Please read the note at the end of the chapter but other than that enjoy :)

As I opened the door to Kiana's apartment, I was treated to the sight of an eerily empty living room. Not even the lights were on as I warily poked my head through the door opening.

"Kiana!" I called out. "Are you there?"

I waited in anticipation of the energetic girl's answer back but to my growing suspicion, I got no response back.

"Kiana!" I tried again as I put a foot through the door and began to cautiously make my way to her living room, my eyes on the lookout for anything suspicious. Something or anything to tell me what the girl had been up to before I came in.

I would take even a mug of unfinished coffee as a sign that Kiana had recently been here!

As I made my way closer to the living room, I made another attempt to call the white haired girl. "Kiana I hope this isn't some kind of…" My voice trailed off as my eyes drifted to the mirror that hung in her living room.

And caught the reflection of a heavily armed soldier readying his weapon.

"Prank!" I said that last part a bit too loudly as I tried to reign in my surprise. Internally kicking myself for accidentally showing my shock, I waited with bated breath as I watched the mirror to see the soldier not reacting a bit to my outburst.

That was good, it would be quite sad if an outburst was the reason that would land me a second death.

Judging by how the soldier had yet to make a move I could only speculate that he was waiting for me to unknowingly walk into his firing range to get a clean shot. And looking back at the mirror I could guess that he was in the hallway that led to the bedroom.

The advantages of living in an apartment was that everyone's complex shared the same floor plan.

"I mean if you're not feeling up to it we can always reschedule this for another time." I continued keeping the charade up. My eyes drifted to an empty flower vase on the table and in a split second decision I grabbed it. Now armed with a weapon, albeit a terrible one, I made my way to the corner before the hallway.

I couldn't exactly stop and think of a plan to get me out of this mess. The soldier was probably listening to my footsteps to judge when he should open fire and if I completely stopped then he would think something was up. And neither could I just turn the opposite direction and run like hell.

Not only would I probably get shot in the back before I could get a foot out of the door, I would be endangering every single tenant here. My grandmother being the prime example as her apartment was the one closest to mine, and by extension Kiana's.

If I didn't keep moving forward, everyone in this apartment complex would be put in danger.

The only thing I had going for me now was the element of surprise. While the soldier couldn't see me, I could most certainly see him.

And I was going to capitalize on that fact as much as I could. Nearing the corner I mentally prepared myself for what was about to happen. My hands gripped the vase a bit harder as I was just a few inches away from turning the corner.

I could practically see the tip of the gun barrel peeking out.

Steeling myself I swung the vase as hard as I could around the corner, blindsiding the soldier who was not expecting me to know that he was there. The glass vase gave a satisfying sound as it shattered against his helmet.

The sheer surprise of getting hit was so great that the soldier accidentally dropped his rifle in shock. Taking advantage of his disorientated state I kicked the fallen rifle away from him.

Good I had taken his most deadliest weapon away from him with one swift move.

But where I was expecting that one hit to dictate how the rest of the fight would go, that one good hit I was able to get him had was nowhere near enough to take him down like I so wished for.

In fact I think I just pissed him off.

The soldier let out a cry of anger before he ran forward, slamming the entirety of his body against mine. Since I neither had the mass or body size to match him, I could do nothing as the soldier pushed forward without resistance.

And straight into the kitchen counter.

I was tempted to cry out in pain as my back was inflamed with pain but my mind was focused on other things, like getting out of this deadlock that I was not trapped in. My fists immediately went on to punching the man's back as hard as possible.

But I might as well be giving him some love taps as his body armor was soaking up most of my fist's impact.

I realized that fact pretty quickly and decided to change tactics. My eyes frantically darted around the area before I picked up the nearest object and slammed it into his back.

And the object that I had picked up just so happened to be a frying pain. It gave a satisfying sound as I was sure that the man felt the force of that one.

The soldier however wasn't so appreciative of that as he lifted his head up to meet my gaze. Even if he was wearing a visor I could just imagine the raw anger in his eyes. With a roar the soldier, with his arms still wrapped around my torso, threw my body unto the ground with a loud thud.

Landing harshly on the wooden floor, I quickly regained my bearings to see the soldier slowly approaching my prone form. I could see him beginning to form a fist with his hands and quickly reacting I threw a quick kick at his legs.

