December 11th, 5:30 am,

Phillip opened his eyes to stare at the living room ceiling, the room shrouded in the darkness of the early morning. Turning his head, he saw the mirrored image of his apartment, though he knew it wasn't his own. Feeling his chakra had replenished enough to move, he increased his hearing and picked up on the light snores from the bedroom on the other side of the room.

He shifted to a sitting position, placed his feet on the cold floor, and ran his fingers through his hair, enjoying the movement he lost yesterday. With a push, he managed to stand up and grabbed his keys from his coat, draped on the couch arm. He closed the door quietly to avoid awakening the girls as he left.

Taking the short walk out of Kiana's apartment, he moved to his own. Upon entering it, he moved towards his bathroom to wash up and grab his toiletries. Gabriel made his presence known as he sealed away his deodorants (leaving one for later use).

"I see you're up and moving."

It would be worse if I wasn't; let's be honest, Phillip replied calmly, starting up the shower. Why didn't you warn me I was out?

"Oh, sorry, I thought I was dealing with a warrior who fought on several hundred battlefields, not some teen that can't pay attention to his own body," Gabriel spoke with a disapproving voice, greeted with a flat look from Phillip. Gabriel settled into a more neutral tone as he continued. "I didn't speak because I want there. Management required my presence about a disturbance in the Greater Void, so I had to handle it after our little pep talk."

Phillip stalled at the explanation, eyes blinking blankly as his mind caught up. Anything I need to worry about?

"It wasn't anything dire, just some Outerverse "God" of one dimension overstepping their bounds." Gabriel let out a groan after saying this. "It was talk after with Big G that took an eternity to end."

Doesn't he know you think that?

"Oh, he knows everything about everything literally. No chance of hiding it from him, so might as well just say it."

Phillip chuckled at the angel's whining, shedding his shirt from his body and letting it drop to the floor. Feeling the heat increase in the room from the pounding water, Phillip finished undressing and began his shower.

5:35 am,

Once Phillip had exited the torrential pounding of water, he became acutely aware of thudding feet rushing around outside. He grabbed the blue towel on the nearby rack and tied it around his waist. He moved slowly to the door, quieting his footsteps as he made to reach for the knob.

It was futile, though, the steps grew closer and reached the door just before he did. As he leaned back into a fighting stance, the door flung open, and he was met with the distressed face of Raiden, Mei.

"Phillip-kun, you're-" Her words became stuck in her throat, and her face slacked as she became much more aware of his apparel, or rather the lack thereof. Her face flushed immediately, and she wasted little time slamming the door shut while apologizing profusely.

"You're fine, Mei!" Phillip called above her rambling, bending down to pick up his once discarded shirt. A few hands signs and a minor water and wind jutsu later, it was clean enough to be temporarily put on.

As his eyes were covered, he heard another patter of feet and the door opening once more. Phillip pulled his head through the appropriate slot and found Kiana standing there this time, gawking with wide, pure white eyes. He cleared his voice to try to break the trance, to no avail, so he spoke up.

"Can I help you, Kiana?"

This was enough to jolt out of her stupor, slamming the door behind her to hide from Phillip. Phillip just shrugged at this before collecting the rest of his uniform, knowing he couldn't walk back to his room with just a shirt and towel now.

Phillip just hoped there wouldn't be any more uncomfortable interactions along the way.

6:30 am,

"So, what was the problem?" Phillip asked as he downed a few pieces of peanut-butter toast, addressing the girls before him at the dining table. He was dressed in a fresh dark green shirt and a new pair of black pants as his original outfit cleaned up.

"Well, first, Mei-senpai wants a new outfit," Kiana explained for Mei, the more composed of the two after the sudden interaction. "Second, you kinda went missing all of a sudden."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I believed you two needed some extra sleep," Phillip stated, eyes passing over to Mei as he did. " You might need the energy should we encounter any unavoidable enemies."

"You're the one who couldn't move yesterday," Kiana chided, eyes narrowing at him. " Kinda dumb to go walking around when that happened."

