March 2nd, 6:30 am,

"Himeko-sensei, get out!"

Phillip woke with a start at the piercing scream that resonated across the apartment. Calming himself once the words sunk in, he felt a body press itself against his left side. He knew that, if he turned his head, a mop of white hair would be waiting.

"Kiana, it's time to get up."

A muffled groan was his only answer before Kiana snuggled closer into him. With a shake of his head, Phillip glanced over at his door as if expecting someone to burst through. He gathered what had happened a few minutes ago from the voice that screamed out.

Mei is going to be unhappy today.

Himeko had gained an unfortunate habit of jumping into other people's beds without invitation. Normally, Phillip would be the main victim, but she has a particular spot that she liked that wasn't always available due to two other inhabitants. Thus, those other two were subjects to the same.

Kiana would have been visited if Mei had come by, which led to conflicted feelings of horny interest and disgust at the actions. On the other side, Mei would be visited should Kiana be around, which allowed for Himeko's rambunctious sleeping habits to go a little too far before the shy girl put the hammer down.

Phillip detangled himself from Kiana's limbs and stood up from the bed to get dressed. Once he was in the school uniform ( a white military jacket with brown gloves and black pants), he moved swiftly to the door and opened it.

In the hallway, Phillip watched as Himeko came thundering past him, once again wearing a white bedsheet add her only clothing. Once the red-headed commander was down the stairs, Phillip looked back down where she can from to see a flushed Mei, still wearing her dark nightgown, standing at her doorway.

Phillip cleared the distance between them quickly, worried about the girl. "Are you alright?"

Mei took several ragged breaths to clear her head. "I'm – fine. She just -." She gave a huff instead of completing her sentence, still embarrassed by the event.

"Bad habits are the hardest to beat," Phillip explained. He then stepped forward to envelop Mei in a hug to comfort her. She took it readily, sighing lightly as she placed her head on his shoulder.

The two parted after a silent moment, with Mei pushing herself away to end it. With a more controlled blush, Mei muttered, "I'm going to change," and retreated into her room. Phillip stayed long enough to watch her close her door before returning to his own room to awaken Kiana so they could have breakfast.

7:00 am, Dining Room,

The group rallied at the dining room table soon after Mei entered the kitchen to make breakfast. With a quick glance at those that accompanied him, Phillip found himself and Mei to be the only ones fully dressed. Kiana was in her standard nightwear, Bronya had a white nightdress with multiple bows, and Himeko decided to only put on a white button-up with the first three not fastened.

When Mei finished up (with satisfying quickness, in Phillip's opinion), they were each given a slice of tofu, a full salmon, a bowl of miso soup, and a bowl of white rice. They ate in respectful silence, though moans of pleasure that came from both Kiana and Himeko ruined the mood every once in a while.

With their stomachs full, the teenage girls went back upstairs to change as Himeko went to the fridge for a drink. Phillip, as he was already changed, immediately went to the door, where one of his clones waited.

"Morning," it said as it held out a simple black backpack. "This is yours."

Phillip nodded at this and took it away from the clone. His clones now had full control of the apartment now that Rita had been called back to HQ. As her departure seemed rather sudden, Phillip took the issue to Himeko, who said it was due to missions. He didn't buy the excuse completely, but he was grateful that he wasn't dealing with any more stalkers.

Bronya was the first to come back, wearing the same jacket and gloves combo as Phillip did. Instead of pants, she had a navy blue shirt and didn't both putting on any shoes due to her leg braces. She retrieved a large, yellow HOMU backpack from the clone and placed it in her back.

Kiana and Mei go there together. They had a version of the jacket that cut off at the midriff but still had the gloves. Mei had an inner red dress that reached her upper thigh, while Kiana's uniform had a dark mesh over her stomach that led to down shorts that had the same length as Mei's dress. They both put on their boots – black high heels that reached mid-thigh for Mei and long-legged combat boots for Kiana – before going to the clone for their bags.

