It took a moment for Alex to regain consciousness as he placed a hand on his head since it felt fuzzy.

He slowly regained his vision as he stood up and looked to his side to see Mei also having awoken at the same time as well.

"Seems like we made it. It worked." Said Mei as the two made sure one another was okay before she surveyed their surroundings.

"Are we at the outer edge of the theater?" She asked.

Alex looked around himself and immediately recognized that they were back at the outer hallways with the main lobby they were in last time being at the center instead of the main stage.

"We are. These hallways stretch along the outskirts. I've been brought here before though to a different section. The lobby normally wasn't in the center." He said.

"Well if it's there now, then something must be worth checking out. Come on."

The two made their way down the hall and almost immediately heard the voice of the puppets echo in the air.

"Intruders, intruders!" It shouted.

The two came across a bend in the hallway as there stood a puppet and judging from it's rigid body language, it was not pleased to see them two.

"Go away. Go away! You two aren't welcome here now!"

"I know. That's exactly why we came back, cause we aren't welcome." Said Mei.

"You've no right to be here on your own accord! We have other guests to entertain so stay out of our way!"

'Other guests? Are Bronya and Seele possibly here again?' Thought Alex as those were the only other two that he had been here with together.

"I can tell you seem to be in a hurry to kick us away, so we'll remain in your way. Don't tell me that you're possibly scared of me?" Asked Mei, clearly trying to provoke the puppet now that she knew that she had the upper hand.

The puppet merely laughed off Mei's remarks.

"You're just an ignorant little girl who doesn't have a mind of her own!" It said as suddenly another puppet appeared and joined in on the conversation.

"Don't push us into taking away your Herrscher powers too!" Said the second puppet.

"Go ahead. I'd like to see you try."

The two puppets went away as puppeteered beasts emerged in their place.

Mei tapped Alex on his shoulder, quickly snapping him out of his train of thought as the two made quick work of them before continuing down the hall.

The voice of a puppet was heard, getting more agitated.

"Annoying. So annoying! Just stop! Stop pestering us!" It shouted.

As Alex and Mei got closer to the lobby, more and more puppeteered enemies would appear as the groups took longer and longer to take down.

"The closer we get, the more enemies stand in our way. Are they trying to stall for time?" Asked Mei.

"You heard them didn't you? They have other guests to entertain. That clearly means other people are here with us. They're probably somewhere in the lobby if I were to guess." Said Alex.

At that moment, the two puppets appeared in front of them again as one of them gave Alex a slow clap.

"Excellent deduction little boy. Well done. Would you like to know who this other guest is?" Asked the first puppet.

Alex thought this over as he figured with the way it was teasing this, there was no where it could've been Bronya or even Seele for that matter.

"Nah we're not telling them!" Said the second. "Unless, Ms. Raiden over there willingly surrenders her Herrscher powers to us. That way, we can gather the powers from her two besties give these two a BIG surprise!"

At that moment, Alex and Mei's eyes widened in shock as that essentially gave away who these guests were.

"Kiana!?" Said Mei.

'Crap this isn't good! Both Kiana and Bronya are here!' Thought Alex as the situation was way more dire than expected.

"Correct! You guessed right!" Happily said Puppet #1.

"Oops my bad. I accidentally gave it away." Said Puppet #2.

"Oh well it doesn't matter. They're late to the party anyways."

"She's the main star right now, and you two belong to the auditorium. There's nothing either of you can do!"

"She is the one you two care about the most. So much so that she lost herself and you two even had a big fight over it!" Said one of the puppets, clearly referencing the fight the two had back at Nagazora regarding Mei's decision to defect to World Serpent.

The other puppet then looked at Alex and pointed at him.

"Hey. Didn't you promise her that you'd stay by her side and look after her? How's that turned out huh? Not only have you failed to do so for months, but now she's walked into a death trap. She might be the second life you promised to take care of be lost after that little girl."

