On one of the rooftops, Albert was intently keeping an eye on the entrance that both Andrei and Jin entered earlier. Entering a Honkai den was said to be something akin to suicide. Of course, this was quite an exaggeration but it was still extremely dangerous. One wrong step and you could get swarmed in by the Honkai beast

Because of this, Albert was worried about his friends.

However, the danger does not end there.

Noticing something emerging from the entrance, Albert became alert as he slowly put his finger on the trigger. However, he became relaxed quite a bit when he noticed that it was Andrei carrying two unconscious girls on his shoulders and another girl following behind him.

"This is Albert reporting," Albert then picked up his radio and contacted home base. "Andrei and the three Valkyries has come out of the hornet's nest."

After waiting for a while, Victor's voice came through the radio. [What about Jin?]

"He..." Albert paid attention to the entrance once again as he waited for his ninja friend to come out. However, he can't help but tighten his grip as time passed by. "He hasn't come out yet..."

[...] Static only came through the radio.

Jin was an expert escape artist due to him wanting to become a ninja, that they were totally aware. However, that alone wasn't enough to survive inside the Honkai den especially if you are spotted.

The silence of the two continued for a few seconds before both immediately decided to move on to the current problem.

[Here they come] This time, Glynne's voice came through the radio as he immediately warned his peers.

As mentioned earlier, the dangers of a Honkai nest doesn't end with simply entering one and getting surrounded by hordes of honkai.

Like a hornet's nest, if they were disturb, all Honkai beast inside will begin flooding out.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Multiple gunshots reverberated from the downtown area as three Archangel Honkai were chasing after a white-haired girl. The girl tried to impede their speed by shooting at them but her shots mostly missed their targets or were being deflected by the honkai beast's hard exoskeleton.

At this, the girl couldn't help but get frustrated as she continued on running.

[Kiana, go left on the next corner] an emotionless voice came through the white-haired radio.

Kiana followed her teammate's advice as the intersection came into view. As she took a left turn, the sight of a silver-haired girl with a humanoid robot floating on her back greeted her.

"Duck" Bronya warned as Kiana widened her eyes in surprised before quickly diving forward. A cluster of missiles soon flew above her as they clashed with the three Honkai beast that were chasing after her. The Honkai beast were soon engulfed in multiple explosions.

"Ouch!" Unfortunately, a small debris from the explosion flew and hit Kiana on the head. She immediately got up while rubbing her head. "Oi, don't you think you should have warned me about that earlier!" she complained.

"Bronya believes Kiana-idiotka can react in time." Bronya replied.

"That doesn't mean you could just fire at me!" Kiana argued back.

As the two of them argue, one of the Honkai beast who survived Bronya's attack took the opportunity to charge at Kiana.

Fortunately, Kiana heard its wings as she was able to react in time and dodge to the side, causing the Honkai beast to barely miss her. The Honkai beast tried to circle back but Kiana quickly shot one of its wings off.

With its balance being disrupted, the Honkai beast crashed on the ground. Kiana then approached the fallen Honkai beast as she planted her foot on its head to hold it down.

"As for you, you don't know just when to give up?"

Kiana said in an annoyed tone as she shot the Honkai beast on the head in pointblank range multiple times. Obviously, this was enough to kill the Honkai beast.

"Hah, seriously... Just what's happening all of a sudden?" Kiana couldn't help but sigh in a bit of frustration as she scratched her head.

Just a few moments ago, they were wandering around the place aimlessly due to the lack of subjugation targets. But during their break, a huge number of Honkai beasts suddenly popped under them. This leads to Kiana and her teammates separating each other

Perhaps subjugating the Honkai beast blew off a bit of steam as Kiana became calm enough to notice someone's missing.

"Where's Mei?" Kiana asked.

"Already on it" Bronya immediately replied while operating her arm device.

Due to the sudden spike in activity, the place had become quite chaotic so Kiana couldn't help but worry. It didn't help how Bronya was taking quite a bit of time to locate Mei.

"... Found Big sister Mei's location." Bronya reported while showing a map with four orange dot moving. "Big sister Mei seemed to have encountered another squad along the way."

"Thank god..." Kiana sighed in relief. At least Mei wasn't in imminent danger.

"However, they are getting surrounded." Bronya commented as few red arrows appeared on the screen.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Kiana said and turned around. "We need to back them up!"

"Kiana-idiotka, that's the wrong way." Bronya remarked as Kiana flinched.