The soldier fell onto his face as his balance was taken out, a pained cry left him as I could hear the sound of his visor cracking. Without thinking I began to try and get as far as I could from him by crawling away from the spot.

"Oh no you don't!" The soldier roared as one of his hands gripped onto one of my legs. I looked back to see a blue eye that held nothing but smoldering hate through the soldier's cracked visor as he held me in place.

"Get off!" I shouted as I got my other leg and proceeded to kick the soldier in the face to let me go. The man gave a grunt of pain as he loosened his hold on me just enough for me to wriggle my leg free.

With my leg free I looked back up and saw the man's discarded rifle just a few feet away from me. I didn't know what my game plan was now but I just knew that I needed to get that rifle before the soldier did.

Because if he got to it first then it was all over for me.

With a speed that only a man fighting for his life could possess, I crawled my way to the rifle. It didn't take long for my hands to land on the weapon before I hastily turned unto my back to try and find where the soldier was.

Fortunately it did not take long for me to find him, as I could see his figure for a brief second before he pounced on top of me.

"I'm going to make your death painful boy!" The soldier roared as we wrestled for the rifle between us. Try as might, his superior strength compared to mine showed as he ripped the weapon from my hands and threw it to the side, far out of my reach.

His hands soon found their way to my throat, making me let out a strangled gasp of air.

"I'm going to watch the life leave out of your eyes!" The soldier promised as I could feel my vision beginning to darken. In desperation I began to move my body uncontrollably in any possible way to try and get the person whose hands were currently around my throat off.

My hands harmlessly bounced off the man's armor and the wriggling of my body underneath in an attempt to try and buck the man off was proving futile. Even the adrenaline of slowly dying was not enough to free me from my predicament.

All the while my vision was getting darker and darker with each second the man's hands were around my throat.

If I had my bokken or something like that then there would've been a much more different outcome than what I was experiencing now!

My gasps for air were becoming smaller and smaller as I could feel my body no longer having the strength to fight for survival. My hands fell to the floor as the person responsible for said action chuckled as he knew his victory was imminent.

"You should've just been a good little boy and stayed away from this place," The man sneered as I could faintly catch a maniac glint in his uncovered eye with my rapidly darkening vision.

"I can't," It was getting harder to think as my brain was receiving less and less oxygen with each passing second. Right now it felt as if I was in a fever dream as opposed to real life. "I can't hold on."

"Don't worry about that Kiana girl," The man chuckled. "We'll take real good care of her."

A surge of anger filled my almost unresponsive body at the man's words. Like if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on me my vision and mind instantly brightened up to see the soldier still gloating over his victory.

Feeling something in my left hand, I gripped whatever the object it was as tight as I could before I slammed it upward with all the strength that I had. The soldier gave a strangled gasp before he fell over to the side.

With the weight off from both my chest and throat, I inhaled a much needed breath of air. That one second burst of adrenaline was all my body could handle as I felt my vision darkening at a much faster rate than before.

"Damm, I just did that," I muttered in disbelief over how that entire situation went right before I blacked out. As my body completely shut down after that intense ordeal that I went through...

The brief image of a sheathe was completely ignored as my entire world was consumed in darkness.

Green

That was all that you could see.

No matter where you turned all you would see was that of green pastures underneath a clear blue sky. A sense of calm and peace seemed to reverberate from this place as all your worries simply faded out.

"******!" A brown haired boy cried out as he pulled a similarly aged blonde girl by the arm through the fields. The girl held a confused expression on her face as she let the boy pull her along. "We have to hurry and meet them!"

"Who are you talking about again?"

"The one who guided you through the Sea of Quanta before we met!" The boy replied as he looked back at her, their eyes twinkling in joy. "If it wasn't for them I would've never been able to meet you!"

The blond girl smiled at his words as she gave a nod of confirmation. "Yes, I suppose I should thank them for letting me meet you."

"Well then c'mon," The boy urged as they began to go up a hill. "We're almost there!"

The pair soon came to the top of the hill, which was the highest point of the entire field. From there they had a view unlike any other, but they weren't there for the view.

They were there for what the hill held.

For there in the middle of the hill, sheathed in a rock, was a single golden sword.

"Go on," The brown haired boy coaxed the blonde girl to approach the golden sword. "They've really wanted to meet you for some time."

