May 3rd, South-Western End of St. Freya High, 2:45 pm,

"This... isn't good."

Phillip sat breathing heavily, leaning against a tree he found at the edge of his usual training route. An anvil, a recent purchase he made to increase his training, sat on its side at his left as he huffed and puffed out labored breaths.

April's and Bubbles' departure from the group had come swiftly. During her time, she helped watch over Yuna's progress for Phillip, helping her adjust to the dorm. Thanks to this, Phillip's schedule cleared up enough to allow him to continue his training between the study sessions and Mei's training. Once Bubbles had left, Yuna was adjusted well enough to the place that Phillip could leave her to her own devices.

As they moved into May, Yuna was released from house arrest and joined the now 18-year-old Mei in Himeko's special classes. With the two now off his schedule, Phillip focused solely on his eight gates training when he convinced Bronya to help Kiana further in her studies. He managed an entire week before something occurred.

Phillip clutched his chest as a surge of pain pulsed there. It had plagued him since the beginning of the day, making his training session much harder. It didn't help that he was in the Shomon state, where muscle tears became a regular occurrence. He barely managed to reach the end of the route, which led to this position.

'Gabriel,' Phillip whined internally, clutching his chest tightly as the pain suddenly increased. 'What's going on?'

"Besides the muscle fractures, you're very near to having a heart attack." The calmness in the angel's voice would have eased anyone else into the embrace of death itself. However, Phillip had more than enough years to resist this unintended charm.

'I can tell that! I want to know why I'm getting one!'

"That, I can't help you with."

Phillip groaned out loud, both from the pain and annoyance. If Gabriel said something like that, it usually meant that the angel did indeed know but wasn't willing to tell what it was. It was an annoying facet of Gabriel that Phillip wished would stop popping up so often.

"Look, I can help clear out everything," Gabriel stated, knowing what was on Phillip's mind. "Your body will still produce phantom pains, though; it comes with having extremely sensitive nerves. So, just return to the dorm, rest up, and get Kiana off my ass."

Phillip pushed himself to his feet, using the tree as support as he did so as the pain dwindled away. He sealed the anvil next to him away with one of the seals along his right arm. He headed towards the dorm, ignoring several more surges of pain that erupted across his chest. Only one thing was on his mind, something that took his focus off the fact that he was still shirtless.

What did Kiana do this time?

3:30 pm, Himeko's Apartment,

"What happened to you?"

Phillip glared heatedly up from the sofa, to which he unceremoniously flopped down once he returned to the dorm. Himeko, the one who asked the question, shrugged slightly and sat down at the seat next to his head while still looking at him expectedly, waiting for the answer.

Phillip's arrival at the dorm earned quite a bit of reception. Mei and Kiana had quickly raced to the bathroom to look for a medical kit, worried about the normally stoic Phillip appearing somewhat disheveled. Both Yuna and Bronya were still in their rooms, though Bronya was more than likely helping Yuna with the studies she would need to participate in the school.

"Nothing," Phillip breathed out in reply, twisting himself to be facing the ceiling above. "It's just training."

Himeko let out a hum at this, not entirely buying the excuse. "Normally, your training doesn't leave you huffing and puffing at the door. Either you're doing some over-the-top stuff, or you're hiding something."

Phillip groaned at this. "The other gates were just muscle straining, not muscle tearing. So, yeah, my other sessions achieved minor injuries in comparison."

"If you knew you had some big injuries, why didn't you go to the medical wing?"

"Because I don't," Phillip stated plainly, his breaths slowing down to a steadier rhythm. "Just phantom pains being a bitch and a half."

Himeko shook her head and stood up to leave just as Mei and Kiana came running into the room with a small white container with a red cross on top of it. "Well then, I'll leave you to your girlfriends. You three have fun." She quickly climbed the stairs, ignoring the attempted glare Phillip sent her way through the couch.

It didn't take long for Mei to relegate herself as a healer, quickly scanning over Phillip's bare chest with both eyes and hands to look for internal and external injuries. Meanwhile, Kiana stood off to the side with the medical kit open and ready for Mei's use, though the white-haired girl did her best to send indiscreet looks at Phillip at any point.

