It was the dead of night in Nagazora, a sense of unrest was in the air as those who had broken into ME Corp had yet to be apprehended. Ranging from hourly updates on the case from every local news station, to police cruisers continuously patrolling the streets for anything suspicious.

The city would not rest well until they had someone to place behind bars.

People went to bed with one ear open with the paranoia that they're households could be broken into next. It was irrational to think that a thief who was able to break into ME Corp would decide to break into a random's household but the human mind was a fickle thing, especially in times of crisis.

So it was a wonder how no one in their alert states were able to hear the fight between the valkyrie and mercenary on the rooftops. They were anything but subtle as arrows were launched with the force of a missile at a warrior who swung her scythe so skillfully around to cut the arrows that it looked as if she had been born to wield the terrifying weapon.

Rita hummed as she slashed through a barrage of arrows sent her way before she rushed forward, hoping to cross the distance that Raven had put between them.

The World Serpent Mercenary simply shot another barrage of arrows before she responded in kind, brandishing her set of claws.

The maid valkyrie simply swat away the closest arrows to her with her scythe before she met Raven in the middle, red metallic claws clashing with her scythe as sparks flew from the exchange.

"You're quite good," Rita smirked as she tried to force Raven out of the deadlock with her strength, only to be surprised when Raven would not relent as the mercenary responded with her own show of strength.

It was rare for the Valkyrie to find a human opponent that could evenly match her, even rarer for one to actually give her a challenge.

Raven smirked at her words before she suddenly dropped down low, sweeping her feet at Rita's to try and take out her balance.

Fortunately Rita was able to react quickly as she jumped away to a spot a few feet away safely, but Raven wasn't going to let her go that easily.

With the acrobatics that could put even the most skilled gymnastic athletes to shame, Raven leapt into the air from her sweeping position before disappearing in a shower of red blood feathers.

Rita could only barely react as she instinctively brought her arms up to guard a sudden downward kick from Raven who had crossed the distance between them in an instant and was above the maid. The mercenary slightly twisted her foot to add more force into her kick which launched the unprepared Valkyrie tumbling to the ground.

Raven had to admit these new upgrades to her suit were certainly something to marvel at, but they didn't come without consequences.

She could faintly feel a slight burning sensation from the foot that she had just used to kick Rita with. That was going to definitely hurt in the morning after but what was a mercenary supposed to do but suck it up and continue on with the next contract.

Hitting the floor Rita immediately began to roll so that she could stop herself from incurring more damage from the kick. Coming to a stop, a slightly bruised Rita stood up as she looked at the mercenary who was putting up a challenge.

As much as she would love to enjoy this fight, Rita was on a mission and the mission was always the priority rather than her preferences. A slight beep on her communicator had the maid glance to see a report of what Stalker Carbon had managed to accomplish in the time she was giving the mechanical canine.

After disposing of their first target, Stalker Carbon had a much harder time locating their second target. Granted the only sample they had was a single strand of honkai-infused cat fur, which meant the autonomous weapon system took a bit longer to properly locate the target.

Time that her adversary spent locating her as the moment the target was made aware of their presence, she struck. The mercenary took advantage of the fact that the target had much more value than she did, forcing Rita to let Stalker Carbon go to hunt the target by itself.

"You seem to be spacing out there, oh great valkyrie." Raven mocked as her suit glowed a faint crimson. She didn't expect Jackal's newest upgrades to her suit to be performing so well against the famed Maid Valkyrie of Schicksal.

"I guess a child killer like you doesn't need that much skill with a scythe," She taunted.

A small tick mark appeared on Rita's face as she had no plans to murder the teenager or the child in her mission. Say what you might about her deadly efficiency when it came to missions, she would never involve innocent people. "Such a dirty mouth you have on you, as a maid I must beat such rude manners out of you."

She had never expected Stalker Carbon to lead her to a red haired teenager that reminded her too much of Himeko Murata. The similarities that the two shared was almost frightening as the maid was sure that the red-haired valkyrie had no relatives to speak of.

A future note would be made if she ever visited St Freya High to ask her fellow valkyrie on her family branch and the possible connections that her family might have.

Her assignment was only to bring the second target alive for interrogation. It was a surprise to see that the target was accompanied by two random civilians but she was getting that cat one way or another.

She would have simply knocked out the teenager with enough force for him to be rendered unconscious and have Stalker Carbon emit a very low concentration of its gas to have the child fall asleep. The authorities would then be anonymously tipped into finding their sleeping bodies and that would've been the end of that.