"I know when my chakra is back," Phillip clarified, finishing off his breakfast and standing up to stretch. "Sleep and food can replenish it, so I'll be fine after a night's rest."

"Are you sure?" Mei asked, finally over the event, as she gazed at him with worry in her eyes. " You almost lost consciousness yesterday, so are you absolutely sure you'll be fine?"

"Yeah, what Mei-senpai said," Kiana huffed, leaning back into her chair with crossed arms. "I don't wanna be carrying your dumb ass around like last time."

"I don't desire to be manhandled again anyway," Phillip shot Kiana a flat look before rounding back to Mei. "While I'm not at one hundred percent capability, I'm well enough to get the three of us out of the city and then some."

Mei's expression displayed concern and doubt to his words, but she still nodded at Phillip. Standing tall, she reached forward to pick up the trio's platters, only for Phillip to stop her.

"I'll handle the dishes. Kiana said you wanted to change, so go ahead and do so."

Mei turned to him with wide eyes. "Oh. I-I'm sorry, did I-"

"Mei," Phillip started with a calm smile, hoping to alleviate her emotions. "You're fine. I'm saying this because, while Kiana and I have our items here, yours is in my seal. So, go get changed, and we can start planning after."

While Mei contemplated the matter, Phillip summoned a clone forth, with the direction to aid Mei in removing her items. When the clubs appeared, Mei seemed to make up her mind and agreed to his decision, albeit reluctantly. As the two returned to Kiana's apartment, Phillip was left with Kiana.

"So," Phillip started, mind trying to create a decent conversation topic. "Anything you need here or are you set?"

Kiana shrugged at this question, eyes glued to his door. "I've always traveled light, been that way since I was twelve."

Phillip realized the topic shifted in an uncomfortable direction, so he cut it there. "Anything you want to eat before we leave the city?"

"With you and Mei by my side?" Kiana turned to him with a cheeky grin. "I'll still be eating like a queen for days coming."

Phillip shook his head at this, a grin of his own forming. "If that's the case, get ready to head out. We leave when she's done." He stood up and headed for his door, only to pause when Kiana spoke up.

"Do you still have those stupid movies?"

8:15 pm,

The group finished up their preparations once Mei was done. Phillip sealed away his clothing and remarrying toiletries while Kiana… didn't seem too high-strung on leaving her stuff, saying she wasn't "too clingy" to the items.

Once done, they walked down to ground level, defeating any zombies that happened to block their way. Phillip created the hand sign needed when they got outside, just to be stopped by Mei.

"I don't think we should leave yet," she blurted out, gathering her companions' attention, which caused her to blush. "I-I mean, shouldn't we be helping people that survived?"

"I have some reservations about normal people surviving a city-wide explosion that turns humans into zombies," Phillip stated, causing Mei to stare gloomily at the sidewalk below her. However, Kiana seemed to have her own thoughts on that matter.

"Oh, there could be, actually." This shifted all attention to the white-haired girl. "I mean, like a few people could survive it, ya know, but only like a handful or so."

"And they'll likely be spread out all across the city," Phillip added, a solemn expression on his face. "If I was positive I regained all my strength, it would be a simple problem, but let's focus on keeping ourselves safe first." Phillip summoned the clones once he made his point, hoping they would be more willing to follow his plan now.

He underestimated their resolve.

"We can't leave them to handle this place by themselves," Kiana retaliated, with Mei nodding at her statement. "Maybe we know what's going on, but they sure as hell don't. They'll need the help, and the quicker, the better!"

"Keep in mind, we have two megalomaniacs running around, trying to get Mei for their own purposes," Phillip reminded the girls, trying to add something to defend his case. "It would be better to get her out of the city and leave the survivors to whatever aid groups that come."

"They take too long. Besides," Kiana flashed Mei a megavolt smile, "She'll be fine with me by her side." Mei reciprocated the smile with her own and a light blush that found its way to her cheeks.

