the roof were opened. She turned swiftly, hoping beyond hope that one of her friends had come back to help ease off her struggles.

It wasn't.

A blonde-haired boy stood by the doors, wearing the standard school uniform with a black shirt. He had a devilish smirk on his face as he strolled up to her.

Every part of her told Mei that this boy wasn't meant to be trusted, no matter what. Phillip had stated that there was someone she shouldn't talk to, and find any way of staying away from him. This boy matched the description Phillip gave her, so there was probably a reason why.

"Hey," the boy said, raising both hands to show gentleness as Mei got up off the bench. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"What do you want?"

The boy lowered his hands, still smirking. "You must have heard what everyone said about your friends." Mei flinched at this, causing the boy's smirk to widen. "You can't trust those two. They're simply using you, and will dump you once you've outlived your usefulness."

Mei's eyes widened at this. Not out of shock, but disbelief. "Wha-"

"What would a kid who lives at a restaurant need for someone to make him lunch? And the girl," the boy started, laughing at the mention of Kiana. "That whore only wants you to do her work for her. Maybe even hoping to suckle on what little money your family actually makes"

The way the boy talked like he knew her friends, sickened- no, infuriated – Mei. He had no idea how much these two made the pain from the school all the easier to bear. There wasn't a thing this one person could say to change the months she and her friends had.

"I won't hear another word!" Mei said, with far more finality than she meant. "You don't know them like I do, and if all you have to say is slander against them, then I won't listen."

The boy's smirk faltered down to a frown. The confident air he had disappeared, and he stood silent for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"You stupid bitch."

Mei didn't flinch when he said this but did take a step back when he began marching up to her. The boy stopped her from getting too far by grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards him. It was then, as the boy held her arm high above her head, that she noticed he towered over her.

"Your criminal family is going underground and is dying. You should have had to sell yourself to your betters in class just to sustain yourself."

The boy shook her hard with every word as if the action would convince her that he was right. Mei didn't want to attack, didn't desire violence. However, another part of her demand she took action, to show this creature that it had no right to harming her.

The inner conflict only made her cry.

"Instead, you began to hang out with some no-name ass from an alley, and some freshman whore with no future." The boy began to gaze over her body, hungrily. "It's time you learned your place: as my slut."

The world seemed to stop at this point. Mei didn't try to struggle out of the boy's grip, but the boy didn't seem to act against it. Everything seemed to have become calm before the terrible storm that awaited her.

That's when the voice spoke.

"Are you fine with this?"

H-Huh?!

"This boy, this animal, attacks you and you give no resistance. Are you simply going to accept this aggression without retaliation?"

I-I don't want to-

"Why are you sniveling?! Your fate is to be a queen of this world, not some slave behind the collar of humanity! Show your strength!"

P-Please, Phillip-kun. Kiana-chan.

"Calling on those that abandoned you at your time of need? You truly are a coward."

A blinding light spilled from somewhere in the city, shaking the building and causing the boy's grip to loosen on the now-limp girl. Not too long after, a purple wall of energy overcame the campus and lightning began to dance across Mei's body.

"Very well then. If you won't overcome this obstacle, then lay down and let me handle carrying out our fate."

Mei's thoughts were overcome by this new presence, one the locked down her consciousness to the back of her mind. In her place, something else flooded to the surface.

Back to the real world, the boy dropped the girl completely, holding his now numb right arm. Mei rose from her knees to her feet, before opening her eyes to show slit pupils, surrounded by blood-red irises. The boy looked at her with fear, slowly backing up from the transformed girl.

"Y-You're a demon!"

"A demon?" The girl asked, calmly and coldly. "How dare you insult a goddess." The boy opened his mouth to say more, but "Mei" appeared before him, floating, and clamped her left hand over his mouth. "A dog like you needs discipline." The boy screamed as electricity scorched his body, stopping only after several seconds.

"Unfortunately, I can't kill a cur like you at the moment." The boy whimpered at the girl's tone. "You see, I require a messenger. With most of the human populace turned into my willing corpses, I need someone with a sliver of mental power."

The boy nodded vigorously at this.

"Good," the girl said with a sadistic gleam in her eyes. "Find the other named 'Phillip', bring him to me alive." With another nod as her answer, she dropped the boy. "Then be gone with you. I want my prize sooner rather than later."