The teenager might put up some resistance but she was sure after a few months he would give up trying to find the cat and resume his life as a regular highschooler.

A life involved with Honkai rarely ended well after all.

She didn't think too much about when the cat started to hiss in their general direction, no doubt noticing their presence. If there was any doubt that the cat was their target would be cleared as only a honkai beast could possibly detect her presence.

When the red head teenager paused and looked back, she would've thought that he was thinking that the cat was simply acting up, maybe thinking that the black feline was challenging another cat in the area.

However as they approached the intersection and the cat suddenly hissed, she did not expect the teenager to drop his groceries, picking up the child with both arms before turning the corner and bolting down the street.

The teenager had gone from an innocent bystander to a surprising suspect in her case. Had he understood the cat's hissing? Was he an accomplice of the cat's? Had he somehow assisted in the infiltration of ME Corp?

When Stalker Carbon had finished subduing them she would ask the questions that needed to be asked when she took him in for questioning, but for now she had a battle to focus on.

A battle she found herself slightly outmatched in.

Not outmatched in the way that her opponent was better skilled than her, no she was sure the two were equals when it came to that. No, the difference came from the battlesuits the two were wearing.

Her battlesuit, Phantom Iron, had been designed with the sole focus on stealth. After all it was this suit that allowed her to use Staker Carbon to the best of its ability. However it leff the suit's combat capabilities against similarly skilled opponents much to be desired.

If she was in her Argent Knight battlesuit, then she would be having a much different experience right now as she was sure she would have the edge in the fight.

But there was a problem with that as she couldn't exactly switch from Phantom Iron to Argent Knight in the midst of battle without consequence.

"Midori-san," She spoke into her earpiece. "Is the Emergency Battlesuit Deployment System operational?"

Back at her apartment, Midori Aki was currently running as Rita's temporary operator. The undercover valkyrie was sat in front of a computer that had the schematics of the Argent Knight Battlesuit on it while another screen had a map which had Rita's location on it.

"Yes Rita-sama, I have sent a request to HQ and they have approved the use of the emergency deployment system for you." Midori right now was over the moon. Not only did she get to meet the legendary Rita Rossweisse in person, she also got to work right alongside her on the same day! Talk about luck because she was feeling like the luckiest person in the world right now!

"However there's a problem with it," The B-Rank Valkyrie warned through her headset.

Rita couldn't help but frown at the foreboding tone as she dodged another arrow sent her way. Deciding that she needed a new approach, the valkyrie took off running from the rooftop before speaking to Midori, "Explain."

Back at her apartment Midori pulled up a map of Nagazora that highlighted every honkai sensor set up in the city on her computer. "The problem is that you guys are fighting in an area that's quite close to some honkai sensors. If I deploy the Argent Knight to you then those sensors will be triggered and all of ME Corp will be alerted to your fight."

That was a problem indeed, the whole point of this mission was so that Raiden Ryoma didn't suspect Schicksal as the culprit. Rita slashed an arrow aimed for her head before moving to a better rooftop that had more options for cover against Raven's arrows, "And if they were triggered how long would I have before my area would be swarmed by their forces?"

If she was caught red-handed then Schicksal was all but assured to be the culprit of the ME Corp attack, regardless of what they tried to say as for what reasoning could there be to justify attacking a teenager and a child? After all they couldn't say that the cat was the target as no one would believe that.

"I would give about ten minutes before every ME Mech is deployed in your area. After that the chances of your identity being hidden would be very low as every resource that Raiden Ryoma has not used will now be."

"I see then," The maid came to a stop as she arrived at a rooftop that was more advantageous for her than the last one. Here there were plenty of options for cover with rows of air conditioning units serving as perfect options to break Raven's line of sight. It was here that she could finally close the distance that Raven knew to keep lest she find herself on the wrong side of her scythe.

"Do not activate it yet," She took a step back when Raven suddenly appeared above her in a shwoer of crimson feathers, a kick smashing into the spot she was just on a second ago. "But be ready to send me my battlesuit on my command."

"Y-Yes Ma'am!"

Raven gave a slight curse as she landed on top of an air conditioning unit, trying to figure out where the S-Rank Valkyrie had just gone. It was a smart ploy on the valkyrie's part, seeking an area that limited the range of her bow whilst also boosting her own strengths.

And to make matters worse, she was on limited time right now.

