How long are you gonna continue defying me?!

You WILL listen to me!

Understood?!

*Clang* *crrreaaak*

Due to severe functional damage, Code 666 cannot activate...

System...emergency...shut down!!

......

You thought I'd just let you self-destruct like it's no big deal?!

Hah! As if!!

Melchio! You blockhead!!

Thanks to you Crabby almost blew himself up!

Just quit it, and go down already!!

*Clang* *crrreeeaaaaak*

*Ratatat-tat* *ratatat-tat*

......

All systems...down...

Recovery...improbable...

Memory...lost...

Phew...

Looks like he's finally done for good...

Michele, everything's fine now...

Huh? Oh, yeah... No big deal, really...

As always, you took it upon yourself to break all human limitations...

Why do you have to put it like that? Making me sound inhuman and whatnot.

That's cuz you ain't human...

Where do you guys get off saying that?!

Ugh, whatever.

Hey Crabby, did you see that? We finally beat Melchio!

And we did it without having to sacrifice anyone in the process too!

......

What?

Say something!

......

What's wrong? Why are you so quiet?

Are you mad that I had to set you straight or something?

......

Cra...bby...?

H-Hey! You should answer back when someone's talking to you!

Master Lodin...

Duel-GX's maintenance for the day has been completed.

O-Okay...

Mainframe repairs 100% complete.

Hypothesis for inability to activate points toward a system problem...

Is that right...?

Can't you repair that instead?

I have no memories of the events prior to meeting Master Lodin.

All that memory data has been lost.

Consequently, I do not possess the knowledge to repair Duel-GX's system.

......

My apologies...

Nah, it ain't your fault...

Ms. Tiara.

Concerning the irrigation system you requested for the flower beds...

...construction will begin shortly.

What?!

I mean, okay...

But there's really no need to hurry or anything...

Understood.

I still can't believe my eyes...

Yeah...

To think that after Crab stopped working, Melchio'd start moving again...

It's just...

It's all so strange.

But the fact that he calls Lodin his "master" on top of it all is even stranger.

Indeed it is.

......

The whole goal of my journey was to beat that guy...

I never in a million years thought things would end up like this...

I dunno how I'm supposed to feel right now...

But it's not like you plan to battle Melchio again, right?

Well... I guess not...

......

Hey Crab, I don't wanna put you on the spot or nothing...

...but ain't it about time you woke up already?

Everything went nuts after you stopped working.

Yes it did.

It was quite a feat trying to calm Michele down after she became so consumed by rage.

After her furious outburst she blamed herself for breaking Mr. Crabby...

...and felt into a state of depression I've never seen her in before...

Even now she still refuses to come out of her room...

I never thought I'd see the day when Michele would behave like that...

However, her actions show just how much she cared for her friend Crab.

......

......

Tsk... Guess today's no good either...

Let's come again later...

As many times as it takes...until Mr. Crabby wakes up...

Yes...

......!

Energy levels... stable.

Mainframe status...stable.

Initiating...recovery mode.

Crab!!

No way! You finally woke up?!

Took ya long enough, ya hunk of junk!!

I-I'll let Michele know right away!!

Mi...che...le...

Remarkable.

You added this possible outcome to the simulation as well?

Why not, right?

I mean, according to historical facts, Michele was concerned for Duel-GX...

...so she didn't want to attack full force, and ended up being unable to stop Duel-GX's self-destruction in the end.

But if at the time she had chosen to follow what was truly in her heart, I wonder how it all would've ended.

Because when you think about it, even by our standards nowadays, it's clear that Michele was quite the willful person.

Though I'm sure that made her personality a bit more complicated to deal with...

Hmm...

...... She resembles him, wouldn't you agree?

Yeah right!

It does look like Michele had a cold personality in general, and wasn't really into building deep relationships with people either, but...

...they are still two entirely different people for sure!

*Sniffle* Was someone talking about me just now?

Well, when you keep in mind that I'm the most talented Summoner of the Hall...

...I guess there's no way people can avoid singing my praises!

By the by, I did find something quite intriguing earlier...

When Michele defeated Melchio the very first time, he was somehow able to attain enough power to fully recover afterwards.

How was that possible?

I do not believe that was one of Melchio's original abilities...

About that...

We could tell it came from an external source while we were doing our research...

But that's all we've got so far.

We don't know much else about it at this point.

I see...

I would very much like to gather more data on the subject.

That makes two of us.

It might be a pain, but we're gonna have to ask her to help us out with this too...