A few days had passed since Alex's last encounter with the Herrscher of Dominance in the Theater alongside Bronya and Seele.

As he had expected, he was separated from the two upon returning back to the real world however he was confident that whatever Bronya had in mind.

Oddly enough, he hadn't been contacted by the puppets at all during this time frame which worried him somewhat.

Unfortunately now wasn't the time to be too caught up with it as now it seemed as if the main three organizations of Schicksal, AE, and the Serpent had begun to closely monitor the situation regarding the situation now.

Now that there was another Herrscher to be targeted, Kevin would finally give Mei something to do as she alongside Raven and Alex were sent to a neighboring city to go investigate the matter as some shipments has gone missing and there's was a chance it could have been connected to the Herrscher.

Currently, the trio were in a rather tucked away and hidden bar that Raven also owned as she stood behind the counter with Mei seated at one of the stools as Alex just sat at one of the booths on his own, head laid down on the table.

Mei and Raven were currently engaged in a conversation though with Alex zoned out at the moment, he wasn't really listening as he was focused on his own thoughts.

'That last time got pretty intense. Them taking Bronya's powers is still concerning. They can easily create whatever and overwhelm anyone with sheer numbers. I can only imagine they'll get more ruthless as time goes on. Especially when they start to target Kiana and Mei for their powers. If it acquires all three, then we're done for.'

At that moment, the transmission device Raven had began to buzz as she'd set it down on the counter between herself and Mei as out appeared the hologram of a unique individual.

They were donned in a mostly black outfit with a hood over their head as it wore a white mask on its face with crossed dagger like markings over the left eye hole as a red light shined from the right eye hole and lastly they wore an umbrella.

This was a man and World Serpent member known as Gray Serpent who was basically the main info broker for the group.

In fact he was the one who had sent the three to this neighboring city in the first place as he called in for an update.

"You're five minutes late. Why the hold up?" He asked.

"Well, the two locations are quite far from one another and the roads were blocked." Said Raven.

"That doesn't matter. What's the status so far?"

"Well, unfortunately there hasn't been a change in that regard. The two warehouses were broken into and the cargo was damaged. Either we came late, or the culprit managed to clean up the scene just in time. We also didn't find any clues regarding the puppets. No missing people to report as well. Be that as it may, it's still too early say that this was all that new Herrscher doing. We missed something or the one behind the strings is just that good." Explained Raven.

Gray Serpent remained silent for a moment to process all the information that had been giving before speaking.

"Keep investigating. I'm certain this even is connected to those puppets. This individual will prove to be a unique specimen for us to study." He said as Raven nodded.

"How're things on your end?" He asked Mei.

"Just a smuggling ring pretending to be the Serpent. Taken care of. Aside from that, nothing unusual." She said.

"Jackal seems to be highly interested in them."

"I don't see how someone like her could be so intrigued by clumsy impersonators and tacky counterfeits. Either way I've sealed the scene so if she's interested then she can check it out. Amongst a heap of ashes, of course."

"I'll tell her that. One last thing, is that boy present?"

Raven would snap her fingers, getting Alex out of his thoughts as he sat up and turned towards the counter as Gray Serpent faced him.

"Don't forget, you're on a tight leash. Pull another stunt like you did back in Coral and you won't like what happens next. Undetstood?" He asked though Alex dismissively waved him off.

"Yeah yeah I know. No need to tell me twice." He said in a slightly annoyed tone.

The male would just sigh before turning back to Raven.

"You three, keep tracking special puppets and take them back broken or not. Raven, please keep your son in check."

The call would disconnect there.

"What did you mean by heap of ashes? Did you really incinerate all of them? They could've been useful to us." Said Raven to Mei though the Herrscher would shake her head no and point back towards Alex as Raven just sighed.

"That kid's been acting weird recently. Ever since I had him check out that hotel one night, he's been a lot more on edge. More agitated and more violent. He almost feels emotionally unstable or something." She said as Mei nodded in agreement.

After all, she did see him quite literally put a gun to his head which she still wanted answers for as Mei had a slight feeling that it could be connected to the new Herrscher but she wasn't entirely sure.

"Let's just rest accordingly for the time being. Here." Said Raven as she handed Mei a glass of water.

As she began to drink, her mind recalled back to the mission her and Alex had just done a couple of hours ago.

[Earlier That Day]

Alex and Mei were currently sneaking around an area at the city as they came across an unusual amount of large shipping containers with a few Honkai Zombies roaming around as some kind of security.

"So, what's the deal? What's going on here?" Asked Alex as Mei had gotten the mission debriefing whereas Alex was just really told to accompany and assist her.

"There's this group pretending to be the World Serpent. We're here to see what exactly they contain. According to Gray Serpent, he sent to send them a message." She explained.

"So in his words, we gotta destroy everything."

"Let's wait and see what they have before coming to that conclusion. Also, let's avoid being caught and getting into a fight. We're near downtown so causing a scene would be problematic."

"Alright. You lead on I'll be right behind."

The two would begin lurking around the area as they'd sneak behind and pick off the guards one by one as they inspected the containers.

"Damn. These people have illegal firearms and medicine. They're certainly well equiped." Said Alex.

"Things could look really bad if all this gets sent out." Said Mei as Alex nodded.

The two would make their way towards the back and went up a small flight of stairs as they came across more shopping containers and guards.

The two would again pick these guards off tactically as these containers were simply filled with more illegal firearms and medicine.

As Alex walked around to make sure no one was watching them, Mei would notice something odd.

Sitting there was a large wooden crate that was closed shut by two straps.

Mei would easily cut these straps off and moved the top off to see inside.

Once she did, she gasped in shock.

"A-Alex! Get over here!" She shouted.

Alex immediately ran back to her as he fully withdrew Olympus off of his back.

"What is it? Were we found?" He asked.

Mei shook her head no and motioned for him to look in the box.

Alex would approach the box, peeking in himself as now he was shocked to see what was in there.

It was a young boy, a mere child at that as he had his wrists and ankles roped together and tape covering his mouth.

"T-The hell? What's a kid doing here?" Asked Alex.

"Those monsters!" Said Mei in a very upset tone.

The child clearly hadn't seen light in a while as he tried to cover his face, the sunlight revealing the pattern on his neck.

"Hey............is that a Honkai Infection?" Asked Alex.

"It's a stigma." Said Mei.

That word seemed to have terrified the boy as his muffled panic became more audible behind the tape.

"Don't worry. We're here to help you." Said Mei in a soothing tone to calm him down as she'd remove the tape from his mouth as gently as she could while Alex carefully cut the rope that bounded his wrists and ankles together.

'He has marks. Whoever this kid is, he's been here for a long time.' Thought Alex as Mei helped the boy stand up.

Getting a good look at the kid, he had brown hair and sharp golden eyes.

Mei kneeled down and gave him a soft smile as Alex approached and also gave a smile.

"Nice to meet ya. This here is Mei Raiden. I'm Alex Mustang." Said the boy introducing themselves.

"What's your name?" Asked Mei.

The boy kept quiet for a while, trying really hard to remember until he finally did.

"....................Adam..........it's Adam."

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Chapter 27: Complete