Belle yawned as Wise finally synced the HDD with Fairy upon checking on Eous' progress.

The two were elated to hear that before they woke up again from going back to sleep, he had already retrieved one of the lost machines Fairy mentioned.

"Eous has become a great Proxy, huh?" Wise asked.

Belle chuckled and thought about his time helping them with their work. She was almost shocked to realize that the two had been pushed to the back burner, but with losing the Phaeton account, the amount of commission to store-work ratio was growing less balanced.

"Yeah, he's really been carrying us revenue-wise. We should give him a bigger cut, huh?" Belle said with a smirk.

"Well, with how much he's taking on, he's allowed us to get the store back to its former glory, as well as increase our reach to other cities and sectors. 50, 25, 25, seems far more appropriate. Especially with how tough the Ethereals he's fighting have been."

"Then it's settled! Now let's check in with our little bro!" Belle slid into her seat beside Wise and pressed the key to sync.

•

Eous and Belobog Industrues ran through the abandoned construction zones with haste as they battled Ethereals chasing after them.

A pack of five Tarasque Mixers were chasing after them in attempt to blend their bones to dust. Their mechanical roars falling on deaf ears as they grew more impatient.

Eous smacked away a claw from one Mixer with a tail, using the other to vault over the rattling pipes it knocked over.

Grace littered the fallen Tarasque with bullets until one lunged at her from overhead. Anton slammed his drill into its side, tearing through its metal armor with a grunt before it flew off from his kick.

He stumbled back into stride before catching up to the others as Eous led them to a building still under construction.

"Gotta slip through here and then we're almost there!" He announced from Fairy's instructions.

"Yo, Eous, how's the commission going so far—" Belle suddenly screamed in horror seeing another Tarasque Mixer lunging at Eous.

Eous grabbed the armor around its jaws and slammed it into the wall as he slipped into the building.

Wise gave Belle a concerned glance before syncing himself, worried for what may come when he loaded in.

Grace slipped under a claw and allowed Koleda to slam her hammers into the underbelly of the Mixers. She leapt away from the two jumping for her and into the building.

The five rushed up the ramps leading to the higher floors, the clanging of their feet against the scaffolding attracting more and more Ethereals.

"This is bad, Proxy, we can get overwhelmed in here!" Koleda voiced her concern for such a small enclosure compared to outside.

"That's the plan! They can too. Grace, let 'em fly!" Eous used his acrobatic ability to use the railings and pipes holding much of the scaffolding together to climb higher and higher as everyone followed.

Deep and heavy pounds of steel alert the group of the flood of Ethereals behind them just a floor below. Eous used his tails to pull Ben and Anton up with him since they were the slowest of the group.

It proved a greater challenge than he assumed due to their weapons being rather unorthodox— having to slip them through the scaffolding and even toss them a bit higher to catch the other.

Meanwhile, Grace was dropping shock grenade after shock grenade, stunning any and every Ethereal that dared to get close.

With the jittering mess of Ethereals beginning to block their own path, they began to scramble and wrestle their own kind to find a way up just as the group arrived at the highest floors.

"Anton, Ben, bring the house down!" He slung the two into the air above the final floor.

"Hell yeah! Let's go!" Anton revved his drill as it began to spark with electricity.

"Right!" Ben clutched his pillar's handle as the thrusters began to kick up.

With a boisterous laugh and grunt, the two crashed into the floor with a massive explosion just as Eous leapt off the building with Grace and Koleda being held by his tails.

He tossed them into his arms as he flew towards another building, using his far more durable tails to scrape against the concrete and down to the ground safely.

"Woah! Nice play, Proxy!" Koleda cheered from under his arm.

"That was an amazing performance! Encore!" Grace clapped rapidly from atop his shoulder.

"Eous, we should really start recording these." Wise said with a chuckle.

Fairy pulled up an entire archive of every Ethereal encounter Eous had so far on the HDD. "Enjoy these masterpieces, siblings."

"Man, you've got far more muscle than this costume of yours let's on, darling." Grace caressed his shoulder with a grin.

Koleda shook her head. "Grace, can you at least wait until he's in your lab to put your hands on him? We don't need to see this."

Belle and Wise were immediately staring at each other in concern. "He really is a womanizer..."

"Like hell I am!" Eous shouted setting down the two women in a hurry.

"Those two the rest of Nova? Gang's all here?" Anton asked with a laugh.

"Yup. As are you two, so now we can finally—"

Eous was suddenly snatched by a massive grappling hook and flung away. "—WHY MEEEEEEeeee?!"

His scream was cut short by a massive crack as the wall he was thrown into crumbled over him.

Belobog Industries turned to the receding grappling hook and saw their grappling machine pummeling its excavator hand into the grappling hook to taunt them.

"My pursuers are finally here. I've been waiting!" A immature man's voice exclaimed from the face panel.

"This guy's had a complete personality change. He sounded nothing like this on installation..." Anton jabbed his thumb at the machine with a scowl.

"Grappler, your smart core may have malfunctioned. Come back with us so we can fix you." Koleda announced.