Phillip pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation, seeing his words did little to convince the girls to his side. He was now stuck between simply forcing them to comply or wasting time trying to convince them. Once he decided his answer, he looked back up and found Kiana in front of him with her brilliant smile.

"Come on. It will be like an adventure, with free food and drinks too!"

Phillip shook his head at this, seeing at least one reason Kiana convinced herself to. Looking over to Mei, Phillip found the girl just as adamant at staying, so he decided to speak his mind.

"Fine," Phillip said frankly. "We'll do this, but if shit hits the fan, I won't hesitate to get ourselves out of the city immediately." He tossed his right hand forward, believing the girl would simply shake his hand in agreement.

What he got instead was a crushing hug instead.

"Awesome!" Kiana cried before dropping the hug to rush over to Mei. Phillip collected his breath as the two talked about where they would go first, realizing just how strong the girl actually was. Glaring at his clones, who suppressed their chuckles, Phillip realized a question that needed to be answered before moving on.

"Do you still want to use the clones?" The girls swirled around to him, confused looks on their faces. "Don't get me wrong: I'm sure we would be fine traveling by foot or vehicle, but they're faster."

Kiana spoke instantly on the idea. "Hell no! I'm not trusting your pervy clones with carrying me or Mei-senpai! Besides, this is an adventure, and we shouldn't rush it."

Phillip rose a brow at this. "Aren't we doing this to help survivors?"

"Details." With that, Kiana went back to chatting up Mei. Phillip sighed heavily at this, already regretting agreeing to the girl's decision, but decided to continue with the idea. He dispelled the clones and walked over to the girls to enter the conversation.

As he got close, Kiana's eyes widened. "Wait! Let me go do something really quick!" She sprinted down the sidewalk, stopping just before an alleyway and going down it.

Phillip and Mei shared a concerned look, knowing exactly what the girl was doing. After all, it wasn't just humans that were negatively affected by the eruption, as they found out once they reached Kiana's place.

Kiana spent a long while crying that night, which was why Mei decided to lay down with her: to comfort Kiana that same way she did with Mei. Phillip simply provided a small-scale burial and headstone, thanks to Earth jutsu.

Right now, Kiana had gone off to give goodbyes to her cat. In some way, Phillip believed Kiana would demand they stay longer, so she could grieve some more, but she had shown the strength to move forward quickly. How well that affected her mental state was anyone's guess.

The two stayed where they were, giving the girl some time to herself. A moment later, Kiana walked out, drying her eyes of tears. Upon seeing them, she gave them a bright smile, trying to convince them she was okay.

"Okay, let's go!"

9:30 am,

The group decided that they would take the monorail system that extended over the city move about. With it structured to loom above the smaller buildings, it would help them find and aid anyone in trouble. The first station, thankfully, was relatively close to the apartment complex.

However, that didn't mean they evaded difficulties. Phillip tried getting the group to sneak around any sudden encounters they had. Still, either from Kiana accidentally making noises or just attacking zombies out of the blue, they ended up in more fights than he hoped for. Mei reprimanded Kiana for reckless actions, though it was unlikely to faze the white-haired menace.

Granted, the forced encounters may have been a blessing in disguise, as the station, a steel building with a glass sunroof, was flooded with the undead. Seeing as they weren't getting through stealthily, the group slaughtered the horde, leaving body parts and blood in their wake.

Now standing on the rails, the place secured, Phillip looked back to the panting and bent over girls. "Clones are still on the table if you want."

Kiana twisted her head to door him a one-eyed glance, a cocky smile on her lips. "Please, this is nothing to a Kaslana!" She managed to stand tall and looked over her left shoulder to Mei. "How about you, Mei-senpai?"

"I-"Mei gulped down some air, clearly not used to intense combat. "I'm fine. Give me… give me a couple minutes."

Phillip and Kiana shared concerned looks before returning their attention to Mei's hunched form. Phillip was the one to vocalize it. "If you want, I can have a clone take you out of the city and-"

"No!" Mei interrupted, anger evident in her tone. "I won't be a burden here! I just need some rest."