"Styx requires backup." Gray Serpent's voice was annoying to say the least. Couldn't the hacker learn to read the situation that speaking things that she already knew was not going to make this fight go any faster. "Her injury-"

"Yeah, yeah her injury makes it hard for her to fight back but I'm in the middle of something right now!" She hissed as she caught a glance of movement on her side. Reacting quickly she notched an arrow before letting it fly into an air conditioning unit, hoping that the valkyrie was behind it.

Only to reveal that she wasn't behind it at all.

"Then use the-"

"That's only in dire situations and you know that," Raven cursed as she narrowly ducked under a slash that would've taken her head out if she hadn't reacted quickly enough. Having been unable to see Rita coming at her from the opposite side, the mercenary was finding herself on the defensive as Rita pushed the offensive now. "She isn't exactly the most cooperative in times like these."

Rita understood that now she held the momentum of the fight, that she could set how this fight should be fought now, and it was going to be in the way that Rita loved to fight.

Fast and dangerous.

With no fear of Raven using her bow lest she retreat, Rita began to showcase why she was so feared with the scythe. Normally a long polearm would be useless in close-quarters, the long size of the weapon making it quite hard to execute quick slashes like one would with a sword.

There was no disadvantage here for Rita. Every swing with her scythe was as quick as a bullet, as if she wasn't swinging a massive scythe around but rather an extension of her own self as she inflicted minor cuts on the mercenary.

Raven could deflect or dodge any lethal strikes that came her way but the maid was slowly wearing her down by proving that she was uncontested when it came to close-quarters combat.

She would've expected the valkyrie to keep the distance between them so that she could use her scythe without fear of retaliation from her claws but the maid was more than confident to keep the distance between them as short as possible.

"Where's all your bravado gone now, mercenary?" Rita smirked as she slowly began to force Raven into a wall. It was only a matter of time till her cloak wearing assailant would hit the wall and her victory would all but be assured.

Raven cursed as the scythe came aiming for her arm that was holding her bow. Losing a bow or losing the bow alongside her entire arm, the decision was easy as Raven let go of her bow and watched it get sliced in two Rita's scythe.

"Dammit I have to use it then…" She thought grimly as Rita seized the opportunity provided with the loss of her bow as she rushed forward, seeking to end this fight with a clean swipe through the World Serpent's neck.

Thinking fast Raven grabbed a couple of bombs from her belt and threw it on the floor beneath her, thick white smoke billowing from it.

The Vice Captain stopped her attack midway before she jumped back a few feet away as the smoke began to spread throughout the rooftop. She held her scythe at the ready as she waited for her opponent to move first.

She knew that her opponent would not retreat with the cover that her smoke bombs provided. Her assailant was sent to ensure that she would not be able to capture the second target and if she retreated then Rita would simply head to wherever Stalker Carbon was and finish the mission.

This duel would not end unless one of them dealt a killing blow.

So that begged the question of what she was exactly doing in the smoke. The caped mercenary certainly had some skill in close quarters combat, even able to catch the maid off guard with some rather unorthodox martial arts but not enough to match her skill with the scythe. With her bow sliced in two she had lost her main offensive weapon.

As the smoke slowly began to dissipate from the rooftop, Rita readied herself for the continuation of their duel as she tensed her legs in preparation to rush forward.

The air suddenly began to charge with electricity as a faint blue light suddenly appeared in the midst of the dense smoke. Eyes widening, Rita quickly moved to the side as a high velocity shot of blue energy fired at where she just stood.

The smoke parted away to reveal Raven wielding a new weapon, a weapon that had an aura that was familiar to the valkyrie. She did not recognize the strange alien-like rifle that the serpent was now using, nor was she familiar with the electric like atmosphere that it exuded.

But she recognized this heavy presence that the weapon casted unto her, like weights were suddenly placed onto her shoulders without her permission.

After all Durandal had a weapon that exuded an almost similar aura like this rifle was.

"And how is it that you are in possession of a Divine Key?" Rita asked as things became much more interesting than they already were.

Divine Keys were weapon platforms that were once forged in an era that had existed long ago, when humanity first battled against the Honkai. As the war against the Honkai and its Herrschers progressed so too did the need to develop better weapons that could take care of the destructive beings.

So the Divine Key Project was born. By using the cores of the defeated Herrschers the weapons that were powered by said cores were stronger than any weapons that humanity could possibly forge.