The boy spat a few times to rid his mouth of the blood that began to well in it. "What do you want that no-name-" A bolt of lightning stuck next to him, causing the boy to scamper back into the school.

With the boy now gone, "Mei" rose a hand to the sky, forming clouds above the entire city. Soon, rain began to pour, filtering out the screams and destruction that happened in the city below. "Mei" rose herself into the air, as five purple wings appeared on her left side, and sighed contently.

She always preferred this weather, one of the few things she and her host could agree upon.

Character-change: Kiana Kaslana

Kiana finished off the last of the zombies that filled the hall on her floor. She didn't bother looking through the classrooms, as she was almost certain that Mei was at the roof. As the last zombie fell before her, she replaced the empty clips and started towards the stairs.

However, her way was blocked off as a blonde buffoon came tumbling down them. Kiana stopped the over-grown klutz from running himself directly into a wall but was wary of the fact that he just came from the roof. The boy definitely wasn't Phillip, so if he had gone up to torment Mei, stumbling around would be the least of his worries.

However, Kaslanas protect the weak, so she'll make sure he was okay... for now.

"Hey! Are you okay?"

The boy jumped at her voice but calmed down when he looked at her. "Oh, it's just you." The boy paused for a second before talking again. "Hey, do you know where that no- er... where Phillip would be."

Kiana nearly flinched at this. She didn't need to remember that one of her actual friends might be a zombie at this point. Right now, Mei was the one she was going to help, after this survivor.

"You should worry about yourself. Guys tend to not last long at this point."

The guy grunted as he stood to his full height, completely eclipsing Kiana. "I'm fine. I just need to find that Phillip guy."

Kiana didn't feel the need to pop the guy's bubble. "Well, if you want my suggestion, get out of the building and then out of the city."

"Yeah, I wasn't planning to stay here any longer than need be." The guy said, before muttering, "That whore can't make me do anything."

A clap of thunder shook the building, causing the boy to slump into the fetal position and Kiana turned to look at the closest window. It was only now that she noticed the storm surrounding the school, her focus was lost on handling the zombies prior.

For some reason, the storm didn't seem natural to Kiana. Maybe it was the way it was formed, or how the clouds moved. It all just seemed off to her. Before she could turn away, however, a flash of purple lightning struck close by.

Purple lightning?

That was enough to tell Kiana she was right.

"Hey! Get out of here while-" Kiana started, twisting around to warn the survivor. He was no longer close by though, already bolting down the other set of stairs. Kiana sighed at the coward, before climbing the stairs to the roof's door. She kicked through the door and walked onto the roof, looking over to the benches for Mei-senpai.

What was actually waiting for her was something else.

"Mei-senpai?!"

Mei gave her an unconcerned glance before looking back out to the city, thunder ringing out from a distance.

Mei felt... different. No longer was she the gentle, kind-hearted girl in need of a confidence boost (who was also great at cooking). What stood before her was a cold, spiteful woman. Kiana didn't believe something like that could happen so suddenly, but it was staring her in the face right now

"Mei-senpai, what happened to you?!"

Mei gave a loud sigh, before floating down to the roof, landing on her feet. "So, you're the precious 'Kiana-chan' this girl goes on about." She turned to mean Kiana's eyes. "I was hoping to drain the male before breaking you, but maybe my host's spirits will give in when she sees you beaten."

Kiana's eyes widened slightly before she gave Mei a cocky smile. "Then the real Mei's still alive in there, huh?" Kiana dropped her bag and brandished her gun, her left arm outstretched and the gun pointed correctly, while her right was bent to be closer to her breasts, gun laying on its side.

"Well, then, sorry miss..."

"Mei" chuckled darkly. "I am the 3rd Herrscher. The one who will truly ruin humanity." She floated back into the air, arms stretched out from her sides and legs crossed at the ankles. "Repent, worm, for I am the Herrscher of Thunder!"

Character-Change: Phillip

Phillip pulled his hand from the head of the last zombie. He had been through every class on the floor in search of Kiana and Mei, but there wasn't a hair of them on his floor. He both hoped that they made it to the roof and hoped they didn't, believing the school held some prevention in comparison to outside.

