Phillip immediately jumped to action and rammed his shoulder into the large mecha cat, pushing it out of the way of its leap. It took the force to a mountain to do so, but he was able to push the cat back. Sakura followed soon after and entered combat with the beast, steering it farther back and allowing Phillip to talk about the situation with her.

"Good to see my aid has come," Rita said with a bit of snark as she spun her white scythe. "Please, do tell me your little talk was well worth myself being ambushed."

Phillip looked her over. The battlesuit he assumed to be white was actually a black dress with white armor plates around her chest and hips, a blue underskirt, blue and white wings at the back, and open parts underneath her breasts and around her waist. It had black sleeves cut from the dress around her biceps with the same white armor spiked up like crowns. The only places that were completely white were her gloves and boots, both completely covered in armor with only the small portion going inward showing the black under the armor beneath. To top it off, she held that icy blue scythe that she had attacked before, something she spun around her hand with its white handle.

"You seem well prepared anyway," Phillip stated, earning a flat glare from Rita before he pointed out the enemy. "So, does Anti-Entropy normally make mechanized animals?"

Rita shook her head and prepared her weapon to attack the cat. "It's not a machine. Just a Honkai Beast."

Phillip looked it over and noticed that, while the digitized facial features and white plating definitely made it look like a mecha, the lines and pools of magenta around its black, enlarged ears and paws pointed to this. He squinted a bit and noticed a slight pink halo above it and massive magenta claws whenever to attempted to attack Sakura, who either parried or dodged each time.

"... Alright, is any of the three well known for experimentation of living organisms?"

Rita perched her lips, earning Phillip scrutiny for a second, but offered a solution. "Perhaps, if we manage to secure the target, we can ask Lord Otto if it's something he knows."

Phillip huffed at this. "We both know he won't." The two watched Sakura fight off the beast for a split second, landing no blows against the other. Then, after the fiftieth parry Sakura gained, Phillip pulled off his jacket, revealing his battlesuit beneath it. "He better have those answers, and they better be good."

With nothing left to talk about, Phillip cleared the room with a single step and rammed his fist into the beast's side. It gave out a surprised roar as it was forced to turn and face him but recovered enough to throw out a swipe at him. With this distraction, Sakura managed to land a clean slash across its face and Rita fell from above them to try and puncture its head. The beast managed to slide back to avoid this and gave an eruption of a roar of fury. It raised its pink spike-ended tail and pointed it at the three warriors, the tip glowing slightly.

Sensing an attack, Phillip summoned a wall of clones before them just in time for a laser to blast out from the tail. The wall stalled enough for the group to evacuate the area before it was puffed out, obliterating the outer wall of the museum they were next to before it collided with the back wall. It exploded violently, sending dust and rock high above the museum and diverting all attention in the block to it.

Phillip paid no attention to the others as he ran forward to continue the fight with the beast. A beep, something at a low enough frequency that no normal human would hear it, drove him through the dust and toward the beast. He jumped up and prepared to land a punch on top of the...

…Only for the dust to clear and show a white tabby cat with black legs, face, and tail where the beast would have been. It hissed at him and, once he landed in front of it with his punch pulled back, tried to swipe at his face with claws extended. Phillip grabbed the offending paw and wrapped his free index finger through its black collar to lift it off the ground.

Phillip presented the cat to the other two, who were dusting off the debris. "Well, we got our little problem. What should we do with it?"

Rita crossed over to him with a smug but analytical look. "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure I could do with a new animal-skin purse." Phillip swung two fingers in her direction, something she leaned back to dodge while her face morphed into a grin. "Relax, I'm simply joking. After all, if you wish to learn if Lord Otto had anything to do with this, you'll need it to be something at least recognizable."

"Ahem!"

All three turned to face where the sound came from. Director Catherine was standing there, her eyes twitching in annoyance, as she tried to keep her glasses on her face with her right hand pressed against the right side of the frame. It took a second for anyone to react and Phillip was the first, pointing to Rita with the same finger that was stuffed under the cat's collar.

"She did it."

