Chapter 9: A New Path

Soleil didn't quite know how to express was he was feeling at the moment. He knew he'd since drifted off into sleep some time ago… but something was off. When he had woken up, it wasn't at the infirmary room in St. Freya he'd spent two days in now. Instead, it was the interior of some kind of transport. But even weirder, as his body moved, his eyes scanned around, he wasn't doing it.

He was aware of things, yet neither was he in control, as if he was viewing things through the eyes of another, somehow.

"Attention. We're nearing the LZ. Looks like we may be going in hot. MANTIS soldiers, get ready to initiate combat as soon as we arrive."

"MANTIS? The hell are those?" Soleil spoke himself. While he did hear his remark, he felt that weird sensation of separation as his body shifted. In his hand, though, was that ever-familiar pendant of his. He was rolling it over his fingers, brushing them along the body and teeth of the item. At the same time, the scenery outside of the transport whizzed by.

"***'s calculations may be accurate, but not even someone like her can predict everything." It was his voice, but it wasn't something Soleil himself had deemed to say. And whoever the same voiced person had referred to, their name had come out garbled.

"Ah… now I get it."

That was when it clicked. He was inside of a memory, likely one encoded into his Stigmata. As the things were an encoding of genetic data, that also came with memories. And the Empyrean Stigmata was an old one, at least on the level of the Kaslanas in age. There was bound to be something buried in there. And from the looks of it, perhaps this was a memory of the Old Civilization.

"So… does that mean this is my ancestor?" Soleil wished he had actual control, but in the back of his mind, he decided just letting this play out was for the best… at least, he was. Until his vision shifted to the window, and he saw his face staring back at him.

But, there was a core difference. The hairstyle was, mostly, the same, but far more tussled, like he hadn't adequately been able to take care of himself for ages. His eyes had dark, heavy circles under them, clearly from a following lack of sleep. And they were also so dull in look Soleil questioned if they were even the eyes of a living person.

It wasn't the face of a person who had seen hell but of someone who was still living through it.

"Soleil! You could bother to do more than just stare out of the window, you know?"

His name was called, and his head turned. To the present Soleil's surprise, however, while he knew what was being said, the speaker's voice was garbled in tone. And so was their face. At least, he could tell it was a young woman, one with vibrant pink hair that fell in a messy curtain down to her waist. It stood out quite a bit against her black, blue-accented attire.

"******, it's easier if I stay here and watch." The memory version of him spoke, his voice tired in tone and dragging along. "Besides, at least let me take in what parts of what's left."

"You can save that for when we get home. At least once we're done here, it'll be a chance to sleep. How's your sister, by the way?"

"I could ask the same of yours. She must be lonely all on her own back in Japan." There was at least a bit of brevity to the tired young man's voice now, his female companion chuckling as she sat down next to him. Soleil just mulled to himself at the scene. At least his ancestor had a friend and wasn't some brooding loner. "But, my sister's fine. She's still adjusting to the communal living space ever since the city went tight. Though who isn't?"

"I hear you. ***, what about you, any thoughts?" The pink-haired young woman turned the other way to a third.

They didn't get much of a response, though. Another young woman, with silver hair, kept in a low tail. Like the other girl, her face was garbled, and her name was impossible to decipher. But Soleil took note of the black and gold gauntlets on her arms. Something about those weapons felt familiar.

"Both of you just keep your focus on the mission. We'll have time to chatter once we're done." Was all the third one said, the pink-hair just giving a grumble.

"She's as little fun as ever, hm?"

"Don't be so hard on her, ******, she's just been through the same hell we have." The other Soleil sat back against the transport's wall, but it came to a sudden stop, preventing him from trying to at least get a little bit more rest. "Nevermind that idea… back to business. ******, ***, let's get this done."

As the three lined up at the door while the transport lowered, the memory ended just like that as the door opened. Soleil found himself standing on a path of blue light as soon as it did. He was finally able to move, and the space around him was dark but not pitch black. More like a starless night sky, marked instead by streams of blue light flowing all around him.

"Is this what you meant by me seeing things from the past, eh Sozo?" Soleil folded his arms as he shut an eye, but not a reply came from the being in question. Not surprising for some reason. "Ugh, of course. You're always cryptic like that."

