December 10th, 12:00 pm,

"You two go on ahead. I need to do something."

Mei turned to look at Phillip when he said this, eyes wide. "Are you certain? We can wait for you."

"What are you worried about?" Kiana asked Mei, not taking one glance at Phillip. "He'll be fine."

Phillip simply sighed at this, knowing Kiana was still being abstinent about him. "Right. I'll be up at the roof soon."

"Wait," Mei demanded, stalling Phillip from his retreat. She looked between Kiana, who made sure to keep her eyes down the side of the hall opposite of Phillip, and Phillip himself. "Did something happen between the two of you?"

"Nothing."

With the shared word between them, Kiana finally looked at Phillip with a surprised glance. However, it didn't stay like that as Kiana scowled immediately after and stormed up the staircase beside them.

Phillip watched Kiana ascend the stairs for a second before returning his attention to Mei. "Go after her. You'll be safe with her."

Mei's expression grew sullen at this. "But not as safe as with both of you." She locked eyes with him, a little desperation shining in hers. "You'll catch up quickly, right?"

Phillip shot her a comforting smile. "Like I never left." Mei gained enough confidence at these words to scale up the stairs to catch up with Kiana. Phillip started down the hallway, glaring at anyone that passed him as he walked to the bathroom on the floor.

With Kiana,

"Stupid jerk!" Kiana muttered to herself as she reached the second floor, her foul mood clearing the place of any spectators. " He doesn't get to choose what I do or how I do it." She reached up to her ear, still slightly swollen from the abuse n it had been in, and flinched when she touched it. "He didn't need to grab me, either."

"Kiana-chan!"

Kiana looked over her shoulder and noticed Mei scaling the stairs behind her. Kiana gave a winning smile and turned completely around to greet her senpai.

"I'll race you to the top, Mei-senpai! First one there gets Phillip's lunch!"

"Kiana-chan, lunches are not for betting," Mei started as she finally got close to Kiana. Once by her side, Mei sent Kiana a concerned look. "What's going on between you and Phillip-kun? It's nothing bad, right?"

Kiana gave a big huff at this question. "Phillip is a big bully, is what."

"Phillip-kun can be… socially lacking at times," Mei tried to explain, words failing her at the best description she could give. "I'm certain that whatever he was trying to do, he had the best intentions."

"Why do you give him excuses for him being stupid and not for me, huh?" Kiana said as she pouted.

Mei smiled as she responded, "That's because your problem is simply a lack of discipline."

"Hey," Kiana exclaimed indignantly. "I'm really disciplined, ya know!" She then paused for a second before asking, "Hey, what does that mean exactly?"

"Don't worry too much on that part," Mei said, taking a couple of steps towards the next flight of stairs. "More importantly, if you are having a hard time understanding Phillip, come talk to me. I believe I have a decent understanding of how he works now."

"I guess," Kiana mumbled, a bit of regret now reading in her heart for denying the boy's apology from last night, even if it was terribly created. Sharing her head to remove the feeling, she exclaimed as she tried ascending the stairs, "Let's not talk about it right now. Come on, let's eat while we still can!"

However, something sounded around them that stopped Kiana in her tracks. A high-pitched ringing came from inside of Kiana's bag. Her eyes widened, and she pulled the backpack to her front to open it. She dug around a bit and pulled out a small, gray flip phone.

She looked back to Mei. "Hey, I gotta take this. I'll meet up on the roof in a bit."

"Wha-"

Mei could only get this out before Kiana rushed down the second floor's hall, heading towards the library. She tried to call out to Kiana, only for the white-haired girl to disappear upon rounding a corner.

Mei would have followed after, but she was immediately forced to realize her situation at the time. Many eyes, those that would have never looked her way when her friends were around, were suddenly and intently on her. She swallowed down her cries and wasted little time in quickly scaling up the stairs.

Now, the only thing on her mind was hoping she would reach the rooftop without any confrontations.

12:03, In the first floor's bathroom,

Phillip cupped his hands under the faucet, collecting frigid water in his palms, before splashing his face. Taking a paper towel from the dispenser to his right, he wiped his face dry before dumping it into a nearby trashcan.