Phillip nodded at this before looking to Kiana after. "Take Mei to the benches over there." He pointed to the guardrail that overlooked the station's lower levels, where several benches sat. "I'll take a look outside, make sure nothing is coming."

Kiana gave him a salute, complete with a wink, before grabbing Mei by the shoulder and moving her to the closest bench. Phillip turned to face the large hole in the building used for the railway and walked out.

The railway was a massive chain of steel tracks that swarmed the city. He could capture six other rails close by from his first step outside, each supported by thick steel beams. On regular days, red train carts would fly by at screaming speeds, but, today, all was silent. Still, Phillip couldn't lower his guard: ensuring the girls made it out safe was his job.

As he confirmed nothing was immediately moving their way, Phillip felt a presence behind him. Knowing who it was, Phillip made sure they knew.

"Shouldn't you be resting, Mei?"

Phillip turned his head lightly as she moved to his side, analyzing the city with a scrutinizing gaze. It almost looked like she wanted the city to burn, but he knew Mei better than to believe she hated the city as a whole. However, it did ignite a question he had in his heart. "Why did you want to stay here?"

Mei flinched at the question, her eyes losing their glare and becoming soft. After a moment of silence, though her lips seemed to flip between words, she finally spoke. "Yesterday terrified me. I almost lost two people then, and I now know I could still."

She turned her head to him, eyes sparkling with tears. "I don't care about these people; I just don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose you just because you felt you needed to help me."

Phillip sighed at the confession, feeling she understood too little of the current situation. "Mei, I'm not-"

"Promise me," Mei demanded suddenly, turning entirely to him with her hands over her heart. "Promise me you won't overuse that 'chakra' you say you use. Promise me you'll rely on my and Kiana to help you from now on."

Phillip wanted to dissuade her with the facts, that there was too small of a chance that he would use too much this time around. However, between the desperate plea and the determination behind tearful eyes, his mind shut off, and he did something he knew he would regret later.

He agreed.

"I promise."

Tears continued to stream down Mei's face as she nodded, seeming both relieved and anguished all at the same time. Phillip took a step forward and grabbed her shoulder gently, causing Mei to look up at him as he smiled. Only a moment later, Mei wrapped her arms around him into a hug, resting her head on his shoulder. He reciprocated the gesture, rubbing her back to soothe and comfort her.

The mood, however, lasted for but a brief moment, shattered by the other one present.

"Boo!"

Phillip and Mei separated with a jump instantly, looking back to the station to find an agitated Kiana standing at the railway entrance. She stormed over, latched onto Mei's arm, and pointed a finger at Phillip.

"Listen," she started accusingly, obviously believing he slighted her at some point. "If we're doing this, I want my own Mei-senpai time! No more hogging her!"

"It wasn't an intimate hug," Phillip explained, though he knew he wouldn't conquer the girl's delusions. "And she's capable of determining who she wants to converse with."

"…I still want my Mei-senpai time!" Kiana rushed back to the station, dragging a blushing Mei behind her. Phillip let out a sigh before looking back out at the city.

"What did I get myself into?"

10:00 am,

Once Mei had recovered enough to continue, the group started the trek down the railway. During the initial couple minutes, Phillip realized something: the group had two different sets of speed.

Phillip felt the group was moving too leisurely and tried to pick up the pace. However, this caused Kiana to believe him to be rushing them and often clashed with him on the matter. All the while, Mei struggled to keep up, constantly huffing and puffing every time Kiana caught up to Phillip to yell at him.

Once Phillip realized his speed was causing the issues, he did his best to keep peace with the girls. This calmed Kiana down and allowed Mei to actually collect her breath. However, it didn't stop Phillip from getting restricted, so he tried starting conversations to distract himself from it.

"Could you tell me what Honkai is?" Phillip asked Kiana, causing the girl to give him a raised brow. "Don't look at me like that. I've known what they look like and don't seem too keen on humans. However, that didn't really tell me much about them, so I was hoping the local expert could tell me more about them."

