Hey so this chapter wound up being too long so I managed to split it neatly in half so hooray this segment gets a third chapter!

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As Alex turned around to face whoever it was, he got a good glimpse at who stood there, or at least as good of a glimpse he could get as the figure was completely shrouded in a dark red and black mist.

The best Alex could tell was that their silhouette resembled that of a girl with its slim body and long hair on the back tied into a ponytail along with the glowing red, crimson eyes it had which were pratically staring daggers through him.

The girly figure didn't move an inch, remaining completely silent and still.

'Definitely not a Honkai Beast, but my arm's still reacting to it so whatever this thing is, it's definitely got traces of Honkai emanating from it. A Herrscher? No way I'd run into another one so soon.' Thought Alex as he finally decided to speak.

"Hey. Who are you? What do you want?" He asked.

The figure simply pointed at him slowly.

"You.............remember...........me.....?" It asked in a ghostly, echoey voice that sounded eerily similar to someone Alex knew, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Remember you? I don't ever recall meeting a ghost or anything that remotely looks like you. That mist around you certainly isn't helping." He said.

The figure would slowly put their hand back down and remained motionless again for a moment before raising her hand beside her, snapping her fingers as the mist that enveloped her would suddenly spread and rush out into the area, completely surrounding it and obscuring Alex's vision as he tried to wipe it away.

After a few minutes, the mist would go away however Alex would notice and see a ton of black feathers covering the area as they fell from above slowly like snowflakes.

"The hell is going on?"

As he surveyed his surroundings, he turned back to where the figure was standing as now she was completely visible.

It was Fu Hua, however she looked drastically different compared to when Alex last saw her back at Schicksal's floating HQ which had been a very long time ago already.

(To clarify back in Arc City while Kiana was able to see and hear Fu Hua, Alex was not and was only able to hear her.)

Hua now had black locks of hair accenting her white hair and red eyes as she wore a black qipao-like dress with a white fur scarf, black stockings, black knee high socks, multicolored gloves, and silver heels.

She also had a golden/black feather hairpin, a golden bracer on her arms, and a long asymmetrical skirt that resembled wilted butterfly wings as it along with the hairpins both shimmered and shifted, mimicking the motion of fire.

Alex just stared in shock as the now revealed Fu Hua had a laugh that was subtly sinister.

"Recognize me now?" She asked.

"F-Fu Hua? What the hell are you doing here? More importantly where the have you been? I haven't heard from you since Arc City months ago." He said.

"Don't worry. All will be revealed in due time. Most importantly, I'm here for you actually." She said.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You're here against your own will right? Under house arrest while constantly being watched must suck. I'm here to free you, and take you back to Kiana."

As soon as Hua said that, Alex had an audible gasp.

"Y-You know where Kiana is? Please tell me."

"Well, It's more like I know where they're going very soon."

"That doesn't matter. Tell me please."

"Kiana and Bronya are gonna be heading over to Mt. Taixuan, a place where I lived long ago to collect some valuable belongings there. I plan to greet them and show that I'm okay. I'm sure those two would without a doubt enjoy seeing you there. After all it's been a while since they last saw you, right?"

Alex nodded and kept quiet as above all else, he needed to get back to Kiana and keep up the promise he made to way back when to always stay by her side.

He did question how Fu Hua suddenly knew all this information after having been gone for so long but this could possibly be his only oppurtunity to go back, and he couldn't blow it.

"Alright. I'll go." He said as Hua nodded.

"Excellent." She said, holding out a hand. "Come grab it. I can take you there in an instant." She said.

Alex approached her, ready to accept her proposition as the dark feathers continued to slowly fall around them as he began to extend out a hand.

For some reason, Alex still felt suspicious about all this as he pulled his arm back for a second, thinking this through again which seemed to annoy Hua.

"What's the matter? Do you wanna see them or not?" She said in an impatient tone.

Alex just sighed at his overthinking as he nodded, going to grab her hand again.

Right before he grabbed it, a sudden voice rang out in his head.

"Don't accept it! Her words are false!"

Alex reacted and immediately jumped back in confusion which only infuriated Hua even more.

"Why the hesitation!? Hurry up and accept, NOW!"

She was extremely agitated now as this anger made Alex question the whole situation.

'Fu Hua normally doesn't get this worked up so quickly? The hell is wrong with her?' Thought Alex as he felt something in his hand.

He opened it to see he was suddenly holding a feather that wasn't dark like the many around them, but rather a bright red color.

The voice would then ring in his head again, answering his question.

"That's cause she isn't me! She's not Fu Hua!" It shouted.

When Alex heard the voice a second time, he immediately recognized it as Hua.

'Fu Hua? How're you......?'

Alex then realized something as he remembered Fu Hua explicitly explaining in Arc City that her body had went missing as she separated her consciousness from said body before hand.

"Y-You damn fake! You emotionally tried to manipulate me into letting you take me who knows where! The hell is wrong with you!?" He shouted.

Hua(?) seemed to realize what had happened as she groaned in frustration, stomping on the ground in anger.

"Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT! Don't believe me? Fine then! I'll just take you out instead!"

"Get ready, here she comes!"

Alex hastily jumped out of the way from the charging Hua(?) as she had jumped up and slammed a fist into the ground, immediately cracking the area around her punch.

'The heck is this thing!?' Thought Alex.

"It's a long story! Please, try and take it down! I'll help however I can!" Said Fu Hua as Alex nodded.

The boy charged right at the fake and started to swing and strike at it.

Hua(?) easily was able to dodge all of his attempted attacks with ease as she tried to land her own attacks, punching and kicking at the boy.

With the real Fu Hua in his mind, she was able to flawlessly call out to Alex all impending attacks as the boy managed to dodge and block them all in time.

The boy and Hua(?) got some distance from one another as the fake ominously chuckled a bit.

"What's so funny?" Asked Alex.

"Why? Why do you so willingly listen to that old timer?"

"Old timer? Are you referring to Fu Hua?"

"Don't you remember? She blindly followed that blonde clown for many decades. She was fake and fooled all of you, pretending to be everyone's friend just so she could keep tabs on Kiana. When the time came, she betrayed all of you with zero hesitation. So what if she realized the error of her ways? In the end, her betrayal caused all these turn of events. And yet you still choose to aid her!?"

Alex remained quiet, staring at the brightly colored feather in his hand as he could sense that Fu Hua was deeply hurt, after all what the fake said was indeed all true.

Despite that, the boy already had a response in mind as he safely put the feather away in his pocket.

"Yeah you're right. Fu Hua indeed did all of that. Regardless, whether I forgive her or not is none of your business. What's important right now is taking you out, faker." He said, getting back into a battle stance.

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Chapter 17: Complete