As the blinding white light faded away, Alex's vision returned to him as the boy looked around to survey his surroundings.

He indeed had wound up at the main lobby, being by the stairs leading to the upper level along with numerous broken puppets strewn across the floor.

"Damn. It's a mess here." Said Alex as he went and walked his way over to the other side of the lobby, coming across more broken down puppets.

Upon reaching the other side, he was surprised to see an extremely large hole had opened up on the ground.

As Alex neared it, his infected arm began to go off.

'Something's down there in that hole. Judging from the way my arm's reacting, it's extremely big.' Thought Alex.

As he stood there to think things over, he felt a hand grab his ankle as he turned back to see a broken puppet on its last legs had crawled towards him.

"W-What're you doing here? This.......doesn't concern you.....that's hell you'll be entering down there....." It weakly said.

Alex simply looked back at the hole, his mind not changing.

"The people you're targeting is what concerns me. Therefore, I have no choice but to be involved. I made a promise to someone down there, and I intened to keep it so long as her story keeps going."

"Y-You stubborn child..........that's suicide you'll be walking into.......!"

"................so what? If my story is to end here, then so be it."

The puppet wouldn't respond back, having finally broken down as Alex removed it's hand from his ankle.

He'd edge closer to the hole before taking a deep breathe and finally jumping in.

The fall lasted quite a while until he saw a light slowly fade in up ahead.

After a bit, the fall would end as he'd stick the landing and surveyed his surroundings again.

He was in a large circular arena, walls covering the entire area as off to the right he saw a massive group of active puppets all piled up one another as they seemingly pinned down someone.

In front of him was a sight that surprised him as he saw a sword planted into the ground.

A sword that he hadn't expected to see ever again.

It was her sword.

Himeko's sword.

The exact one she had used in her final battle against Sirin a year ago.

Before he could question why it was even here, he heard a booming voice from across the arena.

"You..............why're you here? How'd you get here?"

From the shadows on the other side emerged a gargantuan mech like entity with the same color scheme as the puppets.

It bore menacing red, glowing eyes on its head as it stared down at Alex.

"You should've been sent back to reality." Said the gargantuan being as Alex assumed that this was the Herrscher and considering the current situation, he wasn't gonna bother with questioning how it came to be.

"Unfortunately for you, I don't go away so easily. A little birdie told me that you had some guests, so I was just dying to check them out regardless of whether I was allowed here or not."

The being remained silent, motioning for Alex to look around the room as the boy did so, spotting two familiar faces.

To the left he saw an unconscious Fu Hua and a barely conscious Bronya as both were bleeding badly.

He then looked over to the right and saw the pile of puppets get off of one another to reveal a battered down Kiana.

The puppets gathered and surrounded Alex as the boy remained silent before staring back at the entity again.

"Is that supposed to intimidate me? Scare me even?" He asked.

"Your close friends lay here defeated. What chance could you possibly have? A mere child who serves no purpose. Who has no meaning or role? You matter the least."

This merely got a chuckle from Alex.

"A while back a crazed man whose referred to as a clown by some referred to me as something. He called me a Wild Card. Want to know what that means? An individual who's unpredictable. Someone who can't ever be planned for. Purpose? Meaning? Who really cares? Those are things I'll find with my own two hands. I don't need anyone else to determine what those are for me, especially not someone as miserable as you." Declared Alex.

"You'll die a meaningless death."

"Her story must keep going no matter what." Said Alex as he pointed at the downed Kiana. "If my story ends here, then I'll be content with that. You know, they always say that there's nothing scarier than someone who has nothing to lose. Right now, I don't fear you. I have nothing to lose. If you'll excuse me, I'll be borrowing this for the meantime."

Alex reached out his right hand and grabbed the handle of Himeko's sword as he closed his eyes.

Almost as if the sword reacted to his touch, a wave of flames emerged from where it was embedded into the ground, spreading out and torching the puppets down as Alex felt a presence stand behind him, though he didn't feel the need to look back and see who it was.

"Took you a while kid. Guess you prefer arriving in style." Said the voice he heard from earlier as he already knew it was.

"Guilty as charged, Major Himeko." He said with a smile.

"So, you finally intend to make do with the promise you made her?"

"................absolutely....." He said as Alex heard Himeko chuckle.

"You've certainly matured a ton. One last thing. Make sure to treat my baby with respect." She said referring to her sword in a joking manner.

"Don't worry. I gotta keep it in good hands for the next recipient."

Himeko's presence would fade away as Alex lifted the sword out from the ground, shifting it to his left hand as he pointed it at the large being.

"You fully intend to throw your life away?" Said the being as Alex merely chuckled.

"Who knows? Time to find out."

BGM:

Alex wasted no time as he charged at the enemy.

The being raised its arm, calling attention to numerous floating arms in the air as they all balled into fists and were sent rocketing down towards the boy.

He'd easily side step out of the way for most of them before looking up at the last one that came his way.