Hearing the term "local expert" being referenced to her, Kiana puffed out her chest as a prideful smile settled on her face. "It's true: I know a lot about the Honkai. More than you ever will."

Phillip's tone evened out as he gave Kiana a flat stare. "Don't get cocky." He cleared his throat before finally starting his questioning. "What are they? What's their purpose?"

Kiana showed confusion about the questions. "Well, they're humanity's enemies, right? So they just want to kill people."

Phillip rose a brow at this before deciding to clarify. "Let me rephrase it then. Why do they attack humans?"

"Um," Kiana became even more confused before looking at Mei, who was looking over the city as they passed. "Mei-senpai, why do Honkai attack humans?"

Mei looked at them, entirely confounded by the conversation. "How would I about something I've dealt just recently?"

Kiana seemed downtrodden by the dismissal of her request. At least, until she looked in front of the group and saw something that piqued her interest. With a pointed finger, she pushed all attention towards what was before them.

"That's a Honkai."

A giant flying swarm was heading their way, made out of insect-like creatures with white skin. Their thick wings beat against the air as their rounded heads pointed in the group's direction. The tails shook lightly against the wind song with a small piece behind the heads with a hole in it. The only other significant details on this creature were the purple highlights, a magenta halo above their head, and all parts detached from each other.

Phillip cursed at the sight and summoned his blade. However, Kiana paused him. "Don't. Unless that thing is a Honkai weapon, you're not touching them."

Phillip opened his mouth to counter this, to say that he bested both infected and a Herrscher quite handily. However, Gabriel entered the conversation before he could.

"Infected reside too much on the physical plane to ignore physical attacks. The Herrscher you fought wasn't fully awakened yet, so it could be overcome physically. Still, you'll lag behind against more powerful enemies."

… So you're telling me I'm boned.

"Chakra will still work, but you know why that won't always be reliable. Those weapons in your seal, however, will be the key."

Phillip pulled up his left sleeve, bit down on his thumb hard enough to draw blood, and swiped it over the seal holding the weapons. A black katana with blue highlights and core appeared in his hand in a plume of smoke. He swung it to his side, prepared to battle off the coming swarm.

His companions, however, were less than thrilled on his course of action.

"The hell are you doing?!" Kiana screamed as she landed a punch right on his side, knocking the wind out of him. As he tried to recover enough to get back into a fighting position, the blade was forced out of his hand as Mei inspected it.

"Kiana-Chan, please find anything we could use as bandages! Quickly!" Kiana didn't try to explain to Mei that every medical supply was also in a seal Phillip had. She simply tore a piece of cloth off the bottom of her school shirt, showing her midriff, before passing it to the panicking Mei. Mei quickly tied it around his thumb, ending it with a bow on top.

Not stopping to appreciate her work, Mei then slapped Phillip across the cheek. "Never do that again. Do you understand me?"

Phillip, tired of getting hit, picked up the fallen blade and pointed it at the swarm, now just a few feet from them. "I'll explain after we kill these things!"

The girls begrudgingly agreed to this, reading their weapons as the swarm finally met them.

10:30 am,

The battle was far easier than Phillip expected.

Kiana had the best experience against this enemy, so she efficiently handled most enemies. She bobbed and weaved around any attacks before firing back with twin pistols.

Phillip managed to dodge the attacks more easily than he could land attacks. Primarily because he was used to analyzing attack patterns before fighting back. Thus, with a new enemy before him, he tried to figure out as much as possible. When it was clear the creatures were rather basic in attacks, he began fighting back.

Mei, however, was the one the least combat-oriented. The secondary weapon she picked, a double-barrel shotgun, wasn't one she could wield effectively yet. Most shots only hit a couple targets before she finally decided to switch it out for her katana. She did better, though she couldn't complete with her comrades.

Once the swarm dwindled to roughly ten members, the monsters realized they wouldn't win and began their retreat. The group simply watched, glad to be out of the fight for now.

Phillip sighed, sealing away the weapon, before turning to the girls, already feeling the glares they sent him. "So, shall we get going?"