"I-is that so?" Kiana laughed awkwardly. "Lead the way then."

Bronya couldn't help but sigh seeing her supposedly squad leader was acting.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@

"Mei, behind you!" A girl in a nekomimi headset shouted.

Mei glanced behind her as a Chariot Honkai beast leaped towards her. She immediately moved out of the way as the beast slammed the ground. Few debris flew towards her, pelting her and caused a few scratches.

Even so, Mei ignored it as she quickly countered back.

Meanwhile on the other side of the field, Fu Hua, wearing a blue modified qipao, was busy dealing with a few honkai beast coming at her way.

"Ms. Fu Hua, let me help you!" A girl with a blonde croissant-like hair shouted as her sword separated into multiple segments connected by a steel wire. With her sword becoming a whip, she used it to restrain a few honkai beast.

As Fu Hua getting a breather from Elena's help, she stepped back for a bit as she collected her breathing. Her arms then began to glow with a golden aura as Fu Hua once again clashed with the honkai beast.

"White Tiger Fist... third form" Fu Hua unleashed a series of powerful blows in a short duration of time towards the restrained Honkai beast.

Unable to defend themselves, the Honkai Beast quickly succumbed to Fu Hua's onslaught. After dealing with them, Fu Hua immediately moved back towards Elena in order to catch her breath.

"I appreciate the help, Ms. Mason." Fu Hua said her gratitude.

"I-it is an honor to be of help for Ms. Fu Hua. Please do not hesitate to use me whatever you please." Hearing Elena's reply, Fu Hua can't help but smile a bit bitterly.

Elena Mason, she was well known to be a member of the disciplinary committee. That said, some knew her as a huge fan of Fu Hua.

"Then I will be relying my back on you." Fu Hua said as Elena's face seemed to have reddened a bit.

"I-I, Elena Mason, will do my best not to be a burden!" Elena shouted with vigor.

"Incoming" the nekomimi girl warned as a new wave of Honkai beasts could be seen were approaching from the distance.

"Fu Hua!" Mei, having finished dealing with the Honkai beast on her side, called out Fu Hua as she moved to her side. "We've been fighting ever since a while ago. I think it's better if we retreat back to base camp."

"I agree." Fu Hua nodded at Mei's suggestion as she looked at her teammate's conditions. They may not look exhausted at the moment but if they keep on fighting at this rate, fatigue will surely stack up.

As such, Fu Hua immediately assigned roles for her team. Mei will be in the front. The nekomimi headset girl in the middle as she will create escape route. Elena will also join her in the middle as her sword-whip combination weapon allows her to react for any danger in the front and back. Lastly, Fu Hua will be the backline.

After getting their roles, the girls quickly made a run for it as Honkai beasts were hot on their tail. Fortunately, the tall city buildings allows them to break out of sight even for a few seconds. Because of this, they managed to shake their pursuers quite easily.

The unfortunate thing however, they keep on running into a few Honkai beast along the way despite the nekomimi headset girl's best efforts. The numbers of Honkai beast were simply too many to handle.

And as expected... it didn't take long until something bad happened.

"Kyaaaaa!!!!" While Mei and Elena were busy dispatching the Honkai beast at front, the nekomimi girl got careless and stepped near to one of the rubbles as a Dormant Honkai beast rose from it. Unable to react in time, she got hit by the Honkai beast's pre-emptive attack and got sent a few meters away. Fu Hua immediately dealt with the dormant Honkai beast and rushed by her teammate's side.

"This is bad!" Fu Hua exclaimed when she noticed her teammate bleeding.

Due to the Dormant Honkai beast being fragile, when it attack the girl earlier, it's arm shattered which cause a shard of it to cut through the girl's skin.

Fu Hua immediately put pressure to the girl's wound as she called out for help to the other two. Mei told Elena that she will handle the Honkai beast as the blonde girl nodded and retreated back to help Fu Hua.

"Get the first aid kit, quick" Fu Hua directed as Elena quickly rummaged through their supplies, which also got blown away along with the nekomimi girl earlier. Fortunately, the first aid kit were intact as Elena quickly handed the first aid kit to Fu Hua.

As Fu Hua and Elena were in the middle of tending their teammate's wound, Mei was trying to hold back the four Honkai beasts. She had to buy time so she had to always make sure to keep their attention towards her. That said, dealing with four Honkai beast simultaneously was difficult as Mei don't have much time window to strike back. Her only option was to dodge.

Unfortunately, the situation became worst.