"Got your head cleared enough for attempt number 2?"

Phillip groaned at this, pressing his hands down against the sink frame with a hung head. Please don't remind me.

His apology last night was terrible. Between the desire to explain his reasoning to Kiana and the embarrassment of having to apologize, to begin with, every word came out clumsy and sloppy. With his unease rapidly growing, he decided the best course of action was to leave the conversation before he could further embarrass himself. It didn't help that Kiana voiced her disapproval at his retreating form.

Thus, today was his second chance at explaining things to her. He prepared a large portion of food on his end to smooth over the bumps if he couldn't speak what he needed to. Maybe getting Kiana to focus more on the food than his words would give him enough courage to speak correctly.

"It will be fine," the angel tried to convince him. "You got enough of a plan to get her to listen to you."

I can only hope, right? Phillip gave a sigh to try and suppress the sudden jump in anxiety resting in his heart and took a few steps towards the bathroom entrance.

However, he was stopped when the entire school shook violently, almost knocking him off his feet. The question of what it could have been passed his mind for a split second before another shock wave struck, finally lifting him off his feet and fishing him to the floor. He pulled himself to his hands and knees and looked up to see a blue light fade away.

He didn't have too much time to think about it, though. His breath became labored, and his entire body was flaring up with a fiery pain akin to burning to death. He looked down at his hands and saw the same pink lines from before as his pigment started to rapidly turn gray.

Gabriel!

"I know." The lines along Phillip's body disappeared, and his color returned to normal. With his breath back and the pain gone, Phillip stood up and turned around to analyze any problems in the room. He was about to ask Gabriel his question when it was answered unintentionally.

"It seems they started already."

Phillip cursed, knowing what he was alluding to. Aren't we two months from that? February was the scheduled month, right?

"I'm not too surprised, honestly. After all, chakra has its leaks."

Phillip stopped at this, noting a tone from the angel that slightly unnerved him. Why does it sound like you planned this?

"That's not important. Shouldn't you be helping Mei and Kiana now?"

Phillip's mind took a minute to comprehend what was just said. However, he was filled with a burning rage that refused to be contained when it did. He used it by aiming a chakra-enhanced punch at the closest wall, destroying the entire bathroom with that one punch.

Moments before, with Kiana

Kiana settled into the back of the library, ducking behind a bookcase near the room's outer wall. After taking a quick glance around to make sure no one was around, Kiana plunged into her bag and pulled out the old flip phone, ringing out for ask to hear. She pressed a button on the side of the phone, causing the nose to cease and a message to display on the tiny screen. Squinting at the now, she read it out loud.

" A Honkai outbreak? Why here, though?"

She brought the phone to her ear and shook it, prompting no change. Bringing it back in funny of her, Kiana then smacked it on the side a couple times to no avail. She pursed her lips together, clearly frustrated.

"Figures, this thing is a piece of junk. Dad never had anything that actually worked."

Tossing the phone back into her bag, she picked it up and would have left the area. However, she caught a glimpse of something outside a nearby window.

A violent blue explosion erupted from the city's center, the shock wave produced shook the entire building. Some of the students, plenty of which attacked Mei at some point, fell flat on their butts. Kiana wanted to laugh at those that fell, but she's noticed another shock wave coming, this one a visible blue dome.

The blue shock wave quickly encompassed the campus, drowning the world in blue light for a brief moment before passing by. Knowing she would be fine, Kiana looked back over to the rest of the students. Most looked fine, just shocked that something like this happened. Others, though, were already showing signs of Honkai sickness.

She opened her mouth to calm the people down enough to prevent a riot, but something stopped her once more. This time, a purple light began to fill the school.

Everything went to hell immediately after.

On the rooftop, 12:03

Mei barreled through the rooftop door and slammed it shut with getting body, barricading it as several things hit the steel. As the blows paused, Mei relaxed slightly and looked at her arms, several bruises now adorning them.

Once she was left unprotected, every student that crossed her made an attempt to make her feel as unwanted as possible. Whether it was through thrown items or scatting insults, they made Mei feel all the pent-up aggression they held towards her. So, she had to make a break for the rooftop as quickly as possible.