After several minutes of fruitless searching, Mei finally gave up and asked Kiana to return the medical kit. As the pouting Kaslana did as was asked, Mei rounded with a sharp look in her eyes. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Phillip replied, pulling himself up from his laid position and standing up. "I'm going to get a shirt and come back. There's something I need to speak to Kiana about."

He didn't wait for Mei's response and headed for the stairs at a speed that made him a flash to her. Phillip slowed down upon reaching his room, opened the door, and entered the bland room. A moment later, he came out with a dark red T-shirt and took a much slower pace returning to the living room.

Once he reached the bottom of the stairs, Phillip was greeted by the sight of a bashful Kiana, who pressed her index fingers together nervously while Mei gave the girl a stern stare. As Phillip got closer, Mei looked at him with the same expression, though he could tell it wasn't aimed at him.

"Kiana-chan would like to tell you something."

"That's fine," Phillip stated before turning to Kiana, who seemed to shrink at his gaze. "What do you need?"

Kiana quickly looked off to the side, a light blush crawling over her face as she muttered some inaudible words. Mei didn't seem enthused by the development, leveling another harsh stare at Kiana. It appeared to be effective enough as the blush on the younger girl's face deepened, but her voice grew louder.

"I... may have asked Gabriel to stop healing you for a sec."

Phillip blinked a couple of times at this revelation. It did settle what he wanted from the beginning, but now a different question developed as a result. "Why?"

"Well..." Kiana's embarrassment seemed to reach higher and higher as her prodding fingers switched to twirling around each other. "I kinda wanted to try nursing you. Ya know, like the stuff you see in anime and stuff like that."

"Okay, I think I get it," Phillip stated, looking at Mei. Mei had her hand over her eyes in exasperation at Kiana's statement, which enforced Phillip's decision. "Never do something like that again. I'm guessing you feel I should have a more open schedule to give you attention now, but that's no excuse. For all you know, I could have had something that required Gabriel's healing to keep me alive."

"I didn't mean for that!" Kiana was now defensive, finally looking him directly in the eye defiantly. "I didn't want you hurt, just sick! That way, we could do something couples would do!"

"And the dates aren't enough?"

Kiana pouted at this. "They were great at first, but it doesn't feel as fun anymore. I thought some roleplay would help spice things up, ya know?"

Phillip pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved out a loud sigh. He didn't know why Gabriel decided to listen to this girl; maybe the angel thought it was a good way of improving the two's relationship or something. Regardless, Kiana had a warped mindset about getting attention for whatever reason.

Phillip looked up and noticed Kiana was back to being bashful. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I won't do it again."

"No, you won't," Phillip cemented. "Along with the cooking classes, I'm going to put you through some maturity training from this point forward."

"What?! But I'm already mature!"

Phillip glared down at her, causing her to bite her tongue to stop talking. "A mature person would understand why a person can't always be at their side. Nor would they ask a divine power to cause that person sickness just for roleplaying."

Kiana got fired up with those words, looking at Phillip with an expression so pissed that it would cause a lesser man to burst into flames. "Oh, so I'm just a selfish little girl to you, huh?!"

"Nothing you've done thus far would convince me otherwise," Phillip stated, matching Kiana's glare with his own. "Everyone else here pulls their weight. Even Bronya got into the habit of dealing with some of the chores here. Meanwhile, you go hiding in bushes whenever chores get brought up, and all you do is complain about doing them when we force you into it."

Kiana clenched her fist hard, turning her knuckles white. For a silent minute, Phillip thought Kiana would try to hit him, to try and throw a punch at full strength at his face. Kiana spun on her heels the next minute and stormed towards and up the stairs. A few minutes later, a door slamming sounded throughout the dorm.

Phillip sighed, knowing he'll have to deal with that even if he wasn't wrong in his statements. Right now, however, Phillip felt the need to sleep, so he turned to Mei to tell her his plans. One look at her face, which stared at the stairs with worry, stopped him.

"You think I'm wrong, don't you?"

