[3rd POV]
Squad V mission on Guangzhou was proven lost in their last mission, however Chiyou has been stopped thanks to Kaito who completely destroyed its heart with the Xuanyan. And despite that Murata Himeko and Hasakawa Kaito have gone unconscious with Himeko in ICU being treated due to the amount of Honkai radiation. Kaito who tried to use Xuanyan, ended up unconscious due to the power of the sword being too much for his body to handle and currently resting in St. Freya pharmacy.
Right now Kiana, Alan, and Mei were having dinner but Kiana seemed different. She didn't even touch her food, while usually asking for another serving already, probably the fourth by that point. Seeing that only made Mei, Bronya, and Alan worry.
"Don't worry Kiana, I'm sure that Kaito and Himeko are alright." Alan assured her.
Mei who is looking at Kiana also felt the same sense if worry to Himeko but when she thought about Kaito's condition her mind went to the incident where she found Kaito unconscious with a weak vital sign in Guangzhou. She felt fear crawling on her heart when she realized his condition, but thankfully Hyperion medical team came in quick and treated him, yet the fear on her heart didn't wear off until now.
"Have faith Kiana-chan, St. Freya has lots of advanced medical technologies so i'm sure that they will be fine" Mei tried to assure Kiana, doing her best to hide her own fear.
*Creak!*
They heard the dorm's door open revealing Theresa standing.
"I have news for the three of you, the ICU just called me a minute ago... Major Himeko is...-"
Theresa's words made everyone go silent and the atmosphere around them became tense. They feared the worst scenario that could happen to Himeko.
"Is on her way to full recovery!!" Theresa's expression changed to a happy one and the three of them breathed out in relief hearing that.
"Ah! Principal Theresa, what about Kaito ? Is he ok ?" Mei asked Theresa with a hint of worry.
"He is alright and currently resting, I just checked on him a few moments ago so don't worry Mei" Theresa's words calmed Mei.
"Thank goodness" Mei sighed in relief, like all of her worry just melted away.
"In the meantime let us celebrate with this bitter melon juice." Theresa grabbed a glass bottle of the juice making Alan and Mei let out an awkward smile and so did Bronya in her expressionless face, yet Kiana still sat in silence while looking down.
"Try it!" Theresa offered the juice towards the three.
"I think I will have to pass on that" Alan politely declined Theresa's offer.
"The Bronya will drink it!" Bronya said, taking the bottle and chugging it.
Theresa looked at Kiana who just remained silent, she walked to her, tugging her on the side.
"Kiana ?" Kiana looked away, making Theresa confused.
Then she spoke up,
"It's because of me that Himeko and Kaito are like this, it is because of my carelessness that Himeko almost died." Kiana sadly said.
"It's alright Kiana, all you need is just to train more" Theresa said to her
"I promised my old man to protect everything that I hold dear and yet I almost let Himeko and Kaito near the edge of death" Kiana continued.
Alan looked at Kiana with a little sorrow on his face, same as Mei and Bronya did.
He walked towards Kiana and landed his hand on her shoulder.
"What Principal said is right Kiana, you just need to train more in order to be stronger to protect your loved ones" He said.
"But... Will I be able to do that even if I train harder ?" Kiana said, showing a little pessimism.
"Of course you will, what kind of question is that? It in fact, this reminds me of what Kaito used to say, 'Without strength you cannot protect everything' "Alan said, earning a snicker from Kiana.
"Haha... Did Kaito really say that ?" Kiana asked again.
"Yeah he does and don't ask about the details because I almost got stabbed by Yamato when he said that" And again his words makes Kiana let out a snicker.
"Kaito really has some interesting motives to keep moving forward, I see," Mei chimed.
"Yeah, and until this day he still holds on to that word, it's for that sole reason he always trains harder to sharpen his skill and instinct" Alan continued.
"So Kiana, what do you say ?" Theresa asked the girl in front of her.
"Aunt Theresa, I don't want to mess up anymore," Kiana said with determination.
"Good! Then prepare for hellish training!"