Then he caught himself. His wording was like someone intimately familiar with the personality of the source of his grumbling. And that was indeed the feeling about it Soleil had now. Something in him felt far closer to Sozo than beforehand… like an old sense of familiarity had come back.

It was the same exact feeling he'd had around Kiana, Mei, and Bronya… like he was with old friends.

"Can't I just have things be a bit normal?!"

"Ah geez… it's been three days, but I still feel sore all over. Stings like a bitch!"

"Well, that's what you get for going full blast with the Nexus System like you did. Be glad you didn't have to be dragged back into the ship and got off easy.""

"Peh."

Himeko clicked her tongue at Hisashi's dry tone. The two veterans were in the office wing of St. Freya, headed for the principal's office to file their finally finished report from the Nagazora incident. Of course, it was more like Hisashi did all of the filings while Himeko complained about how much her body was sore. If there was one thing Himeko hated above many other things, it was paperwork when dealing with other things.

"Excuse us, Principal Cecilia. We're here with the Nagazora report." Hisashi opened the door to the office after knocking. The room was a lavish one. Large enough to have plenty of room to move around in and several bookshelves lining the walls, with two sofas across each other before the large desk. Which had the chair currently turned with its back to the two arrivals. "Principal?"

"Sorry to inform you both, but Cecilia left a while ago to check on Kiana. Instead, you can file the report with me! The best Vice Principal in the world!" The chair whipped around to reveal the speaker. A young woman who appeared to be at least eighteen years old, not that the two other adults knew better. White hair with blue eyes, The girl had all the looks of a Kaslana about her. One would be forgiven for perhaps thinking she was Kiana's sister from how similar the two looked. She was the Vice-Principal of the Academy and a powerful A-Rank-though perfectly viable for S-Rank-Valkyrie, Theresa Apocalypse.

"Why am I not surprised?" Himeko sighed, Hisashi putting a hand to his eyes.

"Oi! You two could at least play along a bit!" Theresa leaned up on the desk in objection. The stylized nun habit that was her attire fluttering from her rapid movement.

"Vice-Principal, you stopped looking like a twelve-year-old years ago. Maybe act more like your age more often? The spin-around bit is just lame." Hisashi spun a finger as he went to monotone, Theresa fuming at him.

"Just give me the report now!" Theresa snapped, Hisashi throwing his arms up and pointing at Himeko.

"Just gimme a second." While snickering, Himeko undid a couple of the buttons of her coat, pulling out a data drive from between the valley of her breasts. Hisashi immediately brought a hand to his face as he groaned while Theresa showed an eye twitch.

"Why would you keep it in there?!" Theresa said, Himeko just twirling the drive.

"What? You said we were doing this in secret, so where better for me to keep it?" Himeko said, raising a brow when Hisashi gave her a flat stare. "What?"

"You have pockets."

"Honey, do you see these shorts? These pockets don't hold a thing!"

"That thumb drive isn't that big."

"Well, I know THIS pocket of mine is definitely big enough to hold anything."

"Will you two quit flirting and just hand me the drive already?!" Theresa snapped again as the other two got off into their own bit, with Hisashi looking about, ready to outright punch Himeko as she propped her chest up. At the seemingly young woman's snapping, Himeko handed the drive over. "Thank you. First off, tell me exactly what happened on that night."

"Well, it's kind of a simple story, really. Not like you don't know the finer details." Hisashi said. "We got the word in from the UN about Nagazora going silent, and when we checked it out, lo and behold, we found a Herrscher amid it all. A fight where this idiot overclocked the Nexus System happened, and we also found out the Principal's kid was involved here… plus the Empyrean kid and his even weirder powers."

"And somehow, the kid and Kiana were able to stop the Herrscher. Snapped her right back to her normal personality to boot." Himeko said.

"I see. Kiana's file is fine… at least this tells us where Siegfried was taking her for the past three years." Theresa hummed as she opened the data drive and scanned the file on Kiana that opened first. "But of course, she got in all kinds of trouble… it was her who was at that weird case at Senba earlier this year."