Rushing back through the door of the final classroom, Phillip took off down the hall for the stairs. He got there in no time at all but was stalled when he noticed an actual survivor. It was the person he didn't think would live.

The blonde kid laid on the stairs, holding onto his left arm with legs sprawled about. He seemed to have grown several inches since they last talked. The boy once stood one inch below Phillip, but now covered the width of the staircase and some feet up the wall with his body.

He didn't notice Phillip until he was right in front of him.

"Heh," the blonde boy chuckled. "Finally found ya, but I'm too slow for that."

Phillip saw purples lines on the boy's hands and they were starting to invade his face. Phillip stepped over the boy and knelt next to him to get a closer look. Some parts of skin changed pigment to dull gray, similar to the zombies from before, and the boy's eyes seemed to drift farther apart.

Is there any way to...

"Wasn't this someone you disliked at some point?"

…

Phillip felt Gabriel's exasperation. "Yes, your healing should be able to aid him, but you know the consequences of doing so."

Phillip nodded to himself and extended his right hand forward. A shimmer covered it, and Phillip leaned forward to place it against the boy's clothed arm.

The boy slapped it away.

"What, you think I need your help?!" The boy exclaimed, struggling to get to his feet. "I don't know what you're playing at, but I won't accept anything from that demon bitch!"

Phillip's hand lost the shimmer as it clamped around the boy's neck. The two's eyes met, and Phillip's had narrowed, daring the other to lie.

"Where?"

Character-Change: Raiden, "Mei"

"Mei" crumbled against the roof, struggling to get back up.

Sure, it hadn't been very long since her "birth" that this fight occurred, but her opponent was a simple human! She was supposed to be a god in comparison! Instead, this entire battle had this human beating her from one end of the roof to the other.

Did it have something to do with her heritage, this Kaslana clan? Or was there some truth in the human's loud boasting about being some "Super Kaslana"?

"Mei" growled as she finally rose back to her feet, glaring at her opponent. She rubbed her wrist below her lip to clear up the saliva forced out from her from the battle.

"Worm," she snarled. "I'll make you pay for humiliating me!"

"I don't care!" Kiana yelled back. "Give me back Mei-senpai!"

"Your 'Mei-senpai' gave me control!" The Herrscher snapped. "That coward desired, more than anything else, the destruction of this world! It just so happened you and that boy kept it at bay for so long."

"Liar! Mei's a sweet girl, even if she was hurt deep down." Kiana stomped forward, nearly charging down the Herrscher as she dropped her guns. "Now shut your mouth, and let Mei-senpai go!"

The Herrscher growled again, but more to herself this time. Damn it, I need more Honkai energy to feed on, and I'm losing too much fighting this insect. She came to a decision.

"Very well," the Herrscher stated. "I'll give you back your precious 'Mei-senpai'." She then gave an unnerving smile to Kiana. "Just remember that I WILL return, and I'll enjoy tearing you piece by bloody piece." After giving a lengthy, haughty laugh, she slumped to the ground.

Kiana ran up to her. "Mei-senpai!" Once she grabbed the girl by the shoulders, Kiana gave her a few shakes, earning a few groans and the fluttering of eyelids for her efforts.

"K-Kiana-chan?"

Kiana sighed away the stress she was holding back and pulled Mei up to stand. "Good, you're back to normal."

"N-Normal?" Mei asked, swaying slightly as she placed her right hand over her eyes. "Wait, does that mean-" Mei began to remember what had happened: her sudden transformation, the explosion from earlier, and the terrifying yells. Mei understood that not all of it was her fault, obviously, but her other self and the way she said those things...

Can she really be without fault for this? What if more people were being hurt simply by her being here?

"It's alright, Mei-senpai!" Mei was pulled from her thoughts at the energetic sunshine that was Kiana. "We'll start heading out of town, and then we'll be home free!"

Mei, however, immediately thought about something else. If she was to go with Kiana, then Kiana would be in danger just by her own presence. If they met up with Phillip, he would be too...

If they met up...

Mei's hands flew to her mouth, tears running down her face. Kiana knew about what happened to her, but Phillip? What would he think of this? Would he leave her, like her father before him? Mei didn't want to think this, but the thought came to her anyways.

All of this; the situation, her thoughts. It was all too much.