[Timeskip]
Theresa and Alan stood inside the training room comms as they saw Kiana who wore the 'White Comet' battlesuit, examining it.
"Alan !!! how do I look ?!" Kiana asked.
Alan gave her a thumbs up as an approval and Kiana smiled brightly as a response.
"You know Theresa... Doesn't that suit feel a little tight for her ?" Alan asked the short woman.
"No, it looks perfect for her," Theresa said.
Theresa took a hold of the mic in front of her,
"Alright Kiana, that suit that you are wearing is a 3rd generation Valkyrie suit issued to B-ranks. It is not usually given to trainees like you because even A-ranks need at least 3 months to master it properly! That is why mastering that suit will prove you to be stronger"
"But three months is too long! I need to get stronger fast!" Kiana exclaimed.
"And that is why I brought you here, this machine will scan your memories of the battles that you fought before and thus recreate it as a Virtual opponent" Theresa explained and pressed the button on the comms room desk.
A hologram started to appear as it resembled a Miko that Alan and Kiana were very familiar with, it's the Miko that Kaito fought when they were in Nagazora.
"Wait... Isn't that the Miko that Kaito fought ?" Kiana said looking at the Holographic Miko.
"No doubt!" Alan replied.
All of a sudden Kiana got tied by a chain, Theresa who gazed at the scenery immediately shook her head.
"Oya, Principal, remembering something nice ?" Alan teased.
"WHA- I don't know what you mean ?" She regained her senses.
"As expected..." Alan sighed.
[A/N : I forgot to write where Kaito and co met Yae Sakura, so... Just pretend that i did it off cam/ they already fought her]
[Dorms, Mei's POV]
Bronya and I were playing games, with her defeating me over twentytimes, as I was losing confidence on defeating her, I panicked on pressing all the attack buttons to defeat her and yet it proved to be no use.
"It's no use... I always lose...." I murmured sadly.
Bronya-chan pressed a button on my controller, causing my character to release a technique that caught Bronya's character, ending up with me winning the game.
I felt a mixture of joy and victory seeing that until Bronya –chan spoke up.
"Mei-neesama can The Bronya ask something ?"
"Go ahead Bronya-chan." I said.
"When Principal Theresa spoke of Himeko's condition, Mei-neesama immediately asked about Kaito-nii's condition with fear and from that the Bronya wonders...."
I looked at Bronya-chan with curiosity.
"Does Mei-nee sama have feelings towards Kaito-nii ?"
.....
.....
"Eh ?"
"Eeeeehhhhhh!!!!!!" I felt my face heated up.
"Wha- What are you talking about Bronya-chan, I said that because I was worried about him a lot since... His condition was bad... So... It's normal for me to say that..." I uncontrollably said.
"Hmmm ? But-"
*Knock* *Knock*
I heard our dorm's door being knocked.
"Ah... Let me get it" I stood up, breathing in and out to calm myself down due to Bronya's question just now. I opened the door and was greeted by a person wearing a cloak.
"Sorry for disturbing you at this late hour. I am miss Theresa's new admin officer. She's looking for you Raiden-san." The person said.
I looked at the person with suspicion.
"The Bronya will also come" I looked at Bronya-chan who already stood up.
"My apologies Ms. Zaychik but only Raiden-san was called." The person said again.
"Then The Bronya shall call Principal Theresa to make sure" She said again.
Then something happened. The Cloaked person held me and did something to me and I felt my consciousness slowly slipping away.
[Alan's POV]
Kiana has already taken down some of the enemies and it looks like she is beginning to adapt with the battlesuit. I felt a vibration in my pockets, coming from my phone.
"Principal Theresa, sorry but someone is calling me" I said.
"Ah! Go ahead Alan" Theresa said and looked back at Kiana.
I left the training room and answered the call.
"What is it, Bronya ?" I put my phone near my right ear.
"Alan-nii, there's...... someone..... that..... Att- UGH!!" Bronya voice cutted.
"This Bunny is more vigilant than I thought" I heard another voice and judging from the tone it's not a good one.
