Eous panted under his mask as the Energizer Thanatos Ethereal slowly crumbled into pixels at his feet.

It was one of four he had to face at one time, while Miyabi handled four Dullahans at her end of the training room.

A long groan escaped his lips as he sat down, sprawling out against the cold steel floor to see Miyabi looking down at him curiously.

"Your attack patterns have changed. You have new appendages?" She questioned.

He brought out his two tails and made their claws wave.

"I tend to evolve after beating strong enemies." He replied.

"Interesting. Is this the source of your rapid growth?" Miyabi carefully took a seat on her knees across from him, making him respectfully sit up and face her.

"Probably. It wasn't too long ago all I could do was emit Ether. Now I've got claws, tails, and that Ionized form you saw."

"I must ask, seeing your struggle to fend off what I've seen you more than capable of eliminating inside a Hollow, if your Ether output is significantly less outside of them?"

Eous and Fairy were shocked once again that she was right on the money...

"Y-Yeah. It's down nearly 65% outside of a Hollow now. Sorry I took so long."

Miyabi rapidly shook her head. "It's no consequence. I was unaware of this circumstance. I'm sorry for making you exert yourself so heavily."

"N-No. it's completely fine. It's an even greater workout that way! Thanks for inviting me." Eous gave a thumbs up.

Miyabi gave her signature thin smile and leaned forward. "Can I see your face?"

Eous dropped his mask with a smug grin. "Miss the charm?"

Miyabi gave a semblance of a smirk and shook her head. "Hardly. However I noticed marks on your face from when we met the other day. They were not there when I approached you the time prior."

She held his cheek and brought her thumb across two slits under his left eye, identical to the ones under his right.

"These... are new. Do they have a purpose?"

"I think so. They kinda glow whenever I use my other element."

"Other element? Like mine?" Miyabi's ears twitched in what he assumed was excitement.

"I think so, but I haven't been able to test it out yet. It's like a weird variant of electricity. It's blue and red!"

He held up his claw and let a bit of it spark, but the longer he did he began to wince.

"It kind of hurts to use though. I think it's... like my stamina or something. At least that's what I surmise." This was Fairy's assessment of it so far, at least.

"Interesting. Have you been able to observe what anomaly effect it produces?"

"Some kind of corrosion. Like damage over time. I don't want to use it on people..."

"A fine choice. It would be unwise to use such a potentially irreversible effect on the humane." She nodded in agreement before glancing at his tails.

"I'm unaware of what Ethereals have fur. Is this unique to you?"

Eous was almost certain she wasn't aware of personal space if her curiosity was peaked. Her hands caressed a tail with delicacy, stroking the thin layer of fur on the top side. They resembled a squid's tentacles when not transformed into claws, with the underside looking like a sleek metal.

"Has to be new. Soft, huh?"

She nodded. "I can't tell what animal it resembles. Maybe a short-hair cat."

"Incoming call from: Grace Howard." Fairy announced.

Miyabi glanced over at Fairy's sudden appearance with a gasp.

"Proxy! Hey, hey! Can you swing by the construction site? I wanna work on you!" She was blunt about her intentions.

Eous glanced at Miyabi and saw her strained look of what he was assumed was concern. He scratched his cheek and looked at Fairy.

"Uh, you're gonna have to elaborate. W-Work on me how?"

"Oh, you do not want me to go into detail— are you in public? Turn speaker off."

Eous flinched hearing her sultry tone and looked at Fairy in horror of what she had in store. He shook his head to Miyabi seeing a small blush growing on her face.

"A-Absolutely not! I need someone else to hear what ever insane thing you wanna put me through— for legal reasons!"

"Oh, relax~, I just wanna take a look at your biology. I'm not gonna dissect you or anything. Just need a few DNA samples so I can have some fun."

Eous remembered that it wasn't too long ago she had practically lost three of her 'children' to that creature in the Hollow. He understood that it could help if she took her mind off things.

"Fine, I can swing by." He said with a smile.

"Great! I'll get my lab ready, so be here around 2, okay? See you later darling!"

Eous sighed in relief now that the call ended. "I promise, she's not as bad as you think. She's just very passionate."

"I understand. I'm a bit disappointed we couldn't spar, but with your 'debuff' outside of Hollows, it wouldn't be fair to you." She released his tail and stood up.

"Well, I doubt I'd hold my own against you either way. Ice is kinda my weakness now that I'm part Ethereal."

"You'd be surprised, Proxy." Miyabi held him to his feet with a smile.

~•~

Back in casual clothing, or at least half of it, Eous let Grace observe his body in a sleek white room. From the furniture to the devices, he was shocked that someone as savvy as her would have such a clean room.

"I know that look." She lightly tugged on his cheek with a giggle. "This is a mach room for testing. This isn't my personal lab just yet. I wanted to see your offensive capabilities first."

"Oh, that explains the cubes."

"Yup! But before that..." Grace looked at the slits on his back he hadn't noticed before. "Your tails? Can you bring them out?"

He did as asked, and Grace watched them almost unveil themselves from their transparency, slinking into existence from the slits.

"Fascinating. I wonder if these appendages have a different function when inside the body. Extra protection or muscle for the back..."

Tracing his tail with a single finger, she was shocked to find him not flinch at her delicate touch.

"Can you feel my finger? I expected a more amusing reaction." Her pout wasn't subtle in the slightest.

