Darkaria

History
Darkaria is an earth golem that turned into an island like structure after it made a pact with the originator of the Watanuki clan with the promise of having all races to live in harmony. It has served as protector an ally of the Watanuki clan and other races that inhabit the kingdom built on it's back. During the reign of Hozuki it could do nothing to stop his violence against humans, and other races allied with them, but sat patiently for Tsubaki's coronation and immediately took action with him against Hozuki and his allies. For it's, and the citizens protection, it got Tsubaki to move it to another dimension.

Geography
Darkaria takes the form of an island, and on top rests the Kingdom of Darkaria. The kingdom itself is divided into seven sections. The middle has the Darkaria Castle that was made by Darkaria itself, it houses Tsubaki Watanuki, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, Sakura Watanuki, Umemaru Watanuki, and the Royal Battle Butlers and Maids. Outside the castle is the business district that forms a ring around it. It's structures are built to look like a typical city with the most notable places being the Darkaria Academy, Darkaria Grand Library, and Darkaria Flower Shop. Mai Kusagishi, Sosuke Amagai, Kon Sugimori, and Hanabi Mira reside here.

Around the buisness center are four evenly pie shaped territories, each one governed by a Knight ranked 2 through 5. Yami Izayoi governs an area that has a japanese/oriental appearance and has the Darkaria Army Headquarters here, Kagura Yoshimori also resides here. Shiroyuki Hana governs an area that has an icy appearance and has the Darkaria Military Headquarters, Rei Yamamoto also resides here. Zaraki Inumuta governs an area that has a scientific appearance and has the Darkaria Laboratory here, Hannibal, Franklin and Sasuna Mabashi reside here. Kohaku Ryuuga governs an area that has a renaissance appearance and has the Darkaria Orphanage, the Darkaria Dragonian Squad Headquarters, and the Darkaria Clothing Store here, Kimahara Ryuuga, Akamaru Ryuuzetsu, Hisui Ryuusukeru, Orenii Ryuuhifu, and Yomi Saiho reside here.

On the outskirts of the kingdom is comprised of a large forest that's used as the main area to deal with intruders. It also has the Darkaria Shrine and treetop villages. Kushinada, Tsukimaru Gekko, and Tsuchigumo Moiiretsu reside here.

Darkaria Army
The Darkaria Army is lead by the No.2, of the 15 Darkaria Knights, Yami Izayoi and his lieutenant Kagura Yoshimori. It has the most soldiers, and as such, deals with large threats. It has five Commanders along with their five lieutenants:

1st Commander-Danuja Haranuki: She has a strong love of battle, like Yami, but dislikes doing any paperwork so she usually pushes it towards her lieutenant. But when it comes to her comrades she is very generous, protective, and allows them to do as they please, though she is highly against anything that causes harm to innocent people in anyway. She's also at constant ends against Masato on their views of battle but holds respect for him.

1st Lieutenant-Kasumi Ayasugawa: She is usually quiet and keeps to herself but does participate in activities that has anything to do with Darkaria. She is always the one to handle all paperwork which she doesn't like and can involve some reprimendment, which involves communication on paper, towards her Commander. Despite this she does respect her and acts on any battle tasks given to her loyally and to the letter.

2nd Commander-Daisuke Haiyako: He's usually seen lurking in the shadows and only confronts somebody when needed to, though his lieutenant will always come to him to talk. Because of the former his soldiers find him intimidating but his lieutenant will state that he's very nice and caring. He always shows respect to anyone if they've earned it, be it friend or foe.

2nd Lieutenant-Hoshiko Shishona: She is always cheerful and friendly towards her allies and friends. Though this attitude changes to seriousness when on the battlefield, where some people who know her say 'It's like she changed into a different person'. Out of all the soldiers under her Commanders command, she's the only one who willingly goes to him to talk and will always say he's nice when people think otherwise.

3rd Commander-Hiroko Arimachi: She is always serious and takes her duties seriously which, just like Kasumi, usually reprimends Danuja for not doing her work. When it comes to her soldiers she is very strict and will unhesitently punish anyone out of line but will give them the benefit of the doubt in certain situations. She dislike her lieutenants mocking attitude and will harshly reprimand him, though he usually gives her an exaggerated apology to which she sighs in annoyance.

3rd Lieutenant-Fumihiro Natara: He at first seems like a caring and nice individual but that attitude can suddenly switch to one of mocking and scheming. He will usually taunt and mock people which usually result in a brawl with him mostly winning or being stopped somewhat by his commander. His commander dislikes his mocking attitude though he usually gives and exaggerated apology. Despite this he does respect his Commander and others, if they've earned it.

4th Commander-Kuniko Nara: He's best described as very destructive and foul tempered, to which people tend do their best to avoid his temper tantrums. When he's complemented his usual reactions is to blush in embarrassment though he will accept the compliment in a stuttering manner. He can also be stubborn and not listen to his lieutenants, or soldiers, advice, but does care a great deal about them and will not hesitate to protect them if they're in grave danger.

4th Lieutenant-Eito Furokawa: Due to being the youngest lieutenant of the army the soldiers, and some citizens, worry if he's fit for the job. Despite this he is extremely friendly and is always willing to help others in need, especially the elderly. He, like Hoshiko, has his personality turned to serious during a battle but still retains some of his friendliness. He also fears his Commander due to his temperment but respects and cares for him greatly and will try to stop his tantrums, even if in vain.

5th Commander-Genkei Matsumoto: Like Eito he's the youngest Commander ever chosen, but is slightly older so he doesn't have to necessarily worry about soldiers or citizen concerns. He has a charming personality which makes him popular amongst the ladies but he doesn't let it get to his head and always treats them fairly and equally. Another positive trait is his great charisma, that's on par with Tsubaki's, to which his soldiers admire and respect. When he has one of his rare 'moping' sessions his lieutenant will usually cheer him up by dancing for him, to which he feels grateful for in her skill of making him happy and having a caring lieutenant.

5th Lieutenant-Maiko Umineko: She is considered the second best dancer, behind Hanabi, and will usually be asked to perform if the latter is too busy or otherwise. During her dancing she is confident and carefree, but outside of dancing she is timid and shy. She's also very clumsy and will profusely apologize if she does something wrong but will always help regardless of the inevitable outcome. When her Commander is one of his rare 'moping' sessions she will always dance to cheer him up, to which she is always happy she can useful in this way.

Darkaria Military
The Darkaria Military is lead by No.3, of the 15 Darkaria Knights, Shiroyuki Hana and her lieutenant Rei Yamamoto. It has the second largest amount of soldiers and they mostly deal with problems inside Darkaria, but will be sent to deal with small outside forces as well. It has three commanders and their three lieutenants:

1st Commander-Masato Inuzuma: He is very loyal and devoted to Darkaria and it's goals for equality. He also takes his duties seriously and, like Shiroyuki, doesn't see enjoyment in battle which causes him to clash with Danuja but he holds respect for her. He highly valued his lieutenant and comrades and finds them irreplacable.

1st Lieutenant-Junko Miyashi: During her free time she is usually seen cleaning and adjusting her bow, and/or target practices. She is usually so focused on a task that she won't hear or notice someone until they get close enough which results in her putting a person in a hold for self defense, but when the misunderstanding is cleared she will apologize. She is usually silent but will speak if spoken to or if nessecary, though she can be blunt, straightforward, and isn't afraid to speak her mind.

2nd Commander-Ayaka Hebiga

2nd Lieutenant-Kagami Higurashi

3rd Commander-Emiko Ayasaka: Despite being raised in a privileged household she isn't as spoiled as most people think she is as she is rather friendly and caring for others, though she does act somewhat distant which leads people to say otherwise. She of course as an air elegance to her despite being in numerous fights to which young woman admire her for but she does state she doesn't deserve the attention. Due to her lieutenant being obsessed with his hobby she is usually stuck with all the paperwork but doesn't mind as she wants to see him happy, and is grateful that he acknowledges this fault of his.

3rd Lieutenant-Reiji Kishimaki: He's best described as a wild child doing whatever he wants, but is limited due to him not wanting to jeopardize Darkaria in any way. He has a major love for machines and is usually seen creating mechanical creatures, to help fight or act as scouts, but this distracts him greatly from his paperwork, to which he feels bad about but Emiko doesn't mind. He's always trying to come up with machines to help the elderly, disabled, or anyone in general and is willing to accept requests to make something but will politely decline if he decides the task is impossible. He is also polite as he'll usually address anyone as 'ma'am' or 'sir'.

Darkaria Research Squad and Laboratory:
The Darkaria Research Squad and Laboratory are lead by No.4, of the Darkaria Knights, Zaraki Inumuta and his right hand and bodyguards Sasuna and Franklin Mabashi. They both have the smallest amount of people though the Research Squads main purpose is to travel across Earth to gather data on environments, species, and other factors. They are also considered the main combat forces and each individual is enhanced to withstand tough terrain a normal person wouldn't be able to handle, and also fight back against hostile forces, The Laboratory mainly does research inside the lab on factors gathered by the Research Squad but are also enhanced to fight in case there are intruders.

Darkaria Dragonian Squad
The Darkaria Dragonian Squad is lead by No.5 and No.8, of the Darkaria Knights, Kohaku and Kimahara Ryuuga respectively and the Three Dragonian Commanders Akamaru Ryuuzetsu, Hisui Ryusukeru, and Orenii Ryuhifu. This squad has the third largest amount of soldiers and are primarily used for assassinations, the more close combat oriented fighters usually fight on the front lines to distract bodyguards and other hired personnel to allow the more stealthy members to get a successful kill on their target(s).

15 Darkaria Knights
This group was created by Hozuki to be comprised of the strongest Myths and Yokai in Darkaria to strike fear and intimidation. Each member was ranked in strength and ability with each one being unique mostly in their abilities, and they also had a nickname befitting them.

First Generation
No.1-Hotaru Ryuuhikari, Darkaria's Six Styled Swordsman of Light: He's generally quite, hard to read and keeps to himself. If need to he will speak and can be blunt and straight to the point, as well as speak his mind. If he's disturbed he will retaliate with force which usually leaves an opponent in pieces. He took Tsubaki's side during the rebellion, and after their victory he became a nomadic vagabound for Darkaria. He's the older half-brother of Byakurai Ryuhikari and also the older cousin of Kohaku Ryuuga and Kimahara Ryuuga. His species is Dragonian

No.2-Akakuma Hakai, Darkaria's Red Battle Devil

No.3-Aoiuma Sugimori, Darkaria's Overseer: He's the wisest and smartest of the Knights and also has expanse knowledge over all forms of magic, in which he has mastered quite a handful of them himself. He is always helpful and won't hesitate to help those in need, though he isn't naive. He took Tsubaki's side during his rebellion, and after their victory he became a nomadic vagabound for Darkaria and settled in a city as the head librarian and magic teacher. He's also the adoptive father of Kon Sugimori. His species is Kirin.

No.4-Akagitsune Amagai, Darkaria's Mischevious Enchantress: She is playful and quite the trickster, though she never means ill will and never hesitates to help those in need especially animals and animal-like Myths. Before and after becoming a Knight she would help animals and, if they agree, would add them to her group and enchant them to have human form, She took Tsubaki's side during his rebellion and after their victory became a nomadic vagabound. She is the foster mother of Sosuke Amagai. Her species is Kitsune.

No.5-Tsubasa Rensa, Darkaria's Chained Assassin

No.6-Dokumaru Suija, Darkaria's Terrain Conquer: He's a friendly person who, like Akakuma, enjoys battle but his own desire to fight isn't as bad as Akakuma's. He finds that the true thrill comes from being on the brink of life and death. Due to this he finds people with immortality to be an eyesore and a complete waste of a warrior. Despite being a pirate, he always steals fairly from people and if there's a treasure precious to them then he won't steal it. He states that this is one of the rules of pirating that has passed down from his family, being created by his great-great-great-grandfather. He took Tsubaki's side during his rebellion and after their victory he became a nomadic vagabound. His species is Gorgon.