"Remember," Himeko called, leaning into the support pillar between the entrance hallway and the living room, beer in hand. "This is your first exam since your enrollment in February. Do your best, and don't let me down."

"Ah, don't worry your head about it," Kiana with a wave of her hand, overconfidence exuding from her every pore. "You just sit tight and wait for the good news." With this, Kiana charged it off the front door, leaving behind the others and her bag.

Himeko shook her head in exasperation. "That girl is the one I worry about the most."

Phillip held his hand out to his clone, who dropped the yellow duffle bag that was Kiana's, and moved to follow Kiana. "We'll keep her in check. See you later."

7:20 am, On the way to class,

Once the group caught up with Kiana (to which Phillip handed her the duffle bag promptly), they traveled the remaining distance together. Upon reaching the classroom door, Kiana opened it quickly, slamming it as a means to draw attention to her entrance. A couple of students sent some glances her way, but most were too focused on either themselves or their notes to care. All of them, Phillip noticed, were wearing a copy of Kiana's uniform, with the only difference being a skirt instead of shorts.

With the wind thoroughly knocked out of her sails, Kiana begrudgingly continued into the room with the others right behind her. From there, the four split up: Phillip immediately sat down at a nearby desk while the girls went to speak to the classmates that knew them. Bronya, having dumped her items on the desk, somehow inflated her backpack into a seat, so she wouldn't stand for long as she conversed with the student body.

As soon as Phillip sat down, several girls gathered around him. Despite Kiana's statements about the two of them dating, that never stopped the Valkyries from trying to convince him to date them. Granted, it may not help that Kiana made several passes at the Valkyries and that Kiana also stated that Mei would be joining them.

"Look, I'm not interested in dealing with any more girls," Phillip told them clearly, already exhausted at the girls' insistence. "Kiana is more than enough in my book."

It didn't stop them from trying to convince him to date one of them. If anything, it made them more insistent, as some began talking over each other to show themselves as the superior option. It was only when a firm voice spoke clearly over them that the girls quieted down.

"Calm down and clear out. You're disturbing the other students." All the girls looked towards the back of the room, set on calling out the person that spoke over them, and found Fu Hua standing a few feet away, the midriff-cut version of the uniform's jacket over her usual qipao. Almost immediately, the girl gathered their items and dispersed.

Phillip breathed a sigh of relief and looked toward Hua. "Thanks for the help."

"Happy to do so," Hua replied as she settled down in the desk behind him. "You may wish to speak with Mei-san after this, though. She seems rather peeved."

Phillip dared a glance in the heiress' direction and noted her sending subtle glares at the girls that once surrounded him in between conversations. Another showed him that Kiana had also noticed and openly shot daggers at the girls.

Phillip brought a hand to his temple, feeling a headache coming. "I'll talk with them later."

Fu Hua gave a slight nod at this, her attention set on Kiana more than his words. He raised a brow at this, which she noticed almost immediately and decided to explain. "Kiana seems pretty overconfident about her chances with the exam. I fear she may treat it too lax and suffer consequences."

"Trust me, there's worse coming if Kiana messes around," Phillip stated. "She would have wasted both Mei's and my time with late-night study sessions."

Hua didn't react to this, instead standing from her seat and moving towards the three girls, probably intent on giving Kiana some helpful advice. Before she got far, she turned to him and held out her hand, which Phillip grabbed after a second of hesitation.

"May your practice grant you perfection for this trial."

"Right. See ya when all this is over."

March 4th, 7:20 am, in the Main School Building,

It took 2 days for the results of the trials to be compiled and plastered on a massive billboard in the entrance hallway of the school building. Kiana, Mei, and Bronya had immediately moved to it with barely restrained interest on their faces, along with the vast majority of the student body. Phillip, however, moved off to the side to wait for the girls, feeling the same as he did when the trials began.

