Akame would watch Alex walk through the rift, leaving the lobby as he arrived at the arena where he'd duel with whoever Elysia had managed to rope into this.

The girl stood in the lobby for a few more seconds before heading to the hallway, lifting her hood back on as she was making her way to her room.

Right as she entered the hallway however, she spotted Elysia leaning against a wall as she seemingly was waiting for her.

"What is it?" Asked Akame, already aware that Elysia was very likely gonna pose a question towards her.

The pink elf simply turned her gaze towards her, a knowing smile plastered on her face as she gave her question.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" She asked.

All Akame could do was just sigh in response.

"I went over who this mystery opponent could possibly be in my mind, and I came to the only logical conclusion. Are you sure about this? This might me too much for him so soon in his journey through the realm." She said.

Elysia took a moment to respond to her question before an answer came to her head.

"Well, I'll admit that I too am a little worried. Unlike my fight with Mei, the person who agreed to take on Alex most likely won't hold back like I did with her. Despite that, I think the opponent going all out will only make success much more meaningful and impactful for him. I can tell that he's really eager to finally catch up to Mei. Overcoming this first trial will go a long way for him. Most importantly, I have the utmost confidence in him. Don't you?" She asked.

Akame took a moment to truly ponder over her answer before she nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"Then that's all that's needed. Just confidence."

[Back with Alex]

When Alex stepped out of the rift, he was brought into what he assumed was a different space of the Realm.

The floor he was on was far larger than the usual Realm floors he'd traverse through, likely to make sure the space was adequate enough for a battle.

As the boy looked around the place, his focus was ahead of him as he saw a figure that he couldn't quite make out in the distance sitting in a chair as they stared out at the horizon.

'Christ just how far in advance did Elysia set this up? I doubt the wait was THAT long.' Thought Alex.

As he approached whoever was sitting on the chair, the details of who it was now became apparent as Alex had a brief gasp before gaining a stern expression.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

The person on the chair stood up, turning to face Alex as their identity was none other than Kevin.

"You've finally arrived." He said.

"Don't dodge the question. Why're you here?"

"Did Elysia not fill you in?"

When the snow haired male said that, Alex was completely baffled.

"Wait, she picked YOU? How? How did she even rope you into this?" He asked.

Kevin remained silent, clearly not wanting to answer his questions and wanted to get straight to the point.

"That isn't important. Onto the topic at hand....."

BGM:

Kevin would extend an arm forward, summoning his weapon as Alex instinctively leaped back.

In his hands was a blade Alex had only seen once before.

It was the Judgment of Shamash.

'The last time I saw that sword was in the Siberia simulation when Mr. Siegfried was wielding it. Can't believe this guy held it prior to him.' He thought.

"Though this was a request from Elysia, understand that I will not be holding back. I'm holding you to the same level as I do with the lightning Herrscher. I implore you to treat this with maximum effort." Said Kevin, getting into a fighting stance.

"Fine by me! I wouldn't have it any other way!" Responded Alex, immediately grabbing Olympus off from his back as he too got into a fighting stance.

The two stared one another down before Alex began to go on the assault first, immediately charging at Kevin as he attempted a variety of swings to initially test the waters.

As he did so, the snow haired boy simply moved out of the way of all his attempted slashes and strikes before blocking his last attack.

This would Alex to stagger backwards a bit as Kevin would aim Shamash and swing diagonally at him.

Alex hastily bent back as low as he possibly could, barely evading the massive blade as he swore he could see the blade cut through very small strands of hair out of the corner of his eyes.

After dodging the attack, Alex quickly jumped back to gain some distance however he saw Kevin already coat Shamash in it's inferno like fire as he once again swung, this time sending a wave of flames straight at him.

'Well, now's a great time to test them out I guess!' Thought Alex, referring to Olympus' other abilities as he pointed the sword at the incoming wave of fire.

He closed his eyes and channeled Olympus' energy as the red line that ran along the sword's blade briefly turned blue for a brief moment as Alex would successfully shoot out his first ever ball of ice.

The frosty projectile speed towards the wave of flames as the two attacks collided, the elemental affinities immediately canceling one another out as smoke obscured the arena.

Alex immediately began to focus on sound as he looked around, trying to anticipate where Kevin would be coming from.

Despite that, the man would still manage to surprise Alex as he'd emerge from the smoke cloud behind him.