No.7-Chirisegyo Sancho, Darkaria's Massive Manipulator: She has somewhat of a foul temper but is usually calm and doesn't deal with situations that bother her. If a fight begins to escalate due to one of her subordinates she will always give compensation to avoid 'unnecessary' fights. She also greatly dislikes cowards with her hating her elf clan for running away from their home town, but didn't act against them because she sympathized with them on the severity of the situation they were in. She took Tsubaki's side during his rebellion and after their victory became a nomadic vagabond. She is also Kakusa Sancho's older sister. Her species is Elf

No.8-Nadaina Kazehime, Darkaria's Wind Empress

No.9-Kakusa Sancho, Darkaria's Master of the Undead

No.10-Kuroshinju Honekoneko, Darkaria's Death Bringer: He is completely emotionless as he is a personification of death, and he brings death to those who are guilty of crimes be it at minimum murder and at maximum against the world. He has made it his mission to remove time magic/manipulation from those who would dare to use such power to throw the world into chaos or take over it. He took Tsubaki's side during his rebellion and after their victory became a nomadic vagabond. His species is Grim Reaper/Shinigami.

No.11-Kessho Barria, Darkaria's Crystal Berserker

No.12-Tsukikage Gekko, Darkaria's Archer by the Moonlight:

No.13-Zaraki Inumuta, Darkaria's Beast Scientist

No.14-Sayaka Mikazaki, Darkaria's Shapeshifting Maid:

No.15-Amai Shikiyoku, Darkaria's Slave Master

Second Generation
After Tsubaki's rebellion, the new generation of Knights started to steadily be built. The second, and current, generation is comprised of:

No. 1-Kinkaku and Ginkaku, Darkaria's Twins of Time and Space

No.2-Yami Izayoi, Darkaria's Battle Demon

No.3-Shiroyuki Hana, Darkaria's Icy General

No.4-Zaraki Inumuta, Darkaria's Beast Scientist

No.5-Kohaku Ryuuga, Darkaria's Black Bullet Dragon

No.6-Sosuke Amagai, Darkaria's Weapon Master

No.7-Kon Sugimori, Darkaria's Magic Genius

No.8-Kimahara Ryuuga, Darkaria's White Blade Dragon

No.9-Tsuchigumo Moiiretsu, Darkaria's Trapping Spider

No.10-Hanabi Mira, Darkaria's Ballerina of Roses

No.11-Tsukimaru Gekko, Darkaria's Archer of the Moon

No.12-Hannibal, Darkaria's Iron Wielding Killer

No.13-Mai Kusagishi, Darkaria's Taming Princess

No.14-Kushinada, Darkaria's Divinity Eraser

No.15-Yomi Saiho, Darkaria's Doll Collector

Blooming Hybrid
On a typical day in Darkaria, Kohaku and Kimahara return from a mission and report to Tsubaki, and like any other day Kohaku and Tsubaki bicker.

"Why did you beat up our client?", Tsubaki asks.

"Cause he was hitting on Kima. Any good sibling would've done the same thing.", Kohaku responds.

"I wish you would've used a more peaceful means of doing so, because of that incident consider your payment cut.", Tsubaki says to him.

Kohaku scowls, "Sure, neglect the children under my care like your father did to the human child-AHH!", a loud crack sound resounds through the room. The cause is by a shadow whip smacking Kohaku's rear which results in him kneeling on the ground and smacking it with an open palm. Kima jumps at the sound and notices Tsubaki's now red eyes, as he starts to get up she immediately steps in front of Kohaku,

"Lord Tsubaki! Please, my big brother didn't mean anything by what he said! You know him, he just blurts things out when he doesn't get his way, so please I don't wish for a reenactment of three years ago!", Kimahara says to him with pleading eyes.

Tsubaki looks at Kima, then Kohaku, the Kinkaku and Ginkaku to which he notices their not satisfied with this. Kimahara notices and adds,

"Please Lord Tsubaki if it will satisfy you just give him any punishment, in fact I have a suggestion.", Tsubaki looks at her with slight curiosity.

"I'm listening", he says still standing.

Kima gives a small smile of slight relief, "I've heard it's close to graduation at the academy and it's about time for the usual training regiment to see if the students are ready. Though usually Yami-san and Shiroyuki-san do this but their out on missions, so you can use Kohaku and me as their replacements."

"Though your not being punished Kima.", Tsubaki replies.

"Yes I'm aware but in technicalities I just talked back, so that is deserving of a punishment isn't it?", she asks in response.

Tsubaki looks at Kinkaku and Ginkaku who have a somewhat satisfied look at the idea, to which he closes his eyes and opens his eyes revealing they turned back to black.

"Very well, your suggestion will be his, and your, punishment.", Tsubaki says then sits down.

Kimahara breaths a sigh of relief, "Thank you Lord Tsubaki.", she bows to him.

Kohaku has since gotten up and listened from the background, "Fine, if it'll save me from another beating.", he says.

"Very well then, go to the school and introduce yourselves. Try to get them motivated to do their bests.", Tsubaki tells them.

"Yes, sir.", "Yes, Lord Tsubaki.", they both respond before leaving.

In the palace hallway Kohaku grumbles, "What's wrong?", Kimahara asks.

Kohaku looks at her, "I'm grateful for you saving my ass again, but I won't like being a 'hold back' instructor."

"I'd won't be that bad, besides if you fight them the same way you train the Dragonian Squad the students might end up quitting before even stepping out the door, and we don't want that.", Kima responds.

Kohaku sighs, "Fine, again it's better than getting my ass beat...?", he's presented a lollipop by Kima. He takes it and unwraps it before putting it into his mouth.

He then has a face of slight content, "Mmm, watermelon.", Kima gives a light laugh.

After walking through a good part of the business district they arrive at the academy. They enter the building and go to the headmaster's office and knock on the door which is then opened by said headmaster, "Ah, Mr. Kohaku, Ms. Kimahara, please come in.", they enter the office.

"I'm guessing Tsubaki told the jist of why we're here?", Kohaku asks.

"Yes, and regardless of circumstances I'm glad your here to substitute Mr. Yami and Ms. Shiroyuki, cause I was honestly afraid we're gonna have to cancel the regiment this year.", the headmaster says.

"Yeah, the schedule of us Knights can be a real bitch.", Kohaku responds still sucking on his lollipop.

"Right, well we have the students of the first class in the auditorium so if you'll please follow me.", the headmaster gets up and Kohaku and Kimahara follow him.

A blonde haired girl with red eyes silently stands at attention along with the other hopeful graduates, though internally, her mind is whirling with all sorts of emotions, from nervousness to excitement.

''I heard members of the Darkaria Knights oversee this examination, the strongest in the kingdom... am I seriously going to impress someone of that caliber?! No, can't panic, everyone will make fun of 'the little lamb' again!''

She silently breathes out to calm her nerves.

The auditorium doors open and the headmaster walks in followed by Kohaku and Kimahara, "Hello students and congratulations on getting this far. You'll soon be graduating from our academy, but that depends on these two. May I introduce two of the 15 Darkaria Knights, Kohaku Ryuga and Kimahara Ryuga."

With her heart nearly beating out of her chest, she and the other candidates salute, she tries desperately to not let her giddiyness show.

Kohaku steps up, "At ease.", he says, to which they all cease saluting. Kohaku starts walking in front, around, and in between the students while carefully eyeing them.

The girl begins to feel a tickle in her nose and tries to keep herself from sniffling, meanwhile, her eyes tear up a bit, inconveniently as Kohaku is coming nearby.

Kohaku stops in front of her, "Go ahead, I won't reduce it out of your final score.", he says to her.

Involuntarily, a small 'chuu!' is heard, quickly followed by a snicker or two, and her face going red.

Kohaku glares at the students who snickered and they suddenly have a terrified look on their faces and have turned deathly pale, then he continues walking.

The girl silently tries to get her composure back under control, but finding it difficult after the unwelcome humiliation of her sneeze. This is worse than actually fighting...

Kohaku then stands in front of the students, "Alright then, as the headmaster said my name is Kohaku Ryuga and after seeing everyone, one by one, there are those that are ready and those that are not. I'm not gonna say which of course, but they can either prove me and my sister right or wrong if they have a strong enough conviction, the latter of which I could easily see in some of you. Now, before I get to how we're gonna figure out who graduated I'll answer any questions you have, don't be afraid to ask anything.", he says to them.

The girl says nothing, having regained her composure and wanting to not waste time, especially not wanting to look a fool in front of her classmates, especially some of the more... ...smug individuals.

One of said smug individuals raises his hand. Kohaku looks at him, "What's your question?"

"How does someone with such ridiculous hair become a Knight of Darkaria? Do they give points for style?"

Kohaku looks at him and pulls the lollipop stick out of his mouth, then flicks it at the students forehead and upon impact causing him to fall backwards onto his bottom. The impact of the stick also causes a red mark in the same shape to appear on his forehead.

"This is one the first lessons you'll get out of me, respect your superiors. Also, be fortunate that your not in my squad or else you'll punished a hell of a lot worse so much so you'll wish for death but it won't come.", Kohaku then walks up to the student, grabs him by the collar, and pulls him up off the ground to where his feet are a few inches off the ground.

"..." The student seems to stand their ground, not flinching.

"...Sir, I respectfully ask you put him down, it's not worth the energy of a Darkaria Knight-"

"Oh be quiet, short ears, let the man do whatever he wants." The cocky initiate retorts shortly to the girl, who says nothing, but Kohaku notices the subtle clenching of her fists, before gradually unclenching.

Kohaku smirks and drops the boy onto his bottom, "What's your name?", he asks the girl.

"Naegi, sir."

He then looks into her eyes, to which Naegi feels like he's staring right into her soul.

"Your a human/elf hybrid...very interesting.", he says.

Naegi doesn't say anything, but Kima notices Naegi is more tensed and on guard.

"He doesn't mean anything bad by it Naegi, as a matter fact we're half human in technicalities.", Kimahara says to her.

She doesn't say anything, but exhales a bit.

"If that's what your on the fence about don't worry, there's a lot of human hybrids living in, and working for, Darkaria.", Kohaku tells her.

He then looks at the boy who asked about his hair, "And to answer your question, the bastard doesn't care about appearances as long as the person has the strength, skill, and abilities that make them qualified to be a Knight.", he then looks at the other students, "Any other questions?".

No further comments are made.

"Alright then, now I can get on with how this graduation thing will work. There's gonna be two parts, first one is against my sister, Kima, where she'll give a particular challenge and depending on your performance you'll either graduate or retake the year. The second part is against me, and seeing as how the bastard would like for you all to be motivated I have something you might definitely fight for.", Kohaku devilishly smirks, "If any one of you beat me...then you can take my spot amongst the Knights."

She and the other students nod, understanding, though some have various levels of excitement with what Kohaku says, though Naegi doesn't react.

Kohaku nods towards Kima, "Give her your undivided attention then.", he then sits down and pulls out a lollipop and puts it in his mouth after unrapping it.

Kima steps up, "Alright everyone, I hope your on your A-game cause it'll help you in the long run."

She takes the rope on her sword and unties the one at the end of her hilt, then wraps it around the guard and hilt of her sword. She then holds it vertically and places it on the ground to where it stands by itself. She walks a few paces back then tells them the jist of what's gonna happen.

"All you guys have to do is knock down my sword from its vertical position. Now, I know your probably thinking this'll be easy right? Well you'll have to deal with me, who'll hinder your efforts, in order to knock it down. Of course I don't want to scare anyone so i'll only use 10% of the available power i have, and if anyone gets knocked down on their back then the match is over. It doesn't mean you immediately fail, depending on your performance i'll pass you regardless. Understood?", she asks all the students. "Understood!"

Naegi takes no time in getting into a combat stance.

"Alright you all may use any means neccisary, be it magic, manipulation, weapons or any other kind of ability. Your options are unlimited, as well as teamwork.", Kima shifts into her own combat stance, "Whenever you are ready, let's begin!"

While the majority of the class lunge forward, Naegi hangs back a bit, still following the others but watching Kima's movements.

The students that lunged forward recklessly are quickly dispatched by well placed palm thrusts that disarm, and knock the students onto their back.

Naegi takes advantage of the situation and swings with her sword, causing a large arc of pure force to surge from the area she cut, initially hidden by the knocked back students, and aimed at Kima.

Kima puts her hand in front of herself and holds up two fingers at which a rectangular pink barrier surrounds herself and blocks the initial strike, along with other attacks of familiar nature, and magic.