Mei took a step back from Kiana, eyes hidden by her bangs. Kiana noticed the action and reached out to grab her arm. Instead, Mei took a few more steps back, before making a full sprint to the edge of the roof. She rested her hands on the steel railing.

This railing had seen better days. From the sparring that Kiana and Phillip had, several dents and scratches littered it. The group had always believed that the rail would break at some point. Kiana commented that she would stop Phillip from falling off, even though she was the reason that the rails had so many dents.

This thought did little to calm Mei. She stared over the edge, down to the courtyard below. It held a few sports fields on it, and there was a perfect white walkway just below.

A perfectly white slab, Mei thought glumly, that would be stained red soon.

"Mei-senpai!"

Mei looked back over her shoulder. Kiana stood a few feet away, her right hand reaching towards her. Mei gave a smile, before stepping onto the railing. She turned back to look at Kiana, who was now wide-eyed.

"Thank you, Kiana-chan. The time with you and Phillip was the best time of my life."

Then, she leaned back, off the side of the building.

As she began to fall, she thought back on the time she had spent on this despicable planet.

The few years she remembered with her mother, the even fewer moments with her father. Her elementary school and middle school years were okay, mild teasing aside. Heck, even her first year in high school was great, before-

She didn't want to think about the bad times, only the good. And this last year was set to be the best. While it started terribly, she gained two true friends along the way and they slowly healed the pain that was dealt with her.

She had no regrets about ending it here, with two great friends and knowing they won't be hurt by her anymore.

This, however, all came to a stop when she did.

She misjudged how fast Kiana could be if needed. Right now, her wrist was in the firm grasp of Kiana's left hand.

Mei couldn't even kill herself correctly. She truly was a damn coward.

Mei looked back up at Kiana, but couldn't stand looking at the wide, blinding grin the girl set down to her for long before her gaze went returned to the building.

"That was a close one, huh?"

"W-Why?"

Mei needed to know why Kiana-chan would want to save her at this point. The being inside her tried killing Kiana. Why would she-

"Because I want to! I'll save you as many times as it takes for you to know that you'll be safe with me!"

Mei stared wide-eyed back up at the girl, who still had that brilliant smile on her face. She could feel her heart warm as it pounded in her chest like a war drum.

It was at this point that thunder clouds subsided, and the sun began peeking through, right behind Kiana. The sight would be forever ingrained in Mei's mind.

"Don't worry," Kiana said. "Once we're done here, we'll go find Phillip, alright? I'll explain everything, and if he don't like it, I'll beat him good!"

Mei wanted to laugh at this, her heart set to burst from joy, but something prevented her from doing so: the groans of metal being pushed to its limit.

"Um, Kiana-chan..."

"Yeah, um, could you help me pull you up? Gravity isn't really on my side here."

Outside of Mei's view, the doors to the roof slammed open. This sent a shockwave with just enough force to cause the weakened railing to finally break off. Kiana fell forward, following Mei towards the ground. In a feeble chance to sustain contact, the two grasped onto each other's hand harder than before.

This, too, came to a sudden stop. Mei was now hanging just away from the second set of windows, while Kiana had replaced her original position upside-down. Mei tried to look past Kiana, but she kept getting distracted by a flash of blue she wasn't trying to find, thanks to Kiana's skirt position. However, she did notice that two hands had grabbed Kiana by the ankles.

"Are you alright?"

That voice, Mei thought, her heart jumping into her throat.

Moments-Before: Phillip

"God. Damn. Stupid. Fucking. Zombies." Phillip chanted this as he slew more and more of the buggers. He knew they were in classrooms on the new floor and they just broke out, but that doesn't mean they don't annoy the hell out of him. He could use some of his more AoE attacks, but he wanted the building to remain, you know, stable.

Once the hallway was cleared, he traversed by a new staircase, the one that actually reached the roof, but zombies flooded there too. He cleared them out as soon as possible, but not fast enough to ease off his feelings of anxiety. He then kicked open the doors and scanned the area.

In almost slow-motion, he noticed Kiana and that she was leaning on the breaking railing they discussed before. However, the railing gave way as soon as the door opened, so he had to rush over. He slid to grab Kiana by the ankles just in time.

Just why Kiana felt the need to lean over that railing was beyond his comprehension, but he didn't feel the need to chastise her. Not with his heart in his ears.

