Honkai Impact 3rd - Next Reality

by ANewFace

Set in a fictitious 3rd Era taking place 2553 years after the downfall of the 2nd Era, humanity has recovered from the Honkai and has become more technologically advanced than during the 2nd Era, but the Honkai has invaded. An amnesiac man wakes up in this world and is forced to learn how life truly is as the war between humanity and Honkai is not as simple as he hoped it was.

4. Chapter 4 - Split Duality

Disclaimer: I do not own Honkai Impact 3rd, anything in relation to miHoYo, or any other fictional media referenced in this story.

I only own the OCs.

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Honkai Impact 3rd: Next Reality

Chapter 4: Split Duality

Date: July 19th, 2553

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The door to Tendou's dorm opened as he and Reshia entered the room. The two were fortunate to make it back into the dorms as the storm had begun. The downpour of rain was quick enough to begin turning Crescent City into a puddle, and bolts of lightning struck from within the clouds.

"We got back before it stormed on us." Reshia sighed out of relief. "Thankfully, I won't need a change of clothes. You on the other hand…." She turned her head back

Tendou's clothes were slightly torn with a few holes and cuts. It was also splotched with blood thanks to his combat trials from earlier. The clothes were in desperate need of a wash and a sewing job. It also could just be thrown out.

"Please take a shower." Reshia said. "There's still a lot of blood on you, and I don't think anyone wants you to reek of a bodily fluid." The maid told him. "We also might have to throw away those clothes. We can stitch it up, but you would have a lot of stitches on the shirt and pants."

"I guess we might have to throw it out then. I wonder where Professor Sarah got the clothes from." Tendou wondered. "I sure hope the person she took this from won't be angry. Well, if we're just gonna throw this out, then…"

As Tendou entered the bathroom, he tore his clothes off, turning them into tattered shreds. Reshia could only stare with her jaw slightly open as her master just tore the clothes completely off. She let out a mixture of a sigh and a chuckle. The maid picked up the tattered clothing, and with a closer view of them, realized who they belonged to.

"O-oh…" She started to sweat a bit. "I hope the Overseer won't be too mad, haha…."

Inside the bathroom, Tendou stepped into the shower. The shower itself was quite big, but also awkwardly designed. There wasn't really a tub, but rather a flat floor with a transparent glass window and door. The shower head was static and placed on the ceiling in the middle of the shower. A rectangular bump near the left end of the shower acted like a seat, or a table to place shampoo and other items, though it was placed out of reach of the running water, even if the shower head was big. It was quite redundant.

Tendou turned on the shower, stepping into the quickly warming water. The blood from his body began to wash off just by being splashed with the water. There were only a few spots that needed actual scrubbing. He turned around to go to the bump, only to back away quickly and fall down.

"What the hell?!" He screamed out. "What are you doing here?!" He averted his eyes.

"Isn't it quite obvious? I'm just enjoying the shower?" Lessica answered him. "It's been a while since I took a shower myself. I don't know if I even need one when I'm like this, but hey, it feels good." She admitted. "Also, why are you averting your eyes now? You had no problem staring at my body earlier."

"That's not the point! I'm just asking why shower when I'm in the shower as well." Tendou pointed out.

"I can't go that far from you, so the only time I can enjoy the warmth of a shower is now. What do you want me to do? Wait till you get out? Besides I've seen your naked body multiple times before, so I'm not embarrassed nor disgusted."

"That's…..agh…." He covered his face.

Lessica handed Tendou a shower sponge, which he took after he stood up. Using it, he was able to rinse off the blood marks, staining the sponge with a tint of red though thankfully the splotches were easy to get off from the sponge. After a few minutes, Tendou reached for the door though his arm was stopped by Lessica.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"It's only been five minutes. I want to stay longer." Lessica complained.

"Well I'll step out of the shower, and you can stay in there. No problem right?"

"You're already here. Why not enjoy it? Are you gonna tell me that you don't enjoy the shower?"

"I won't deny that, but what makes you think I'm gonna share a shower with you?!"

"Do you really think you have a choice for that?"

"I-…"

---

While Tendou took his sweet time in the shower, Reshia wandered around Tendou's room. The maid was quite surprised. This was actually the first time Reshia even knew about the existence of this room itself. She never visited the top floor of the dorms, and neither did she ever have access to the room anyway. What boggled her the most was that his room was the only room on this floor.

His room was unique compared to the other dorm rooms within the dormitory. It was slightly larger in size compared to the normal dorms, and it had much fancier furniture. The quality of utensils was also a grade above the ones found in the normal dorms. Tendou's dorms had stoves that were fitted with a fire stovetop while every other room had an electric stove.

*RING* *RING*

The maid pulled out her phone from her pocket. A caller by the name of "Maya Kaslana" was initiating a video call toward Reshia. Smiling, the maid answered the call. Reshia's phone screen opened, showing a small person getting dressed.

"Late awakening. That's unlike you Maya." Reshia giggled.

"I had a party last...night…" Maya yawned. "It went on for…..longer than I tho-….thought."

The Kaslana tiredly buttoned up a pink frilly dress. They tightened a couple of ribbons on their dress, with some ribbons falling off due to Maya's sleepy clumsiness. After a few attempts, they managed to attach the ribbons back on. Maya picked up their phone again, placing it on a pedestal so Reshia can see them.

"So what's the call for?" The maid asked.

"I was hoping you were free for a little bit." The Kaslana reached for an out-of-sight extension. "I have a sparring match with Kathlynn later, and I was going to ask if you wanted to join us." They clipped the extension on their hair.

"I see that your hair still hasn't grown out long enough." Reshia noticed.

"Of course it hasn't. My biology dictates that I'll grow my hair faster than you, but that doesn't mean that it'll grow long instantly." Maya chuckled. "It'll grow out eventually, but for now, I'll have to use the hair extensions." The Kaslana clipped on another. "Anyway, can you join us?"

"When do you plan to spar?" The maid asked.

"Just after getting breakfast." Maya took out a makeup brush. "Mom already made something for me. I can't leave it colder than it probably is."

"Then I believe that I can make it." Reshia replied. "I do have to make breakfast for Tendou. I don't think he has eaten anything yet."

"Tendou?" The Kaslana questioned.

"I'll introduce him to you later." Reshia told Maya. "I got to go now. I'll see you in a bit."

"Alright then. See you later!"

The Kaslana ended the call, leaving the maid alone again. Reshia stuffed her phone back into a pocket and went over to the fridge. Opening it up, the maid was greeted with a nearly vacant refrigerator, much to her dismay.

"Well…" She sighed. "I should have assumed that they wouldn't store food in a room that hasn't been used for a long time."

The only things she spotted within the fridge were some eggs, spinach, and tomatoes. Reshia grabbed all of the items out of the fridge.

"Not much to work off of." She said. "Hmm, what would be best for him?"

Usually, she would have an easy time thinking of a meal to make for the Overseer, but Reshia isn't cooking for Otto now. She has to cook for Tendou, someone who is still a complete stranger to her. The maid really hasn't gotten a chance to get personal with him yet, so she had to make inferences.

"With a body like that, I guess egg white omelette will have to do."

The maid rolled up her sleeve, getting ready to cook. She went up to the drawers and cabinets, pulling out any bowls of plates that she could find. In the end, she only managed to find a bowl and 2 plates. Reshia could only scratch her head in confusion. It was odd how Tendou got to stay in a really fancy room, yet the room is quite impoverished with most of the necessities of an apartment. Granted, the room was most likely vacant of an owner for a while, but that would question the existence of the food in the fridge. She would rather not think about it.

Rolling up her sleeve, the maid went to work. She got the easy things done first by chopping the spinach and tomato first. Soon, with very little effort, Reshia was able to split the egg yolks from the whites within a couple of seconds. Pouring the whites over a preheated pan, it wouldn't take long for the maid to finish cooking a simple egg white omelet. After all, it was just an omelette.

The maid plated up Tendou's breakfast over by the table. She pulled out her phone to check the time.

"It's been 15 minutes." Her eyes widened slightly. "What's keeping him in there for so long?"

Reshia wandered the room, searching the room for more things. The lack of silverware, food, drinks, and many other things were noticed.

"I'm gonna have to take him to go buy stuff someday."

As soon as she sat down at the table, the door to the bathroom opened with Tendou emerging out with a towel on his head. He was now wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and some blue jeans.

"You took your sweet time in there." Reshia chuckled.

"Yeah, well, when you have a ghost forcing you to stay there you can't do much." He answered.

"What?"

"Uh-, forget what I just said."

"Right…" Reshia nodded. "By the way, I made you some breakfast." She pointed to the plate across the table.

"Oh. Thanks." Tendou said.

The tall man sat down and began eating the omelette. A few short seconds of silence passed before the maid spoke up.

"A friend called me earlier." She mentioned. "They wanted to see if I could go spar with them later."

"What about it?" He asked. "Are you going to go, or not?"

"Well, I wanted to see if you wanted to come along." Reshia said. "It might be a helpful experience for you."

"Good point, but no thanks." Tendou said. "Wouldn't I be fighting more beast-like creatures? I don't see how fighting a human would help me as much other than gain strength from training."

"Well, I can't exactly fight back against your argument as it's mostly true." Reshia scratched her cheek a bit. "Though you would be surprised. Our toughest enemy is actually a human. Well, our toughest enemies would actually resemble a human."

"Really?" The man raised an eyebrow.