"I'm impressed by those of you who stood back and played it safer than your reckless classmates, this isn't a rile, but you'll have to do better.", Kima then shows her pupils are now slit like Kohaku's, "But I'll make sure you do so by bringing the battle to you!"

She then suddenly appears by a few of the students and palm thrusts them in a familiar fashion as the first batch of students she knocked down, then rushes to a group of students with Naegi amongst them.

One of the students creates ice under Kima's feet, and Naegi takes advantage with another force pulse.

Kima stomps hard on the floor, completely shattering the ice and jumping over the the pulse to strike from above.

Naegi, not caught off guard, already has another pulse square in Kima's airborne path. The various other students also take advantage of the opening.

Kima does the same hand gesture as before and traps each attack launched at her in a individual barrier.

Naegi howls as she manifests a ball and chain and slings the weapon at Kima.

Kima lands on one of her barriers and ducks to avoid the ball, then grabs the chain and yanks it, along with Naegi, towards her.

Naegi seems to momentarily be shocked, but she suddenly tights her grip as what could only be described as a huge burst of electricity discharges from Naegi and into Kima through the ball and chain, neither able to let go until Naegi suddenly falls slack and becomes unconcious, meanwhile the other students make an attempt on the sword.

The Headmaster has a look of utter suprise, "Wha-, what happened?!"

Kohaku looks at him, "You didn't know about this?"

"No, I didn't. We only knew about her Force Pulse.", the Headmaster responds with a shake of the head. Kohaku hums in response and a look of interest.

Kima slightly recovers then undos her barriers, to which all the attacks that are inside them are redirected at the students. While the students counter against the attacks, one manages to slip past and knocks down the sword.

The Headmaster blows a whistle, "Alright, it's over!"

Kima's eyes then turn back to normal, "Whew, that was a good job everyone. You did well.", she says with a warm smile.

Naegi remains motionless, sprawled unconscious on the floor.

"Oh my, it seems that expelling all that electricity drained her completely.", Kima says, "It's best to leave her alone for now. As for the rest of you please take this time to rest, and we'll announce the graduates after this young lady wakes up."

The students grumble a bit before filing out of the room, leaving the unconscious Naegi, who sparks with an occasional twinge of electricity.

"Well they obviously didn't seem pleased...", Kohaku says, "And it doesn't look like she'll wake up anytime soon, so get me some rubber gloves and I'll carry her to the infirmary."

A janitor gives Kohaku a pair and he puts them on and picks up Naegi, "Take care of the other classes Kima, I'll be back when she wakes up.", he then starts walking towards the nurses office.

"Okay big brother.", Kima replies.

"Alright, I'll get the next class then.", Headmaster says.

After several hours of inactivity, Naegi finally comes to, her eyes cracked open and an utterly exhausted look is on her face.

"Well, well, well, good morning princess you had a nice nap?", Kohaku asks looking up from his book.

"...Mr. Kohaku sir, is that you...? ...Where am I?"

"First of all, you don't have to call me 'Mr.' cause I'm not your boss, second we're in the infirmary. You knocked out after releasing a large discharge of electricity against my sister.", Kohaku responds putting his book down.

"..." She looks away for a moment, though her silence is paired with a clenching of her fists slightly. "...So that was... ...all I could manage..."

"You pass."

"Wh-what?" This seems to be enough to rouse her from her stupor. "How?"

"First, you played it safe in observing your opponent, second, you used every open oppurtunity to attack, and third, despite it putting you in danger you used a power that lead your group to victory.", Kohaku offers her a lollipop, "I will says this upfront, it was a pleasant surprise but you need to learn to control it better. When you unleash a large amount like that and you faint in battle, no one is gonna wait for you to wake up they'll take that opportunity to strike the killing blow."

"..." She silently takes the lollipop and stares at it quietly.

"You'll need the sugar.", Kohaku says.

The door then opens to reveal Kima who, despite being in so many fights with lots of students, doesn't look exhausted in the slightest, "Oh good, your awake. I was getting worried but I see your alright.", she says to Naegi with a warm smile.

Naegi looks at the two, before reluctantly putting the lollipop in her mouth.

Kohaku looks at Kima, "Anyway, how many students passed altogether from the other classes?", he asks.

"15, there were some I considered but they either had lack of self confidence or they relied too much on one ability.", Kima responds.

"Well I told her,", Kohaku gestures to Naegi, "That she passed her class, how many others from her class think are qualified? I only saw four others."

"Yeah, I saw only four too. But we can announce them now that she's awake. I already have her class and the students that passed in the auditorium, so we can announce the other students that past from her class and move on to the second half on where the students fight you. Speaking of which, how are you gonna have them do that?", Kima asks.

Kohaku shrugs, "Just one on one, nothing too complicated. Gives me a better shot at narrowing to the more qualified graduates.", Kohaku gets up and looks at Naegi.

"You feel better or do I need to carry you again?", Kohaku asks teasingly at the end.

He is rewarded with a pillow propelled by a force pulse into his face, a slight indignant look on Naegi's face.

"I'm just kidding,", Kohaku takes the pillow and puts it on the end of the bed, "you'll need to learn to not take everything seriously. Anyway let's go, we can't keep your fellow classmates waiting.", Kohaku then proceeds to walk out the door with Kima.

"..." She reluctantly gets out of bed and follows.

After walking for a bit they arrive at the auditorium. To the left are Naegi's classmates and to the right are the students that passed from the other classes.

Naegi doesn't look around, instead she silently joins her classmates.

Kohaku stands in front her class, "Alright, first things first, I bet your all anxious about who passed, well it's good news for five people.", Kohaku points at four people then points at Naegi, "...and you, rest of you can go ahead back to your classroom and help prepare for the graduation ceremony.", Kohaku tells them.

One of the students that didn't pass starts to complain, "Hey, wait minute! I don't get why short ears got to pass! She's a hybrid that doesn't even compare to the strength of a full breed elf, as far as i'm concerned she shouldn't even be in this academy!"

"Go suck a pacifier," Naegi hisses.

Kima gets between them, "Please calm down, this isn't the way you too should behave."

The student glares at Kima, "It's your fault for allowing her to pass in the first place. I still don't see why you two were able to make it into the Knights!", all of the sudden the student is vioelently pushed and pinned against the wall by a red scarf coming from Kohaku's back, to which the sudden action caused the students to jump in surprise.

Kohaku at this point is literally crunching on his lollipop, "Were you paying attention earlier or did you have your head up your ass?", Kohaku goes towards the student while his scarf was still holding him.

"If it's the latter then i'll say it again, numerous half-breeds work for Darkaria in the Army, Military, Laboratory, and my personal squad, the Dragonian Squad. I'll also state that there are half-breeds within the Darkaria Knights as well, five in total including me and my sister. So keep this in mind, while your focusing on redoing your year, Naegi could have already been accepted into the Knights. You got it?", Kohaku asks.

The scarf releases the student who then scrambles away. Kohaku looks at the other students who didn't pass, "Anyother petty complaints?"

No one says anything.

"Then get the hell out of here.", Kohaku says with a dragon growl.

The students, that didn't pass, obey and leave the auditorium.

Naegi crosses her arms. "You can stop doing that. I don't need false praise or people trying to deal with my problems for me." She looks away, closing her eyes.

Kima looks her, "We appreciate your honesty but at least be a little grateful. No one, not even the strongest, can deal with problems on their own."

"Hmph."

Kohaku gestures to the benches, "Alright everyone, please sit over there while I explain the next phase.", the students obey and sit on the benches.

Kohaku stands in front of them, "Alright as promised you get to fight me in which the victor gets to take my spot amongst the Knights. But there are a few rules and conditions i'll-!", all of the sudden a loud siren goes off.

The Headmaster immediately shouts, "All students, please evacuate to one of the underground safety rooms and-!", "Hold on a second there.", Kohaku says interrupting him.

"But sir, we must get the students to a safe location!", the Headmaster says pleadingly, but Kohaku raises a finger in response and close his eyes.

"Let's see...three, No four hundred and fifty...out of all of them...two hundred fallen angels...", all of the sudden Kohaku gets a sadistic smile on his face that sends a shiver, save for Kima, down everyone's spine.

He then looks at the students, "Alright kiddies change of plans, you won't be fighting me, instead you'll be getting a fist hand taste of real battle. Of course I won't let you go without an exit strategy in case your in trouble so come with me.", he gestures the students to follow.

"Kushinada.", Kohaku says through telepathy, "What is it Kohaku?", she responds, "I'll need fifteen teleporting talismans, meet me at border gate behind the third district.", "Very well then.", she responds.

Naegi clenches her fists faintly and follows Kohaku.

"All right, you better keep up.", Kohaku says to the students before darting forward and jumping on buildings with Kima following behind.

Naegi, far less acrobatic, runs along the streets after them.

After going through the third district and reaching the border gate, Kohaku and Kima wait for the students. A minute later they all arrive and Kohaku opens the gate. On the other side are sparsely put trees and grassy fields, and a young woman in a blue and black shrine maiden outfit walks towards them.

"Thanks for coming Kushinada.", Kohaku says.

"No problem.", she responds giving a red pouch to him, "I guess your putting these children through the wringer early?", Kushinada asks.

"Yup, thought I'd give them something to fall back on though just in case they get in trouble.", Kohaku says.

Kushinada nods, "Remember that Lord Tsubaki put their lives in your hands, so if they can't use these you better take the fall for them.", before she leaves she looks at the students and nods at them in acknowledgement.

Naegi merely adjusts her equipment in preparation.

Kohaku goes up to the students with the red pouch in his right hand then pulls out of it a bell with the kanji for 'fly' on it and attached to a red string, "Alright, all of you will take one of these. In order to use them you need to put the bell in the middle of both hands and hold them together, then insert any energy you possesse into it and it'll immediately place you into a safety net that'll take to a designated safety area. All of you got that?", he says holding the one in his hand out to the first student.

They nod, with Naegi unenthused, taking hers.

"Alright the first thing i want you all to do is split up in groups of three and spread out across the outskirts for the enemies. I'm gonna assign each of you to kill three enemies, one per person, and once you've killed someone you may not leave until the others in your group have made their respective kills and you may help them if they need it. It will only count though if the killing blow is done by the student who hasn't gotten theirs yet. Then once your all done use the bells and you'll be transported to a safe place but also use it if you feel overwhelmed in any way, don't be stubborn. Me and Kima will meet back with you guys at the safe place and i'll evaluate on who'll graduate, that understood?", Kohaku asks.

"Yes sir!"

"Alright then, get together with two other people for a group and once you've done that we'll head out.", Kohaku says to them.

"Alright, i guess i'll team up with you.', a female voice says from behind Naegi.

Naegi turns her head quizzically toward them.

The source of the voice is a naga who has yellow eyes, light blue and light green tipped hair held in two high ponytails and some on her forehead and framing her face, and her tail being a grey/blue color. She's wearing a modified Darkaria Military uniform with Darkaria armor on her waist, she's also wearing a few gold bracelets and has earrings on her pointy ears.

"What's with that look?", the naga asks.

"O-oh I... I've never seen a Naga is all. I've heard about them from my folks but..." She trails off. "...Looks like my first partner will be a Naga, umm... ...so what is your name?"

"Chihiro Hebiga. Yours?", she asks.

"Naegi. Pleasure to work with you," She offers.

Chihiro hums in response before looking around, after a bit of looking she has her sights set on a young man,

"Hey, you!", she shouts out to him.

The young man jumps and looks at her,

"Who? Me?", he asks.

"No your grandmother, yes you. You're gonna be part of our group so get your butt over here.", she responds.

He has a confused look on his face but races towards them regardless.

Naegi blinks at this exchange. "Huh... guess we have a group..."

Kohaku looks around and sees that everyone is grouped up,

"Alright then, if your all ready then let's go!", Kohaku then rushes towards a random direction with Kima following suit.

Naegi sucks in a breath, and begins scouting ahead.

Chihiro looks around her and begins flicking her forked tongue to sense any unusual smells, while the boy is also looking around in bushes and trees. All of the sudden they hear rustling leaves.

Naegi puts a hand on her longsword, making a ready stance as soon as she hears the leaves, "Identify yourself!"

Out of the leaves a spear comes flying towards Naegi.

Naegi cuts the spear in half as it approaches her, eyes narrowed.