Alex was close to lashing out however he felt Mei place a hand on his shoulder, implying that he calm down which the boy did as Mei scoffed.

"Is that the worst you can do? I'd hardly find that impressive." She told the puppets.

"What?"

"You got one crucial detail wrong. We've all come a long way. Even when separated, Kiana will always find a way to stay strong and persevere through any and all obstacles. Just like how we can still move forward with our heads held high. We all understand each other on a deep level. Just like how we what decisions she'll make, she knows what decisions we make as well." Said Mei with confidence as Alex nodded.

"Yeah. Distance doesn't mean a damn thing nor will it change anything." He said.

"If anything, parting ways allowed us to grow and mature to change and overcome our undesirable situations. No matter what you all can say, our motivation won't ever falter." Said the Herrscher.

"Mark my words. There will be a day when we finally reconnect our paths again, when our stories permanently intertwine. Until then, we'll keep doing what we do best just like she will."

It was clear that the two's confidence wasn't gonna be broken as the puppets' grew extremely irritated.

"Don't lie to yourselves! If I remember correctly, the parting was pretty nasty!" Said one of them.

"I agree. It was rather rushed and neither of us were fully prepared. Looking back, things could've gone smoother. Be that as it may, that decision ultimately has led to this moment. To your end. You severely underestimate Kiana and the Hyperion crew." Said Mei as Alex chuckled.

"Hell, even saying underestimate is an understatement. They don't really know a single thing about them." He said.

By now, the Domination Herrscher had finally lost its cool as with a snap of its finger, the two were warped to center stage, except this time the platform was significantly larger and worst of all, there was absolutely nothing around it as it was completely on its own.

"Something feels off......." Said Mei.

"Something IS off. The platform is too big and there's absolutely nothing around us. Just an empty void." Said Alex.

That was until the voice of the puppet rang out.

"We've cut this platform off from the theater. Guess you two will have to drift back to reality." It said.

"These damn things split us off entirely? They're really hell bent on keeping us away." Said Alex.

"What a cheap trick." Said Mei in an annoyed tone.

"I'll gladly take that a compliment!"

Mei immediately transformed into her Herrscher state as the two withdrew their swords.

"Uh-oh! She's mad, she's mad!" Teasingly said the puppet.

"I hope you're ready to pay." Said Mei as she whispered to Alex. "I believe there is a way where I can get us back to the Theater. It'll recquire me to be and full strength and time my attack perfectly."

"Got it. Understood." He said.

"So you two intend to fight? So be it. Allow us to deliver a fitting gift."

BGM:

In a quick instant, Alex and Mei were suddenly completely surrounded on all sides by what seemed like hundreds upon hundreds of puppets as they all amassed like an army, ready to charge foward.

The two stood, backs against one another as despite the massive numbers, neither was intimated in the slightest.

"Hey, you got my back?" Asked Alex as Mei had a slight laugh.

"Do you even need to ask? I'll always have your like. Just like how you'll always have mine."

"A simple yes would've sufficed."

The fight was on as Alex and Mei charged towards the massive horde of puppets, effectively splitting them into two as despite being outnumbered, each were able to effortlessly weave and slash down a ton of them.

Though Mei had to wait until the right moment to fully unleash her lightning, Alex was continously calling forth his flames to torch the puppets down.

With how much was on the line, he just had to fight through the irritation his arm was going through.

"What!? How is this possible!? How're you two able to fight them all off!?" Shouted the puppet in absolute shock as the two man army was making this all seem like clockwork.

As the puppets' numbers dwindled, out came the puppeteered mechs as they were willing to try anything to outlast the two.

Despite that, nothing seemed to work as they kept going down one by one.

Even though they were handling everything with ease, fatigue was definitely setting with how little they were given to take a breather due to the sheer amount of enemies that kept charging at them.

This truly was a battle of endurance as not only were Alex and Mei getting tired, but the Legion Herrscher quickly realized that it was wasting a ton of resources JUST to keep these two busy and away from the Theater as they were extremely agitated by now.

