Eous twisted in his heels and spun on his toes to rapidly kick and deflect the bullet like punches of the Dead End Butcher.

His speed was still in a league of its down, but the Butcher packed punches he still couldn't block head on. He tried to find an opening in its solid physique, but it had recovered from every last wound he had inflicted on it.

Wise and Belle were silent in shock, unable to comprehend the two titans going head to head was just a boy they had picked up in a Hollow years ago.

The obvious question running through their minds was; "What is he?"

Eous slipped under the Butcher's legs as it tried to end its flurry of punches with an axe handle.

He spun around and leapt away from its tail's swipe, but blocked a back kick from its follow up attack.

Crashing into the edge of the crater, he rolled his neck and pushed off with a hum. Eous began to glide against the ground and reeled back his claw as the Dead End Butcher reeled back its ever fist with roar.

With a simple uppercut, Eous stopped its attack with a clap of thunder that blew away the rain in a half-mile radius.

"Four to one and you fall short? You're not good at math." Eous joked, but his face was still lacking any amusement.

With a triple b-twist, he spun and kicked away its fists with ease. The Butcher's arms flew back and sent it skidding several meters back with a growl.

As if challenged by what he said, a thin beam of Ether erupted from above its Core, razing the ground as it pulsed toward Eous.

Reeling back his claw, he summoned an orb of Ether the size of a dodgeball before slamming it into the beam with a grunt.

The two clashed in a splash of plasma that was swiped away by Eous from the proximity.

"You have the Ethereal outclassed. Probability of success 99.8%. Warning: Time remaining before the Canvas Street Residents pass through the Hollow is 2 minutes. Warning : the explosives removed from the train are still armed and will detonate in 2 minutes and 29 seconds." Fairy announced.

Belle held her hands together in hope that this sudden power up would be enough to spell the end of this fight.

Eous waved the Dead End Butcher forward and slowly began to grin seeing it twitch. With a boisterous roar of rage, it clawed forward with all the strength it could muster.

Clawing up at it, Eous clashed with its upper left arm, before pulling back and clashing with its lower right fist. He alternated over and over between its limbs, the two at a stalemate of clashes until the speed grew far too fast for the naked eye.

Blurs of a pink and blue raced around the crater until a slice of light tore through the Dead End Butcher and sent it skidding back to the center of the crater.

Under its head, Eous was already waiting, flinging his fist upward and uppercutting the massive Ethereal sky high.

With its massive body barreling upward, lightning began to race and course to it, striking it over and over until Eous arrived above it with his left claw snatching its core in his hand.

"Have a nice fall."

With all the lightning surging to his reeled back right claw, it coursed through his body in one massive blast that exploded from his other end and directly into the Dead End Butcher's Core.

With a sickening crack of thunder, its body was sent plummeting back down in a flash of light and Ether. The crater only deepened at the hulking figure's destructive descent, uprooting even more of the railroad and station.

Eous crossed his arms and began to hover down as he watched his wrath's conclusion.

With a hum, he didn't need to look up to see that his attack cleared the sky and altered the Hollow's weather.

"He did it..." Belle awed seeing the sky clear. The space the Hollow took up visibly shrunk, and if not for his own Ether, it likely would've disappeared.

Wise couldn't even speak- sighing into his hands as the tension in his body left.

Eous landed gracefully and looked at the sky, the vapor left in the air making him hum in delight. It was refreshing in a different sense than his awakening.

His body suddenly lost all Ether and jittered back to its normal state. He let out a long groan and settled to a knee to recover his stamina, but he was completely drained.

"It... feels... like I just ran... ten marathons..." He wheezed and held his chest.

"Eous? Can you hear us?" Wise questioned in concern.

"They ma- it, Eous! You did it! You ca- home... Eous... home...!"

Belle's voice slowly drifted into nothingness as Eous lost consciousness, slumping over and succumbing to his exhaustion in a peaceful slumber.

Fairy processed what happened, wrapping up her records of his new personal record for Ether level and then fluttering down to his face.

"Do not worry. Alerting Emergency Contact." Fairy announced to Wise and Belle.

"What? Wouldn't we be the emergency contact?" Belle asked incredulously.

"Eous is the only one capable of emerging the Hollow. A foolish presumption. Alerting- Ellen Joe- of Nova's location."

Belle couldn't even be upset since she would get to make fun of Eous later for his new girl friend rescuing him.

Wise sighed again and stood up from the HDD. "I need a damn drink..."

"Pour me something nice too!" Belle cheered.