"Bronya! Bronya!! Can you hear me!! Answer me! Bronya!!!" The call cut off and I bolted back to the dorm.
Crap! I left the Rebellion in my room. If I can run quickly towards my dorm before the worst scenario happens, I can save Bronya and Mei!
I fasten my pace in hopes that Mei and Bronya would last.
[Kaito's POV]
I woke up with my body feeling exhausted. I remembered, I was fighting the dark version of Ji Xuanyan and ended Chiyou's terror..... but it eventually knocked me unconscious due to the mind limit and the Xuanyan's sword power.
"Where am i..." I looked around, guessing that this is the St.Freya medical room. The Hyperion crew must've found me, Yamato was leaned against the wall next to me and that is a good sign, I thought I lost it earlier.
I sat down on the edge of the bed, glancing out the window. It was night, a headache proved my mind was still tired from the effects of using Xuanyan.
"this is the price of using that sword and crossing my limits" I said.
Suddenly, I heard an explosion, my eyes catching a glimpse of a light near a specific place.
That place.... It can't be...
I immediately stood up from the bed, still feeling the tingling pain in my body.
"Ugh!!!" I ignored it and immediately grabbed the Yamato and walked out trying my best to run.
"I hope I'm not late when I get there..."
[Alan's POV, Dorm]
I backflipped away from the mysterious dude earlier that almost took down Bronya, throwing the Rebellion towards him like a boomerang after Bronya tossed it to me before she fell unconscious. The mysterious dude kicked the Rebellion away towards me but I immediately caught it and lunged myself towards him.
"EEEYAAH!!"
I pointed the Rebellion forward but again he dodged my attack and sent out a blue energy ball that I immediately slashed to half with Rebellion.
From behind came Fu Hua our class prez landed a kick on him but again, her attacks were blocked.
"Is that all you got ?" He taunted.
With his attention from me gone, I immediately jumped and smashed the Rebellion towards him, jumping away and looking at me with a taunting smile he spoke.
"Too bad, that won't hurt me, you know,"
"You got a pretty annoying mouth if I must say" I mocked him.
"But still, relying on that weird power of yours and shielding any attacks feels like a cowardly style if you ask me" I slashed him but again a shield appeared forcing my attack to come to a halt.
He pushed me back and floated up along with Mei.
Fu Hua quickly took action, her fist gleamed and created a massive blow of punches towards the mysterious dude shield. The dude smirked and pushed Fu Hua away with force making her tumble towards the ground and hitting the wall debris.
"Know this you worthless Valk, i'm the first Herrscher that ever existed in this world" He said again.
"First Herrscher ? I see. So Cocolia sent you here to steal Mei so that she could become a Herrscher again and save Seele..." I said with a smirk.
"As expected from Alan Sylvester, but still I will make sure that this will be your resting place." He extended his palm and was about to shoot another energy ball, I ran forward dodging left and right before attacking him repeatedly. Again he strafed to the side dodging my attack as I quickly followed him and clashed my sword with his shield.
"Still shielding eh ? Come on dude why don't you attack me for once..."
This dude, all that he does is shield my attacks and not show any sign of fighting back.
"Oh! Then don't cry if you get injured badly!!" He blasted a bunch of energy balls which I easily dodged.
"Now this is what I wanted!" I grabbed my other pistol and fired it towards him.
He swiped my bullets away, as I continued assault repeatedly, until he eventually released a shockwave that threw me back a bit. He extended his palm and fired a beam of energy towards me, I slashed it down vertically, then went for an upper slash but his shield was still there to block it.
He did a pushing motion with his hand again, releasing a small shockwave that made me back away.
"No matter how long you attack me, it just proves to be useless!" He mocked me but he forgot one thing.
"Haha... Hahahaha..." I laughed.
"What's so funny ?" He said in confusion.
"You really talk big than me but aren't you forgetting something" I said.
He looked confused for a moment, I pointed to my right with my thumb, the realization quickly hit him as he looked to his right and saw that Mei was already gone.
"What the-?!"
Fu Hua landed away,carrying the unconscious Mei.
