While Nico was finding the actual appearance of his opponent fun, the others weren't!

....

Gavin was not having the best day.

Every event seemed to aggregate the helpless feeling he possessed inside him.

If not for him having a mission, he would have opted to commit suicide all along.

At this point in his life, it was nothing more than just a release. A blissful release from the pain.

In a span of mere hours, his face had turned to an unhealthy shade of yellow and multiple bite marks were on his dark lips, indicating that he had been inflicting pain to himself.

His sickly complexion became more pallid as he saw the true appearance of the opponent he was meant to face.

"Josh…," Gavin stammered.

He instantly regretted being curious at his opponent's true face.

Of all the people he didn't want to see him this way, Josh was at the top of the list.

After he had lost to Josh in the competition, months ago, Gavin had descended into depression.

He was only cheered up when his uncle told him he was not done yet, that he could still defeat Josh...….yet, his uncle was now dead.

His uncle was either among another horde of zombies or was lying dead on the floor of the guest house. Either way, he was dead!

Looking at his former best friend, Gavin wryly smiled, "What are you doing here?"

It seemed Josh shared the same sentiment as the latter softly replied, "To stop any attempt of delaying the invasion."

He walked closer to Gavin and explained, "We acted as baits to attract the attention of the Aztec forces, who were still deciding whether to apprehend us or not. We distracted them as the zombies broke into the capital."

Scrunching his brows, Gavin asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

Shaking off his emotion, Joshua warned, "To make you understand that this is not the competition, where things are still within rules. This is a matter of life and death and you are free to turn back."

Gavin couldn't deny that he was tempted to run away.

However, where would he go to?

Did he still have a home to go to?

Could he even betray the remaining friends that he had left?

He pursed his lips together and faked a smile, "I can't go."

"I thought as much," sighed Joshua.

He stared at Gavin for a few seconds and cautiously asked, "Who did you lose?"

He had known Gavin since he was young and this was the first time he saw such a dead expression on his face.

The only thing close to it was the expression Gavin showed when he lost his pet. So, Joshua was able to put two and two together and figure out the reason for Gavin's current expression.

However, he did not expect those two words that came out of Gavin's mouth, "Uncle Todd..."

Joshua tried to understand those two words and the two of them engaged in a battle of silence.

It was barely up to half a minute before Gavin broke the silence.

Bluffing his emotions, he forcefully laughed, "Hahahaha."

It was unknown whether he was laughing at himself or at Nico.

He then dropped a bomb that submerged Nico deep into the sea of despair, "Pinseun City is gone, along with all the other cities"

"What?!" a spark of life ignited from Gavin's eyes.

Joshua dropped another one, "Your family is dead."

Listening to Josh's words, Gavin could only silently digest the information, "....."

"My father killed the old bastard," Joshua disdainfully spat out.

Gavin understood who the old bastard was. It was his father!

Despite not understanding his father, he had respected the man and tried to make him proud.

The death of his father didn't push him further to the depth of despair. It only made him see the irony of things.

His father had taken over the noble house and the first thing he did was to terminate the relationship between their lifelong allies.

Now, he was dead, killed by the same ally he rejected.

"The rest of your family were taken care of by the zombies," a solemn look appeared in Joshua's eye when he said that.

It was said that at the deepest layer of despair, one would be at peace.

This could be seen from how Gavin just brushed off his entire family's death as if it was nothing while mocking himself, "Hehehe."

It wasn't that he was angry, grieving, or in tears.

Far from that, he was in a lot of emotional pain, but he just couldn't process them. So, he discarded them away.

He also couldn't get angry at Gavin as the latter was not wrong to take revenge. Josh wasn't also the one that killed his family.

From the saggy bags beneath Joshua's eyes and his wrinkled skin, Gavin understood that the two of them were just the little casualties of this invasion, or rather, of this world as their misfortunate story began before the start of the invasion.

He smiled at his best friend, who clearly felt the same as him, "There's only one thing left, right?"

Joshua smiled back, "Yes, we have to play our part. I wouldn't hold back this time."

The two weren't dumb.

They knew what was going to happen next and they had each prepared.

Gavin had used his time to heal himself and refill his [Spirit Pool], while Joshua had prepared his mind, and shifted to utmost concentration.

No words were needed and the two silently engaged in defining battle!

With no time to waste, Gavon revealed his new technique, "Second Style of the Meteor Series: Asteroid Armor."

[A/N: When I was writing this sentence, I kept thinking of Luffy's voice in one piece when he revealed his "Boundo Mann" technique, lol.]

Following his declaration, a pillar of earth rose up from the ground and wrapped around his body.

Gavin surrounded himself to the warm earth and when it was done, and armor made out of it appeared on him.

Its smooth surface glinted underneath the sunlight and, despite seeming heavy, Gavin walked closer to Joshua easily.

Seeing this, Joshua smiled, "I guess it's my turn."

He snickered his lips and a snarl escaped from it.

Suddenly, his skin turned very dull and seemed like it was about to decay. The colors in his eyes became very unclear.

The transformation was finalized with claws and fangs revealing themselves to the world.

Having all his emotion already taken from him, Gavin couldn't revel in shock.

He coils only wryly smile, "Sure enough. That's why you are so strong."