"No, that's not it," Mei explained, a sigh on her lips. "You made the right decision, but your method of expressing it is a bit... excessive." She looked him in the eyes, only to find Phillip's stoic expression, and released her breath. "Sorry. I'll go have a talk with her." With that, Mei ascended the stairs to achieve her task.

As Mei disappeared up the stairs, Phillip's irritation with the situation began to rise. Knowing it would be best to dispel the emotion before sleeping, he reached inward.

'Why the hell did you listen to her?!'

"I saw the likelihood of you two improving your bond, so I decided to allow it."

'And you didn't see any other timeline where that didn't happen?'

"Of course I did," Gabriel huffed as Phillip sat on the sofa. "I'm just doing it to take a chance with things."

'Next time, don't take damn chances!' Phillip replied angrily, slamming his head on the couch's arm. It wasn't enough to affect him or the sofa, but he couldn't care now.

"There will be other times when you'll improve your relationship, don't worry." The calm way the angel stated this almost unnerved and pissed Phillip off even more. "Though, I do suggest speaking to and possibly apologizing to her."

'Why should I apologize for being right?'

"Just because you were right doesn't mean you weren't rude. You also let negative emotions guide your actions, so you may have left Kiana with the impression that you simply hate her."

This took the wind out of Phillip's sails, causing a small pit in his stomach filled with guilt. 'I don't hate her. I was angry and in pain, but I don't hate her.'

"I'm not the one that needs to hear that," Gabriel stated.

Phillip rolled onto his side and closed his eyes in an attempt to ignore Gabriel. As he fell asleep, one final thought passed through his mind.

'I'll talk to her tomorrow.'

May 4th, 10:30 am, Saint Freya's entrance,

"Are you going to talk to her about it?"

Phillip didn't reply to Himeko's question, keeping his eyes on the three girls before them. Bronya walked in step with Mei as she had an animated talk with Kiana. As the six - Yuna hiding silently behind Phillip - grew ever closer to the site for their formal introduction to Saint Freya, Phillip contemplated the morning's less-than-stellar beginning.

Neither Phillip nor Kiana spoke to each other upon waking up and meeting in the kitchen, though not without Phillip's attempt. However, with each effort, Kiana dismissed them by turning away or speaking to whoever else was nearby as loudly as possible. By the time the group needed to leave, Phillip was set to grab the girl and pull her to some place isolated to deal with the issue, but he didn't need the girl screaming obscenities about the entire campus.

"Do you want my advice?"

"About as much as I did when you tried giving me advice for Mei's birthday," Phillip stated, glaring at the smirking redhead. "One of the worst things you could have suggested."

"Hey, girls like a little skinship too, and, at 18, she can now go full force."

"I'm not stripping naked and getting into a birthday cake just so you can have a laugh. Mei would have been comatose for a month at the very least."

"Yeah, but it would be a very happy coma," Himeko stated, the smirk not disappearing as the group reared the entrance of St. Freya. "Besides, Kiana thought it was a good idea."

"Yes, because she's just been the best place for ideas these days." Deciding to drop the conversation before any more snide comments exited his mouth, Phillip looked around and took note of a group of schoolgirls coming through the gates. "So, we're going to gather these girls and head back towards the training area?"

Himeko shrugged at this, glancing at the clipboard in her hands. "That's the clear goal. We'll introduce your group first, then head for the grounds."

"Sounds too simple," Phillip admitted, primarily to himself, and turned to Yuna. "Will you be alright with sticking with Himeko-san?" Yuki looked between him and Himeko, who looked back at her with a warm, motherly smile and gave a nod after a quick pause. With this settled, Phillip closed the gap between him and the other girls, who just stopped a few feet from the entrance.

"Kiana, we need to talk."

"Oh, look, Mei-senpai! That girl looks cute, doesn't she?" Kiana's volume shot up drastically upon Phillip's arrival as she pointed into the sea of students coming their way. Phillip's brow quickly narrowed as Mei let out a nervous laugh at that terribly handled situation.

"Um... Kiana-chan, I think Phillip-kun would like to talk with you."

