As the group of four walked inside, Alex would get his first ever impression of what the Babylon Tower would look like and it was a rather grim first impression.

'Everything here is so dimly lit. With how the infrastructure is set up, this feels more like a prison rather than an actual lab. Not to mention, just the vibe this place gives off is extremely off putting.' He thought.

Alex didn't know why, but just being inside the Lab made him feel sick and nauseous, as if something malicious was inside that tower besides the 2nd Herrscher.

As Alex surveyed his surroundings, Kiana began to pick up on how odd the tower was as well.

"So, this is what the tower looks like on the inside? Kinda seems like a prison to me." Said Kiana.

"From what I was told, Overseer Otto is the one who manages the Babylon Labs though what exactly he uses this place for is unknown to me." Stated Cecilia.

That definitely raised a red flag for Alex, though that topic would get brushed aside as Theresa cleared her throat to get their attention.

"Look, we can save the extra stuff for later. Right now we gotta focus on catching up to the 2nd Herrscher before she regains her full strength back." Said Theresa.

The other nodded in agreement and began to traverse within the tower.

After encountering and taking down a group of Honkai Beasts, they all came across an elevator which was locked.

"Damn. It's going to need a Key Card if we're going to want to utilize it." Said Theresa.

"I'm fairly certain that the key card should be around here somewhere as long as we look carefully." Said Cecilia.

Right as the four were about search the area, Theresa's transmission device began to go off as she looked to see who was contacting her.

"Hm? A message from the Overseer?" Said Theresa. She began to read it and as she finished it, gave a confused expression.

"He wants me to head back now all of a sudden. This makes no sense. Why?" She asked.

"The Overseer more than likely has a plan that involves you. We should trust his judgement. Don't worry Theresa. You can leave the 2nd Herrscher to me." Said Cecilia.

"W-Wait but..." Trailed off Theresa, still unsure if she should leave the group.

"Don't worry Aunt Theresa we got this covered! Me and Alex will do our absolute best to keep Cecilia safe from any major harm." Confidently said Kiana as Alex nodded in agreement.

Theresa sighed, knowing that she wasn't gonna be able to convince Kiana otherwise.

"Alright then, I'll be heading off then. Take care you three. Good luck."

With that, Theresa bid farewell and left, leaving the group on their own.

"Alright then. Kiana, Alex, let's split up and look for the key card. Make sure not to get too far from here, understood?" Asked Cecilia.

The two agreed and they all went off in their own directions looking for the key card.

Alex approached a row of numerous jail cells, and though he was supposed to be looking for just the item, he couldn't help but notice some eerie and disturbing details about the cells.

'Dried out blood, torn and ragged blankets, worn out children's toys, just what the hell was going on in here?' Thought Alex.

Nearly every cell he looked through had the same three details as the more he saw it, the more it really began to genuinely upset and disturb Alex.

That was until the last cell he looked through when he saw, to his utter shock, a dead body.

More specifically, a child's dead body.

Alex couldn't even begin to comprehend what he was seeing.

It took a while for him to regain his composure, if anything, the fact that he didn't even react to it loudly impressed him a little.

He approached and kneeled down to get a closer look at the corpse.

Aside from the obvious stains of dried blood, Alex spotted numerous bruises, cuts, and red, cuff marks on their wrists.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on, as Alex immediately pieced together the reason as to why this place felt so off putting.

'Babylon Tower, was being used as a child experimentation facility.'

It was at that exact moment, that a searing pain began to go through his head.

Just like what had happened earlier with Siegfried, Alex's vision once again began to get extremely blurry as his entire sense of surroundings began to twist and warp all around him.

This time was much, much worse than the first time however as his mind just continously throbbed in pain at ton.

Eventually, the pain was simply too much as Alex felt his brain, his mind, be forcefully turned off similar to a console being shut down.

The boy fell over, immediately losing consciousness.

Numbness was all that was felt.

An unknown amount of time had passed until his senses slowly came back, as a voice was faintly heard.

"ex...wake up...Alex!"

