"0:02"

In the dazed world that was Alex's mind, as he looked over at the clock he was in disbelief.

Not at the fact that he lost but at the fact that he was just 2 seconds. Two seconds away from at least getting a draw with Fu Hua.

Though he quickly got over that fact cause if anything, he could at least say that he took nearly stood his ground against Fu Hua.

After being pinned down for a bit longer, Fu Hua got off him and helped Alex up as the boy stood back up albeit after stumbling a bit.

"Don't overexert yourself." Reassured Fu Hua as Alex nodded.

"Y-Yeah I know." He said.

"I gotta say, you impressed me." Said Fu Hua.

"I-I don't really see how. If anything, you were in control of the fight the entire time. Any offense I attempted you easily snuffed it out." Said Alex.

"I'm not talking about the actual fighting. I'm referring to your endurance. Previous battles I've had here always ended in less than one minute. Longest I've had was 25 seconds. They always tried to strike first and would be down in one punch. You however somehow managed to get out after taking a punch head on. After all you were just 2 seconds short of a draw." She said.

"Yeah yeah I know. Look can we just go back already? I can barely stand." He said.

Fu Hua nodded as she held onto Alex's hand and walked back to the school as she guided him along.

Eventually after a bit they made it back as Fu Hua lead Alex into the medical room as after a bit Alex was laid down on one of the bed's was had an ice back on his face where Fu Hua had punched him earlier.

"I appreciate your time Alex. I wish you a good recovery." Said Fu Hua as she walked out of the room.

Knowing that he'd be here for a while, Alex took the opportunity to close his eyes and take a small nap.

Alex began to stir as he slowly opened his eyes to see that he was still in the room but, when he looked up instead of seeing the ceiling of the room all he saw was two mounds obscuring his view.

"Wow. Didn't expect these to be the first things you'd look at." Jokingly said a voice which wound up being Himeko.

"Kinda hard not to when they're the only thing in my line of vision." Said Alex with annoyance. "What're you doing here?"

"I came to check up on you after Fu Hua had said that you two had a sparring match. You were sound asleep though so I figured I'd wait for you to awaken. Be grateful that I'm letting you rest of my lap." Said Himeko as Alex frowned.

"Kinda hard to be grateful when it was out of my control." He said.

"Okay no need for specifics just enjoy it. Anyways I can see that she got ya good. Even with the ice pack your cheek's turned purple." Said Himeko.

"Yeah I know. She hits like a large semi truck." Said Alex.

"Well at least your mostly alright. Fu Hua even told me that you lasted almost five minutes against her."

"Yeah I know. I was two seconds short."

"Wow. That certainly is an accomplishment. Anyways you impressed her today so nice going kid. You even got a couple of our students here buzzing all about you." Said Himeko as she walked out.

Alex simply looked at her before looking back up and sighing.

'Just what have I gotten myself into?' He thought to himself.

[TimeSkip: Three Weeks Later]

As the weeks went by, things began to slowly feel familiar for Alex as he got adjusted to living at the St. Freya Dorms.

As the weeks went by, Bronya had eventually finally gotten her full physiological examination and the results said that emergy emitted from the Selene's power drives may have interfered with her bio-chip.

Once that was determined, they immediately started repairs on Bronya.

Aside from that, the annual Valkyrie Examination was about to start as Alex began to notice day by day the students all become a bit more serious and dedicated as the date slowly drew closer as walking along the halls during the day, Alex would notice the classes became increasingly tough and stressful as well as the combat area he and Fu Hua had used to spar was now being used regularly daily combat training which also grew in intensity.

Though he definitely was out of the loop due to not being a Valkyrie himself, he did at least understand that this was no joke.

He unfortunately found out the hard away as in the morning as he was leaving to head to the school, he was ran into and over by Kiana, who was already running late as she was juggling her books to prevent them from falling.

After that Alex eventually recovered from that as now he was currently spending his time at the school's library just reading a random book he had pulled from the shelf all while trying his best to ignore a few stares from other valkyries walking past him.

After a bit he got a tap on his shoulder and looked to the side to see it was Himeko.

"Anything you need Ms. Himeko?" Asked Alex.

"You call can drop the ms. kid. You aren't a student here after all." Said Himeko.

"Anything you want from me?" Asked Alex.

"Yeah. The health department told me that Bronya is almost fully recovered. I'd appreciate it if you could visit her tomorrow and have her discharged. That way it'll give her enough time to attend the exams the day after." Said Himeko.

"Hmm. Sure I don't mind but why are you asking me? Can't you go do it yourself?" Asked Alex.

"I have a booze part-I-I mean, I'm a very busy woman." Said Himeko changing her phrase mid sentence.

Alex looked at her for a moment with a sour expression before sighing.

"Fine. I'll go pick her up tomorrow." He said.

"Excellent! Thanks." Said Himeko before leaving.

After that Alex went back to reading for the remainder of the school day until school had ended.

Alex started to leave as the sun was now setting on the horizon.

As he was heading back to the dorms, Alex's eyes came across someone who was walking on the other side of the path heading towards the school

'Huh. Kinda odd to see a maid here.' Thought Alex though he immediately shrugged it off.

After all she clearly had no business with him.

Eventually after a length walk Alex had made it back to the dorm room.

[TimeSkip: Later that Night]

After eating dinner together, it was now close to midnight as Alex had already set his blanket bed on the floor as even though Bronya wasn't there he wasn't gonna sleep on her bed at all.

As he was about to lay down, he looked out to the window and saw the moon shining in the sky.

While he was enjoying the scenery, he looked at the ground and noticed someone walking away which struck him as odd.

"The hell? Why's Kiana out there this late?"

Chapter 9: Complete