Here they were.

The trio had entered the 4th and final warehouse which was by the shore as they went in through a secret entrance and scoped the area up ahead as they hid behind a corner.

"Lot of security mechs this time around." Said Alex.

"They must've heard about the prior three warehouse incidents." Said Mei before she turned to Raven. "You sure our target will take a chance this big tonight?"

"I'm fairly certain they will. These puppets, the Herrscher of Dominance struck me as a group of lunatics who'd risk anything to achieve their goals." She said.

"I do wonder, how would the puppets even get in without being detected by the guards?" Asked Alex.

"Who knows. Probably a secret passage I guess. Anyways, let's get a move on. Try to avoid getting caught."

The trio would begin to sneak their way through the warehouse, avoiding detection from the security mechs and they would've taken up too much time to deal with compared to Honkai Zombies.

After getting through the initial floor, they'd head up a flight of stairs and into a narrow hallway with stacks of boxes as they hid behind those to avoid detection.

They'd then enter through a passage to their left which led them to another section of the warehouse as they were met with a winding hallway, this time with smaller mechs on guard.

This allowed the trio to pick them off from ease from behind as after leaving the winding hallway, they went down the stairs and saw an adult man with a green polo shirt and khaki pants as he stood at the corner of the room.

"Is that the guy?" Whispered Alex as Raven nodded.

The trio would carefully approach him as Raven then stepped ahead of the two pulled out her firearm, aiming it at him.

"Step away from the box. Now." She demanded.

This startled the man as he turned around to see Raven aimed at him along with Alex and Mei slowly grabbing the handles of their blades.

"W-Who are you!? What.........what're you gonna do with my sister!?" Asked the man, clearly on edge. "N-No! I refuse to let anyone hurt my sister! I'll-!"

In an instant, the man was rendered silent as Mei would quickly strike him down in a flash of lightning, leaving Alex and Raven a little impressed.

"Well, that settles it. I hope you didn't kill him." Said Raven as Alex kneeled by the body and checked his pulse.

"He's good. Just out cold." Said Alex.

"You two saw how delirious he was. We weren't gonna be able to get anything out of him right now. Tie him up." Said Mei.

Raven nodded as she tied him up and tossed him by the wall.

"He mentioned something about his sister right? That seemed to be why he was acting really strange." Said Alex.

"Maybe that could be the puppet potentially inside the box that he was guarding. He must've thought that it's his sister." Said Mei.

"Do you two wanna open it now?" Asked Raven.

Alex was a little hesitant but Mei nodded as the two approached the box, grabbing the top.

Right as they were about to pull it off, Alex felt his infected left arm sense something as he gasped.

'Wait, shit!' He thought as he tried to reach and stop them.

"Mei, Sensei, DON-!"

A bright white flash enveloped the three's field of vision as Alex's mind went blank.

The boy was slowly coming too, his head feeling dizzy and his vision a little blurry as he slowly sat up.

Once he regained his vision, he looked around and immediately sensed familiarity with the atmosphere.

"Damn. Guess it was too good to be true. Of course now of all times the damn puppet decides to pull off this bullshit again." Said Alex in an annoyed tone as he got up, dusting himself off as he surveyed his surroundings.

He wasn't in the hallway again like he was the first two times, as now he was now in some kind of grand, closed off lobby area with stairs off to the left and right, though the left ones were broken.

Alex then heard some groaning from behind as he turned and saw that Mei was there with him as she was just waking up.

"Mei!"

The boy immediately ran up to and kneeled by her side as the girl eventually regained her bearings as she looked around.

"Is this, their domain?" She asked.

"Yeah. It is. Seems like the Herrscher probably got lonely of having no visitors. We should get a move on. Hopefully find an exit." Said Alex.

The boy would back off as Mei stood up, immediately transforming into her Herrscher form in an instant as the two were greeted by puppeteered mechs immediately.

The two began to take them on as in the middle of their battle, they heard a voice echo nearby.

"My my, look who I've come across."

"Who's there?" Asked Mei.

"A puppet most likely. At least, one of them." Said Alex as the two continued to battle the enemies.

"Ah, it's you! The others have told me about you! And you've brought an unexpected guest as well. Excellent!" Happily said the voice as this puppet seemed to be a new one.

Eventually, they'd take down all the mechs as they took a small breather.

"If I were to guess, the voice is probably waiting for us just up ahead. They're definitely up these steps." Said Alex.

"Where's Raven? I just noticed her absence." Said Mei.

"Who knows. She was either sent else where, or she wasn't brought in at all. More importantly, let's go meet this voice."

The two would walk up the steps and sure enough at the top was a puppet as it bowed.

"Welcome, to the Theater of Domination." It said.

Alex simply had an unamused look as Mei was a little shocked as this was her first time seeing one of the puppets actually active.

"And here I was wondering why my brother was calling out to me. It was you two." It said, confirming its identity to be the man's sister.

Mei immediately withdrew her sword however Alex immediately stopped her.

"I don't sense any bad intentions from you. Why'd you bring us here?" He asked.

"You sure are perceptive. I just wanna show the girl around. You can be her entourage if you want." Said the puppet as Alex whispered to Mei.

"Listen, let's just go along with it for now. Let's not intentionally drive it to violence alright?" Asked Alex.

"What if it's a trap?"

"I'm sure we'll be ready for it."

Mei seemed to have been convinced as she re-sheathed her sword back.

"Come on. This way, Ms. Raiden." Said the puppet.

"You, know my name?"

"Of course I do. We all know it. You're an honored guest after all."

The puppet began to walk away as the two followed it up the steps onto the second floor.

In front of them was what seemed to be a giant model puppet hanging from the ceiling as this floor gave them a better view of where they were at.

"Marvelous, right? We built all of this together." Said the puppet.

"Who exactly is this 'we'?" Asked Mei.

"My friends obviously! We're all very weak on our own so we have to stick together!"

As the two continued to follow, two mechs would suddenly appear.

"Oops. Someone must've left those there by accident. No worries though. You should be able to take care of them with those Herrscher powers of yours." Said the puppet as it continued to walk on.

The two would battle these mechs as something stuck out in Alex's mind.

'The way she said Herrscher was weird. Almost like she was emphasizing and imploring Mei to use hers. Why?' Thought the boy.

He then remembered to what had happened the last time he was here and what he saw befall Bronya as he came to an immediate realization.

'That sly brat! That's why we were brought here. They want Mei to use her powers, so they can steal them!'

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 33: Complete