11:00 am, Western Side of St. Freya,

"Phillip, you need to simmer down."

Phillip did not heed Gabriel's words as he and the other students followed Himeko towards a large domed building. His anger from the encounter with Otto Apocalypse hadn't disappeared yet, and it grew as the group entered the building and traversed the hallways up to a metallic, red door.

Himeko pushed it open and allowed the students to pass her, even the then-seething Phillip into a large metal hallway. This hallway surrounded a large, circular, arena-like room in the middle of the building, the group looking down into it through glass panels like a modern-day Panathenaic stadium. Once all the students were inside, Himeko rounded back to the front of the group to address them.

"To those new to St. Freya, this is the holographic training simulator," Himeko explained, pointing into the metal-paneled arena beside them. "This is a place for training for the multi-situational life that Valkyries and Knights are expected to handle on the field. To test your capabilities, you will face Honkai Beasts, Zombies, and even mechanized enemies."

With this, a hand rose from the group to earn Himeko's attention. This hand belonged to the purple-haired girl from before, Fu Hua, if Phillip remembered it correctly. "Excuse me, Himeko-shifu. If this was supposed to be a simple training regimen, wouldn't we be using the training grounds instead?"

Himeko nodded in response to this. "While under normal conditions, that would be true, Principal Theresa wanted to test our newbies on how they handle normal conditions." Looking down at her clipboard, Himeko looked slightly confused for a brief moment before muttering a muffled curse and continuing on. "The first one to begin will be Stuyvesant-san with a demanded battle with Fu-san."

Murmurs spread throughout the group as Phillip and Fu Hua stepped forward. Some of them seemed to wonder why these two were requested to battle each other, while others seemed to assign Phillip a loss immediately.

Phillip didn't care. He desperately needed something to take a couple of punches so he could vent the anger he still had. Fu Hua seemed relatively calm about this, despite the last confrontation the two had. Maybe she had simply accepted the fact of her fate during this battle.

"There are two entrances on either side of the arena," Himeko stated, pointing off to two pairs of doors at the right and left sides. "Those doors will lead into stairs that lead to a prep room before the entrances. Pick a side and take your time in preparing. You'll have twenty minutes before we expect you to start."

Phillip took off to the right while Hua followed to the hallway to the left. Once at his doors, he pushed them slightly before storming down the flight of metal stairs. He paid the preparation room no mind as he immediately got to the entrance. When he pushed against the door, however, he found it locked. He reared back a fist, set to launch the door off its hinges, but a click stopped him as it signaled the entry unlocking. Phillip quickly pushed open the door and strolled into the arena.

The room was covered from top to bottom in black metal panels with red highlights. About three-quarters up the walls were the windows used for the surrounding hallway, so anyone wanting could watch the fights in progress.

Phillip stepped towards the middle, only to stop halfway when he heard machines whirling behind him. He turned to it and watched as robotic arms sprung out from either side of the door and covered it with more black panels. More slide out from surrounding ones, making the place absolutely inescapable to anyone else.

Seeing that he wasted time, Phillip returned to his stride back to the middle of the room. Once there, he waited for his opponent to be ready. Luckily, it only took her a couple of minutes to enter the arena. Deciding to use his time for something other than just standing around, Phillip looked over at Fu Hua.

The tail of the outer blue parts of her qipao fluttered as she walked while acting as the top of her outfit. The white inner parts, however, were wrapped comfortably over her entire stomach and waist. Her blue eyes held a steely gaze as they peered out from behind red-framed glasses. Her brown leather boots made loud thuds as she grew closer to Phillip. To finish off her outfit, she wore navy leggings, hiding her pale skin.

"Remember," Himeko's voice pierced his thoughts, coming from the speakers just under the glass windows peering in. "This is a chance for us to see how strong you are. So, make sure neither of you are holding back and give absolutely everything you have."

Phillip scowled at this, knowing damn well his going all out would total vastly more than just this building. However, that didn't mean he couldn't put on a show, as he vented as much as he could with as little destruction as possible.

Phillip held out his left hand, fingertips diagonally towards the ceiling while tucking his right arm behind his back. Once Fu Hua stopped just before him, Phillip expected her to slip into her own stance. Instead, Hua gave a deep bow that threw him off.

