2:10 pm,

"…I don't get it."

Kiana sat down with a huff on the white bedsheets of the school clinic's bed. Her face was contorted in confusion as she looked over to Mei, who sat beside her and looked just as confused, if not more so. The two traded a small look before looking back at Phillip.

Phillip shrugged at them. "It's the truth. Whether or not you accept it is up to you."

Kiana snorted at this. "Right. Because some super-soldier jumping around worlds is totally realistic. Sounds more like something out of a bad movie."

"Fan-fiction, really, but she's got the spirit."

Phillip shook his head at the angel's nonsense and returned his focus to the two before him. "Look, regardless of whether you believe me or not," he rose his right hand to his side and fired a spear of electricity through the door, piercing a zombie that would have passed by. "I'm not exactly a normal human, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you before all of this."

"Okay, Mister faster-than-lightning, let's say we believe your story. Why here, huh?"

Phillip looked at Kiana blankly, causing the spear to burst and obliterate the zombie before disappearing. While he was free to explain his powers and origins, he wasn't allowed to give away information on divine reasoning under contractual obligations. Thus, he needed to improvise.

"I'm missing something, something I need to find. This was one of the places that I believed it would be."

Kiana gave a pout at this. "Sounds stupid to me." She rounded to Mei and asked, "What do you think?"

Mei looked between Kiana and Phillip for a moment before stating her mind. "Why didn't you tell me about what really happened to my father?"

Phillip flinched at the question, struggling with the best way to answer it. "I… I wasn't sure how to broach the topic with you."

"How about 'two evil morons accused your dad and Duke his company for evil reasons?" Kiana suggested, obviously not seeing the problem. "Seems pretty clear cut to me."

"Ever the optimist, aren't you?" Phillip gave Kiana a flat glare before looking back at Mei. "I also lacked an understanding of their motives. When I finally did, I did my best to prevent this from happening. As you can see, it didn't work out so well."

Phillip began scratching his cheek as a flush began to cover his face. "I'm… you know… um," His embarrassment began to skyrocket as his stutter started to form. Kiana looked on in amusement while Mei seemed shocked upon seeing a side of Phillip she hadn't seen before.

Soon, Phillip's embarrassment became too much for him, causing him to bow at the girls before him and walk out of the room. Once he was outside, he started taking several deep breaths to calm his nerves.

"Well, you've gotten yourself into a pickle, haven't you?"

I'm not good at confrontations on this front, Phillip replied before letting out a groan of disappointment. Why can't this be as simple as a physical fight?

"Not all fights are easy. You're just going to need to find a solution, and soon."

Phillip let a sigh of resignation, something that finally cleared his embarrassment, before looking back at the door behind him. As he reached for the door, a voice called out to him.

"Phillip-kun, are you alright?"

A sliver of embarrassment came rising back, but not enough to prevent his speech. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Deciding it better to speak with a barrier between them, he did so. "I'm sorry, Mei. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them. I'm sorry I-"

"It's alright, Phillip-kun. I… I wish you had told me before, but thank you for at least trying to stop them."

Phillip treated his head on the frame, eyes closed, as a small amount of relief worked its way into his heart. As he stood there, he calmed himself as his breaths steadied.

"…Could you come back inside now? We still need to collect the supplies."

Phillip laughed at Mei's insistence before pulling himself together and standing tall. "Yeah. Let's get everything together and leave."

2:30 pm.

"Are you sure you can't teach me?"

Phillip looked at Kiana with a blank look. "No amount of asking changes the answer."

"Aw, come on!" Kiana pouted as the trio excited the now vacant school building, blinding sunlight blazing down on them. "I know you believe it's some outer world thing, but I bet you it's just some Honkai thing, ya know. So, just teach me how ya do it!"

Phillip stiffed a sigh of aggravation at the demand before looking at Mei. "I assume you know the place we talked about, right?"

Mei nodded, though she didn't seem pleased with it. "It's under the science building." She pointed off to a lone building near the gate, detached from the main structure. "It should have weapons stored there."

"Wait, why does ME Corp have a weapon stash in the school?"

"This place is like a fortress," Phillip answered Kiana's question. "I doubt many people could have gotten in here with all the sensors active."

Mei looked down at the ground, suddenly sullen. "I don't enjoy talking about this. Could we just get what we need and move on?"

Phillip nodded at this. "Let's get some weapons before leaving. We don't know what we'll see beyond this point."

"Probably some Honkai beasts," Kiana stated as a matter-of-factly. "Mostly zombies, though. So, nothing extremely serious."

