"So... what services does the Ballet Twins require that caught the eye of such high-end housekeepers?" Eous asked.

"Simple maintenance service as requested by the owners of the Ballet Twins." Lycaon replied.

"The owners? Didn't they go bankrupt ages ago?" Nekomata wondered.

Lycaon nodded. "You are correct. The Ballet Twins are indeed in a long-term state of foreclosure. The Lemnian Hollow's activity has waned as of late, and the city administration is interested in eliminating the sub-Hollow here. Our employer expects the building to appreciate in value, which is why he put down a deposit."

"Wish our clients would put down deposits..." Eous mumbled in envy.

"Hey, can you...?" Ellen held out her phone to Eous. He placed a finger on the charging port and released a small zap.

Her phone came back to life, making her smile and step away despite Lycaon's leer of disappointment.

"We are duty-bound, and have no interest in unauthorized personnel within the Hollows, but my curiosity has the better of me. So I must ask, Proxy, what your own mission is here today?"

"Friend's gone missing here. Their last known location based off their messages was here, oddly enough." He wasn't sure whether to reveal Rain's identity or not.

"I can't say we've seen anyone. As much as we'd like to help you, the official Carrot provided to us is outdated and unable to give us an accurate picture of what's going on in the building." Lycaon replied.

"Uh, Eous, we've got an issue." Belle whispered. "Nicole accidentally signed all of the Cunning Hares up to take the stand— they've gotta hurry back!"

"Un momento." Eous gave a big smile to Victoria Housekeeping before stepping away and rounding up the Cunning Hares.

The four housekeepers watched the animated expressions of the Cunning Hares panicking as Eous broke some news. Eous had to pry Billy off his collar as he whined about something or another before shuffling back towards the four.

"So~ looks like it's our lucky day, Mr. Lycaon. I'm out of some Agents, and you're in need of the world's best Proxy!" Eous exclaimed with a smirk.

"I see mutual benefit. I've no doubt the combination of our services will see to it our respective jobs are done." Lycaon agreed to the proposal.

"Sick! Never thought I'd have this team-up. Gonna rush these guys to their flight and I'll find you all again as soon as I'm back."

The four weren't able to say much more cause he raced to the Cunning Hares and scooped them up with his tails before zipping off in a blur.

Lycaon let out a small sigh.

"He's far more... capable than I imagined. I assumed the Dead End Butcher's end was a combined effort, and he was left to die."

"Nope. He's the real deal. He's gotten even stronger since I last saw him." Ellen admit with a smirk.

"It's nice to finally see the boy's potential now that he's conscious. You've made quite the powerful friend. He took my attack like it was nothing. Quite the humbling experience." Alexandrina whined.

"Real meanie!" - Drusilla

"The meanest!" - Anastella

~•~

"This data is near perfect! You two adapt to mutations in the hollow, asses where fissures lead, and can even gather the accumulation of Ether to determine how many Ethereals may be lurking in an area."

Eous was holding a finger to the usb port of Eliza's laptop as she ranted about Fairy's analysis quality.

He had let the mask disperse since he was around people who knew his identity anyway.

"If we can discover an entire tower, we'd be able to sell this information for a hefty sum. Just imagine both buildings..."

"You're a real sucker for data analysis, huh?" Eous asked.

"Was a math geek growing up, and just ran with it. A lot of people stray from Hollows because of the Ethereals, but being a Proxy makes a huge profit." She explained.

Eous hummed, before realizing it was still only him in the Hollows. "Glad I can fill your pockets..."

"No thanks needed, bud, getting this turned into carrot data is my field of expertise. It's the reason your siblings hired me. Should turn our profits up." She pat his back as Victoria Housekeeping approached the van from the bridge.

"Ah, you must be an associate of Nova. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Lycaon paced up to Eliza and offered his hand.

Eliza shook it with a nod. "Eliza Caden."

"Victoria Housekeeping. At your service. Is there any way we can assist with maintenance?"

"We should be all clear here. Just updating the Hollow data so we have an easier time through where we've already progressed." Eliza explained, turning to her laptop on the hood of the van.

"Taking her sweet time doing it, my arm's tired." Eous complained.

