At last, Son Gohan's hand reached the hidden pocket. Trembling, he fumbled out the Senzu Bean, then used every last bit of strength he had to shakily place it into his mouth.
By then, Eliza's energy had weakened to the point of near extinction, almost vanishing entirely.
"You may die now, but your death will have meaning. Before dying, you learned where you were wrong, so you can die without regrets. This is my mercy."
As he spoke, the black-robed man's aura, streaked with faint black lightning, began to surge. A long energy blade condensed in his left hand. He was about to finish Eliza off.
Boom!
But just then, the ground shook, and the black-robed man abruptly stopped. A peerlessly powerful aura erupted into the sky from somewhere not far away.
The next instant, a figure shrouded in white aura charged into the crater at an unimaginable speed and threw a punch at the black-robed man.
For the first time, the black-robed man took a defensive stance. Even so, the figure's fist blasted him into the earthen wall. The overwhelming force carved a passage straight through the underground as he was driven back.
With white aura surging around him, Son Gohan did not pursue the black-robed man. Instead, he turned and lifted Eliza into his arms, then shot out of the crater with a roar and reached the surface.
After gently laying Eliza down somewhere safe, Son Gohan used his own energy to stabilize the injuries inside her body. With no Senzu Beans left on him, this was all he could do for now.
"You... finally... did it."
Eliza regained a little consciousness. Seeing the fully recovered Son Gohan through her half-open eyes, a smile appeared on her face.
"Pro-promise me."
Son Gohan said helplessly, "Go ahead."
The smile