"I smack people around with these things for a living. They're far more firm than you think."

She decided to test that theory and grabbed one rather tightly. It felt like raw muscle, and with how far they could stretch and the different angles they could push, it was obvious they didn't have any bones, making them all the more mysterious.

"You can turn the ends into claws, right? Does it end there?"

He turned one end into a claw and the two shook hands. "So far, haven't tried much other than the claws. Let me try something else."

Nothing happened.

"Nope, just claws."

"Well, if it isn't broke, don't fix it— Who am I kidding, there's always room for improvement!" Grace laughed and spun him around to face her.

"Now! These slits under your eyes. Discover what they do just yet? I know this one is far more recent." She stretched his cheeks to see if there was any reaction, but only saw an unamused frown.

"Uh, not really. They just make me look weird for now."

"And the claws? Any updates here? They seem sleeker than I remember." Grace held his hands with a grin.

"They sort of got chipped some time ago and suddenly got slimmer. Look less... rigid now." He looked at the dark material his hands were now and only held his frown more.

"Conscious?"

"Incredibly. Probably have body dysphoria now. Had a few depression episodes looking at myself." He was brutally honest.

"Well, if you ever feel down, know I adore you, darling. Your body is fascinating, and I would kill to explore it." She pulled his hands, bringing him close to envelop him in a hug.

A bit startled by the embrace, he lightly hugged her back despite the tight squeeze she gave. "Th... Thanks. That's nice."

"Of course. You've done a lot for me and the President. Sweet Pea's had no problems ever since you gave us closure, and if she's happy, I'm happy."

Eous slowly began to smile until he felt her hand trail down his unclothed back.

"Where's that hand going?"

"Does it have permission?" Grace asked with a smirk.

"It doesn't!" Koleda shouted at the doorway.

Grace and Eous jerked their heads over at Koleda to see she was fuming with a face colored red, be it frustration or embarrassment.

Grace chuckled and grabbed Eous' butt anyway.

"Oh, damn that's firm. You're just all muscle, huh?"

"Grace." Koleda barked.

"Fine, fine." Grace released Eous and saw he was smiling again, so her mission was accomplished. "What brings you by, sweet pea?"

"Well, I heard he was here. Starting to wish I hadn't..." She strut inside and took to leaning against the wall.

"Ouch."

"Well, you missed the good part, clearly~." Grace teased, getting a glare from Koleda. "But now, we're here to discover what his second element entails."

"Second element? You mean that weird evolution thing you told me about?" Koleda asked him.

"Don't be rude, Koleda. It's not weird." Grace sternly replied in his stead.

Eous waved it off and held out his hands to the cubes. "Ready when you are. Should stand back though."

Grace walked over to the wall and stood beside Koleda. With a swift thumbs up and tap on a keyboard, she gave him the go ahead.

Eous thrust his palm towards the first cube on the podiums.

A stream of lightning surging red and blue struck the cube. While simple and seemingly weak, it slowly began to burn and almost corrode the cube until it began to deteriorate and melt.

"Woah. That's... far more lethal than I was expecting." Koleda mumbled.

"The next cube please." Grace requested.

Eous repeated the process on the cube colored far darker. The lightning struck it, but this time, instead of melting it began to simply crackle with the electricity.

"Well, the first box was paper mache." Grace revealed. "It seems the anomaly is far more aligned with Burn than it is Shock. So instead of immobilizing things, it hurts them over time. But how long..."

Grace and the two watched for as long as five minutes and the electricity didn't end...

It continued to surge, as if persisting against what it deemed an immovable object.

"Wow. Resilient. I guess we can surmise it lasts a long while, but we've got more to assess." Grace decided.

Eous called the electricity back to him and muffled a wince.

"What's left?" Koleda wondered.

"His nifty little friend." Grace strut back up to him and pat his shoulder.

"Fairy." Eous announced, the blue pixie appearing from nowhere. "AI companion. My livelihood."

"Greetings." Fairy politely greet the two.

"Oh, that thing. She's pretty cute." Koleda smiled as she walked up to her. "Wait— can he put his shirt back on...?"

Eous rolled his eyes and did as asked but was suddenly stopped by Grace. "Not yet. I can't ignore the uniqueness in his biology. Which brings me to these last assessments."

She held up his wrist and peered into his skin with a hum. "Your veins. They are more like circuits than veins already are. I think it's apart of the evolution you underwent after beating that creature in the Hollow. How you're able to produce this persistent electricity."

"Oh, can I call it Gamma?"

"Well, that'd be... rather inaccurate, but it sounds cool." Grace shrugged.

He dropped his head. "Ah, never mind. I don't wanna sound dumb when I tell people about it..."

"But this, and Fairy's coexistence within your body, make you a mix of Ethereal, Human, and Machine. It's the peak of science to see these three things come together so... peacefully." Grace cooed and went to embrace him again, but Koleda pulled her back to maintain professionalism.

"Enough of that. Not on site. Take him back to your place for any of that funny business."

Grace gasped and looked over to Eous expectantly, making him flinch at how eager she was to the suggestion.

"Uh, um... I don't... know." Eous was clearly taken aback, making Grace giggle.

"Don't worry, darling. We'll have plenty of other opportunities." Grace held him up his shirt. "But, you have my number if you wanna learn more about yourself."

Koleda and Eous both were flustered beyond belief, left to wonder if she even knew what exactly Koleda meant before...