"You divert your attention completely, so much so you forgot that there is still another enemy that can attack you anytime," Fu Hua said.
"Looks like your big mouth was meant to make up for your small brain." his face became bitter, and for me?
"Tch! You little...."
"Hope you learned your lesson to be aware of your surroundings next time." Fu Hua said again.
"Alright Class prez, get Mei out of here and in the meantime I will deal with this idiot" I said pointing Rebellion towards the dude.
Class prez immediately jumped away carrying Mei to safety.
"Do you think I will let you go away that easily!" he interrupted, the ground around us shaking.
My body immediately felt heavy, forcing me to kneel on the ground, Class Prez followed as blood leaked from her lips due to the sudden pull. Looking at the bastard now, his face had a tattoo on it. I tried my best to get up but it was proven to be useless.
'This guy really used his full power huh ?'
"I don't like a tiny Valk like you lecturing me. I was going to spare Raiden Ryoma's little girl but because of you two, I've decided to just rip her Herrscher core out by force!" small sharp pointed stones floats around him, all of them raining on me and Class prez at once!
Class Prez quickly stood on top of Mei using her body as a shield for her and for my case, I just covered my face and prepared for the worst, since I cannot move anywhere due to the high gravity.
I didn't feel anything hitting me, so I lowered my palm to see Class prez with her blood on her body and some wounds that were not too fatal or bad.
"Hmph... Hahaha....." I heard a laugh.
It's coming from Mei, no it was her Herrscher persona, coldly applying Fu Hua's blood as lipstick as she looked at that bastard that almost killed the three of us.
"This pathetic human shed blood to protect my cowardly host. So I will have to paint this whole place with the scumbag's as a reward." She said.
"Hey brat! You're talking about me ?" That dude said.
The herrscher glanced at her chest, it was surely because of the failsafe that Himeko-sensei planted on Mei's request.
"Tch! Damned failsafe. Looks like five minutes is all I get, but not to worry, it is more than enough time for me to shed your blood." She smirked.
The Mysterious dude's hand gleamed, signifying he'd try to fire a beam of light towards Mei. I tried to get up and stop him but I fell back to the ground instantly. Even though the Gravity was gone by now, my body still felt weak from the crushing force it underwent.
My eyes caught a glimpse of a shadow passing me and attacked the mysterious dude. The person did something fast that almost made the mysterious dude flinch for a moment and backed away. The person who attacked the mysterious dude landed in front of me and Mei, and lo and behold it is Kaito.
"Kaito ?! What are you doing here ?! Your body is still weak to fight!!" I said to him,
"Move aside human! I will deal with that scumbag myself" Mei said.
"No! You won't be doing anything!" Kaito yelled.
"I will be handling him, and in the meantime just stay!" He looked back towards us with a serious glance, pushing with his aching limbs.
"Oh, so eager to face your death, I see" The idiot dude spoke again. Shoot, If I didn't end up like this I would've definitely shred that dude to pieces with Rebellion.
Kaito didn't react, merely standing up and readying an attack stance with Yamato.
"Fine! I will make you into an example of what happens if you are dealing with me!!" The mysterious dude's eyes glowed brightly and he projected a massive energy ball towards him.
Kaito dashed forward at him, maintaining his balance as he performed a rapid slash to the mysterious dude, again, the dude uses his old trick of quickly wiping his arm, creating a small shockwave. Kaito got pushed back but quickly regained balance as he executed a kicking motion.
The dude blocked Kaito's feet with his forearm, but Kaito quickly reciprocated by spinning himself so that he landed to the ground and slashed the Yamato upward, eventually landing a cut wound on the dude's face.
"Gah!!!" He held his face in an almost terrified manner, blood spilling out from the wound.
"Weak!" I heard Kaito mock him as he swiped Yamato to clean it from blood.
"You.... You brat hurt me!!!! You dare hurt me!!!!" He yelled, a strong aura coming from him.
His arm glowed brightly as he dashed towards Kaito.
Kaito moved to the side but the dude blinked to his side and kicked him away.
"Ugh!" Kaito stumbled to the ground but quickly regained balance as he kneeled.