Raven smirked as she could feel the happiness resonating from the 3rd Divine Key. If you had told her that weapons had feelings she would've laughed at that notion. When she had received this weapon she thought it was just like any other weapon she's used before, albeit with the firepower to bring down even the most resilient of Honkai beasts.

She found out the hard way that this weapon had a mind of its own.

But all that mattered right now was the Divine Key was feeling cooperative, more so than it usually did. The key was rearing to finally have some action against a strong opponent, maybe she should use it more against Valkyries like the one in front of her.

Rita had a blank look on her face as she contemplated her options. With the sudden emergence of a Divine Key things were looking grim for her. Not only did she not know what this Divine Key was capable of, the fact that it was a Divine Key already meant that she was highly outmatched right now.

Then there was only one thing that she could do.

A bright light enveloped the maid as the Phantom Iron Battlesuit was replaced with that of the Argent Knight, light armor exchanged for the more durable suit that was the Argent Knight. Her scythe also changed as an aura of frost began to emanate from its steel edge.

"Midori-san," Rita spoke as the Argent Knight battle suit was fully installed. "Notify me when the authorities are closing in on my location."

"Hai!"

"Now then," Rita pointed her new scythe at Raven, Crescent Harvest appearing behind her as the humanoid phantom readied its own massive scythe. "Shall we dance once more?"

Raven only smiled in response as the Divine Key in her hands began to charge up another shot. "Let's not disappoint her then, Key of Sanction."

Have you ever watched Jurassic Park and you see the two T-Rexes duking it out, the two dinosaur kings absolutely tearing into each other as the humans just stood there in awe and doing nothing?

Yeah that's how I felt as both Stalker Carbon and Kuro charged forward at the same time, each giving their own version of a battle cry as their claws clashed in the middle and all hell broke loose.

Kuro took a hop back as the pair's claws caused sparks to fly from their exchange before pouncing on the Schicksal attack dog, taking advantage of the fact that her frame was smaller than Stalker Carbon's.

Latching her claws unto the metal hide of the canine, the black feline began to try and bite the neck of the dog. Stalker Carbon tried to shake her off of it but Kuro hung on for dear life, her claws sinking deeper into the canine's frame as it let out a howl of pain because of it.

And as the two began to fight each other I simply stood on the side; unsure of how I was supposed to help with this rusty pipe in my hand.

I didn't even know if my rusty pipe could even do any damage to Stalker Carbon, it was designed with the notion that it may eventually fight against a Honkai Beast. If that was the case then I was pretty sure that this metal pipe was gonna annoy it more than anything.

Still I wasn't going to sit by idly and just watch Kuro fight on my behalf.

"You wanted to get involved with this whole mess Haruto, well here we are." I muttered to myself as I held the pipe with both of my hands and slowly approached the wrestling pair.

Growing annoyed with the fact that the cat had yet to get off, Stalker Carbon began to let some electrical charge run through its body with the hope that the sudden shock would have the cat get off of it.

Kuro gave a pained hiss as her entire body was momentarily shocked by a current of electricity, the sudden pain temporarily loosening the hold her claws had on Stalker Carbon. Which the black mechanical canine took advantage of and shook the feline off before launching itself at the airborne feline, the force of the impact making the feline tumble to the ground.

Shaking its body, Staker Carbon gave the downed cat a glare as it fully intended to repay the favor. Claws ready to sink into the feline's metal frame, Rita's attack hound was ready to tear into its opponent.

Until a metal pipe slammed into its head. The force behind the actual pipe wasn't enough to actually inflict any lasting damage, it was more than enough to disorientate it as Stalker Carbon was left trying to catch its bearings.

Which gave Kuro enough time to recover from her fall as she stood up and began to lay into her eternal enemy as her machine guns roared to life.

Stalker Carbon took the full brunt of the first barrage of bullets as it could do nothing but try and endure the assault. Bullets began to tear themselves into the canine's armor and while its frame could handle small arms fire it would eventually begin to get worn down if it stayed under fire from Kuro's machine guns.

As I watched Kuro absolutely lay into Stalker Carbon with her machine guns, I stood there watching in awe at just how...destructive this fight was. The dead-end that we were in had multiple pieces of shrapnel scattered throughout the floor, a massive crack in the floor where Kuro and Stalker Carbon first clashed.

My eyes wandered to Kuro's injured legs, seeing how she tried to not put pressure on that specific leg as she kept shifting her feet whilst her machine guns were still tearing into her opponent.