****** gave a wary glance to the embedded sword before looking back at the brown haired boy. "What did you say it's name was again?" She asked.

The boy opened his mouth but before any words could leave his lips, a brief flash of static filled the vision.

The blond girl was replaced with that of another blond girl. What once was free flowing blonde hair was tied into that of a bun. A blue ribbon held the girl's bun in shape, almost as if she was trying to convey the image of a man.

The brown haired boy was replaced with that of a tall hooded person. Even if they were wearing a hood you could see the white hair that matched the color of the robes that they had on. In one hand they held a staff that was adorned with flowers

"It's name, hmm?" The robed person repeated as he watched the girl approach the sword.

"It is a symbol that inspires hope in the hearts of man, it is the dream of promised victory to all that see it's divine glow, a sword worthy of a king." The golden sword was effortlessly freed from its stone prison by the blond girl, gleaming in the air for all to witness it's majesty.

"For it is-"

"Oi Haruto,wake up already." A familiar deep voice awoke me from that strange dream that I just had. "Honestly I go and leave you for a while and I come back to see you like this."

"Huh?" I tried questioning him what he was talking about only to painfully start coughing. My hand reached up and tenderly cradled my neck which felt as if someone had pressed a hot skillet against it.

I cracked open my eyes to see the familiar sight of Kiana's apartment ceiling.

"W-What happened?" I croaked out as I tried to regather my thoughts.

"You don't remember?" Hyperion shockingly asked. "You were just fighting for your life like a second ago before you closed your eyes."

"A second ago?" I asked confusedly as the memories of recent events came slowly back. "I thought I passed out, had a weird dream and everything when I did."

"Dream?" He asked with intrigue. "Are you sure you were having one because I was most definitely awake halfway through that little...'tussle' of yours," They paused to try and find the right word to describe what I had just been through.

Even as my mind tried to process what I had been through, my main focus was on that strange dream I just had. The sheer randomness of what I had seen was very unfamiliar but familiar at the same time. Not just the two young children that were walking through the fields.

But also that hooded man and young girl as well.

"It's nothing," I pushed the topic of it away, maybe I was just hallucinating or my mind was playing tricks on me when I was being choked to death. I however had much more pressing matters to focus on.

"You were watching the entire time?" I pushed my back off the floor as I leveled that accusation at the spirit living in my head. "You couldn't have bothered and helped me out back there?!"

"Meh I wanted to kick back and enjoy the show," Hyperion nonchalantly replied. "Besides you were doing really well, got to give you kudos for how you finished it in the end. I'm sure if we were back in Rome the crowds would be giving you a standing ovation right now."

"Standing ovation?" I asked in confusion before I could feel my body paling at the implication of his words. "What did I do Hyperion?" I could begin to feel a huge weight settle in my stomach as I feared the answer.

"...Why don't you look for yourself then Haruto?" Hyperion's voice grew soft, as if he regretted his last few words. Slowly I turned my head to see the body of the soldier who had just been trying to kill me a few moments ago.

A single blue eye that I last saw filled with so much anger directed at me, was now dulled. My eyes found their way to the reason why his eyes were like that now.

The object that I had slammed into the man's neck happened to be a large jagged piece of the glass vase that I slammed over his head when I first struck. The glass piece was logged inside the man's throat as I could see deep crimson paint the once green glasswork.

My eyes trailed down to see the river of blood that was cascading down the man's body and was beginning to form a pool of blood around him.

Oh god I killed him.

OH GOD I KILLED HIM!

My mind did a double take on what I had just done as I could feel my stomach rapidly churn in disgust. I looked down to the hand that had once held the glass shard and could feel my breathing starting to quicken.

I wasn't sure whose blood was flowing down my hand but it didn't change the facts.

The fact that I just murdered someone with my own two hands.

My hands started to shake as I faced the reality of the situation. Oh god what if that man had a family?! What if he had a loving wife and kids who were waiting for his safe return back home?!

I could feel bile beginning to rush up to my throat as I held my hands to my mouth. Shooting up with astounding speed I rushed as fast as I could to the kitchen sink before painfully hurling up the contents of my stomach into the sink.

"Someone's first kill is always the hardest," Hyperion was somber as he spoke over my hurling. I could feel a rather warm aura on my shoulders as I painfully retched up my stomach's contents. It wasn't much but it helped soothe a bit of the pain that I was feeling.

