What Alex had just witnessed was something he couldn't even begin to comprehend.

In fact, it was something he desperately wanted to get out of his head immediately as he struggled to find the words to describe how he was feeling.

The puppet easily noticed the boy's sheer terror and horror in his eyes as she let out a satisfied laugh.

"Are you scared? I wouldn't blame you. After all, you're still just a child. A child who for far too long has been taking on things way too far above your threshold. Now, it's time you finally realize just how outclassed you've been all this time."

The puppet snapped its fingers bringing forth a mixed group of zombies and mechs, this pack larger than the first.

Alex couldn't afford anymore time to process what he saw as he immediately went back into battle as he desperately tried to keep the pack back from a still downed Seele.

As the fight continued, Alex's stamina was completely in the gutter as he struggled to keep up with the few enemies left.

Not to mention that replica kept lingering on his mind, the haunting sight replaying over and over in his head like a nightmare as he began to get a headache.

He'd slay one more enemy leaving two left however by now he finally collapsed, falling onto his knees and a hand to his head as he panted.

'W-Why............why am I..........so scared right now.........!?' Thought the boy as right now, he somehow was more terrified than when he had confronted the Void queen back at Schicksal's Air Base.

As Alex looked up, he saw one of the zombie's scythe about to strike him down as it was far too late for him to move.

Thankfully fate decided otherwise as Seele would block the zombie and toss it away as she seemingly recovered from whatever was going on with her before.

"Alex are you okay!?" She asked.

All Alex could do was slowly nod however Seele could tell that the boy was far from 100% as she swung her scythe around and got ready for battle.

"Don't worry. Thank you for protecting me. Now, let me do the same." She said as she began to take on the rest of the enemies.

Even with Seele taking the reigns of this fight, the end to the numbers still seemed nowhere near in sight as it was just one after the other.

What didn't help was Seele's earlier issue of stamina came into affect again and with Alex clearly unable to back her up anymore, she was gonna have to tough this out as best and as long as she could.

As Seele slayed the last enemy of this group, she was panting heavily and using her scythe to hold her up.

'M-My time........is up......why isn't, she t-talking to me....' Thought Seele to herself, referring to the voice in her head that had been silent ever since they had first stepped foot on this center stage.

"Feeling exhausted now? Laboring to keep standing?" Asked the puppet with a smug chuckle.

"Who.......are you....? W-What did you do to the other me and.......Alex.....?" Responded Seele.

"I simply gave the boy a sight to behold. Safe to say he really took it to heart. As for the other 'you', why worry about her? She isn't you. She's never been you. She's one of us. She, belongs to us. You'll see that soon."

The puppet tone's was only getting more and more unhinged as it kept talking.

"I'm not letting you take her! I'll protect her! I will!" Stated Seele as the puppet sighed in annoyance.

"Are you even listening to yourself? Hypocrites like you are so annoying. Don't you feel sick? We're birds of a feather. She loathes this pathetic world just like us."

"Stop pretending that you know her! You know nothing about her!"

"Huh. It's funny you say that. She said the exact same thing to us when we paid her a little visit in that space she was within you. Now it's abundantly clear. You have to go before she can finally join us. Y-Yes.......with you out of the picture, there's no way she can refuse!"

It seemed as if the puppet had reached an epiphany as she brought forth one last controlled mech, this one much larger and bulkier as Seele went back into fighting.

The girl was on her last legs, completely gassed and having nothing left in the tank as her scythe swings and evasions were getting much slower and sluggish the longer this went on.

'M-My body feels.......so....heavy.............my vision's.......starting to blur......the other me...........are you......a-alright..........' Thought Seele in her head as her consciousness was slowly fading away.

At that moment, the voice in Seele's head seemed to had heard her words as from within she saw the mech getting ready to punch Seele head on.

"Seele! Seele it's me listen please! Move out ot the way! H-Hey come on Seele! SEELE!"