The injury on the leg must've been worse than I thought it was.

A part of me was wondering if getting involved in the whole Honkai Universe was a sound idea in the first place. As if mocking me, I stared down at the slightly bent form of the pipe that I had just smashed into the side of Stalker Carbon's head with all the strength that I could muster.

While I was no bodybuilder, I was fairly confident that I was strong enough that if I applied the same force with a pipe on someone's head then I'd have them on the floor bleeding out.

Yet all it did to Staker Carbon was give it a slight disorientation.

And to think that they were people and beings that were much more powerful than Stalker Carbon in this universe. I shuddered to think what a Herrscher would look like if I ever saw one with my own eyes, the devastation that they could inflict.

My dilemma would have to wait as electricity began to coarse through Stalker Carbon as I could see it forgo defending itself from Kuro's machine gun fire in favor of tensing its entire body as electricity began to surround its form.

A small hit of nostalgia hit me as I remembered Stalker Carbon's movements from the game, when Rita calls it in battle doesn't it-!

"Kuro!" I tried to warn the cat with the fact that the canine was planning to launch itself like a missile at the stationary cat.

However my warning was too late as the moment the words were shouted Stalker Carbon launched itself at the black feline, turning into a blur of black and electrical energy before slamming into the mecha panther.

Unlike the first time that Stalker Carbon had launched itself at Kuro, it was just using its own mass to do so.

Now it had its mass coupled with whatever enhancements that the mechanical hound was packing in its frame. The added enhancements were a big deal apparently as not only did Kuro not see the attack coming as the missile that was Stalker Carbon instantaneously closed the distance.

But it had the force behind it to launch the cat into a wall with an audible thud, the brick wall cracking from the impact as Kuro let out the most pained scream I think I've ever heard from the cat.

"Get away from her!" I screamed as I came to her defense, the pipe held high as I ran at the canine. In hindsight maybe shouting the fact that I was going to attack was probably a bad idea as Stalker Carbon immediately shifted its attention to me.

And I'm no animal whisper or anything like that but I could tell that the mechanical canine still remembered how I smacked it in the head with a pipe, its green artificial eyes glowed with anger as it decided to take a page from its master's book.

"Oh," I realized as Stalker Carbon began to approach me, its legs tensing as electricity coarse through its body. "I'm in danger, ain't I?"

I would soon get my answer as Stalker Carbon launched me into a dumpster, the force behind the impact was anything but gentle. "Ah shit I think I broke a rib or two," I wheezed as I laid flat on my stomach, my entire body filled with pain.

As I laid on my stomach, I could see Stalker Carbon shifted its attention back to Kuro. When it began to approach the fallen form of Kuro, I reached my hand out in some attempt to stop the canine.

Only to pause when I noticed the blood staining my hand.

"Oh," I realized that a broken rib or two was the least of my worries as the pain in my body still persisted.

Come to think about it, this was probably the most pain I've felt in this life...and my last one. Death didn't count as I barely felt anything before being catapulted into the life of Haruto Nakamura.

Speaking of death...how would it feel if I did die right now? I was surprised that I never thought about it before but seeing how I just got tackled by a highly dangerous mobile weapons platform and was now probably bleeding out all over the floor, the thought of dying came back.

Would I truly die or would I be thrown into another body from another universe? Was death just an endless cycle of reincarnation or was I just a special case, a one in a several million cases that somehow miraculously happened?

Before I could think of an answer, my body decided it couldn't handle the pain as my entire world went dark.

However before I lost consciousness, I noted the familiar feeling of being submerged in water.

Huh, what do you know?

They really did have a knack of picking the wrong times for this stuff.

When I regained consciousness, I expected to wake up in a chair on the strange water world that lived inside my head. A world where all you would see was the clear water floor that stretched as far as the eye could see.

Then I would see the smirking entity that lived in my head without permission as we would then proceed to talk about changing the world or how I was instrumental in the whole story of Honkai just because I happened to accept a scholarship.

As my senses slowly came back to me, the first thing I noted was the sound of crashing waves. I was confused on hearing the tranquil sounds of crashing water, the sounds that you would typically hear if you were at the beach.

The next thing that I felt was the hot coarse sand that I happened to be laying on top of. The unexpected feeling of the hot sand made me open my eyes to an unfamiliar place.

For starters it wasn't the realm that the voice that lived inside my head met the last time we had our conversation. Note to self, I really needed to come up with a name to give it as calling the 'voice in my head' was starting to sound weird.