"But I have learned that it is the first kill that defines a person, tells all you need to know about their character." Emptying out the last bit of my stomach's contents. I panted tiredly as I turned around and slid down onto the kitchen floor with a dejected aura.

"And the fact that you mourn his death, even if he seeked your own, speaks volumes of your kind soul."

I held back a sob as I closed my eyes to try and forget the dull look in the man's eyes but to no avail. "M-Maybe I shouldn't be doing this anymore, m-meddling in fate like this." I tried convincing myself that I wasn't the right person for the job.

For I knew that the soldier's death wouldn't be the first death that I would have a hand in. I could potentially have the fate of millions of innocent people be affected by my actions. Families could be robbed just by a simple mistake that I could make.

I knew what I was getting into when I tried to get myself involved in the Honkai Universe but seeing it first hand was a completely different experience.

Seeing the blood on someone else's hands was one thing, seeing it on your own was a completely different thing.

And these weren't scripted characters made by video game companies, I had to remind myself. These were living, breathing people with their own ambitions and dreams.

They had every right to live as I did.

"And what will you do then hmm?" Hyperion challenged. "Simply get up and try to live a normal highschool life then? Will you try to leave Nagazora right after Kiana gets kidnapped, could you live with yourself if you made that decision?"

I slowly opened my eyes as I thought about the white haired girl that I befriended ever since she arrived into my life. I had to hold back a chuckle as I remembered the first time I saw Kiana barge into the classroom to introduce herself.

Just so like her, spontaneous and without warning.

"Some people are simply not destined for normalcy," Recent memories of my time with Kiana began to play in my mind like a montage.

The first dinner she had with me and my grandmother.

The time when we walked to school together for the first time, which had quickly become a new normal morning routine.

The time that she declared her love for Mei in front of the whole class after she got a bento from the heiress.

The time spent studying for a quiz that I wasn't sure that she was going to pass was only for her to shock me with her determination.

The time that we had dinner at Mei's house to celebrate her success.

Those little moments...

They were something I grew to quickly cherish.

"People believe that people choose to be heroes, that only the noblest of souls can be the heroes of legends, that they have the steel to perform the deeds of fable." I took in a deep breath as I slowly lifted myself off the kitchen floor. My hand latched onto the kitchen counter and gripped it with such force that my knuckles were going white, my body protesting such an action.

But even still I forced my body back up on two legs.

"But in truth it is the simplest of souls that become heroes, that when the time comes when they stand in front of a crossroads they make a single choice that defines the rest of their life."

The memory of how the dinner went at Mei's estate now played out. The mountain of food in front of Kiana never disappeared but neither did the bright smile on her face. To the side Mei had a bright smile of her own as she watched Kiana eat with gusto.

And I knew that I too also had a bright smile of my own during that moment.

"So I ask you, Haruto Nakamura, a nobody from another world…" My hazel eyes steeled in determination as I finally stood on my two feet. The shaking in my hands was still there but it was not shaking from terror alone.

Now it shook with a silent oath that was made at that moment.

"What is it that you will do?"

I looked to the body of the fallen soldier, my eyes trailing to the radio that clung to the man's vest. Walking over I gave a silent apology to the fallen man before I liberated the radio from his dead body.

"I need to make a call."

It was almost sunset by the time that I arrived at the docks where Kiana had been taken to. The radio that I had taken had a GPS feature built into it so all I had to do was follow the route. Peeking around the corner of a shipping container I could see similarly dressed soldiers congregating around a single cargo ship.

Judging by the amount of foot traffic going in and out of that area alongside the rate at which storage containers were being loaded into the ship, it was very likely that they planned to leave as soon as possible.

Most possibly by midnight so that they could escape under the cover of night.

"Now I won't question your choice to go straight to the heart of the enemy stronghold but wouldn't it be logical to bring along your cat to help you out?" Hyperion questioned.

"I won't force Kuro to make a choice of who she should side with." I replied. "I know that her combat capabilities would most certainly help me out here but the fact that she's aligned with them means there's also the possibility that she could turn on me." I explained as I thought back to the black feline.

I grew to regard the feline as a member of the Nakamura family and did not wish to burden her with the choice to pick sides on the spot. I knew that one day that she would be confronted with that choice but I did not wish it to be today.