"See, now that's a thing that's been puzzling me." Himeko took a seat on one of the sofas, Hisashi following suit. "I get she's the daughter of a former S-Rank Valkyrie and a man on par with if not stronger than her. But all of our research shows human bodies can't handle high concentrations of Honkai energy. How was she able to so much as touch the Herrschers wing back there?"

"Because Kiana's also a Schariac, duh." Theresa noted. "Kaslanas have naturally high resistance, of course, but the Schariacs are practically immune. Something in their blood acts like a counteractive to Honkai Energy, just like the Empyreans' powers. Kiana pulled off that stupid stunt thanks to the powers she got from her mom."

"Then there's Empyrean. What the hell is his case? All the readings we got from him were all negative. He can obviously fight the Honkai without problems, but just what the hell is his case that it does that?" Hisashi said, Theresa leaning on a hand as she flipped the file over. Which led her to Mei's next.

"Whoa, so that's who our Herrscher is!" Theresa becoming keener on that rather than Hisashi's immediate question got the man to stare flatly at her. "The heiress of the ME Corp… lost her mother to illness when she was young, and then the whole mess with her father. Yeesh, no wonder she was a prime candidate to turn… actually, hold on, isn't a girl like her becoming a Herrscher almost too convenient?"

"There's something about that, actually." Hisashi noted. "He hasn't shown me, but that Empyrean kid has some files he swiped from one of the company's facilities. Whatever's in them may have something to do with that, but, well, the kid doesn't exactly trust me. He's refused to actually let me see the files. He has them on his phone, and he has the thing pretty tightly locked to boot."

"Plus the thing with ME Corp as a whole. Who'd have thought our sworn enemy Anti-Entropy was their backer?" Himeko folded her arms as she chimed in, Hisashi and Theresa nodding. "It's also pretty odd they didn't jump in when Ryoma's daughter turned Herrscher all of a sudden. I asked our girls at the intelligence division to dig further into them and see what they find out."

"Now, as for the elephant in the room." Hisashi said, Theresa flicking over to Soleil's file. "I'll ask again, what's that kid's case? I know his dad used to work with Schicksal… at least until the end of the 2nd Impact fourteen years ago."

"In that regard, I really only know about as much as you do." Theresa, however, also gave a huff. "Geez Sigurd… still, least the little boy grew up nicely… but if he grew up around that delinquent, I doubt he's much better."

"Eh?"

"Ahem." Theresa cleared her throat as Hisashi and Himeko gave her a look. "As you should know, the Empyreans were one of the founding clans of Schicksal alongside the Apocalypse, Schariac, and Kaslana. Like the Kaslana, they were renowned knights who fought against the Honkai even long before Schicksal's formal founding. And the rest is basically history. Still, I'm almost surprised he's shown up. Sigurd's done a terrifyingly good job of covering his tracks these past fourteen years. Yet, now we find Soleil caught up in an Impact level outbreak… I can't tell if he's unfortunate or unbelievably lucky."

"Maybe it's some weird combination of both." Hisashi mused, Theresa shrugging as she closed the data chip.

"Was there any other survivors beyond these three?" Theresa said, Hisashi nodding.

"Yeah, one another. Not that we have any data on her. Little girl with silver hair, name's Bronya Zaychik. We found her stowed away in Hyperion's cargo bay a day after we got back." Hisashi said, his face looking a bit irked. "She's an odd one for sure. Another case of some weird powers, plus she can get past our security systems… but, as it is, it looks like she's not a troublemaker. If we just keep her around the others, she'll probably comply."

"I mean, it's still concerning not knowing where that little girl is even from. She has powers, but she's obviously not one of ours. AE maybe?" Himeko suggested, Hisashi shrugging.

"It's entirely possible. But she seems pretty attached to Empyrean and Raiden, so we're probably safe."

"Well then, if that's all, I'll be sure to tell Cecilia about this later. You two can go and carry on. Actually, did Soleil decide on joining us or not?" Theresa looked to Hisashi as the man and Himeko stood. The captain put a hand behind his head as he sighed, which was enough of an answer more than anything. "Stubborn too. Yeah, definitely like his dad."

"He's clearly been wracking his brain about it." Hisashi added. "But, I can tell there's a part of him that feels like he can't trust Schicksal as a whole. It's not really us. It's who else he'd have to find himself working with."