Kiana simply crossed her arms, continuing the glare at the boy. "You just bit your thumb! Unless you got some pretty good reason for it, I'm gonna start punching!"

"Yeah, that's about the response I expected," Phillip said through a groan, realizing he couldn't get away from the topic quickly. "Look, it's really nothing that bad-"

"You drew blood, you dumbass!" Kiana yelled, already storming up to him. "How is that not that bad?!"

Phillip dodged the punch she sent him by stepping to the side. He then locked eyes with Mei, who seemed more furious than Kiana but better contained it. Dodging around another punch from Kiana, Phillip took a step towards the heiress.

"I'm sorry if I scared you," Phillip apologized to Mei before looking behind him to Kiana. "Both of you. What it did should have been something I warned you about beforehand. I just didn't think I would need to use it this early."

"Why would you need something like that?" Mei asked/demanded of him, anger giving way to concern. "Why does that type of action have to be required to use your seal?"

"Security," Phillip explained simply, citing both a smack from Mei and a punch to the back of the head from Kiana. Pulling back from the girls, Phillip tried to clarify. "The seal can only activate with a combination of chakra and blood. That way, nothing can break through easily."

"Why would you need both if you're from a different place, hug?!" Kiana crossed her arms with a pout. "At this point, you're just a delusional, suicidal idiot!"

Phillip shrugged at the accusation. "Call it a combination of habit and uncertainty. I'm not sure how Honkai energy would affect a seal, so it-"

"What do you mean 'habit'?!" Kiana's cry silenced Phillip, her rage peaking at his words. "You mean this is something you often do!?"

"Phillip-kun," Phillip flinched at Mei's cold and calm tone. Looking at her, he was met with a smile that held no warmth. "You're going to unseal everything and either reseal them into something less dangerous or leave them here. Do you understand?"

Despite the chills running down his back, Phillip didn't yield to Mei. "As I said, I don't understand how Honkai energy would affect seals. If I lower the security on the seal, there's no telling what could happen. It could break the seal, if not worse."

The girls shared a disturbing look at his words, seemingly more willing to agree with the seal. However, Kiana voiced something else that came to get mind.

"If you didn't know, why did you use them then?" Kiana asked. "I mean, we don't really need all those things. We could just leave most of the weapons here and-"

Phillip shook his head at the suggestion. "The weapons are a resource, either if we need replacements for our current ones or as a profit once we leave. There's also a chance that, if we do leave them here, someone will pick them up and use them against us."

Kiana gave him an unimpressed look for his last statement. "Kinda paranoid, aren't ya?"

"Again, call it a habit." Phillip turned around to face the railway. "Now, if we covered my sealing security, let's just-" He stopped mid-sentence when he spotted a figure walking down the tracks, heading towards the girl. Pulling off the make-shift bandage, he reapplied the blood to summon the sword from before. This immediately freaked the girls out as they hurried to his side.

"Phillip-kun, what are you doing?!" Mei snagged the tossed-away cloth and immediately grabbed his hand to tie the fabric back over his thumb.

"Are you seriously stupid or something?" Kiana asked with a furrowed brow, clearly upset even if her tone didn't express it.

Phillip reacted to neither, eyes locked on the figure making their way to them. He had a bad feeling that whatever it was, it was only meant to be trouble.

Once the figure was closer, Phillip realized it was a female. She wore a simple white kimono with the sleeves cut away to show shoulders that stopped at her elbows, with a purple cloth underneath that continued to her wrists. A pink skirt fluttered in a light breeze, jiggling the fox mask tied to her side, while wooden geta clopped against the metal beneath her, paired with white thigh-highs. Purple eyes stared blankly at the group as her right hand reached for one of the two blades on her left side. The only remaining detail was her vibrant pink hair, topped with two fox-like ears.

Kiana, obviously, was not at all happy with this revelation.

"Oh, come on!" Kiana looked at him with an unimpressed expression. "You're this worked up over a cute girl?" She let out a sigh in disappointment before running over to the girl.