Mei took several shaking breathes to calm her nerves. "It's alright," Mei muttered to herself as both her fear and anxiety slowly subsided. "Phillip and Kiana will be back soon. Things will be better."

"Do you always mutter to yourself these days?"

Mei jumped at the familiar voice that sounded from behind her. She quickly turned around to find one of the last people to meet her up here.

"Ayame-ch-"Mei had to pause herself, needing to remind herself that the girl was no longer her friend. With a sigh, she calmed her surprise and addressed her former friend correctly. "It's been some time, Ayame-san."

The raven-haired girl gave a hum in response, seated on the bench closest to the door. " I see that boy isn't with you."

"He was needed somewhere else right now. However, he should get here soon."

Another hum came from Ayame as she looked off to the side. On the other hand, Mei started to ponder why her former friend was standing before her now. A tiny part of her hoped that Ayame was here to ask to be friends again. Still, the rational part suggested Ayame was here for less than hospitable reasons. That set fear into her heart once more, and she felt the need to ask.

"Ayame-san, why are you here?"

Ayame ignored her, opting to stare off into the distance for a moment before speaking. " Did you hear about Yuki-san?"

Mei nodded slightly, a wave of sorrow overcoming her. "She disappeared. I do hope she's okay." She stuffed the emotion down to look back at the girl. "But that doesn't explain why-"

"What about Mikoto-san?"

The sorrow sprang back up, hurting more than before, as Mei looked down to the ground with a sullen expression. "I-I do know. I was there to see her…." She took another deep breath, trying to prevent herself from crying, before lifting her head to see Ayame was now looking at her with an analytical gaze.

Ayame stood up from her bench and crossed over to where Mei stood. Mei flinched as Ayame rose a hand but was surprised when she simply placed it on her shoulder. They two locked eyes, and Ayame gave a gentle smile. Mei gave one back as that tiny piece of hope suddenly grew to eclipse her fear prior.

Only for her hopes to come crashing down as Ayame slugged her with the other hand.

"Ya know," Ayame stated, flexing her hand as Mei was sent sprawling to the ground. "It feels really good to finally knock you off your high horse."

Mei cupped her now bruised cheek and looked back at Ayame. "Why? What did I do to-"

Ayame didn't give her much time to finish, storming over and throwing a wild kick at her face. No longer enamored by vain hope, Mei dodged the kick and backed up enough to gain some distance from the reading girl.

"Why?! Did we not just talk about it!?" Ayame shouted, causing Mei to flinch at the volume. "Yuki disappeared because she liked you. Mikoto was bullied and had to leave because she still associated with you. You're a damn curse to everyone who knows you!"

"I… it wasn't me. I know the bullies acted with my name on their lips, but-"

In Mei's attempt to explain things, Ayame rushed forward with her right arm pulled back. Mei quickly sidestepped the telegraphed attack but couldn't stop the elbow launched from the same arm. With the wind knocked out of her, Mei would have fallen to her knees had Ayame not grabbed her by the neck and slammed Mei against the wall behind her.

"They did it because of you, you useless, criminal bitch," Ayame whispered to her, a hideous smirk adorning her face. "But, today, I'm going to correct the mistake of you staying here."

Reaching back, Ayame pulled a silver revolver from the waistband of her skirt and waved in front of the struggling Mei. " Took a pretty penny to snuggle this in. I was saving it for that boy toy of yours, but I doubt I'll need more than one shot to do it."

Ayame pressed the end against Mei's forehead. Mei froze up at the contract, fear completely paralyzing her. As tears started falling from her eyes, Mei's thoughts drifted to those she held dear. Her father, who had left the country to evade persecution. Her friends, who helped her survive and live during the worst part of her life. Her chauffeur, who offered her kind words and attention when her friends weren't there.

I'm sorry. I-

Her thoughts were dashed when Ayame's hand was removed from her throat. As Mei struggled to regain her breath in a slumped position, she felt the entire building rumble and shake beneath her. She looked up to see Ayame still recovering from her stumble and glanced at the door. Anxious to get away from the violence-craving lunatic, she tried to stand up and rush for the exit.

