Nekomata successfully managed to get all the mercenaries to follow her outside of the Hollow back to New Eridu with Perlman as her hostage.

With a roar from deep down, Eous ripped the train car's door off to see the last of the guards escorting her into the Hollow.

"Damnit! Eous, you have to have her location, right?! You can tell us?!" Nicole clung to his arm desperately.

"Fairy? Don't mean to make you multitask." He mumbled.

"No issue in operations. Based on client's route, she will reach the nearest Hollow exit in 30 minutes." Fairy announced.

"Our plan with the train failed, so how are we going to get the residents out?" Nicole questioned.

"Working on it. This scenario doesn't leave many suitable options safe for the residents." Belle replied.

"With no Ether aptitude, the residents would be doomed in almost every scenario." Wise added.

"I get it now..." Eous pulled his mask back on and turned to Fairy. "Where is the Dead End Butcher?"

"What?!" Billy, Nicole, Belle, and Wise shouted.

"It makes the most sense. We shrink the Hollow and we open up options we don't have right now." He reasoned.

"He's on to something. Canvas Street and New Eridu are way closer than they appear, it's the Hollow that takes so long to travel between the two." Belle hesitantly agreed.

"So if we shrink the Hollow like he says, we'll have more roads to work with and get the residents out safely in one go." Wise explained.

"Hell yeah! We're great at taking out Ethereals!" Billy cheered.

"This isn't your average Ethereal. You all know that. There's rumors that even the Hollow Investigative Association don't want to mess with it until their elites can spare the time." Belle warned.

"But it's our only shot! We have to do something!" Nicole complained.

Eous gestured to himself. "I'll handle it. I can find it the quickest."

"Well, yeah, but you make it sound like we aren't all going..." Billy replied nervously.

"Someone's gotta make sure those people get on that train and escort them out. There's far better odds of them making it safely with you three." Eous reasoned.

"There's also far better odds beating the Dead End Butcher with the four of us." Anby fired back.

"Yeah, so what. You all got a commission to finish. And besides..." Eous shook his head and clenched his fists.

"Don't you da-" Nicole was cut off by Fairy pinpointing the Dead End Butcher's location and pinging it on the map.

Eous dashed away with a laugh. "You don't know where to go!"

"EOUS!" Nicole screamed in annoyance.

•

"Can you do it?" Belle asked bluntly.

"I mean, who knows, but I can't leave that to them. They don't have untapped power like I do, and I'm gonna need a whole lotta room to start tapping." Eous replied with a shaky grin.

The further he got into the Hollow, the worst the weather got. Rain poured like hail and thunder boomed after every crack of lightning. Ethereals had long since been scarce since he was following the trail of one of the strongest Ethereals to date.

"Eous, you have to promise you'll get out of there the moment it gets bad." Wise ordered.

"I can't do that. I can't leave those people behind, make everyone's efforts in vain because I come up short. I can't give up on them because they won't give up on me."

Eous arrived at a massive crater in the main railroad and saw an array of claw marks and burns around the muddy ditch below.

Leaning over the edge with a whistle, Eous rubbed his nape before hearing a beep.

"Warni-" Fairy was interrupted by the Dead End Butcher slamming its corrupted crossing sign into Eous' back.

Eous crashed against the mud with a wet thud before rolling to his ass in a daze. The cries of Wise and Belle were muffled by his ringing ears, and his sight showing a shaky hulking figure land in the crater.

A wave of mud flushed out, sending him sliding back until all that was left was solid rock beneath the two.

Eous groaned and stood up as Fairy rebooted his senses.

"Partner, it's Ether output levels exceed your current record. Unless we break the mental limitations of your biology, our chances of survival are 0.23%."

"Well, it ain't zero..."

"You idiot, that's ALARMINGLY CLOSE TO IT!" Belle shouted in frustration.

"Well it doesn't know that, now does it..." Eous' smile faltered from the pain.

"Fairy, you mentioned mental limitations? What does that mean?" Wise would have to play strategist so Eous could make it out of this alive.

"Simply put, as humans say, reach for the stars." Fairy replied, flashing Eous a thumbs up before pointing at the Dead End Butcher rushing at him with its crossblade dragging against the ground.

"I mean, I'll try." Eous lowered his stance and began to flare with power, but the Dead End Butcher lunged forward with a stab set on piercing his head straight through.

Eous roared and quickdrew the crystal katana at his back, releasing a slash that created a splash of sparks that illuminated the dark atmosphere around him.

The two creatures slid back against the earth and balanced themselves with spiritual glares that bore into the other's psych.

Eous was far too determined to make sure that the people were safe to be intimidated by this near senseless beast.

The Butcher was far too prideful to let some humanoid encroach on its territory and leave alive.

Rushing forward in a blitz of Ether, Eous raced around and slashed at its body as fast as he could but its reaction-time was far better than anything he had faced thus far.

It blocked and parried what it could, but the sheer difference in speed when Eous power up wasn't subtle.

"I'm gonna be sick..." Belle mumbled.

"Continuously aim at its joints and try to sever a limb." Wise suggested.

Eous slid to a stop before flipping back from a slash, using a blast of Ether to flip back forward over another slash in midair.

The Dead End Butcher tried to stab forward and catch him in the air, but Eous spun his body and let the massive weapon graze his sword as he fell.