He looked up and the mysterious dude who flew towards him at full speed created a strong energy ball that he planned to slam down Kaito. Kaito quickly used the Yamato, intending to parry, but ending up merely holding him off from attacking him.
"Egghhh..." Kaito grunted, trying his best to stand still.
"Haha....." The mysterious person laughed a little as he crushed the energy ball forcing Kaito to stagger, he grabbed Kaito by the neck and floated a little high from the ground.
"Khhghhh!!" Kaito tried to breath as he held the mysterious dude arm.
"Your fate ends here!!" He threw Kaito hard to the dirt and sent a barrage of projectiles towards him.
"Kaito!!!!" I swear I heard a gasp from Mei, or rather the herrscher.
"Heh! That is what you get if you try hurting me!" he arrogantly gloated.
"And now... I will take care of you both" He said and pointed his arm to both of us.
"You..." I reached for my gun and aimed to make this son of a bitch eat lead until....
"gGah!" A blue spectral sword hits him in the shoulder.
"What?!" I said in shock.
"Oh..." Mei said, a little amused.
"Ughhh....!!" The dude who groaned in pain looked to his back and I saw Kaito walking slowly, his eyes glowed bright blue and a matching aura enveloped around him as he slowly walked towards the mysterious dude with a cold look.
"You.... After... That barrage of attack... How can you still live?!!"
"I honestly don't know but thanks to that.... I can use my newly found power, to defeat you!!"
I see Kaito fired his spectral blades more and more to him as he walks near, the dude managed to blocked some but the rest, he got hit by it.
"Ughhhh!!!"
"One word of advice," Kaito pointed Yamato to him.
"Never underestimate your opponent!" He said coldly, bolting forward with incredible speed and struck the mysterious dude.
Kaito projected two spectral swords that floated next to both of his sides and launched towards the mysterious dude. How did he do that ?
The mysterious dude quickly blasted his own energy balls and fired them towards Kaito's spectral swords that eventually created a smoke screen.
Then comes Kaito from the smoke rushing towards him, the mysterious dude quickly projects a shield on himself
The mysterious dude who was stronger before now acted helpless as Kaito showed no sign of fatigue with his attack, growing faster and faster until he slashed Yamato upward releasing the grip so that it spun up to the sky.
His right hand moved back and did a grabbing motion then followed by a powerful energy surrounding his hand making another spectral sword, one that was different from the ones that he used to launch towards him earlier. It's bigger and really resembles a long sword.
"Go to hell!!" He slashed up and down rapidly creating a wave of cuts that hit its shield with bigger force, when the fifth cut hit it broke down the mysterious person's shield and came forth the last cut, cutting his right arm off.
"Gaaahhhh!!!!" He screamed in pain as blood poured out from his right arm.
"You!!!!" The mysterious dude fired a beam of light with his left hand towards Kaito but Kaito drew the spectral sword to the front and circled it blocking the beam from hitting him.
"Impossible..." I said in utter amazement and shock.
Kaito then throws the spectral sword onto him and it hits it right on its chest.
"AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" He screamed loudly in pain.
"You're done now!" Kaito was about to land the final blow with Yamato but the mysterious person smashed his hand towards the ground creating a shockwave and a wall of smoke.
When the smoke cleared it revealed that he is no longer there and what remains is just Kaito's Spectral sword.
Kaito then coughed and kneeled down.
"Where did he go ?" I heard Mei Herrscher's talked.
"Probably ran away like a coward," I said.
"Hmph! This boy managed to take all the fun for himself" She sounded annoyed.
"He really likes that." I slowly stood up.
"it is his habit since we were still kids" I continued talking and use Rebellion to balanced myself.
"But there is one thing that really bothers me." She said again.
"Huh ?" I looked at her.
"That boy, it seems that he is my host's weakness" I heard her say.
"Weakness ?" I was confused about why Herrscher said that.
