The Bloodline System

Chapter 1685: Tombstone

His pants were a simple and unassuming matching black. His hair was long, dirty blond, brushing over his shoulders and swaying as he walked.

But his face…

His face was expressionless and cold...

Yet bearing a depth of emotion so profound, it made the kids freeze as if some part of them recognized him.

One of the boys tugged at his friendʼs sleeve.

”That man… he looks familiar.”

The other nodded slowly, though not fully understanding why.

The man didnʼt glance their way. He didnʼt even seem to notice them. His steps carried him directly into the cemetery by the roadside, moving with an inevitability.

He passed rows of graves, passed old stones cracked by time, passed flowers wilted by seasons.

Then he stopped.

Right before the tombstone that bore the name:

ANGY VILANDROBADIA.

The world fell silent around him.

Not even the wind dared to rustle the leaves.

He lowered himself into a slow squat as his knees bent with the weight of grief he carried. For the first time since his arrival, his hand moved... shaking slightly as he reached out and rubbed the surface of the tombstone.

His fingers traced the carved letters with a tenderness no one alive had seen him show. His thumb brushed the corner of the stone again and again, as though trying to feel some lingering warmth she might have left behind.

A red flower materialized between his fingers and he proceeded to place it gently on the ground.

He didnʼt speak.

He didnʼt cry.

He didnʼt breathe a word of goodbye.

But a sorrow so thick and heavy radiated from him that the sky itself dimmed slightly, as though the sun bowed its head for the man who had saved the universe… and lost the only thing he truly wanted in return.

---

Miles away, inside the MBO Tower, Falco jolted upright as his senses spiked.

His heart throbbed in his ears.

”—no way,” he whispered.

Without hesitation, he grabbed his device and called E.E.

E.E picked up instantly, breathless.

”You felt that too?!”

Falco nodded sharply even though E.E couldnʼt see him fully through the hologram feed.

”Itʼs him,” Falco said. ”Gustav. Heʼs back on Earth.”

E.E didnʼt even reply, he just hung up to call everyone else.

Within seconds, Endric, Aildris, Elevora, Ria, Sersi, Xanatus, all received the same sudden message through their communicators:

GUSTAV IS HERE.

They all answered with the same stunned silence before their voices overlapped in disbelief and frantic urgency.

”But where?” Ria muttered. ”He completely hid for years.”

”He doesnʼt want to be found,” Aildris added quietly.

Endric rubbed his temples. ”If Gustav returned now—after the funeral—after everything—whereʼs the first place heʼd go?”

A sudden, collective silence filled the communication channel.

Then… all at once…

”THE CEMETERY!”

They scattered into the sky in bright blurs of energy, cutting across landscapes as they homed in on one familiar location.

E.E was the first to arrive since he only had to enter a vortex.

He appeared near the kids still playing on the street.

”Hey—did any of you see a tall guy with long blond hair and a red jacket pass here?!”

The kids nodded rapidly.

”He went inside the cemetery!”

”He looked sad!”

”And… familiar!”

”Shit,” E.E breathed as his chest tightened.

One after another, the others warped in:

Endric.

Falco.

Aildris.

Elevora.

Ria.

Sersi.

And the rest.

They rushed across the cemetery grounds together, sprinting past graves until they arrived at the place they feared most.

Angyʼs tombstone.

And standing in front of it… was no one.

Gustav was already gone.

But something remained.

A single rose on the dirt still glowing faintly with the last traces of his energy.

And next to it…

A note folded neatly beneath a small stone.

The wind blew softly, rustling the edges of the paper.

E.E froze.

Endricʼs face paled.

Falco swallowed hard.

Aildris finally stepped forward and picked up the note with trembling hands.

He opened it.

They all leaned closer.

The world seemed to hold its breath.

The note read:

---

”Donʼt look for me.

I am not lost.

I just donʼt belong here anymore.

Take care of each other.

Live the life we fought to protect.

Angy would want that.

—Gustav”

---

The moment the final letter sank in, E.E covered his face with both hands.

”Fuck…” he whispered shakily.

Ria turned away with burning eyes. ”Rival!”

Falco clenched his fists till his knuckles went white.

Sersi bit her lower lip with tears falling silently.

Aildrisʼs jaw trembled.

Endric shoulders sagged as a shadow of grief crossed his face.

Sersi shook her head repeatedly.

”No… Gustav… youʼre not alone…”

But he was gone once more.

He had chosen to disappear and no one knew for how long.

He had chosen solitude over returning to the world Angy no longer existed in.

Because for him…

The universe may have been restored.

But his world had not.

The group stood before the tombstone with wind sweeping softly across the cemetery. The rose lay motionless as a symbol of love, grief, and a farewell they were never prepared to face.

E.E finally broke the silence.

”He saved EVERYTHING…” he muttered bitterly. ”Every stupid little thing. The universe… the planets… us… all of us…”

He kicked a pebble hard, sending it bouncing away.

”BUT HE COULDNʼT SAVE THE ONE PERSON HE WANTED MOST.”

Falco placed a hand on his shoulder.

”He isnʼt abandoning us. Heʼs just… hurting.”

”HURTING?!” E.E lashed out before his voice cracked. ”Heʼs dying inside.”

Endric closed his eyes.

”Heʼll come back one day,” he said quietly. ”But not now. Maybe not for years. Maybe not for centuries. But he will.”

Aildris let out a slow breath.

”Until then… we protect what he restored.”

Everyone nodded even though their hearts were heavy.

Slowly, one by one, they turned away from the grave.

But Endric lingered a moment longer, gazing down at the rose.

”…Thank you, Angy,” he whispered. ”For giving us back our brother.”

He reached out and gently straightened the flower on the ground before finally walking away.

The cemetery grew silent again.

The sky dimmed a little.

And somewhere far—so far that even their combined senses couldnʼt hope to reach—Gustav walked alone, carrying his grief like an endless shadow…

And beginning a new path no one could follow.