However, she misinterpreted how long Ayame needed to recover. Once she started to get up, a kick slammed against the side of her head, causing it to rebound off the wall on her other side. Now bleeding from the recoil, she could only slump into the wall while Ayame grinned viciously. As Ayame aimed the gun at her, Mei looked off into the city for one last look at her hometown, tears fading freely.

It was then that time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Mei watched as a silhouette appeared before her, a transparent version of herself with a purple outline to expose its features and shape. It walked towards her at an agonizingly slow pace. Once it finally reached her, it knelt down to analyze her.

"Aren't you tired of the world trampling over you?"

"Wha-"

"The world tore you away from your father, away from your friends. Now, the world is set to steal away your life as well. Do you think that's fair?"

Mei's mouth felt dry, not allowing any words to flow through. Her thoughts, however, were screaming the answer to her: no, it wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that the last member of her family was taken away from her; it wasn't fair that her friend had abandoned her to handle their own business while she had to fend off the wolves of the school. And it wasn't fair for her life to be cut so short by someone who hated her for things beyond her control.

The being seemed to hear her thoughts, as it appears to be pleased about something. "I can grant you the power to reshape this world, the power to fix this. If you accept them, you'll never be alone again. Your father will be back, your friends will never leave you again, and those that harness you will cease to exist."

The silhouette extended a hand to her. A moment later, she reached out to grab it, desiring the better life it promised. The silhouette seemed ecstatic.

"Then, be reborn as the Herrscher of Thunder."

Her world faded into a vibrant purple.

"Move!"

Phillip shouted this as he tried to shift through the students' bodies. Unfortunately, all of them only made his job harder, swarming him instead.

Everything was fine a minute ago, several students gathering at the bathroom to witness the destruction he created. As he tried to convince them that it was caused by the tremor earlier, a brilliant people's light flashed outside, coming from the roof. In the next instance, everyone around him was turned into mindless zombies, and he was forced down one side of the hallway as Gabriel purged the Honkai energy out of his body.

Are you done yet?!

"It takes time. Just keep moving and don't use chakra right now. It could cause more problems than solutions right now."

Great, Phillip thought sarcastically as he slid between the open legs of one of the zombies before jumping up and planting his foot on another. He then used the zombie to spring over a large group beyond it, allowing him to continue down the hall.

Another two minutes passed before Phillip reached a staircase and ascended it to escape the growing swarm. Once he reached the 2nd floor, the sound of gunfire reached his ears now that groans no longer drowned them out. He rushed towards the source, finding his path clear at the moment. When he turned a corner, a bullet flew past his head by mere millimeters, but he wasn't afraid of it. Instead, he kept his eyes on the shooter, surrounded by the bested corpses of zombified students and wielding both a Colt revolver and a metal baseball bat.

"Kiana, are you alright?"

Kiana dropped the raised gun and moved the bat off her shoulders to her side, shocked to see him for whatever reason. "P-Phillip?! You're alive!?"

Phillip was… confused about her last question. "Should I not be?"

"K-kinda," Kiana stuttered, still shocked about this revelation as she shakily stored her gun in the hem of her skirt. "Guys normally aren't good with Honkai energy."

Phillip rose an eyebrow at this as he walked closer. "You know what's going on?"

"I think so," Kiana said as she looked at the bodies around her. "It feels like a Honkai eruption is going on. Oh, but don't worry," She quickly added, mistaking Phillip's furrowed gaze as worry. "Kiana Kaslana is on the case!"

"And that's not a cause of concern?" Phillip asked jokingly, earning a raspberry for his efforts. He shook his head at this before asking the obvious question. "Where's Mei?"

"She should be on the roof," Kiana stated as she stepped over the bodies between her and Phillip. "I told her to go first when something came up."

"Shit," Phillip cursed, realizing Mei had probably taken the brunt of the eruption and now holds the gem in her. "We need to help her."

"Let me get my bag first," Kiana said, starting for the room closest to them. "We don't know how many of these zombies we'll have to beat before we get to the roof. Here."