"Are you alright?" he yelled down, making sure he didn't look over the edge.

"Phillip! We're fine, what about you?"

Mei. Phillip thought as the hammer in his ears settled. Kiana was trying to save Mei. The desire to scold Kiana for doing something reckless was quashed at this.

"Pervert! Don't you dare look down here!"

"I'm not going to!"

Looking up into the sky, Phillip slowly dragged the girls up from the side of the building. He took extra care to make sure they didn't come up with any extra injuries but didn't look down until Kiana was back on the roof.

Once Kiana was up and fixed her skirt with her open hand, Phillip dropped to his knees to help her pull up Mei. After this, Phillip dropped like a stone as the adrenaline left him. The two beside him seemed to be holding a silent conversation, with Kiana giving Mei a look and Mei shaking her head.

Soon, Kiana stood up to pick up her guns and bag while Phillip looked Mei over. She had a few scrapes but much less than Phillip imagined.

"I'm sorry," Mei said, pulling Phillip from his inspection of her arms. "I made you worry, didn't I?"

"True, but I'm fine with the fact you two are okay more than anything right now."

Phillip sent her a calm smile, something she returned. However, she frowned a moment later, pulling her hand away from him. Phillip wanted to ask about it but was stopped when he heard something.

Kiana came strolling up, pulling a belt with two holsters from her bag and wrapping it around her waist. "Alright, we should probably go down to the clinic for supplies. We'll have to fight through some zombies for the first floor, but we'll be okay." She put her attention on Phillip. "You're good at dodging, but that's not good against zombies. Don't worry, though," she said with a wink at the last part. "I'll protect you two."

Phillip wasn't paying attention as he stood, his focus locked down at the roof entryway. The door had closed after he kicked it open. Lucky for them, if what he heard from it was anything to go by.

"Let's hold off on that for a second."

Kiana tilted her head in confusion, before crossing her arms at him. "Why should we?"

Phillip looked back at her. "Do you hear that?"

"Huh?" Kiana's further confusion made Phillip gesture towards the door. "Oh. It's just a few groans, nothing to-"

The door flew open, and a large crowd of zombies strolled onto the roof. They began to flood the roof, following the leader of their pack: the blonde boy from before, completely corrupted at this point.

The situation wasn't in Phillip's favor, who wanted to keep his powers hidden for a lot longer. Mei was without a weapon and seemed injured, while Kiana wasn't too far off from Mei's condition, and was currently searching her bag for clips.

So, he did what he deemed necessary.

"Kiana," Phillip started, gaining everyone's attention. "Keep your head down."

"Huh?" Kiana said, turning to him and noting something off with Phillip.

He had rose his right hand up to his left shoulder. The action itself wouldn't be considered odd if his hand wasn't encased in blue electricity.

"Now!"

Kiana dropped to her knees at his order as Phillip swiped his hand in a horizontal line in front of him. As he did, multiple needles of blue lightning shot out from his hand, piercing every zombie in multiple places. By the time his hand finished its swing, the horde had fallen in a heap.

Mei stared wide-eyed at the massacre and, one Phillip alerted her that she could stand, had her jaw hit the floor when she noticed that the horde was defeated.

Phillip walked over to Mei. "Do you need help standing?"

"Um, y-yeah," Mei stuttered, still shocked at the actions.

"HOLD UP!" Kiana's outburst had Phillip look back at her with a blank stare. "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"

"Tell you what," Phillip said, picking up Mei bridal style. "I'll tell you what I've kept secret, you can tell me what happened up here on the roof."

Kiana simply stood there, pointing at him and eyes twitching, as Phillip walked past her with a blushing Mei in his arms. Only when he walked past her and down the stairs did she follow, completely irritated.

"Come back here, you thunder-stealing jerk!"

Clinic- First floor of the Main Building

"A... Herrscher?" Phillip asked with a flinch.

The group had gotten to the clinic without too much trouble. Phillip handled the one group with a seal-less wind Jutsu, while Kiana handled any stragglers.

Right now, Kiana and Phillip were checking through cupboards while talking about what had happened. Mei was laid down on the only bed at the far end of the room, staring off into space.

"Yeah," Kiana stated, noticing the flinch. "Do you know what that is?"

"Not from this place, but I knew a person who took on a similar title."