"You're quick to toss me under the bus, aren't you?" Rita said with an unimpressed glance and her arms crossed over her chest. Sakura, on the other hand, let out a snicker at the act. This earned the same stare brought to her instead, causing her to try to straighten her expression.

"Perhaps all three of you could come with me and explain the entire situation to everyone who witnessed the explosion," Catherine suggested/demanded with an edge to her tone that didn't leave room for debate.

The three shared a look then Rita shrugged with a strained smile, seeing that the group didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Phillip raised his hand, revealing the cat that was clawing ruthlessly and vainly at his hand. Catherine analyzed it for a minute before she looked back at them with a flat stare.

"Please tell me this isn't the reason the museum is lacking two of its walls right now."

"As surprising as it is, yes," Rita admitted freely. "It was a rather... rambunctious kitten."

At this point, the cat wizened up and stopped attacking Phillip's hand directly. Instead, it managed to land a swipe at the collar that was strong enough for it to snap. It landed on its paws easily and made to run off, only for to Phillip sweep his arm underneath it. With it airborne, Phillip nabbed all four feet into one hand and pulled back up, the collar clutched tightly in his other hand.

"Small little shit, too," Phillip said before tossing the collar over to the director. "That collar gave off a beep. We should be able to track down its owners with it." The cat let out a hiss and a threatening growl, only to shut up when Phillip shook it violently. Only Rita seemed amused by the display.

"Animal cruelty aside, do you honestly believe the public will accept that an explosion was set off by some cat?" the director asked, pushing up her glasses once more. "I'm going to need a far more realistic explanation for the police."

Rita gave a bow, her right hand placed above her heart. "I will happily help you in forming an alibi for the current situation. Those in Schicksal are always willing to lend aid to those that need it."

Catherine seemed pleased at the statement. "That would be appreciated. Before we start, however, would you like some medical for your wound?"

Phillip and Sakura looked at Rita, who could barely hide a flinch at the statement, but only Phillip could see the wound. Her left hand, flat at the side of her leg, had a long gash on it, starting from her pinkie and stretching over to her index finger. Phillip slowly reached over to heal the scratch with his power, but Rita caught on quickly and pulled her hand away from him with a smirk.

"I thank you for your concern, but I've handled worse wounds than this." Rita walked forward and past the director, who spun around to follow them. Before she got too far, Rita called back to the others. "Why don't you two walk around for a while? I doubt we'll be able to leave before the police arrive anyway."

"She says," Phillip grumbled before he looked over to Sakura, who had paced over to the fresco. There, she managed to coax Higokumaru out of hiding with a macaron, a treat they grabbed from a bakery they attended during their tour. While the little gremlin snacked on the sweet, Sakura came back to Phillip.

"Do you honestly believe Otto-san would utilize animals in experimentation?"

"You have some good ears on you," Phillip muttered as he rubbed his shoulder. "And yes, I do. You didn't see him walk right up to someone who would ruin lives for their own goals."

Sakura was taken aback by this statement and fell into a trace to ponder. After a solid minute of this, to which Higokumaru came by to bother the two into more snacks, she looked back up to ask another question.

"May I acquire the name of this person? I'll demand his reasoning upon our return."

"I highly doubt he'll give it without a bargain," Phillip said but decided to give the name still regardless. "The person he spoke with is called Cocolia, the foster mother of Bronya."

"...Foster?" Sakura asked, confused about the meaning of this word.

Phillip gave her a small smile, amused with her lackluster understanding of English, something he settled back into upon arriving in Europe. "I see the studies with Himeko haven't been thorough enough. It just means that Cocolia raised Bronya, even though she hasn't officially adopted her."

Sakura didn't seem to understand the concept completely, as seen when she tilted her head slightly, but dropped it in favor of her revelation. "Then why not interrogate Bronya instead? She has stronger ties to the woman, it seems."

"Because Bronya proved to me she can learn her actions have consequences. Cocolia has pulled the same stunt twice, and I wouldn't put it past her to try it twice."

"Then, could she give you means of tracking her down?"