"I hope this battle will remain clean and neither of us loses respect for the other."

Phillip dropped his stance at Hua's statement and returned her sentiment. "I hope for the same."

They stood from the bows and immediately settled into their stances, Phillip returning to the Iron Fist stance. Fu Hua brought her right up to her face with her fingers curled (index and middle fingers higher than the ring and pinky) while her forearm was tucked behind her. After a second moment, they ran forward to begin the fight.

11:35 am, with Himeko Murata,

"How are the first participants doing?"

Himeko peeled her eyes from the fight below to look over her shoulder. There, Theresa and the new aide, Yae Sakura, stood in wait for her answer. They must have already finished the preparation work for Sakura and had come to watch the training in progress.

Himeko twisted around and gave a salute to her superior. "The first session is underway with a fight. Granted, I don't understand why you want to put any Valkyrie against that monster."

Theresa walked up to the windows and crossed her arms over the windowsill to rest her chin. "Grandpa wanted us to take a careful look at what that group could do. I suggested some scenarios, but he thinks they wouldn't work on the strongest of them."

Himeko glanced slightly at Sakura and found her staring harshly at Mei, Kiana, and Bronya with a hand over her sword. "And what about our new friend here?"

Theresa looked over at Sakura as well with a bit of worry. "Well, she seems a little confused about many things, including the tech here, but she's doing fine. I brought her here to show how strong our Valkyries are."

"Well, as you can see, Phillip and Hua are at it right now," Himeko stated, pointing into the arena with her thumb. Sakura pulled her sights off of Mei and peered into the arena with curiosity as Himeko continued. "Who knew that, when he's not rampaging, someone can keep pace with him?"

"Hua is our best and brightest student," Theresa said with a bit of pride in her voice. "I'm not surprised that she's-"

"Why is he holding back?"

Himeko and Theresa shifted to focus on Sakura, unsure as to why the woman would say something like this. Sure, the boy wasn't destroying the place like the day prior, but Sakura should have known that after the two spoke about it only seconds prior.

"Why do you ask?" Himeko asked, intent on learning what the woman meant.

"I fought this boy before," Sakura admitted, watching the two fighters trade blows as she did. "During the apex of our battle, he utilized a rather odd technique that increased his power beyond anything else."

Himeko's eyes widened, and she turned to Theresa, who shared the same look, coupled with a hand covering her mouth. The following words out of Himeko's mouth summarized both's thoughts.

"We really do have a monster here."

Inside the simulator arena,

"Stop."

Phillip, rearing back a punch with enough power to match his opponent's strength, stopped short of throwing his attack forward and looked over at the windows. Similarly, Hua paused her spin kick, dropping her foot to the ground below, and waited for Himeko's next instruction.

"Hua-san, you've done your part. You may leave now." Hua bowed towards Himeko, respecting the request, before she turned and bowed to Phillip. After she stood back up, Hua retreated to her side, the panels splitting apart to reveal her door and allow her to escape.

"Phillip-san, with new circumstances, revealed to us, we need you to actually go full power."

Phillip narrowed his eyes at this and noted that Sakura was now standing down, her donkey-like ears matted down against her pink hair. A scowl graced his face, knowing what Himeko meant, and he proceeded to his own door.

"We can't let you leave," Himeko stated, the black panels shifting slightly at it.

"You can't stop me," Phillip snarled back, lightning encasing his arm as he moved toward where his door was. Before he could obliterate the obstacles in his path, Gabriel made his opinion known.

"Appease them." Phillip stopped suddenly, his body shaking from uncontained rage. "Look, I'll distract those two for you, but you don't need any more trouble coming from this organization. So, just appease their curiosity and get this over with."

Phillip breathed a sigh, the shaking subsiding at the promise, and the lightning dissipated. A couple of deep breaths later, he twisted on his heels and returned to the middle of the room.

"What do you want?"

Back to Himeko

"Get Mei and Kiana out of here."

The demand came to Himeko's head abruptly, causing a light headache in its wake. Luckily, she knew who that demand came from, so she simply followed through.

Handing her clipboard to Theresa, Himeko swam through the crowd of students to the three in question. Kiana seemed to have been enraptured by the previous battle and a little too excited for what was to come; Mei seemed slightly worried but far more confused than anything, while Bronya... was just as monotonous as expected, with a hint of intrigue in her eyes.

