Mei was taken aback at how utterly confident Alex was in this situation which only added even more to her annoyance.

"Twice you've fought me and twice you've failed. What makes you think this time will be any different?"

As Mei asked that question, Alex merely took a deep breathe and got into a battle stance.

"Ya know what they say. Third time's the charm."

BGM: The 13th Struggle from Kingdom Hearts II

The two would dash at one another and clash yet again as they separated and began to trade sword strikes back and forth.

Even though Mei vastly outpaced him, Alex was able to somewhat get used to and anticipate her actions thanks to the prior two battles.

Despite this, it was still incredibly difficult to avoid getting hit.

Alex would back off to gain distance and attempt to fire a wave a flames at her however when he did, he saw Mei stab her sword into the ground, releasing electricity from it as a surge of currents rushed at him.

The boy would step aside and attempt to outrun the current however while doing this, he wound up leading himself right towards Mei as once Alex noticed where he was going, he was met with a swift kick from her, knocking him into the air.

Mei attempted to grab and pin him down to the ground however Alex was able to quickly regain composure as he tightened his grip on his sword, engulfing it in flames as he slashed down, leaving a trail a flames in front of him forcing Mei to back off as to not accidentally burn her arms.

Using this moment, Alex would do what he initially planned as he thrusted his arm forward, unleashing a trail of flames that barreled towards Mei.

The girl would step aside and dodged the fire as she charged towards him, coating her sword in electricity.

Alex noticed this, immediately ceasing the attack as quick as he could before he coated his sword in flames as once again the two clashed their elemental specialties.

"Alex. Give. Up." Sternly said Mei once again however the boy refused to back down.

"Over my dead body. How do you not get it yet?" He asked.

"Get what?"

Before Alex could answer, his gut instinct told him to fall back now as he pushed off Mei and backed off, right on time as well as now where they once stood was a javelin sticking into the ground.

'Dammit. She's finished every Honkai Beast off already?' Thought Alex as he saw Durandal grab and pull out her weapon as she stood next to Mei.

"Mei. What's the problem here?" She asked.

Mei didn't respond but simply gestured towards Alex as the blonde turned his attention towards him.

"Alex. Why're you helping the man who betrayed you escape with the Herrscher?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, but it's personal. Before you say anything about it not being personal and how it's just your mission, don't bother. I understand completely. You told me the same thing back at Schicksal's floating HQ." He said.

"Good. Please forgive me then."

In a blistering showing of speed, Durandal charged at Alex as the boy was barely able to roll out of the way.

'Shit. I'm still not 100% with the bad arm and all. Fighting Durandal is way our of my league considering the last time we fought.' Thought Alex as all he could do was keep rolling and dodging out of her way as her speed was simply too much for him to handle.

Similar to bull handler having to continously dodge and evade a raging bull.

As this continued on, Alex had a horrific realization come to mind.

'Wait. If Durandal's keeping me occupied, then nobody can stop Mei from......!'

"ALEX STOP HER!"

He heard Owl plead for his help as he turned and saw Mei charging at the Ice Herrscher.

"Hey! Stay the hell away from her!" Shouted the boy as he moved aside from another charge by Durandal as he tried to ran up to, catch, and intercept Mei.

As he ran his way to her, he heard Durandal shout something out.

"King!"

Suddenly, one of Durandal's two armored beings appeared in front of him, this one having a shield as it charged and pratically bulldozed into Alex.

The boy was rocked to the core, being send back as he was now helpless to see Mei as with one swift strike, slashed across the Herrscher's face.

BGM Ends Here

The dark shadow that casted her entire face slowly began to crack until finally it broke apart, revealing the face underneath it.

It was Ana Schariac.

Seeing her face fully exposed, Alex took quick noticed of how eerily similar she looked to Kiana.

As the boy fell onto the ground far too exhausted to move, Mei readied her blade to land a decisive strike, but she hesitated which allowed Owl, broken down mech body and all to once again stand between her and Ana.

"Mei Raiden, you'll have to go through me first if you want to kill Ana!" He shouted. "I owe her my life, and I'll gladly die to protect her from you!"

Sparks began to fly from Owl's body as it was falling apart slowly due to the frigid weather yet despite all that, he refused to back down.

Seeing this, Mei finally realized herself that what Owl was doing for Ana was no different than what she and Alex had been doing for Kiana.

Just like how them two were willing to go through hell and back to keep Kiana safe, Owl was doing the exact same.

Mei now was conflicted on what to do as she struggled to make the move.

"Mei Raiden, why're you holding?" Asked Durandal as she readied her lance and charged straight towards Owl.

Right as she did, a sudden storm would occur.

"K-KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

The Herrscher of Ice would finally act from her dormant state, letting out a loud wail which released a massive amount of energy stored within her core.

Mei and Durandal were pushed back from the sheer force of it, trying to stand their ground as best they could as the entire area shook from the mere force of it.

A giant glacial formation would emerge between the two, separating Owl and the Herrscher from the two Valkyries.

Once the storm died down, Mei and Durandal looked and saw that Owl had managed to escape with Ana.

"He got away thanks to the Herrscher. This is problematic." Said Durandal and Mei nodded.

Due to exhaustion, Mei would have to revert out of her Herrscher form and was now in her normal state to conserve some energy.

Durandal was also fairly tired after having dealt with an armada's worth of Honaki Beasts as she tapped on the ice prism.

"This one's really durable. I doubt we could break it even at full strength. We're gonna have to find another way around." She said as Mei nodded.

Mei then turned her attention towards Alex who slowly got up, placing a hand over his ribs.

'Damn. That armored knight thing Durandal has really did a number on me. I probably have bruised ribs.' He thought as he was finding it difficult to breathe.

As he got up, he was met face to face with Mei who didn't looked very pleased with him.

"What was all that about huh? Because of you, Owl and the Herrscher got away. Mind explaining yourself?" She asked.

Between pained breathes, Alex gritted his teeth in frustration at her words.

In response, Alex would suddenly shove and push Mei away from him, and rather harshly too as Mei stumbled back and nearly fell down before Durandal would catch and help her stay up.

"S-Seriously...............surely by now, you understand......r-right?" Said Alex as he looked up at Mei. "What Owl's doing, is the e-exact same thing we were doing...........with K-Kiana."

Alex would then cough as the pain from his bruised ribs was really bad, but he needed to get his point across.

"O-Owl wants............to give Ana Schariac a chance to overcome and m-master her Herrscher powers...........j-just like how we gave Kiana that o-opportunity....." He said.

"Alex. I hope you understand that Kiana hasn't fully mastered her Herrscher powers yet. Not only that, but the fact that she's been able to last thing long is a miracle. Something like that happening again is impossible. You and Owl are fighting a losing battle." Said Durandal however Alex merely shrugged her off.

"If it can happen once...........I-It can happen again......." He responded before turning his attention to Mei. "You...........what's happened to you huh.....?"

"What're you getting at?"

"What happened to everything you once stood for? One talk with that snow-haired tyrant and you just throw it all away like that?"

"I told you. This is for Kiana's sak-."

"Oh spare me that bullshit! It's asinine and you know it!" He shouted, cutting off Mei as he coughed yet again due to straining himself.

"You wanna know what pisses me off the most? The fact that it took you this long to finally realize how similar Owl was to us. That icy boy warped your mind with his words. You were so focused on this mission that you narrowed your vision. Not only do you have a stick up your ass, but you're also a hack, a turncoat, a traitor, a backstabber, and worst of all..........................."

Alex trailed off, taking a deep breathe before choosing his last words carefully.

"Mei Raiden, you've become a fucking hypocrite."

--------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9: Complete