"Yes actually." Reshia answered. "Ever heard of Herrschers?"

"Sounds familiar." Tendou replied

"Well, they're probably the biggest threat to us." The maid said. "Herrschers are the strongest of the Honkai, and yes, they are human."

"If they're human, then why are they siding with the Honkai?" Tendou asked.

"I'm not really aware to be honest. I'm not sure of the process of becoming a Herrscher. It just sort of happens I guess?"

"Ah."

Tendou really thought the whole thing through again. He still believed that his common found enemy would still be a beast. He also thought that he wouldn't encounter a Herrscher, at least not often. That being said, with the new information or refresher on Herrschers, Reshia's point did have more validity to it.

"I guess I'll go." Tendou said. "The experience might help."

Reshia clapped her hands as the maid smiled at Tendou.

"It's settled then." She stood up. "We'll be going soon after you finish your breakfast."

Tendou took his time eating his breakfast, delaying the time for them to be at the training grounds. It didn't really matter, and to be honest, it was more of a convenience than a detriment. As the two didn't have umbrellas, they would have been soaked if they dared to venture out. Luckily, Reshia had a plan. She pulled out her phone, contacting Maya. Her phone rang for a bit until…

"Hiyo!" Maya's ecstatic voice boomed from Reshia's phone.

"Hey Maya." Reshia greeted. "You think you can stop by at Tendou's room with a few umbrellas?" She asked. "We don't have any with us, and I don't want either of us to be soaked on our way forward and back."

"Sure." Maya said. "But uh, where's Tendou's room?"

"Very top floor of the dorms." Reshia told Maya. "You'll be able to identify which room on the top floor. Trust me, it's easy." She smiled.

"Alrighty. I'm on my way with the umbrellas."

Maya prematurely ended the call before Reshia could even thank them. Sighing, Reshia stored her phone away in one of her pockets. She turned over to Tendou who was staring at the TV. The maid walked over to him, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.

"So that's how you turn this on." He noted.

The TV turned to the news channel immediately. A news flash played on TV with the reporter sitting down by a table, talking about the destruction of Arastan City On the top left corner of the TV screen was a small rectangle displaying a scene of the destroyed Arastan City. It looked a bit better than it was the last time Tendou ever saw it as the burning flames, smoke clouds, and rotting corpses had been cleaned from the city. However, there was a more clear vision of the destroyed buildings and splattered blood.

"It has been a day since Arastan City has been attacked." The news reporter stated. "To date, it has been one of the most devastating attacks on us so far. Not only have we lost a major city, but sadly, we were not able to find a single survivor." The news reporter lowered their tone. "I send my condolences to all of the families who lost a loved one."

Tendou stared at the TV screen for a bit. It was….not what he expected.

"I thought they would be more emotional about that." He said.

"Tendou, you can't fully determine a person's emotion just from the tone of their voice." Reshia told him. "People can sometimes talk as if nothing was wrong with them, but little do you know that if you decide to peel back a layer of that person, they could be hiding tremendous pain. The news reporter is probably feeling that way." The maid answered. "It's their job to stay professional. They can't really show emotions on the news."

"Why's that? Is there a problem with being emotional?"

"Depends on what the location is, what the job is, and a lot of other factors." Reshia sighed. "Sometimes you can't really show emotions in the fear that you'll get called out with a bias, or have a biased reaction. In a time like this, we want to avoid that for the public."

"Is that why you aren't showing any emotion?" Tendou asked her. "I mean, you don't seem to be fazed by the news of a destroyed city. Are you falling under that news reporter's problem as well?"

"No." Reshia answered. "You'll have to trust me when I say this, but this hurts me just as much as it hurts her." Her facial expression changed to a somber one. "How many people could I have saved if I had the chance to be deployed there? How much destruction would I be able to prevent?" She let a long breath out. "That's the worst part of this job. You can't save everyone."

The maid lowered herself down on the couch, leaning back against it.

"Of course, I may be reacting differently subconsciously as well." She admitted. "It's pretty common to see reports of destroyed cities, towns, and villages appear on the news. It's almost daily to see them actually. With the Honkai increasing in numbers, that's bound to happen."

The maid scratched her head a bit. It's a topic that she has gotten used to over her career, but it never got any better.

"It doesn't get easier to talk about it, no matter how long you stay in the job." She lamented.

There were a few knocks against the door. Tendou walked over to the door, opening it for the person on the other side. As he opened it, he was greeted with…no one. There was no one standing in front of him, or at least, no one that he could see looking forward.

"Hello." A voice from below greeted.

Tendou bent his head down, being greeted by a very small person that reached to where his abdomen was. The person had long hair, pretty blue eyes, and wore a frilly pink dress. The little person had 3 umbrellas with two hooked over their forearms.

"Maya, hey!" Reshia poked her head out of the door. "Thanks for bringing the umbrellas."

"No problem." Maya gave the umbrellas to Reshia and Tendou. "So is this tall person Tendou?" They looked up at him.

"Ah, yes, I'm Tendou." Tendou replied.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Maya Kaslana." The Kaslana extended their hand out for a handshake.

The taller man shook Maya's hand in an awkward way due to the size difference of their hands.

"I'm surprised a child like you is a Valkyrie at Schicksal." Tendou said out loud.

"A child?" Maya blinked her eyes a few times.

Reshia couldn't help but snicker a bit. She couldn't really blame Tendou for mistaking Maya for a child. They are quite tiny for an adult after all.

"Well…Maya definitely looks like a child." Reshia said, much to Maya's chagrin. "And while he is one of the more younger students at the school, he definitely isn't a child." Reshia corrected Tendou. "Don't let Maya's size affect your judgement of him."

"Oh, I see." Tendou said. "…wait a minute. Did you say he?"

Upon the mentioning of the last word, Maya let out a suppressed chuckle. Reshia's eyes widened as she realized that Tendou as probably not aware of Maya and his whole schtick.

"Oh, I forgot that this is your first time meeting Maya." Reshia let out a giggle. "Despite his very feminine appearance, Maya is actually a male." Reshia stated. "You're not the first person to mistake Maya as a female, and you definitely won't be the last."

"I see" Tendou let out.

Outside of his choice of clothes, hairstyle, and makeup, Maya had a voice of a young girl as well. Something that might have given away Maya's identity as a male most likely would have been his body. While it is covered by his dress, there were still some things about the body that would have given away his gender, and that's excluding the obvious.

"Anyway, we should get going. Kathlynn is probably waiting for us."

"Kathlynn?" Tendou said. "Sounds familiar…Wasn't she the one that shot me?" He brought up.

"Pfft!" Maya Kaslana held in his laugh. "No way! You're that one! Ahahah!" He let his laughter out. "Oh my god! You have no idea how much trouble she got into for that. Mother gave her a large yelling for that. It was hilarious." He continued to chuckle. "And now you're gonna spar with her as well. Hey, at least this time she can shoot you without getting trouble."

The Kaslana continued laughing while the maid chuckled a bit. Tendou was the only one who didn't join.

"Alright, alright, let's get going. I can't keep Sis waiting." Maya calmed down.

The three left Tendou's room and headed over to the training grounds. As the elevator descended downward, Maya opened his mouth.

"So how are we going to do this?" He asked. "There's four of us. Are we going to battle each other on our own, or do we do a partner match?"

"Oooh, that is a good question." Reshia replied. "Either could actually help Tendou since he lacks experience in both. Well, he's already fought simulations on his own, so I think we should go for a pair-up match."

"Alrighty then!" Maya snapped. "Oh, I forgot to ask. How does he fight? As in what weapon did he choose?" He asked.

"I decided to go with just using my hands." Tendou answered. "Using weapons just feels weird and off-putting." He added on.

"I see. Well this is quite interesting." Maya said. "That means it's 2 melee fighters vs 2 ranged fighters, if I pair up with my sister. I wonder who will win?"

"Well, theoretically speaking, it should be you two." Reshia stated. "The melee vs range argument is moot considering you two fight using the gunkata style so you're ready for either situations. Even disregarding that, Tendou's lack of experience already gives you two a major advantage over him."

"What the hell is a gunkata?" Tendou blurted out.

"It's a fighting style that combines using guns, usually pistols, and martial arts." Maya explained. "A lot of people use it, though it's us, the Kaslanas, who seem to excel with the fighting style. It makes sense considering our ancestors were the ones who created gunkata in the first place." The Kaslana gave a short lesson. "Granted, I doubt DNA actually has anything to do with having a better proficiency with gunkata. I guess we're either just better, or I've just lucked out." He shrugged his shoulders.

The three left the elevator and walked towards the exit of the dorms. As the doors opened for them, Maya exited first, pushing his umbrella out first and opening it to cover the incoming rain. Reshia and Tendou would follow suit. Even with their umbrellas, the wind had to, unfortunately, blow towards them, so some residue of rain still splattered on them. With this unfortunate wind direction, the three hurried over to the school in order to come out as dry as possible. Thankfully, the umbrellas prevented both of the three from getting completely drenched by the rain, though no one was left unscathed.

"I sure hope the weather dies down a bit once our session is done." Maya closed his umbrella. "Let's go. My sister is probably waiting for us."

Maya led the way as the three Valkyries began walking over to the training grounds. After traveling about four minutes, the three arrived. Waiting outside of the training grounds was Kathlynn, who was browsing through her phone as she waited for everyone else to arrive.