I stood up from position on the sand and looked around as I tried to figure out where I had exactly wound up at.

The second thing I noted was that all five of my senses were active, which was surprising. When I had first visited the strange realm that the voice in my head inhabited, I couldn't feel any of my senses. It wasn't as if I had lost all of them but rather it felt that they were muted.

I couldn't smell anything, hear anything except for my own voice and that of the entity living inside my head.

Here I could smell the salty scent of the sea, hear the sounds of seagulls in the distance, see the shine of the sun as it reflected off of the azure waters, feel the hot coarse sound through my fingers. As for taste, well lets just say I desperately wanted a nice cool ice cream cone to go along with this beach.

It felt as if I had just been straight up teleported randomly to a normal beach you could find anywhere.

Deciding to test how real this place really was I walked towards the ocean. Everything seemed to be as real as it could be, how hot yet cool the sand was on my feet, how my feet would feel rejuvenated as the water would climb up to my ankles before receding back into the ocean.

It felt like a paradise right now.

"Though," I knew as much as I wished to stay here forever, forever lounging under the rays of the sun, that I was brought here for a reason. "Are you going to come out yet?" I spoke out loudly as I closed my eyes, knowing that the entity was going to show their face anytime soon.

Seconds passed as I stood there waiting for the hooded figure to show up, the sounds of waves being the only thing I was hearing as I expected for a dramatic entrance any second now.

Seconds soon turned into minutes before I realized that they weren't showing up. Opening my eyes with a small frown I turned around with the intent of going to find some shade from this sun. I didn't think that I would get a sunburn in this place but I did not want to come back and find my back suddenly sporting a sunburn.

"Hey man, I know that you like to be dramatic and all that but do you think that you coul-AAH!" I screamed midway as the moment that I had turned around to head for the trees, there they were. The entity just stood there, hood covering their entire face as they didn't even react to my outburst.

Huh...no sarcastic remark to be given at all? Maybe they weren't in the mood or something like that. Maybe the situation was much more serious than I originally thought it was.

"A little warning would be nice," I chided as I held my chest to calm my beating heart. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

The voice yet again said nothing in response and this time I began to grow a bit more suspicious. They weren't acting normally, period.

But what did I know, before a week ago I was living my life carefree. I didn't have to worry about harboring dangerous cat fugitives, didn't have to worry about potentially causing the apocalypse too early, and didn't have to worry that I would be chased by a highly dangerous killing machine.

Back then all I had to worry about was tests and...yeah it was only tests that I had to worry about back then.

So who was I to be an expert on the entity that lived inside my head? It wasn't like anyone else lived with an entity that had the ability to somehow read the future.

Deciding that if they were going to speak, me trying to coax them into doing so would probably not work out. "Anyway, why couldn't you bring me here rather than the strange water floor world?" I turned around and gestured to the beautiful azure waters.

It felt as if I had been transported to an island that the gods themselves made, everything was perfect here.

A bit too perfect.

And as I set my gaze to the endless ocean, something within me shifted. It was hard to describe what the feeling exactly was but it felt as if just seeing this unlocked something, like an age long puzzle finally being completed.

It was strange though, something about this place felt familiar. Not in terms of the Honkai Universe as whenever I encountered anything relating to that then I would be filled with a sense of deja vu.

The feeling that I was feeling now was that of...sadness.

"Would've made a hell of an impression if this was your opening act." I remarked as I sat down on the sandy shore, bringing my knees up to my chest as I simply just soaked in the atmosphere that this island gave.

Wasn't I supposed to be doing something? I wracked my mind trying to remember what I was doing before I came here but all that I got was a massive blank. My brow furrowed as I put more mental energy into trying to think.

I distinctly remembered that something important was happening, that I needed to get back and help...whoever I was with.

Was it important though? My body unconsciously slouched forward as I rested my head on top of my knees as I brought my legs closer to my chest, my entire aura was that of relaxation.

If I couldn't remember it then surely it wasn't important...right? And if it was then I would remember it later as I let myself go in this paradise that was-.

"What do you think you're doing here?" A familiar voice brought me out of my musings as I turned my head to see the voice that lived inside my head.

"Hey man," I smiled in greeting. "This place is great! Why didn't you bring me here sooner?"

The hooded entity wasn't paying attention to me as all of their attention was directed behind me. "Why have you brought him here of all places?!" They hissed.