With a downward hack, he chipped the Butcher's right arm, the one holding the crossing sign blade. It made a low grumble and swung its tail around, knocking Eous against the ground and to the end of the crater.

"Damn! That fucker has an extra appendage! Cheating bastard..."

"Language..." Belle grumbled.

"He's fighting for lives here, he gets a pass." Wise replied.

"I'm fighting for MY life here, come on now-" He was forced to shut up as the Butcher slammed its fist into his body, launching him upward with a crunch.

With a shout of agony, Eous corrected his position in time to see the Butcher leap after him with its weapon held high.

In an attempt to spike him down, it swung with all its might and created a massive gale downward despite Eous' evasion.

He was ripped from the air and crashed into the ground with another crack that made him muffle a scream into his cheek.

"Warning. Two broken ribs. Estimated recovery time 2 minutes." Fairy announced.

"F-FUCK! This guy is relentless..." Eous scrambled to his feet and dodged a stomp aimed at his back.

Losing patience from the pain, Eous charged Ether again and began flaring up with colors. His prismatic aura began to spike and surge like a synth wave before his image disappeared.

The Dead End Butcher slowly looked around for its prey before glancing at its right arm in confusion.

Suddenly, it was chipped far more than before, a clear chunk of its scaly flesh being ripped off in a lash of light.

It staggered to a knee when Eous raced by with another vicious slash, nearly tearing off the limb.

With a rising hack, Eous appeared above it with a sharp warp of light.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" Eous yelled in a burst of Ether.

Racing back down in a blur, he and the Dead End Butcher clashed blades with a burst of plasma gushing from their weapons. The two roared at each other and leant in as if taunting the other to falter.

"RISING GUILLOTINE!" Eous screamed, appearing behind the Dead End Butcher with a warp of light with his sword skyward.

The Butcher's arm was torn to shreds, its weapon to shrapnel, and its core grazed from the high speed cut. It stumbled around in delirium and started clawing at its vacant shoulder.

Eous dropped the broken handle of his crystal katana and winced.

"Warning. Right Wrist fractured. Estimated recovery time 49 seconds." Fairy announced.

Eous turned back and clicked his tongue seeing he missed the core by just a hair.

"Eous! Are you okay? What does she mean 49 seconds?!" Belle wondered.

"I'm not exactly human; heal better in a Hollow." He spat quickly, charging his left hand with a powerful orb Ether to finish the job.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Dead End Butcher wouldn't back down anymore than he would. It began tossing and turning as its Ether began to pulse and converge to its core. The green energy flushed pink and blue as it became Ionized.

Its missing limb had suddenly recovered in a burst of pixels, alongside another set of more lethal arms on its shoulder blades.

Eous staggered back in horror seeing the spectacle, the lightning crashing around them making the Ethereal's rebirth all the more terrifying.

"Eous... Run." Wise pled.

"I... I can't, Wise. There's no way..." He didn't sound so sure. He wanted to.

"Eous, we're begging you. You can't beat that... I don't know anyone who can..." Belle's shaky voice was making him even more scared.

His resolve faltered.

Eous wasn't even conscious to all his power dwindling away as he lost control over his body.

He was frozen in fear as the Dead End Butcher slowly turned around to him in silence. Its actions spoke volumes. The slow strut over to him exuded the aura that it wanted revenge.

"EOUS! YOU HAVE TO RUN!" Belle screamed.

"EOUS, PLEASE!" Wise yelled.

Eous shook his head and tried to drown out everything. His eyes watered, making the mask uncomfortable. Suddenly, his hearing was limited to static and his mask had disappeared as he wished it.

Eous gasped and looked in front of him, only able to hear Fairy.

"Partner, you've yet to break the mental limitations I've mentioned. In order to survive, you must do so."

"I... I don't know how! How does someone reach for the stars?! That's just a figure of speech!" Eous cried, looking around to see time had seem to slow down.

"As doing all things, it takes effort. Some say purpose. You have to strive for more, just as the saying goes. The stars don't simply mean higher. Reach deep within. Pull upon more and more until you feel nothing is left."

Eous slammed his eyes shut and immediately began doing as instructed. His body began to spark and surge with his usual Ether aura. The prismatic spectacle fluctuated and jittered and slowly began to spike like the synth wave as time slowly began to resume as intended.

"Processing Power set to Overdrive. Ether levels breaking record numbers recorded in even history. Recording data accordingly."

Time resumed and Eous thrust out his palm to catch a sudden punch thrown by the Dead End Butcher's upper right arm.

"That's enough."

Looking up at the Ethereal with pure fury, Ether leaked from Eous' eyes as his aura began to flush out like a geyser.

"Eous...?" Wise questioned in shock.

"Vitals Check. Right wrist complete recovery. Rib cage complete recovery. Health at maximum efficiency." Fairy announced.

"I don't have time for this. People are waiting for me." Eous blinked away his tears and tossed the massive appendage aside.

The Dead End Butcher leant down and sized Eous up, noticing that his own scales were beginning to form claws over his hands. As if respecting what he had become, it jumped back and lowered its stance for a duel.

"I guess chivalry isn't dead." Eous mused, throwing off his hood to reveal his hair was bubbling like blue and pink lava.

He lowered his stance too and clenched his claws with a glare.

"But it will be soon."