"Kathlynn, we're here!" Maya shouted as he raised a waving hand.

"Took you long enough." Kathlynn stored her phone away. "I see that you were able to convince Reshia to join too! And you-."

Kathlynn cut herself short as she looked at Tendou, a very familiar face to her. The taller man looked down at Kathlynn, trying to hold in the slightest of nervous chuckles. Meanwhile, Kathlynn's face slowly became covered with red from embarrassment. Tendou only looked down at Kathlynn, not really knowing what to say, or how to express anything to her.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry for all of that!" Kathlynn burst out as she bowed her head. "I didn't mean to shoot you back in Arastan. Please forgive me!" The Kaslana begged.

"Uhh….." Tendou scratched the back of his head. "Let's just move on from that. There's not really much to apologize for."

"Are you not mad that I could have killed you?" Kathlynn asked.

"I mean, when you put like that, then…"

"Hey, hey, hey." Maya intercepted. "As Tendou said, we can just move on. There's nothing we can do to fix the past. Apologizing to Tendou won't remove that bullet that you shot inside of him."

"Maya!" Kathlynn yelled at her brother.

"What? I'm right, aren't I?" Maya gave his sister a smug expression.

The Kaslana opened the door over to the training grounds, stepping aside so that his sister and everyone else could enter first. As the others entered, Maya quickly closed the door and ran over to the armory. She picked up and tossed a set of pistols over to Kathlynn and grabbed another for himself.

"Here, take these." He tossed over a pair of goggles.

Tendou caught the thing by the strap, confused for why Maya wanted him to have it.

"What's this for?" Tendou asked Maya.

"It's to protect your eyes." The Kaslana answered back. "We're not here to inflict serious harm. I don't want a rubber bullet hitting your eyes."

"Ah, thanks for this then." Tendou gave his gratitude as he wore the goggles.

The pair of goggles were quite tight on the man and he couldn't find any way to loosen them a bit either. They also obscured his vision a bit.

"Kathlynn, we decided on our way here that this was going to be a 2 on 2 sparring match between me and you against Reshia and Tendou." Maya filled his sister in. "Any objections to that?"

"Isn't that a bit unfair?" Kathlynn asked. "We're pairing up against Reshia, who has a range disadvantage, and Tendou who has a skill disadvantage."

"We can't fix the latter, and Reshia offered to be with Tendou." Maya explained to Kathlynn. "There's really no way of going about this."

"I see." Kathlynn said. "Say, what are you fighting with?" She asked Tendou. "Are you using a sword? A lance? Axe?"

"I fight barehanded." Tendou answered. "It seemed agreed upon that it was probably the best route for me."

"Do you even know how to fight?" Kathlynn asked. "Do you have any form or something?"

"No." Tendou directly answered.

"So why was it chosen as your best?"

"I didn't work well with weapons."

"Strange." Kathlynn replied. "I get that using a weapon proficiently is something that comes with time, but you must have at least been able to wield one without much issue."

"I kept losing my sword when testing it out, and I have terrible aim." Tendou kept it short and simple.

"Well, there's something called improvement, but I guess the choice has been made." Kathlynn said. "There's no point in changing it now."

Maya opened the door to the actual training grounds for the three. Reshia, with a motion of her hands, ushered Tendou to follow her which he did. Kathlynn went her own separate path, ending up somewhere far from Tendou and Reshia. The cross-dressing Kaslana took his time, punching in some buttons inside the simulation chamber before rushing out into the grounds.

"Simulation should be up in 3...2…1!" He yelled.

The area around all four Valkyries shifted. The plain outlook of the area changed to a more vibrant and lively appearance as they were surrounded by trees, rivers, ponds, flowers, and sunlight. Of course, with this shift in the area, the Valkyries were now clueless as to where the others were beside their partner.

"Alright Tendou, so here's the plan." Reshia looked at him. "We're both at a ranged disadvantage. Running towards them with reckless abandon is just asking to be shot at." The maid analyzed the situation. "Thankfully, the area around us is quite helpful for stealth. What we're gonna do is try our best to sneak around the area and catch them by surprise."

"Got it." Tendou answered. "But what if they sneak up on us?"

"That's a possibility." Reshia noted. "In the case that they sneak up on us, it means they're close by, so all we have to do is just try to evade and close the gap." She told Tendou. "I know I said we have a ranged disadvantage, but pistols aren't as accurate when very far, so the two Kaslanas are still required to at least get a little close."

"I understand now." Tendou nodded his head. "But say that we do enter combat. What would I do besides the obvious attack?"

"This is a partner match after all. Hmm." The maid pondered on for a moment. "Once we get the two together, then all that is needed to happen is for us to try to make sure they don't get a chance to widen the gap between them and us." Reshia said. "If one of us starts losing the gap control, then the other will begin losing it as well. We have to rely on each other to keep the gap between us and the Kaslanas tight."

"And how do I do that when that happens?" Tendou asked again. "I'm sorry for asking so much, but I actually don't know what to do."

"Nah, it's fine. I can understand." Reshia comforted her master. "I used to be the same. My best advice is well, follow your instincts." The maid said. "I know it sounds unhelpful, but that's really how battles go. It's mostly based on instinct and what you believe works. Combat training is basically training your instincts to learn new options to remember."

"So just go with what I know or can make up quickly?" Tendou asked.

"Well, yeah." Reshia said. "I'm…sorry that it's not as helpful as you hoped." She apologized.

"Nonono." Tendou interjected. "It's better than leaving me in the dark. It's not much, but it's still helpful regardless. Thank you Reshia." He said.

"Oh…you're welcome." The maid blushed a bit.

**WHACK**

Tendou's head cocked to the side violently as a black ball ferociously hit his head. Immediately, Reshia grabbed onto Tendou and tackled him down as another volley of bullets came toward them. Quickly, she pulled the two of them over to some bushes in order to conceal themselves.

"We were talking long enough to give those two some time to reach us." The maid covered her head as she peeked out.

"Sorry for wasting time." Tendou apologized.

"Don't worry about it." Reshia told him.

The maid retreated her head back in as another slew of rubber came flying in her direction. The maid pulled her master away again deeper into the woods. Sounds of broken branches and crushed leaves echoed behind the two. The Kaslanas were on their tail.

"At least you know those two are close by." Lessica interjected. "How about you give your new powers a test run?"

"What new powers?" Tendou asked Lessica.

"Those stigmata that Schicksal implanted in you. They should have increased your physical capabilities beyond a normal person." Lessica told him "Try high jumping onto a tree or something."

"Ok, I'll try."

Tendou looked up at a tree. Letting Reshia's grip off of him, the man tried jumping, only to ascend a couple of centimeters in the air.

"Try harder."

Tendou tried harder, and immediately, he went soaring high into the air…a bit too high.

"Tendou?!" Reshia looked up at her partner.

The man let out a scream as he jumped way above the tree. Reshia followed suit, jumping high and landing on top of a tree branch near his descent. Close to the maid, even the trees started to move. Moving close to the tree log, Reshia hid herself behind it while bracing for when Tendou would come back down. The brown-haired man would eventually fall down, landing on the branch on his abdomen and hung on.

"You'll get used to it someday." Reshia told him. "You'll also learn how to control it."

"That's good to know-."

From one of the nearby trees, Kathlynn leapt out, tackling Tendou off of the tree and back down to the ground. Reshia jumped back down as well, leaving her wide open for Maya who jumped down at the same time and began unleashing bullets onto the maid. Meanwhile, Tendou's body took the brute force of the landing, knocking the air out of his body. Reshia landed on the floor on her feet. Pulling her halberd towards her, the maid tossed her weapon toward Kathlynn. The tossed halberd didn't push the Kaslana off of Tendou, but the rookie used the time of Kathlynn flinching to toss her off of him.

"Ok! I didn't think this sparring match would get intense." Tendou stood back up.

The man would get his answer again when Kathlynn stood back up and began dashing towards him. At the same time, Maya made a rush toward the unarmed Reshia. The duo of Tendou and Reshia were on the losing end of the match. Tendou was clearly no match for Kathlynn, and Reshia had very little experience with hand-to-hand combat compared to Maya.

"That is a rookie mistake." Kathlynn kicked Tendou's arm. "Sorry to say, but I doubt anyone will hold back with you. In fact, I'm pretty sure some will go harder on you as well."

The Kaslana continued mixing up the rookie, sending kicks and blunt hits towards his blocking arms while occasionally putting in a few gunshots towards him. Of course, their height difference only made it worse as Tendou was a massive target for Kathlynn to attack, giving her an easier time landing hits.

"What the hell?! That's so cruel!" He complained.

Tendou sent a knee to her stomach, an attack Kathlynn was able to block with some ease. Tendou started running away from Kathlynn. The Kaslana chuckled a bit before chasing after him with shots from behind. Meanwhile, Reshia was doing her best to fend off Maya. The maid was locked on defense as Maya aggressively used his gunkata skills to overwhelm her. No matter what she did, it would backfire on her. Try to punch Maya? Miss and get shot. Try to kick? Miss and get shot. Grab? Whiff it and get shot.

"I didn't expect this to happen." Maya said. "I never thought that you would throw your weapon to protect someone."

"What kind of statement is that?" Reshia raised her eyebrow. "Are you saying you wouldn't do the same?"

"No! I have a gun." Maya chuckled.