Not with so much else at stake.

"Besides if my call worked then I won't need to worry about matching their strength," I took another look around before moving from my location, slipping through a patrol's rotation and deeper into the docks.

"You place so much hope that it will even work in the first place, excluding the fact that you were left on voicemail of all things." The spirit pointed out.

Yes that was...concerning to say the least, being left on a voicemail of all things. "In chess every play you make has the risk of it being countered by your enemy. You have to adapt according to the situation and your moves accordingly. There's very little difference between what I am doing now and playing a game of chess."

Except for the fact that I was playing with the fate of Kiana as opposed to a simple victory point in chess.

"Well you've certainly thought this through." Hyperion begrudgingly relented. I smiled a bit at the little hint of respect I could hear in his voice, though I wasn't going to push it by trying to point it out. "So you're entire plan revolves around trying to sneak to where Kiana is being held at, which you have no idea where that is by the way, and escape with her before the 'calvary' comes in guns blazing?"

"It won't obviously go that smoothly," I thought as I moved into a crack just big enough for my body to fit through between two containers. "No plan survives first contact with the enemy after all."

"I agree, but I cannot help but applaud your thought process into getting here. A far cry from the boy who once worried if their shadow was going to attack them if they were to look away."

It was a far cry from how I acted a few days ago but an even bigger shock was when I compared who I was now to a different person.

The original me, the person before Haruto Nakamura, would've never considered this course of action. Even if I had the strongest armor to be protected by, I still would've left this work for someone else to handle.

It was definitely strange to compare the person who I once had been and the person I was now, willingly sneaking through enemy lines to save a friend.

How things changed with one single accident.

"And for that I'll help you out a bit." Hyperion announced.

"What do you mean by that?" I questioned as I made it to the other side of the passageway, peeking my head out to see that I was now very close to the main congregation of enemy activity.

"Well let's just say through my methods I was able to shift through that soldier's memories before his unfortunate passing." I wanted to know what he meant by 'methods' but I was not going to throw away any potential help.

I could always ask later, granted I lived long enough to do so.

"Look to your left," The spirit directed as I followed his words. "You see that warehouse in the distance? There should be something there to help you with your mission right now."

I found the warehouse that Hyperion was referring to not too far from where I was. I still had to navigate a dock filled with soldiers who would shoot first before asking why I was there in the first place but a mere glance told me there weren't a lot of soldiers patrolling that area.

"What exactly will be helping me there?" I asked as I began to make my way to the warehouse.

"Don't know exactly, I just know that it's something that these people don't want to deal with."

"Well then let's hope it's something that we can use for our cause," I said as I made my way to the warehouse.

Slowly opening the door into the warehouse, I peeked my head through the door to see if anyone was inside the building. With how musty the air was inside I was sure that no-one had entered the building recently.

Still I walked inside with a cautious pace, making sure that there wasn't anything that could accidentally give me away. That there weren't any sensors or cameras that I could accidentally trip that would alert everyone to my position.

"So what exactly am I looking for here…" I trailed off as I entered the area that was supposedly meant to be filled with shipping containers, only to discover that it was in fact very empty.

And that only one container called this place home.

A Schicksal container as a matter of fact.

"What is this doing here?" I asked in shock as I approached the white container, any aspect of stealth or caution thrown out the window.

"Don't know the details but it seems that fate smiles upon you for it to be here, though the contents of what it holds are unknown to me. For all we know this could hold cleaning supplies for whatever outpost this was meant to be shipped to." Hyperion explained as I ran my hand through the steel frame of the container.

"Or," I placed my hands on the handles of the shipping container with anticipation. "This could give us an edge that we desperately need." I then pulled on the handles to open the thing up.

The doors creaked as they opened, revealing what the container held.

Or rather what was inside said container.

"Well that was disappointing," Hyperion commented as I walked up to the sole item that was inside. "I expected some giant mech in here or maybe an arsenal of honkai-powered weapons that you could possibly use. Not some silver briefcase that barely takes any space in here."

"I would like to say I disagree with you but then I would be lying." I walked up and picked up the rather hefty silver briefcase. It was rather long in width and height but the most curious thing about the appearance of the briefcase was the symbol emblazoned on the side of it.