Kiana didn't react immediately outside of a flinch that flashed through her features but turned to Bronya to save face. "Hey, Bratnya. I heard a new game's coming out, and I'm gonna get it. I bet I'll beat you in that game!"

"Kiana Idiotka, your attempt to evade conversing your issues with Subject Phillip is unsuccessful. Besides -" Bronya reached back to grab something from her backpack and pulled out a game container, "- Bronya already finished learning the combinations and movesets of all characters in Street Homu Brawl 4 last week."

"...What?!"

"Alright, I'm done with this." Phillip took Kiana by her left arm and pulled her towards him. Kiana looked back at him to object to the action but stopped upon seeing Phillip's stern gaze. "We need to talk, whether you like it or not." With this, the two disappeared in a flash of yellow light, leaving a three-pronged knife embedded into the ground where they stood.

The roof of the school building, several kilometers from the entrance.

"I have nothing to talk to you about."

Phillip leaned back into the roof bulkhead of the primary school building, staring at Kiana as she crossed her arms and looked off the side with a prominent pout on her face. This, Phillip felt, was necessary to ensure the girl didn't have anyone to escape to should the conversation turn for the worse.

"There's plenty for the two of us to talk about," Phillip insisted. "The current problem between the two of us, for example, is the best thing to talk about right now."

"What's there to talk about? You see me as a pest, that's all."

"That's not what I said," Phillip corrected, ignoring the flat way Kiana stated this. "I said you needed to mature, not that you were a pest."

"What's the difference?" This time, Phillip winched at the more depressed tone Kiana took. "I wanna go back to Mei-senpai. At least she likes me."

Phillip pushed himself off of the bulkhead and walked over to Kiana, who turned away from him as he did so. A sigh escaped his lips at the scene, so Phillip slid his arms around Kiana's stomach, causing the girl to freeze in his grasp.

"Kiana, I'm sorry if I made you feel neglected for the last few weeks," Phillip whispered softly in the girl's ear, earning him a shiver in response. "Once I'm done with my training, I'll spend some more time with you, but until then, I need you not to ask too much of me."

Silence reigned between them, and momentarily, Phillip thought Kiana was still angry at him. However, he heard a soft "okay" escape from her lips, causing him to release the hug. As he took some steps back, Kiana turned back around with a shine in her eyes.

"You have to do something for me, though."

Phillip nodded at this, suspecting something like this would occur if they managed to patch things up, with Kiana being the greedy person she was. "Alright, if I get it, I'll give it to you."

"You should be able to," Kiana replied, a little pep back in her step as she closed the distance between them. "I wanna kiss, but not those cheek kisses you gave me. I want a real one."

This... wasn't something Phillip planned on happening. When he opened his mouth to dismiss the request, or at least suggest Kiana to change it, Gabriel interjected. "I'll seal off your chakra, so it won't mingle with any rogue Honkai energy. Go ahead and kiss the girl."

'First, don't remind me of that song ever again,' Phillip chided the angel. 'Secondly, why do I feel like you've been instigating this event the entire time?'

"I confirm nothing."

Not wanting Kiana to notice his annoyance with the angel, Phillip responded to the request, though slightly more than a little nervous. "I'll do my best." He bent slightly and pressed his lips against Kiana's in hopes the action would satisfy the girl's desire.

After a couple of minutes passed, Phillip thought it was okay to break the kiss, straightening his back to pull away. However, before he could move too far, Kiana wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him back towards her, and opened her mouth for a more intimate kiss. The two stood there for several more minutes before they finally separated, Phillip coming out far more crimson than the smiling Kiana.

"L-Let's just get back to the others." Phillip cursed himself for the stutter, especially as Kiana's grin grew wider upon hearing it. He grabbed the girl's arm to teleport them back to the school entrance.

The two got there just as Himeko cleared up the introduction of Mei and Bronya to the rest of the class. Her face contorted in annoyance as the crowd shifted their attention away from her and towards the newcomers, but she did her best to save face by pushing through the crowd to address them.

"You two get over your lover's quarrel?" No answer was needed as Himeko's question was answered by Kiana's wide grin and Phillip's stoic-yet-sheepish expression. She turned around with a flat face (though Phillip swore there was a slight upturn to the corner of her lips) and addressed the other students. "Alright, fairies, these two are part of the four newbies that scraped by. Once their introduction is finished, we'll head off to the training grounds."