As the Kaslana sent a low kick to Reshia's legs, the maid held on tight to Maya's leg, tossing him a few feet away. Of course, Maya was given the opportunity to fire a few rubber balls at Reshia which hurt her a lot, but she grit through the pain of the process. Ideally, though, this wouldn't be something she'd do. It was only thanks to the difference between rubber ammunition and live rounds that she even dared. The maid ran away, but Maya only chased after her to close the gap, and his small agile figure closed the distance real quick.

"What do I do?" Tendou asked himself as he fled from Kathlynn.

"Maybe I can help."

"Lessica?"

"Just remember what Reshia said from earlier." Lessica told him. "Rely on your instincts. Do what you believe works."

"But how am I supposed to know what to do?" Tendou asked.

"Look around you. Make observations of the area around you. Look at Kathlynn, Reshia, and Maya, and think about certain aspects and come to conclusions. Analyze the situation."

"I-I'll try."

Despite the risky and dangerous situation, the rookie looked at everything. Kathlynn was dead set on getting him, but she was also keeping her distance from him. Given that she chose to fight from afar, she would waste more ammunition, and force herself to reload. With that in his mind, Tendou decided to act. He ran behind a set of trees, switching in between them constantly and using every side of them to circle and evade Kathlynn.

"What is he doing?" Kathlynn thought to herself. "He's not gonna get anywhere like this."

After wasting more shots, Kathlynn's training pistols were emptied. The Kaslana hid behind a tree to reload, but to her surprise, Tendou quickly ran up to the tree she was behind. He jumped up and drop-kicked her with both of his legs. Both fell to the ground as a result, though Kathlynn recovered by rolling and then kneeling upright while Tendou fell on his stomach. However, the cartridge Kathlynn had in hand fell over, wasting a second of her time to take out another cartridge on her, a second which allowed Tendou to run away.

"We have to rely on each other to keep the gap between us and the Kaslanas." Reshia's words echoed in the rookie's head.

Tendou ran towards Reshia's halberd, grabbing it off the ground as he passed it. He headed towards his troubled partner dealing with Maya. With both hands, Tendou flung the halberd straight at Maya, only to miss as the halberd trajected towards the tiny empty space between Maya and Reshia.

"Great aim." Lessica mocked him.

"Doesn't stop me from doing this!"

Tendou jumped forward, launching a flying knee at Maya's head. The younger Kaslana moved out of the way of the flying knee, giving Reshia the room she needed as she ran towards her thrown halberd, grabbing it off the floor. Tendou followed up with a low kick toward Maya's legs. Maya reacted quickly, countering by kicking back. Their legs crashed into each other, with the smaller, yet more experienced and stronger Kaslana coming out the victor. The loser's leg recoiled back and Tendou nearly lost balance before he planted his other leg back on the ground. Maya pointed his gun at Tendou, finger on the trigger.

**SLAM**

Maya fell to the ground on his sides.

"Thanks." Tendou said to Reshia.

"No problem."

A rubber ball hit Tendou on his back, letting out a grunt from him. Tendou turned around just as Kathlynn leapt towards him, the sole of her foot crashing into Tendou's face. The massive rookie fell backward, being caught by Reshia who stopped him from hitting the ground. However, Maya kicked the ankles of both Valkyries from the ground, causing them to trip to the floor. Both landed on their backs, facing upward as Kathlynn jumped and began falling with her knees towards them. Both rolled away from the knee, causing Kathlynn to crash into the ground. As Tendou stood back up, Maya came flying towards him, one of his guns pointed straight at Tendou's chest. Daringly, Tendou stood in place and reached his hands out, grabbing Maya's wrist and pushing them upward. A bold move, but one that paid off as Maya's shots missed.

"You're doing great Tendou." Maya complimented

Tendou, within the heat of the battle, ignored the reply and slammed his forehead into Maya's face. Surprised and shocked, yet reactive, Maya lowered his own head down in order for his forehead to take the brunt of the force.

Meanwhile, Reshia had dealt with Kathlynn shortly after she got up. The Kaslana pointed both guns at Reshia, but the maid countered by using her halberd's handle to pummel the guns upward. Twirling her weapon, Reshia stabbed her halberd down at Kathlynn. Kathlynn evaded the oncoming halberd by jumping up into the air. The Kaslana brought one of her legs back before extending it out to kick Reshia in the face. The kick from Kathlynn missed as Reshia brought her upper body from her chest up to her head back. At the same time, the maid quickly switched the grip on her halberd, swinging it up from the ground. The training weapon crashed into Kathlynn's back, taking the airborne Kaslana a few centimeters behind Reshia.

"Reshia!" Tendou shouted.

The maid looked in her master's direction, watching as he spun around a bit before throwing Maya flying at her. Reshia readjusted her grip on her weapon with her left hand on the lower end and her right holding the upper handle. With a strong swing, she batted the flying Maya away towards a tree.

"Seems like you're getting used to battle." Lessica commented.

"I don't know." Tendou replied back. "For some reason, this feeling feels familiar, like I've done it before." He huffed out breaths.

"Well then use that familiarity." Lessica said. "No point in rejecting it now. Just remember what Reshia said."

Reshia ran towards Tendou, checking up on her partner.

"Are you alright?" She asked him.

"Mostly." He replied.

Kathlynn ran over to her little brother, helping him up after the heavy blow he received. Thankfully, Maya wasn't severely injured, despite the major blow.

"You alright brother?" Kathlynn asked.

"I'm ok." He replied. "I've had worse before."

The siblings stood across from Tendou and Reshia, their posture and stances being quite loose. Maya looked up to his sister.

"So how is Tendou fairing?" He asked.

"Hard to call." Kathlynn replied. "I'd say he's about average. Nothing terrible, but nothing impressive either. Just an average rookie."

"I see." Maya said. "Let me deal with him for a bit so I can assess his skills a bit more."

"Your move." She gave the opportunity to her brother.

"Ok!" Maya grinned.

Maya jumped up and made himself perpendicular to a tree. Kicking his feet off of the lumber, he went soaring towards Tendou. Kathlynn kept herself busy with Reshia. Knowing that the maid would go for Maya if she didn't interfere, she fired a rubber ball directly at Reshia in order to buy at least a second. As the maid's defensive instinct kicked in to protect herself from the projectile, Maya was able to get himself close to Tendou, though with a pretty big space for reaction time, Tendou simply moved his body away to dodge Maya. Before Maya could land, Tendou grabbed onto his ankle and slammed Maya down onto the floor. Meanwhile, Kathlynn closed the gap between herself and the maid. She leapt forward, knee outward at Reshia. The maid bent her knees forward, lowering herself to evade the knee. The Kaslana flew above Reshia, but as the maid tried to get up, Kathlynn stretched her launched knee back, kicking Reshia in the back of her head.

Tendou pulled back an arm to gain a bit more momentum, slamming the fist down at the grounded Maya. With the long wind-up he did, Maya lifted his lower body upward before using his insane upper body strength to push himself up. Maya landed on top of Tendou's face, using his legs to hold tight. Now using his entire body to his advantage, Maya threw Tendou to the ground by flipping him harshly against the ground. The crash pushed air and saliva out of his mouth, wetting Maya's dress.

"Ew…" Maya said. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that."

Maya got off of Tendou, only to be retaliated when the man grabbed the Kaslana's dress collar, bringing him down to his other fist. Tendou punched Maya in the face a few times by bringing him down by the collar. He was only stopped when Maya dropped his guns in order to grab onto Tendou's wrist to stop him. The two Valkyries used all of their stamina as their upper limbs wrestled to come out on top. The bulging biceps on Tendou's arm began tugging and stretching the fabrics and sewing hugging around the muscles. Maya gritted his teeth as he tried his hardest to push himself away from Tendou. Since he was on top of the taller man, Maya moved his legs around and began rapidly pummeling Tendou's abdomen.

"Agggh-!" Tendou howled in agony.

Releasing his grip on Maya, Tendou pushed him off to the floor before getting up. Maya ran over to his guns, grabbing them from the floor before zooming back in on Tendou again.

After receiving the kick to her head, Reshia spun around to swing her halberd at the still-airborne Kaslana. Pushing her gun outwards, Kathlynn blocked the slash from Reshia, though the brunt force easily broke her guard. Immediately, Reshia followed up with another slash downward, connecting against Kathlynn's shoulder. The force caused Kathlynn's knees to bend, throwing her balance off and giving Reshia another moment to kick Kathlynn away. Kathlynn fell and slid across the ground. She quickly flipped herself back up just as Reshia came at her with an upward slash. The training halberd barely missed Kathlynn, the very tip of it just splitting through the bangs of her hair.

"You're holding back, aren't you?" Reshia said. "You're not going as intense as you have before. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Kathlynn responded confidently. "Just trying something out."

"Trying what out?"

"A new battle tactic."

"What battle tactic?"

"How about you figure that yourself." A cocky grin grew on Kathlynn.

"Fine!"

Reshia planted both of her feet on the ground before pushing harshly against it, causing her to glide hastily towards her Kaslana opponent. She quickly slashed her halberd with tremendous power at Kathlynn. The Kaslana's arrogant expression quickly transformed to shock as she quickly bent back to barely avoid the incoming halberd. One of Reshia's hand let go of its grip after the swipe from the halberd, and with the free arm, Reshia sent a quick elbow at Kathlynn shortly after bending her knees down to reach the Kaslana's abdomen level. The maid's elbow dug straight into Kathlynn's solar plexus, knocking all of the oxygen inside of her body outward. Kathlynn fell down to one knee as she was left in a winded and stunned state. Her grips on her guns weakened, her legs were wobbling, and her consciousness kept flickering in and out.