Kiana tossed her bat at Phillip with a side throw, causing it to spin as it headed to him. He stopped it with his right hand before flipping it to grab the handle.

Kiana looked at him with a frown. "I'm not protecting you. So you better pull your weight." With that, she walked in into the room to gather her items.

Phillip rolled his eyes at this, letting down the hallway he came from. The zombies from the lower floor had started to grow close, shuffling towards him.

Gabriel?

"It's all set."

With this, Phillip threw the bat like a spear down the hall at lightning speeds. Every zombie the bat hit exploded into pieces before rebounding back to him off the wall at the end, lacking noticeable damage to itself. He caught it simply before placing it down at his side, just in time for Kiana to exit the room with her backpack on.

"Alright, I'm good," Kiana said before shooting him a smirk. "Ready to go."

Phillip shook his head, a similar smirk of his own shown.

"If you can keep up."

Rooftop building, 12:10 pm,

The two of them reached the roof's door with minimum encounters along the way. Those that they did were taken out quickly, either from Kiana's impressive gunplay or Phillip's swings.

Phillip looked back at Kiana, who was loading up some more bullets. "Are you ready?"

"What are you afraid of?" She asked before spinning both Colts (one she had left in her bag before for ammo conservation) around her index fingers before pointing them to the sky. "All we gotta do is get Mei-senpai and then get outta here."

"Always the optimist," Phillip sighed out before placing his left hand on the door. "Just be prepared in case something happens." With that, he pushed the door open.

Upon stepping out on the roof, the first thing Phillip noticed was the change in weather. Rather than the bright sun and blue skies from earlier that morning, the world was now covered in pitch-black rain clouds. Rain was pelting down, drenching the two beginners to the area while white and purple lightning danced throughout the clouds. A blackened scorch mark was seen to the side of the doorway.

However, neither of them focused on this. Instead, their attention was focused on the girl that sat at the edge of the school, looking down on the city below. The dark purple hair, looking almost black in the shade of the clouds, was a clear indication of who she was.

"Mei-senpai!"

Kiana rushed forward, ready to tackle Mei into a big. Mei, for her part, slowly stood up and turned to them. However, instead of indigo eyes, blood-red stared back at them.

And Kiana was sent flying back by a bolt of lightning sent at her from Mei.

Phillip stepped forward to catch Kiana in a bridal carry. While Kiana was recovering from the recoil in his arms, Phillip leveled a glare at Mei.

"I'm going to make the assumption that you aren't Mei anymore."

The cat-like eyes stared at them for a moment, filled with both curiosity and malice, with a slight hint of confusion. The girl then seemed to come upon a revelation as those eyes widened slightly.

"Oh, it's you two."

Phillip narrowed his eyes at the cold and dismissive tone she spoke in. " 'You two,' huh? Sounds egotistical coming from her."

"Does it?" She asked before tossing away the question. " Never mind. Worms don't need to be remembered, nor answered." She raised a hand to fire another bolt of lightning at them, but Phillip reacted fast enough to backpedal away from the shot. Now back at the door, Phillip knelt to lean Kiana against the wall.

Kiana still wasn't fully recovered, trying to shake off the lingering stun the bolt produced. Phillip stood tall and looked over to his opponent…

…Only to jump back to evade an electrified punch.

As he skidded to a stop, he removed his jacket and disappeared from view just in time to evade a finger jab engulfed in lightning. His coat was hit but not penetrated. He reappeared behind Mei while she turned her head to him.

However, she made the mistake of leaving her hand in the jacket. As it finally started to fall, so did she, hitting the roof hard while Phillip's jacket left a crater underneath it.

"Oops," Phillip said, genuinely apologetic about the event. "Sorry about that, I was training recently, and I guess I got used to the weight." Running over, seeming like a blur to those around him, he picked the jacket up and moved off to the side.

All the while, "Mei" looked at him with surprise. "You… can't be human."

"Eh," Phillip responded with a shrug. "That word lost meaning to me after a while." He leaned down and took the girl by the hand to hoist her to her feet. "Now, if you want, we can continue this fight, or we can sit and talk for a second."