"You seem rather defensive of your new boyfriend, huh?" Phillip stated with a raised brow, earning both a blush and narrowed eyes for his troubles. "Doesn't matter anyway. Cocolia stopped conversing with Bronya when she came to St. Freya. Seems she doesn't want to be tracked in case Schicksal tries anything."

Sakura stuck her tongue into her cheek and turned away from him. "Seems I won't be able to dissuade your distrust of him."

"No, you won't," Phillip admitted freely, keeping his eyes on the mural in case something else happened. When thirty seconds passed with no change, Phillip decided things would be fine for the moment and a change of scenery was necessary. "Come on. Rita's going to be busy for a moment, so let's check what else the museum has to offer."

Sakura looked his way once again and weighed her options. When she came to a decision, she nodded, hid Higokumaru in her sleeve like she did when they first entered, and followed Phillip, who sealed the cat away into a seal for safe keeping, to check the other exhibits on display.

By the time Rita was done with forging and delivering the story to the police, the sun had fallen onto the horizon, the red glow of it drenching the city into shades of brown. Phillip and Sakura had long since retreated into London to gain a well-deserved dinner, something Phillip agreed to pay for both. By the time they returned, the museum's entrance and holes were covered in yellow police tape while two cop cars were parked in front of it. They found Rita seated by the entrance, rubbing her now bandaged hand.

"Yo," Phillip exclaimed with a salute as he and Sakura walked up to Rita, a bag in his hands. "We brought you some food, seeing as you've been working for such a long time. Hope you don't mind a burger."

Rita gave a small smile as she took the bag from Phillip. "Thank you, but I'm not too hungry at the moment. You had the cat with you before you left. What happened to it?"

Phillip pulled out his scroll, laid it on the floor, and slammed his hand on it to pull out the cat with a puff of smoke. It looked mortified from the journey, frozen in place even as Rita stood up, a look that promised untold misfortunes for the cat.

"Good. Why don't you and Ms. Yae head over to our hotel while I get... 'acquainted' with our new feline friend?" Rita quickly texted him the directions for the Royal National Hotel and stalked over to the cat, whose shaking was the only evidence of it still being alive.

Phillip and Sakura shared a look of exasperation before they turned to leave the cat to its fate. However, before they got more than 2 steps in, they noticed the strawberry-blonde hair of one Durandal coming their way.

"Sup," Durandal greeted with her own two-finger salute, showing off a bandage on the bottom of her left palm. "I assume you guys are responsible for the explosion."

"Eh, kind of," Phillip admitted with a shrug. "Things got a bit more explosive than what we bargained for."

"I can see that," Durandal stated before she looked over to Rita. "What about her? She seems rather... violent right now." Phillip looked back to see Rita twisting the cat like a pretzel, earning loud agonizing meows for each twist.

"... It's nothing."

"What about you, Durandal-san?" Sakura asked, pointing to her bandage. "What happened for you to be wounded?"

Durandal shook her head to dissuade the investigation. "Oh, it's nothing. Just got scratched by a cat is all. In fact," Durandal tilted her head to look past the two, squinting as if to see the picture behind them more clearly. "It's that cat there that did."

The cat in Rita's grasp let out an even more pain-filled and powerful meow than before.

7:00 am, Royal National Hotel, August 4th,

"So, after a measly payment of about £ 500 million, Catherine wants to help us?"

Upon daybreak, after having a good night's rest in their separate hotel rooms, they grabbed breakfast, during which Rita alerted Otto of the situation dealt to the museum. The Overseer quickly sent some funds over to help repair the building, which led to the director calling them back about the prompt payment. She also asked if there was any possible help she could give, something Rita immediately jumped on. The group settled into the hotel lounge area while Rita worked her magic.

"Presumably," Rita answered Phillip's question as she turned off her phone. "Hopefully, she can provide something of use, considering the mural didn't have much information about finding the Divine Key."

"Do we have a specific time to head over, or just 'at our own time'?" Phillip asked, leaning back into his chair while tossing a Rubix cube, called a HOMU Cube here, between his hands.

