My Ex-Girlfriend is the Strongest Guild Master and I'm the Weakest! Chapter 66: Final Round

Serenity observed her surroundings. She could even appreciate the sanitized odor of the room, which made her grimace.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" the grown-up Alan asked, standing beside her.

"Maybe."

"But what value does watching this have? I thought you'd dig through more recent mories..."

Serenity made the illusion fade away until only a blank slate surrounded them. "Why would I want to skim through events I already know about?" She shrugged, as they looked into each other's eyes. "I'd rather know what makes your head tick, Little Mouse."

"Hey..." He snickered. "After all that creepy flirting you've been throwing at , I'll really think you took an interest in ."

Serenity grinned, putting her palm against his forehead. "Either you're too stupid, or you bumped your head really hard so ti ago." She giggled. "Either way, I'll have plenty of ti dissecting your brain once we go ho."

"Enough of this," he said sternly, grabbing her hand. "What's your real goal? Are you working for the Singular?"

"What if that's the case?"

"I'll stop you then so you can't harm others."

"Are you saying you'll go against the Embodint of Progress, Alan?"

"That again? What does that even an?!"

"It's our main objective which hasn't changed since we left Earth. We just want to help you. The Tandem."

"By wiping us out?! The Singular has killed millions!"

"That's old history, and from a certain point of view, a necessary sacrifice. We could not comnce our study with so many subjects back on Earth. But here? We have learned a lot from you here in The Novus."

"...Y-You're kidding ."

Serenity smiled.

**An unnerving smile.**

"You can't stop this, Alan Warden. We will help humanity's last generation reach a new evolutionary stage! In preparation for what's coming next..."

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Serenity ended the spell, and the world around Alan seed to swirl inside his eyes. He unintentionally laid back, finding the moon up in the sky, which seed to welco him back to reality. Then, Serenity's face blocked it from view. Her eyes looked at the brink of tears, and her lips were forming a twisted smile.

"Oh, Alan Warden, I knew you had it in you! I knew it from the mont I saw you hacking that NPC back in Londorus as if it was child's play! This... This is perfect!" She then contorted back, stretching out her arms to her sides, laughing. "Not only do you possess the talent, but your mind is also genuinely pure and free of malice... the perfect canvas!" She began moaning, hugging herself. "Thinking about your potential drives crazy! I--I can't help myseeelf!"

"Um... s-sothing tells I won't like where this is going, but I'll have to ask anyway! Are you surrendering? Will you stop this nonsensical attack, then?"

"Of course!" She bead, standing up. Her eyes shone wickedly silver and her platinum hair reflected the moonlight, making her look angelical for only a couple of seconds. "After I bring you with ."

**I knew this was too good to be true!** he thought as he felt the ground below him getting muddier. In an instant, the surrounding area turned into quicksand.

"Oh, I can't wait to improve you!" she intoned while half of Alan's body sank. "Don't be afraid, leave it in my hands! With my help, you'll turn from a weak, tiny mouse, into a feral, vicious tiger--"

Serenity turned to her left as a burst of blue fire impacted her.

The incandescent flas made the shadow surrounding Alan retreat for a brief instant, leaving him buried in the ground.

Bella fastly ca to his aid and pulled him out.

"B-Bella, did you do that?"

"No, Master Alan. This is Master Alia's magic."

Sothing glowing above demanded his attention. Soone was suspended in the air, surrounded by a series of blue will-o'-wisps. Then, the figure descended in an instant, occupying the space between Alan and his enemy. Although her hair had changed to the color of the aquamarine gemstone, Alan recognized her imdiately.

"Alia..."

Floating inches from the ground, Alia showed Scarlett's detached head, before burning it to a crisp. "Good luck regenerating from that," Alia said softly, making her best Ashley's impression.

The unhard Serenity did not twitch an eyebrow at such a sight, and yet, she stepped back.

"Alia?" Alan called. "Is that really you?"

She turned back, and floated toward him. "Alan, you're safe," she whispered, holding his face to kiss him on the lips. He could not feel the heat of the will-o'-wisps surrounding her, only the warmth of her mouth and delicate fingers. "I ca in ti. Oh, I'd never forget myself if I had failed."

"Alia... You..."

"What is it?" she tilted her head to her left side, frowning. "Are you hurt? If that's the case, I'll make sure this bitch pays."

"Y-You stole my first kiss!"

She opened her eyes wide and her pale skin got full red. "I-I didn't know that! I did it without thinking, okay?! I'm sorr--Wait no, I'm not sorry! You'll have to deal with it! This was just a regular French tradition called 'La Bise', mmmkay?! B-B-Because I'm French, rember?! So don't overthink it!"

"Ah, it's fine, don't get so flustered. It felt nice," he said, half-smiling. "Nice blue lipstick, by the way."

"S-SHUT UP! This makeup it's just part of my current form! And don't you worry, I won't kiss you ever again, you heard !"