A black feather appears in front of her and she's suddenly kicked.

She rolls back from the attack and slashes with her sword, causing a wave of force to bellow out from it in front of her.

The individual who kicked her flies up and avoids the attack, but Chihiro leaps up after him and whacks him to the ground with her tail.

Naegi charges forward, shooting a series of fireballs at him as she advances.

Though stunned the individual manages to dodge the fireballs and launches a barrage of feathers at her.

"You think your stupid discount feather dusters are gonna hurt me?! Eat it!" She snaps, launching another wave of force at the feathers, knocking them back the other way.

The individual dodges them, "Hah! You've got quit the mouth for a little girl-GAH!", he's then suddenly wrapped by Chihiro and she squeezes him tightly to make sure he can't move his arms or wings.

"You...you damn...naga-AH!", Chihiro squeezes tighter and looks at Naegi.

"What are you waiting for? Finish him off."

Naegi stretches out her hand and seems to summon a longbow out of light, and takes aim at the winged enemy's forehead and fires a razor sharp arrow.

The winged individual tries to move his head but Chihiro pushes it back in time for the arrow to go right through his skull. Chihiro then unwraps herself from the individual and lets his body fall to the ground,

"Fallen angel scum...", Chihiro says.

"Good work," Naegi remarks. She looks around. "Where do you think that guy went?"

Chihiro looks around and uses her tongue to sniff the air, "He's not far but...damn it!", she immediately rushes towards the bushes where the fallen angel came from.

Naegi follows her quickly.

After a few minutes Chihiro stops and puts her hand out to stop Naegi, she then sneakily pokes her head out along with Naegi. They both see a dead devil and the guy, wounded, fighting a elf wielding twin daggers.

"You not going to help him?" Naegi quickly asks.

Chihiro glares at her, "Of course I am, I might not know the guy but it's inexcusable to allow an ally to die. My mom would never forgive me and I'm almost positive Mr. Kohaku and or Lord Tsubaki would probably either hold us back or expel us from the academy, the later of which to where we would never be able to enter again and become what we wanted to be."

Naegi notches an arrow and fires it at the stomach of the elf, giving the naga a brief 'well come on' sort of look, before drawing another arrow.

The elf was completely taken off guard but before he could do anything Chihiro quickly wraps the elf and she then bares her long fangs and plunges them into his neck and injects venom into him and keeps a strong hold of him until her venom kicks in.

The elf manages to say a few words, "I...could understand...the...naga...but to allow myself...to be taken...by surprise...by a lowly...half...breed...!", he then isn't able say anymore due to the venom paralyzing him. Chihiro finishes him off by breaking his neck and unwraps herself from him letting his body hit the ground.

Naegi's face is shadowed as she walks over, and then Chihiro sees Naegi summon a large mace...

[This content has been deemed inappropriate for pretty much everyone. Please stand by...]

Naegi pants heavily, the elf's blood coating her face, especially the mace, their face totally unrecognizable.

"Let's.... go...!" She heaves, calming down from her momentary bloodlust.

The guy has a completely shocked look on his face and Chihiro has a lesser look of shock on her face, "Well...that was an interesting development. Anyway, were you the one who killed the devil?", she asks the guy.

It takes him a few seconds to break out of his stupor to answer, "Oh, uh...yeah I did. Though as you could tell by my condition he wasn't easy to deal with.", it seemed the guy wanted to add more to that but decided against it when he looked at Naegi.

The guy pulls out his bell and does as Kohaku instructed them to activate it, once he does a black energy surrounds him and compacts him into a small orb that then takes the form of a bird and immediately flies off to the west of them.

"I guess we can call that a wrap, huh?" She says, then rings the bell.

"Yeah.", Chihiro replies and they both activate the bells get transported the same way as the guy earlier. The next thing they know they're in front of a tall shinto shrine and notice Kushinada at the entrance. She sees them an immediately walks up to them,

"I hope that blood isn't yours.", she says to Naegi.

Naegi offers Kushinada a faint smile, which speaks for itself. "No, it's not mine, but rather that of someone who was a wise ass. ...More to the point, where's that guy we were working with?"

"Once he arrived I immediately got my cousins to bring him in and treat his wounds. He had the most severe injuries out of the students so far but he will not die."

"...Ah." Naegi says, then puts away her weapons, getting out a cloth and wiping off her face.

"Go on ahead inside. Though you may not look like it, my cousins will look you over for wounds and anything else.", Kushinada gestures towards the shrine.

Naegi frowns before reluctantly doing as she says.

Chihiro follows her and they enter the shrine. Inside is comprised of two stories with two flight of stairs leading to an upper level and in between is a slightly elevated part with a large cushion on it, there's also numerous doors leading to different rooms. They are greeted by two more priestesses both wearing a similar outfit to Kushinada but one of them is human, with pink eyes and grey hair cut short with longer strands held by round braid clips, and the other is a demon fox/human-breed with light brown eyes and long white hair held into two low ponytails by white and gold ribbons with two bells attached as well as two fox like ears perched on top of her head and three white fluffy tails.

"Hello!", the half-breed greets them excitingly, "We'll be looking you two over in case you have any hidden injuries and are too stubborn to admit it, so i'll have you come with me!", she then grabs Naegi by the hand and begins to drag her to one of the rooms.

The grey haired girl sighs, "I swear, she doesn't seem to know the meaning of the word 'moderation'.", she looks at Chihiro, "Please follow me.", she walks to a different room with Chihiro following behind her.

"W-w-w-w-where are we going?! You're going to pull my arm off!" Nagei stammers.

"Relax, i'm just gonna check you over in one of the rooms. I'm gonna have to ask you to strip to your undies so we wouldn't want any perverts, unless your into that sort of thing.", the fox half-breed gives her a teasing smile at the end and opens a door.

Naegi gives her a light glare and follows her into the room, and only lets her examine her once the door is shut. "I will find a spray bottle for every time you make fun of me," She returns with a grunt.

The half-breed chuckles, "Relax, I wouldn't let that happen. My name's Kaede by the way.", she says before examining Naegi and feeling around for bumps and bruises.

Naegi merely grunts, a bit anxious about being examined.

After a few minutes Kaede speaks, "Alright you look good. You can put your clothes back on."

Naegi wastes no time getting clothed again. "...Hey, do you know if the boy that was with us is doing ok?"

"Yeah he's alright. He's resting along with the others who came here before you guys did. I'll bring you to them so you can wait for the other students and Kohaku and Kimahara.", Kaede grabs Naegi's hand again but doesn't pull with as much force as before and guides her out of the room to where the others are.

Naegi takes a seat once they reach the room, a bit tired.

Chihiro enters the room, along with the priestess that was with her, and sits near Naegi.

"...So uh... nice to work with you. You think we'll pass?"

"Hopefully, we may have not been the fastest but you and me got away without a slight scratch but with that guy being as wounded as he was it might reduce our chances.", she looks at the guy they were with, with numerous bandages and patches on him, laying on one of the futons in the room with a bull demon/human half breed sitting next to him.

"I wouldn't worry about it. You pretty much helped carry my kill and you wrecked the elf guy pretty hard."

"Yeah I suppose...!", as they were talking another priestess comes up to them, she has blue eyes and long brown hair with a large white and gold ribbon on top of her head and is wearing the same standard outfit as the other priestesses. She's holding a tray that consists of tea and snacks.

"Hello, I didn't mean to interrupt you but we're all ordered to give you something to eat and drink while you wait.", she puts the tray between them and pours them each a cup of tea and hands one to each of them. She then bows and walks off as other priestesses do the same thing to the other students.

"..." She eats the snacks provided, but as for the tea, she looks as though she could imagine many other things she'd rather be drinking...

"What's wrong?", Chihiro asks.

"...I don't like tea..." She mutters.

Chihiro raises an eyebrow.

Naegi quietly pushes her tea toward Chihiro. "You can have mine..." She mutters again.

Chihiro sighs, "At least drink a little bit so you-!", the tea is immediately grabbed by someone else. They look to see Kohaku now drinking it, "I may be a sweets person but there's just some sort of comforting familiarity with drinking tea, guess I've got my mother to thank for that."

"Epp!" Naegi squeaks, before regaining her composure. "...Oh, you..." She fidgets.

"Yes, me. I see you two are alright, though the guy that was with you isn't though.', Kohaku responds before taking another sip of tea.

"Yeah, he got the short end of the stick and got rushed. It was the opposite situation for us two though. ...Though that elf was a stupid little..." She pulls back her temper before the choice words slip.

Kohaku kneels in front of her and looks into her eyes like he did before. After few seconds he smirks, "Well that pig got what he deserved, though I would've given you extra credit if you did that to him while he was alive. But you made up for it with the way you killed that fallen angel pig without hesitation or remorse, along with both of you helping each other out during your respective kills."

"What can I say? I'm just a weak nothing, so I need to work hard with my team, I don't have the strength of someone like Chihiro to fight on my own terms. ...Wait. You were watching that..." Naegi looks away and flushes, embarrassed he saw her temper tantrum against the elf.

Kohaku chuckles, "I'm just keeping an extra eye out, the bastard would have my ass if I let you all die. I do advise you keep your bloodlust at a level where it doesn't cloud your judgment.", Kohaku's eyes then turn dark, "And another thing, I never want to hear you degrade yourself like that ever again."

"...You're not into me are you...?" She says, countering his stern look with a creeped out one.

Kohaku gives her a questioning look, "Where the fuck did that come from? I'm just saying you shouldn't think with that mindset or else this is as far as you'll go in strength. Or are you looking for pity?"

Naegi glances at the priestesses nearby before continuing. "You saw what happens to people who give me 'pity'. I'd advise against it. Besides, not sure how else you'd explain what you're doing, you... ...look, it's not important. I just don't need rumors about how the 5th ranking Knight seems to be doting on me. I already get mockery for my weakness, I don't need jealous girls wanting to backstab me on top of it."

"In technicalities this is how the bastard taught me and look where it's got me. I feel more sympathy than pity for you alright? And besides no one who has a good conscious will backstab you, even those living under rocks will know that if anyone kills a resident of Darkaria while being one themselves will either be banished or given the death penalty.", Kohaku says before getting up.

"..." Naegi doesn't respond.

"You both pass so relax while I go talk to the other students present.", he puts down the cup he was holding and walks off.

"...Well, congrats. You certainly earned it," Naegi says, turning her head to Chihiro.

"You didn't do to bad yourself, though I agree with Mr. Kohaku.", Chihiro responds.

"...Let's not and say we did, alright?" Naegi responds exasperatedly.

"Fine.", Chihiro says pouring herself more tea.

After a while the rest of the students came in, some not injured to some as injured as the guy in their group. Kohaku finished talking to them and stood in the middle of the room.

"Alright everyone good job, all of the intruders were killed so you all did Darkaria good.", he tells them.

Naegi, who had been about to doze off, sits up straight and listens.

"After talking to you all and 'seeing' how your battles went you all have passed. During the graduation ceremony all of the heads of the different sections that make up Darkaria's forces will be present, along with the Knights that are able to make it, and of course Tsubaki will be present to give you your diplomas personally. Can't imagine a greater way to end the school years now can you?", Kohaku asks with a smile.

Naegi can't help but sweat faintly at the idea. ''We're actually going to meet more than two of the Knights? ...Damn I hope I don't embarrass myself.''

Kushinada enters the room, "So everyone is here?", "Yeah, so we'll make our way back to the school. Thanks for helping out Kushinada.", Kohaku tells her.

"Hey, what about us?", Kaede asks with some of the other priestesses around her. Kohaku sighs, "Yes, thank you for helping us out.", Kaede, along with some of the other priestesses, squeal in joy.

Kushinada speaks up, "By the way, Lord Tsubaki wishes to speak to you when you get back about your 'graduation' exam.", upon hearing this Kohaku goes stiff.

''That settles it, he's a total beta. Then again, it is Lord Tsubaki we're talking about... ''Naegi thinks to herself with a super faint smirk. She turns toward Chihiro.

"So, getting weak in the knees over the idea of meeting him?" She asks her teasingly.

Chihiro faintly smiles, "Oh very funny. Though I will admit I have butterflies in my stomach over the thought of meeting him face to face."