Now feeling his body being shaken, Alex slowly opened his eyes to see that it was Theresa.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay." Said the girl with a sigh of relief.

"T-Theresa?"

The boy groaned as he slowly sat up, holding his aching head in pain.

He looked around and saw that they were in the middle of a brightly lit facility.

"Uh, where are we?" Asked the boy.

"That doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that you two trespassed into a private area of St. Freya and got sucked into the simulation. Neither of you should be here right now." Said the girl, confirming that this was indeed the present Theresa.

"Look it was all Kiana's idea. I got dragged into this. Wait, more importantly where's Kiana?"

Theresa pointed over as Alex turned to see Kiana just standing their motionless, almost as if she was in a trance.

"It seems like she's still in the simulation. Look, I don't know how you got out, but I'm thankful that you did. As soon as Kiana awakens, we gotta get her outta here so we won't get caught."

Alex nodded as the two waited for the white haired girl to awaken.

Eventually, the two noticed Kiana beginning to move a bit, signaling that she was about to exit the simulation.

The two approached her as the girl looked around.

"What the hell are you doing here Kiana?" Asked Theresa.

"Hm? Sorry but you're a little too late Auntie Theresa. Me and mom already took care of the 2nd Herrscher." Proudly and smugly said Kiana as she then turned to Alex. "Where the heck were you? You just suddenly vanished right before we got the key card."

Alex really didn't wanna tell Kiana that all she had just experienced was merely a simulation and not the actual past.

"Kiana, what're you talking about? There's no one else here but us three." Said Theresa.

Kiana though just laughed a bit, clearly not believing her.

"What're you talking about? Look, my mom is right her-..."

As Kiana turned to see nobody, she gained a look of confusion and sadness.

"M-Mom?" Asked Kiana in a desperate tone.

"Kiana, Theresa can explain everything. Let's just leave before we get into anymo-."

Alex stopped himself talking as he felt a sudden gust of wind from behind them.

Suddenly, a massive dust cloud covered the area as Theresa and Alex would get knocked back as they smacked into the wall.

"A-Aunt Teri! Alex! W-Who's there!?" Shouted Kiana.

"To let nothing get in the way of our mission, please leave the battlefield you two." Said a voice, as the dust cloud went away to reveal it was Fu Hua as she wore a different battlesuit.

She wore a black and purple battlesuit, a black hairpiece, black heeled boots, and black and purple gauntlets.

The girl looked at the two, before turning her attention back to Kiana.

'Fu Hua? Just what the hell is going on now?' Thought Alex.

"Kiana, your mother was not here. She was never here." Stenrly said the girl.

Kiana gave her a smug look before sighing.

"Seriously? Not you too class monitor." Said Kiana, sounding genuinely annoyed now.

"Kiana please, listen to me. This place never had any virtual environment or A.I. Babylon Lab and Cecilia Schariac weren't real."

That sentence broke the camel's back as Kiana had finally snapped.

"Shut up! Just shut the hell up! What're you even saying!? You're just lying! My mom was here! I was always by her side! We even defeated the 2nd Herrscher just now!"

Kiana began to spiral into denial, as she then forcefully grabbed Fu Hua's shoulders, with the girl looking down at Kiana with a stoic expression.

"Where is she then huh!? Where's my mom! I want her back!" Shouted the girl.

"All that you stated were merely just your fantasies. The entire time you've just been here, standing in one place. You've been played by a Herrscher. A Herrscher that immersed you in your deepest dreams. I'll say this one last time, none of what you experienced was real. The girl you were protecting, the one you called mom, was all just an illusion. A facade."

Kiana now just absolutely lost, as she fell onto her knees tearing up.

"N-No that can't be. I-It's impossible. I-I don't believe it. Mom is here. She has to be here. I will find her!"

Things went quiet for a moment, as Alex heard Kiana mutter some words to herself on repeat.

"Ich liebe dich. Ich liebe dich. Ich liebe dich!"

Alex began to feel a massive surge of power from Kiana as suddenly, she began to transform and wore a new battlesuit.

She now wore a black cross-shaped hairpin, a white and black suit, black gloves, a blue belt, black shorts, black thigh highs and white boots as she also had bright colored wings appear from behind her.