"Looks like your tactic didn't work out, did it?" Reshia looked down at Kathlynn.

"To be honest, I wasn't expecting you to incorporate an unarmed attack." Kathlynn looked up, one eye closed. "I thought you were just going to rely on your halberd completely."

"I was thinking about it." Reshia said. "Though it may be best if I start learning how to deal with unarmed combat. I can definitely lose my weapon in combat."

"Tendou is learning at the same time, so maybe you can join him in that."

"Yeah, you're right."

Kathlynn struggled to stand back up. Reshia lent a hand out, which Kathlynn grabbed to assist herself in standing up.

"So what was the tactic?" Reshia asked.

"Ah, that." Kathlynn chuckled. "I was hoping I could force you to waste enough energy to the point that you would be tired out. From there, I was going to pummel you with everything."

"So you were trying to make me waste energy while you conserved yours?" Reshia's lip smiled lightly. "Not a bad tactic to play the waiting game, though it's terrible to use it on someone you don't know well."

"I can tell that from what just happened earlier."

*BAM*

Kathlynn and Reshia both fell down as a flying body came and crashed into them. The three landed on the ground with Reshia taking most of the force due to having two bodies fall on her. Kathlynn, wincing in slight pain, adjusted her eyes to glare at the person on top of her.

"Sorry sister." Maya pushed off of her.

Across from the three of them was Tendou. The rookie's hair was a bit of a mess, and his clothes were slightly drenched. His cobalt eyes were slowly blinking in consistent intervals as sweat dripped down from his chin. Tendou's chest kept puffing in and out at a pretty quick pace and his posture was hunched forward a bit.

"You alright Reshia?" An exhausted tone escaped from Tendou's mouth.

Reshia quickly pushed the Kaslana siblings off of her before leaping away a short distance. She looked at Tendou with serene eyes and a comforting smile.

"I'm doing fine." She calmly replied.

The siblings stood up. With Tendou on one side and Reshia on the other, the two were sandwiched between them. The backs of the siblings faced each other as the two stared at their opponent.

"He's quite persistent." Maya acknowledged. "But as you said earlier, he isn't unordinary or outstanding in any way."

"It doesn't matter." Kathlynn said. "He'll be training here from now on, so he'll improve."

Tendou made the first move, dashing towards the Kaslana siblings quickly. Reshia followed shortly after Tendou's move, trying to sync her own movement up with his. Kathlynn turned her head down quickly to look at her brother, giving him a small smirk, one that he would be able to decipher. Grinning back, Maya and Kathlynn quickly pointed their pistols straight at both Reshia and Tendou. The two approachers quickly halted in their tracks, an action that the Kaslana siblings were betting on the two doing. Quickly grabbing Maya by his forearm, Kathlynn tossed her brother straight as Reshia before she made a blitz towards Tendou.

Maya repositioned himself while in the air, aiming his lower limbs towards Reshia as he soared through the air. Quickly, Reshia moved away from Maya. The Kaslana was dragged downward by gravity, sliding against the ground with his feet. Reshia dashed towards Maya quickly with her halberd by her side. Her grip on the weapon was tight, yet her posture was quite soft and loose. She stopped right in front of Maya. The maid began to swing her weapon down at the Kaslana's ankle with an awkwardly slow and weak swing. With a massively predictable attack, Maya hopped up to avoid the attack, failing to notice what he fell into.

"Got you." Reshia smirked.

Maya looked down to the floor, his eyes sparking of confusion as the area he leapt from didn't have the axe or lance end of the halberd, but the bottom pole. As he tilted his head, Reshia's arms became tenser as she quickly bolted her angled halberd to slam against Maya's torso. The small gap between Reshia and Maya, as well as the width of the halberd, played an advantage to Reshia as Maya had very little time to react. The Kaslana was able to raise his arms up to cover his body and face, but he didn't have enough time to intensify his arms for the block. The slam damaged Maya's arm, and the lack of fortitude within his block backfired on him as his arms crashed against himself, hurting him even more. The Kaslana fell to the ground with a thud, the grips on his guns weakened and his arms were in pain.

"You're down." Reshia pointed her weapon downward.

Maya stared at the weapon. His hands felt flimsy at the moment. However, his lower body was the opposite. With his small legs, he kicked Reshia's halberd away from him and quickly stood himself up using his lower body strength in places such as the knees. Surprised, Reshia backed off a few centimeters as Maya took initiative. The Kaslana ran towards the maid as she swung her halberd horizontally, jumping up and landing on top of the training weapon. With the short amount of time Maya stood on the weapon as a platform, he shortly hopped up again, extending a leg out and kicking Reshia by the cheek. The maid stumbled to the side as the Kaslana landed on the ground on his feet.

"Sorry Reshia, but I'm not gonna go down easily." Maya smirked. "That's not how this works, and you know it."

Reshia rubbed the cheek that Maya kicked, her face now turning red from the kick. She sighed, knowing that Maya was completely right in his statement.

"Kaslanas and stubbornness. A pair that can't be separated." Reshia said.

The two stared at each other for a bit before trading a small smirk.

Kathlynn quickly closed the distance between her and Tendou. Aiming one of her guns down at the ground, Kathlynn swung that arm upward, pressing on the trigger to induce a recoil that further aided into the force of her swing. Her hand struck Tendou's chin. The man's head cocked backward with a vicious snap and stumbled backward.

"Agh, my chin!" Tendou shouted.

Quickly, Tendou snapped back with a punch towards Kathlynn. Kathlynn stepped back a bit to give herself a bit of room before performing a butterfly kick. Her first kick clashed with Tendou's fist, parrying it and breaking the rookie's offense. With his hand deflected, Tendou was wide open, and Kathlynn relished in the opportunity. Once she stood back on the ground, Kathlynn dashed towards Tendou, crashing into his stomach and bringing him down. It wasn't over for the newcomer as Kathlynn held tight onto him as she forced her and him to roll until she was the one at the bottom. With Tendou on top, Kathlynn dug her legs into him, kicking the taller man up into the air as she quickly stood back up. Gravity brought Tendou back down to Kathlynn, who caught him as he landed in Kathlynn's palms on his spine. Immediately, she tossed him toward a tree, where Tendou's back crashed against it.

"Uagh!" spit gargled out of Tendou.

Before his injured body can fall to the ground, Kathlynn rushed towards him, bringing out a leg and kicking it into his diaphragm. Every atom of oxygen left in Tendou's body escaped. The world started to become blurry for him. His arms went limp and his legs were shaking in place. As Kathlynn retreated her leg back to her, Tendou slowly slid down. He tried his hardest to remain conscious, but the physical blow from the Kaslana made it too difficult to stay awake.

"Oof. Maybe I went too hard." Kathlynn looked at the heavily weakened with concern.

Tendou weakly swung an arm at Kathlynn, who dodged with ease. The Kaslana was filled with concern for the rookie, but she couldn't really express sympathy.

"As painful as this may be, you're going to have to get used to it." She lamented. "Such is the life of a Valkyrie. Injuries are commonplace, and death is not too far."

Tendou limped towards Kathlynn, launching another weak punch toward her, which Kathlynn easily grabbed.

"Tendou, calm down!" Lessica interfered. "You're obviously not in shape to do anything massive."

"Then what do I do then?" Tendou asked her. "Give up? I mean, it's definitely favorable."

"Remember what happened when you first met her?" She asked him. "You know, when she pulled the trigger on your leg."

"Of course I do. What about it-?"

Immediately, the thought popped into Tendou's head and he recognized what Lessica was trying to get him to do.

"I understand, but how do I activate the healing factor?" He asked Lessica

"This may sound dumb and strange, but just focus on what you want to heal, which should be obvious." Lessica answered.

"That's it?"

"Yeah, just think about it. I mean, you have to think before your body does something, right? It's not much different here. Just think about what you want to heal and it should heal. That's how it works for me."

"Right, right, right." His coarse voice replied. "Just give me a moment."

Lifting another arm up, Tendou flew another predictable and frail punch at Kathlynn, which she took head-on, and as expected, was not fazed in the slightest. The Kaslana shoved the fist off of her, sighing in response. Tendou soon launched another hand at Kathlynn, this time at her forearm. Again, the Kaslana took it, though was surprised when Tendou kept his hand latched onto her. She also did not bother to remove it from her.

"Look, I know you want to win, but you can't allow your stubbornness to continue like this, especially on the field." Kathlynn lectured Tendou. "A rookie mistake that has caused so many lives."

"..Y-yeah, I understand." Tendou coughed out.

Kathlynn looked at Tendou, a bit confused and a bit cautious. She felt like something was off, but couldn't deduce what was off. Tendou was not manifesting any physical changes to signal anything, and mental changes were not something Kathlynn could deduce. It wasn't her specialty after all. All of it really came down to her gut feeling.

"Are you alright?" Kathlynn inquired Tendou.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Tendou's voice was slowly reverting back to normal.

Kathlynn let out another sigh.

"I think we can-!"

As if her instincts kicked in, Kathlynn quickly moved out of the way of a flying halberd and following the halberd was a flying Maya, who soon crashed into the ground. Kathlynn's eyes averted toward Reshia, who was walking towards everyone else. The maid had a small smirk on her face, though she was sweating all over. Kathlynn tried running over to her brother, but after moving a few steps, she was halted as she could not move further. Her forearm was still held on tightly by Tendou…a bit too tightly.