Grappler's response was slinging the grappling hook like a mace right at her.

"Don't treat me like a child refusing their medicine!"

Anton and Ben held firm and blocked the attack with a sharp clap of metal echoing around the Hollow. The two almost buckled under the weight until Eous slung the grappling hook away with his tails.

"I'm a real bro, fearless and unyielding!" Grappler shouted, spinning around his tools to then pose and 'flex' his 'arms.'

"You call yourself a real bro after those sneak attacks?!" Anton shouted in rage.

"Look who's talking! The answer is simple then— Let's battle one on one!" It waved them forward with an eager glare.

"Nah, you're getting jumped for that asshole." Eous muttered, rushing forward with a scowl.

"I guess his day's been eventful..." Belle whispered with a sigh.

Eous caught a chunk of concrete boulder the Grappler threw at the group, sliding back from them as they kept stride.

Grace and Koleda slid away from a slam of its excavator, but Anton leapt on top of it as Ben rammed his pillar into a leg.

Jumping off from the rumbling of the Grappler's base, he leapt up to try and give it a good smack in the body, but its grappling hook slung around to knock him away.

However, Eous threw the boulder he caught with a roar— hitting the grappling hook just in time to knock it away and allow Anton to slam his drill down and give it a good strike to the head.

Ben propped up his pillar for Koleda to vault off of with her hammers and flipped into the air for a similar play. Unfortunately, Grappler wasn't falling for the same tactic twice, reeling in both its appendages before slinging them around like a top.

Koleda's eyes widened seeing the massive excavator heading her way, but Eous leapt up and slung her a bit higher just in time to avoid collision at the cost him taking her place.

She spared no time to worry about him and activated the thrusters in her hammer to plummet down and knock a clean hit into the Grappler's base, earning a wince from the immature machine.

Grace caught Eous from the fall and saw him rubbing his head in annoyance.

"We really can't break these things?" He was clearly fed up with being tossed around by the massive robots.

"No can do, darling." She set him down before kicking out a shock grenade before a leg of the Grappler could swat the two away.

The leg buckled under the electricity and gave Anton another chance to rush up for an airborne attack, but suddenly, in a burst of speed they hadn't expected, it dodged.

"What the?! This big guy can move that fast?!" Anton flailed around before Ben caught him too.

"You can't call this guy heavy machinery with that speed!" Koleda shouted.

"Yeah, well nothing's faster than me." Eous crouched down seeing the Grappler getting ready to make its escape.

•

Miyabi rubbed her nose, feeling a sneeze coming on.

She squinted her eyes in skepticism before shrugging her shoulders and reorganizing the papers she held.

•

"Tch! What's with this little weasel! No one should be faster than me! I'm a real bro!" The Grappler tried to glide around the open area and flee, but every direction he went, Eous was there first with his arms crossed.

Growing frustrated at its own futile attempts, the Grappler lashed out its hook and slung it at Eous to move him out of the way.

However, Eous held his ground and simply held out his hand, catching the massive steel with one hand.

"These claws are something else..." He mumbled with a grin.

"Wh-What?! No way! Ugh! Can you just give up and admit defeat— I'm never going back with you guys!" Grappler whined.

The others caught up to Eous and stood at his side. "These mundane tasks you've been giving me aren't fit for a real bro like me."

"If it's just about your work load, can't we work this out, Hans?" Grace wondered.

"Don't call me by that basic name, it's not my vibe at all!" Hans the Grappler seemed to grow flustered from the mention. "A real bro should pick his own name! Powerful and bold, like a total beast!"

"And that is...?" Eous was curious about what it'd pick.

"Yes! From today on, I shall be known as—"

Before it could answer, blasts of Ether struck its hull from above. The creak and growl of Ethereals began to emerge from the area as they rushed at Hans and the noise he made.

Hans shrieked in shock seeing Ethereals climbing his body.

"Wh-What's happening?! Ethereals?! Stop! Let go of me!" He whined. "Woe is me! It looks like my brief existence has come to an end—"

Anton rushed atop Hans and cut through the Ethereals with haste, clearing Hans of the pests with a grin.

"You just said you're a real bro... is that how far your faith in yourself goes?!" Anton landed back with the others, dusting his shoulder off.

"You... Why are you helping me?" Hans questioned.

"You have a great dream. It's a real shame that you're giving up on it so quickly. And after we agreed to have a proper showdown, too? We haven't got a winner yet!" Anton exclaimed with a fist pump.

Hans burst into laughter and grew more determined with each second. "That's right... you're right! Anton, my brother!"

"We have to keep fighting...?" Eous muttered.

"No, darling. This kid should be fine." Grace shook her head and adjusted her goggles.

"Yes, brother! I've made up my mind! I'll return with you and learn how to be a real bro. I'll start by doing my day-to-day work!" Hans cheered.

"It's okay. We've got this, bro." Anton held out his fist, and watched as Hans bumped it with his excavator hand.

Eous turned to Ben, jabbing his thumb at the others. "These guys always this corny...?"

"You get used to it." Ben said with a smile, choosing to ignore Koleda getting ready to put Eous in a headlock.