"Well, there was a reason Sigurd left after all." Theresa sighed again, then perking up when Hisashi chuckled as he adjusted his hat. "I know that look. You've got some bad idea, don't you?"

"Of course he does." Himeko had an amused look on, the devilish smirk on Hisashi's face telling plenty.

"It's not too bad. I just think I know a way to give the kid a little bit of extra perspective about things, is all. I'm gonna go have another chat with him… one that's a bit more communicative than just words."

"Hah. Well, then I'll grab a medkit on the way to be safe."

As Hisashi voiced his objection while following Himeko out, Theresa shook her head with an amused sigh. Theresa pressed a button on the desk's console after a small alert light went off. An image appeared of it, from the Nagazora search that was going on now that the situation was mostly under control, leaving the city's cleanup to the rest of it.

"Huh? What's this?" Theresa raised an eye as the image shifted to something… a figure moving amid the ruins, a girl with pink hair and a sword. "… ugh, we're going to be busy with this one for a while, aren't we?"

After his little experience before waking up, Soleil had spent most of the morning the way he had for the past three days; Cooped up in the infirmary and not doing much else. He'd had all that time to more finely comb the files he'd taken from the ME Corp facility and dedicate most of the finer details to memory. Especially the parts about that Project MEI thing. But he'd also taken the liberty to get his hands on a few other things to read up on: files from the Schicksal database within St. Freya.

It had been a relatively simple process for him. He just found the nearest computer terminal in the library where he could shove himself away and spent a few hours working past the low-level clearance. He didn't want to risk trying to tap the higher clearance files, so he only went as deep as the information restricted to B-Rank Valkyries for the time being. It was, for the most part, just pretty basic information. Schicksal's history, records of the previous two Impact disasters, various miscellaneous details on equipment and other things, mostly standard information and not much else.

"If I had more time, I could bust into the A-Rank clearance… but that's still too risky." Soleil sighed as he flicked one of the holographic windows.

"You actually got in?" The blue butterfly then appeared out of nowhere, Soleil shrugging as it landed on his shoulder.

"I have my fair share of hacking experience. Thankfully AE and Schicksal have pretty similar base systems, so it's not too hard to make a program to link to either on the fly. Hacking can be pretty boring, though. A lot of time writing scripts and trying to pass firewalls. Movies are pretty unrealistic in how it actually works." Soleil flicked through a few more windows as he started typing on a holo-keyboard as well.

"Wow, you're actually really impressive! I think I only know one other person who's that good at this kind of thing."

"And who would that be?"

"Someone… nearby. It's not too big of a deal right now. And… what about what that man said? Are you going to stay here or not?"

"I don't really know. It's more that I don't trust Schicksal as a whole. Even if that captain guy says St. Freya works more separately… we'll still be under the eyes of Otto, and that's a person I know I can't trust." Soleil folded his arms as he sighed. The butterfly flitted up and then landed on his head, her wings lifting up.

"I think it'll be fine. Besides, I'd think they'd be lonely if you left."

"That's the thing… I don't wanna leave, but I also don't wanna put myself in a situation where I have to answer that guy… I'm still waiting for Kiana to wake up." Soleil flicked one of the windows shut. As he turned to another, the door sliding open drew his eye, the butterfly vanishing in the same instant.

"Well, I was wondering what you've been up to for a while." Hisashi entered the room with an amused look on as Soleil hastily shut the windows and nabbed his phone. "We got a ping about something that bugged our systems for a bit the other day, but the trace vanished before we could pin it down, but now I wonder. You've gotta be a pretty damn smart kid if you know how to get past even our lower-level firewalls and barely get noticed."

"And just what're you here for now?" Soleil remarked, his look flat. "Last time we talked, you weren't exactly what I would call the most convincing person around in trying to tell me why I should stick around this place."

"Oh, I know. Obviously, I gotta do more than just try and buy you off by saying you can stay with your friends and won't have Overseer Otto breathing down your neck." Hisashi folded his arms as he strode in further, and Soleil felt his warning sense go off as he saw the glint in the man's eyes. "So I thought of another idea to convince you. Why not come with me for a bit? There's a place I wanna take you to."

