Ascension Beyond Ascending

Though it appeared Alex was just shouting his head off, like true saiyan logic, the energy around him started increasing at an abnormal rate while actual bolts of lightning started shooting off of him. The double watched dumbfoundedly while Hajime and Ryutarou's jaws dropped in amazement, as Alex's golden hair started growing wilder and slightly longer and a single strand of it fell in front of his face. With his power now doubled what it was before and more than equaled to his opponent, Alex stopped struggling and even stopped fighting the double's strength, before kicking it square in the chest while still locking hands with it. While being sent flying back with the force of the kick, Alex's firm grip on its hands resulted in both arms tearing off at the shoulder and the double howling with pain as it crashed into the wall on the far side of the room. As it tried to quickly get up and face its opponent, Alex was already there with a sadistic and evil smile on his face.

"Here, have a taste of this!" Alex said gleefully as he kicked the double over so it was facing up, before slamming his foot down on one of its knees to snap it with a sickening sound. Though they couldn't hear it, both Hajime and Ryutarou paled at the display; Ryutarou because of the sheer brutality of Alex's actions, and Hajime since he realized that if he wanted to challenge Alex now, he would be facing a SSJ2 instead of just a normal super saiyan. The duo watched silently as Alex sadistically and systematically destroyed the double's body bit by bit before it finally vanished with a look of relief on its face. After he had passed his trial Alex glanced over at the duo, making them both look away suddenly as if to avoid provoking him. Alex smirk condescendingly before releasing his transformation, and then letting out a sigh of relief as the transformations influence left him.

"I made the right call not evolving if something as small as SSJ2 affected me so much..." Alex muttered regretfully as he started walking towards the the place where everyone had set up camp, dispelling the spells he put up along the way. As he approached them Hajime cautiously asked,

"You alright now?" Alex nodded and replied,

"Yeah, the effects of the transformation were a bit more intense than I was expecting. I think it's safe to say this is the last trial, so we'll stay here while I rest and then complete the labyrinth after I wake up." Hajime and Ryutarou nodded in agreement since they both figured that after fighting against someone of equal strength for so many hours, even Alex would be exhausted. As such, he unhesitatingly turned towards the girls tent and went to enter, making Hajime's face twitch in annoyance. Though he would have stopped Alex normally, since he knew Alex was completely exhausted and he wasn't aware of the girl's earlier activities, he he just tolerated it and entered his and Ryutarou's own tent. Meanwhile the second Alex entered the tent, though it was too dark to see and everyone was already asleep, he could tell that "something" had gone on earlier without him.

"Cheeky girls, we'll see how I punish all of you after we leave the labyrinth." Alex muttered as he quickly undressed and collapsed into a very deep sleep.

***

It was more than twelve hours later when Alex finally awoke to someone lightly rubbing his face with a warm sponge. A smile spread across his face as he asked,

"Can I expect every inch of my body to cared for?" A light chuckle answered him as Grayfia responded,

"If that is my lords wish, then I shall be happy to oblige." Alex cracked open an eyelid and looked at the silver haired woman questioningly, as he could tell there was something different in the way she was acting.

"I take it your trial went well?" He probed while trying to gauge the reason for her difference. Grayfia nodded with a small smile as she replied,

"My head is quite a bit clearer from it yes, though I'm ashamed to admit that I had a bit of harder time than everyone else." Alex nodded as he was sure Grayfia especially was effected by the labyrinths tricks, but he was glad to see that she was ok now. He then reached up and gently pulled her head down so that their lips met gently and tenderly, something that Grayfia seemed to eagerly respond to. When they parted however Alex said with a wicked grin,

"Since everything's alright then I won't feel bad later when I have to "punish" you and the others for your exclusive fun last night." Grayfia paused and paled slightly right above his head as she contemplated the many different ways Alex might "punish" them, while the man himself simply got up and started stretching his sore muscles. As he took a moment to think, a rush of excitement ran through him since he had finally achieved SSJ2 and had drastically increased his strength. As this thought ran through his head though, Alex was also already thinking on several training routines to adapt to his new form and increase his strength further to SSJ3. Due to the sheer difference of level in the Dragon Ball world, Alex had already decided that he wanted to at least reach SSJ3 before entering it, lest he find himself in the path of someone like Beerus or Majin Buu. As he made his way out of the tent to satisfy his roaring stomach, Alex was suddenly tackled by a gaggle of girls who had seemingly "sensed" that he was awake.