"Well I have knees and I have no doubt as the resident running joke, I will find a way to out embarrass anyone in attendance..." Naegi says before sighing. "What a day..."

Kohaku deeply sighs, "Alright everyone lets head back, and those that can handle their own weight please assist those that are injured if they need it."

They leave the shrine, with the priestesses bowing and waving goodbye, and go back to the door they came out of behind the third district. Once they get back into city limits Kohaku immediately freezes in his tracks and before anyone can say anything they see a black limousine.

Naegi just watches, noting Kohaku's reaction.

A door opens and out comes Kinkaku and immediately upon seeing him Kohaku tries to walk away but is stopped by a voice, "Don't even think about it Kohaku.", the owner of voice steps out and everyone recognizes him as Tsubaki.

Naegi's eyes widen faintly, but she says nothing, reading the tension in the air.

Everyone around them begins to mutter, behind him Ginkaku and Kimahara step out of the limousine with Ginkaku having the same calm expression as Kinkaku but Kimahara having a nervous smile and worried expression her face. After a few minutes of Tsubaki and Kohaku staring at each other the latter sighs and slouches in surrender. Tsubaki then looks at the students,

"I apologize for Kohaku putting yourselves in danger like that. I thought it would be best to drive you all back to the academy after hearing that some of of you we're injured so you wouldn't have to walk all the way back in the conditions that you were in. So please, let's be on our way.", Tsubaki says gesturing to the limousine.

Naegi looks at Chihiro and mouths, 'No way,' to her.

Chihiro just shrugs while the other students, that are kinda flabbergasted at the sudden turn of events, start walking to the limousine.

Naegi follows, still incredulous.

Once all the students are inside, Ginkaku enters and sits on the far side of the seat by the door, then Kimahara sits beside him, followed by Tsubaki, a hesitant Kohaku, then Kinkaku who closes the door behind him.

Once inside Tsubaki addresses the students, "I'm aware that the priestesses catered to you while you were waiting, but if they didn't have anything that coincide with your food preference then help yourselves.", he gestures to the cabinets and fridge to the opposite side of the students.

There's no way they'd have mother's ginger drinks... that's all I can think about... Naegi spends the rest of the time thinking about just how her mom makes those drinks...

They arrive at the school and everyone steps out, with some needing assistance. Once out Tsubaki looks at the students, "I contacted your parents and let them now you'll be late coming home, and I also took the liberty of asking the school staff to gather your stuff for you. You can find your belongings on your desks in your classrooms. I'll be heading back to my home so I'll see you all tomorrow."

Ginkaku, Kimahara, Tsubaki, Kohaku, and Kinkaku reenter the limousine with Kimahara waving at the students and Kohaku having a stiff and somewhat scared expression, once inside the limousine drives off.

Naegi sighs, and then begins walking off towards her classroom, eager to head home, and grabs her things, setting off for home.

She notices Chihiro slithering towards the front entrance.

"Nice to have worked with you. Hope you do well, wherever you end up." Naegi greets her as she goes.

Chihiro looks at her, "Well judging by our outfits we'll be going to the Military so we'll end up in the same place, though we might see each other often but it depends if we're put under the same supervisor or not."

"Mmm. Well, see you." With that, she heads home.

Settling In
Once at the palace Tsubaki gets Kohaku to follow him to his room while making Kimahara to wait outside the door with Kinkaku and Ginkaku, who are making sure no one interrupts. They enter with Kohaku being extremely nervous as Tsubaki takes off his coat and hangs it before sitting at a large couch in front of the fireplace on the left side of the room. He looks at Kohaku, who notices his eyes aren't red, and gestures him to come over. Kohaku hesitantly sits next to him and after a few moments of uncomfortable silence Tsubaki speaks up,

"I understand that your method of training your followers is the only way you know how, but bringing that kind of training to children who haven't even seen a glimpse of real combat is something I find inexcusable. Though I do find it considerate that you kept a close eye on them during your own battling against enemy forces, even stepping in to save that one boy from being fatally struck by that elf."

Kohaku sighs, "I know...even after all those years of you training me my mindset still isn't in the right place, but I guess due to my sibling instincts I just felt the need to look after them. So I guess that's one saving grace about me..."

"Is the latter the reason you didn't like the way the half elf was viewing herself?", Tsubaki asks.

"Yeah...with me dealing with a lot of kids with similar viewpoints of being 'useless' or 'waste of space' I guess when she mentioned that I just couldn't but try to break her out of that mindset like I've done with other kids.", Kohaku responds.

Kohaku then feels a hand gently ruffling his hair, seeing it's Tsubaki's hand, and relaxes against it while showing a small smile, "I understand your intentions, but lets try and let her break out of that mindset ok?", Tsubaki says.

"Alright...I know I'm setting myself up for this, but what about the main reason you wanted to see me?", Kohaku asks as Tsubaki continues to ruffle his hair.

"I won't whip you, but you'll be restricted from any jobs related to fallen angels for a week.", Kohaku grumbles when Tsubaki says that.

Tsubaki sighs and gently pats his back, "Go on, get ready for tomorrow, and make sure you fix your hair to look more professional.", "I will don't worry.", Kohaku says before getting up and leaving.

He exits the room and sees Kimahara rushing up to him, "You alright?", she asks with worry.

"Don't worry, I was only punished with not being able to take fallen angel jobs. I'm pretty this is one the most satisfying punishments for me isn't it?", Kohaku looks at Kinkaku and Ginkaku with a mocking smirk. They both glare at him, "Watch your tongue...", "Kohaku."

Kohaku just chuckles before leaving with Kimahara behind him.

Naegi sighs, tired after her walk home. She walks up to the front door, and knocks. "I'm home," She says quietly, exhausted.

The front door opens to reveal her mom, "Hi, honey. How did it go?"

"It um... ...I passed? I think? I don't know, it was a long day... there was the snake girl, the obsessive pink guy, think he's a stalker, we got into a fight with fallen angels, oh, and did I mention f*cking Tsubaki showed up? He, uh, kinda did. And maybe have taken us back to school in a freaking limo."

Her mothers eyes are wide, "Wow...you had quit the eventful day, and I'm quite proud of you for passing. We should definitely celebrate, my little girl is growing up."

"...I'm not little..." Naegi mutters, face slightly pouting.

"Sorry honey but you'll always be my little girl. Can't wait to tell your father and your siblings."

"...Tell them away, meanwhile I am going to pass out on the bed..." She says, entering and immediately making for her room.

Before she enters her room she's stopped by one of her siblings voice, "Hey! Did I hear right that you passed lil' sis?", her older brother asks.

"...Yeah. We had a weird guy stand in for the usual examiners today...."

"Weird guy?", the youngest of her older twin sisters asks.

"Guy who kept sticking his nose into my business, pink haired guy. Probably would know him better as Kohaku, the Fifth."

"Oh, he was probably looking out for you since your a...you know...", the older twin sister says.

Naegi briefly turns toward her sister, before entering her room and closing the door without a word.

"Oops, probably shouldn't of mentioned that." the older twin sister says, "Yeah you probably shouldn't of.", the younger twin sister responds.

They hear Naegi's door lock, and soon after the muffled sound of Naegi plopping down onto her bed with a sigh, a thud soon follows as she tosses her things on the floor.

"She sounds exhausted let's let her sleep.", the older brother says to his sisters then leaves with them following him.

In the morning, Naegi gets up early and begins preparing her uniform, and once she has done that, she makes a quick breakfast and begins getting her stuff packed, knowing she will soon have to move to a barracks. Once this is done, she heads out the door, not before grabbing one of her mother's ginger drinks, and heads to the graduation site, knowing she'll have to get there an hour early, with the graduation itself being public an hour and a half after the graduates actually all arrive.

Once she arrives, she gets settled in, and waits for the ceremony to begin.

One by one the students that had passed start coming into the designated room for them to wait, and last to come in is Chihiro who sits near Naegi. After a while the principle comes in,

"Alright students, please follow me to the auditorium so we can get the graduation started.", the students stand up and follow him.

Once inside the auditorium they sit at there designated seats and see that their families are sitting in the stands cheering for them. After a minute the principle steps up to the mic.

"Students, I congratulate you on making it this far. You have proven yourselves to be worthy of fighting for Darkaria and I hope you continue to grow stronger during your career as soldiers and hopefully reach greater heights. I also thank your families for raising such promising and valuable students to push Darkaria's objective closer to it's goal. ", everyone present cheers and claps in response.

"Now then, I'd like our esteemed guests to step up to the stands. First are the Darkaria Knights.", at the introduction the Knights start walking onto the stand in a single file, they are all wearing a Darkaria uniform with some with modifications.

"I'll introduce them to you, first I'd like for you to note that No.2 Yami Izayoi, and No.3 Shiroyuki Hana are unable to be with use due to them fighting for Darkaria. In their places respectively are the 1st Commander of the Darkaria Army Danuja Haranuki and the 1st Commander of the Darkaria Military Masato Inuzuma.", the audience cheers and they both wave in response.

"Next are No.4 Zaraki Inumuta, No.5 Kohaku Ryuuga, No.6 Sosuke Amagai, No.7 Kon Sugimori, No.8 Kimahara Ryuuga, No.9 Tsuchigumo Moiiretsu, No.10 Hanabi Mira, No.11 Tsukimaru Gekko, No.12 Hannibal, No13 Mai Kusagishi, No.14 Kushinada, and No.15 Yomi Saiho.", the audience cheers louder for them and they each either wave or give a head bow in response.

"Alright next up it's with great honor and privilege to introduce you Lord Tsubaki and No.1 of the Knights Kinkaku and Ginkaku.", Tsubaki and Kinkaku and Ginkaku enter, wearing the same Darkaria uniforms as the others, and the audience cheer loudly in response.

The principle bows to Tsubaki and steps away from the mic to let the latter talk, "Students, as the Lord of Darkaria I am honored and privileged to have such promising young ones join the fighting force. This proves to me you are completely dedicated towards Darkaria's goals for peaceful equality, and I hope you'll give your all to take us to that goal. Remember that you all have a choice, whether to continue your chosen career path or to leave. If you choose the latter I will not judge you, you've made your decision and I will not change it I will respect it. Irregardless, I hope that your actions will continue to help yourselves, and all of Darkaria, to grow towards a brighter future.", when he finishes he's meet with applause and cheers from everyone.

The principle steps up to the mic, "Alright students, I will call your names one by one and when I do please come up and get your diploma from Lord Tsubaki.", he then starts calling students names.

"Tatsuki..."

"Inachi..."

"Chihiro Hebiga..."

"Naegi..."

Naegi stands up and begins to walk towards Tsubaki, her legs like lead as she approaches. She comes to a stop before him and waits for her diploma.

Upon getting close she hears her families cheering, "WOO! Way to go Naegi!", her big brother shouts.

Naegi flinches, but forces a smile.

"I see you have a very supportive family. That's good, hopefully that support will drive you to protect them.", Tsubaki says to Naegi as he hands her diploma.

"...Thank you." She makes her way back to her seat.

Just before she sits down and the principle announces another student there's a sudden black out.

Oh for crying out loud...

Among the audiences small shrieks and gasps there's also the sound of fighting being done on the stand where Tsubaki is. After a minute the lights turn back on revealing Kushinada, Yomi, Mai, and Kima in front of the students, Hannibal, Kon, Tsukimaru, Tsuchigumo, Sosuke and Hanabi in the audience stands, and Kohaku, Zaraki, Danuja, Masato, Kinkaku and Ginkaku around the stand with a fallen angel pinned to ground by Tsubaki.

Naegi narrows her eyes. ''Seriously? Is the enemy just stupid or something...?''

"I'm impressed that you bypassed our sensory powers, however your attempts to attack me by yourself was foolish.", Tsubaki says.

The fallen angels growls, "Your too soft, your father would've killed me off the moment I-AH!", Tsubaki harshly twists his arm.

"I highly advise you not to mention him in any shape or form, least you want to see how I can turn from 'soft' in a heartbeat. I'd rather not taint this stand with blood so I'll let you off with a warning, though I'm sure it'll do you no good when you return to him as he'll more than likely kill you for this.", Tsubaki opens a portal via his shadows and throws the fallen angel into it before immediately closing it.