"Mei" looked at him for a moment before deciding. "I have my destiny to fulfill." She put her hand to his chest and pressed hard. "Begone."

A massive lightning bolt shot out from her palm, one that reached the other end of the city in seconds while obliterating the structure in front of her. As the lightning dissipated, nothing stood in front of her. Thus, she turned to face the other, who finally recovered.

Which led to her getting blind-sighted by a bear hug from behind.

"You worm!"

"I've been called worse for less," Phillip grunted as he tried to contain the girl, even when she began firing electric currents. He shot a look to Kiana, who got to her feet by this time. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" Kiana called back, shaking her head slightly. "Just a little woozy, that's all."

"Good," Phillip grunted back as his tolerance slowly dwindled against the electric storm in his arms. "Stay over there for now. I'll handle this."

"You're a fool if you think you can hold me for any longer," "Mei" cried, increasing her powers even more. "Soon, you'll be nothing but a stain on this building!"

"She's not wrong. What's your plan here?"

Working on it! Phillip groaned as a jolt of pain wracked up his body. Making up his mind, Phillip leaned back to lift "Mei" up and drove her head into the cement behind them. Letting go, he pushed away from the girl and moved back to Kiana.

Kiana took a moment to look at him before glancing over to "Mei". "Is she alright?"

"She's more likely pissed more than hurt," Phillip told her, looking over the new burns he gained along his arms. "That's not the issue, though. We need to stop her from causing any more problems."

"Right!" Kiana said, twirling her guns with a confident smile. "All we got to do is wake up the real Mei-senpai and save her!"

Phillip looked at her with a raised brow. "Do you have a plan to achieve that?"

"Best her up until Mei-senpai wakes up!"

"Thought so," Phillip sighed as he looked back to "Mei" as she climbed back to her feet with a violently twitching eye. "But I think I got an idea now."

Kiana was the one to give a suspicious look. "What's your plan? Give Mei-senpai a concussion?"

"Support me for a moment. I need to confirm something."

With that, Phillip rushed forward to attack.

1:00 pm,

"Impossible."

"Mei" looked at her opponents in contempt, scratches and cuts littering her body and clothes torn in some places. Kiana was huffing and puffing, clearly exhausted from the constant movement of the battle. Only Phillip seemed untouched.

Phillip's hypothesis seemed… mostly correct. He believed that Honkai energy had a limited capacity, but he needed to test it. Thus, he constantly taunted and teased "Mei" as he attacked her while Kiana shot at her. Needless to say, they were very effective in pissing her off.

Between Phillip's harassment and Kiana's attacks, "Mei" tossed lightning in every direction to take them out. Phillip had no problem dodging them, while Kiana seemed adept and fast enough to predict and maneuver around the lightning strikes. After some time, the storm slowly dropped in intensity, and "Mei" started taking damage she couldn't regenerate from. Now, she is finally too low.

"Mei" glared at them with fierce intensity. "How are humans pushing back against a Herrscher? How can these two lowly insects do this to me?!"

"Full of yourself, aren't you?" Phillip asked before shaking his head and stepping towards her. "But this ends now. I'm going to need you to give us our Mei."

The Herrscher snorted at this. " 'Your Mei,' huh" She looked over her shoulder, at the guard rails right behind her and the long fall to the ground. She stood there in contemplation.

"Don't try-"

"Fine," the Herrscher spat out, interrupting Phillip. "You can take the coward back, but only until I gather enough energy to wipe you both out. Until then, count your blessings."

With that threat delivered, the girl's eyes swapped from crimson red to indigo before slumping forward. Phillip rushed forward and caught her before she could hit the floor. Her eyes fluttered for a brief moment before pulling herself on his shoulder and sitting on her knees.

"Phillip-kun?" Looking past Phillip for a second, she noticed the other participant. "Kiana-chan?"

"Mei-senpai!"

In a burst of speed, Kiana slammed into Mei with a tight hug. She held it for several seconds, while the confused Mei simply returned it regardless of her feelings.

Once Kiana let go, she turned to Phillip with a fierce glare. "Only I get to hug Mei! You stay off of her!"

"Huh?!"