Phillip looked at her with a raised brow. "You sure seem to know a lot of these creatures."

Kiana gave a wide smile at this. "I wouldn't be a badass Kaslana if I didn't know about them."

Phillip's eyes narrowed at this, deciding he needed to talk with Siegfried when they met again. "Good to know." With that, Phillip began walking over to the science building.

"Wait!" Mei's call paused him, causing Phillip to look back at her to hear her out. "The building is likely also covered with zombies. Shouldn't we just move on to other places instead?"

"Don't worry, Mei-senpai," Kiana said as she pulled out her pistols. "I have enough bullets to clear the entire place."

Phillip held up a hand to stop Kiana. "Keep your ammo for now. You'll never know when you'll need it most."

Kiana looked peeved at the statement. "Oh yeah? Then how are we getting inside, stupid?"

Phillip answered this by stretching out his right hand and, with a flash of light, his tanto was drawn and sparking with electricity. He restarted his walk towards the building.

"Give me two seconds."

2:40 pm, underneath the school.

"What's this do?"

"Kiana," Phillip stared blankly at the white-haired girl, who showed him a pair of odd pistols with wings on them. "I worked with Ryoma Raiden directly, not with the technology division."

"Yeah, but you know what these things do, right?"

"It wasn't my job to know that," Phillip replied as he placed a pair of swords down on a metallic table between him and Kiana. She stuck her tongue at him before looking over the pile of supply boxes that contained pistol-like weapons.

Once Phillip had cleared the building, Mei led them to the hidden room, camouflaged as a piece of the concrete wall of the basement. Once revealed, they were met with halls of blue steel that led to several rooms of the same color.

The bunker covered an area large enough to encompass the entire school, only lacking in depth. Most rooms were barracks, while the rest were either research labs or weapon caches. Though they only explored one half of the entire complex, so they couldn't be entirely sure.

Right now, Phillip and Kiana were collecting weaponry for either later use or selling one they left. With every weapon Phillip sealed away into the storage seal on his left arm, Kiana became both more interested in learning it and more pushy in getting everything sealed.

"Ya know, you wouldn't have to put everything into that one thing if you just taught," Kiana stated as Phillip sealed a pair of long hunting knives. "And we could clear this place twice as fast too."

"Still doesn't mean I could teach you," Phillip stated as he sealed away another weapon into his arm. "Do you have anything you want to take with us?"

"I'm still looking!" Kiana exclaimed as she pulled out more guns, this time a pair of silver Colt Revolvers that stared at greedily. After passing them to him, Kiana asked a question. "Should we get Mei and get her equipped?"

Phillip paused, hand out to grab a purple straight sword. He thought it out for a brief moment before relaying it to Kiana. "Let's leave her be for now. Finding that room was probably hard on her."

Strolling through the place, they had stumbled into a room that was slightly different from the others. It was lavishly decorated and held only one queen-sized bed instead of the other rooms' barracks. Scrounging around, they found a note addressed to Mei. Upon seeing the handwriting, she asked them to leave. Kiana wasn't willing to do so, but Phillip forced her out while alerting Mei where they were going. Since then, they hadn't heard from the girl, though Phillip left a clone behind to keep watch.

Kiana pouted before sitting down on one of the closed crates. "This is getting boring! Can't you just make multiple people and deal with this on your own? I want to go see Mei-senpai!"

"One, I needed something to stall you so Mei can process her emotions," Phillip stated as he rolled his coat's sleeves down. Then he made several clones there, each moving to separate places of the room to begin sealing away weapons.

Kiana's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull at the sight. "What the-"

"Second, you're not paying attention." With that, Phillip moved towards the door, which slid open at his presence. Kiana quickly followed, pushing past the clone closest to her to follow.

"What the heck was that?! I know some Honkai beasts that can use electricity and fire and stuff, but none could clone themselves!"

"Why do you think I'm a person infused with Honkai, exactly?"

"I read it's something some people do," Kiana stated, waving off Phillip's question. " A forum started a rumor that some sort of superpower makes warriors with Honkai genes to make them stronger."

"That sounds… problematic," Phillip replied as memories of similar experiments filled his mind. He shook his head, clearing it of the experiences, before speaking again. "I assure you that what I told you is the truth."

Kiana rolled her eyes at this. "Sure, whatever you say." Phillip didn't respond back, heading down the hall towards the entrance quickly. Once she noticed, Kiana ran to his side before keeping pace. "Where are we going?"