"Gotcha." Tendou looked into Kathlynn's eyes.

The Kaslana tried to quickly retaliate, but Tendou's fist smashed into her solar plexus before she could attempt a counterattack. Just like what she did to him earlier, Kathlynn's oxygen reserves exploded out of her mouth, leaving her gasping. With his grip still on her forearms tightly, Tendou grabbed and lifted Kathlynn up and tossed her towards directly at Maya, who was in the process of getting up. Kathlynn's body would directly crash into Maya, harshly.

"This hasn't gone well for us." Reshia noted as she picked up her training weapon.

"No it hasn't." Tendou continued gasping. "This has felt more like a solo fight than it has a team fight."

"For us at least." Reshia stated. "The Kaslanas knew our weakness in that we've never cooperated, so they've purposely have been trying to split us up. I did say this before we began."

"Yeah."

"Are you alright?" Reshia asked Tendou. "I'm assuming you took a heavy beating from Kathlynn. Does anything hurt?"

"Oh yeah, a lot of things hurt right now, but I'm getting by…somehow." Tendou panted heavily. "I don't really know how, and I can't really explain it because of that."

"Oh." Reshia lamented. "I'm ashamed I was not able to fulfill my duties."

"No no no! It's alright." Tendou quickly reassured her. "I don't fault you for not being able to do something out of your control."

"…I see." Reshia unconfidently replied. "…And I must apologize." Reshia's tone changed. "I may, or may have not lied to you."

"Hmm?" A confused Tendou looked at Reshia.

"The tips I told you before this fight, well, they're tips I received from someone else." Reshia looked away with guilt. "I, uh…haven't really fought with another person before."

"You haven't?"

"Very rarely." She said. "I have with a few people before in the past, but most of the time the Overseer sends me on solo missions. I'm not really a team fighter."

"Oh." Tendou replied. "I guess this is a beginning experience for both of us. Let's forget about the lie and just focus on teamwork as best as we can."

"Of course." Reshia looked back at Tendou with a smile.

"Ahem!" Lessica interrupted.

"Hmm? Is something the matter?" Tendou asked Lessica.

"While you two were talking, Kathlynn and Maya have been recovering. They've been abusing your ignorance to recover."

Tendou turned his head over to look at the Kaslanas, seeing them back on their feet again. Having recovered a bit himself, he was…ok, he was still not ready in the slightest, but it's not like he had a choice.

"So who is making-?"

The Kaslanas quickly ran towards Tendou and Reshia with Kathlynn slightly ahead of her brother. Kathlynn leapt into the air as she tried kicking Tendou. In his head, the rookie wanted to block the incoming kick from the Kaslana, but a voice told otherwise.

"Dodge!"

The sudden yell from made Tendou move his body instead of blocking.

"Lessica, why?" He asked.

"Because you would have fallen for the same tactic they have been doing." She interjected. "Look at your partner."

Tendou turned his head to Reshia. The maid was preparing for an incoming attack from Maya.

"Alright, I know what I have to do."

The maid had been preparing a counterattack for Maya, and when Maya got close, she thrusted her halberd forward. As Maya anticipated, he was able to intercept the counter, but to the surprise of both him and Reshia, Tendou's palm swiftly entered, smashing itself into the youngest Kaslana's face. Maya fell to the ground after having been hit a meter away.

"Tendou?"

"We have to stick together." He said. "They're purposely trying to separate us, which isn't a huge problem for you now that I think about it." He realized. "It doesn't matter though."

Quick footsteps approached from behind the two as Kathlynn tried to drop kick Tendou from the back. Quickly, Reshia intercepted to save Tendou, placing her halberd in front of the kick, blocking it from reaching the rookie.

"Tch!" Kathlynn clicked her tongue as she bounced off of the halberd.

Once she landed, Kathlynn was met up close by Tendou rushing towards her with a knee to the stomach. The Kaslana lifted her own knees up to cover the blow the blow from the taller rookie's leg. While successful, it was merely an unexpected distraction as Reshia crept up behind Kathlynn, swinging her halberd against Kathlynn's back. With no way to block the halberd, she had to bear through the pain of Reshia's attack. Using her blocking leg, Kathlynn pushed Tendou away, turning around and directing her attention to Reshia. She pointed both pistols at the maid, but Reshia jabbed her halberd handle underneath the guns, pushing their trajectory upward. With Reshia wide open, Kathlynn extended a leg out to kick, but her collar was held on tightly by Tendou from behind, throwing her to the ground.

"AGH!"

The Kaslana fell to the ground with a small thud. Tendou prepared a kick to send her rolling, but Maya crept up on him, jumping and latching himself onto Tendou. The smaller Kaslana used his body to force a weight down on Tendou, slowly dragging him down before Maya jumped off of him and further kicked him down while mid-air.

"Tendou!" Reshia shouted.

The maid scurried over to her ally only to be stopped when Kathlynn grabbed her from behind in a fashion that prohibited Reshia from using her arms. Maya came towards Reshia, making it evidently clear that he was coming in with a knee. With her being unable to use her arms, Reshia used her core strength to lift her legs up from the ground to defend herself.

"You fell for the blunder!" Maya yelled.

The Kaslana stopped in front of the maid as he raised the butts of his guns above before slamming them down on Reshia's legs and knocking them back to land. Now with his guns pointed straight at the abdomen of the maid, Maya pressed the trigger, sending two rubber pellets connecting against the maid. Before Maya could do anything else, a kick from Tendou landed square against Maya's head, pushing him away. With one less opponent to deal with for now, Reshia focused all of her efforts on Kathlynn, knocking her head back against the Kaslana restraining her. The head bash connected against Kathlynn, who bore the pain, but her grip started to weaken. Reshia continued bashing her head a few more times before the embrace on her weakened enough to allow her to move her arms again. Dropping her halberd, Reshia grabbed onto Kathlynn's wrist and tossed the Kaslana over her head. As Kathlynn flipped in the air, Tendou quickly punched her square in the stomach, pushing her away a few meters. Landing on her feet, Kathlynn griped her stomach and looked up as both Tendou and Reshia ran towards her with their fists out towards Kathlynn.

*SMASH*

The combined might of the two further sent Kathlynn away in the air towards a tree. The Kaslana flipped herself around, intending to kick herself off the tree once she reached it, but as her leg was mere centimeters away the tree began to phase out of existence and her leg connected to nothing. Kathlynn fell to the ground and her body heavily slid against the slowly disappearing dirt.

"The simulation is shutting down?" Reshia looked all over her surroundings.

"Hahahaha! Oh I have been waiting to do that!" A snarky voice yelled from afar.

Kathlynn pushed herself up and faced the direction of the voice. Her face immediately transformed into an angry and violent expression. Similarly, Maya's expression also contorted to show dissatisfaction and aggravation.

"You have no idea how long I stood inside that room just waiting for the perfect moment." Darwin cackled.

"Agh! Jackass!" Kathlynn swore at him.

Tendou's eyes flipped back and forth between the two. He had already seen the bitter rivalry between the two, and with them now being in a room with less people, he had a negative feeling.

"Darwin, please leave us alone." Reshia told him. "We were here first, and there was no need to do that."

"I know, I know." Darwin sighed. "But I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist temptation."

*BANG*

Darwin's head cocked backward in a violent manner.

"AGH!" He roared.

A rubber bullet fell off and bounced off the ground. Cocking his head back, a violent and ferocious stare pierced off of Darwin, looking at a snarky and smug Kathlynn with a gun raised up.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist temptation." She taunted him.

His fuse exploding quickly, Darwin lashed out at Kathlynn and ran towards her. In his left hand, a lance manifested from seemingly nowhere. Quickly, Darwin threw the lance directly at Kathlynn, who barely avoided the lethal weapon flying her way. Tendou's eyes widened out of shock.

"Hold on, isn't that a bit too much?!" He yelled.

Darwin blinked for a bit before turning his head to look at Tendou.

"Who's he?" He pointed at the tall man.

"Tendou." Maya grudgingly replied. "New student here."

"Oh. Well, good day to you." Darwin waved at him with a smile.

*BANG*

Another gunshot, this time, a real-sounding one, echoed in the training room. Darwin grunted as he hopped on one leg, a fresh bullet embedded in his thigh. By the side, Kathlynn had one of her real guns pointed straight at Darwin, ready to fire another shot. A frustrated Darwin shifted his attention back to the Kaslana.

"Damn brat, I'll kill you!"

The Kaslana and the Schariac initiated the brutal battle, trying to kill each other. On the side, Tendou, Reshia, and Maya spectated the fight, watching as Darwin's agility allowed him to evade most bullets and grab his weapon back. With his weapon in hand, the gap between the two had closed. Darwin slashed and stabbed with his lance multiple times. The Kaslana avoided most of his attempts, but the lance still managed to scab and prick at parts of her arms and shoulders.

"What the hell?!" Tendou shouted. "Isn't this a bit too much?"

"They're always like this." Reshia sighed.

"Hmph." Maya simply scoffed.

"Well we can't just stand here." Reshia put the training halberd to the side. "I'm going to go stop them."

Reshia rushed over to the two, standing in the middle of both of them, though hastily stepped back and nearly fell as a bullet flew past her face. Kathlynn and Darwin stepped away from each other as they paused to avoid harming Reshia.