Danuja starts complaining, "Aw, I was hoping to cut him down.", "Is that the only thing you thought of besides the publics well being?", Masato asks her with a glare, "Don't worry, I wouldn't dare make that big of a mess.", Danuja responds casually, "That's not what I meant you fool.", Masato responds with a growl.

Naegi sits down, just wanting things to move along.

Tsubaki straightens his suit and tie before looking to the principle, "Sorry about that, please continue.", "Yes my Lord.", the principle responds.

After announcing the rest of the students the principle once again addresses the students, "Once again, thank you for your hard work in making it this far. I hope you all develop into capable warriors in protecting and fighting for Dakaria. The next thing on our agenda is for you all to meet your new superiors, so I'll ask the representatives of 2, 3, and the Knights 4 and 5 to come up to the stand.", Danuja, Masato, Zaraki, and Kohaku do as he says.

"Now, those going to the Army please come up to Danuja, those joining the Military please come up to Masato, those joining the Research and Laboratory please come up to Zaraki, and those joining the Dragonion Squad please come up to Kohaku.", the principle says to the students.

Naegi stands and makes her way to Masato.

Chihiro follows close behind her as other students go to their respective superiors. Once up to him Masato greets them, "Hello, it's nice to meet some capable looking soldiers. My name is Masato Inuzuma, the 1st Commander of the Darkaria Military. I may not be in charge of you since you are going to a different squad, but nonetheless I expect obedience when I give orders. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir.", Naegi says without hesitation.

"Yes sir.", Chihiro says in timing with Naegi.

"Although in all honesty I think such capable warriors are being wasted.", Danuja says walking up to Masato.

He glares at her, "This is their choice, you should know better than to disrespect that."

Danuja holds up her hands, "i'm not, I just think if they're seeking to get stronger they should be in the Army.", she then looks at Naegi and Chihiro, "I'm not gonna ask you two to switch sections but if you ever wish to become stronger you know where to find us."

"I'll... keep that in mind..." Naegi says, not wishing to offend in spite of her lack of interest in the subject.

Danuja walks back to the Army recruits and Masato sighs, "I swear that woman, she's pretty much making that excuse so she can fight more often. However that's your choice though I will warn you that she might toy with you, depending on her mood."

"After the amount of foolery I experienced in the Academy, I expect to be messed with, sir." Naegi responds.

"At least that helps you in the long run to a certain degree.", Masato replies.

The principle speaks again, "Alright, if all the students are with their designated section then you may go ahead and go to your new homes. You may see your families before you leave."

Naegi bows to Masato, and briefly shows her respects to her family, before heading out with the new Military recruits to their barracks.

They enter a large vehicle that drives them to the third district where they see all the buildings with an icy design. At the end of the district is a large icy building composed of five stories and smaller buildings attached to it. Once they enter the building Masato looks around then looks at one of the Military soldiers, "Where is my lieutenant?", "She's in the training grounds, more than likely adjusting and practicing her bow sir.", the soldier responds.

Masato sighs, "I see.", he then looks at Naegi and Chihiro, "You two will be sharing the same room, however I can't show since men aren't allowed in the women's barracks and vice versa. Would you please go to the training grounds to find my lieutenant? She'll escort you to the barracks, and if your not sure about her appearance she's a nekomata with a large bow."

"...Wait what? What's this about a shared room?" Naegi asks, dumbstruck.

"That was direct orders from your Commander that you'll be under.", Masato responds.

"..." Naegi wordless begins walking toward the training grounds.

Chihiro follows her and they both enter the training grounds, they take a look around and notice a girl with her back facing them but notice her cat ears, twin tails, and a large bow in her hands with her testing the string.

"Excuse me, we were told to ask you about the barracks, we're new and we kinda don't know where to go..." Naegi trains off.

The girl doesn't respond and continues testing the bow string.

"Hey, we need you to take us to the women's barracks!", Chihiro says loudly but is ignored as well and shows clear irritation due to being ignored.

Naegi glares at her for a moment, before eyeing a pebble, testing its weight, and then abruptly pelting the back of the nekomata with it.

"Hey!"

The next thing she knows an arrow flies close to her face and hits the wall behind her, while she's processing what had happened she's suddenly held in a choke hold.

"Mr. Masato is gonna hear about this if you don't let go! Are you crazy or what?!"

"Mr. Masato...as in the Commander? What did he send you here for?", the nekomata asks.

"We were hollering at you to help us find the barracks, but apparently attacking the new girls is how you get you kicks..." Naegi seethes.

The nekomata's ear twitches and begins to think. After a moment she releases Naegi, "Oh, that's right. My commander told of new recruits coming. Though I must've forgot in favor of adjusting my bow, my apologies."

Naegi's only response is initially a series of grumbles. "Can you just take us to our room... I'm tired..."

"As you wish, please follow me.", the nekomata picks up her bow and walks towards one of the buildings with Naegi and Chihiro following behind her. They eventually enter the women's barracks and go up to the second floor where the nekomata opens a door to a room containing two dressers, closets, and a full sized bed.

"..." Naegi looks at Chihiro, and then at the bed. "...I-I guess it could be worse... ...we just have to mind each other's personal space! Right! Thi-this'll be easy!" Naegi nervously laughs.

Chihiro looks at the nekomata, "There's a heater here right?"

"No, your mom ordered not to include one, she said you need to apply yourself more.", the nekomata responds to which Chihiro's eyebrow twitches in annoyance,

"Well what am I suppose to do without a body heater?"

The nekomata shrugs, "Share body heat."

Chihiro then has a look of shock on her face, one which is shared by Naegi. "...Easy....." She groans. Not wanting to escalate the situation, she puts her things down in the room and sits on the bed, rubbing her temples.

Chihiro goes into the room and the nekomata speaks again, "You'll be woken at 6 in the morning so get some rest, you'll also receive your first set of orders.", the nekomata closes the door.

"..." Naegi quietly walks to her side of the bed's closet and shuts herself in, the rustling of clothes can be heard, and when she comes out, she is wearing blue pajamas. Wordlessly, she slips into the bed and covers her head with her pillow.

Chihiro does the same and come out in green pajamas that are fit for a nagas build. She slips into the bed and turns out the lights and curls around herself to try to keep herself warm.

Come morning, Naegi wakes up before Chihiro, and tries to move, only to find that Chihiro had coiled her snake half around her rather tightly, and the most she can do is wiggle, which doesn't remotely help. Quickly giving up, she resigns herself to being held hostage by the sleeping naga, until she wakes up, however long that takes...

Naegi feels Chihiro stirring and hears her yawn, after a few moments she hears Chihiro speak, "...we speak of this to no one."

Naegi sighs. "Believe me, I don't think being a living thermostat for one's occupation is something to brag about. Now get off..."

They then hear a small sound to which they look at their bed post to see a mechanical bird. Before they do or say anything the bird suddenly loudly caws, causing both to jump out of the bed in surprise.

Naegi's natural instinct is to fling a pillow at the bird.

The bird dodges it and exits through a little door on the main door but in a mechanical voice says, "MEET IN CAFETERIA IN 10 MINUTES OR NO FOOD FOR YOU.", before leaving and closing the little door.

Naegi more insistently starts pushing Chihiro. "Come on, mooooooove!"

"How bout you stop pushing me?!", Chihiro hisses loudly before uncoiling herself and getting her uniform.

Naegi grumbles as she gets up and hides in her closet, getting dressed.

Chihiro is already done getting dressed and waits outside in the hallway for Naegi.

Naegi finishes, but stumbles out of the closet, awkwardly joining Chihiro.

"The eating area is this way if i remember correctly.", Chihiro says before slithering down the hallway.

Naegi follows hastily, not wanting to be late.

They reach the eating area and see a majority of the military officers. At one side of the area is a large table where Masato and his lieutenant are sitting at, and sitting with them is a white haired woman in a large military modified dress and sitting next her is a lion boy who's adjusting one of the machine birds that came to wake the two of them.

Naegi looks around. "Suppose we should find a seat and get some food."

Chihiro looks around and notices some empty seats in a corner, "There's some...no, my mom wouldn't like that...", she looks around again and sees some seats near the commanders and lieutenants table, "Lets sit over there.", Chihiro says pointing.

"You sure they won't mind?" Naegi asks.

"The General actually encourages socializing among her soldiers, so even socializing with the higher ups is allowed. Though it should be when they're free, wouldn't want to bother them when they're busy finishing miles of paperwork.", Chihiro states and starts slithering towards the seats.

Naegi reluctantly follows Chihiro's lead, seating herself quickly.

Once Chihiro sits down the lion boy looks up from his machine and looks at them, "Oh hey, you the new kids right?"

Naegi quietly nods. "Yes sir..."

"No need to be formal with me, we're comrades now and should treat each other as such. Names Reiji Kishimaki, the lieutenant of the third military battalion."

"You're still a commanding officer, that's more than a little too disrespectful." She eyes the machine bird.

Reiji sighs, "Can't say I tried...though i do find it amusing that you tried to hit one of the birds with a pillow."

"...So you were watching." Naegi says, eyes squinting.

Chihiro stiffens, "Does that mean he saw..."

"K, so... Can you like... ...not say anything about that... ...cause... that's just super awkward." Naegi says, squinting harder.

"About what?", Reiji asks.

"Chihiro, can you explain this to him."

CHihiro is hesitant but speaks, "Me...being coiled around her..."

Reiji blinks a few times, "Uh...actually I didn't receive any report of you guys doing that. Though it's heart warming knowing that you two are getting along so well.", he says before smiling.

Naegi looks at Chihiro slowly. "Can I hit him?"

"That would be way too disrespectful, plus you'd get in trouble."

"Reiji, please don't embarrass them. It's obvious that they're not proud of what happened and don't wish to talk about it.", the woman in the military dress say.'

'Sorry ma'am, didn't mean it.", Reiji says before scratching the back of his head.

Naegi becomes far more interested in the floor.

"What's wrong dear?", the woman asks.

Naegi doesn't respond, her face burning red.

"Very well, I won't push it. Besides it's breakfast time.", right when she says that a bell rings, "Alright everyone! Get in line at the buffet, no pushing or cutting in or else you won't get anything!", the head chef shouts out. Everyone immediately gets up and heads towards the buffet forming a neat line.

Naegi only gladly investigates the pancakes, getting as many as five and drenching them in syrup and butter.

"Is that honestly all your getting?", Chihiro asks as she gets a few pieces of bacon.

"I live for pancakes." She says, getting a glass of orange juice.

Chihiro rolls her eyes with an amused smile and gets herself a glass of milk and heads to her seat.

She follows and sits down. "You just don't understand the greater pleasure in life that is pancakes."

"Alright, alright. I get that you love pancakes but don't go try spreading the gospel about them.", Chihiro says before taking a bite out of her eggs.

"Whatever you say, egg eater." Naegi teases, before tearing into her pancakes.

Everyone else had gotten their chosen food items and sat down at the tables. After a few minutes of everyone eating and chatting a scout comes in through one of the set of doors, "Commander Masato! Commander Emiko!", once they heard their names they both look up.

The scout goes up to them, "What is it?", Masato asks the scout.

"I came back from the Fourth District, more specifically the Laboratory, and Mr. Inumuta received a message from General Shiroyuki in which she requested some backup. She said a few soldiers had taken some major injuries and need to be transported back in exchange for replacements.", the scout says.

Masato taps his fingers in thought, "I see, did she request for any specific or simply needs any available soldiers?"

"She requested the new recruits as replacements, sir.", the scout responds. Neagi and Chihiro then feel numerous pairs of eyes on them.

"Hmm? Us?" Naegi asks, having just finished eating a pancake.

"Any specific reason as to why?", Emiko asks.

"She wishes to gauge their abilities.", the scout answers.

Masato looks at Naegi and Chihiro, "Answer me with honesty, do you feel ready to go on an assignment so soon after getting here or do you wish to decline and allow someone else to go instead?"

"...It's the Military, of course we should be ready to serve if called. I'm here to fight, not worry about whatever people think of me. I'm no kid."

Masato smiles, "Good answer. Go back to the Fourth District and tell Inumuta to get the transportation device ready in ten minutes.", he says to the scout.

"Yes, sir!", the scout salutes and heads out.

"Finish eating then go to your rooms to get your weapons. You'll also get another piece of equipment once we reach the lab.", Masato says to Naegi and Chihiro.