"How about first off you tell me where Mei is. You said Kiana's in the other wing, but where is she?"

"Don't worry, Raiden is perfectly fine." Hisashi threw up his arms as Soleil glared at him. "There was a bit of a… problem when Hime-ahem, when major Murata had a chat with her. If it helps your thoughts, she also agreed to stay here. We plan to help her learn to control the powers she has and to find a way to prevent her Herrscher side from retaking control… though we had to put a bit of a countermeasure in place."

"What did you do?" Soleil's aura became outright deadly as he stared Hisashi down, the man giving a sigh as the teenager's expression went cold.

"First off, it's something she agreed to herself… we put a bomb next to her heart. A small one, with a timed trigger that would only go off within five minutes after its sensors detect a Honkai reading above a certain level within her."

"YOU WHAT?!" Soleil shot from the bed and grabbed Hisashi by the man's jacket, though it didn't make his look change at all. "If you're trying to convince me, telling me you shoved a bomb inside my friend's chest isn't the way to do it!"

"Then what other method do you propose? That we just let you and Kaslana deal with it every time the Herrscher comes out?" Hisashi's tone was level and serious, Soleil giving a growl.

"We handled her before. We can do it again. I have the ways to handle it."

"Your Divine Key and that odd state you entered before, right?" Hisashi pried Soleil's hand free, and the boy winced when he started feeling the pressure on his arm become painful. "If it's so reliable, then show me the Key right now. If you have so much faith in it, then you should be able to use its power whenever you want, right? We've got a few Divine Key users among our ranks, and they can use their Keys' powers as they need… can you do the same?"

"I… I can't." Hisashi released Soleil as a bitter growl came from the boy. "I'm not strong enough to use it normally yet. The thing only responds when I'm around powerful Honkai Sources… like a Herrscher."

"And thus that makes it unreliable, and not something you can count on." Hisashi pocketed his hands and turned, glancing back as the door opened. "Come on. I'm going to show you exactly what I mean when I saw I'm going to show you what I think I can convince you with."

"Wha… hey! Don't just start going at your own damn pace!"

"Can't help it. I always do that. You'll just have to follow me."

"Tch!"

Soleil was giving Hisashi a look while also looking around at where he'd been led to. A dojo, one in a rather classical Japanese style. Of course, this was also connected to the athletics buildings on the campus. As for just why he'd been taken here, it just made Soleil feel on edge.

"So, what's this about? Giving me a tour or something?"

"Oh, not at all. See, there's really only one reason a guy like me brings someone to this dojo." As he spoke, Hisashi pulled off his coat and overshirt, leaving himself in a fitted tank top as he threw the items aside and kicked off his shoes. He then got to wrapping up his forearms and hands, Soleil taking a wary stance as the man did. "I figured you're not the kind of person who's easy to convince by words alone. And I kinda suck at telling people why I think they should do things they might be against. I'm good at giving orders, but not advice. But what am I good at…"

And as Hisashi snapped the last of the wrappings he was putting on into place, he moved immediately. Soleil reached it in time despite the man's suddenly blinding speed, dodging the fist that came his way by a narrow margin. He also moved as quickly as he could, bringing his arms up to stop a kick that came from below and went right for his head.

"… is showing people just how strong they actually are."

"You're not just some XO, are you?" Soleil muttered, his arms throbbing from just how hard that kick was.

"To be more accurate, that's just my current position." Hisashi stepped back with an easy move, lowering his leg and cracking his knuckles. "Years ago, I was just as active a combatant as anybody else. Worked with my fair share of Valkyrie squads after I got picked up by Schicksal. And just to say it, I suck at holding back. So don't do the same with me. Since you're a weapon user, grab whatever practice weapons stacked up over there. I'll give you a few seconds."

"Wait, the hell do you…" As Soleil responded, the air moved again. In the next instant, Hisashi's fist had stopped dead before his face, just brushing his nose. Yet, the force was enough Soleil's hair blew around him. The boy looked shocked as Hisashi stared him down.