Confusion took over as I looked behind me to see the identical clone of the entity simply stare at them before looking back at me. "H-Hey no problem here," I tried placating. "You got a super cool clone of yourself and I'm very glad that you brought me-"

"That is no clone of me and this island is no paradise." The original hissed before they pointed to me. "Get up Haruto, you need to go back and help Kuro before she dies."

Kuro? Who was that? Was it someone that I-.

A sharp pain on my hand brought me out of my internal ramblings as I looked down to see the cause of it. I had been so focused in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed a tiny crab come and snap its claws at one of my hands.

Seeing how it was my mistake that my hand was close enough for the crab to think it was an enemy, I held no animosity as I inspected the damage. The wound wasn't big but neither was it a paper cut so I waited for the sight rich red blood to come flowing out.

Yet it wasn't blood that spilled out but rather a black inky fluid.

Then as if hit by a jackhammer, what had happened prior to my sudden emergence on this island came back to me.

Meeting Sora.

Running away from Carbon Stalker.

Fighting Carbon Stalker alongside Kuro.

Kuro laying on the floor defenseless-!

KURO!

Immediately I was on my feet as I realized that the black feline was still in danger. "I need to go back, she's in danger." I moved towards the original entity that lived inside my head, hoping that they had some way to get me back in control of my body.

"You would so easily abandon this place?" A deep voice halted me in my tracks, my feet refusing to move another inch as the sheer authority in those words demanded so. Nervously I turned my head around to see that the clone had finally spoken.

And with it a myriad of changes to the world around us.

Sunny weather had turned into dark clouds with wrathful thunder booming in the background, the peaceful waters were now a raging sea whose waves now violently hit the sandy shore, the once vibrant trees that inhabited the island had completely withered away, and the winds were like that of a tornado's.

Was this the island that I had just a second ago praised to be a paradise? Or was this the true island and I had just been blind to see it for what it was?

And standing in the middle of it was the entity that I had first seen on the island. There was no mistaking that both of them looked identical, down to even the smallest of details, but their auras were so radically different.

The original's aura was like a gentle breeze, the first time that I had felt it I could feel all of my worries wash away. Even when we were talking about how my presence screwed things up in the universe, their presence was always reassuring.

The clone was the exact opposite. Their aura was that of an oppressive miasma, corrupting all that it could touch. And while its presence was immense...

Their voice was a whole other terrifying aspect all together. For while its presence was heavy, the words that left its mouth made me want to run as far away as I could. It took everything within me to not obey my flight response.

And I was sure that they were not even flaunting their presence, this was all natural to them.

"Leave!" The good entity demanded as they stepped in front of me, protectively placing their body in front of mine.

The evil counterpart simply ignored them as their gaze still remained on me. "Have you truly forgotten Haruto Nakamura? This island is familiar to you after all."

I looked around the island, confused at their words as I tried to find some semblance of familiarity on this island. This was supposed to be familiar to me?! Why was it speaking as if it knew me?!

"Or should I say-"

"NO DON'T!" The original tried to interrupt but to no avail as the next words that left the oppressive clone's stilled the island completely. The wind was no longer howling with anger, the sea was no longer brimming with hatred, thunder had ceased to exist.

And I just stood there, my form beginning to shake as my mind registered what I had just heard. My breathing became frantic and my hazel eyes began to dilate with horror as the words that were just spoken struck a chord within me. The last time I heard that was…

"C'mon big brother, we're going to be late!" A childish voice exclaimed as I was suddenly at a carnival, a small child pulling me by the hand with an excited grin on his face.

"Hey wait for us!" Another scene played out as I was standing in a field of flowers, looking at a group of people who were running towards me with smiles on their faces.

I felt as if I knew them but at the same time...it didn't feel like I truly knew who they were.

Before I knew it I collapsed onto my knees as I grasped my head with both of my heads to stop the searing pain that I was now enduring. Like a drum was being madly played inside of my head with no regard to how I would feel, tears began to roll down my face as I was bombarded with scenes.

Scenes that were familiar but with faces who I could not put names on. Places that I felt I should know but didn't know at the same time. My mind could not recognize them but my heart ached as if they were essential to my soul's wellbeing.

I thought I had gotten past this already! Laid to rest the person that came before Haruto Nakamura, the person that I originally was! Didn't I already grieve for them when I was a baby!

If that was the case then why did it hurt so much right now?!

Why did it feel like someone had taken my heart and was stabbing it repeatedly?!