The Valkyrie Trials were... boring, to say the least. They took a grand total of 5 written tests, covering 4 sciences along with history, of all things. Phillip felt he could have done all of it blindfolded if he didn't know he'd need to see the questions. It was unfortunate that he was placed away from the girls and given HQ-regulated teachers. Apparently, Knights had far stricter requirements to pass in compared to Valkyries.

After that

, Phillip traveled over to an outdoor training field where the Valkyries were fighting mechanized versions of Honkai Beasts as part of the physical portion of the Trials. When he asked one of the proctors on what he'll need to do, they scoffed and said he'd need "try and match one of the weaker Valkyries." Phillip blinked a few times in surprise and was affronted when they told him to leave so they could focus when he tried to get more information.

The sight of surprise on the proctor's face when he cleared the trial with a single punch and then asked when the warm-up would end was priceless to Phillip.

As Phillip leaned against the wall, he peered into the closest classroom to him and noticed Fu Hua sitting at one of the desks with a book in hand. He contemplated joining her, as simply standing around was making him extra bored in return, but a loud scream sounded out that stopped him.

Phillip immediately dived into the sea of students surrounding the announcement board, knowing exactly who screamed. He pushed and shoved in order to get to the front of them, and arrived to see Mei rubbing Kiana's back, who was bent down at the bottom of the board and covering whatever name was there.

"What happened?"

Bronya was the one to respond to his inquiry. "Kiana Idiotka barely passed her exam. Her overconfidence dictated Rank 1 was hers to take, but her reality crumbled when the truth was revealed."

Phillip gave deep sigh at this and shook his head. He knew this was coming – Kiana never was the best at studying – but he was hoping she'd keep herself from reacting too harshly. He stepped forward and pressed his left palm onto her should. Kiana jumped slightly at his touch and turned to him with a frightful look.

"Oh, h-hey! H-How are you doing? I'm just... um... covering up with poor sap!" Kiana let out a fake that fooled absolutely no one. "I mean, I wouldn't want to be caught being dead last, so..."

"Kiana." He said this as softly as possible, both to prevent people from hearing and to tell Kiana it was alright. It didn't convince Kiana, however, as she continued on with her rambling.

"I mean, I'm not dead last, how could I be? Nope, I'm still the best, after all! Ain't nobody-"

"Kiana!" This time, Phillip spoke firmer, stopping Kiana in her tracks with a flinch. She slowly dropped her hands to her knees, revealing her name underneath as she stared down at the floor. A brief moment of silence later, Kiana looked up at him, though not at his face, and, to his surprise, looked ready to burst into tears.

"I'm sorry."

"About what? Listen," Phillip leaned forward and cupped her cheeks, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Mei and I weren't trying to get you to the top. We were trying to get you to pass. So what if you weren't high up this time? We'll try harder next time."

Kiana still didn't seem convinced as she tried to look away despite the restraint. "But... you guys tried so hard already."

"And it was worth it, don't you think? So, as long as you are willing, Mei and I will continue to help you as much as we can." This seemed to put Kiana at ease, as she no longer struggled against Phillip's hold. As she calmed down, Phillip planted a kiss against her forehead, earning a little blush from the girl.

"While it is understandable to attempt calming Subject Kiana," Bronya called out, earning Phillip's attention. "May Bronya suggest moving to a more private area in the future to avoid... this."

Phillip noticed what she meant almost immediately. The surrounding students were gushing openly at the display, and some pulled out their phones in order to record the scene. Phillip's eye twitched at the scene, dropped his hands from Kiana, and stood tall.

"This isn't a circus! Clear out!" The students did as Phillip demanded, though there was a distinct lack of fear that irked him. Phillip watched them carefully as they left and, once he was certain no one was close by, turned around to off his hand to Kiana. "Come on, let's get out of here before they start crowding around again."

Kiana accepted the help with a giggle and, latching onto Phillip with a hug, walked towards the doorway with Mei and Bronya. Once they reached it, the doors opened to reveal one of many teachers.