Once Himeko stood aside, Kiana stepped out from Phillip's side and grinned cockily at the other students. "I'm Kiana Kaslana. You may have heard of me as the most famous one of all."

Phillip slapped his hand onto his face, exasperated by the girl's arrogance and near bipolar personality. With his limited sight, he watched Mei perform a slower facepalm coupled with a sigh while Bronya stared blankly at Kiana. Himeko simply shook her head in disappointment with a frown on her face.

With a neglectful response from the audience, Kiana walked over to the other girls with her head held high and left Phillip to his own introduction. However, he didn't do so immediately. Instead, he looked over the crowd of girls with a sweeping glance of disinterest. With a grunt of disapproval, he opened his mouth to speak his name but stopped when he noticed a hand go up from the group.

"Question, Instructor Himeko."

The red-haired teacher raised a brow at the brown-haired girl. "What is it?"

"Isn't Saint Freya an all-girls school? Why is there a male student here?"

Himeko gave an expression of realization at this, then explained the situation. "I can understand why you'd believe that, considering males outside of specific families rarely have the resistance to be a warrior for Schicksal. However, Saint Freya is a school for anyone that wishes to join the battle against Honkai."

"It doesn't matter anyway," called another girl in the middle of the crowd, who looked at Phillip with a skeptical look. "He's not gonna match any of us. Heck, I bet the weakest of us could take him."

Phillip didn't let anyone respond, though Himeko seemed set on reprimanding the girl immediately. In an instant, he appeared in front of the girl without disturbing those around her, with two fingers touching the side of her neck. Everyone stiffened upon the boy's disappearance and reappearance while Himeko prepared for another school destruction happenstance.

"Best to keep your opinions in your head," Phillip said coldly, watching silently as the girl winched at his fingers pressing deeper into her skin. "Things might not go the way you hope."

"Y-You little-"

"Alright, you two. Break it up." At Himeko's request, Phillip pulled his hand from the girl's neck and moved towards Mei and Kiana at the same near-instant speed. After heaving a heavy sigh and making a mental note to talk to Theresa about this, Himeko continued with the schedule. "Alright, fairies, training starts today. You'll be graded for your performance from this point forward."

Phillip caught Kiana's mouth twitch as if to respond to the statement and clasped his hand over her mouth, just in time for Mei's hand to come in the same attempt. With the chatterbox of a Kaslana secured, the group of 4 watched silently as Himeko finished her speech to the other students. Once she finished, she began to walk back into the school with the students tailing behind her, with Phillip dropping his hand from Kiana's mouth.

"Try not to get on Himeko's bad side early on," Phillip advised as the four began the trek back into the school. "Regardless of whether you like it or not, she's the one judging your capabilities to see if you go up to a B-rank."

Kiana, however, didn't seem all that concerned about the suggestion. Instead, she touched her lips rather offhandedly before looking at Phillip.

"Why does your hand smell like cotton candy?"

"Reasons."

Kiana pouted at the answer, obviously not thrilled with her being ignored, but shifted into a more carefree stance after a few more feet. "Well, a normie like Aunt Himeko should be calling us 'fairies,' seeing as we've been on the battlefield before."

"That 'normie' has been the closest thing I've had to challenge here," Phillip admitted. "Besides, she's been on more battlefields than you have, so it might do you some good to listen to what she has to say."

"Yeah, well, you and I haven't fought before! Kaslanas are born fighters, after all."

Phillip stopped walking at that point and leveled a flat stare at Kiana, who looked confused at the sudden stop. After a full minute, he continued on his way but told Kiana a word of advice as he passed.

"Fighters aren't born. They're created by going through hell."

Some time later, on the eastern side of Saint Freya,

"Well, this isn't a planned party."

The students reached the training grounds uneventfully, with whispers of Phillip spread about the girls, but they were stopped upon seeing another group waiting for them. The Overseer, Otto Apocalypse, led them, followed closely by Theresa and Sakura. Two more took up the rear, but Phillip could only identify one of them: Rita Rossweisse. The other was a new face he couldn't see behind the rest.

