The girl charged at Alex as the boy hastily raised his sword to block the incoming attack as he wasn't given time to fully stand up again.

The girl swung down, the two blades clashing against one another.

The girl having more leverage tried to push down as hard as she could to get Alex to fall back however the boy remained up, holding his own rather well before successfully managing to push her away and putting some distance between the two.

This distance wouldn't last long because as soon as Alex regained proper footing, the girl yet again dashed back towards him to continue her assault.

All Alex could really do was move out of the way and dodge her sword swings as the sheer pace and speed of her strikes were pretty blistering as Alex was having a tough time reliably avoiding them.

Thankfully the girl's over aggression would lead to an opening as after a slight misstep, Alex would use the blunt side of Olympus to knock her back as he immediately followed that up by launching a fireball at her.

Much to his surprise though, the girl easily swiped it away with her blade, treating it as a mere inconvenience before immediately going back on her aggressive assault.

Not wanting to wait for an opening again, Alex would reciprocate by going for an offensive approach of his own.

With both going all in on offense and putting zero focus on blocking or dodging, many attacks were whiffed and off the mark however this didn't stop either of them from letting off the pressure.

Just one slip up could mean disaster and it didn't take long for those to happen as both began to receive small cuts and slashes from one another however with the girl's cloak effectively adding a layer of clothing, she was receiving minimal damage.

Clearly realizing this, Alex would attempt a rather bold move as after managing to parry one of her attacks away, he reached a hand out and managed to grab the cloak's collar.

The girl was immediately caught off guard as Alex started to tug at it in an attempt to yank it off.

This was met with the girl placing a hand on his arm, attempting to move it off.

At that moment, the two seemed to have had the same idea as they both used their free arms to try and get a strike at one another while they were distracted.

Time felt like it had frozen at that moment as the two blades slowly inches closer and closer to hitting their targets.

Neither attack would land however as sudden, a third attack from out of nowhere would send both swords flying out of their hands.

The two were caught off guard before turning to their side to see Sakura's sudden presence as she sheathed her sword before pushing Alex away as she immediately chopped the back of the cloaked girl's neck, instantly knocking her out as she grabbed her.

"U-Um, thank you?" Awkwardly said Alex as he stood up. "Also, why?"

"Elysia suddenly had the feeling that she'd do something drastic. From what I just prevented, I guess she was right." Explained Sakura.

"I see. Well, send Elysia my regards. I thank her and you a ton." Said Alex before he focused his attention on the unconscious girl. "What're you gonna do with her?"

"Return her to her room. I should get going now. Till we meet again, Alex." Said Sakura.

Before Sakura could head towards the rift, Alex immediately called out to her.

"H-Hold on." He said.

"What is it?"

"Do you mind if I accompany you to her room? I, really wanna talk to her."

"She just tried you slice your head off and you wanna talk with her?" Asked Sakura, a bit bewildered but Alex simply nodded, fully insistent on his decision.

Sakura simply sighed and nodded, motioning him to follow along as the two would enter the rift and returned to the Realm lobby.

The two entered the hallway, walking down before reaching the last door there. They'd enter the room which was fairly minimalistic.

'Damn. Kinda feels like my apartment a little.' Thought Alex.

Sakura would lay the girl down on her bed, turning to leave before looking at Alex one last time.

"You sure you'll be okay?" She asked to which Alex nodded.

"Yeah. I'll be alright." He said.

That gave Sakura enough reassurance as she nodded herself before leaving the room.

With it just being the two of them now in her room, the boy looked at the unconscious girl and impulsively really wanted to just remove her hood and see what she looked like.

Despite the urge to do so, Alex knew it was better to not pry into it too much, feeling it'd be better for her to show her face on her own time.

After this, Alex would sit down at the desk that was beside her bed as he waited for her to wake up.

It took around twenty minutes before he heard her begin to stir in her asleep.

He'd turn his attention towards her as he saw her slowly sit up, placing her hand up to her head.

The girl looked around, noticing she was in her room before spotting Alex as the boy immediately took control of the situation.

"I'm not here to pick a fight. Granted, I never even wanted to start a fight to begin with. If you're wondering how you got here, it was Sakura. She carried you here and I tagged along. Now then onto the matter at hand, care to explain why you just attacked me like that?" He asked.

The girl was quiet for a bit before finally answering his question.

"I'm............sorry. I just got frustrated that you weren't listening to me. After the third time, I just felt like I had to get my point across." She said.

"Through physical harm?" Said Alex with a smirk.

"Shut up. Don't be a smartass."

"Look, I fully understand your point. What me and the Herrscher are trying to do won't be an easy task. We knew it wouldn't be. Be that as it may, this is something we must do. I may not be fully aware of what happened back in your time, but our time is different. We have Herrschers who are going against the Honkai's will and working alongside humanity. We have an oppurtunity to make history here. This place could potentially hold the final key to ensure our survival. That's why we can't turn back now. Not when we're so close." Explained Alex.

The girl remained silent, not muttering a word for a while.

"I see. I understand now. I'm, sorry for not trying to see things your way. I was just so stubborn of seeing things from my perspective."

"If you were that stubborn, then clearly someone drastic must've happened to make you view things from your perspective. What happened?" He asked.

"It's fairly simple. Obviously, the Honkai ravaged my home when I was a little girl. Everyone in my home died and I was the lone survivor. Unfortunately in that attack, I ended up gaining a small infection, leaving a mark on my body."

"Marks like these?"

Alex would lift his left sleeve to reveal his infection to which the girl had a slight gasp of shock before nodding.

"Yeah. Just like that. As I traveled from place to place hoping someone would take me in, the marks served as a cruel punishment for me. People would see these marks and immediately run me away. They saw me as a curse, as a monster waiting to be born. They judged me before they got to know me." She said.

Alex remained quiet, now fully understanding why she had been acting the way she did.

The Honkai infection essentially had made her shunned away completely by society for something that wasn't even her fault.

"All those hurtful comments made me self conscious of my appearance, so I ended up donning this cloak to conceal myself. Later on down the road, I ran into Elysia. For the first time in a long time, she was the first person who wanted to know me despite being aware of my condition. She was the one who took me in like a daughter and introduced me to the others, though everyone else are less enthused about my presence."

"Well, then consider me the second person to hear you out. I'm really interested in getting to know you better. I just hope you'll be willing to open up a bit more." Said Alex, extending a hand out to her.

Though he obviously couldn't tell, he knew the girl most definitely had a small smile on her face as she accepted his handshake.

"Thank you, Alex." She said.

"No problem. I better head back now. Hopefully find Kosma and Griseo so I can tell them I'm alright."

Alex stood up and walked to the door, opening it.

Before he stepped back into the hallway, he heard the girl call out to him.

"Hey, Alex?" She asked as the boy turned back to face her.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Allow me to properly introduce myself. It's an honor to be your friend, Alex."

The girl then placed her hands on her hood, lowering it as Alex's eyes widened at bit upon seeing what she really looked like.

"My name's Akame. Akame Satsuki."

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If it wasn't obvious enough, the cloaked girl now known as Akame is the Previous Era version of Alex.

Why are they girl?

Simple. Don't question it. Just accept it. 👍

Chapter 8: Complete