"Let me make one thing clear, kid. You got lucky back in Nagazora. The first time, the Herrscher was weak enough to be dealt with easier. In terms of power, I'd say you and Kaslana right now would be a match for some of the lower A-Rankers we've got… but just barely. And then the second time, you got blindsided by an Emperor Class you didn't have a chance in hell at beating. And had to pull out some wild power just so you had a chance against the Herrscher again. As you are now, you're way too weak to protect those girls if they find themselves in a situation where their own powers fail, and I'd say the same to the reverse… so, you wanna try and prove me wrong? If so, grab a weapon."

"Tch. Fine!" As Hisashi began counting down from five, Soleil rushed to the nearby racks on the wall. He was quick about it was he could be despite the man's slow count and grabbing the easiest weapon he felt he could use: A longsword.

Hisashi grinned a bit as Soleil chose not to waste time once he had a weapon. The boy immediately slashed at the man with blunt but heavy practice weapon. Soleil's quick but powerful slashes were met with Hisashi smoothly dodging them with minor movements. And when he passed another, tapping his hand off the blade, his other fist came right back and slammed Soleil right in the gut. Soleil coughed as the blow rattled through him, but he managed to keep his footing as he went skidding back, managing to come to a stop. Though the heavy blow had clearly winded him. Hisashi, however, didn't let up, attacking immediately, Soleil barely dodging the flurry of punches and kicks that came his way.

And like when Soleil was attacking, the moment Hisashi found an opening, he slammed the teenager with a powerful blow. This time a kick then landed square on Soleil's open left side. Soleil managed to keep his footing again, but he winced as he came to a stop. This time though, when Hisashi attacked, he retaliated just as quickly. The sword came down where instinct told the boy the next blow was coming from. And in response to it, Hisashi's punch quickly shifted, the man catching the sword with his hand in a smooth motion.

"Well, I guess that's an Empyrean for you. Like the Kaslanas, you guys are crazy… that practice sword weighs at least seven pounds, but you're swinging it like it's light as a feather with one hand. Not to mention taking two straight hits and barely showing any damage. You're tougher than you look for a bean pole." Hisashi reacted surprisingly quickly despite seeming open from the remark he gave. In the same instant he finished speaking, he also stopped a kick Soleil attempted to throw. His own leg slammed into the boy's and sending him to the side, which wrenched the sword out of his hand. "Props for taking what looked like an opening, but a minus for letting yourself get disarmed."

"What, you testing me?!"

"Yes."

Hisashi tossed the sword back to Soleil, the boy catching the weapon and quickly getting his hand back on the grip. As Hisashi moved again, Soleil's gaze focused a bit. The man was still blindingly quick, but something carried Soleil this time. Both instinct and him having even just the smallest of ideas of where the man was going now. Rather than make an attack, Soleil moved to defend. A clang rang through the air as Hisashi's fist slammed into the flat of the weapon. The man let out a smirk as his own momentum meant he kept moving forward more than he wanted when Soleil moved his left hand away from the blade. And in that same extra moment, a knife had found its tip pointed at Hisashi's throat. The knife that before had been on Hisashi's belt.

"You little… heh, you grabbed the thing when I disarmed you." Hisashi stepped back as Soleil lowered his weapons, the boy flipping the knife back and handing it to the captain. "Alright, you at least got yourself a point. You're a scrappy one, ain't you?"

"Not like Honkai Beasts or zombies play fair." Soleil rolled his still throbbing arms as he said so, then popping his neck with a quick move. "I'm also pretty stubborn."

"Oh? Well then, let's see just how stubborn you are." Hisashi rolled his fingers as he retook a stance, Soleil following suit as he held his sword near his shoulder. "Just to warn you, I'm gonna start hitting faster. I may suck at holding back, but I don't like hurting kids."

"Heh, well then, I'm damn well gonna try and hurt you!"

"Glad to hear it!"

And then three hours passed. Soleil was flat on the dojo's ground, breathing heavily with an eye shut as he laid spread eagle. Multiple other weapons aside from the practice sword now littered the floor, ranging from a couple of spears, a quarterstaff, even a chained scythe as well. Hisashi was still standing, but he had a few marks showing on his arms and face, and his breathing was ever so slightly heavier.