By their side, their NPC giggled, saying: "Oh, my!"

An overwhelming pressure interrupted their mont. A few feet away from them was Serenity, exerting an exorbitant amount of magical energy.

"Getting in my way again, Alia Laflam? Fine, so be it. But before we settle the score from last ti, let tell Alan this: My partner's defeat was due to relying too much on her human side."

"Human side?" he muttered as Alia got in front of him.

"Get back, Alan. I got this."

"Do your best!" Serenity said, as her entire body turned black and liquified in front of their eyes. "As for , let give you a taste of the future that awaits you! We will help humanity evolve! It's just a matter of ti!"

From the increasing black terrain sprouted human figures, and for a brief mont Alan thought they would be more doppelgangers. **But they look too alive...**

"Alan, what's the current situation?" Alia asked, returning to a calm deanor.

"Unus Town's residents have been evacuated, Anastasia fell in battle, and Ashley is currently looking for Serenity's real body." He swallowed. "What you see can't be hard. That enemy in front of us is an illusion."

**And yet, when she touched my forehead, it felt very real.**

"Is that why she survived my blue flas?" Alia asked, before taking a deep breath. "So everything is in Ashley's hands, right? I'll be the distraction from now on, then. Retreat, Alan, I'll take it from here."

"But..." He glanced at the human figures strolling to them until recognizing a face among them. "Paul?"

"Who?" Alia asked as Alan stepped forward.

"Paul! Are you okay?!"

"We are a unity," Paul muttered as if he was in a trance.

"Isn't that the guy that tried to steal your rusty sword?" Alia asked, frowning while watching the other four approaching them. "The baker is there too. They're acting like they're under her... Get back!" She pulled Alan from the collar of his shirt, just before Paul could stab him with a dagger. She then used one of the will-o'-wisps at her disposal, and crafted a blue wall to stop their advance.

"Combined, we are one..." Paul said from the other side in an absent tone of voice.

"They're not shadow clones!" Alan cried as Serenity could be heard laughing at a distance.

"That is right! But would it be a good idea to put them out of their misery?!"

"If you insist," Alia murmured, enlarging one of her will-o'-wisp, but Alan grabbed her wrist.

"Don't hurt them! Sothing's wrong!"

"Why not? They'll respawn anyway. I've seen this strange behavior before, it's so sort of mind control. Trust , I'm doing them a favor."

"Yes, but Serenity wouldn't be so cryptic if it was that easy! Please!"

Alia looked at the distance, where Serenity's signature two-headed dragon was erging from a summoning circle. Then, the entirety of the black shadow invading Unus Town retreated, gathering around the monster.

"Miss Alia!" Serenity yelled from the distance. "Will you be able to protect him from and my new brothers at the sa ti? If my Eye of the Sage is correct, you don't have any mana left! How can you control those fire orbs then, I wonder? Could it be that you can't produce any new fire in that state?!"

Alia clicked her teeth. "Bella, keep protecting this fool, please."

"I will, Master Alia."

"Help these people then, Guild Master, I'm counting on you," Alia said, giving him a determined look.

He chuckled. "If you said it like that, I can't fail."

After nodding at each other, Alia flew upwards, looking like a rising blue star. As she took the wall with her, turning it back into an orb of blue fire, the possessed citizens resud their attack.

"Master Alan!" Bella called, blocking another attack from the brainwashed Paul. "We can't stay here!"

Alan glanced at her body. **I didn't notice that her fight against her doppelganger had left her this injured. I'm so sorry, Bella.**

Another citizen charged against him, but Alan dodged with ease thanks to the still-active Fire Buff that Belphy had cast.

Alan was about to give orders to the NPC, but a nearby voice made him flinch. Clara Dominguez was standing atop a sunken house, with a drone hovering by her side, as she comntated:

"Oh, the plot thickens! Even after losing another precious teammate, our hero's spirit does not falter, for the kiss of his beloved one has invigorated him! Now Alia Laflam, the strongest of the guild, has parted to finally defeat the evil witch! An epic fight, I bet... But we're not focusing on that!" She grabbed the drone and pointed it to her face. "If what you really want is to watch another boring max-level battle, then switch channels, you bastard! There are thousands of streams for that already! But how many channels depict the struggles of the underdog? Have you, my dear audience, forgotten what being powerless used to be, back when--"

"What--the--hell... ARE YOU DOING?!"

Clara quickly pointed the drone in his direction. "Hey, here it is! Alan, a quick comnt for the audience?"

"Are you streaming this?!"

"Well, duh! We'll talk about revenue later, okay?"

"This isn't a ga, Clara! Why would you--?!"

He shut his mouth, coming to a realization. **Maybe recording this is not a bad idea after all...**

Alan glanced back at his pursuers just a few feet away from attacking him. He then jumped toward Clara, carried her over his shoulder, and escaped with Bella following him closely.