"Ah, Kiana," Mr. Nokianvirtanen said, a brown-haired male teacher with glasses and wore a scruffy white button-up with the top buttons released to reveal a toned chest beneath. "There's something I need to talk to you about." His extremely loose tie fluttered as his hand delved into his shirt and pulled out a white piece of paper. "I've been told you'll need to retake your history test."

All positive energy left Kiana at that, pushing herself from Phillip to gawk at the teacher. "WHAT?!"

"Yep," the man said casually, tapping his white shoes enough to ruffle his tan dress pants. He turned the page to reveal test scores – more specifically, Kiana's. While she managed to – barely – pass the sciences, history was sitting at a whopping 0. Phillip didn't bother bringing a palm to his face at this as Kiana desperately, and vainly, tried to block the view of her scores.

Mr. Nokia, Phillip's nickname for the history teacher, continued as he kept the scores in plain view. "Madam Theresa was impressed that you passed all of the science exams, she demands that you retake history. Otherwise, you're never leaving support class. Her words, not mine."

Phillip reached forward and dragged Kiana back, pushing her into Mei's hands to address the problem. "How much time does she have to get prepared?"

5:30 pm, Dining Room,

"One week?"

The group surrounded the dining room table to eat dinner, everyone changing out of their uniforms into more casual clothing. Himeko, the one who asked, had just started on her rice bowl while Kiana had finished her portion and was eyeing the others'. Phillip and Mei hadn't started theirs, wanting to learn what they could from Himeko, while Bronya ate silently.

Himeko pointed her chopsticks, which had a bit of rice between them, at Kiana. "To think you could show me a new low in stupid, and I've dealt with a lot of morons. You're the biggest indicator of brain space being correlated to bust size."

"Bronya was in second place, though," Mei stated. "And Fu-san and Phillip-kun were tied at first."

Himeko gave her statement a wave of dismissal. "Details. What's really important is that, if Kiana doesn't pass this time around, she's gonna have hell to pay with Theresa. Whatever you three do, best you guys cram it in there tight." Himeko continued eating after that, leaving both Phillip and Mei to figure out their plan.

Shooting a glance to his right, he saw Kiana stewing over Himeko's words. He felt obligated to try and calm her down once more. "We'll get you through this as we did before. Don't about it."

"It's not that," Kiana stated sourly. She reached up and grabbed the lacy, low-hanging collar of her shirt and pulled it to look into it. "What did she mean about 'cup-size', huh? I'm not that small!"

Phillip gave a flat stare for a straight minute before sighing in exhaustion. "Of course. That's what you're concerned about." A tug at his jacket sleeve made him look over at his left to find Bronya, who finished her dinner. "What's wrong?"

Bronya leaned forward to whisper something. "Bronya may have a device to aid the scatter-brained Kiana Idiotka to learn history. Da Bronya used to prepare for this exam, and Bronya still managed to pass history despite it being her worst subject."

Phillip raised a brow at this. "And where did you get this from?"

"Da Bronya built it," Bronya explained. "As Bronya stated, history isn't her best subject."

Phillip gave a nod at this. "Alright. Where do you want to meet up at?"

"Da Bronya will meet you in Kiana Idiotka's bedroom tomorrow morning." With that, Bronya excused herself from the table to return to her room, leaving the dishes to be picked up by Phillip's clones. Phillip himself watched as the younger girl leave for a few minutes before looking back at Kiana, who opened and closed her shirt as if it will change what she saw.

"Well, Bronya, this thing better work."

Marth 5th, 8:30 am, Kiana's room,

"So, this war started in... 1351?"

"1451."

"I knew that! And... the main forces were... the snickerdoodle-"

"Schicksal."

"Well, duh! And the others were... snow-zone?"

"Shenzhou." Phillip dodged the book tossed at him by Kiana, who grew fed up with his corrections. "Throwing a tantrum will not remove that exam from your schedule. Let's keep at it for now."