It was a blue and golden sword with four angelic wings sprouting out of the sword's hilt while a golden crown sat upon the hilt of the sword.

Taking a good look at the symbol, a part of me was telling me that I have seen this somewhere before.

But where exactly had I seen this before?

Hyperion was unusually quiet, which was strange since he made such a fuss about this briefcase being the sole item in the container. "Hyperion?" I asked as I walked out of the container, briefcase in hand. "Are you alright?"

"...Nothing to concern yourself dear captain." Just his tone alone had me suspicious already, he did know something about the insignia. And I had a feeling it was more than just partial knowledge of it. "Why don't you open it up and see what exactly warrants a lone shipping container."

I wanted to ask further what was exactly bothering the spirit but just let him have his silence. After all he was the one who did guide me to this after all. And if it was something concerning then I was sure that we would be talking about it soon enough.

Walking up to a nearby table I lifted the silver briefcase on top before unclasping the seals on it. "Huh I would've thought that there would've been some kind of password that I would have to input."

With all the seals unclasped I opened the briefcase and beheld the contents within.

It was a singular armored gauntlet that laid inside the briefcase, alongside a sword that used the armor as a sheathe as well. The white and gold colored gauntlet shared more similarities with that of mech than any other traditional armored gauntlets that I knew of.

While not slim to be considered almost like a glove, it was neither bulky enough that the wielder would have a hard time moving their arms around if the situation demanded it.

The armor reached up to what I presumed to be the elbow, an opening at that area suggested that it was indeed something to be worn rather than attached to as it looked like you could easily slide your hand into the gauntlet.

The main feature was the armor that made the gauntlet up itself. A gold diamond shaped design was the first thing that you noticed when you first looked at it. Running a hand along the sleek smooth metal I could feel the energy thrumming in the armor, begging to be used.

And while this was a masterpiece in its own right.

I knew this armor piece from somewhere, that I was sure of now. But where had I seen it before?!

"Now I know you wish to ogle the armor a bit more but you do remember that we are in the middle of heavily infested enemy territory?" Hyperion's urging broke me out of my thoughts, reminding me that a soldier could so easily walk in and catch us off-guard. "Well aren't you going to put it on now?"

"Is it really that simple?" I asked apprehensively. "I mean wouldn't there be some kind of scanner that would verify if I'm the 'wielder' of this gauntlet or something like that?"

It was Schicksal for crying out loud. The most advanced organization on the planet and they wouldn't have some kind of verification system on their weapons and armors? Like if I were to place my hand in this gauntlet and it didn't recognize me would the armor then send enough voltage into my body to instantly kill me?

That just made common sense to me.

"Didn't you just preach to me about taking risks not too long ago?" Hyperion pointed out in exasperation. "We don't have time to wonder if you will or will not die if you place your hand into that gauntlet, every second you spend here is another second that Kiana is in great danger."

Finding no argument with his words I held the armored gauntlet in my right hand as I readied my left hand for what was to happen next. This was definitely how I did not expect this night to go. And I knew that there was going to be a myriad of other surprises that this night would hold.

"Well here goes nothing I guess," I sighed as I closed my eyes…

Before I thrusted my hand into the armored gauntlet.

"How are the preparations going?" Owl asked through his ear communicator. "Are we on schedule?"

"Yes sir," The soldier on the other end replied. "All we have to do is finish loading up a few more containers and we will be all good to go."

"Good I want an update when it becomes clear we can leave in the next hour. Start telling the soldiers to prepare themselves for a swift departure. The more time we spend here is more time for everything to come breaking apart."

"Yes sir, I'll leave you updated." The line cut as Owl let his hand drop from his ear as he watched his soldiers from the building's windows frantically ensure that they would be able to meet the deadline of the departure.

"When I get out of here I'm going to make you regret ever crossing me!" A tired sigh left his lips as he turned around to see Kiana Kaslana struggling against her bonds with all of her might. The two assigned to guard looked more than done with the white haired girl's antics.

"I need to make sure that everything is in order by the time we leave, I trust that you two can keep on her?"

"Yes sir!" The soldiers saluted.

Owl gave a nod before he walked out of the room, leaving the two soldiers alone with the Kaslana.

One of the soldiers gave a pointed look to the bound Kiana now that their superior was no longer there. "You better stay quiet or else." He threatened as he tightened his grip on his rifle to remind her of her situation.