"Alright, you three," Himeko called, earning the three's attention. "You'll be going to the training grounds with Fu Hua-san and the others. Your assessment will be done there from the reports of Hu."

"What?!" Kiana screamed out, obviously not wanting to leave just yet. "Why do we need to leave now?! Phillip isn't done yet, he hasn't taken off his shirt yet, and I wanna try this place out too!"

Himeko swatted at the girl's head, landing the hit and producing a lump. "You're a Valkyrie now, not a kid. Follow my orders, or else we'll see how long it will take for you to get A-ranked."

Kiana pouted heavily at this but didn't state a word. Considering this a win considering the circumstances, Himeko directly the newly arrived Fu Hua on her directive. Fu Hua soon gathered the student Valkyries and herded them towards the training grounds, with Mei giving Phillip one last look before following along.

Himeko quickly retook her stance next to Theresa and reclaimed her clipboard. With everything in order, Himeko pulled the waist-strapped walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

Back with Phillip,

"Are you ready now?"

"Right," Phillip said, unzipping his jacket and shrugging it off. Knowing what he would do would ruin it, he also removed his shirt.

"... I mean, I don't mind the show, but is there a reason for this?"

"Shut up," Phillip grumbled, a light blush crossing his face at this. "What I'm about to do will cause some damage to any unarmored clothing, so I'm removing the clothes that could be damaged."

"So, I'm guessing the pants are armored then." A smack resounded from the speakers, followed by a couple of apologies. Phillip shook his head before preparing his body for the coming pain.

"I should tell you that you can only go to Gate 7. The 8th is sealed off for a more problematic point in time."

Phillip nodded and immediately opened the first gate, standing his hair on edge as chakra flooded his body. The power generated was enough to bend the flooring directly beneath him and produced a slight wind from his location. Not wasting time, he immediately jumped to the Kyumon, the second gate, as it did nothing more than healing his body somewhat from the effects.

"God, that's quite a jump," Himeko said, piercing through his perception despite it being overloaded by excruciating pain. "If given a percentage, how much stronger are you than before?"

"...20%," Phillip spat out, trying to keep his mind focused on the task at hand and away from the growing pain. Not waiting for a response, Phillip force-opened the third gate, increasing the dent he made in the floor.

Phillip knew the effects doing this had on his body, other than just sending even more torturous pain throughout his body. From the other's point of view, his skin should have changed into a bright crimson due to blood rushing around in his body and veins bulging out from the pressure.

"Wait, hold on."

Phillip ignored the concerned voice of Himeko and shifted into another stance against the pleas of his body. He spread his feet far out and squatted slightly with both hands, clenched into fists and raised to either side of his forehead. With this done, Phillip opened the fourth and fifth gates, causing his nose to bleed from the pressure.

There were some noises mixed behind the roaring flood of blood in his ears; some screams and yells, along with some thuds. It didn't matter. They wanted his current max, so they'll get it.

Phillip pushed open the sixth gate and, with more effort than he should have needed, struggled to open the final one he could at the moment. A blue aura emanated from his body, but this only lasted for only a couple of seconds due to Phillip collapsing from the agony. The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was the scampering of feet heading towards him.

6:45 pm, The Medical Bay of St. Freya,

"What made you think that was a smart idea?!"

Phillip's eyes snapped open upon hearing the angered voice of one Himeko Murata. He wanted to answer her, stating that he was simply giving what she asked, but no part of his body would move at his command. In fact, Phillip still couldn't even see where he was at this point, only knowing he was no longer in the room due to the soft mattress beneath him.

Luckily, someone else spoke for him.

"This was of your desire to know his potential. That was it and the cost that came with it."

"You mean tearing every muscle tissue in his body, blood boiling to the surface of his skin, and producing bone fractures is just the cost?! Why the hell would you let him learn something like this?!"

"Those panels of that room have extremely powerful sensors, don't they?" Gabriel sounded impressed by this before moving forward. "It was a powerful boost to his strength, especially if he finds himself in a situation where his life could be lost either way."

The rage in Himeko's voice seemed to hike at this. "You allowed him to learn a suicidal move so that he could martyr himself?!"