Naegi stares at her pancakes, before attacking them with gusto, tearing into them like a vicious wolf, chugging juice off and on, before finishing and wasting no time in heading off to prepare.

"Jeez, there is a thing called pacing you know.", Chihiro says finishing off her drink before following Naegi.

Naegi heeds her not, and is well in no time at their room, getting her armor and weaponry equipped.

Chihiro meets her speed in getting ready, once she is done they immediately head to the entrance of the headquarters where Masato, his lieutenant, and a similar vehicle to the one they rode in when they first got there are waiting.

Naegi looks at the vehicle. "Our ride?"

"Yes, we mostly use these vehicles in emergencies and since your helping in taking down an enemy that could help increase Darkaria's good reputation we need to get to the labs as soon as possible, so please get in.", Masato says.

Naegi and Chihiro enter the vehicle with Masato and his lieutenant getting in after them. Once inside the driver starts the vehicle and races towards the labs.

First Mission
After a few minutes of going through the third and middle districts they reach the lab. Masato steps out of the vehicle with his lieutenant behind him to let Naegi and Chihiro out, "Just go up to the door and ring the bell, if they ask why your here tell them that your here on General Shiroyuki's orders as replacements."

"Yes sir." Naegi gets out and waits for Chihiro.

"Do your best for Darkaria, but make sure to come back or else your families will miss you.", Masato says.

Chihiro slithers next to Naegi and watch as Masato and his lieutenant leave in the vehicle they came in.

"Do you want to ring the bell?", Chihiro asks Naegi.

Naegi eyes her for a moment before going to ring it.

They then hear a voice over an intercom, "Who is it?"

"Naegi and Chihiro from the Military. We're new recruits sent on General Shiroyuki's orders." Naegi says firmly.

The two front doors slid open to reveal a lab assistant in a white lab coat and a full body white suit with a mask that covers his face save for the eyes covered by gold colored glasses.

"Well, you guys beat the time in which the teleportation device was suppose to be fired up. Though do come in, I'll direct you to a waiting room.", the assistant says beckoning to follow.

Naegi follows. "...I hate waiting..." Naegi grumbles quietly to Chihiro.

"We have no choice, we came in early. Besides it'd be rude to rush them even if we're on direct orders.", Chihiro quietly responds.

They are lead into a small room with two large couches, a coffee table in the middle, a bookshelf, a mini fridge, and a large screen T.V., "Please take a seat in here, if he's in the mood, Mr. Inumuta might come and greet you guys.", the lab assistant says before leaving.

Naegi sits down, but Chihiro can tell the half elf is fidgety, anxious for her first real field mission.

"Guess your just as restless as I am.", Chihiro says before coiling herself on the couch.

Naegi grunts, too restless to relax and investigate anything in the room.

"I suggest you relax, it'll do you no good being restless and then getting tired out by the time you reach your destination.", they hear a voice at the door say.

They both look to see the person that they recognize as Zaraki Inumuta from the graduation ceremony, though he's dressed in more casual clothes with a large lab coat.

"O-oh Mr Zaraki, Sir. I'll umm... ...keep that in mind, I guess..." Naegi says, partially startled.

"No need to be formal, just call me Inumuta.", he responds.

"Mm..." She grunts, looking away a bit. She relaxes, but only a little.

All of the sudden they hear a female voice shouting, "Franklin! Did you steal my last pudding cup?!", "I didn't see your name on it so why are you mad?", a male voice responds calmly, "Cause I bought them for myself you jackass!", "You shouldn't be greedy you obnoxious bitch.", "You can't talk to your older sister like that!", they then hear panicked screams and shouts and they numerous banging and breaks to which Zaraki sighs.

Naegi seems to drift off in thought when she hears this happen, as though remembering her own siblings.

"My apologies, this is a common occurrence in my lab with my two right hands. They say it's common to fight among siblings but I honestly don't comprehend it no matter how much explanation I get.", Zaraki says.

"..." Naegi doesn't seem to have heard.

Chihiro gets in front of Naegi, "Hey, don't space out or I'm leaving without you."

"Hmm? Hmm! Hey don't get so close to my face... I was just thinking about something."

"And do tell what you were thinking about.", Chihiro says.

"...Nun-ya." Naegi turns her head away.

Chihiro raises an eyebrow, "Fine", and coils into her previous seat.

"I suggest you refrain from spacing out on the battle field, if you do that you'll be wide open for any attacks. In my given access of strength I could've killed you at least 20 times over without breaking a sweat.", Inumuta says as he pulls out an electronic device that develops a screen once the two visible pieces are separated.

Naegi turns her head quietly. "Who was the one who said 'I suggest you relax', and I do not believe M'Lady Shiroyuki would find the idea of killing her soldiers amusing. With all due respect, this is not a battlefield, and if I needed to be told that, I would not have made it through Academy." She says cooly. She then takes her sword and starts sharpening it.

"I'm saying that when you enter an actual battle field you need to stay relaxed and aware of your surroundings, being on edge will make you stiff and not react properly to surprise attacks. And my statement was hypothetical, I know better than to attack anyone that is allied with Darkaria especially with one under a Knight of higher rank than me.", Inumuta says as he presses a few places on the screen.

"Wha-I can't move! Zaraki you bastard! Undo the restraints you son of a-!", before the girl, who was throwing a tantrum, has a chance to finish her statement Zaraki pressed an end of a circle on his screen and rotate his finger around it to the end and the girls voice stopped working.

"I'm not two..." Naegi grumbles, sheathing her sword.

At that moment a boy with red hair in a bun, held by a screw like clip, with two strands sticking out like antenna, pink eyes, and wearing a similar outfit to the other lab assistants, comes into the room while eating a half finished pudding cup.

"Sir, the transportation device is ready...oh, hey.", the boy says to Naegi and Chihiro when he notices them.

"...Going to take a stab in the dark and guess you're the one behind the ruckus." Naegi says.

"Well my older sister was the one who can't resolve things civilly and decides to make a mess of things like a four year old going through a temper tantrum.", he responds before taking another spoonful of the pudding in his hand.

"Not going to lecture a guy, but whatever. You say the teleporter is ready?" Naegi says with a shrug.

"Yup.", he responds.

"Guess we'll get you both ready before you head out.", Inumuta says and gestures them to follow.

Naegi nods and stands up, following.

Chihiro gets up and follows as well.

They walk down a hallway and enter a lab where numerous things are broken and or bent. Numerous lab assistants are cleaning and fixing the damage. In the middle of the room are a few lab assistants surrounding a girl with long red hair with screw shaped braid clips at the end of her bangs, pink eyes, and the same outfit as the boy with red hair. She also has a look of pure fury on her face, along with a murderous intent.

Naegi just looks at her blankly. ''And there's the sister. Wonder if she has a plan of vengeance... I'd say yes by that look on her face.''

"Now, now Sasuna, a pretty little lady like you shouldn't have such an angry look on her face.", Inumuta says teasingly to which Sasuna glares at him and tries to say something but nothing comes out.

"Hmm? Your gonna have to speak up my dear.", Inumuta teasingly responds while putting his hand near his ear, to which Sasuna gets angrier and a beep is heard from the device in Inumuta's coat pocket. He opens it to reveal a message from Sasuna and the message has a lot of 'colorful' words in it.

"Come on Sasuna, let's be pleasant. If you calm down by the time I comeback from getting these two teleported to their location I'll personally go get you the family pack pudding, and I'll put a restriction of Franklin only eating two out of the whole pack if you don't curse for the rest of the day, deal?", Inumuta says.

Sasuna then has a slightly irritated face but has noticeably calm downed, another beep from Inumuta's device sounds out and it has one word, 'Sure.', "Alright good girl, keep following me please.", Inumuta says to Naegi and Chihiro and once again pocketing his device.

So patronizing...

Naegi follows him quietly.

Inumuta leads them to a large changing room, "Go into the first two stalls to your left, inside each one are outfits used for those who go on missions with Shiroyuki. Oh, and make sure you remove any metal you have on including your armor, but don't worry about not having the latter as the gear has armor sewn on and inside them."

"..." She does as she's asked.

Naegi and Chihiro then change into a snow suit, with the latters modified for her species build, and exit the changing room to see only Franklin who finishes his pudding cup.

Naegi silently coos over the softness of the fabric.

"Very comfrotable ain't it?", Franklin asks as he throws his pudding cup and spoon down a trash shoot.

”Mmm.” She grunts.

"Well keep in mind that comfort is not it's only function, as you'll realize when you get to your destination.", Franklin starts walking and gives a slight nod of the head as a gesture to follow.

Naegi does so without complaining.

They enter a large room and inside is a large teleportation device, to left of it is a large monitor where Inumuta is standing and checking a few things, "Alright, looks like we're good to go, and it seems you two are as well.", he says looking back at Naegi and Chihiro.

"Please step in and once your inside you'll be immediately transported to the desired location.", Naegi and Chihiro step inside.

Once in a door closes behind them and they immediately see a white, but not blinding, light and after a few seconds the light dies down and are inside a similar transportation device. The doors open to reveal the device is inside a large tent with other numerous technical equipment and injured soldiers either standing or on stretchers.

A soldier in similar garb as Naegi and Chihiro immediately step in front of them, "Remove your masks and state your names and reason for being here."

You've got to be kidding... Naegi thinks to herself, taking her mask off. "Naegi, we're here on orders to supplement Shiroyuki's troops."

Chihiro follows suit, "I'm Chihiro Hebiga, also here to suplement the troops."

The soldier removes their mask to reveal a female face with black hair held in a bun and with bangs framing her face, and green eyes behind red colored glasses, "It's good that your here I'm Rei Yamamoto the lieutenant to General Shiroyuki, though I must say your quite bold in not addressing the General properly young lady.", Rei directs the latter of her sentence to Naegi.

”I’m sorry but it’s a long day and it’s just gotten started, I will mind my manners next time.” Naegi says wearily.

"Well the 'next time' will be sooner than you think.", Rei says before turning her attention to the injured soldiers.

"Everyone enter the transportation device, you'll be treated by both Inumuta and Kimahara so do as they say without question. Despite your situation you'll still be rewarded after this is done so be proud that you helped us get closer to our goal.", the soldiers respond with 'Yes ma'am.', and 'Thank you ma'am.' and enter the device in small groups and are transported back to Darkaria.

Once they are all safely returned Rei puts her mask back on and looks at Naegi and Chihiro, "Follow me, General Shiroyuki and the Commander you'll be under are waiting.", and walks to the entrance of the tent.

Naegi follows, putting her mask on as well.

Chihiro follows them and puts her mask on as well. Once the tent is opened by Rei, they see other tents but around them is nothing but a white background and on the ground itself is snow.

"Wow, I knew General Shiroyuki had amazing control of her powers but this is incredible.", Chihiro says in awe.

Naegi nods. "It's definitely impressive... ...I can't even make a snowball yet..." Naegi mutters at the end.

Rei looks at Naegi, "Don't compare yourself as inferior to General Shiroyuki, she takes that as a sign of weakness."

Naegi grunts, secretly still admiring the softer interior of the outfit.

They then come in front of a medium sized tent, "General Shiroyuki, the replacements you've requested are here.", Rei says to which a person inside responds, "Come in."

Rei zips open the tent and gestures the two to enter, once inside they're greeted by the sight of a girl with grey hair styled into four pigtails and orange eyes squatting on a chair, a fully grown naga with long purple hair and yellow eyes standing on the side smoking from a kiseru, and in the middle of the tent is a desk where sitting in the seat behind it is Shiroyuki. the obvious stand out is that she is the only one wearing a military uniform while the others are wearing a snow suit.

Shiroyuki looks at Naegi and Chihiro, "Naegi and Chihiro Hebiga correct?"

Naegi salutes. "Naegi, at your service, ma'am. I came as quickly as I could."

Chihiro salutes as well, "I'm Chihiro Hebiga, at your service."

"Well it's good you got here fast though I wish it was quicker, however I will not complain as the here and now is what matters most. I'll give you the quick jist of things: We're hired to take out a large bandit camp that has been terrorizing a small town near here for about a year, they finally were pushed to call us when one civilian who didn't pay a fee was killed as an example. From our scouting team we deduced that there are over a five thousand bandits, we managed to kill at least one thousand but sustained casualties of fifty. I was just going over a battle plan with my Commander and her Lieutenant that we hope to execute the day after tomorrow, and on the former note my Commander and her Lieutenant here are the two you'll be under.", she says gesturing to them.