Right before the girl was stuck, Alex had somehow managed to find enough strength left, his body moving solely on instinct as he got in between the mech and Seele, hugging and protecting the girl as he took the full force punch directly onto his back.

The 'other' Seele watched on in shock as Alex let out a pained yell, his back feeling like it had just been shattered as the two slid across the floor.

Despite Seele being out cold, Alex didn't let go of her at all until he was sure she was safe.

Once he was sure of that, he tried to lift himself off of her however his back was completely destroyed as only managed to move off to the side as he fell flat back onto the ground.

"D-Dammit............come on..........get up...........I need to move............." Said the boy in a panicked tone.

The 'other' Seele remained silent, watching the boy refusing to give up despite him being in no condition to even stand right now.

"This kid..........he just saved Seele despite having just barely meeting her. Even now, he's still not quitting...........why.......why is he like this?"

Out of the corner of Alex's eye, he saw the mech slowly approached the two defenseless kids, changing its fist into a blaster as it began to charge up a beam.

This didn't last long though as the mech would go away at the simple snap of the puppet's fingers as she happily skipped towards them and kneeled down.

"Gotta say, that was pretty fun. You two are very entertaining guests. Please make sure to come again." It said.

As Alex slowly faded into unconsciousness, he heard the puppet whisper one last thing into his ear.

"We'll be eagerly waiting."

Alex would awaken, drenched in a cold sweat and his breathing very shaky as he quickly sat up.

As he looked around, he noticed that he was back in his Serpent Base room and that his back had zero feeling of pain anymore compared to how it was just now.

The boy continued to breathe shakily as he put his hands to his face.

'Was that all just a dream? W-Why did it feel so real?'

[Elsewhere]

"le.......eele..........Seele......"

Seele was starting to come to as she slowly opened her eyes and saw Bronya standing there before her.

She now wore red, black and white accessories on her hair, a white dress with numerous black and red embellishments, black and red gloves, and red stockings with a black pattern on it over her prosthetic legs.

"Seele!" Shouted a worried Bronya as she knelt beside her.

"Bronya...........?" Said a confused Seele as she looked around and saw she had returned to where she previously was before ending up in that weird space.

"Are you alright, Seele?" She asked.

"How did I.........get out.........?"

It took Seele a moment to full come to her senses which she eventually did as she finally noticed Bronya.

"Huh? Bronya?"

"Out? Where'd you go? We were together when we pushed the door open, but then the Bronya looked behind and you were gone. The Bronya looked for you everywhere and found you lying on the ground after coming back."

Seele would get up with the help of Bronya as she dusted herself off and began to explain everything that had just happened to her.

"A dark thearer? A puppet?" Asked Bronya as Seele nodded.

"The puppet looked really weird and It controlled Honkai Beasts and Zombies to attack me. I don't know why, but to me that puppet seemed to act like a living, breathing person."

"How did you manage to escape?"

"I'm............having a hard time remembering right now." Said Seele as she began to think this over as the last thing she remembered was fighting that one mech before she passed out.

'I can faintly recall hearing the other me call out my name just before I faded. Did, she save me?' Thought Seele as she closed her eyes and tried to focus on her presence, eventually sensing it as she was glad.

'I can feel her now. Thank goodness you're okay.' Said Seele as the other her remained silent.

'Thank you for saving me.'

".................It wasn't me......."

'H-Huh?'

The other Seele wouldn't speak after that as Seele was confused as to what she meant.

That was until she finally remembered that it wasn't just them two in that place as she slowly faced Bronya.

"I remember now. I wasn't alone in there. There.........was someone else with me. I think, they're the one who saved me." Said Seele.

"You weren't alone? Who was it then?" Asked Bronya.

Seele took a deep breathe and said their name, a name Bronya hadn't expected to hear.

"W-What? S-Subject Alex.....................was there...............?"

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Chapter 22: Complete