This certainly wasn't an expected situation to be in but stranger things had happened so Alex was pretty non chalant about what was happening at that very moment.

Sitting across from a tall and mature woman who had formally introduced herself as Aponia.

Aponia had light brown hair and blue eyes she wore a long white veil with thorns and flowers accenting the sides.

She also had a tight white turtleneck with a butterfly brooch extending around a blue gem on her chest and various cross-like symbols over her body along with black puffy sleeves which ended in white cuffs and shorts which were white and frilly.

From her torso all the way down to her feet, she donned a long black cloth with golden accessories and lastly, connected to her back was a long robe that resembled blue butterfly wings along with much shorter, wilted, butterfly wings connected to the black piece, and she wore heeled boots that were simply white.

Despite the nun giving him a smile, Alex felt a little put off by her presence alone as something about her just screamed that she was dead inside.

"My apologies for suddenly bringing you here after your battle with Kevin. I just felt like having an audience with you as soon as possible." She said.

'So, it was her who brought me here?' Thougut Alex.

"Don't worry about it. It isn't a big deal." He said as the girl nodded, having a relieved smile.

"So, is there anything you wanna talk about?" Asked Alex.

Aponia would nod as she reached a hand out.

"Please, place your palm on my hand." She said.

Alex found this pretty weird however before he could even contemplate this, his hand suddenly reached forward almost as if it had moved on its own as Aponia grabbed it.

'T-The hell?' Thought Alex. 'I swear I wasn't in control of my arm just now.'

"Please, relax." Said Aponia.

"What's going on? What're you-." Before Alex could continue, his mind suddenly went numb, a cool feeling passing through his body as he began to relax just as Aponia told him too.

As the boy sank into his seat fully relaxed, Aponia held onto his hand as she closed her eyes and used her other hand, running it along his palm.

This process would last for a few minutes, Alex nearly falling asleep from how strong the relaxing feeling was until Aponia would finally place Alex's hand back down on the table, letting it go as at that exact moment the relaxing feeling immediately went away.

The aftermath causing Alex's head to feel a little fuzzy as he groaned a bit.

'The hell's happening?' He thought to himself.

"I can see young Akame was warning you earlier. How wise of her." Said Aponia.

"What're you talking about?" Asked Alex.

"I foresaw your past and future. You truly are a remarkable individual, being able to hold your own against the Honkai and Herrschers. The progress you've made so far just to catch up to the lightning Herrscher is truly splendid, however I fear that an impending disaster is lingering in your near future." She said.

Alex was completely baffled at all this.

"Are you saying I'm gonna die soon?" He asked.

Aponia remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.

"Indeed. I saw in your future that death awaits you soon in your pursuit to catch up to the Herrscher. Be that as it may, I have a faint feeling that you'll be able to change your fate."

"And how exactly do I do that?"

"If I told you, then it won't happen. For now, just keep doing what you're doing. Our paths will cross again. When they do, that's when I'll know that you successfully manage to change your fate, just as you have been doing your whole life up till now."

All Alex could really do was just nod, unsure of what to say.

"Now then....."

Aponia would snap her fingers as the table suddenly vanished into thin air.

She'd sit on her knees, patting her lap seemingly inviting the boy to lay down.

"Come, rest a bit please." She said.

"Didn’t I already do that just now? Sorry but no thanks. I gotta head back to the lob-."

Again, Alex's train of thought was halted by the same cool, relaxing feeling again as his body seemingly moved against his own will as he laid down and rested his head on the nun's lap.

The feeling was very heavenly as the boy's hazy mind instantly felt drowsy, especially once Aponia began to gently stroke his hair.

"Please, just relax and close your eyes." She said in a soothing tone.

Alex looked up at her, his vision becoming blurry as sleep began to slowly take over.

Right before he closed his eyes, Aponia would place her hand over them, completely obscuring his vision as Alex faintly heard her speak one last time, before finally passing out.

"Please, live."

An unknown amount of time would pass before Alex would finally wake up as he slowly opened his eyes.

As his blurry vision slowly returned to normal, he noticed that he was indeed back in the lobby as he was laying down on the couch, however he wasn't alone.

He'd look up and see non other than Elysia's face above him as she waved.

"Hi~. Did you have a nice nap~?" She said in her usual overly sweet tone.

It took a moment for Alex to completely register the current scenario he was in until he finally put two and two together once his mind was fully clear, now realizing that he was resting on the elf girl's lap.

The boy immediately sat up, much to Elysia's dismay.

"Aww. Just a few more minutes?"

"Why was I on your lap? Couldn't you have woken me up?"

"I didn't wanna interrupt your rest. That and you looked too cute that it was hard to resist." She said in a pretty non chalant manner.

Normally most people would be embarrassed but after the long day he had been through, Alex just sighed.

"Thanks, I guess?" Was all he could say.

"So, seeing as you've returned from the fight against Kevin, I'm glad to announce that you've passed the challenge. Congratulations. By the way, what took you so long to come back? I was waiting by the gate for a while until you suddenly showed up on the couch."

Alex was about to inform the elf girl about his encounter with the nun, but it was if some external force was preventing him from speaking about it as the words he was about to say just suddenly fell out of his mind as he forgot what he was gonna say.

'I know what I wanna say. Why aren't the words coming to mind? Is this her doing?' Thought Alex.

"Well?" Asked Elysia, still awaiting an answer.

Seeing as clearly something wasn't allowing him to speak on his meeting with Aponia, he had to come up with something else.

"Sorry, I don't remember. I was really exhausted after the fight against Kevin. Everything after that is a blur." He said.

Elysia frowned a little but quickly got over it as she patted him on the back.

"Oh well, nice job either way. You're now one step closer to catching up to Mei. Keep it up~!" She cheerfully said before leaving.

Alex would sit back down on the couch, leaning back and having a heavy sigh to himself as he just couldn't get that encounter out of his mind, as he only had one single thought at that very moment regarding the nun and just the overall feeling and vibe that meeting gave off.

'Just what the hell was her deal? Something is very off putting about her.'

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Ngl, I think I went a little too overboard.

Aponia basically had Alex wrapped around her finger. 💀

Oh well. 🤷‍♂️

Chapter 12: Complete