"I'm Commander Ayaka Hebiga.", the naga woman says.

"And I'm Lieutenant Kagami Higurashi.", the girl squatting on the chair says.

"It's good to meet all of you. I will do my best." Naegi salutes and greets the Commander and Lieutenant.

Ayaka takes a puff from her kiseru and looks at Chihiro, "Seems your starting to finally make some friends."

Chihiro shrugs, "Yeah I guess, no thanks to you being pushy we had an interesting morning."

"Watch your tone young lady, my actions are for your benefit.", Ayaka responds with a slight hiss.

"Yes ma'am, my apologies.", Chihiro says sighing.

Kagami all of the sudden is close to Naegi's face staring at her.

"...?" Naegi leans back, not liking the close proximity.

Kagami puts on a creepy smile, "Your officially the fourth half-breed we have on our squad."

"Thanks for bringing that up... ...I guess?" Naegi says in a deadpan voice, while Chihiro notes the slightest throbbing of a vein that suggested Naegi is a tad irritated.

"Lieutenant, could you please step away from her? She doesn't like her 'handicap' being mentioned in anyway.", Chihiro says.

Kagami looks at her, "Well I thought it would interesting to her to know that there are others beside her here, guess I was wrong."

"Kagami, give her space now.", Ayaka says before taking another puff.

Kadami sighs, "Yes, ma'am...", she resumes her previous sitting position.

Naegi breathes a small sigh of relief, then flashes a brief thankful look towards Chihiro.

Chihiro slightly nods at her.

"Anyway,", Shiroyuki speaks again, "for now you'll both be with the other soldiers in your squad and waiting for further orders. During this time I highly suggest you mingle with them to develop familiarity with them and you have no choice in the matter. This is to further increase your chances of survival for when you develop close bonds with others your more inclined to help each other in dire situations even if it doesn't seem to require it. Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Naegi nods.

"Good, Rei go take them to the middle tent so they may relax a bit and meet the others.", Shiroyuki says to her lieutenant.

"Yes, ma'am.", Rei says putting her mask back on, "Please follow me."

Naegi follows Rei's lead.

After a little bit of walking they reach the entrance of the largest tent of the whole camp, Rei opens the entrance but once she does a body leaps out of the tent and pounces on Naegi and Chihiro.

"NEW FRIENDS!!!", the person says as they knock Naegi and Chihiro down onto the snow with the person on top of them.

"EPP!" Naegi squeaks.

"WHAT THE HECK?!", Chihiro yells.

The mysterious person straightens up, "It's so nice to finally meet you! We were told there were gonna be two new soldiers with us and I couldn't wait to meet you!", she then looks at Naegi, "And the cherry on top is that your a half-breed like me!"

"Y-You're a very err... enthusiastic one, aren't you...?" Naegi says, trying to get up.

The person giggles, "Yup, I've always been labeled as such."

They then hear a voice from inside the tent, "Hey Chouko! Get off the two before you suffocate them, and either stay out there or get inside cause it's getting cold."

"Oh, sorry!", the person, identified as Chouko, gets up quickly and effortlessly and holds out both her hands for Naegi and Chihiro.

Naegi takes her hand.

Chouko helps pull them up, "Sorry about that, come on in!", she keeps a hold of their hands and leads them inside.

She looks at Rei, "I'll take over ma'am."

"Very well, just make sure no one causes any trouble.", Rei responds and closes the tent.

Naegi silently drops a tiny amount of snow down Chouko's shirt once she's in the tent, winking at Chihiro.

Chihiro rolls her eyes and once inside Chouko stiffens, "I...I think there's something cold in my suit!", she starts twirling around and feeling herself to find the source.

Naegi looks guiltily at Chouko and then helps pat out the snow. "I'm sorry... just a harmless joke. Don't be mad."

"Oh, don't worry. I've had that happen before as matter of fact we've all had that happen before, right guys?", Chouko says to which everyone present agrees.

"Don't worry kiddo, everyone needs a good chuckle every now and then.", one soldier says to Naegi.

"Especially against those that are heavy sleepers that sleep through Reiji's mechanical birds.", another soldier says.

"Just be weary of doing it to cold blooded myths as we've learned a good decent amount of snow, created by the General at least, could really lower their body temperature real quick and bad.", another soldiers adds.

"Heh..." She laughs nervously before inching behind Chihiro.

Chihiro rolls her eyes and Chouko giggles, "Again, no hard feelings.", Chouko then removes her mask revealing a young girl with green bobbed cut hair styled in a half ponytail, purple eyes, a slightly pointed ears.

"My names Chouko Fuchihiro, I'm a fairy-human hybrid.", Chouko says while holding out her hand for a handshake.

Naegi wearily extends her hand, taking her mask off. "Naegi. I'm the half elf/human daughter to a mostly elven family." Naegi doesn't make eye contact.

Chouko eagerly grabs Naegi's hand and shakes it fast, "Nice to meet you Naegi!"

"You too..." Naegi just goes along with it meekly.

Chouko lets go of Naegi's hand and then extends her's to Chihiro to which the latter takes, "Chihiro Hebiga, nice to meet you."

Before she shakes Chihiro's hand Chouko has a look of suprise, "Oh! So you are Commander Ayaka's daughter, I had a feeling you were!", "Yes but only treat me as a normal soldier, I don't wish to be pampered like I'm VIP or some crap.", Chihiro responds when Chouko shakes her hand as fast as before.

Naegi resumes her 'post' behind Chihiro.

Chouko lets go of Chihiro's hand and looks around and sets her sights on someone, "Aito! Come on you little silly, come and say hi!", the boy she was addressing jumps a little in his seat, "Ch-Chouko! You can't just expect me to g-greet someone out of the blue and when i'm not ready!", the boy, identified as Aito, says in response.

Naegi glances in the direction of the boy. So many new people...

Chouko quickly goes to Aito and grabs him, "C'mon, you need to get out of your shell!", "W-wait! I'm not ready!", Chouko then all of the sudden let's go and backs off from Aito as a sonic wave goes between the two and hits a energy field within the tent.

Chouko, along with Aito and a few other soldiers, look at the source of the attack with Chouko having a pouting look, "Benjiro, that wasn't nice! I was trying to-!", before she could finish her sentence the boy, identified as Benjiro, has his fingers set in a flicking pose directed at Chouko who holds her hands up in response.

Naegi looks at Benjiro, and steps in front of Chouko. "Attacking people with loud noise isn't appropriate for the situation at hand. Let's not make a scene, alright?" She looks at Aito and gently waves at him with a faint smile, before returning her gaze to Benjiro.

"No friendly fire when people are just trying to be nice, even if enthusiastic." She says sternly.

Benjiro gives her a glare and looks about ready to release his flick but Aito steps in, "It's alright Benjiro! I shouldn't of been loud and Chouko shouldn't of been pushy, so please lower your hand and return to your book.", Benjiro's glare softens and lowers his hand then looks back down to his book, "Just keep it down...", Benjiro says.

Aito, Chouko and some of the other soldiers sigh in relief. Aito, who has short pink messy hair with three ahoges, sea green eyes, tan skin, and blue fins where his ears are, looks at Naegi with a slight blush and fidgets, "S-sorry about that...Benjiro is nice b-but he can be easy to an-noy when he's reading, and if someone he-he considers a friend is...bullied or harassed in a-any form he tends to be...overprotective, s-so please don't take his actions the...wrong way...", Aito then covers his face with his hands in embarrassment.

"Heh, it's alright. I can be prickly too. Besides, I wasn't worried. The name is Naegi. You're... ...Aito, right? You're one of the merfolk, if I guessed that correctly, I don't think I've seen many of you." She says with a faint smile.

"Anyway, nice to meet you. Don't be fooled by Chihiro, she's nice. As long as you're not an egg." She adds, giving Chihiro a faint tease.

Chihiro rolls her eyes with a mocking laugh and Aito giggles, "Nice to me-et you too and yes my name is...Aito, Aito Kasami and yes i'm part merfolk a-and part human like...like you...", Aito responds nervously.

Naegi briefly looks away at mention of being part human, but brushes it off. "Mmm. I'm actually the only part of my family aside from dad who has human in their blood. My sisters and brother are pure bloods, as is mom."

Aito nods in understanding but has a saddened look on his face. Chouko, noticing his expression, quickly speaks up, "Well I'd love to talk about family trees as much as the next guy but I think socializing among your new comrades would be much better as it'll be more productive and increase our chances of survival and success, so let's hop to it!", Chouko grabs Naegi and Chihiro's hands and begins leading them to the other soldiers.

After about four hours of conversing with the other soldiers, besides for Benjiro who's focused on his book and Chouko makes sure he's avoided, everyone hears a loud bell ring.

"Alright everyone it's dinner time! Please get your suits back on and form a single fill line!", a soldier yells out to which everyone complies.

They go through the snow and enter a large tent that's filled with seats and tables and buffet tables at the other end with cooks visible on the other side putting food on the buffet tables and everyone can smell the variety of foods being served.

"Mmm...I wonder if they're serving broccoli cheddar as the soup this time!", Chouko wonders with excitement.

Naegi faintly grimaces at the mention of broccoli but doesn't say anything. "Yeah... I wonder." She says less enthusiastically.

A large looking man in a chefs outfit yells out, "Alright everyone your only allowed two servings of everything this time since we got to save food for the border patrol, those annoying little bastards, so if your still hungry after your second serving then too bad you'll have to wait for breakfast. Now everyone line up!", everyone does as he says and each person picks up a tray when they get close to the buffet.

Chouko looks past people to see what's in the buffet, "Let's see, chicken...dinner rolls...uh, baked potatoes with the available fixings...fried rice and...YAY! BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP!!", she yells out in excitement to which some of the soldiers and cooks laugh at her enthusiasm.

Naegi's face instead sours and she quietly grumbles.

The line steadily moves and everyone gets what they want and find a table. Naegi, Chihiro, Chouko, Aito and Benjiro sit at a table in the middle of the other tables.

"Yay! Been looking forward to this all day!", Chouko says with excitement.

"What are you talking about? Your always looking forward to these meals irregardless if they have what you want.", Aito says.

"Well you always have your hopes up in wondering if they have fish as the meat, so wouldn't you be in the same boat as me?", Chouko asks teasingly.

Aito blushes and looks away to which Chouko giggles, "Chouko...", Benjiro says in a warning tone, "Alright, i'm sorry Aito.", Chouko says before picking up her bowl of soup and slurping it down with vigor.

Naegi seems to have gone for the chicken, rolls, and fried rice, steering clear of the soup. "I seem to have found our ice king of this little group," Naegi remarks as she chews on some chicken.

"I've been called worst.", Benjiro says.

Chihiro then speaks, "Anyway I noticed that the chef refereed to the border patrol with some disdain, is there a reason for that?"

Chouko stops slurping her soup, "Yeah everyone here doesn't like them they're what you call the class bullies of the Darkaria Military, even among the other squads they're called that."

"I take it there's a reason for that?" Naegi says, subtly reminded of the grief she had thanks to bullies mocking her half blooded nature.

"They're arrogant, they think since they're the first line of defense against intruders they're the most important. But because of them looking down on us and bullying us the General has put them on a different schedule than us so we don't have to deal with them.", Benjiro says with as much disdain as the chef.

Naegi's eye twitches. "Sounds like they're asking for an accidental slip on some ice," Naegi grumbles.

"W-well as long as their...not stupid a-and ignore orders then...then we shouldn't have to...have to-!", Aito tries to speak but is then interrupted.

"HEY! Heard we got some fresh new meat, and one of them being a halfy no less!", a voice says.

"Speak of the devil...", Chouko says.

Naegi glances toward the source of the voice. "Can we help you with something?" Naegi says simply.

"Yeah we're looking for the newbie's and by the looks of it tat would be you and the naga, so thanks for saving us the trouble.", one of the guys in a group says as they walk to them.

"Why did you do that!? They're part of the border patrol and are mostly here to get you riled up!", Chouko harshly whispers.

Naegi doesn't take her eyes off them. "I suppose you're ok with them walking all over you then."