Chapter 1396 How About, I Become You? Author's Note: Unedited Chapters ------------------- "Not necessarily, no," Gustav answered before giving the limbless being an uppercut. Seifiling was sent flying to the end of the domain. "You are dead regardless so you can keep your reason to yourself," Gustav voiced while heading forward. "You… lose… Gustav Crimson," Seifiling coughed out more blood as Gustav arrived before him. Gustav raised his fist again when Seifiling revealed something, "If I die, Zonpaktu will self-destruct." Gustav's arm froze in mid-air the moment he heard that. "What do you mean by that?" Gustav questioned with a disturbed expression. "Did you think that universe was created with technology machinery alone? Half of its existence is tied to my creation ability. Your motley crew was wrong to think it is only tied to the existence of my vessel," Seifiling stated with a proud tone. Gustav fell completely silent after hearing this for a few seconds. "So…?" "It is just as I have said… my death would cause Zonpaktu to self-destruct which means you will also be responsible for the death of billions including your beloved little brother," Seifiling iterated. The place turned silent for a bit as Gustav's face displayed a look of contemplation. "If you leave me alive, my T-vods will eventually get into this space and that would lead to me transporting you into Zonpaktu so either way you lose… Which loss are you going to pick Gustav Crimson?" Seifiling floated. …. Chatter! Chatter! Chatter! The sound of loud chattering rang out in a very massive field filled with humanoid-structured, insect-like beings. Broken purplish collars were scattered across the place which was a testament to the freedom of this particular species that numbered in the millions. "Are we truly free now?" "It feels like the last ten months have been a dream." "Vilax came for us." "Curse that soul that brought us here!" One could hear their tones of joy as they held one another and encircled a group of four who looked just like them but were dressed rather differently. "We are not responsible for your freedom… he is…" 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮 Vilax said while pointing at Endric by the side. -"The earthling?" -"I think I recognize him from IYSOP." -"Isn't he the brother of that powerful Earth captain?" They stared at Endric with adoration as some of them remembered him from IYSOP. "Gustav Crimson is also here. If it wasn't for both brothers we would never have found you all or even had the chance of staging a successful rescue," Osiark chimed in from the side. "Our saviors." "Thank you!" They bowed with expressions of immense appreciation, thanking Endric. "Don't thank me yet. We still need to get out of Zonpaktu," Endric waved his hand with a dismissive look. Vilax went on to give a brief narration of what they went through to get there and who exactly they were facing off against. He explained to his people that they were currently in a universe of Seifiling's making and they needed to get out to be truly free. Endric then went on to add that before he lost communication with Gustav, he was in a battle with Seifiling and the status of that battle happened to be currently unknown so they were on their own. They needed to find a way to leave there without his help. "I have an idea," Vilax voiced out. "Let's hear it," Endric responded attentively. "Remember I mentioned that there were other gateways to getting into Zonpaktu? All we just need to do is rewire or rather corrupt and transition the energy of one of those heads and make it lead us to one of those gateways so we can use it to leave," Vilax explained with enthusiasm. "I kinda got rid of them…" Endric had a slightly guilty expression as he responded. Vilax's enthusiasm instantly died down upon hearing that. Just when they began to think of other means of exiting, a loud droning sound rang across the air. Everyone looked up and noticed a cloud of blackheads racing in their direction. "Perhaps the heavens were listening," Endric muttered with a light smile. "Hahaha... Perhaps they were!" Milox yelled out with an excited expression as he sped forward. "Prepare for battle," Vilax stated while levitating. "Looks like our ticket out of here just arrived," Osiark smiled heartily as well as they prepared to engage the incoming army of T-vods. …. "If you leave me alive, my T-vods will eventually get into this space and that would lead to me transporting you into Zonpaktu so either way you lose… Which loss are you going to pick Gustav Crimson?" Seifiling voiced with an extremely gloating tone. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The sound of Seifiling minions, which he had just referred to as T-vods, attacking the dark domain was still incredibly loud. Despite his pitiful-looking state, Seifiling had a victorious look on his face, knowing he had practically checkmated Gustav after letting him think he was winning. Gustav who bore a troubled expression suddenly smirked with a mischievous glint at the corner of his eyes. Seifiling was taken aback upon noticing the look on his face. "I choose neither of the above," Gustav stated before ramming his fist into Seifiling's chest once more. Bang! Seifiling spat out another mouthful of blood as he stared at the crazed Gustav. "What are you… doing?" Seifiling was completely appalled. "You think my existence, my thoughts, my methods can be culled through conventional methods… you thought wrong," Gustav's fist slammed into Seifiling again, causing one of his four eyes to pop out of its socket. "I could kill you right now and he would still be safe. So long as he is, I care not about the fate of any other person," Gustav punched Seifiling once more. "You seem to have overestimated my concern for these creatures. So what if they perish?" Gustav raised Seifiling and stared into one of his three eyes that were left. "So long as you perish with them, do you think I give a damn?" At this point, fear had crept its way into Seifiling's heart. He realized that he was staring into the eyes of a ruthless monster that wouldn't mind billions perishing so long as his goal was actualized. "The only reason I am on a foolish hero's journey right now is because it is mandatory… however, I am not mandated to keep the species you so wrongfully captured alive. It is not my job you fool," Gustav stated very coldly. 'Looks like this is where my sovereign conquest ends,' Seifiling knew he was a goner at that point. Ended up dying at the hands of a twenty-one-year-old, whereas he was centuries old. One couldn't fathom how humiliated Seifiling felt at the moment. "But no. Like I said, I am not picking any of the options you listed out," Gustav's face suddenly relaxed as he let go of Seifiling's limbless body. Seifiling was flabbergasted once more as he stared at Gustav. "I have something else in mind," Gustav's statement made Seifiling feel a deep sense of foreboding. "Which is?" Seifiling questioned but instead of answering, Gustav's face suddenly warped. "How about I become you?" He stated after transforming into Seifiling's full look. Seifiling eyes widened in astonishment, "You are a shapeshifter?" Gustav smirked before grabbing Seifiling's head and activating another ability. [Genetic Assimilation Has Been Activated] Gustav downloaded Seifiling's head down to its genetic and subatomic level. The moment he was done, it looked like there were two Seifilings within this space. Gustav instantly got linked with the disk, space vessel, Zonpaktu, and practically everything that was connected to Seifiling's mind. Since Seifiling's head was the only part of the body he genetically assimilated, Gustav couldn't use all of Seifiling's abilities but he had gotten exactly what he wanted. Seifilling was still in awe, but at that point, he recalled that he could send a warning signal to his minions so they wouldn't get fooled. However, before he could, darkness appeared on Gustav's face. [Tecophibe VI Dimension Has Been Activated] "How about you have a taste of your own medicine," Gustav muttered as his face swirled like it was made of black mud. The moment Seifiling stared at his face, he got sucked into the Tecophibe VI Dimension. His link to the space vessel and the disk floating in the dark dimension was immediately cut off afterward. Gustav looked downwards at the disk and slightly raised his hand. The disk instantly floated upwards, following his command. 'Good, this ended way better than I anticipated but the moment I deactivate the Genetic assimilation, Zonpaktu will most likely self-destruct. I need to make sure that Endric and the others are out first,' Gustav thought while reaching out to grab the torn piece of jacket-like fabric, Seifiling had left behind. He put it on and slowly unraveled the dark domain after mounting the disk. As the dark domain disintegrated, outer space was revealed. The vicinity was no longer completely dark and the?hundreds of thousands of T-vods outside stopped attacking the moment they spotted Seifiling.