Phillip felt a sudden chill throughout his body. It became clear soon enough that it wasn't just him as several sets of teeth began chattering. Soon, the overwhelming presence of the angel swept over the place.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT I DESIRE, HUMAN, SO STOW YOUR OPINION BEFORE I WIPE YOUR STAIN OF AN EXISTENCE FROM ALL OF CREATION."

A moment of silence swept the place before the chill finally subsided. Once it disappeared, Gabriel stated the more hidden aspects of the gates. "Before learning the technique, Phillip was instilled with the understanding never to use it without good reasons. The likelihood of him using it here will be near 0%."

"Fine." Himeko sounded somewhat exasperated from the experience. "I'll drop it for now, but, I swear on my name, he will never find himself in any situation that requires him to use it."

"I doubt you'll be able to hold yourself to that promise... but I appreciate the thought."

Phillip blinked a couple of times and noticed his sight slowly returning to him, shifting from pure darkness to extremely blurry images of the medical area. With this, all talks ceased, and the angel's presence disappeared from the room. The color purple suddenly flooded his vision, swiftly changing into hair after some more blinks. Realization consumed him on exactly whose hair it was, resulting in him finally hearing the girl's cries.

"Phillip-kun!" Mei exclaimed in relief and worry. "Can you hear me?! Are you doing better?!" A mop of white hair soon zoomed to Mei's side, and the blue eyes of Kiana stared at Phillip with just as much concern as Mei did.

Phillip didn't like seeing those expressions on their faces, multiplied by his inability to comfort them due to his paralysis. Thus, beyond any recognition of self-preservation, Phillip tried to move his mouth to tell them he was fine. Unfortunately, doing so almost made him faint again from the pain caused by the effort.

"Easy there, tiger." Himeko walked past the front of the medical bed Phillip was in and stood to his left. "Your body is still tearing itself apart. Your 'guardian angel' says he'll heal you, but you'll still be stuck here for the day."

Mei shot the older woman a dirty look. "He wouldn't be here if you didn't insist on this."

"I'll admit to that," Himeko said, her right hand rubbing the back of her neck. "But I also didn't know how badly Phillip-kun would have been hurt from going all out. I was just running off of Yae Sakura's statement about him holding back."

Mei's expression darkened even more at the mention of the pink-haired woman. "That... How dare she-"

"Don't worry about it, Mei-senpai," Kiana said with a wide grin. "She won't do it again with me around. I'll beat her up if she tries."

"Sakura was the first to react when signs first started." Himeko shifted slightly when Kiana and Mei stared incredulously at her. "You can thank her that this kid is even alive at this point."

Phillip once again tried to speak and found the task was far less strenuous and painful than before. So, he decided to say the first words he could to Himeko.

"Thank... you..."

"Phillip-kun!" Mei got up from her chair and got close to his face, pressing her hands gingerly against his cheeks. However, the hiss he let out at the touch was enough for her to extract it. "Sorry. You're not burning up anymore, though. Do you need any water?"

Now that Mei mentioned it, Phillip did feel somewhat parched, but he wasn't going to risk more pain to appease it. Phillip tried to shake his head, but his body again refused to react. It seems that only his mouth was moveable at the moment, so he used it.

"No."

"O-okay." Mei seemed confused and slightly off-put by the denial but relented regardless. "Do you... want anything? For comfort?"

Himeko let out a snicker while Phillip tried his best to give Mei a flat gaze without a painful reaction from his body. Luckily, Himeko was willing enough to speak on his behalf.

"I doubt getting comfortable will be possible for him, in both meanings of that word." Both girls looked at Himeko with raised brows, so the redhead dropped the subject and moved to their side of the room. "Nevermind. Anyway, why don't you two head back to the apartment? Phillip-kun will need some rest to recover, and we need to review your training results."

Kiana stood up at this, a defiant look on her face. "Nuh-uh! I'm not leaving him again! You can't make me!"

"Don't be a brat," Himeko demanded, placing her left hand on her hip. "Your group has several months to get used to the campus before the next semester, but you also have a lot to study before you're up to speed. So, the faster Phillip-kun recovers, the faster he gets to study for everything he needs."