Phillip shivered at the remembrance of the being of void that could destroy existence by just being around. He appreciated the other paths that angel could have gone, but that one still disturbed him on multiple occasions.

"Well, that's our story," Kiana said with a huff. "Now what about you?"

Phillip sighed. "Would you like the long version or the short?"

"Short, please," Kiana requested, stopping what she's doing to listen.

"Well, I was dropped into this place, literally, a year back. Specifically, the day we first met."

Kiana nodded. "When we knocked each other back."

Phillip wanted to snort at this but kept going. "The idea was to learn about the place and increase my strength indiscreetly. Unfortunately, all I've got is a poisonous energy and a slaver ring."

"Right," Kiana said, crossing her arms. "But that doesn't explain how you can do what you did back there."

"This isn't the first world I've been to, and sometimes I had to learn to control different energies to live."

Kiana glared at him as his explanation ended. She was obviously trying to determine whether his words were true or not. To be fair, it wasn't completely true, but not an absolute lie.

Without Gabriel, he wouldn't have gotten anywhere near here. Gabriel changed his body, evolved his genome, to accept these new energies. With this, he gained things that shouldn't have been gained: Sharingan, Byakugan, Rinnegan, name a dojutsu or bloodline and he probably had it. Sometimes it scared him what could happen if the process messed up. A special case was when he was a Soul Reaper, and Gabriel brought up giving him Full-Bringer powers.

Most of these, however, were sealed away when he got here. So, they were all out of his reach for now.

"So, is that it?"

Phillip and Kiana jumped at Mei's voice and turned to look over at the bed. Mei pulled back the white veil that covered the bed, but something was off. Her pupils were pure red, and lightning seemed to dance around her.

Kiana rushed over to her bag that was by the door, but Mei pointed her left palm at her and sent out a purple lightning bolt. Phillip appeared beside Kiana in an instant and repelled the attack with a blue lightning-encased jab. The purple lightning was split, creating two holes in the wall behind Phillip and piercing two zombies that came crawling into the hallway. Kiana safely got to her bag and pulled out her guns.

"Mei" licked her lips as she draped her legs over the side of the bed. "Yes, I believe that strength will do me a great service."

Phillip rose an eyebrow at this before looking down at Kiana. "So, I'm guessing this is the 'Herrscher' you were talking about."

Kiana nodded, before going wide-eyed. She lunged at him, pushing the two out of the way of another bolt of lightning and behind a few desks that were nearby.

As the two hit the floor, Kiana rolled off him and told him to "stay down". She then tried to move towards "Mei" but had to duck under some more lightning. With Kiana focused on "Mei", Phillip went transparent and made his way to the bed.

He noted that the Herrscher wasn't paying any real attention to Kiana, sending a few bolts at her and blocked any shots with a field of electricity. What she seemed really interested in were the desks the two left from. She was obviously waiting for Phillip to do something.

Jumping over the bed and landing silently, Phillip gave a chop to the back of the Herrscher's neck. Her eye widened before closing, welcoming unconsciousness. Phillip raced to the other side of the bed and wrapped an arm around the girl before she began to fall.

He placed Mei back in the bed, covering her with the white sheets, before turning back to Kiana. She had jumped out of her cover to shot again but stopped when she realized that the Herrscher was already dealt with.

"Ah, come on!" Kiana said as she slumped over. "It was just about time I pulled out my ultimate move."

Phillip shook his head at this, amused at the girl. "Let's clear out the cupboards and get going. "

"Okay, but my pack can't hold everything, and I'm running out of room right now."

Phillip gave a small smirk at this. "Well then, let me show you another thing this energy can do."

Outside: Front Courtyard.

"Pretty please!"

"Not gonna happen."

"You didn't even look back at me to see how cute I was, come on!"

The group had finally left the school, though with far less on them than before. Only Phillip had his backpack, and any other bags were no longer visible. The only thing different from the group was that the sleeves of Phillip's coat were rolled up to his elbows and a storage seal was on his arm.

Kiana was pestering him to teach her when he showed off sealing, but Phillip simply told her why she couldn't. It didn't stop her though, thinking he knew some way of doing it without chakra. Nothing he could say would change her mind, so he just went with it, and stated he wasn't willing to teach it.

"Fine, I won't tell you how to do my ultimate move!" Kiana said with a pout.