"KKKKRRRRRRRIIIIIEEEEE!!!!!!"

An Archangel Honkai beast was letting out a loud cry from above as it alerted the other Honkai beast of their location. The girls couldn't help but flinched as they were running out of time. They were quite in a dilemma.

"W-what should we do?!" Elena said in a bit of a panic as Fu Hua just silently continued on with the treatment.

"Fu Hua, how's the treatment?!" Mei questioned while still in the middle of dealing with the Honkai beast.

"Almost done!" Fu Hua answered.

Mei nodded and said nothing else. They have an option of abandoning their injured teammate but from the looks of it, it seemed like this didn't even pass through Fu Hua and Mei's head.

As the girls race with time, they heard a gunshot as the screeching Honkai beast got shot down. Then another four rang out as the Honkai beast near Mei got hit. The shot was enough to disrupt the Honkai beast in which gave Mei time to counter back using her Burst.

As Mei finish up the Honkai beasts, their reinforcement showed themselves.

"You..." Elena was speechless as the one who helped them was none other than the black-haired boy who just recently transferred in their school.

"How's her condition?" Glynne ignored Elena's reaction as he went directly to Fu Hua.

"I am almost done with treating her but we need to get her to safety fast." Fu Hua answered.

"Got it" Glynne nodded before reaching for a foldable stretcher and put it down near Fu Hua. "Give a signal when you stabilized her condition."

Fu Hua nodded as she continued on with the treatment. As for Glynne, he got up as his gaze was fixed at the distance.

"Glynne" Mei, who was done dispatching the Honkai beast, approached him. "Thanks for your help earlier."

"Don't mention it. It's a part of my job." Glynne said as he glance over to Mei before returning his gaze back over the distance. "You better rest up for a bit. This place will become messy soon."

Mei's face distorted as she was reminded about their current situation. Even if the screeching Honkai beast was taken down earlier, it does not change that their location was already been discovered. Mei was obviously nervous about it, same was through with Elena at the back.

But for some reason, the boy in front of them didn't show such signs as he seemed to be already quite prepared at the incoming confrontation. Seeing him, Mei felt a little bit calm as she sat down to rest.

After a few seconds of waiting, an unexpected encounter happened.

"Mei!" Kiana's voice was heard as the girl in question was approaching from the distance along with a silver-haired girl.

It is to say, their timing couldn't get any better as Mei happily met up with them.

"Good thing you're alright..." Kiana, who was quite overjoyed seeing Mei, jumped to hugged her friend

"I'm also glad both of you alright." Mei said while returning the hug.

"Glynne" Bronya, who spotted the boy, approached and called out to him.

Glynne looked at her for a bit before returning his gaze back once again. "It's good to see you."

"Mn" Bronya nodded. No further exchange happened between the two as the silver-haired girl just watched the boy for a little bit before looking around the place.

Bronya had a rough guess at what happened as she approached Mei, who was exactly explaining their current situation to the white-haired girl.

As expected, Kiana was quite surprised hearing about the upcoming danger. But contrary to expectations, she didn't seem to be quite anxious upon hearing it.

"So, I arrived just in time" Kiana said while showing a huge smile as she seemed to be happy to help. "Don't worry Mei, just leave it to me."

Though her time to shine doesn't look like it would arrive.

"I'm done!" Fu Hua announced as Glynne was the first one to move.

"Put her on the stretcher, quick!" Glynne directed. "Bronya, find a route back to Bunker 17."

"Understood"

"Affirmative"

Fu Hua and Bronya answered respectively.

Fu Hua, along with the help of Elena, quickly put their injured teammate of the stretcher as Glynne handed them some straps in order to support the patient in place. As for Bronya, she quickly operated her device as a holographic screen displaying the map appeared in front of her.

"Route confirmed." Bronya reported.

"Good" Glynne nodded as he brought out his rifle. "Everyone, please evacuate to Bunker 17. Our medic is there so you can ask for further assistance."

"Wait, what about you?" Kiana felt something amiss about Glynne expression, so she immediately called out to Glynne and asked him.

The boy paused for a bit, as he had hope that none would have asked about it. After a moment of hesitation, he had no other option but to answer honestly. "I'll act as a decoy."

Everyone was shocked by Glynne's statement. Naturally, the girls disapproved of the idea.

"What are you talking about? That's too dangerous!"

"There must be another way."

"Rejected, Bronya will calculate a better option."

"...Seriously, what's up with boys and the idea of self-sacrifice?"

