Despite how strange it was to speak to Bonger with my normal voice rather than just thinking our communication through, with how desperate his tone was, I knew there was no time to waste on such idle matters.

"Listen, you need to…"

Just as Bonger was about to explain what he meant, my entire vision turned red. 

Only after a moment of confused searching for the notification that would explain the sudden change, I realised that it was not something born from the system, but that Eve"s frozen bed turned red!

Using all my willpower to force my devastated muscles to prompt me up, I realised that along the side of the base of the bed, a short message was flas.h.i.+ng by.

"Energetical capacity exceeded. This object will stop functioning in 5… 4… 3…"

Seeing as the numbers continued to decrease at a speed of one per second, I realised why Bonger suddenly turned silent. It was already too late!

NO!

I won"t let it end like that!

Focusing all my attention at the stronghold menu, I scanned through all the options, hoping to see a way to improve the quality of the cryo-chamber that Eve was resting in. 

Yet despite all my hopes, there was no such possibility.

"2"

With the changes to the message now alining with a thunderous thumping of my desperate heart, I realised that there was nothing else that I could do at this point. Using the last moments I had before everything that I did to save Eve would collapse and bury me under the rubble of eternal depression, I grabbed the edge of the chamber and used it as a support to lift my body up.

As I was doing so, my eyes inevitably glanced over my own arm, only to show that it was completely covered in blood, seeping from multiple wounds that somehow appeared on my skin.

"1"

With no time to waste, I rolled over inside the chamber, ignoring the slight pain that its coldness induced. With how it would be most likely my last chance to met with Eve, I couldn"t be bothered with something as little as a bit of pain!

As I finally moved over the lifeless body of my beloved, I couldn"t help but in spite of the situation, take a momentary break, to just look at her face. In this one instant, all the memories that we made together, all the time that we had fun, that we spent plotting or just eating meals, it all flashed right before my eyes.

Was it all going to end just like that?

Yet as I watched her face, the droplets of blood falling down from my own flesh right on top of her fair skin seemed like the prophecy of what was to become her ultimate fate. But just as if the fate itself wanted to play with me, rather than losing the grip over the feeling of her soul, I actually saw her opening her eyes!

Her deep, blue eyes, capable of bewitching anyone that ever dared to cast his own gaze at them. Within those eyes, I could see a sea of emotions as deep as my own in this very moment. 

My mouth sealed off just like my brain did. In this likely last moments that we had together, I was so overwhelmed by her, that I was rendered speechless!

"Take me."

At first, I couldn"t really understand what I heard. Even though I saw her red lips moving and heard her soft voice that felt like the ultimate form of ASMR, the meaning of her words was beyond my understanding.

"TAKE ME, NOW!"

Hearing, seeing and feeling her shout those words right in my face with a desperate look in her eyes as was the tone of those words, all my hesitation and questions disappeared. Whether she just wanted to feel me for the last time that she could, or whether she had some kind of plan that I couldn"t understand, it didn"t matter.

If I failed to act like a man in such an important moment, who would I be in the first place?

Dissolving all my clothes with just a single whiff of entropy released out of the pores of my skin, directed just enough of my energy to stimulate my lower parts, instantly putting it in order. With one of my hand, bloodied from all the wounds covering my body, caressing Eve"s delicate cheek while the other one held the side of her waist in order to help aim my spear right at the price, I pushed my hips forward!

I would lie if I were to say that I completely abstained from the intimacy ever since Eve got injured, but ever since I received her soul embryo, I had yet to feel the warmth of a woman. But while that was an indisputable fact, it wasn"t like my l.u.s.t was taking over my mind those past few days!

While it was obvious that a lot of water would still have to rain down on the face of this world before I would truly start longing for this kind of closeness when I connected with Eve for the first time in what seemed like ages…

This feeling was indescribable.

From just the sheer, physical pleasure of connecting with someone who was my first, through the emotional connection that we established before all those tragic events and only reinforced during all the hards.h.i.+ps that we faced…

"BART! GIVE HER BACK THE EMBRYO!"

For some reason, this perverted Bonger had the guts to actually interfere in our ultimate act of love… But before long, I realised how deep his order was! Happy for such a great friend that was willing to help me out even in the last moments of my life before I would take it myself as to not let Eve wander through the paths of the afterlife alone, I joyfully extracted Eve"s embryo from my core and pushed it towards my fiancee physical body.

And just like that, our connection reached yet another level, with both of our souls connecting at this very moment. But before I could allow myself to revel in this deep indulgent in each other, I felt a small bout of energy travelling all the way from Eve"s abandonment towards my own body!

Feeling how unnatural it was for the direction of our connection to flow this way, I lowered my upper body down and forced my lips on top of Eve"s soft mouth. Only then did I freely open the gates of my energy, turning this act of the last lovemaking to an even deeper level of dual cultivating!

Yet as we got so close, I had no way to prevent one thing from happening. With our bodies clamped tightly together, I could feel the hole in her chest on my own, bloodied skin, stopping me from fully enjoying this last moment of us with how the depressing thoughts were constantly induced by this unpleasant feeling.

"Eve…"

Pulling my head up a bit, I opened my eyes, instantly breaking my own immersion in her warmth, flesh, emotions and soul. Looking at her in the eyes, I could see nothing but her overwhelming love and acceptance for her fate. 

Yet even though I knew she was most likely okay with going out this way, this wasn"t something that I would allow to happen!

But there was simply no way for me to prevent it!

And that"s when it happened.