~In Shangri-La~
The sound of chains rattling could be heard inside of the realm of Shangri-La as two people were seen walking around the dorm. Right now, Brekdak and Sahara were moving around as they had giant boulders chained to their bodies as they were walking around. While Brekdak still wore his signature smile, Sahara was doing her best to keep up with the man.

"I heard from Nagisa that you managed to use my skills by imitating his copy. Just being able to imitate me is already praise worthy, but this training will help you master my skills. Plus by the end of it, you'll be able to use the skill that even Nagisa doesn't know about."

"Thank you, Master Brekdak!"

As soon as they finished talking, both Brekdak and Sahara slowly began to increase their speed. The walk around the dorm was slowly turning into a jog as they still had the boulders chained to their bodies. Seeing how the girl was able to jog with him at this state, the man smiled as he knew the training was paying off.

"Nagisa, you gave this girl one dangerous formula for victory. Her ability combined with my Muay Thai. She already is a top tier fighter with just an imitation of my Muay Thai, but if she can master it and combine it with her ability like you taught her, she'll be a monster that'll fight off anyone. Just leave it to me. What she needs now is a body strong enough to handle my skills at their max power."

~Meanwhile~
Right now, the sound of several gunshots could be heard as Yachiho was chasing Nagisa. As the boy was avoiding gunshots, he suddenly unsheathed his katana as he turned around and quickly cut a bullet in half as it was aimed at his head. The moment this happened, Yachiho smirked as she was already in position.

"Golden Hour:Q.T.E."

The moment Yachiho took her stance, time was immediately stopped as she performed her CQC upon Nagisa. As soon as she dashed by Nagisa, she struck the boy's blindspots with incredible speed with her fists as time resumed. However, Yachiho's eyes were wide with shock when she realized something.

"I was sure I hit him, yet he didn't take any damage. Did he brace himself preemptively because he knew I would use this move?"

"Your use of CQC and Golden Hour together is great, Yachiho. However, it seems I have to teach you the next phase in order to take this technique to the next level."

As soon as Nagisa finished his sentence, Yachiho suddenly tensed up as he held up his sword while it was in its sheath. The moment Nagisa took a deep breath, he placed his right hand on the hilt of his weapon as he already had Yachiho's blind spots memorized in his mind.

With blinding speed, Nagisa was already behind Yachiho as the girl let out her cries of pain. The top of her head, both of her arms and legs, her liver, Nagisa struck various points of her body in an instant with his sheathed sword. As Yachiho was slowly standing back up, she saw the boy reaching his hand out to her. A small smile appeared on her face as she grabbed his hand to help herself up.

"Seriously, we trained my physical strength so much and I still can't damage you as much as I intended to."

"The purpose of this training wasn't to improve your strength. It was meant to hone your technique. The next thing we'll work on is your creativity."

"My creativity?"

"Yachiho, haven't you noticed? Everytime you used CQC, you always did it with your bare hands. But just now, when I used my own CQC, was I empty handed?"

Yachiho was starting to see what Nagisa was getting at. During her training, she only used CQC with her bare hands. Yet when Nagisa performed his last attack, he combined CQC with his swordsmanship and it caused a devastating attack as a result. In all honesty, it was a good thing Nagisa left his sword in its sheath.

"From what I know, CQC is the basics of military close combat techniques. Even just correcting your posture to suit your style can greatly enhance effectiveness. If using martial arts, weapons, or terrain features...the potential of CQC can be limitless. Now that you got the basics of CQC down, your physical strength along with your technique improved, we can move to the next step."

"The next step?"

"Simple. Finding your winning formula. Thankfully, you're already halfway there. You learned to combine CQC with your Golden Hour. That alone is already a threat, but we can take it further. Just like how I combined CQC with my greatest strength, you can do the same and take your technique to the next level."

Yachiho was silent as she was lost in thought. Nagisa's greatest strength was his swordsmanship and his ability to adapt to any situation. Her own strengths were Golden Hour, her now improved hand-to-hand combat ability, and her marksmanship. Once she pieced everything together, Yachiho realized what she wanted to do.

"Nagisa, I think I realized how I can improve."

"That's good. Let's take a small break and we can continue later."

"Yes!"

As the two of them were walking to the dorm, Tenka noticed something strange as she caught a glimpse of the two for a moment. While Yachiho was happily walking inside, Nagisa was clenching his chest as a pained expression was on his face.

"Nagisa.....is he okay?"

~With Nagisa~
The moment Nagisa went to his room and closed the door, he suddenly fell to his knees as he began to breathe heavily. During that fight, he felt it. Just when he was landing the final attack on Yachiho, he had to forcefully stop himself from unsheathing his sword. Even now, the thoughts that went through his head in that moment haunted him.

"So fragile .....if i went all out, I could easily cut off her head. Or maybe she could stop time just before I strike her down? Can I cut her? Can she stop me? Actually......can anyone here stop me if I cut them down. I wanna kno-"

"Shut up!!!! Shut up, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!!!!!!"

As Nagisa said this, he slammed his head against the floor as he tried to tune out the thoughts in his mind. Each time he did, he noticed something. He wasn't as injured as he should've been. Not only that, instead of crimson-red blood, his was just pitch black. Finding it difficult to breathe, Nagisa felt as if he was trapped. As if something had a tight grip on him.

"Nagisa, are you okay?"

Suddenly the room was dead silent. As Nagisa heard Tenka's voice, his hand was on the hilt of his katana. As he slowly walked towards the door, he heard his chief speaking to him from the other side.

"If something is bothering you, you can tell me, you know."

"I know, thank you, Izumo-san. I just need time alo-"

"I saw that pained expression on your face when you went inside here. Plus you know I prefer when you call me Tenka. Nagisa, something is tearing away at you, right? If you let me in, I am willing to tal-"

"JUST STAY OVER THERE, TENKA!!!! Please.....just whatever you do....."

His voice was trembling as the voice in his head was screaming at him. His blade already free from its sheathe as a smile was forcing its way onto his face as tears escaped his eyes. Tenka realized something in that moment. Nagisa wasn't asking nor telling her to leave. He was begging her to go now. He knew how serious she was about helping him since she asked him to let her in instead of just teleporting inside. But that was all the more reason for her to stay outside of his room.

"Please Tenka.....just stay away from this door......please ..........while I still have a piece of myself left."

"Okay, i'll give you some space. But i'll be back later. I promise."

As Tenka walked away from the door, suddenly the tip of a katana could be seen pierced through it. Nagisa was hyperventilating as he felt two things. A sense of relief that Tenka actually listened to him and got away. The other feeling being that of horror, horrified by the fact if Tenka didn't trust him.....his sword would've pierced through her body and her blood would be on his hands.

As Nagisa fell onto the floor and closed his eyes, all he saw was a pitch-black darkness. It felt as if it was swallowing him whole. With each passing second, it almost felt like his sanity was being chipped away as one question escapes the boy's lips as he was drifting to sleep.

"Can anybody......save me this time?"