•

"Is... this all his doing?" A soft masculine voice asked skeptically.

"Yeah. Haven't you seen the news, Boss? He's at the center of the story." Ellen pulled out her phone and shoved it to her superior. "The Cunning Hares and Proxy Nova expose the Vision Corporation's biggest scandal."

"How interesting. He's far more formidable than Corin made him out to be!" A tall blonde woman floated over and picked up Eous bridal with a grin.

"Ms. Rina! Th-The Dead End Butcher... He really took out the Dead End Butcher!" Corin read the article in disbelief.

"It's a good thing he reached out before falling unconscious. It seems he was deemed missing soon after their plot was thwarted." Lycan dusted off his hands and turned back to the direction they came.

"...He's cooler than I thought." Ellen mused, her tail swaying back and forth as the four used their Carrot to find their way out of the Hollow.

~•~

Eous stirred, feeling weighed down by a thick cloth. His eyelids flickered, slowly adjusting to the dim light of the room.

"You're awake, Partner. Sooner than calculated. You've exceeded expectations." Fairy was quick to flutter around his head.

"Huh? I... I got knocked out? I thought I won." He mumbled, taking in his surroundings to see he was currently in Wise's bed.

"You- saved the day- according to Nicole."

Eous flinched heading Nicole's voice coming from Fairy, shivering with unease. "Please, never do that again."

Before she took his plea into mind, she continued with: "You have one new message from Emergency Contact: Ellen Joe- Dude, you've got some crazy power to take down that beast in the Dead End Hollow. Wanna talk about it. When are you free?"

Eous squinted his eyes at Fairy, who stared back cluelessly.

"Tell her Saturday..." He mumbled with a pout.

As Fairy wrote a far more appropriate response, Eous turned his head to the door hearing it open. Wise slipped in and let Belle in after him.

"You're awake!" Belle exclaimed, rushing over and wrapping her arms around him as tight as she could. "Alive! Not dead! Let's go!"

Her cheers were met with a deep hug reciprocated by Eous with a big grin. "I told you. They weren't zero."

Wise ruffled Eous' hair and smirked. "You sure did. You've come into that power all on your own. You did great, Eous."

Eous' eyes watered as Wise and Belle at their endearing remarks, smiling wider than before. "I'm so glad to be home..."

"Ah, but you've gotta run it by us when you need to use that power again, understand? Passing out like that with no one to take you out of the Hollow is a death wish!" Belle scolded.

As if on cue- "Message mock up: Way more to me than power. I'm free Saturday if you're down, babe. Do you want me to send it?"

Eous' eyes widened at the horrible timing and disgusting phrasing that sounded far from himself. Belle covered her mouth and stifled a laugh, but Wise let his chuckle go freely.

"Don't you fucking dare, Fairy! Let me write it, I can't trust you anymore!" Eous snatched Fairy with a pinch and glared at her.

"Message contains suitable terminology and grammar from your generation. Probability of securing a date are... 73.4%."

"More like probability of getting my ass kicked! She would not be okay with me calling her that! L wingman!" Eous whined, pulling out his phone to handle it himself.

"We've got dinner with Cunning Hares in a few hours, okay?" Wise suddenly interrupted.

"Oh, are they covering? Didn't think they'd keep their word." Eous asked with a grin.

"Of course not. We're splitting the bill." Belle shook her head and began to head for the door.

Eous shook his head too but shrugged since it would still be a nice outing. "Well, it'll be nice to see them after the near death experiences. I'll be ready!"

"Great. I'll go get you some water. Rest a bit more." Wise left too, leaving Eous to his devices.

The same devices that Fairy was almost about to ruin if not for Eous. Typing a far more appropriate response of a laidback variety, he texted Ellen and Corin that he was alive and well.

With a long sigh, he stretched his arms and got out of bed. He looked at his body, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly.

His fingers were still covered in charcoal scales, a slimmer remnant of the claws he had the day before.

"Oh god... now I look even weirder." Growing conscious of his appearance again, Fairy flew around his face to poke his nose.

"Your appearance in the Hollows has returned to your normal pigmentation in exchange for the scales." She informed.

"Well, maybe I can hide this?"

"Not necessary. They are not irregular in appearance and serve the same function as fingers." Fairy flew down and lifted his hand to his face.

"I... guess so. You always clutch up when it comes to my body dysphoria. Thanks, Fairy." Eous took his hand and held out a fist.

Fairy bumped it with her own and nodded. "There is no need for gratitude."