"Why do they have to test us on history anyway?!" Kiana exclaimed as she leaned back and fell onto her back splayed out, sending several more textbooks flying into the air as a result. "At least with the science stuff, everything can explode and all. What's a name gonna do in the field?!"

"Wait, you passed chemistry, biology, and physics because you knew things exploded?" Kiana nodded at Phillip's question, which made him facepalm at it. "... Well, at least you passed, I guess. What about Geography?"

"I wandered before I got to Nagazora," Kiana admitted. "Back when Dad... never mind." Phillip looked over at her and found a rather sullen look on her face.

Phillip stood up from his position on Kiana's bed and took a couple of steps forward to sit beside her on the yellow rug. "What happened between you and your father? You always clam up when you speak about him?"

Kiana sat up with her legs crossed and hands on her ankles, wearing an even worse expression. "He ditched me. That's what happened. The day after I turn 12, and he runs off." She turned her head away from Phillip, but Phillip was still able to see a tear run down her cheek. "He just started to treat me like a person, too."

Phillip schooled his expression to hide the fury that rose in his heart. He sent out a message to his clones, letting them know what one of them needed to do.

Find Siegfried and deliver on our promise.

Phillip closed the connection quickly and spoke his mind. "Your father sounds like a dick, so don't worry too much about his opinion." He picked up one of the books that flew, all of which were now scattered about the floor. "For now, let's get you prepared."

"What's the point? I can't remember a thing about- Hey!"

Kiana's rant stopped suddenly as a blue helmet shaped like a Homu was played onto her head. The tail, made from a spring, swirled out from Kiana's forehead and the head looked backward from Kiana. This placed Kiana's head right in the helmet's stomach.

Kiana twirled around and found the culprit: Bronya in her white dress and a yellow Homu helmet, though this one faced forward with its wielder. "Bronya, why'd you put this on my head? Ya know I don't like Homu."

"This is a Homu-Homu virtual comm link," Bronya stated as she tugged the back legs of her helmet, causing the tail to split open to reveal a signal. She then leaned forward to grab a red one, looking off to the side with a vicious smile, and held it up to Phillip. "This one is for Subject Phillip"

"Cute." That was all Phillip said as he took the helmet and placed it on his head, the legs smacking against his cheek as he did. "How does this work?"

"Link start."

Neither Phillip nor Kiana had much time to react to these words before they both flopped onto their sides.

In Schicksal's database,

Phillip immediately found himself surrounded by an infinite-sized library, hallways going to and from the circular center he stood in without end and, upon looking up, found only a bright light bearing down on him. Several pillars sprung out from the walls to attach to the other side, making Phillip believe that whoever made this place had no interior design understanding.

"Wow." Phillip looked to his side and found Kiana, now dressed in her school uniform, gazing in awe at the library. "There's no way I read all of this."

"I don't you could even if you wanted to," Phillip stated, somehow knowing this was too much for a normal person to handle.

A voice suddenly boomed out from nowhere in a clear, loud tone. "O, lost girl. You are now gazing upon the Schicksal core database on the history of the Honkai!" Phillip looked around to find the voice and saw something flutter past Kiana's head. "Hear me, o lost girl by the name of Kiana Kaslana." It soon became clear who it was once the object grew closer.

It was Bronya, now dressed in a pink body suit that only covered her top half and massive bow on top. She had silver anklets and bracelets that were decorated with hearts, massive heart earrings, and hair bands that were the head and butt of a Homu for her pigtails. Her overly large wings seemed to be made of light, and her translucent skirt was made of string and raindrop accessories at the ends.

"I am Bronya, your tutorial fairy," Bronya stated as she grew to her original size and landed in front of them. "Obey Bronya as we embark on a quest to fight severe stupidity."

"Tutorial fairy?" Kiana questioned with a grimace. "And there's a monster called Severe Stupidity?"