"Quiet— your finger slips and I've gotta start all over, you hear me?" Eliza held his arm and pushed the laptop back so he had the hood to rest on.

"You went and got some neat powers. First the tails, and what was up with eating that lightning?" Ellen asked, leaning on her scissors.

"Got a few more tricks up my sleeve." He let his own red and blue electricity race down his free arm and made his tails give two peace signs.

"Interesting..." Rina mumbled.

"Alright, we've got the data transferred. Ready when you guys are." Eliza picked up the laptop and sat in the passenger seat.

Eous switched on his mask seeing a few cars roll up to the dock's parking lot. The later into the day it seemed to be a common date spot, since people wanted to see the sunset.

"Alright, kid, make your way. We get the whole tower and we've got at least 50k Dennies on our hands." Eliza pat his back and pushed him towards Victoria Housekeeping.

"Yeah, yeah, Indiana Jones, I'll get your data. Quit being a lil' gremlin." Eous waved her off with a smirk.

Eliza rolled her eyes and watched the group head for the bridge.

•

"Master Proxy, since your friend was most likely on the rooftop of tower B, perhaps that should be our first destination?" Lycaon asked.

"Works for me, but it's gonna be a lot of trial and error getting around this place..."

Rina floated up to him with a physical map of the tower. "Will this be of any use?"

Eous and Fairy looked over it, seeing it was far more up-to-date than what Fairy grabbed off the Inter-knot. "Eliza, you get what Fairy's sending you?"

"It's coming through. This should make Fairy's analysis process 20% smoother without mutations."

Fairy tapped Eous' face. "It is advised that you don't exceed 50% of your maximum Ether levels. Higher than that may trigger Hollow mutations and force unnecessary detours."

"That's quite the nerf. Guess I'm handicapped. I'll be counting on you guys for back up." Eous had a bad feeling about that.

If any new Hollow spelled him fighting some super serious threat, this one wouldn't be much different. But to find Rain as quick as possible, he'd have to only use half his power.

Unless he used the weird lightning...

"So, half of Tower A, central corridor, upper half of Tower B. Fair enough." Eous heard Eliza mumble about not being able to '100%' the dungeon.

•

Eous let Fairy access another terminal, making the fifth since re-entering the Hollow.

At the latest few, they had found keycards to access the gate to the atrium, the bridge needed to cross to Tower B.

So far the trek had been about as tedious as climbing around 40 floors would be, but with the shifting interior, it probably felt like double.

Surprisingly enough, not much time had passed. Victoria Housekeeping really did know how to sweep.

Every Ethereal was handled with ease and precision— to the point where Eous sometimes didn't even notice the party had moved to dispatch any.

With all the Pros and Cons coming together, an hour had passed, and they were slowly but surely making their way through Tower B's upper half.

"This is such a hassle. I don't know how you do this for a living..." Ellen commented.

Eous glanced her way, eyeing her outfit up and down, before turning away.

"What's that look supposed to mean?!" Ellen snapped with a glare.

Rina giggled at the two and glanced around the establishment's dim halls. Despite the ghastly atmosphere, she was having a blast.

Eous chuckled before noticing the lights from where they last came from flicker. He wanted to think it was simply old age or corruption, but knowing this place, something was afoot.

It was Victoria Housekeeping's mission after all.

"Hm. Tower B is fitted with automated, fire-resistant partitions. A power outage would cause them to close." Lycaon urged.

Eous rolled his neck and waved them on to pick up the pace as asked.

As soon as they began to jog, the flickering lights had caught up, switching on and off at an alarming rate.

"They're flickering faster. Let's hurry, everyone!" Lycaon broke into a sprint alongside his colleagues.

"You lead the way, Master Proxy. We'll protect you." Rina assured, flying by him with a grin.

Eous rushed after them and saw Lycaon slam his foot down into an Ahriman. He vaulted off of it and flipped forward to kick away two Specters that followed.

Eous hopped over Lycaon as he back-kicked a creeping Ahriman, landing in stride to dash up the set of stairs he needed to proceed.

Drusilla and Anastella zipped by him and smacked and clawed at passing Tyrfings and Goblins. Eous slid under the two and sent a thumbs up as he passed.

