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.

His body increased in size and was rapidly turning back to its original form.

His arms, legs, and face regained their initial size and color. In a few seconds, Gustav rose to his feet and raised his arms to check them.

Swooshhh!

He dashed across the place, testing his speed also.

("Your essence has been recovered, and your body is currently healing the internal injuries you suffered,")

The system notified Gustav.

'Oh, look, you're still talking to me,' Gustav said internally with a smirk.

("…")

Gustav turned to face Gradier Xanatus, "Thank you," He voiced out with a look of appreciation.

Gustav turned to stare at Angy and voiced out, "You too," his smile became wider after saying.

"Uh, you don't have to mention," Angy faced turned redder as she turned to the side to avoid Gustav's eyes while speaking.

"So, why are you here, Gradier Xanatus, and dressed like that?" Gustav asked with a look of suspicion while scrutinizing Gradier Xanatus from head to toe.

"Hmm, I'm here on a mission issued out by the superiors, and your mentor included," Gradier Xanatus said while moving towards the podium where Gustav was almost turned into a sacrifice.

"That prisoner's outfit just ruined the image I have of you," Gustav laughed lightly as he spoke. Even though it had only been two weeks, he was already used to seeing Gradier Xanatus in his dignified uniform.

"Wait, did you just mention my mentor?" Gustav realized that in Gradier Xanatus's statement earlier, he mentioned mentor.

"Miss Aimee sent you?" Gustav asked.

"Yes, she specifically recommended me for this observation mission, and the higher-ups agreed. Hmm, who knew you were affiliated with the demon queen of the MBO…." Gradier Xanatus had a surprised expression on his face as he stared at Gustav.

"Observation? Demon queen?" Gustav voiced out with a confounded look.

"I have been watching your battle with that rock being, so you don't need to explain the situation to me… I was sent here for the precise purpose of observing the situation within the ruins since there were places that footage couldn't be transmitted," Gradier Xanatus explained.

'So, he was watching the whole time… that means he saw me using different abilities,' Gustav stared at Gradier Xanatus with a suspicious look after realizing this.

Gradier Xanatus stared back at him with a smile like he could read his thoughts.

Gradier Xanatus went on to explain everything that had gone down in the facility where the higher-ups were gathered.

-A few Minutes Ago

Back up in the previous location of the rock, E.E, Falco's alter ego, and Maltida was almost overwhelmed by the number of participants attacking them when the participants lost the purplish glow in their eyes and fell unconscious.

After a few seconds, the participants regained consciousness and started rubbing their eyes and holding their heads with a confused expression displayed on their faces.

"They did it," E.E voiced out after seeing all the participants regaining consciousness without purplish glowing eyes.

They were nearly worn out by the attackers and had all gained injuries from the long two hours battle, so they were glad it was over now.

Falco regained control of his body functions and went back to normal since his alter ego, too, was worn out.

"Let's go check on them," Maltida suggested while transforming back to her normal form.

E.E and Falco nodded in agreement, and the three of them turned around to head towards the hole.

The rock had initially gained control of over four hundred participants in the last two days, and now those participants had regained control of their minds with fuzzy memories.

They checked themselves and wondered what they spent the last two days doing after noticing they had no grandstones in their possession.

As their memories returned to them gradually, they had looks of bitterness on their faces after realizing they had been spending the last two days as a puppet, gathering grandstones for an unknown entity.

There were over three thousand participants in total that made it to the final stage. Now about thirty percent of them started looking for grandstones all over again since the rock being had absorbed everything that was initially in their possession.

What they didn't know was that if Gustav, Angy, and the others had not succeeded in taking down the rock being, not only would a great calamity be born, but they would also end up dead. This because the rock planned to discard them the moment it had successfully been reborn.

As they regained their memories, they also realized that this day was the last day of the test phase, which meant they had less than twenty-four hours to gather grandstones before the test phase ended.

The participants that were under mind control earlier began to travel to different parts of the ruins with looks of urgency on their faces. They had to make sure they found something since no one wanted their efforts to be wasted after getting to this stage.

Back underneath the hole, Gradier Xanatus had finished inspecting the shell-like area where the energy of the crystal was said to be hidden underneath.

E.E, Falco, and Maltida had arrived a while ago using E.E's Vortex, and Angy was bringing them up to speed on what had happened so far.

"What? He almost died?" Even Falco was surprised since he knew of Gustav's strength.

Maltida and E.E were just as surprised and stared at Gustav, who was currently several feet away conversing with Gradier Xanatus.

Gustav still had an unbothered expression as he spoke with Gradier Xanatus. He didn't even look like someone who was about to die a while ago.

The only obvious sign that he was in a battle was his tattered clothes.

The space at the bottom of the hole had a radius of over four thousand feet, but the signs of destruction were visible even with such space.

Rocks piled on top of one another in different spots, as well as craters and holes on the walls.

As Angy explained the past situation to them, they could picture just how crazy the battle must have been.

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