"No, it's a disease," Phillip explained to her before rounding back to Bronya. "And I wouldn't call this severe stupidity, just selective."

Bronya nodded at this and turned around to face the closest set of books. "We shall start with the earliest records." Bronya reached up and tipped one of the books, causing the entire section to split open into a doorway that led to a blinding light.

Once the light subsided, they were in the middle of a village. There, the villagers were being attacked by Honkai-infected bears and wolves, similar in appearance to the ones Phillip fought. Some brave souls try to stand up to the attackers but, eventually, all of them were slaughtered.

Phillip didn't pay much to the history lesson Bronya was spewing: he knew it well. It made sense that humanity would want a means of fighting back if the attacks dated all the way back to 2717 BCE.

"Awesome!" Kiana exclaimed, growing more and more excited as she watched the action before her. "This blows Cretaceous Park out of the water!"

"This VR simulation was designed to show detail-accurate recreations of what happened," Bronya stated as the scene moved forwards. A young, black-haired girl, wearing an orange and red garb, decorated with intricate golden accessories and red and green jewels, stood atop a large tree and held out one arm to allow an eagle to land there. Phillip knew who she was almost instantly.

"Ji Xuanyuan."

"Correct," Bronya said monotonously, not at all impressed that Phillip knew the girl. "Also known as the Yellow Emperor, she was the first recorded person who fought against the Honkai. In the face of humanity's extinction, she managed to eradicate the Honkai-"

"-only to disappear immediately after, I know," Phillip stated as they watched Xuanyuan massacre the Honkai-infected animals, Kiana completely enraptured by the scene. "I read the books."

Soon, the fighting ended, causing Kiana to spin toward Bronya with clear intent. "Let me have a go! I could totally obliterate those beasts, just like her."

Bronya shook her head at this. "All you see here us are virtual data." Kiana pouted at this and vented her frustrations at a nearby pebble, shooting it away from them. Bronya pressed brought her hands to her head, pointed her index fingers, middle fingers, and thumbs out, and said, "System! Begin transfer to the next historic event."

From there, they moved to the era of knights and the European empire: the 14th century. They watched as Honkai Beasts reappeared with greater strength and numbers, but the original Schicksal organization fought back and, after capturing some, were finally able to start killing Honkai Beasts once they developed the first Honkai weapons of the era.

The scene changed once again, and they saw how Honkai responded: the "Black Death." As they walked down a decrepit street of the once bustling city, they watched men in black vodka and covered faces drag bodies of the infected across the streets. Some, wearing crow masks and black top hats, knocked on doors and demanded those indoors to bring out those that died.

"A manifestation of Honkai," Bronya started, not too bothered by the bodies that surrounded them, " the bubonic plague claimed 25 million lives in the first of six years."

Phillip looked at Kiana, hoping the lessons were sinking in, but Kiana seemed preoccupied with something else. Leaving the group with a short run, Kiana stopped a distance away in front of a large cross.

A large cross that looked suspiciously like the Oath of Judah.

Phillip cleared the distance almost instantly and stopped Kiana from touching it. "Don't. We don't know what it will do."

"I just wanna know why Aunty Theresa's cross is here," Kiana protested, trying to let her arm from Phillip.

"Oh, that's a very simple answer."

Phillip spun on his heels and launched a punch at the voice that came from behind him. It stopped me inches from the face of the Schicksal Overseer.

"What are you doing here?" Phillip demanded with a scowl.

"Now, now. Relax." Otto held his hand in the air, trying to diffuse the tension, as Bronya caught up. "I'm simply taking a trip down memory lane while providing my friend here a chance to see our history."

With this, Otto took a step to the side to reveal Yae, Sakura behind him, a couple of feet off. She seemed enamored by the architecture around her while also disgusted by the body disposal.

"She's still taking it all in," Otto explained as he stepped back into place. "I just had the idea of heading to a particular event of this time when I noticed your group. Isn't it too late for a history lesson?"