Phillip rose a brow at her question. "You said you wanted to see Mei, right?"

Kiana's mood brightened considerably at this. She pulled his right hand from his coat pocket before dragging him down the hall rapidly. "Why didn't you say that earlier?! Let's go!"

Phillip contemplated whether he should stop her from pulling him along or not but decided against it. After all, it was better than her being angry with him like before.

Let's see how long this lasts.

2:42 pm,

"You bastard!"

Not long at all, it seems.

The two had rushed down the hallways almost instantly. Once they were close to the entrance, they veered left to turn a corner that led to the room. When they did, however, they were met with an awkward scene.

Mei and Phillip's clone stood there, both wrapped in each other's arms. What led to such actions were unknown at the time, but Phillip knew Kiana was set to blame him. Thus, he sent a thought to his clone to garner its attention.

The clone released the hug almost immediately while Mei took a little longer to get the message. When she did, however, she realized that she was being watched and turned to the newcomers, greeted by the enraged face of Kiana and the blank, slightly exhausted look of Phillip. Mei grew confused upon seeing him but couldn't voice it before Kiana finally exploded.

"You left a clone here to snag Mei-senpai, didn't you?!"

"Do I look that desperate?" Phillip asked the raging girl before dispersing the clone. Mei seemed even more confused, so Phillip tried to change the subject. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, I do believe so," Mei replied back, still looking at the place the come disappeared from. "Is this something… common?"

"Yes," Phillip responded simply before getting closer to Mei and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you certain you're okay?"

Mei nodded at this, finally looking at him with a skeptical glance. "How do I know you're not a clone?"

"Well, a good hit will pop them, so you can hit me if you'd like."

Mei looked appalled by the choice in action, but Kiana wasted no time in trying. Phillip ducked under the wild haymaker she threw at the back of his head, causing Kiana to move past him and spin around to face him.

"Hey! Dodging makes you suspicious, so just take it like a grown-up!"

Phillip gave her a flat glare before looking back at Mei. "Another difference would be personality quirks, something I'm still trying to iron out. The clones still have minor differences to me, so they can't fool people who know me."

Kiana seemed unconvinced in this. "Mei-senpai seemed to think that one was you."

"I wasn't paying attention to it," Mei confessed, a sullen look on her face. "I just wanted some comfort at the time."

The hall grew silent for a brief moment, as Kiana gave Mei her own hug. However, Phillip knew they needed to move on, so he gave a cough to rally the girls' attention.

" I know it hurts, but we can't stay here forever," Kiana separated from Mei, who gave the room she left one more long look before nodding at Phillip's statement. They stood there, waiting for Phillip's direction. "Kiana, go get Mei equipped and ready. I'll go collect whatever food they have stored here."

Kiana gave him a salute, grabbed Mei's hand, and rushed back down the corridor they came from. Phillip let out a sigh at Kiana's actions before walking the opposite way, delving into a piece of the bunker they hadn't explored thoroughly.

There were a few more barracks beyond that point, along with a couple of labs. Thus far, there had been no food source found in the bunker, but Phillip knew Ryoma would have left some to eat in case of extended stays.

Sure enough, he found one long room filled with rows of metal racks that held large packages. Phillip pulled one down from the middle shelf and summoned his tanto to cut through the tape. Inside were granola bars, cereals, and trail mixes. He placed the box on the ground and wandered the room, looking for any refrigerator or freezer of any kind. Finding none, Phillip looked around at the hundreds of boxes.

"Time to get to work."

2:54 pm,

"How was I supposed to know they connected back to you?"

Phillip gave the white-haired a heated yet painful glare as he sat down on a crate. Mei sat down beside him, rubbing his back as means of comfort. Kiana scratched her cheek with an index finger, feeling the glares of all the Phillips in the room.

Phillip had finished sealing the food supplies and started to head back when a merciless pain shot up his body, causing him to cup the source in response. He knew exactly why: one of his clones said something stupid enough to invoke Kiana's wrath (which didn't take much, to be fair), and Kiana hid her intent well enough to score a strike at the nads.

From there, Phillip stormed/limped back to the weapons room and told Kiana off for doing that while his clones recovered from the sudden, painful experience.

"Just don't do it again," Phillip wheezed out, evening his breath to ease the pain. Once it was under control, he looked over to Mei. "If you're okay with your selection, we can head to your house now."

"What about the rest?" Kiana asked, gesturing to the remaining weapons of the storage room.