Rina scooped him up by his arms to dodge the slam of another Goblin. Lycaon lunged his boot straight into it and followed after the two.

The Goblin rolled back and reeled back its arm to smack the three away, but Corin slid in its way and clashed with it.

The sparks of her chainsaw ground against its dense skin before Corin parried its arm away and slashed it in half.

Rina tossed Eous forward to block a beam of Ether from a howling Hati with her orb of electricity thanks to Drusilla and Anastella.

Eous rolled forward before being forced to flip over the Hati's lunge.

Ellen sprinted after him, twirling her blades to block the Hati's slashes and swipes until kicking it in its skull with an axe kick. She stabbed her scissor into its throat to end it, glancing back to see Eous playfully bowing as he slid to a stop.

Catching the last gateway into the atrium, Eous waved everyone on since it was a mere 20 feet away.

"Just through here then we're clear!" He announced.

Just before the others arrived to make their way, a sudden creak caught Eous' attention. He turned around just as the lights went out and the partition began to close.

From the darkness, two blades flew.

"AUGH!"

Victoria Housekeeping stopped dead in their tracks hearing a horrible cry of agony from Eous and his body fly into Tower B.

"Master Proxy? Master Proxy?!" Lycaon lunged forward to try and stop the partition from closing, but was only able to see a trail of luminescent blood on the floor as it shut.

"Eous?! Eous, can you hear us?!" Ellen shouted, banging against the door in panic.

The amount of blood below her feet was almost nauseating, but hearing more clanks and tears on the other side was horrifying.

On the other side, Eous lay against the ground with widened eyes. His arms and torso had nearly been cut in two if not for his new biology. Anyone else would be able to look at the soles of their feet after an attack like that.

Eous looked at the trail of blood against the ground of the plaza he was hit into and then down at his arms and waist.

A deep laceration was across both limbs and his entire torso.

"Eous, what the hell was that?! Why did your vitals just hit the red in a single second?!" Eliza screamed.

"They what?!" Belle shouted.

"Warning: Recovery time is 32 minutes. Estimated recovery time is hindered by the presence of a strong Ethereal— Update: Two strong Ethereals." Fairy announced.

"...Eliza, get them out of the Hollow and regroup. I'm gonna be a sec." Eous let out a low groan as he tried to get to his feet.

The same creaking he heard before the attack was slowly making its way towards him again, but he didn't have time to focus on that.

"Fairy, send them this Carrot data! It will lead them to the nearest exit!" Eliza shouted.

"Eous, can you get up?! The Ether levels of each of these Ethereals is as strong as the Dead End Butcher! You've gotta get out of there!" Wise was trying to find a new route to the nearest Hollow Exit from his side of the Ballet Twins.

But there wasn't escaping them when the Dancing Duo stopped in the middle of the plaza.

Eous weakly looked up at the two before finally clawing against the ground and stumbling to his feet.

"Eous, what are you doing?! If you have the strength to run then start!" Wise yelled in annoyance.

Gazing down at his blood, Eous began to think back to everything he'd been through so far.

"I've got a lot more than the strength to run."

"What? Eous now's not the time for heroics— you're bleeding out, damnit!" Belle slammed her hands against the desk in frustration.

"Eliza, did they get the Carrot Data?"

"Y-Yea... Why... are your vitals back in the green?"

"Good." Eous stood up completely an and glared at the Veil Marionette Ethereals.

"Emergency: Ether levels reaching new heights— further increase is guaranteed to create new mutations to your biology. It is advised to stop powering up immediatel—"

Eous' body flashed white before a different being entirely was left in his place.

"What... the hell?" Eliza, Belle, and Wise slowly muttered in shock and even horror.

The only thing human was his physique. The Ether surrounding his face and leaking down like bangs covered the single eye on his face.

But that's because there was five more on the five short tendrils that protrude from his head.

The light from his clothes had faded, but it didn't end there. All color and light from the entire room had seeped into his body, leaving only the faint vibrant traces of Ether from the Veil Marionettes.

"W-Woah... is this... normal?" Eliza asked the siblings.

"Absolutely not..." Wise replied in concern.

"Get used to it. I'm going all out." Eous waved the ballet twins on. "Let's dance."