Alex would then swing the sword like a bat, striking the last fist as it was sent towards the minion's face stunning it a bit.

This gave him some time to charge ahead once more as he'd jump up to avoid its own fist from smashing him as he began to climb up the arm.

The boy eventually reached the shoulder and was about to stab directly through its head before he felt something attach to his leg.

He looked back and saw some strings wrapped around it as the strings yoinked him off and slammed him back onto the ground.

Alex yelped a bit before immediately rolling back to regain footing as he looked back and saw a few hands up there as they were quite literally pulling strings.

'I better watch my step and be extremely vigilant. Those strings could land some lethal blows.' Thought the boy.

Just as predicted, he saw a ton of strings be sent straight towards him as he swapped Himeko's sword back to his right hand and grabbed Olympus with his left, now wielding both as he slashed and cut apart as many strings as he could.

Despite that, the speed at which the strings were being sent at him were like bullets as a few were able to land cuts on his forehead, cheek, knees, and arms causing a few cuts on his clothing as the cuts began to bleed.

The assault would cease as Alex saw a fist be sent straight at him.

He quickly placed Olympus back onto his back and held Himeko's sword out to block.

The two collided as Alex slid back, slamming against the wall behind him but was able to take the brunt of the attack.

Suddenly, he heard a massive sound above him as he saw multiple fists having slammed into the wall high up which sent a mountain of debris raining down towards him.

Alex was unable to get out of the way in time as all the debris fell and piled ontop of him as a large dust cloud emerged.

The Legion Herrscher merely scoffed before turning its attention back to Kiana who was just now starting to slowly sit up.

Suddenly, a massive burst of flames erupted from where the debris was, sending it flying as one of the pieces was able to cleanly cut off one of the Herrscher's arms.

"W-What!? How is this possible!?" It spoke in shock, turning its direction to the blaze.

Kiana slowly sat up, regaining her vision as from the flames emerged a silhouette.

For a brief moment, she could've swore she saw Himeko however after rubbing her eyes to see clearly, she was even more shocked to see who it really was.

"A-Alex...............?" She whispered in disbelief.

The damage from the rubble certainly did a number on the boy as his clothes were tattered.

His coat was torn at the bottom as left sleeve had been ripped off up to his elbow with his right sleeve ripped just above his wrist.

Even with all the pain he was in, he still stood as he pointed to a trail of blood leaking from his forehead, the only wound he suffered from the rubble falling on him.

"All that........ just for this? Is that all you've got!?" He shouted, a smile plastered on his face.

"How're you still standing!? Just what are you!?"

"I told you already, I'm the Wild Card! You've come face to face with a man who has nothing to lose! Get a grasp of reality you stupid Herrscher. My will is a blaze that'll burn eternally!" Declared Alex.

He began to tap into the energy of Himeko's sword as the blade began to glow as flames swirled around it.

His arm didn't appreciate that in the slightest, beginning to hurt immensely as the infection slowly spread up to his neck.

Despite that, he wasn't backing down as he straight ran straight at the Herrscher.

The Herrscher aimed its arm back and was gonna deliver a mighty punch at him as Alex, instead of opting to dodge out of the way, decided to aim the blade as he intensified the flames as he stuck the sword right through the fist and into its arm as fire blew through from within as it bursted out, leaving multiple holes as its remaining arm was severely damaged.

The boy would pull the sword out and get some distance as in a last ditch effort, the Herrscher would bring forth another mass group of puppets to gain some desperate rest.

The puppets all charged at Alex, attempting to attack or trap him in strings however the boy was running on pure adrenaline as he slashed his way through and mowed down puppet after puppet until eventually they were all taken down.

This attack though was merely meant to be a distraction as with its only remaining arm, the Legion Herrscher picked up a sharp piece of debris and used whatever strength it could muster with one weakened arm and hurled it towards Kiana.

The girl stood up, ready to resume fighting as she slowly regained energy.

As the debris came extremely close, the girl suddenly felt herself be shoved back as she heard the debris land right in front of her.

BGM Ends Here

When Kiana looked, her eyes widened in shock as she saw that Alex had been the one to get her out of the way as the debris pierced him directly through the abdomen.

Alex gritted his teeth in pain, coughing up a bit of blood as the flames from Himeko's blade dispersed.

The pain on his arm went away as the infection went back to only covering his arm, though now he was hurting immensely fron the abdomen as blood leaked out.

Despite this, Alex smiled through the pain as he handed Kiana Himeko's sword.

"T-This.............is for you...........go get the j-job done....................this is........y-your story.....to finish...........I believe....in you..........everyone.........believes in you...................M-Mei............believes in.........you..............................................H-Himeko believes...............................in.............................you.........................................."

Those were the final words Alex parted to Kiana as he slumped to the floor, laying in a puddle of his blood slowly feeling cold as he closed his eyes.....................................................and lost consciousness.........

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Chapter 38: Complete