Himeko stepped forward to meet the group, seeming unsettled by such a group. "So, what can I do for the party of our most honored guests?"

"Oh, we need nothing," Otto stated, stopping Theresa from responding and receiving a glare in return. "I simply wish to meet our up-and-coming Valkyries during their initiation. However, you three might have something to talk about." At this, Otto stood to the side to show Himeko a smiling Rita and his other guest.

"Ah, right," Himeko said nervously, stepping away from the students to address a seemingly problematic issue between the three. As she conversed with Rita, Otto stepped in between them and the students to begin a speech welcoming them there, but the students were too lost in conversation about the guests.

"Two S-ranks here?! And how does Miss Himeko know who they are?"

"Maybe they had the same teacher or something. Either way, Himeko-sensei doesn't seem all that enthused about the situation."

"Forget that; why's the Overseer here? Think he has his eye on someone here?"

"More like he's here to make sure the boy doesn't ruin it for the rest of us."

Phillip rolled his eyes at the incessant murmuring, finding the Overseer's intrusion more annoying than anything else. As Otto continued his rant about "bringing glory to Schicksal," Phillip noticed Sakura started to walk towards him. Once she was close enough, he saw a pair of long, foxlike ears coming from her shoulder.

"Who's your friend?" Phillip asked as soon as Sakura was close enough. She flinched slightly at the question before moving her shoulder just enough to show off a tiny humanoid being, small enough to fit in his palm. It seemed to realize what had happened, diving behind Sakura's back soon after, causing its whitish-pink hair and nine tails to flutter at the sudden movement, showing the red tips of the tails.

"She's, uh," Sakura stuttered, seemingly unsure how to explain the situation, all the while trying to bring the shy creature to the forefront. "It appears that what you did to the beast in our previous mission diminished its power and turned it into... this." Sakura reached behind herself and pulled the little creature before her so Phillip could see it correctly.

It seemed female, with a relatively small body compared to its bulbous head. Wearing a white kimono with red trim and black shorts, the creature seemed ready to cry at any moment. Phillip also noticed some red streaks in its bangs, a white and red rope tied around her thigh, and black shoes and red socks at the nubs of her legs that should be her feet.

Phillip continued looking over the creature for a solid minute before he returned his attention to Sakura. "Do you know what it is? Do you know her name?"

Sakura gave him a shrug in response, dropping her hold of the creature so it could return to its hiding place, though not without notice. "She called herself Higokumaru, though I don't believe it to be her true name. I can't tell her intentions either, as the beast was completely corrupted while this one is purer." Phillip nodded at this and opened his mouth to ask what information she obtained from the weeks with Higokumaru, but someone stopped him before he could.

"Could I pet it?"

Both Phillip and Sakura turned their heads to find Kiana getting slowly closer, as if not to startle something. A further look would show both Bronya and Mei being equally observant of the situation, though less involved than Kiana.

"I... suppose so." Sakura grabbed Higokumaru once more and brought her out front. Kiana slowly reached out and took Higokumaru from Sakura, holding her in one hand while lightly patting her head. This seemed to calm Higokumaru as the leaky eyes dried up, and a content smile appeared on her face.

"What a cutie~" Kiana cooed and looked up at Sakura. "What's her name?" Sakura told it to her, causing the Kaslana to scrunch her nose in disgust. "That's too long. Why not just Higo?"

Sakura seemed confused by the suggestion, unsure why the younger girl wanted to shorten the name. However, between Higokumaru's content stature and Kiana's puppy eyes, the older warrior submitted. "Very well, you may call her Higo, if you so wish."

Kiana gave a fist pump at her victory, rushed forward to plant a kiss on Phillip's cheek, and ran back to the other three to show off Higo to the rest. Phillip and Sakura looked at each other for a moment before both of them sighed.

"How is the other one?" Sakura asked, her eyes blinking over to Yuna Sato, who cautiously reached out her hand to scratch Higo behind her ears. "Has her curse stabilized?"