Kiana opened her mouth to say whatever obscene excuse she could cook up, but Bronya beat her to it. "Subject Kiana failed her history test. She must take remedials."

Otto raised a brow at this but, instead of a scolding that anyone else would have done, started chuckling.

"Yes, one of two curses of the Kaslana family are known for." Otto put his gaze on Kiana, who gulped at the attention. "Your forefathers were similarly susceptible to having knowledge go through one ear and out the other."

Suddenly, Otto took a sterner expression, causing Kiana to shrink back more. "However, keep in mind we must keep a level of competence within the racks. So, I expect much better results from the remedial. Am I understood?"

Kiana let out a squeak and nodded rapidly at the man. Otto seemed to relax at this and turned his head to Sakura, who was trying to peer into one of the houses.

"Come, Sakura-chan. We're moving on now." Sakura nearly jumped at Otto's call and rejoined him, sending a level glare at Phillip, who returned it.

"Now, about the Oath of Judah." Otto stepped past the group and touched the center of the cross. "It acts as a form of the firewall to several files of mine. As Sakura and I were heading this way, to begin with, and that young Miss Kaslana needs as much information as possible, I'll disable the House requirement and let you three inside."

"House requirement?" Phillip repeated with a raised brow.

"Only those born to the Three Houses – Shariac, Apocalypse, and Kaslana – would be able to enter this area." Otto pulled his hand off the cross, leaving a massive cross-shaped home in reality. Within, blue and white streams of data flowed toward them. Phillip shot Otto a threatening look, but the man ignored it. "Now, who would like to go first?"

Phillip held his arm out to stop Kiana from diving in, glaring down at Otto. "Why do you go? To make sure it's safe."

"Very well," Otto said with a shrug. "Be warned, however, that we may not arrive in the same area nor by the same means. Even I can't control how it ejects people." With that, Otto walked into the cross-shaped entrance, with Sakura hot on his trail.

Once the two had left, Phillip turned to Bronya. "Hurry up and change scenes."

Bronya shook her head and pointed towards the cross. Phillip turned his head just in time to see-

"Kiana!"

Phillip ran after the white-haired menace that jumped into the portal, diving in after her. After a couple of seconds of free-falling in dataspace, an exit appeared right below. Once they cleared it, the two found themselves several miles above a middle age town and falling fast.

Phillip immediately channeled wind chakra to his hands and thrust back, pushing himself far enough to collide with Kiana and pulling her next to him to hold. He then spun around and channeled chakra to his back to protect himself from the impact of the ground.

Several minutes passed, and the extremely hard impact Phillip was expecting never occurred. Instead, he felt two arms grab him at his knees and neck, stopping his collision. Considering the action caused the wind in his ears to cease, Phillip knew they were close to the ground.

Phillip opened his eyes and first found Kiana pressing herself against him, her head in his chest. He looked up to see his savior and found a woman cloaked in a black and white dress with short sleeves and a red tie. The most prominent details of the woman, however, were her snow-white hair and vibrant blue eyes.

"Are you two hurt?" The woman asked with worry in her voice.

"No, we're fine." Phillip slowly stepped out of the woman's grasp, who lowered her arms to make it easier. Kiana, as soon as she realized she was on solid ground again, released her hold on Phillip and moved to the side to face the woman, though she kept an arm around his waist regardless.

The woman took notice of this. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was I actually-"

"No, you weren't," Phillip stated firmly, shooting a glance at Kiana. She, rather reluctantly, took her arm back and pouted off to the side as Phillip addressed the woman. "Thank you for saving us, miss..."

"Oh, yes. Allow me to introduce myself." The woman raised both of her hands due to, as Phillip just realized, the chain that bound them together and extended the right one just slightly further.

"I'm Kallen Kaslana. And, you are?"

Alright, I think I'll cut it here for today.

Hope you all enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you next time.