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Boom! Crumble! Crumble! Crumble!

​​

Rocks were still sliding downwards across the cracked walls at the bottom of the hole.

A puddle of thick yellowish substance could be seen within the hole on the wall created from the energy blast.

The yellowish substance had splattered all across the place, but few feet in front of Gustav was the biggest part.

It was wriggling continuously, trying to form a shape.

"Sshhrrrkkyyhhh!"

Shrill shrieks could be heard from the puddle of thick yellowish substance over and over again.

Gustav stared at the yellowish puddle with a cold expression, "You are filth inside out," He voiced out before turning around.

Angy, who was blasted back earlier, had gotten back up on her feet.

Tears could be seen in her eyes as she walked towards Gustav.

Gustav was still looking shrill and thin. He looked as if a gust of wind would be able to knock him down.

Gustav's skin was still glowing, but it was slowly dimming.

Glowing pellets continued to fall from his skin, turning into light particles few moments after floating in the air.

Angy walked till she was only a few feet away from Gustav.

A wry smile appeared on Gustav's face before...

Plop!

He fell to the ground weakly.

"Gustav!"

Angy shouted out in fear and dashed towards him.

Swwoooooosshh!

She grabbed hold of him before he fell to the ground completely and placed his head on her lap.

"What's happening?" She could see Gustav's skin molting more and more and disintegrating into light particles.

Gustav raised his right hand and stared at it. Now that the system was no longer absorbing the left-over energy of the crystal into him, he felt extremely weak.

("Part of your essence that was taken included your regeneration. Due to the immense amount of energy your body absorbed, it is shutting down... Unless you get it back, you will die in a few seconds,")

The system announced.

'Oh, so that's why,' Gustav laughed weakly as he stared at it, 'And I thought... I guess this is gonna be it,'

Angy was still screaming her lungs out and rubbing Gustav's face with tears in her eyes.

"What do I do? What's happening to you?" She shouted out.

"I'm dying..." Gustav muttered weakly while coughing.

"Dying? Why? How? What can I do?" Angy asked frantically with a look of urgency.

She already sensed this as she saw Gustav's body slowly reducing.

"You can't do anything," Gustav answered bluntly.

Tears seeped out of Angy's eyes even more as she heard this.

She wasn't willing to accept this.

Sniff! Sniff!

"There must be something I can do," Angy said with a teary face.

"There's is something you can do," Gustav said while coughing.

"Stop being so heroic all the time and think about your well-being sometimes. It's okay to be selfish," Gustav said while raising his hand and cleaning the tears on her cheek.

"It's okay to love helping others but love yourself more because, in the end, it's everyone for themselves... This world doesn't deserve your love, neither do they deserve your kindness. If you're protecting them, do it on your own terms," As Gustav advised her, more tears began to fall from her eyes onto his face.

She couldn't help but think, 'This is all my fault,'

She remembered that Gustav saving her got him into the situation. She felt if she had been selfish enough to let go of the teammate that got missing, Gustav wouldn't have been tangled in the event that led to this moment.

"Can I be selfish now?" Angy asked as she placed her hand on Gustav's chin.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Gustav asked.

But instead of a reply, what he got was Angy bringing her face down to the front of his.

Her face was only a few inches from his, and she stared into his eyes with an expression of desire.

'Is she...?' Gustav's eyes widened as he stared at hers, 'She can't be thinking of doing that, can she?' As these thoughts appeared in Gustav's mind, his heart rate went up.

This was the first time in almost seven months that his heart was beating this fast. Even when he was excited about something, it never beat this fast.

She kept moving her face closer to his as she closed her eyes.

Just when her lips were only a few millimeters away from his, a loud sound was heard behind them.

Bang!

Angy immediately opened her eyes and turned her face around to check what was happening.

"Gradier Xanatus?" She voiced out with a look of surprise as she saw the yellow braided-haired man walking towards them.

"Uhm... You guys can do that later," Gradier Xanatus voiced out as he walked towards the wall area that had a huge hole in it.

Angy's face instantly turned beet red as she raised her face back up and coughed twice.

"What are you doing here?" Gustav asked with a confused look.

Gradier Xanatus was currently putting on a prisoner's outfit as he stood in front of the wall.

"There's no time to explain," Gradier Xanatus said as he reached out for the yellowish puddle.

Thhrroooiiinnn!

The yellowish puddle was still wriggling, and parts of it were still splattered across the place, but when Gradier Xanatus reached out for it, every single drop joined together and flew towards him.

Gradier Xanatus's eyes glowed blue as he created a circular-shaped barrier around it and snapped his fingers.

Pah!

The circular-shaped barrier instantly shrank completely with the puddle within it and transformed into something else.

A small glowing red light.

Gradier Xanatus walked back towards Gustav with the red light floating above his palm and squatted.

"Your essence should still be within. I have compressed it," Gradier Xanatus said while placing the small red light in front of Gustav.

"Consume it," He instructed while moving it towards Gustav's mouth.

Gustav opened his mouth, and the red dot flew in.

Zrrrrrhhhhhiiiiii!

A few moments after consuming it, Gustav's glowing body changed color from white to red and stopped disintegrating.

Right before their very eyes, Gradier Xanatus and Angy watched as Gustav's body rapidly began to transform.