An unknown amount of time had passed as Alex began to slowly open his eyes, being greeted by a blinding light above him.
He squinted his eyes as his vision eventually got adjusted to his current location.
Once that had happened, the boy slowly sat up and noticed that he has bandages wrapped around his torso, arms, forehead, and he also had a patch on his cheek.
'Even though I technically won the battle against Sensei, she still royally kicked my ass. Guess the student still hasn't surpassed the teacher yet. Oh well.' Thought the boy as he chuckled to himself quietly before looking around to survey his surroundings.
When he did, he noticed that he was in a room similar to what Himeko was in prior to her final battle against the Void.
"I must be in the Hyperion's Medical Bay." He said to himself before he heard the door to his room open.
"Oh you're awake? Finally it's about time." Said a female voice as Alex turned to face who it was.
It was a girl with red hair that was tied into two twin tails with red bows and had red eyes in which she wore red glasses over.
She wore a red tie, a white short sleeved shirt with a black dress worn over it, white tights, and brown business shoes.
The last interesting thing that Alex noticed about this girl was that while her right arm was normal, she wore a red gauntlet on her left hand that extended up to her elbow.
"This is our first time meeting one another. I assume you've meet the mophead already right?" Asked the red head.
'Mophead?' Thought the boy being immensely confused though the girl quickly released that he didn't understand who she was referring too.
"I'm talking about Einstein." She said.
"Oh. Y-Yeah I've met Dr. Einstein back at the tail end of the Schicksal raid. I'm assuming you're Dr. Tesla?" Asked Alex as she nodded her head.
"Correct. Frederica Nikola Tesla to be exact but everyone just refers to me as just Tesla or Dr. Tesla. I'm the mophead's partner." Said Tesla.
"I see. It's an honor to meet you Dr. Tesla. Um, how long was I out for?"
"A month." Casually said Tesla as Alex immediately coughed in shock.
"A-A month!?"
"Yeah? You sustained a hefty amount of injuries back at Arc City. Thankfully none were life threatening but you did lose a decent amount of blood. Especially from the three cuts marks on your back." Explained Tesla.
"I see. Wait. How did I end up inside the Hyperion? Last thing I remember was blacking out on a highway in the city."
"Mei obviously. And also this actually isn't the Hyperion. We're on a different airship owned by St. Freya. It's called the Helios."
"Oh. I see."
"Mei carried you all the way over here to be treated immediately by medics. She told me everything that happened in Arc City. I'd congratulate you, but I understand that the ending wasn't exactly a happy one."
Alex just sighed as he laid back down on his medical bed.
"So, Kiana really did get taken by Schicksal huh?" He asked as Tesla nodded.
"According to Mei, S-Rank Valkyrie Durandal had gotten to Kiana first. Mei attempted to battle her in order to get Kiana back, but she was sadly no match for her. Mei lost and Durandal left with Kiana." Explained Tesla.
"I see. Do you happen to know where Kiana is right now?"
"As of this moment, no we don't. Last we checked, she was being held in a Schicksal Base located in North Africa. It's been weeks since then and with her Void powers, it'd basically be like throwing darts at a dart board to figure out current location."
Alex kept quiet for a brief moment before getting off the bed and stretching a bit.
He had a slight feeling of soreness but he knew that he'd just be able to walk it off.
"Where's Mei? How's she holding up?" He asked.
"She's currently on the main deck. She's been an emotional wreck ever since we left Arc City but she seems to have been getting better recently." She said as Alex nodded.
"One last thing. What about the others? Theresa, Bronya, Dr. Einstein. They anywhere around here?" He asked as Tesla shook her head no.
"Those three are off at the Far East border by the beach. No where near us. As for why, it's a long story. Anyways I suggest that you go check up on Mei. I have to important tasks left over to do."
With that Alex bowed and thanked Tesla before leaving the medical bay and entered the elevator.
Seeing the buttons, he had noticed that the Helios was definitely was smaller than the Hyperion as it significantly had way less floors but for Alex he honestly preferred it since it made travel less confusing.
He pressed a button as the doors closed and the elevator made its way up to the main floor.
Once it arrived, Alex stepped out and was greeting by a few workers as he obviously greeted them back.
After looking around for a bit, he spotted Mei as she was currently looking out a large window off to the side.
Alex then approached and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hm?"
Mei turned around and when she saw Alex, she had a slight gasp before sighing with relief.
"Thank goodness you're awake. I was beginning to worry that you had suffered more severe injuries than expected." She said.
"Yeah. Sorry for making you worry."
"N-No. If anything I should be saying sorry. If it weren't for me being defenseless and exhausted, you wouldn't have needed to take that slash to the back from her." Said the girl as she looked down with guilt.
Alex simply raised his arm due to the height difference with Mei being taller as he tried his best to softly pat her head.
"Hey don't worry about it okay? You're my friend. Obviously I wouldn't want you to get hurt. If you had gotten hurt back there, then that would've be on me. Not on you." He said with a small smile.
Mei reacted to this with a small blush forming on her face before she spoke in a very shy tone.
"U-Um, Alex?" Said the girl as she point over to the side.
Alex looked and saw a decent amount of workers just looking at them.
Some giving a smile while others were giving a look that basically implied that they were together.
When Alex saw this, he also blushed as well before immediately taking his hand away and stepping back a bit.
"S-Sorry." He quickly said before getting back on topic. "Dr. Tesla told me about what happened to you on that highway. I should've gotten there sooner to help."
"Honestly, even with your help I still think we would've lost. Durandal is regarded as the strongest for a reason. Even after all this time where we've definitely gotten stronger, she's still on a whole other league on her own." She said as Alex nodded as he did lose his first encounter against her and that was with Durandal just stalling for time and not really trying to best him in combat.
Alex decided to look out the window as well as he stood beside Mei.
The two just stood there, surveying the clouds beneath them.
"Dr. Tesla said that Bronya and Theresa are off by the beach. I wonder what they're up to right now." Asked Alex in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Thankfully it worked as Mei had a small laugh as she smiled.
"Yeah I wonder as well. Those two must be having a well afforded break I'm guessing." Said Mei.
"Probably so. Meanwhile here we are stuck with ball the nonsense." Sarcastically said the boy as he and Mei shared a laugh together.
Though the mood had definitely been lightened, Alex only had one thought on his mind.
'How long, until we see you again Kiana?'
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Chapter 12: Complete