"When I am available," Rita explained. "You and Miss Sakura can do as you please for the time being. She seemed rather adamant on the idea that it would be between the two of us only."

Phillip looked over at Sakura, who sat on the lounge couch with her feet underneath her with a brochure on her lap. "Well, have any place you want to visit while we have the time?"

Sakura hummed as she scanned over the magazine with an intense gaze. After a few minutes, in which Rita decided to exit for her meeting, Sakura sighed and closed it. "Nothing I can think of, I'm afraid. We've seen a good portion of the city in our travel yesterday and Higo has more than enough snacks from our visits to the various bakeries."

"You could always check out a place for knight-based swordplay," Phillip suggested with a shrug. "It would be good to gain a new skill while we're here."

"I'd say my proficiency with a blade is strong enough, thank you," Sakura said with a humph to her tone. "Either way, conflicting principles should be avoided for a swordswoman. The steadiness of mind and discipline excel over a large bag of tricks."

Phillip did his best to hide his emotions, believing the smirk that would have graced his face would have ticked the girl off more than necessary. "Alright, you have no idea where to go then. Why don't we take the cat out then?"

Stan, the new cat the group that Rita jokingly named and everyone else kept, had made several escape attempts since its capture but had simmered down upon dawn and accepted its fate. It was currently lapping up a bowl of water on the ground, something Phillip had to insist upon when both Rita and Sakura attempted to give it milk. He assumed Sakura only did so due to seeing it done in cartoons and myth talk rather than any documentation. Rita, however, was someone he wasn't too sure about.

"Would he not attempt another escape?"

"If he tries, he'll get what he got last night again," Phillip dissuaded Sakura's concern, looking down to his left at the cat. Stan, perceiving his gaze, seemed to have its version of a sigh. "So, it should behave correctly. We'll treat him later after the walk."

"... Alright," Sakura said as she stood up. Higokumaru, who was sitting on the lounge table with a plate filled with food, began stuffing her face as quickly as possible to finish her meal and then floated up beside Sakura with a bulging belly.

With the three ready to start their day, Phillip summoned a cat leash from a scroll and quickly wrapped it around Stan. Stan attempted another slash, which glanced off Phillip's skin upon contact, and accepted its fate to the leashing.

Upon leaving the hotel, the group opted to walk around the city for a little while to think about possible activities, Phillip walking the cat. Taking in the warm air of early autumn and the towering buildings, they paced around incessantly, spouting off ideas to each other to do that would ultimately be shot down. Seconds quickly turned to minutes as they walked with nothing more to do but rant off their thoughts.

After several minutes passed, a stranger walked up to them when they reached an abandoned part of the town as the sun grew close to setting. The tanned woman, obvious by her cleavage shown through her black-and-white coat and black shirt, came up to them with a "Lost" poster for a cat in her gloved hands. Specifically for Stan, the cat they had just captured yesterday.

"Excuse me," the woman asked a sickeningly sweet tone laid down thick to distract from the interest in her golden eyes. "I recently found this poster that looks suspiciously like your cat. I don't mean to make accusations, but would you be so kind as to give it to me to make sure?"

Sakura and Higokumaru tried to explain the situation to the woman, but Phillip only looked her over more. Someone wearing golden, Egyptian accessories with a blue skirt, black silk stockings, and lavish white high heels is not one strapped for cash. Add in that her energy doesn't match those who do good for good, and Phillip wondered what she needed with Stan, to begin with.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Phillip noticed a glimmer off on top of a far-off building, and he connected the dots.

"Tell you what," Phillip remarked, turning to face the glimmer. "Why don't you tell your accomplice over there to drop the sniper, and I don't wipe your existence off the face of the planet?"

The woman froze for a brief second before managing to compose herself. "Honestly, sir. Threatening me simply over a cat makes you look suspicious."

Phillip held out his free hand towards the woman, a rasengan in his hand. A shot rang out and Phillip dropped his arm just in time to evade a ball of lightning from piercing through. A blank expression was all that greeted the woman's annoyed one when Phillip turned back to her.