"Heh try whatever you want!" Kiana grinned as she stared into the soldier's visor. "I'll just find another way to annoy you even further!"

Does this girl have no sense of self-preservation?! The soldier looked to his partner in exasperation over the girl's behavior, who in turn just shrugged his shoulders as he too was confused. Most people would be begging to be released if they were in Kiana's position but she just grins as if it's a regular day for her.

Did all Kaslana's possess this disregard for their own lives?

"As much as we would both love nothing more than to shut you up permanently, the higher-ups would have our heads if so much as a single hair was harmed." The soldier leaned closer to the bound girl. "After all you Kaslanas are a rare commodity."

Beneath his mask the soldier grinned as he thought of a way to get back at the girl who had spent the time that they had been guarding her a living hell.

"It was a shame that Haruto fellow had to die," Kiana's blue eyes widened in terror as the soldier took much joy in the look his words had gotten. "I heard he was a great student, I'm sure a couple more years and he would have had a great future."

Kiana tried to look for any hint that the bastard in front of her was lying, trying to crush her spirits. "Haru-senpai?" Her heart plummeted at the thought of Haruto, her first friend in Nagazora, dying.

Dying because he was associated with her.

"You knew that you were hunted because of your heritage, I don't know if your daddy told you but I'm sure you knew about your Kaslana heritage one way or the other." The soldier leaned in closer to the terror stricken girl.

"And yet you dropped your guard and looked at what happened. Murdered not even a few feet away from his own home." Even with a visor covering up his eyes, the soldier made sure that the Kaslana was looking into his eyes for what he was about to say next.

"Now be a good prisoner and stay quiet, or who knows? Maybe we will have to pay a visit to Mei Ra-!" He couldn't even complete his threat when Kiana suddenly headbutted him in the nose with as much force as she could. With the distance between them so short the unfortunate man felt the full fury of the Kaslana blood.

Stepping back the man took off his mask and brought his hand up to his nose, frowning when he could feel blood running through his fingers and the fact it was no longer straight.

She had most definitely broken his nose.

"Don't you dare touch my senpais!" Kiana growled as she glared banefully at the soldier clutching his broken nose. "Haru-senpai isn't dead and Mei-senpai will never be harmed by the likes of you, not on my watch!"

"Why you!" The soldier who had watched his partner's nose get broken held the butt of his rifle up to smack the backside of the girl's head with.

Only for a loud explosion to occur in the distance.

"What the hell?!" The soldier ran up to the window to see the smoky cloud of a large explosion near the perimeter of the docks that they occupied. Any soldier that had been busy helping the evacuation effort promptly stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the explosion.

"This is Perimeter Patrol Echo!" The radio blared to life as a man's panicked voice came through the public channel, making every soldier hear his words. "We are being attacked! I repeat we are being attacked! Anti-Entropy forces are swarming our position and we need-AAH!"

From the smoke a single Anti-Entropy mech walked out, the usually blue eyes of the human piloted machine turned red as a sea of identical red lights flickered in the smoke behind the lead unit.

And with that all hell broke loose.

Ishigami watched from his vantage point as he saw the Anti-Entropy garrison begin to engage the enemy. Streaks of gunfire lit the sky up, missiles flew and caused massive explosions wherever they landed, and all the while...

Chaos reigned supreme.

"How fortunate of us that your student called us about what had happened." Fu Hua spoke next to him. "I fear they would've given us the slip if we continued to follow that decoy."

"Indeed," The teacher thought back to the voicemail he had gotten from Haruto. He had expected the student to notify him about something related to the chess club or something that happened at school.

He had not been expecting to get a call that Kiana Kaslana had been kidnapped and that those who had kidnapped her were planning to leave with her before the end of the night.

His eyes desperately scanned through the chaos that was ensuing in the docks, trying to hopefully spot a mop of red hair. He had a feeling that Haruto did more than just make a phone call.

Ever since he had first met the red head student, something about the way he held himself had always intrigued the teacher. The way his hazel eyes seemed to be always on the watch for something, as if something was about to happen.

Something that he knew was going to happen but did not know exactly when.

"Do you have no-one to call for backup?" He glanced at his blue gray haired Valkyrie partner next to him, who was wearing a light blue martial arts uniform. "No squad that you can call to help us?"