At this point it didn't matter what came their way whether it was puppets, mechs, zombies, or beasts.

They were all slayed down by sheer determination.

This fierce stand off was coming to an end as enemy forced had dwindled down to only six.

The two were standing back to back again as the six remaining puppets slowly approached.

"Give it up! You two can't win! We will take that power!" One shouted.

'We need to end this soon. I can tell that we're on our last legs.' Thought Alex.

Just then, he felt Mei lightly kick him as he turned back and saw her give him a nod, a signal that now was the best moment for her to finally unleash her powers.

"Duck, now!" She shouted.

Alex quickly ducked as Mei called forth the two large gauntlets, unsheating the large sword it held with a mass amount of energy as in one fell slash, all six puppets were struck down in a surge of lightning.

The puppets all shouted in pain as surpringly, all went away except one as the platform had been brought back to the Theater.

BGM Ends Here

The puppet collapsed to one knee as it was in immense shock.

"It.......worked....." Said Mei between pants.

"W-What.........what have you done..........why can't..........I create anything anymore..........?"

"I simply crushed you in a test of strength..."

"W-What.......?"

"Don't tell me. You knew that you had to avoid Mei but didn't know exactly why? Man. What a terrible oversight." Said Alex. "The fact that breaking us off from the Theater was probably your ace in the hole is depressing."

"H-How......? W-Why can't we steal the Herrscher of Thunder's power..!?"

"I'll gladly tell you why.........you're simply too weak..." Said Mei.

"D-Dammit......dammit, dammit, dammit!"

"Your so called Dominance is only a glorified pillage. When put up against a greater force, you and your power will both suffer, and it seems like the consequence has been paid. You no longer hold control of the Herrscher of Reason's power."

By now Mei had fallen onto a knee, having used up a ton of energy as she reverted back to normal as Alex stood by her side.

"H-How dare you........take away our toys....."

"W-Well, stolen powers are fake powers after all..."

The puppet was close to finally giving out, but it'd get one last word in.

"L-Look at you two. All confident when there's nothing you can do anymore. You'll both be sent out soon. Just you wait.........we'll kill all your.....f-friends................."

The puppet finally collapsed onto the ground, breaking into pieces as not too long after, a rift would appear before that.

"That one feels different. I'm guessing Jackal may have finally gotten one to appear in a hurry." Said Alex.

"W-We better hurry.......it won't stay open for long. Let's let Kiana and the others handle things.........."

Alex would put Mei's arm over his shoulders as he helped her walk towards it.

As they walked, he looked towards the white light behind the doorway that stood in front of center stage.

He wondered where it would take him, where'd he end up.

A part of him thought that he could potentially end up at the main lobby, though he wasn't sure.

As he thought this over, they two eventually arrived at the rift as Mei would remove her arm.

"Ready to head back?" Asked Mei.

Alex remained silent for a bit before closing his eyes and nodding.

"Hey, Mei?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Sensei I'll be late."

Before Mei could even react, Alex shoved her into the rift as it immediately closed and went away.

BGM:

Alex would remain still for a moment before turning to face the doorway.

He had already made his choice, so it was far too late to regret it now.

He'd slowly approach the doorway before standing before it and the white light.

The boy would reach a hand out, hesitating for a bit as the lingering thought of potentially not knowing where he'd be concerned him.

Despite that, he didn't care.

'If there's a slim chance that I can see them again, intertwine our stories for just a fleeting moment, then I'll take those slim odds no matter what. Just you wait Kiana, Bronya, everyone. I'll be there..........'

Right before he stepped through, he heard a faint voice echo in his head.

One that sounded familiar.

One that he hasn't heard in a long time.

"Go on, kid. They're waiting for you."

Alex simply smiled and had a chuckle as that gave him all the confidence he needed.

The boy took a deep breath before finally walking through the doorway and into the light, awaiting where fate, where destiny would leave him.

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

Chapter 37: Complete