"Geez, you weren't kidding when you said you were stubborn. Also, you've got a damn hard head. My hand is actually sore from that headbutt." Hisashi shook a hand off, though a response didn't come from Soleil. "You're also an annoyingly fast learner. I've never seen someone get a handle on my moves that quickly… well, there is one other person, but she's a damn prodigy… guess you are too. Or maybe it's just because you actually have some experiencing backing you… you even awake?"

"Yeah… I am…" Soleil threw an arm up, letting it flop down in the same motion. "You… are a fucking demon."

"Heh, you're not that far off in that assumption." Hisashi's eyes flashed with a dark light for a moment, though Soleil didn't notice since he was just groaning on the floor. "So, what do you think, kid?"

"That I'm an idiot. That I need to get stronger as I already am since I can't rely on this stupid key or that Heiland state."

"Heiland?"

"It's what the state I entered is called… it's like… I guess a counterpart to a Herrscher."

"Huh… "Heiland"… a Savior. Hehehe… did you come up with that yourself?"

"No."

Soleil was just deadpanning things as Hisashi was clearly amused. His body was sore all over. He was pretty sure a couple of his bones had cracked from how hard Hisashi had started to hit him, and he had the iron-like taste of blood in his mouth. So in all fairness, Soleil wasn't in the mood to joke around.

"Sorry if I roughed you up too badly." Hisashi sat down himself, Soleil just huffing. "But let me say this too. If you stick with us, you can train all your like in the best conditions we can offer, plus you'll get to go on proper missions. Better than just running from city to city dealing with small Honkai sources. Plus, access to more equipment than whatever you and your old man must have been salvaging. Tailor-made battlesuits, far stronger weapons that only a group like Schicksal can produce... and best of all, a place to actually call home."

"You can quit with that tone… you convinced me." Soleil, still unmoving, let out a long sigh. "I'll stay at St. Freya, and I'll be one of your damn students to boot. But… you've also gotta help me find out what the hell my old man is wrapped up in too. And what happened during and immediately after the 2nd Impact."

"Well, if you wanna do that, then you'll need to become A-Rank."

"I could just hack the database."

"Probably not. The firewalls on our more up-to-date systems automatically update to counter any threat, even if it's only present for a short time. Whatever program you used would be useless by now. Otto's a bit of a bastard, but he's a smart one. I wouldn't be surprised if he already knows you're here too."

"Tch… fine then, A-Rank it is." Soleil still didn't move, but at least now, he was making more expressions as he spoke. "Just my rotten luck…"

"Heh… honestly, I'd say you're actually pretty lucky." Hisashi just got a huff from the boy.

"And look and what I walk in on." The door flew open, and Himeko mugged at Hisashi as the man glanced at her. Soleil just rolled his head enough to look over. "Didn't I say not to be too rough on the kid? Look at him. Now he's going to have to stay in the infirmary!"

"I made sure not to hit too hard. He'll be fine after a couple of days." Hisashi stood again, rolling his arms. "Not that he didn't give me a good couple of licks as payback. Anyway, any news about Kaslana?"

"Theresa just texted me and said she woke up. So, nothing to worry about there. I'll be keeping Raiden and that Zaychik girl at my place since they both agreed. And I'm guessing the boy will be with you, right?"

"Obviously. I am also the overseer for the boy's dorm. If I didn't keep those idiots in line, there'd be all kinds of trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if Empyrean makes some enemies. They're gonna hate him for being friendly with the Principal's daughter and a pretty transfer girl." The two were then silent for a moment. The adults looked to Soleil, who wasn't responding at all. "You were expecting a snappy remark, right?"

"He does give off the impression of someone who does that." Himeko said, then moving over to Soleil and tapping him with a foot. "Oh… he passed out. Hmm… he actually has a cute face. If he was a few years older, then maybe…"

"Oi. I'm right here." Hisashi said, Himeko chuckling as she twirled around.

"Oh, don't get riled up, Hisashi. I'm just playin' around. I found my man just fine, thanks to you. Not that I won't appreciate a lovely piece of work."

"I'm gettin' you back tonight in that case."

"Hehehe. Good thing he's not awake to snark about that one." Himeko then chuckled again as she folded her arms. "We're gonna be superbusy because of these brats, aren't we?"

"Most likely yes."