The woman let out a sigh and pulled out a radio from between her cleavage, something that made Sakura wince. "Alright, you trigger finger harlett. He spotted you, so just drag your sorry ass out here."

It took a few minutes, something Phillip used to surround the woman with a group of clones in case she decided anything. Soon after, another woman came into sight, wearing a skintight black and grey bodysuit with a black hood and carrying an extremely alien-looking sniper rifle that radiated lightning from its muzzle.

"Congratulations, you managed to sniff us out," the hooded woman replied, her magenta eyes flashing from under her hood. "Looks like that scumbag of an overseer holds a tighter leash than I thought."

Phillip snorted at this. "Please don't link me to Otto's interests. That makes me feel grimy just thinking about it."

"Then why follow him," the tanned woman asked, ignoring the unimpressed expression Sakura sent Phillip. "Surely, if you have that feeling from just his mention, then you would seek to fight against him."

"Because my wards are under his employment, so I will follow his orders until whatever they want is accomplished."

The hooded woman clicked her tongue at Phillip's words. "Right, the little puppy of the Third Herrscher."

"And that tells me everything I need to hear from you," Phillip said as he handed Stan's leash over to Sakura. He settled into the Iron Fist stance while glaring at the women. "You have two options: leave and never disturb my sight for the rest of your lives, or I can break all the bones of your body and drag you to Otto himself. Your choice."

The hooded woman started to get into her own battle stance, only to be stopped by her compatriot. The tanned woman shot her a meaningful glance before looking back at Phillip.

"Please, we don't wish for any fights," she explained and gave a low curtsy. "Perhaps introductions can help soothe hostilities. My codename is Jackal, and this is Raven. We have a little proposition for you."

Phillip shot forward like a cannonball and aimed a punch at the newly introduced Raven. Before his attack landed, the sniper in Raven's morphed into a shield to block the blow, but it wasn't enough to stop the impact from sending her down the street and colliding with a building along with dispelling Phillip's clones from the impact.

"That's my answer," Phillip said, reaching up to stop Jackal from plunging a syringe she pulled from her single chest pocket into his back. "Am I clear?"

"... Crystal," Jackal said as she pressed down with her free hand, either to get through Phillip's defenses or to stall for time to allow Raven to recover. On her end, Raven recovered quickly enough to almost immediately start flying towards Phillip for a revenge shot.

Phillip stopped this by dropping his hold on Jackal and performing a backflip kick. This not only shattered the syringe but forced Raven to evade to the left. Raven attempted to swipe at Phillip's neck with the crimson claws she had over her hands, something he avoided by leaning back, causing the claws to trim off several growing hairs on his chin.

From there, the "battle" immediately devolved into Phillip dodging Raven's swipes, several of which came close to decapitating him if he didn't dodge them. With each dodge, Raven's attacks grew in ferocity, up to the point that when Phillip leaned back to avoid an uppercut slash, Raven lashed out a kick to his midsection strong enough to send him skidding back to Sakura.

"He's fast," Raven told Jackal, now kneeling beside her. "If you've got a way to get us out of here instantly, now would be the time."

Jackal raised a brow at Raven. "Aren't you the field operative? Shouldn't you have the methods of escaping undesired situations?" Raven grumbled at this and started patting herself down to find anything for the problem in front of her. Jackal sighed and placed a hand on her hip as she leaned on one leg. "It doesn't matter anyway. Looks like your little kick wasn't as effective as you thought."

Raven looked up from her search and watched Phillip correct his posture and run his hand over... his chin. "What the-?!"

"Sorry, I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything," Phillip admitted to his opponent, checking his checks and underneath his jaw to make sure no hair was left untrimmed. Satisfied with the search, he brought his attention back to the women. "So, should we pick up where we left off or did you finally accept my answer?"

Raven stood up and ready herself once more, only for Jackal to once again place her hand in front of the two fighters to signal a pause. "We'll retreat for now, but I should warn you now: you're walking right into the lion's den. You won't like what you'll find there."

