Eous raced around the Hollow with a leer, tearing through Ethereals with simple swipes as he followed Kasa's trail.

He was shocked to find she was prepared for such a treacherous venture into the Hollow, so it only spelt more concern that she'd willingly come in with Ether Corruption Gear.

Eous heard a faint warp several yards away and zipped to the edge of the Hollow to see an open fissure.

"A deal's about to go down. No other reason she'd need to go through the Hollow with carrot data..."

"Affirmative. Faint traces of heat signatures are approaching her on the other side." Fairy relayed.

Eous hummed, preparing himself to walk through.

•

"I'm here like I was told. Hello? Is anyone there?" Kasa called out in front of a large warehouse.

A few seconds went by before a figure dropped down from atop the warehouse.

"Mors..."

"You came alone, right?" A wolf Thiren strut over to her with skepticism.

"What? Of course, now hand over the goods like you promised." Kasa replied impatiently.

"Hm. Then you know what you have to pay up." Mors suddenly heard a slight shift come from an abandoned car. He spun out his Rifle-axe combo and fired at it.

"Come out! I know you're there..." He ordered.

"Guess again."

Mors and Kasa dart their heads up to see Eous standing right where Mors had been sitting not too long ago. The Thiren growled before aiming his rifle up at him.

Kasa staggered back in disbelief seeing she was followed. "Nova...? What are you doing here?!"

"You know that's far less important than why you're here. Caesar trusts you, yet here you are behind her back. Why might that be?" Eous questioned.

"That's none of your concern. You signed your death wish the moment you revealed yourself to me. You're prey now." Mors challenged.

"You lot really don't get the memo out here, huh? I've gotta enlighten you country folk on the ecology of this world."

Eous suddenly appeared in front of Mors with his hand slapping up the barrel of the rifle.

Mors flinched, but tried to retaliate by kicking him back. Eous stepped aside and pulled his leg up, cocking back his fist with a scowl.

With his entire center of gravity thrown off, Mors could only block the haymaker aimed at his face.

He was sent spiraling into the car he shot prior, leaving a massive dent in the driver's door. Eous disappeared again, making Kasa dart her head around at his sudden vanishing act.

He was moving far faster than any eye could see.

Eous appeared again, crouching on the roof of the car with a thin smile. "You know, I never get tired of this part. The one where the fear kicks in..."

Mors flinched again seeing Eous in his peripheral, preparing to jump away and face him again, but he was snatched by his collar with a chuckle.

"Ah, ah! Don't skip class now, I haven't even told you what our lesson was today."

Kasa suddenly watched them both disappear.

Silence fell over the warehouse entrance, making her skin crawl and her pupils dilate in fear. She knew the boy to be so much kinder and helpful. Was this who he really was? Who he needed to be back in New Eridu?

A loud shriek of metal made Kasa scream in horror and turn to the warehouse.

A rough cry of pain left Mors lips as he crashed into the steel doors of the warehouse. He wisely scrambled to his feet and rushed for his bike, and Eous let him after he walked out from behind Kasa.

"I guess I'll humor him. Follow along." His whisper made Kasa hold her breath. He held out his hand to her, and she hesitantly took it while thanking a higher power that he was on "her side."

He zipped away, rushing after the engine roaring in the distance, but suddenly watched the bike get thrown aside after Caesar herself blocked a head-on collision.

The entirety of the Sons of Calydon had arrived to see the shipment of goods stacked all around the back parking lot of the warehouse.

Eous landed with a sigh and set down Kasa from his back. "You just had to go and steal my thunder..."

"Kasa..." Caesar didn't know what to say. "Just take them. They'll get corrupted if you take too long in the Hollow."

Lucy and Burnice looked betrayed, but Lighter and Piper were far more confused as to how Eous had known about their plan.

Before they could question it, a slow clap began to approach from the direction Eous had just come from. A burly man fit for the title the Outer Ring gave him.

"Overlord Pompey..." Lucy muttered in annoyance, sparing no attention to his right hand.

"It's been awhile, Sons of Calydon. To think, that little sprout by Big Daddy's side would dare bring her underlings to challenge me." Pompey exclaimed.

"Overlord Pompey, while the Sons of Calydon still recognize you as the leader of the Motor League, you'd better explain why you're here!" Lucy demanded.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. That'll be addressed soon enough. But first, there's a more pressing matter. You're going to let the mayor take these goods, Caesar?"

Caesar stoically stared on with a scowl. "No matter where these goods came from, these are things the town needs."

Despite the solid gaze, Kasa could see the contempt in Caesar's eyes. "Kasa, if you were in a bad spot, why didn't you ask us for help? We've known each other for years..."