"Indeed, whenever he got hurt, I could almost feel my host's sadness and pain with me. And her happiness when she is around him. My host was a shy and weak girl and her so called friends only got close to her because they went after the Raiden fame. But him? He is different, the first time he saw my host, he took her in as a friend, not like the others. He comforts my host whenever she felt sad, he protects my host from those people and even brought new friends to my host's life"
" I see..." I said in understatement. Now I get why Mei cares about Kaito so much. That dude really made a massive impact on her life, she must see Kaito as a person she admires.
"I have to end our chat here since the failsafe is about to go off, in the meantime protect my host and send my regards to him" The Herrscher spoke as she closed her eyes. Mei's body began to fall but I immediately caught It and gently laid her onto the ground.
"Gahhh!!!" I felt a stinging pain on my body. Crap! I forgot that i'm in a bad condition due to that bastard gravity thingy.
Before carrying Mei, i grabbed Rebellion and put it on my back and next i approached, who was panting heavily.
"You alright ? That sweet new power must've taken a massive toll on your body" I asked him.
"It must be" he said and I helped him get up.
"Mei Senpai!!! Kaito!!! Everyone!!!" And the Tuna arrived late.
Kiana, who had just arrived, immediately looked around to see Class prez, Mei laying on the ground and Kaito who in a weak state relied on me to get up.
"Kaito ?!! How are you here ?!! And what's going on ?!" She asked in surprise.
"I will explain later Kiana and for now let's help the others get to safety" I said and she nodded with a smile.
We helped everyone and took them to the infirmary to get them treated.
[3rd POV]
The mysterious figure earlier ran away in a rush.
"Dammit! I can't die here!! I need to have my revenge on that brat!" He said while running until he stumbled on another person.
'Ouch!!" The person that he stumbled upon was none other than Welt Yang.
Welt looked at him,
"What the hell ?" He said.
"Who are you ?" The mysterious figure asked Welt.
"I'm a teacher of this school and I am supposed to ask that to you" Welt said.
"Alright Mr. Teach, I hate to do this but I have to make sure that I didn't leave any witnesses behind" he projects a small energy ball but his progress gets stopped by a voice.
"Mr. Yang" A voice called and when he turned around there's a blue haired girl walking towards them.
Looking at the girl, he sighed in relief.
"Oh, Einstein, I'm glad to see you here. Can you send me back to HQ after I get rid of this guy?" he said.
"Don't worry I got this" Welt said as he grabbed the person's shoulder.
"What are you ?!"
"This won't hurt" he said, as a blue black hole that grew from a mere point to a human size appeared, it eventually sucked him in completely.
"You cannot escape from light itself at 10.000G" Welt said after the black hole disappeared and left a small crater behind.
"And there will be nothing to clean up." He said again.
He let out a cough into his palm, pulling away to find it covered in his own blood.
"*Cough! *Cough!* Dammit, Cocolia has almost completely succeeded in growing those clones. This one even has *his* power" Welt said.
Einstein came to his side, helping him balance himself on her shoulder.
"You must take care of yourself, you still need to stay alive so you can fulfill *his* dream." Einstein said.
"I'm sorry... If he hadn't sacrificed himself for me in the past..."
"Don't dwell on the past, he chose you to carry on his will. I can sense your body is getting weak, so I recommend not using his power in the meantime" Einstein hinted a little worry in her voice.
"Don't you worry Einstein, I have some recommendations for you" Welt said.
" 'Ein', he always called me Ein, call me that too. " Einstein said with a smile.
"Alright Ein... Whatever you do, don't ever trust Cocolia, she's keeping a trumpcard for the future" Welt continued.
"Don't worry we already made a deal with Theresa and we must fulfill *his*legacy and that for Anti-Entropy" Einstein said.
"it seems that you are really concerned about me and the others. That really reminds me of him, you know," Einstein said, looking at Welt before disappearing completely.
After Einstein disappeared Welt looked at his blood stained hand and clenched it.
"Indeed, we are running out of time. We must complete Selene for her sake" Einstein said as he began to walk away.
"And I can sense that Kaito had awakened a little bit of his power... I just hope that he can control it fully when the time has come" Welt said again.
[To Be Continued]