"Kiana, get back!" Phillip called out but got ignored. He couldn't place it, but the girl was already sending off alarms. He couldn't tell whether it was because humans shouldn't have animal ears in this universe or something instinctual.

Gabriel decided to give clarification. "It's instinctual, and I can see why. She exudes the same energy as Mei when she was that Herrscher."

Phillip winced at the fact and started moving towards the woman. All the while, Kiana began to chat up the girl, who seemed somewhat infatuated with her words.

"Sorry about the boy. He's kinda jumpy and all of that. Mei-senpai and I are still training him to be better."

"…"

The woman didn't react to Kiana's words, satisfied at simply staring at Kiana's face as if in a trance. She broke out of it as soon as she saw Phillip, seeming just as enraptured with him as with Kiana.

"You're… not from here."

Phillip wanted to snarl at this, now putting his new sensor capability to feel just how much energy the woman had. It was far more potent than Mei's was at the time, though he wasn't sure how the two would compare at full force.

I should have trained this to be instinctual, Phillip scolded himself before shaking it off, knowing he couldn't change what could have been. Right now, he needed to focus on now, which he did by putting himself between the woman and Kiana.

"Wha- hey!"

"Kiana, get back to Mei," he demanded. He locked eyes with the stranger, purple eyes meeting chocolate brown as Phillip addressed her. "We're moving on. If you have no ill intent, you can either come along or pass us peacefully. But we'll be going now."

The woman's confusion increased slightly at his words before looking over to the group's final member. Her eyes narrowed at Mei's presence, and she began pulling out the sword, only for Phillip to raise his own to her neck, the point an inch drill piercing it. The woman returned her attention to him and spoke for the first time.

"That girl is tainted. She must be eliminated."

Phillip pushed the blade closer, making sure the woman understood her position. "You can try, but I doubt you'll reach her before I cut you down." His tone was ice cold, and any warmth in his eyes disappeared. "As I said before, you can peacefully leave. So long as you don't attack Mei."

"You would protect the girl?"

"With my life."

"Stop it!" Kiana pushed past Phillip, causing him to stumble slightly, to plead Mei's case. "Trust me, Mei wouldn't-"

The woman wasted no time to act now that the threat against her life was removed. She blitzed down the rails, appearing like a blur to Kiana and Mei. When she reappeared, she was in front of Mei, her blade ready to pierce through the heiress's heart.

Only for Phillip to block it with the side of his katana.

As the woman pushed harder into the block, Phillip gave an order to Mei. "Get over to Kiana and continue on. I'll meet you two at the station."

"No! I can-"

"Not now, Mei!" Phillip pushed the woman off and looped his free arm around Mei at her waist. In a burst of speed, he disappeared from the woman's vision and reappeared next to Kiana, dropping his hold. He returned to his battle stance as he faced the woman. "She wants to kill you, Mei. So you need to get going while I distract her."

"But-"

Phillip ignored Mei, turning to Kiana instead. "Carry Mei if you have to, Kiana. I'll catch up."

"…You better." Without so much as a huff, Kiana grabbed Mei by the hand. She immediately ran down the tracks, dragging the reluctant girl behind her.

"You're endangering the world with that act," the woman told Phillip, pointing her blade at him. "You understand the consequences of it, correct?"

Phillip glared at the woman as he held the sword before him. "I said I'd protect her with my life. So, either cut me down or yield."

The woman sent him neither a cold, calculated gaze nor a hate-filled glare. Instead, the look she gave him was simply blank. "I have many sins and regrets in my life. One more is none to burdening." Her shadow seemed to spring to life as she spoke, growing and molding itself into the right shape and size. Phillip's eyes widened once it finally reached its complete form.

A large, completely black nine-tailed kitsune now stood tall behind the woman.

"Vile beast, our cooperation is but a temporary one. May this battle be short, for both of our sakes."

Well, hello again.

Hopefully, this is a decent chapter. I always feel off when I'm about to finish a chapter, but I get the feeling that's just being a writer in general.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy it. I'll see you in the next chapter.