"We don't need to study," Kiana stated with a pout and crossed arms. "Besides, Phillip will get better faster with us here, especially me."

"Actually, Kiana-chan," Mei started as she stood from her chair, "I think it's best to do as Himeko-taichō asks of us." Mei gave a bow to Himeko before turning to Phillip. "Please get well soon, Phillip-kun." With this, Mei walked away and out of the room.

"... Fine. I'll go with Mei-senpai back to the dorm." Kiana quickly moved over to Phillip and planted a quick kiss on his forehead. Phillip held back a hiss of pain to not cause Kiana any alarm before she left. "You better get better quickly, or I'ma beat you up for worrying Mei-senpai and me." She ran for the door after this, intent on catching up to Mei.

This left a blushing Phillip and a smirking Himeko in the medical room.

"Aren't you just a lady killer?" Himeko chuckled when the blush grew on Phillip's face at her comment. "Well, I don't think Kiana is gonna drop this, especially since you broke that promise you made her in the principal's office."

"Didn't... promise...anything."

Himeko waved the statement off and began her exit. "I'll let you heal up. Next time, we'll need to talk about battlesuits." She ignored the confused look on Phillip's face and left the room.

With nothing left to do but ponder the implications of what Himeko meant, Phillip decided to strike up a conversation with his resident angel.

What did she mean by that?

"Honkai-enhanced exosuits," Gabriel explained with a little strain in his voice. "They empower their soldiers to battle the beasts."

Phillip's eyes narrowed at this, only for him to release the action when another surge of pain came from it. Damn it! Once it disappeared, Phillip got back down to business. These suits won't work with me, so why would they bother making me one?

"I've been helping them in creation. I've got a general idea on how to get you to harness Honkai energy and empower your chakra abilities with it."

Okay then. Any way for you to prevent Mei from sucking out chakra from me?

"Hey, I can't be Mr. Fix-it," Gabriel said in exasperation. "You'll either need to find that one on your own or wait until that event happens."

So, you can't help me, but you can dig me into a deeper hole. Phillip let out his resentment for his current situation with this.

"You don't need any more enemies. Two of those people will help you immensely later on, so don't throw away their friendship just yet."

Any more wise words you want me to know?

"Keep Sakura at arm's length."

Phillip's eyes did narrow this time with a dangerous glint to them.

"Crystal."

At Schicksal HQ,

"How was your first day, my dear Sakura?"

Otto had settled back into his office chair almost as soon as he arrived at headquarters. After handling what little business made itself known in his absence, he made sure to get into contact with his new agent in the school. Otto expected the woman would be warmly accepted but, to be sure, he called as soon as possible.

The woman-in-question looked at him from the holographic screen in confusion, obviously perplexed by the strange device in her hands called a phone. "Why are we speaking through a magic box? Are letters no longer efficient now?"

"It allows for more instantaneous communications," Otto explained before switching back to the original subject. "I'm assuming Theresa treated you with respect."

Sakura's eyes glossed over at the principal's name. "Yes. She's... like Kallen. Her smell is similar too, only... she's tainted."

Otto leaned back in his seat, remembering the circumstances involved in Theresa's birth. "She was one of my attempts at reviving Kallen, after all. Granted, she was infused with Vishnu cells to sustain her form, but she's the closest clone to Kallen I've made."

"...She's part Honkai Beast."

Otto nodded, confirming Sakura's relatively mild surprise at this revelation. "Yes, though this excludes the already prevalent Honkai genes already found in the Kaslana bloodline. Even Kallen had these during her life."

"I-I didn't realize..."

"It's alright, my dear Sakura," Otto said to comfort Sakura from the sudden shock of this revelation. "None of us knew what the Kaslana bloodline was capable of. We only found out about such revelations recently, thanks to technological advancements."

"I... see," Sakura said confusingly, clearly not understanding what all this meant. "To answer your first question, the first day has been going well prior to an incident during the student training."

"Oh? Please tell."

Sakura shifted uncomfortably at the request but gave the information regardless. "The boy, Phillip-san, I believe, was fighting another student when I noticed he wasn't fighting at full power. I mentioned it to the teacher there, Murata-san, and she demanded he show his full strength. The results were... disturbing, to say the least."