It's already been established what was the strength of a Chevalier when compared to a Valkyrie. If one Valkyrie already struggles enough with two or three Honkai beast, then what would happen to a Chevalier against a horde. The results were quite obvious.

"I think you girls are misunderstanding something..." Glynne said as the girls flinched when they noticed a hint of anger from his tone. "You girls aren't worth dying for."

The girls were totally taken back at Glynne's words. It was quite harsh but this made them realized something.

It's true that they were attending the same school together. With the exception of two, all of them were even his classmates and talked to each other. However, they have forgotten that it was barely been a month since they knew him.

Yeah, it was as he said, they weren't close enough for one of them to sacrifice their life for the other.

Still, they wished he could've have worded it better.

"Hmph, suit yourself then." Elena was the first one to speak as she prepared to lift her injured teammate.

Fu Hua didn't say anything as she prepared to leave.

"I..." Mei wanted to say something but hesitated. In the end, she chooses to leave without saying anything.

As for Bronya, she just silently looked at Glynne before she also followed Mei.

'I've done it now..." Glynne thought as he let out a huge sigh while watching the girls leave.

He had no other choice. If he said some promises like "He won't die" or "The enemies won't be able catch me", he was sure time would be wasted convincing them. It was why he had to say something harsh for them to leave immediately.

However...

"Kiana, let's go" Mei called for her friend as the white-haired girl stepped forward and stood in front of Glynne.

"What?" Glynne asked but Kiana continues to observe him.

"I hate people like you." Kiana said as Glynne didn't say anything since he had already expected this to happen. Seemingly done with her business with Glynne she turned around leave... not. "Mei, you should go first. I'm also staying here."

This time, it was Glynne's turn to be surprised.

"Wait Kiana, what are you talking about?" Mei asked as she was quite confused at her friend's declaration.

"Someone needs to watch this idiot over here." Kiana said while pointing at black-haired boy.

"But..." Mei wanted to argue back but stopped when she noticed Kiana's expression. She was still hesitant but she can't do anything once she sees her friend stubborn face. "Understood. Please, be careful then."

Kiana nodded as she watched her friend leave. When the sight of the others cannot be seen anymore, silence descended between the two people left.

"Hey" perhaps unable to tolerate the silence any longer, Glynne called out to Kiana. "What are you planning?"

"... I already said it," Kiana said while facing him. "I hate people like you, so I'm doing the opposite of what you want."

Glynne widened his eyes. He didn't think would get exposed that immediately.

Kiana felt a bit an accomplishment upon seeing Glynne's reaction as she walked towards him in quite a good mood. "Next time, try a better lie."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Glynne said but his face flushed a little bit upon seeing Kiana's victorious smile. He had to look away order to hide his embarrassment.

Kiana wanted to tease the boy more but unfortunately, their conversation was cut short as they could see a horde of Honkai beasts approaching over the distance.

"Hey, what's the plan? Do we fight them head on?" Kiana asked as Glynne looked at her with furrowed brows. The girl didn't seem to have thought all the way through when she decided to stay back.

"Just stay close to me and watch." Glynne said and ran towards a nearby building.

Kiana was taken back by his sudden action before snapping back and hastily followed the boy's lead.

============================

Alright, next chap should be the last one for this mini-arc... I didn't expect this to take this long... My plan was originally about 3-4 chaps but I underestimated how much content I was actually planning.

Claire: ... And despite that, I didn't have any screen time even if only a just a tease.

Well, there's no plan for you if I'm being honest.

Claire: Eh?! What do you mean by that?!

You might not get the chance to appear.

Claire: W-what about the last part of Volume 1?! You know... that.

The one when you p—

Claire: YES! THAT ONE!

Geeez, no need to shout. I'm sure everyone already know at this point.

Claire: Uhhhhh, you meanie...

Well, don't worry. That won't happen anymore.

Claire: W-what do you mean?

Last part is completely overhauled so it won't appear.

Claire: T-then what about me?

It is as I say, i don't any plans yet... Rather, there's no scene that comes to mind where you're useful.

Claire: Oi, did you just say I'm useless?!

Then, tell me... What are you good at?

Claire: T-that... well, I... I... I don't know! You dummy! Idiot!

Wha— Ouch! Ouch! Stop that! It hurts a lot!

Claire: Jerk! Dimwit! Stupid!...

Tch, I need to run! Anyways, THANKS FOR READING!!!!!

Claire: Wha— get back over here!