Alex noticed this at the last second and immediately rolled out of the way before having to quickly block and guard any incoming attacks as now Kevin had gone on the offensive.

With the size and strength difference, the Previous Era hero easily was over powering Alex as the young boy had to constantly pay attention on his footing to make sure Kevin wasn't getting too much leverage over him on the clashes.

'Need to find a way to create distance fast.' Thought Alex.

He'd soon find his oppurtunity as between attacks, he quickly shot a fireball at the ground, immediately creating another smoke this time right in front of Kevin's eyes.

The male was temporary blinded as Alex hastily got away from the smoke and shot a second, this time much larger fireball hoping for this one to hit the mark.

Unfortunately though shocked but to be expected, Kevin with ease would essentially slap the fireball away with Shamash as the sword send the projectile in a completely different direction as it traveled away into the sky and dispersed apart.

The warrior charged ahead but Alex would react by stabbing Olympus into the ground, the red line along the blade now turning yellow as he called apon electricity.

Kevin felt vibrations in the ground before seeing yellow currents of lightning burst from below as they began to charge at him from many different directions.

He'd dodge and leave between all thr attacks, even using Shamash's flames to outright cancel them out.

By now, Alex's exhaustion was starting to set in a little as true to Vill-V's word, switching to ice and lightning was definitely taking up a lot more energy than what the flames normally would recquire.

Despite the exhaustion, he'd manage to get in another elemental switch as he go back from lightning to ice, as now an ice crystal would emerge from the ground, encasing Kevin's legs frozen shut.

Kevin quickly conjured up flames once more about to strike the ice away, however Alex then utilized one last switch, going from ice to the gravity as the red line turned white.

An gravitational orb would appear in front of Alex as the pull began to draw Kevin near.

Even with this, he didn't seem fazed and aimed Shamash with all it's might for an attack.

'He intends to call it game here. Fine then. Two can play that game.'

Mustering all the energy he had left, Alex would swap to fire and aimed for a decision strike as he poured as much Honkai energy into flames as quickly as he could as he felt his infection began to slowly creep and spread over the left side of his body.

One second let to another, and the two dealt their decisive blows as they now stood backs turned to one another.

BGM Ends Here

The flames on both blades would slowly fade away as Kevin would de-summon Shamash while Alex hook Olympus onto his back.

The boy's exhaustion would drop him to a knee however he'd still manage to stay up and not fall completely to the ground.

He'd pant for a bit before looking up and was shocked to see Kevin offering him a hand.

"You held up well. We'll call that a draw." He said.

After getting over his initial confusion, Alex would accept Kevin's help as he was lifted back up.

The man would give him a very subtle nod before turning to leave.

"Wait so, did I pass or not? Was I supposed to win?" Asked Alex.

"Returning back to the lobby should be enough for Elysia to make a decision."

With those final words, Kevin would away as Alex was left a little confused.

'Okay? That was odd but oh well. He was surpringly calm. Just how different of a person did he used to be? I should probably ask Elysia when I'm back.' He thought.

Alex began to make his way to the rift he came from however before he'd step in, he suddenly got a massive rush of dizziness and a headache, stumbling a bit as he closed his eyes, stopped walking, and placed his hands on his head.

As quickly as it came, it'd also suddenly go away as Alex would open his eyes and immediately noticed something.

The floor he was on was different as now he seemed to be standing on a carpet.

As he looked up and around, he was now in a dimly lit hallway that only seemed to stretch foward as behind him was just a wall.

'What's going on? This place surely is full of surprises.' Thought Alex.

Seeing as the only place to go was foward, that's exactly what Alex did as he began to walk on ahead.

He feared that this would be a super long and boring hallway but thankfully the walk would only last a couple of minutes as he'd be met with a door at the end.

He was going to knock until suddenly, the door opened on its own.

Seeing as that was pratically an invitation, Alex would step inside to see a chair placed in front of a table that one two triple candle holders as all six candles were lit.

The boy was pretty lost at all of this until he heard a voice speak.

"Please, sit down." It said, the voice sounding like a girl.

Alex nodded and sat down, pulling up to the table as he looked ahead and saw a figure seated on the other side, covered by shadows.

"I'm pleased to have you here." She said before pulling up to the table and emerging out from the shadows as she revealed herself.

"Welcome, Alex Mustang. My name is Aponia."

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Chapter 11: Completed