After her transformation was complete, the building's alarm went off as an alert played over the P.A. Speaker.

"A strong Honkai energy reaction has been detected."

Fu Hua wasn't fazed by this, keeping her cool expression.

"No. This time, the world won't change according to your thoughts. Kiana, it's time you faced the truth." Said Fu Hua as her battlesuit color had changed from purple to orange, with a face guard appearing for protection.

The time for talk was over as the two began to go at it as Kiana kept her distance shooting beams at a fast, rapid pace, all the while Fu Hua kept dodging said beams effortlessly, attempting to force Kiana into a mistake so she could close in and strike.

While this was happening, Alex watched having something that just didn't add up in his mind.

'Hold on. How did Fu Hua get here? More importantly, why is she even here? Isn't she just a typical student like Kiana?'

That one thought kept racing through Alex's mind as he just couldn't think of a single rational reason as to how or why Fu Hua suddenly arrived.

As the battle kept on progressing, Alex saw how Fu Hua really wasn't even trying to close in on Kiana.

That was when Alex realized that Fu Hua was intentionally keeping back, only striking once she knew Kiana's stamina and emotional adrenaline was up.

Sure enough, Kiana had exhausted herself as her shots began to get a lot more off target and come out less frequently.

Then, Fu Hua immediately dashed in and in one simple blow to the head and then her gut, Kiana had been knocked out in two hits, as she fell unconscious reverting back to normal.

Fu Hua's faceguard went away as she looked at the unconscious girl for a second.

Then as she was about to grab her, Alex suddenly dashed in, grabbing Kiana and moving her away from Fu Hua's grasp as he gently set her down behind him.

"What're you doing Alex?" Asked Fu Hua, not breaking her calm demeanor.

"I should be the one asking that question. Just what the hell is going on? How'd you get here? More importantly WHY are you even here?" Asked Alex.

"Apologies, but I'm not allowed to give answers to those questions. All I'm here for is Kiana. The Overseer wishes to handle the aftermath of her entering the simulation." She said as she began to approach them.

"The Overseer? That's a little extreme for an issue that Principal Theresa could easily handle. With all that's happened recently I'm not in the mood for lies. Tell me what the hell is actually happening!" Said Alex getting agitated, as he withdrew his sword, fully ready to battle Fu Hia himself.

'She may have beaten me last time, but I can't just let her take Kiana with no resistance.' He thought to himself.

Upon seeing the blade, Fu Hua merely sighed, not stopping her movement towards them.

"Please listen Alex. You're interrupting official Schicksal business. You could be arrested for this offense. Stand down now." Sternly said the girl, still approaching them.

"Like hell I am! If you wanna take Kiana away, then come at me!" He said.

Alex began to rush at Fu Hua.

As he did, Fu Hua sighed to herself.

Right before he struck, Fu Hua muttered these words to herself.

"I'm sorry, Alex."

As he was going in for the slash, Alex saw Fu Hua pull her hand back, open palm facing him.

Then in a split second, she brought the palm foward, pressing it against Alex's chest.

In that moment, Alex's world was rocked to the core as it felt like his soul had been separated from his body.

The last thing Alex saw was Fu Hua looking at him fall down with a somber expression before falling unconscious once more.

As Fu Hua now stood before two unconscious bodies, another surprise guest had been watching from above on the ceiling, giving a little chuckle before talking to a transmission.

"Overseer, Fu Hua has already captured the objective, though she unfortunately had to take down someone extra in the process. Theresa has also been suppressed as well. Are we good to proceed?" Asked the person whose voice revealed it to be Durandal.

After a few seconds of having no response, a voice, seemingly the Overseer's came through.

"Hehe. Well then, since Theresa is my cherished granddaughter I'll let her go. That Kiana girl is the one I'm very interested in. Bring her back to the headquarters, Durandal. As for that someone extra you mentioned, I'd also like for them to be brought to the headquarters as well. I'm just dying to have a hopefully civilized chat with the young one."

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Chapter 31: Complete