Fu Hua just shook her head. "As far as Schicksal knows I'm deployed in America for a survey mission, the only ones who know that I'm here are the Overseer and another Valkyrie that had been deployed to this city way before my assignment."

"I've already notified her of the situation and she should be here quite shortly. She is quite quick, so we do not need to wait for her in order to proceed." Fu Hua adjusted her red glasses as she looked to the main warehouse that was supposedly the base of operations.

Judging by the amount of soldiers that were congregating around it meant that Kiana Kaslana was being held captive there.

She slammed her fists together, a pair of gauntlets materialized unto her hands in a flash of light. "We have our own mission to complete now."

I held back a flinch as another explosion rocked the ground. To think the peaceful night sky had dissolved into a smoky chaotic mess in the span of mere minutes. The residual smoke from explosions began to cover the dark sky, no doubt attracting the attention of about every Nagazorian resident.

"And what if your little gambit involving calling Akira Ishigami proved to be wrong?" Hyperion asked as I moved closer to the warehouse that apparently housed Kiana. From what the spirit had told me Kiana was not being held at the base of operations for she was actually being held in a secondary warehouse.

A bit strange how he knew that but I was just going to roll with it.

"The worst that could happen would be a really awkward conversation," I looked down to my left arm to see the white and gold gauntlet snuggly in place. When I had placed my hand inside the armor I had fully expected the arm to come alive and shock me to death.

Imagine to my surprise when it only glowed a bright green in activation.

On my right hand was the sword that had once been previously sheathed inside the gauntlet. I may not have the experience to be considered a sword master but enough sparring sessions with Mei in kendo was good enough in my books.

At least this time I could properly defend myself.

"As you can see the benefits outweigh the risks," I spoke as I ran towards the warehouse where Kiana was being held. "With Anti-Entropy the enemy will be too occupied to notice me sneaking in-!"

It was only countless sessions with dodging Mei's bokken that I could properly react to the attack that was aimed for my neck, even if I couldn't see it. Reacting on instinct I brought up my sword to intercept the ambusher's attack as sparks were sent flying by the sudden contact.

"Don't think that I don't know how to use this…" I trailed off as I got a better look to who had suddenly attacked me. My hazel eyes widened in shock as familiar green eyes did the same as the person in front of me voiced her surprise.

"Aki-san?" I asked in shock as I took a step back, my classmate doing the same as we both wondered what the other was doing here.

At that moment I looked at her from head to toe, noting the katana that she held in her hand.

And the fact that she was wearing what I presumed to be a Schicksal Valkyrie outfit. So many questions were going through my head at that moment but…

I voiced the biggest question I had. "You're a Valkyrie?!"

"Uh," Midori's cheeks gained a red hue as she lowered her katana, realizing what she was wearing and who she was speaking to.

"I can explain?"

Surprise surprise, probably weren't expecting a chapter update so fast from me now did we? Too be honest I was surprised by how much I wrote this week but this has proven to be a great way to relieve stress.

Especially if you have a shitty Physics teacher.

Won't be ranting here cause that's a waste of your time but just know I hate that teacher with such a passion for how the course is done since I have to teach myself how to do Physics and its a pain. Take that into account with someone who can have serious anxiety at times and you get a major case of bad paranoia.

But writing this story really helps me calm down, taking an hour off my day to just write feels so good. Also the reviews that you guys write on what you enjoyed also is a good morale booster for me :)

So while I won't be as quick as I was before school, I just know that I'll be writing much more frequently which equals more chapters.

But enough of my life lets talk about the chapter and all that happened.

So Haruto's first kill huh? This was the part I was worried about the most as I think I did okay on how he would react to his first kill and how he would push past it. I had another idea on how his first kill was going to go but I'll save it for later.

It'll be good.

Not much I'll say about the gauntlet but I will be seriously impressed if someone can guess the origins of it.

The action gets good, and it'll only get better with how things progress in the fight of the docks. Haruto can now fight back-ish and Midori Aki makes her debut at last. As for the little vision our captain got.

It won't be an Emiya situation I promise.

Support has been crazy and I want you to know that I deeply appreciate all of you, especially in school.

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. Even if I don't respond to your comment for whatever reason, know that I read each and every one of them!

Peace!