At this point, Stan pulled himself out of Sakura's grip and raced forward, looking forward to escaping its capturer and enacting whatever form that revenge came in on them. It didn't get more than a couple of feet before Phillip grabbed the flying leash and gave it a strong tug, bringing the cat back and tucking it under Phillip's arm.

"Crystal," Phillip called back, to which the two took the statement to mean they could leave, something they did immediately with a smoke bomb Raven managed to pluck out of nowhere, much to the chagrin of Stan. Phillip sighed deeply, knowing the walk was now ruined by the sudden attack, and turned back to Sakura. "So, have anything else you want to do?"

"Ah, it seems I've come at the right time."

Sakura turned around and the two stared over to see who called over to them. Rita, now crossing the street, walked over to them with a wide smile. Once she was close enough, she spoke again. "Glad to see I won't have to comb the entirety of London to find you."

"Yeah, we had a bit of a run-in with Jormungandr operatives," Phillip said, pointing over his shoulder to the plume of smoke still there and wiping the smile off Rita's face. "Said they had an invitation for me but fell flat."

"I see," Rita said as she watched the smoke disappear, showing the two women had escaped effectively. "And your reasoning as to allowing them to leave was...?"

"I told them to leave, and after a scuffle, they did. I saw no reason to pursue them further, especially if they planned a trap of some kind."

Rita brought a hand up to her forehead and sighed while shaking her head. "Very well, I'll be sure to send Lord Otto another message about the broken building."

Phillip looked back to the build Raven hit, which had a growing crack that reached from its base to the roof and was set to split apart. He summoned a clone which jumped over to the building and pressed its hand on it. The crack soon disappeared, and the building stabilized back to its original structure.

Rita looked back at him with an even more tired look. "I seem to recall you decided to not utilize this ability when the museum was damaged."

Phillip's answer was as elegant as he could achieve for the circumstance. "Fuck Otto."

"... Your irrational hatred for Lord Otto seems rather concerning," Rita admitted openly before disregarding the answer. "Either way, I have news for our search that was rather invaluable."

Sakura interjected at this point. "Did you locate the device Otto-san wished to find?"

"Unfortunately, not that invaluable," Rita explained while pulling out a holographic screen from nowhere. "Instead, we found a sliver of Soulium from the fresco that could help track it down."

"Did the edges of it have the Soulium," Phillip asked as Sakura stood back as the information was well beyond her. "Because we held back the little guy well enough to avoid the mural from being broken."

"The director allowed for a small amount of mining through the rock for our search," Rita stated as she scrolled through her screen. "The fresco will be removed from display, obviously, but a small price for a large reward, if you can agree."

Phillip shrugged, bouncing Stan a little as punishment, before placing the cat back onto the ground. "So, can you tell us what the soulium told Otto?"

"The 2nd Divine Key's function and reason for its creation," Rita said offhandedly. "The previous era created it in order to attempt exploration of the Sea of Quanta."

This caused Phillip to raise his eyebrow as he tucked the leash handle into his pocket. "The Sea of Quanta?"

Rita looked back at him with a gentle but snarky smile. "Sorry, I assumed the science portion of your education at St. Freya would have covered this."

"I may have blanked out on higher-dimensional physics," Phillip admitted. "Why don't you explain it to me as unconvoluted as possible?"

Rita snickered at this but covered her mouth to prevent them from seeing it. "Let's just say it's the in-between of dimensions, covering all 11 dimensions of reality in the universe. A place where even concepts can find themselves warped and distorted to an unrecognizable degree."

"Right," Phillip said as he shook his head. "You know what, how about we skip the lesson and get to how we're going to find the Divine Key."

"Simple, we're not," Rita explained as she closed her screen. "We lack the means to do so. We'll need to bring someone with the technology and ability to do so."

"We'll be getting another member then," Phillip said as he pushed leaned back in the building beside him while Stan lay down in dismay. "Do you know who Otto plans on sending over?"

Rita's resulting smile gave him any emotion except reassurance.

"Of course. He, himself, is coming over."

Welcome back to the story.

I don't have anything special to add this time. Just a thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites.

Thanks again to Old Man of the Mountain for beta-reading this.

I'll see you all in the next chapter!