"You're finally up!" Anne exclaimed as she hurriedly checked him over for injuries as if she hadn't done it already several times since she woke up herself.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Alex said while lightly chuckling at her behavior, before turning his attention towards each of the other girls and reassuring them while also giving each one a kiss. When Alex reached Yue however, he could tell something was off about the vampire princess and knew she was thinking on her past. Deciding to talk to her later about it since they put off the last leg of the labyrinth enough as it was, he settled with pulling her close and giving her a slightly more passionate kiss, before saying to the stunned girl,

"We'll talk later about what's bugging you, ok?" Though she was momentarily surprised, Yue smiled at his concern and nodded in confirmation before wrapping her arms around him. Seeing her relax for the moment, Alex finished addressing each girl before saying,

"Let's knock down camp since after I'm done eating breakfast we're moving on to get the hell out of here." There was a small cheer at Alex's words as everyone was eager to leave the cold caverns, and so after about fifteen minutes of him stuffing as much food as possible into his mouth, they were finally ready to leave. While they walked along the corridor that opened up after Alex won his fight, everyone shared their experience from facing themselves in the last battle, though a few like Ryutarou glossed over the details of their fight. The poor guy was being instigated by his double to challenge Alex and take Yue for himself, however he told his double to "go fuck itself" and beat the crap out of it since Alex scared him too much.

Rias's had been over how she abandoned her family and responsibilities again, but she handled it easily by turning into a super devil and saying that she didn't regret her choice since she was able to reach such heights by doing so. Anne was another one that glossed over the details of her battle, but she did confirm that her copy used her own jealousy against her, something that the rest of the girls comforted her over since they somewhat understood her feelings. Shia was another one that had an easy fight, as she had already accepted the horrible things her double tried to use against her. After being questioned by everyone else Kuroka finally gave in and explained that hers was about the way she left koneko in the past, which drove a wedge between the two sisters. What she didn't mention was how her double also threw the fact that she was a disappointment of a 'queen' in her face, something that bugged her more than she'd ever admit even to herself. Suzu's was about how she was aware of Eri's true nature before she betrayed everyone, but turned her eyes away from it and felt responsible for for her actions from doing so. She had beaten hers by acknowledging her faults, yet also by reforming her conviction to meet with Eri one last time. Tio's was about how she was originally using Alex and co for her own ends, and how she was always a social outcast due to her abnormal strength within her own clan, though she didn't explain any of this and acted perverted to cover for herself. Shizuku's was about how she was always forced to give up the things she wanted to meet her family's expectations, how all she ever wanted to be was a girl, but she had to act like the son her family never had due to her talent with the sword. She had fought back with the fact that Alex treated her plenty girly, to the point that he even recently started calling her his "cute kunoichi", something she claimed she didn't like though she secretly did. Grayfia was another one who didn't go too much into detail about hers, while Hajime and Kaori only shared theirs with each other. Finally was Yue who explained why she had been so silent since they all met up, making everyone go silent as they contemplated her situation. It was pretty much common knowledge that she had been betrayed by her uncle and retainers before being sealed in the depths of Orcus since they couldn't kill her, but her fight with her double made her realize that she might have been mistaken in their intentions and now she was questioning everything she currently thought about them. Surprising everyone, Alex wasn't shocked by this information and said,

"Yep, I knew about that already." Silence descended on them before Yue suddenly tried to grab him by the shoulders and demanded,

"...What?!..." While everyone else looked at him as if also demanding an explanation. Alex sighed and said,

"This is what I meant by we'll discuss it after finishing the labyrinth, I knew about this ever since we met, but kept quiet since you didn't initially have any doubts about what happened regarding your uncle. I figured I'd wait until you readjusted to life again or started having an idea of the truth before telling you, since it might have been too confusing to hear it all at once right after being freed. Like I said, after we finish this we'll talk about it." Though what he said earned him several looks of blame with Yue at their center, Alex shrugged it off since he had expected this from the beginning. Seeing his nonchalant reaction as well as knowing his tendency to play the villain when he needed to, Yue and several of the girls sighed in exasperation as they continued on their way. After walking for several minutes they eventually reached a dead end in the corridor, that had a single teleportation magic circle circle carved into it.

"Don't tell me we're going to get separated again...!" Hajime cursed while everyone else groaned. Alex smiled bitterly and simply activated the magic circle, which blinded everyone before they opened their eyes to the sound of running water. Though they were still within a cavern of ice, before them was a large lake of crystal clear running water. Alex removed his artifact to repel cold, and felt only a mildly cool air around him rather than the freezing cold they've felt so far. Seeing him remove his artifact, everyone else hesitantly removed theirs as well before letting out sighs of relief at the refreshing air around them compared to the penetrating cold, before moving on to crossing the various steps in the water across the lake.

"Say what you will about the Liberators, they made their homes in some pretty breathtaking areas." Alex said to numerous nods of agreement as he reached the home in the middle of the lake. Opening the grand doors they saw a beautiful home carved in ice, yet like the air around them it was simply cool to the touch instead of cold. After a quick check through the house Shizuku found the room with a large magic circle in it, obviously the spot where they were supposed to acquire the last age of gods magic.

"Alright, let's get this over with~Nyan!" Kuroka declared as everyone eagerly made their way to the magic circle, before it began its customary check to see if they passed all the trials, during which the girls secretly sighed in relief when it didn't display their memories to the others like the Under Sea Ruins did. Instead,

"""""""Gu, AHHH!!!"""""""

Several people shouted as five of them suddenly collapsed.