"We don't need them all," Phillip stated, dispersing the remaining clones of the building, reliving the pain of the nut shot several times over. "God, why did you have to do that?"

"He deserved it," Kiana muttered to herself, crossing her arms in defense. "Stupid pervert clone."

"Regardless," Phillip stood up, groaning as he did. "There's nothing left here. We got food and weapons, so the only thing we need to do is to salvage anything of sentimental value." Phillip gave Mei a meaningful glance before moving towards the door. "I'll wait at the entrance."

"Hold up!" Kiana stepped between him and his destination with a suspecting look on her face. "What about everything the clones sealed away? It all just went up in smoke!"

"It's the same seal, so it all goes to the same sealing space," Phillip said, rolling up his left sleeve to slow the seal that rested on the back of his forearm. "Everything they sealed is right in here."

"And the food?"

Phillip flipped his arm, showing another seal there. He then pulled his sleeve back to normal and looked back at Mei. "As I said, I'll wait by the entrance. When you're ready, we'll head out."

With that, Phillip took off, leaving the girls to their devices.

Kiana watched the boy leave with pursed lips. "I think he's hiding something. Don't know what, but he is."

"Kiana-chan, can we please focus on getting me prepared," Mei insisted, standing up from her position and moving towards a pile of swords left behind. "I want to get home and see what I can collect."

Kiana pouted at these words, but pulled herself together to help Mei. "Fine, but you're gonna need some extra firepower to if you want to beat these things."

Mei sighed in relief as she sent a smile at Kiana. As they gathered the weapons to compare, Mei did her best to ignore the sinister voice in her head that said the same thing as Kiana.

3:10 pm,

"Dealt with."

Phillip stared down at a new crater on the school grounds, created by a fireball that torched a group of zombies that got too close. With Kiana and Mei taking their time, he had little to do to pass his own.

Thus, Phillip found solace in looking at the main school building, scrutinizing every new worn detail that appeared. He stood there, unmoving, when he noticed something loomed closer out of the corner of his eye.

A zombie stumbled over to him. Its black hair swayed with each step while it held one arm forward, due to the other one missing and half of its body was scorched. The only other important aspect was that it was female if the clothes were any indication.

Phillip gave the zombie a side-eyed look before turning to give it his full attention. " I had a feeling you would be still around, but somehow believed you would have survived as well."

He walked to meet the zombie halfway and grabbed her by the jaw when it tried to lunge at him. Phillip brought it close as it struggled in his grip, scratching and kicking for a way out.

"I should punish you for what you've since to Mei, but I think you've already received that." Phillip then channeled chakra to his hand, causing sparks to appear asking it. "So, instead, I'll simply give you a quick death."

The electricity surges into the zombie, causing it to spasm and twitch violently. A few seconds later, it detonated, spraying blood and pieces of flesh around.

With a hand sign, a whirlwind picked up around Phillip, blowing away the flesh and blood that hit him. Once it cleared, he gave a few words for the departed.

"Rest in piece, Ayame."

"Yo!"

Phillip looked over his shoulder to Kiana, waving at him as Mei exited the building. He took brisk steps to the girls, looking them over to make sure they were ready.

"What were you doing?" Kiana asked, seemingly confused about his position. "Your hair is all wonky."

Phillip matted down his hair, making sure none continued standing, before answering. "Zombie purging." He then looked over to Mei. "Have everything you need?"

"Yes, but…" Mei looked down, contemplating whether or not to ask her request. When she opened her mouth to retract her statement, Phillip spoke.

"I'll leave a clone to seal everything in that room. Don't worry."

Mei stood there, suddenly with a lousy for words as Phillip responded to the request she wanted. As tears suddenly collected at the corners of her eyes, all she could do was nod a few times in response.

"Okay, let's get going!" Kiana said, trying to break the atmosphere of the two. "We're heading to Mei's house, right? So let's move out."

Mei swallowed down her emotions to tell and contribute in some capacity. "I-I'll try to contact my chauffeur to get us to-"

"No need," Phillip said, striking down the chance without realizing it. "There's a chance it won't work, now that the center of the city is basically a smoldering crater. Besides," Phillip gave his best calming smile he could make. "I'm faster."

Kiana gave him a flat look. "Neither of us are as far as you, dumbass."

Phillip did the cross-hand sign, forming three clones. The one closest to the building entered it, keeping the promise Phillip made to Mei. The other two knelt down and held their hands out behind them, signifying a piggie-back ride.