"Hm," Phillip responded, taking some time to look back at their straggler.

Mei was taking up their rear and walked slower than the other two. It seemed something weighed on her mind, as she was staring down at the ground with a gloomy expression.

Though, all of this stopped when Kiana plowed into her side, staggering Mei, but not causing her to fall.

"Mei-senpai, what's with that grumpy look for?"

Mei's expression switch from the surprise of being glomped back to the gloomy expression. "I'm a walking time bomb. I went off twice now, what stopping it from happening again?"

Kiana puffed her checks at this. "Oh, stop it. I beat it back the first and second time." Phillip actually did snort at this but didn't meet the girl's glare. "Anyways, that can't be the only thing bothering you if you're looking this down and out."

Mei kept her gaze on Kiana for a second before sneaking a small glance at Phillip. Phillip didn't need too much context to understand why.

The two were – are – friends, so she must have believed that they would be close enough to share secrets. She had spilled herself to him, so she must have expected the same from him.

To know there was this type of secret not shared between them...

"Kiana, can you let Mei and I talk? Go see if there's any place close by that's safe."

Kiana frowned at Phillip's request but seemed to understand why. She gripped Mei's shoulder lightly, before releasing. She took a step away before Mei's hand grabbed hers. The two shared a glance, one yearning the other apologetic. Mei dropped Kiana's hand, and the Kaslana walked off.

Phillip brought Mei to the stairs of the entrance. "Mei, would you be willing to listen to me?"

Mei looked at him, not with contempt but with anguish. "Why? Why did you hide something like this to me?"

"My reasons are... complicated. I've tried being optimistic with places I've been to, but most have shown to not be too hospitable with someone like me."

"Did you think I'd hurt you?"

Phillip gave a sad smile at the downtrodden girl. "It wouldn't have been the first time. I didn't think you would, but I've learned to be safe than sorry."

"So, our friendship meant nothing to you?!" Mei yelled, standing up and glared down at him. "Was it just based on a lie?!"

Phillip locked eyes with her, matching the hateful glare with a light, yet somber, stare. "I have never made a friendship with the belief that they would betray me."

Mei dropped to her knees and began to cry. Phillip moved to where she was and wrapped his arms around her. The two rocked back and forth as Phillip tried his level best to comfort her. They sat there for a few minutes before they pulled apart, Mei wiping at her tears with one hand as Phillip pulled her back with her free hand.

"I'm completely pathetic, huh?" Mei said, finally satisfied with her clean-up.

"No, you're not," Phillip explained, grabbing her shoulders. "You've had your world torn asunder. You're stressed, but you'll work through it. You always have."

Mei laughed at this and sat back down at the stairs. She started talking again once Phillip sat down beside her. "I'm sorry. It's just... all this 'Herrscher business and a blonde boy talked to me before, and-"

Phillip silenced her with a finger to the lip. "It'll be fine. Let's get out of the city first, yeah?"

"Yeah."

The two got up but, as they got off the stairs, a loud, bellowing roar sounded from the roof. The roar was loud enough to make Kiana stumble from her hiding place at the corner of the building.

"What the heck was that?!"

Phillip ran into the opening to get a better look at the roof. Forcing chakra into his eyes, his sight reached all the way up to the top of the building. What he saw horrified him.

A large zombie hand had grasped the railing and pulled a three-headed, massive zombie up to the edge. The two heads on the sides were feminine; one with black hair, one with brown. The middle head...

It was the blonde-haired boy from before.

Didn't I re-kill him or something?

"... I think I'm understanding the situation more now."

Phillip didn't want to waste any more time. "Mei, you mentioned in passing before that your family had a hand in building the school and that your father placed safe zones here, right?"

Mei looked at him strangely. "Y-yes, why?"

Phillip didn't look away from the zombie. "Take us to one."

"U-Um, sure, I -"

The zombie roared again.

"Go!" Phillip pulled the girls out of the way, as the zombie leaped from the roof. It slammed into the ground not a moment later, but it was enough time for Phillip to get the group into a different school building.

"So, this is the effects of mixing energies from different dimensions."

Well, this was a long time coming, but it's here.

Anyways, Constructive criticism is appreciated.

I'll see you in the next one.

Anti-Entropy Story: Bronya's excursion.