"Reshia, get out of the way!" Kathlynn ordered her. "Don't get yourself involved with this."

"I'm sorry, but I just can't allow you two to escalate this further." Reshia answered. "I get the family drama, but please refrain from the thought of murder. The last thing we need during this war is two people from the same side murdering each other!"

"Yeah, you hear that Kathlynn?" Darwin smirked. "She's right you know. The last thing we want with our war with the Honkai is for some dumb bitch to murder their allies."

"Darwin!"

Before she could scold the Schariac, Kathlynn forcefully pushed Reshia aside to get back at Darwin, but before she could do anything, Maya suddenly stepped into the battle, his knee caving into Darwin's cheek.

"Not you too Maya!" Reshia was getting more worried.

Darwin rubbed his impacted cheek, a mixture of frustration and arrogance oozing from his face. His expression only caused the Kaslana siblings even more anger.

"Two Kaslanas at once? I guess you have acknowledged that I'm too much for one of you to handle. Cowards." He called them.

"Shut your damn mouth! I only joined so I could get a chance to break that ugly face." Maya spat at him. "We both know that you aren't any S-Rank material. Couldn't believe it initially, but considering that Yasmine is your mother, I'm not too shocked. Could have easily bribed her way in many ways-."

*SLASH*

The Kaslanas moved away as Darwin slashed his lance vertically down at them. The fighting continued at a worse level. Reshia tried her best to calm down the situation, but with Maya now involved, the maid's job got more difficult, nearly impossible.

"Absolute morons." Lessica scoffed. "Seething of violent tendencies for each other in a time where they should be allies. Honestly detestable."

"Ugh…." Tendou groaned.

"Something bothering you?"

"…I'm sorry, but I just have this feeling that I have to step in and stop this as well." Tendou admitted. "I just can't allow these three to murder each other for something so small."

"You can just ignore them. Don't bother getting in the way of their stupidity. It's not something you can stop."

Tendou clutched his fists. Even though Lessica could be right, he just couldn't sit back. He felt like he had to do something. Quickly, he ran forward into the battle, forcing himself in between Darwin and the Kaslanas. The three family members halted as their weapons were close to making contact with the tall man. The rookie heavily flinched in place as the lance was pointed at his chest and the guns at his back.

"Tendou, move out of the way." Kathlynn told him. "This isn't something that you should involve yourself in. It has nothing to do with you."

"I know, but I just can't allow you three to lose your lives over some petty rivalry or something." Tendou argued back. "This world needs all of you if we want to fight the Honkai."

"I appreciate the concern Tendou. I really do." Darwin told him. "But personal matters are personal. Don't force yourself into them if you don't have a place."

Darwin bashed Tendou out of the way, dashing towards the Kaslana siblings with his lance. Tendou fell to the ground, quickly getting up to look at the three.

"They won't quit at all." Reshia groaned. "I'll try to pull back Kathlynn and Maya. Tendou, try to restrain Darwin."

Reshia ran up to the Kaslana siblings, trying her best to pull them back, but the maid had difficulty trying to restrain their arms from aiming at Darwin. At the same time, Tendou tried pulling back Darwin as well, but the rookie's inexperience with combat hampered him.

"Kathlynn! Maya! Please stop this!" Reshia cried to them.

"Darwin, calm down!" Tendou yelled.

"I said to stay out of this!" Darwin yelled back.

"I told you to not get involved with this!" Kathlynn shouted at Reshia.

Kathlynn knocked away Reshia's grip and released herself. At the same time, Darwin bashed an elbow up at Tendou's face, freeing him from the rookie's grip temporarily before Tendou grabbed him again. Kathlynn lifted a gun up and aimed for Darwin's head while the Schariac tried shoving Tendou off of him.

"Get off of me!-"

*SCHICK*

*BAM*

….

Reshia's grip on Maya fell weak, her hands moving up to her mouth. Maya's eyes widened as his grip on his guns loosened. Kathlynn's irises shrunk as she came to the realization of what just happened. Her mouth hung open as her hands violently shook in place. Nearly quiet stammers escaped her vocal chords. Similarly, Darwin's own eyes were as open as he could open them. His teeth closed and pushed against each other as the grip on his lance slowly weakened. Small breaths of shock came from his own vocal chords.

"Tendou!" Reshia yelled.

The rookie was impaled by Darwin's lance with the weapon stabbed deep into him. At the same time, small amounts of blood spouted out from his throat from the hole created by Kathlynn's piercing bullet. Tendou slowly slid off of Darwin's lance before…

*THUD*

Tendou's body fell to the ground. His hand was wrapped around his throat as he tried to cover the hole in his throat. Everyone rushed over to him, kneeling down to check his condition.

"Oh no, how bad is he injured?" Maya asked.

Reshia forcefully removed Tendou's hand from his throat, trying her best to examine his injury. At the same time, Kathlynn lifted up his shirt to examine the stab wound from the lance. Uncomfortably, the two had to examine both wounds with their hands and recall whatever anatomy lessons they learned.

"There's a lot of blood coming out, but I don't think the bullet hit a vital area." Reshia ripped off a piece of her clothing. "What's the stab wound?"

"Non-lethal." Kathlynn replied. "Nearly hit his aorta though. Bumbling idiot, you nearly severed his aorta!" Kathlynn ferociously looked back at Darwin.

"What the hell are you shouting at me for?!" Darwin argued back. "You could have hit a vital spot in his neck too!"

"Jackass!"

And just like that, Kathlynn and Darwin were back to killing each other again. Reshia quickly wrapped a cloth around Tendou's throat to hopefully cover the hole in his neck, but it didn't do much as he started coughing and gagging some of his red liquid.

"He's fading unconscious. We have to get him to get medical help before he loses more blood." Maya ushered.

For Tendou, his world was fading black and white. Reality around him was becoming silent and distorted. It was stressful for him to stay awake with his injuries. To believe that this was the second time Kathlynn shot him. Tendou blinked his eyes a few more times as reality seemingly shifted…before he opened his eyes one more time.

---

"Wake up." Lessica hovered over him.

Tendou blinked a few more times as he started up at Lessica.

"Get up."

The silver-haired woman pushed Tendou up on his bottom. The man was confused, yet entranced by his new surroundings. He was no longer in the training facility with Reshia and the others. Tendou was in a different space. Around him were fields of flowers of different colors with the exception of the large center circle where he and Lessica were. The surface he stood on was completely water, yet the floor was not wet, or at least didn't feel wet despite acting and looking like water. The sky, and by extension, everything other than the water and flower-covered floor, was a dark navy blue with many, many stars dotting the dark background, luminously lighting it up. In front of where Tendou and Lessica were, a spherical orb with small sections of green laid in front of them with a slight neon glow.

"Where the hell am I?" Tendou looked around like a curious child.

"Uh…" Lessica stumbled on her words for a bit. "I'm not sure how to accurately describe this place. The best I can give you is that this a realm within your, uh, mental state I guess." She admitted. "I guess we can call it a psychological realm or something."

"I have no clue what any of that means, but whatever." Tendou said to her. "But, what am I doing here exactly?"

Lessica stood up before walking forward a bit before quickly spreading out her arms. Magically, a collection of gigantic holographic screens appeared in front of Tendou and Lessica. The largest screen was at the center and it was blank. The other, smaller screens hovering to the side of the large monitor displayed different things.

"What are those?"

"Monitors that check up on your physical state, such as vitals, vision, hearing, etcetera." Lessica explained. "The big monitor is for me to basically even see what is going on in the real world. It's how I even know what you're doing at the moment."

"So why is there nothing?" Tendou asked.

"Because you're unconscious." Lessica answered. "I told you that you shouldn't have gotten involved. Look at what happened as a consequence."

"Sorry." Tendou apologized. "I just couldn't resist the urge."

Lessica sighed and shook her head.

"I don't fault you for wanting to. I guess it's just basic human desire or something." She said. "…but you're eventually going to have to learn that not everything and not every human is worth investing in."

Lessica tinkered with a few things before turning back and kneeling down to Tendou's level.

"I don't know how much time I have once I do this, but hopefully it's enough." She randomly said. "Now hold still."

"What are you-?"

Lessica clapped Tendou's hands together before clapping her hands around Tendou's. Soon, the man began glowing with a vibrant white aura before the aura slowly moved and enveloped around Lessica. The mysterious woman's hair began to slowly rise and lightly levitate as the aura continued to surround her. Her eyes began to glow as well.

"Not much time." Lessica growled. "I'm going to have to make best with what I have."

The white aura around Lessica began to fade away. Once it disappeared completely, the woman released her hand from Tendou's own before looking back at the center monitor.

"What did you do?" Tendou began fearing a bit.

"Don't worry about it." Lessica replied. "Just...sit back and watch as I clean up the mess you forced yourself into."

---

Slowly, Tendou's eyes reopened again. He leaned up immediately, shocking both Maya and Reshia who backed off a bit.

"Damn, it's even hard to breathe like this!"

A slightly different tone came out of his mouth. While his tone was still present, a faint, modulated echo of a feminine voice followed suit after Tendou's own voice. The youngest Kaslana and the maid could only blink in confusion.

"Hang on, I think I got this."