Kiana caught on quickly and had some reservations about it. "Hell no! I'm not letting some pervert grab me!" Kiana looked to Mei in desperation. "Quick, Mei! Call the limo while I deal with the pervert!"

Phillip pinched the bridge of his nose, aggravation slowly climbing from Kiana's words. While his clones dodged a spray of bullets, Phillip got close to Mei to explain.

"I can get us to your house quicker than any other mode of transportation. However, I need to carry you to do so."

"No, I understand. It's just…" Mei fidgeted slightly as a red blush dusted her face. "… It does seem a little inappropriate for our age."

Phillip sighed at these words, annoyed the girls' priorities were on appropriateness and not on safety. However, he wouldn't get far by pushing the matter, so he decided to see if a form of comfort would change their mind.

"I promise that my clones will keep their hands to themselves."

"I don't believe you!" Kiana called, pausing her barrage to voice her disapproval. "How can you tell us that when you can't even punish them?!"

Phillip gave his clones a piercing glare, causing both of them to sweat. "They know what happens." The clones immediately turned to him with a straight posture and saluted, moving not a centimeter out of line.

Phillip looked back to the girls, noting the scheming look on Kiana's face. "Will that suffice for now?"

Mei looked over to Kiana for her input. She was surprised when the white-haired girl nodded at the question, an evil smirk growing on her face. Mei looked between the clones, giving her a blank gaze in return, before focusing on Phillip.

"I guess we're good to go."

3:22 pm,

"He grabbed my butt!"

"Liar!"

Phillip looked at the scene before him with a flat expression, while his clone and Kiana screamed to high heaven at each other.

As soon as they had landed in front of the Raiden Manor, Kiana immediately accused his clone of indecent action. His clone called bull just as quickly and accused Kiana of being a sadist. That simply caused Kiana to double-down on her accusation.

Mei was already inside, urged by Phillip to gather her items while Kiana was distracted. Phillip himself was locked in place so Kiana felt validated in accusations.

He very well knew his clone was correct, but he also knew Kiana would change the target of her accusations to him and attack him instead. Thus, Phillip did the one thing he felt was correct.

He dispelled the clone.

"Look, I'll do what's needed to be done later," Phillip said before Kiana was able to object. "But we need to leave this city, and soon. Arguing with a clone isn't accelerating the process."

"Oh, come on!" Kiana still protested, regardless. "At least punch him in the throat before he leaves!"

Phillip rose a brow at this. " You do realize that it would go back to me instantly, right?"

"…Uh-huh."

Phillip sighed before stepping onto the concrete walkway leading into the manor. "Come on. Let's go help Mei with her stuff."

Kiana's eyes widened at this before speeding into the house. Phillip took a much slower pace towards the house, aiming for something else inside.

Once he was in the house, he took the path towards the lounge they sat in the other day. There, in the leather chair, sat the man he was looking for.

The chauffeur gave him a smile despite the magenta lines spreading over his body. "I see you made it. Am I to assume Miss Raiden survived as well?" Phillip nodded, causing the chauffeur to sigh in relief before flinching to the pain it caused. As it passed, he continued to speak. "I'll probably pass on soon, so I ask you to watch over Miss Raiden for me."

Phillip nodded once more, settling into the idea of simply watching the man of pass on. However, one question popped into his mind and he felt it was time to ask it. It may have been late, but it was better to ask it now than never.

"What is your name?"

The chauffeur looked at him with a surprised yet humored gaze. They stayed like that for a moment before the chauffeur laid back into the chair. He gave a couple of labored breaths before he answered.

"Hans."

Phillip watched with sullen eyes as the man passed as soon as the words escaped from his mouth. Reaching forward, he pressed his palm over the older man's eyebrows and drifted down, closing Hans' eyes.

"Goodbye, Hans."

3:42

"Do you have everything you want?"

Phillip asked this of Mei as they left the manor, a new seal found on the back of his right arm. There wasn't all that much stored in there but they couldn't allow any baggage to slow them down. Phillip disposed of the body after carrying it to the front, leaving a small grave for Hans.

Mei, now puffy-eyed upon hearing the news of her chauffeur, simply nodded as she didn't trust get voice to not crack. Kiana gave her a hug to try and comfort her, which she reciprocated immediately.

Phillip kept a neutral face as he stepped a few places forward to summon two clones. They didn't last, however, bursting into smoke while Phillip nearly fainted on the spot. He stopped himself from completely falling by landing on his knees, but his consciousness still hung on a thread.

I'm… tapped out?