Otto leaned forward to his desk, pressing his elbows against his desk with his fingers laced over his mouth. "What happened? Did he go past project perimeters?"

"No, that wasn't the problem," Sakura said, a slight disgust leaking out at the man's interest in statistics over life. "Whatever power the boy used then, it decimated his body. If I didn't react as quickly as I did, he probably would have..."

"Don't worry about your target, Sakura," Otto said coldly. "During this, did you manage to grab any more samples from the boy?"

"... I did," Sakura said forcefully. She rummaged around and pulled a few hairs into the frame with her free hand. "I still don't understand your interest in the boy."

"His genes might give us a method to overcoming the Honkai," Otto explained. He didn't think this to be true, but it could be another lead to reviving Kallen. "If you manage to get more samples, try aiming for blood. It's far more potent than hair for experimentation."

"I'd rather not."

Otto shrugged at this, understanding where the woman was coming from. "I won't press you on it. Place the samples into the envelope provided and send them to me at your earliest convenience." Getting a nod from Sakura, Otto reached over to the button to end the call. "Then, I'll leave you the rest of the night. Make sure you learn and, for what it's worth, try to relax a little." With this done, he ended the call with a single press of a button.

With the final pieces of work finally wrapped up, Otto leaned back into his chair to think about the coming samples. The last few hairs proved fruitful in learning about the boy's catalyst and its effects on Honkai energy, but that was all he could gather before they burned out. Otto would need to attempt other experiments if he wanted to make as much progress as possible. After several minutes of contemplation, an idea popped into his head.

Pressing an index finger against the right chair arm, Otto called out. "Amber, do we have any remnants of the K series of experiments?"

"Unfortunately, Lord Otto, nothing remains after K-423. While we can still harvest the Kaslana DNA, the second Herrscher's body has long since decomposed."

Otto wanted to curse at this but held it back. It should have been evident that it wouldn't be easy to accomplish the goal of utilizing the catalyst for himself. He would probably need to take DNA directly from K-423 in order to create a new super soldier.

He was a patient man, however. K-423 wasn't needed back at HQ just yet. She needed even more precious bonds before Otto enacted his plan, though the boy had definitely sped up the process.

Thus, Otto could shelve the idea for now. The correct time would occur; he simply needed to wait for it.

A base hidden from the world,

"Damn that Einstein!"

Cocolia's scream resonated down the metallic walls of the laboratory as she slammed a fist against the walls. She just had her authority severely limited, assets stolen, and even her seat at the top of Anti-Entropy revoked. All thanks to the events that transpired at Nagazora.

Cocolia stormed down the hallway, the clang of her boots' heels reverberating across the place, and came to a stop in front of one of the doors. Pulling a key card from one of her pockets, she waved it over a scanner, which blinked green, and entered the entrance.

Inside, rows and rows of capsules stretched down the elongated and darkened room as a mist clung to the floor. Cocolia paid these no mind as she walked past, her goal at the back of the room. Once there, she found several much larger capsules standing vertically, each holding the exact same blue-haired male baby in them.

She moved to the closest one to her and punched a code into the keypad linked to the capsule. With a hiss, the top half of the front swung open slowly, raising to almost touch the ceiling. The bottom half also opened, laying like a ramp from the capsule.

The iridescent green liquid within it spilled out, and so too did the naked form of the pale, blue-haired man. He laid still on the ramp for a silent minute before gulping down air as much as possible. Once an acceptable amount of oxygen was consumed, the man rose to a kneeling position with both hands pressed against the glass and spun his head around in a panicked frenzy. Only after his eyes landed on Cocolia did he calm down slightly and speak.

"Who... am I?"

Well. this came out faster than I imagined.

I'm really not all that good at these end-of-story messages. I've seen people being able to make complete paragraphs on how thankful and appreciative they are for the support, or explaining what's happening in the story or how they made the chapter.

Me? I'm typing the story together, rereading what I've written to make sure I'm not making any continuity errors, and just trying to make the characters fit their personalities as best I can. It doesn't mean I'm less appreciative, but I'm not that good at expressing it.

With that said, I do thank everyone who is willing to read, follow, and even favorite this story in spite of the flaws. It means a lot to me.

I hope you all have a good day, and I'll see you in the next chapter.