I was semi aware of the fact that the two other people present on this island were not sitting idly, that they were having a heated discussion that was all but ignored as I tried to make sense of what was going on with me.

Eventually the pain became too much for me to bear before I screamed out my agony as loud as my throat could allow me too.

Then the world around me turned to darkness as I let the inky void consume me before I knew no more.

"Raven, report," Gray Serpent's spoke as Raven found herself situated on a highrise not too far from where she had just fought Rita Rossweisse at. Looking back she could still see the scorch marks that the Key of Sanction had left behind in their fight against each other.

It was a shame that she couldn't finish the maid off, a valkyrie able to hold her own against a Divine Key was nothing to scoff at.

"Still alive, the valkyrie was able to escape. The authorities interrupted our fight and I'm sure that she fled the scene when I did." The World Serpent mercenary explained as she leaned her back against a concrete wall, mindful to not accidentally apply pressure on her wounds.

"And what of Styx?" The hacker asked.

Turning her gaze from the rooftop she just fought on, she observed the congregated sight of emergency response vehicles that had arrived on the scene where Styx was supposedly out. It wasn't too far from where she just had her battle and judging by how Stalker Carbon was nowhere to be seen then that meant the mechanical hound had escaped as well.

"She's fine," Raven told the hacker as she watched the paramedics load the injured cat into an ambulance, alongside the human that had unknowingly defended one of their operatives. The mercenary had a feeling though this red haired human did know who the cat really was.

Why he would risk his life for the cat was still unknown to her.

"What about the teenager?" She asked as she watched the pink haired child from earlier crying over the unconscious form of the teenager, a police officer doing his best to console the stricken girl. "Should I eliminate him?"

"We do nothing," The World Serpent hacker decided. "He has given Styx the means to protect herself. Schicksal would not dare to attack again without risking Ryoma Raiden's wrath. Phalanx was an unfortunate loss but Styx has proven her worth to us."

"In the meantime you need to leave immediately, a plane has already landed at the airport. That will be your ticket out of here."

However Raven was unusually silent as she returned her gaze to the wall opposite of her, where the Key of Sanction was propped against. A frown was on her face as she thought back to how the weapon behaved at the end of the fight.

Even now she was still kinda unnerved by its actions.

"Raven, are you still there?"

"...Just thinking about something, nothing to worry about." She answered as she pushed herself off the wall and went to grab the Divine Key. As her fingers grasped the rifle, she was honestly expecting the weapon to shock her.

At least the weapon was back in a good enough mood to be grabbed.

"You just make sure that my pilot doesn't get any funny ideas about leaving me." Slinging the Key of Sanction on her back, Raven proceeded to make her way towards the airstrip where her ticket out of this city was waiting.

Yet as she made her way through the rooftops, she couldn't help but think back to the final moments of her fight against Rita Rossweisse.

The Key of Sanction was a weapon that had a mind of its own, quite literally. The performance of the weapon was heavily dependent on how it was feeling.

If it was happy then it was a force of nature, nothing that stood before it survived.

If it was in a pissy mood then it would do everything in its power to screw with her. She still remembered when the Divine Key had decided to become a slingshot of all things when she was in a battle.

A valuable lesson was learned that day. As long as Raven respected the Herrscher whose core made up the weapon then they would get along great.

Still…

That was the first time she had ever felt the Key of Sanction display the emotion of fear.

...So cliffhangers, am I right?

To be perfectly honest this chapter was originally structured to be way different. I had planned for the fights to be started and finished by the end of it. Ultimately though I felt that would be too much for a single chapter and the ending was something I've always wanted to write and felt that the best way for it to be effective was through a cliffhanger.

I'm honestly proud of how Rita's and Raven's fight went. I was stuck at first on how to do Raven but remembered that she has a boss fight in the game so I went to that for inspiration.

Next chapter will have the answers that you guys will probably have about this chapter, and who knows. Maybe even more questions will be discovered. Think of it as part two.

No spoilers though cause I know you guys are going to have a field day trying to figure 'its' identity. It'll be interesting to see who you think they are.

Support has been crazy and I want you to know that I deeply appreciate all of you. We are 10 chapters in this story already and we haven't even scratched the surface yet!

Welp that's all for this chapter. If you enjoyed it, drop a fav/follow/kudos as they really help me out with creating great chapters. Reviews are deeply appreciated and if you have a question or a really interesting theory I am more than happy to reply. Please be patient if I don't respond to you super fast.

Peace!