Bronya had found a place to stay for now.

Her goal at this point is to locate Raiden, Mei and bring her back to the extraction point. The Herrscher should be too problematic, considering the calculations stated that Bronya had every advantage for a few hours.

The problem, however, was traveling to the school fast enough to actually encounter the Herrscher before the elapsed time expired. It didn't help that the drop-off was in the middle of the city, which meant she had to travel a few miles to reach the school.

Project Bunny's complete speed was fast, but not enough to cover that distance in a short amount of time. By the time she got there, the Herrscher was long gone.

"How far are you from the target?" Bronya's earpiece rang at her.

"Target is not at the point. The only thing left is an anomaly."

"...What, exactly?"

"An ugly, mutated zombie is here. The only thermal signature on campus."

Bronya heard the disappointed sigh. "Then... just dispose of it and search the city. She couldn't have left, our teams would have seen it."

"Yes, Matushka."

Aiming Project Bunny's cannon down at the beast, which was ramming the side of a small building with its 15-foot-tall frame, she fired down a bright, red laser through its chest. She then amplified the laser to obliterate the monster.

With no need to continue, Bronya set her sights on an amusement park nearby. If she must search the city for the Herrscher, she might as well start at the best place: Homu-Land.

Another-Team: Epsilon.

The soldier breathed out smoke as he pulled the cigarette from his lips. He and his crew were stationed near the wall in case that "Herrscher" came by. Lucky him that nothing did, but he honestly couldn't care less. He's off doing recon while the rest of his team was either resting up or... "mating".

Was it too much to ask for his team to keep it their pants when on duty? He was the only male on the team, and somehow only he seemed to be the one with his job on his mind rather than on getting in bed with someone.

… No, he wasn't mad that he was getting cockblocked by the group of females he led.

Rubbing the tiredness from his eyes, the man gripped his assault rifle with both hands before walking along the wall of Nagazora. With nothing to occupy his time, he simply kept recon to a minimum. Sure, a zombie from the eruption came by every once and a while, but that wasn't really enough to sate his anxiety.

At least, until now.

The man shifted his stance and point his gun out into the forest that surrounds the in-land portion of the city. Something had moved. Something large.

Keeping his gun pointed out, the man activated his earpiece. "Alpha, this is Epsilon. Got movement on the outer perimeter."

"Epsilon, be advised: your goal is to contain the Herrscher within the city. Anything beyond the wall is unnecessary."

"It's not the Herrscher. It's big but fast. Didn't get a good glimpse at it."

"Let the mechs handle it. Alpha out."

The man rolled his eyes but began punching in the commands on a wrist device. At the bottom of the wall, outside of the city, several mechs roared to life, getting ready to stop whatever was coming.

They didn't have to wait long.

Within a second, a Templar Honkai beast appeared from the trees and pierced through two of the mechs immediately with its spear. As the others began to respond to the attack, the Templar rushed forward and bisected them with a swipe of its other arm.

That's when the man noticed that the Templar wasn't like its original variant.

This one was far larger than the originals, standing larger than most of the buildings in the city. While that only made it halfway up the wall, that still made it a sight to behold. That didn't go into the fact that it had a large, double–sided sword, with an extra blade at the top of it and a spike in the middle, instead of a shield for its left arm.

The man struggled back to his earpiece. "HONKAI! TEMPLAR-"

The man couldn't finish as the beast swung the blade vertically, sending a shockwave to cut through the wall. The man staggered away from the gash and tried contacting central command again.

This time, what stopped him was when the Templar jumped up to the top of the wall, landing right next to him. He made sure to keep quiet and not to move, but the monster seemed to know where he was as it looked down at him. It tilted down towards him, almost to get a clearer look at him, before standing tall and rose its sword-arm. He thought it would finish the job.

How he wished it did.

He heard more sounds come from the forest. Long crushing of trees, as if to make way for something. He took his eyes off the Templar to look down the wall, only to see four more copies of the beast.

All four of them leaped over the wall and crept slowly forward through the center of the city. AS he saw it, he thought he saw it all. Some Templars, all Emperor-class, had just strolled into the city and decided to leave him alive.

The sound of first told him otherwise.

He looked back over his shoulder to note Templar had reared back its spear.

It lunged before he could say a final word.