Phillip pinched his brow, ignoring Mei's sudden cry as he addressed Kiana's behavior. "Really? We're doing this now, of all times?"

Kiana puffed her checks at him. "Of course, we're going to! You were the one who said to not chase Mei, but you're the one touching her, ya pervert!"

"Wait!"

Phillip reached over with one hand and pulled on Kiana's ear. "What did I say about saying misleading things? That was a restraining move, and you damn well know it."

"Ow! That doesn't make you any less of a pervert, pervert!"

"Both of you, listen!"

This time, Phillip and Kiana ceased their activities to listen to Mei, who was looking severely flushed and out of breath. Regaining her composure for a moment, Mei made her thoughts known.

"Can either of you two tell me what's going on?"

1:05 pm,

Phillip looked down the staircase, ensuring that none of the zombies were climbing up to meet them. Meanwhile, Kiana was regaling the take off the day to a curious and increasingly uncomfortable Mei. Phillip would interrupt once in a while to correct parts of Kiana's story, like the part where Kiana tried saying she saved him from being mauled by zombies.

"After we won, you came back, and now we're here," Kiana concluded, sending a wide smile to Mei, despite the grim look Mei had.

"So, all of this, everything that happened just now," Mei started, blankly staring at the ground. " It's all because of me."

"No, it isn't."

The two girls looked over to Phillip, who still stood by the door. He started to walk over to them, stepping over the rubble of the benches decimated in the battle before looking down at the two.

"You were pushed over the edge and reacted badly, but none of this is your fault." Phillip looked back at the door as if expecting something to burst through. "But we don't have the time to delve into moral obligations. Time to move."

"Hold on a second," Kiana said before standing up and pointing at Phillip. "You got other things to explain, buster!"

Phillip leveled a glare at her. "Do you think this is the time for this?"

"You're right; this isn't a good time. A good time would have before this all happened!"

"Are you really serious right now?!"

"Of course, I'm serious!"

As the two began their argument, they didn't notice Mei moving towards the edge of the building. She took a small look at the fall belle before stepping herself and stepping on top of the rails. Another look down, and she took a step off, beginning her descent to hell.

Only for two hands to grab one of her arms and stop it all too quickly.

"Mei, there are some stupid things to do, and this isn't one of them!"

Mei looked up at her two saviors with tears in her eyes. "Please, let me go! So long as I'm alive, this being inside me will-"

"We saved you once; we'll save you again! I'll beat her up personally next time we see her!" Kiana proclaimed to Mei before giving another massive smile. "So don't you worry, because I'll always be here."

Mei stared wide-eyed at Kiana's declaration. "But… she-"

"I'm saying this once again," Phillip started, pulling Mei back to the rooftop easily, still holding her hand to prevent her from any more risky maneuvers. "I'll explain why all of this happened in a safer place, but it wasn't your fault that this happened." Mei simply slumped her head at this, tears flowing fell freely at this point.

Phillip sighed before looking at Kiana. "Can we agree to a ceasefire for now until we can get somewhere safe?"

Kiana pouted for a moment before giving a nod. "Fine, but I want to know everything when we do, capiche?"

Phillip responded in kind before pulling Mei to her feet. "Can you walk?" Mei gave a stiff nod, which prompted Phillip to look at Kiana. "Stay by her in case she needs anything." Kiana gave a mock salute at his order before getting close to Mei. The two shared a swift smile while Phillip walked back over to the door.

It burst open before he reached it, and zombies began to pour onto the roof. In the next instance, Phillip had flown through hand signs, and a massive ball of fire spewed from his mouth, engulfing the zombies and the remainder of the rooftop building.

Once the flames died down, Phillip looked behind him to see the two girls were wide-eyed at the display. However, only Kiana was vocal in her expression.

"What the hell was that?!"

I would like to thank those who are enjoying the story, those who have favored and are following, and those who have reviewed.

To the Guest reviewer, I'm sorry if the story is harder to read. Despite being a long-time fanfic-maker, I'm afraid I'm still a newbie at best. I'm learning to be better at it.

I'm grateful to everyone still participating in this story, constructive criticism is still very appreciated, and I hope to see you all later.