"Between the Honkai energy feasting on your chakra and your use of shadow clones, I'm not all that surprised," Gabriel stated. "Best you find a safe place to stay until your chakra recuperates."

"Phillip-kun!"

Phillip tilted his head slightly to the right to find Mei's worried face right next to his own. Trying to force himself up, he found it far harder than normal, his body staining and trembling at the effort. Slowly, however, he was standing once more.

"Sorry," Phillip said through panted breath. "I'm out."

" 'Out?' What do you mean 'out?'"

Phillip looked to Kiana, the one who asked. "I don't have a limitless pool of clones. I can run out, and that's what just happened."

"… Well, good!" Kiana exclaimed, crossing her arms with a huff. "I didn't want some pervert carrying me anyways!"

"Kiana-chan, that's not the problem right now," Mei scolded her, causing the white-haired girl to flinch at the tone. Mei looked back at Phillip with the same worried look as before. "Are you okay? You just fainted and you're paler now."

Phillip nodded in spite of how much effort it took to do so. " Overuse of chakra can do that. I'll be fine by tomorrow but that means we'll need someplace to stay for the night." He looked at Mei with a melancholy gaze. "Do you want to stay here for tonight?"

"Phillip-kun, I…" Mei looked at the manor once more, her lip trembling as tears started forming at the corner of eyes. "Gods, I don't know." She rested her head on his shoulder, and Phillip found it extremely hard to keep standing. However, he weathered it long enough as Kiana pulled Mei off him to give the girl another hug.

Once Mei had calmed down, Kiana offered an alternative. "We can stay at my place for a bit, get more done so we can leave earlier."

Phillip decided to ask the obvious question in the matter, at least to him. "Think you can get that far from here while carrying so much?"

"Huh?" Kiana looked confused at this. "I don't have much on me. Unless you want me to carry Mei-senpai!" Mei flushed at the idea and started scolding Kiana for the inappropriate thought.

Once the two had finished, Phillip continued. "No, because Mei's legs still work. Mine, on the other hand, don't."

It took a moment for the words to register in Kiana's mind. When it finally did, however, the response was a very heard across the city.

"WHAT?!"

Later, somewhere far away.

"My, my, aren't these three a humorous group?" Otto remarked, watching the one screen of many that showed Kiana walking briskly with Phillip hung over her shoulder as the 3rd Herrscher made conversation with the boy.

Otto was planning to send a Valkyrie squad to Nagazora to steal the Herrscher and the boy out from under Cocolia's nose. However, he didn't expect his little experiment from years in the past to resurface suddenly, dead set on aiding the boy in freeing Raiden's consciousness from the 3rd's grasp.

It was a surprise, to be sure, but it did set the record straight on his hypothesis.

Pressing down on the golden arm of his chair, a blue light blazed where his finger touched. The next moment, the doors of his office burst open and a woman wearing a nun-like dress, cut along the sides to show her legs and thighs, walked in.

"Yes, Lord Otto?"

"Contact Theresa," Otto commanded, eyes never leaving the screen before him. "Tell her we need a Valkyrie team sent to Nagazora to combat the outbreak."

"Excuse me, sir," the woman said, commanding her confidence forth at the man for the first time. "If the situation is dire, should we not send in Durandal? She had been rather restless these past few days."

"Oh, it isn't dire," Otto admitted, waving off the concern of his aid. "It's simply important and urgent that we react with the correct amount of correctional action. Sending in Durandal on this matter… well, it would just be overkill."

The secretary bowed at Otto. "Very well, I'll see it done."

"Excellent," Otto acknowledged her words with a wave. "Be sure to send Cocolia my regards as well."

"Of course, Lord Otto."

In the city, Senba High

"What do you mean you lost them?!"

Bronya barely flinched at the booming voice of her enraged adoptive mother as it echoed throughout her earpiece. She levitated over the entrance of Senba one more time and restated her findings."Catalyst signal is evading scans. It begins and ends at the school entrance. Further attempts prompts no additional signals."

"Damn it, Otto! Did you trick me with this nonsense?!"

"…Matushka?"

There was only static on the line for a brief moment. The next moment, Cocolia spoke. "Find them. Bring both the boy and the Herrscher if you can but only the Herrscher matters."

"Da, Matushka." The line cut there and Bronya made her way to the center of this half of the city. There, she would find the most optimal place to capture her prey.

After all, who in their right mind could resist the allure of HOMU World?

Alright, I think I'll end it here.

Thank you to those who keep reviewing, those who favorited/followed, and the new people who took interest.

I'll see you in the next chapter.