"Isaac has three safehouses located here on the map." Irene stated. "Once we hit one, that means that the rest will likely be alerted. We'd only have an one in three chance of choosing the safe house that Isaac is at."

"So that means we need to hit all three at once." Irene explained. "I'll hit this one. Eric and Lily, you two do this one. Iris and Ken, you two can do the last one."

"You'll be alone." I replied. "Will you be fine?"

Irene nodded. "Of course."

"What about the Royal Knights?" Eric asked. "Can they help us?"

"No." Irene replied, shaking her head. "I can't trust them. They may have defected. The only ones I can trust are you four. Mother is injured and Father can't fight. You're the only ones I can ask."

"That being said, are you two sure that you want to help? It will be the two of you against a whole base. They shouldn't have any Arcana's, but it still could be dangerous." Irene asked Eric and Lily.

"Of course." Eric nodded. "Both Iris and Ken are my friends. I'll always help a friend."

"We'll be glad to help!" Lily happily stated, hanging onto Eric's arm.

Eric glanced at Lily with an slightly uncomfortable and surprised expression.

Irene smiled. "Thank you."

You're pairing me with Iris?

Surprising. Also, fuck.

I'm not feeling so good about being alone with Iris after she randomly started calling me Ken yesterday. I feel like something has just clicked for her, and it's not going to be something I like.

Can we switch?

"Is that the smartest idea?" I asked. "Iris is the strongest out of us four, so shouldn't we pair her with Eric or Lily?"

I quickly turned to them. "No offense."

"You're only at Tier 2." Lily sweatdropped. "And I want to fight with Eric."

Actually I'm at Tier 3, but I'm pretending I'm at Tier 2 to stay at the average Tier of the current first year students.

"Lily and I will be alright. I recently reached Tier 3." Eric stated.

"Seriously?" I replied, surprised. He isn't supposed to get to Tier 3 until he is storming the actual safe house!

The anime usually had tier up during battles for more epic and cliche fight scenes. Despite the cliche, the fight scenes were pretty epic though.

And we're also ahead of schedule. We aren't even supposed to know about the safe houses yet, because in the anime Irene wasn't alive, and therefore, didn't ask Lily to search Isaac's room.

After all, Iris didn't suspect her twin at the time.

"Yeah. While you were bodyguarding Irene I've been working with Sensei more." Eric stated.

Now it doesn't surprise me. Goku can be a real slave driver sometimes.

And if memory serves me correctly, now that Eric has unlocked Tier 3 he has access to "Enhancement". It's a skill that allows him to increase the effectiveness of a part of his body.

For example, by enhancing his legs he can run faster for a short while, or by enhancing his fists he can increase their strength.

Eventually he learns how to apply this to other objects which isn't his own body, but that comes later.

"The teams should be alright then." Irene placed down some earpieces on the table. "These are communication devices. Use it to let us know if you find Isaac or need help."

"Got it." I nodded, grabbing an earpiece and sticking it into my ear. The others also placed their earpieces in.

"Alright. We'll meet up back here at Aegis Mansion if everything goes to plan." Irene stated.

"Good luck." I said to the others.

"Thanks." Eric smiled.

"I'll be fine." Irene smiled. "After all, I plan on returning to my husband."

"Huh?" Eric spoke.

"He's my fiancé." Irene stated.

"No I'm not." I denied.

"He's my future husband." Irene restated.

"No I'm not." I denied again.

"You really are a Tsundere!" Gasped Iris. For some reason she looked happy about her analysis.

Her WRONG analysis.

Emphasis on the wrong.

"No I'm not!" I argued.

"That's exactly what a tsundere would say!" Lily declared.

"Eric, help me out. Tell them I'm not a tsundere." I begged.

Eric looked away, whistling.

"You're kidding me...?" I muttered in defeat.

"Come on Ken! We have to head to the safe house!" Iris suddenly said, pulling my arm.

What's with the sudden change in attitude?

So on the note that I am a tsundere, which I am NOT, we all separated, leaving the Aegis Mansion in different directions.

"So what's the safe house we're searching?" I asked.

"It's underneath a construction site." Iris stated.

"Ah, how original." I muttered.

Iris giggled at that.

Don't giggle at that.

"What's so funny?" I coldly asked.

Iris then put her finger to my lips, hushing me.

"There's no need to be cold anymore!" Iris grinned. "I know that you're actually kind under that mask. So show me that."

As I stated into her eyes, a chill went down my spine. I body instinctively shuddered. That look in her eyes...

Please don't tell me...

"We're here." Iris suddenly stated.

"That was quick." I commented.

"This one was the closest." Iris replied.

I peered through the gate into the construction zone. "For a construction site I don't see a lot of construction workers."

"This has to be it then." Iris nodded. "What should we do?" Iris asked. "Should we try to sneak in, or...?"

"Do you have presence concealment?" I asked.

"No...?" Iris replied.

"Then we go in guns blazing." I grinned.

I kicked open the gate, breaking the old lock that held it together. The gate doors slammed open, letting us into the construction site.

We walked across it, looking for any obvious way to get underneath the site. As I looked around, I couldn't find anything. A couple minutes passed and I still had no clue where the entrance was. Neither did Iris.

That was, until I stepped onto something...hard...? This doesn't feel like dirt...

I looked down at the dirt I stood upon. Sweeping the dirt away, a trapdoor was revealed not even an inch from the surface. This allowed me to feel the sudden change of dirt upon steel instead of dirt upon dirt.

If I hadn't stepped on it, we would have never found it. No wonder it's a safe house.

"I found it!" I yelled, getting Iris' attention.

She walked over, looking at the trapdoor. "Yeah, that certainly looks like the entrance."

I opened the trapdoor, revealing a ladder that lead down below. You would think it'd be locked, but it wasn't.

"I'm going first!" Iris demanded, getting onto the ladder and descending.

What was that about?

I grabbed onto the rung of the ladder, descending down. Right, left, right, left. My feet went down a rung with every step, slowly letting myself descend below.

Finally reaching the floor after a good minute of descending we were in a small room with a singular door. Opening the door led to a hallway.

And in that hallway, three Royal Knights. All without their helmets.

"An intruder!" One gasped.

They pulled out their swords, charging at us. I quickly approached the first one, dodging the strike of his sword and slamming my knee into his "sacred place".

No amount of protection was going to save him.

He crumpled down onto the floor in a ball.

"You bastard!" Another one yelled.

He rushed at me. Instead of getting a knee to the nuts however, once I dodged his attack I slammed the palm of my hand into his throat.

He dropped his sword as he clutched his throat, suddenly finding it tough to breathe. I smashed my fist into his face, knocking him out. Should have worn a helmet.

I then stomped my foot on the other Royal Knight's head, making sure he was knocked out. Though brutal, it made sure he wouldn't wake up until we finished searching the safe house.

Looking over to Iris, she had already downed and knocked out the final Royal Knight. In her hand was her Arcana, Zeus.

"You're good at close quarters. You didn't even need to summon your Arcana." Iris noted.

"Dragon Fist Style. A unique type of CQC that focuses on dodging and quickly taking out opponents with powerful strikes." I explained.

"Amazing.." Iris muttered. "Well then, shall we continue?"

"Ladies first." I smirked.