Tendou clenched his teeth as slight groans escaped through his teeth and his neck bulged. Soon after, he took off the cloth tied by Reshia around his neck and used it to wipe away whatever remaining blood it could soak up. Curiously and hastily, Maya checked up on Tendou's neck wound, only to find the hole left by the bullet completely gone.

"What the-?" He sputtered.

"Now the abdomen."

Tendou lifted up his shirt to reveal his abdomen. The wound left by Darwin slowly began reforming back together, leaving his body completely. Outside of the blood that leaked out during the open wound, his stomach was completely fixed back to a near-perfect state. Reshia and Maya were left speechless.

"So this was what Kathlynn mentioned?" Maya blurted out.

"Mentioned what?" Reshia asked.

"My sister mentioned how she accidentally shot someone, and then they healed shortly after." Maya brought up. "We already figured out it was Tendou earlier, but I thought she was hallucinating about the healing factor. To actually see it happen."

Reshia had her own thoughts on Tendou's healing factor. On one hand, she was relieved that Tendou's condition didn't become worse through blood loss. On the other hand, it gave her bad feelings.

Tendou stood up and looked at Kathlynn and Darwin trying to kill each other. He clicked his tongue and scoffed.

"Not surprised in the slightest. Humans will always be enemies with each other in one way or another." Tendou said. "Time to clean this mess."

Tendou leaned forward a bit before making a mad dash towards the other two Valkyries, both of which were too entranced by their battle to notice the incoming rookie. Tendou pulled his fist back before launching it forward with a different level of strength, one that Reshia and Maya never witnessed him showcase before.

*BAM*

Connecting square against her cheek, Kathlynn was sent flying and crashing into one of the nearby towers. Darwin stopped in his tracks as his central focus on Kathlynn shifted to Tendou.

"What the hell?!"

Without hesitation and pause, Tendou spun around and kicked his leg straight into Darwin and sent him flying like Kathlynn. Reshia and Maya could only watch with wide eyes.

"What is going on?" Maya asked.

"I-I have no clue." Reshia responded. "I'm a bit afraid though. Tendou is acting a bit differently."

Both Kathlynn and Darwin got back up, looking at Tendou with confusion, shock, and bewilderment. Darwin was clueless to Tendou's strength, not able to comprehend and having underestimated Tendou's power. Kathlynn, who just got out of a sparring match with him, was perplexed. He didn't demonstrate this strength earlier, so why now was her question.

"Tendou clearly isn't experienced enough to deal with this." He said. "I guess I'm gonna have to clean this mess my own way then."

"…What?" Everyone else said in unison.

Tendou lifted an open palm up at Kathlynn, letting out a grunt, and mysteriously sent Kathlynn flying away again. Quickly, Tendou jumped up before making himself parallel to the floor, and with a very faint visible gust of wind, Tendou propelled himself forward and pass the flying Kathlynn, launching towards the wall. As he got closer, he turned himself to plant his feet against the wall before pushing himself off. He launched back to Kathlynn with an elbow coming out toward her.

*KABLAM*

With a hard collision, Tendou's elbow crashed into the back of Kathlynn's head. The two fell down to the floor with Kathlynn being knocked unconscious due to Tendou's elbow bashing into her head.

"Holy hell!" Tendou blurted out inside.

"One more." Tendou pushed himself up.

Tendou quickly dashed at Darwin at full speed in a straight line. Believing it to be predictable, Darwin quickly threw his lance at Tendou. The lance was perfectly on target to Tendou, however to the shock of Darwin, a portal appeared in front of Tendou, swallowing him whole and causing the lance to miss.

"What the hell?!" Darwin shouted.

As Tendou entered the portal, he entered a slightly different realm. While he still saw everyone like Reshia, Maya, Kathlynn, and Darwin in their natural colors, they could not see him. Furthermore, floating glass shards dotted wherever he was.

"Where did you just enter?" Tendou asked.

Lessica continued running towards Darwin before leaping up to land on Darwin's head. As he fell, another portal opened up and swallowed him, sending him back to reality where he made contact with Darwin's head.

"Where did you come from?!" Darwin yelled

The Schariac tried to reach up to grab Tendou, but the rookie jumped off of Darwin, and as he fell, he kicked Darwin at the side of his head, stunning the Valkyrie temporarily. As Tendou landed, he crouched down a bit as he punched harshly into Darwin's stomach. Pulling the fist out from his gut, Tendou pulled back another fist before punching Darwin into the air.

*BOOM*

Darwin's body went flying up into the air. At the same time, Tendou launched himself with another gust of air to catch up to Darwin. Once he reached the same level, Tendou clapped his hands together and like a sledgehammer, slammed them down onto Darwin and launched the Valkyrie back down. Now doing the opposite, Darwin came flying back down with Tendou following suit. With Tendou being heavier, and with the way his body is positioned on the way down, Tendou got to the floor faster than Darwin. As he landed, Tendou quickly bounced off the ground and straight towards Darwin, and then…..

*CRASH*

Darwin was sent to a wall by a powerful kick from Tendou. The Valkyrie crashed into the wall and fell back down to the floor face first. His body remained limp and unmoving as the Valkyrie was knocked out cold like Kathlynn. Reshia and Maya, who stood spectating the entire ordeal, could only watch in awe, shock, and horror.

"What just happened?" Maya stuttered. "It's like watching a completely different person!"

"I don't like it." Reshia admitted. "All of these things Tendou is doing…I don't like what they're implying."

Tendou walked toward the fainted Darwin, a deadly look on his face.

"Hey uh….good job Lessica..?" Tendou said confidently.

"It's not a good job yet." Lessica said in a menacing tone.

From his hands, an energy blade enveloped Tendou's hands, terrifying Reshia, Maya, and Tendou.

"Lessica, what are you doing?!" Tendou shouted at her.

"Finishing the job."

Tendou lifted up the bladed hand, ready to strike down at Darwin's neck. As he tried to strike downward, something halted him in the process.

"Trying to interfere?" Lessica talked to Tendou.

"Yes!" He retaliated. "This is too far."

"I think it's necessary." Lessica stated. "Selfish human infestations like them don't deserve the right to live."

"What?!"

"Tendou, no!" Reshia yelled.

The maid quickly rushed over to Tendou to stop him from committing murder, but a blast of a purple lightning bolt beat her, zooming past her. Tendou turned around.

"AAAAAGGGHHHH!"

Purple electricity erupted around Tendou before he remained static. The rookie fell down to the floor, unconscious like the rest of his opponents, Kathlynn and Darwin. Reshia and Maya turned around to look at the source of the thunderbolt. Behind them was Yelena Schariac, holding onto the repaired Seven Thunders of Retribution Divine Key. The older sister to Darwin lowered the railgun down as she tried to lower her breathing rate back to normal.

"One second and I would have been too late." Yelena calmed down. "What happened here?"

"I-I don't know." Reshia admitted. "One second, we were having a sparring match, and then all of the sudden it became this mess."

Yelena sighed as she walked over to her unconscious brother. She picked him up and hung him over her shoulders. Similarly, Maya went over and picked up Kathlynn.

"Luckily, I don't think Darwin is fatally injured." Yelena checked up on her brother. "He should be fine. Sure as hope it isn't the same for her."

Maya looked at Yelena with a pissed expression but kept his mouth shut. Reshia only shook her head. She went over and picked up Tendou. Thankfully, by miracle, Tendou didn't seem to be harmed by the Seven Thunders of Retribution.

"She probably tuned it to be weak before firing." Reshia thought.

"Come on, let's get these three to the medical office." Maya called over to Reshia.

"On my way." Reshia replied.

Reshia carried the much larger Tendou on her back. In her mind, she was a bit fearful. The display of powers that Tendou demonstrated, it put a bit of fear into her. Of course, with no confirmation, Reshia couldn't say if her suspicions were true at all. The evidence is there, but it was something she wished she didn't see.

"No, no, no." She thought to herself. "Maybe I just saw things wrong. There's no way that…no! Don't even think about it." Reshia coped with herself.

Reshia followed Yelena and Maya as the three made their way to the medical bay.

---

"W-What?!"

The holographic monitor displaying reality went blank. Lessica went and checked everything. Tendou's physical vitals were close to normal, and everything else seemed fine. However, Lessica couldn't maintain connection to Tendou's body and couldn't get it back to consciousness.

"Oh thank god." Tendou let out a breath of relief. "Someone managed to stop you."

Lessica let out a breath of disappointment. She looked back at Tendou, who was dissatisfied with what she attempted to do.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He shouted at her. "Why did you try to kill him?! He's a human!"

"Really? That's your reasoning for me to spare him?" Lessica raised an eyebrow at Tendou.

"Well…he's also someone who is on our side against the Honkai." Tendou replied. "It's not like your reasoning is any less shallow. Has being a human specifically harmed you in any way?"

"I've been abused by many other humans before." Lessica stated. "As kind as they may look, you humans can hide ugly stuff."

"So you're saying that just because a few humans have done some wrong that every human is wrong?" Tendou asked. "Not everyone is the same."

"Really? Well, I won't prevent you from proving me wrong." Lessica said. "If you can prove me wrong on my assumption, then maybe I look another way…maybe."

Tendou only looked at Lessica, not knowing what to even say. He only shook his head as he sat back down on the water flow. Lessica looked down at Tendou, a mixture of frustration and sorrow soothing from her expression. She looked away from him as she turned to look at the spherical orb in front of her. Letting out a sigh, Lessica mumbled to herself.

"I hope you can prove me wrong."

---

Chapter 4 END