"She's fine. Once her training starts, I'm sure she'll be better."

Sakura shook her head and looked down at her feet in distress. "I'm not suitable to be a teacher to these girls. I instantly fell for the demon's trap when I was possessed."

"Yeah, well, Mei wasn't in perfect control either, and I doubt Yuna was simply immune to the effects." Phillip pulled his eyes from the group of four to watch Otto finish his oration. "Besides, you're the most experienced person in dealing with Herrscher's corruptions, which makes you the best."

"I understand that concept, but I have been sealed away for 500 years. That doesn't truly equate to experience to the subject."

"Look, it's best to just-"

Phillip's suggestion died down as a particularly loud girl (not Kiana, who was still enthralled with Higokumaru) blurted out a question to Otto. "Could we have a mock battle? You know, to see how strong S-ranks are?"

Otto looked down at the girl with a mixture of surprise and intrigue. "Well, if none of my guests are opposed -" Otto turned around and, from his expression, the two that were speaking with Himeko seemed okay with the idea - "then we'll have a bit of a practice spar. In fact, I have the best opponent for our lovely Durandal to fight." At the call of the name, the one that wasn't Rita walked up to Otto, and Phillip finally saw them for who they were.

Durandal was a beautiful young woman with flowing blonde hair and strawberry-hued tips, standing only 2 centimeters shorter than Himeko. Plated in white armor with blue cloth for a skirt that left her shoulders and thighs open, she stared across the students, most of which looked back in complete amazement. Black gloves covered her hands and led up to the middle of her upper arms while Phillip spotted fish-net thigh-high stockings through the white armored boots that reached her knees. The only other thing worth mentioning was the massive spear she carried around as a weapon.

Phillip was so ingrained in his analysis of the girl that he didn't notice everyone's landed on him, including Otto, who grinned mischievously at the boy. He only snapped out of it once the girl from before began bellowing at the Overseer.

"Seriously?! There's no way that boy is anywhere close to the legendary Durandal!"

"Then, this will be his inauguration," Otto said offhandedly, eyes sprinting between Durandal and Phillip. "As a Knight, he'll need to come close to an S-rank Valkyrie if he wishes to continue his presence here."

Phillip glared at Otto, causing Durandal to try and get between the two to defend the Overseer. It didn't work, as Phillip glared right over her head at Otto for a solid minute before sighing.

"Excellent! Now, Ms. Murata, would you mind guiding us towards the holographic training grounds instead."

10:50 am, at the simulator arena,

"I think I don't have to tell you what you're going up against."

Phillip sat silently in one of the prep rooms, awaiting the signal that Otto promised would sound once enough time had passed for the two combatants to be appropriately prepared. He was certain Durandal would be in the same state as he was, as neither seemed to need any prep time.

I'll be fighting someone that's roughly a mature Herrscher in terms of strength and durability, if not higher. There's not much room for error there.

"Right. So, where would you rate yourself then?"

I'm not beating her in terms of strength if that's what you mean. I should be faster, though - more agile - which will have to be enough.

A buzzer sounded throughout the room, and the door opened to allow Phillip to enter the arena. Durandal entered at the same time as he did, and the two met in the middle. As the two reached out to shake hands, Durandal decided to speak to him first.

"You seem to have a rather hostile relationship with the Overseer, despite the aids he's provided you and your friends."

"I have my reasons," Phillip replied bluntly. "Just as I'm sure you have yours for working with him." Durandal seemed put off by this statement and opened her mouth to reply, but Otto's voice boomed through the speaker to stop her.

"I'm certain you two know how to play this game. Just ensure the building is still standing by the end of the day."

With that simple statement, Otto's voice left, and Phillip immediately launched a punch at Durandal. She reacted quickly enough to launch her own, and the fists collided to begin the battle.

Welcome back to my story.

Sorry it took three weeks for this to come out. The new job has been a draining experience.

If you're wondering why I brought Bubbles in and took her out the next chapter, it was more to show something Phillip will utilize later more than the character herself, so don't hammer me for that.

Anyway, thank you for your viewership, I hope you enjoy it, and I'll see you with the next one.