"Who cares, what's done is done." Eous interrupted. "Whatever sob story she's got doesn't change the fact she was in cahoots with the Vanquishers. But that can't be why we're all here, huh?"

"That's the matter I'm here to resolve. I found this in the latest delivery from Blazewood today." Pompey held up a small wooden capsule, but inside was an electronic chip.

"A wire..." Lighter noted.

"They were listening in on us?" Lucy muttered in shock.

"This vial should've contained heavy oil. So why is this here?" Pompey turned his stoic gaze over to the dazed Thiren. "To top that off, I've noticed the supplies sent to Blazewood have been far less than we agreed upon."

Mors quietly cowered having been caught, left to clammer his lips together in attempt to form an excuse. "Boss Pompey, I... I..."

"I don't bring you along on the Tour de Inferno for you to play dirty tricks! If we, as the League Overlords, are not just, then who would want to remain part of the league? Who would want to protect the Old Oil Field?"

Mors backed down, accepting his overstep. "I'm so sorry... I wasn't thinking straight— It's all my fault! I'll take any punishment!"

"Do you think you alone can bear the responsibility for the damage that you've caused?" Pompey barked.

He turned back to the Sons of Calydon and Kasa. "Mors is my subordinate. I failed to manage him properly. I won't shift the blame onto him. As the current Overlord, I'll take responsibility and provide compensation."

"And how exactly will this be compensated?" Lucy questioned impatiently.

"Recently, I negotiated and reached cooperation agreements with several areas neighboring the Old Oil Field. According to the agreement, the Old Oil Field's damaged pipelines can be rebuilt through other regions, as long as we provide some of the oil to them."

'Now's a bad time to say I could've done that...' Eous thought.

"So, this means our town's oil supply is saved?" Kasa asked with hope.

Pompey nodded. "That's right. Within three months, it should be completely restored. This is just the beginning. Several regions have agreed to shared the roads, opening up at least five new freight routes for the Old Oil Field."

"In the next six months, I want the Sons of Calydon to manage three. Will you refuse?"

Lucy wanted to question the validity of this claim, but Eous was quicker.

"There a catch?"

"If you can call it that. While the routes are treacherous, and require more experienced drivers, during this time I want you and any teams running these routes to help the less fortunate for free."

"That... sounds pretty good." Burnice muttered.

Lucy grumbled under her breath hearing no real downsides. Taking nearly no time to think it over, Lucy flashed Caesar a thumbs up.

"The terms are pretty interesting, old man, but I think you're getting ahead of yourself. The title of Overlord is still up in the air. Could be you running those routes." Caesar taunted.

Pompey chuckled in amusement. "You can certainly talk the talk! I'll take that as a yes."

Caesar laughed back and nodded. "Yup. I agree!"

"Then here's a letter of commitment I wrote myself. The route allocations will be officially announced soon." He held out a rather clean envelope for the Outer Ring. "See you at the Tour de Inferno."

~•~

The next day Eous was eating another "breakfast" skewer Piper made for the crew as Eliza was debriefed on what happened the night prior.

He was a bit disappointed he couldn't show off to the head huncho of the Outer Ring, but he certainly gave Mors something to write home about.

Fairy fluttered up in front of him to slap a screen in his face.

"Fairy, back up, I can't read this..." He was forced to squint his eyes

He heard a small click of what he presumed to be a camera. "Affirmative."

He leered at her for a second but turned to the message board to see it was Anby, who had just received a close up of his squinting face. Apparently, she was checking on him after Billy gave them the rundown of the situation.

"I look like a cat...?" Eous muttered in confusion.

"Resemblance uncanny, Partner."

"Can it." Eous waved her off and text her back asking how she'd been. She replied with how much relaxing she was able to do, and even had a girl's night with Belle, Nicole, and Nekomata.

She proceeded to ask if he'd like to hang out today.

"Can I even spare that time—" Eous remembered that he could possibly reach Mach 10 if Ionized. "You know what, sure. What the hell."

Eous said he'd be at Random Play in no more than 15 minutes, but he'd bet on 5.

Eliza noticed him standing up and stretching his body and jogged over."Hey, you look ready to dash? What's up?"

"Heading to New Eridu. Wanna come?" Eous offered stoically.

Seeing he was still a bit distant, Eliza declined the offer to focus on getting ready for the Tour de Inferno tomorrow. "Nah, I'll get ready with Wise to copy the data we gathered into carrot data just in case things go south."

"Sounds good. I'll bring back snacks and supplies so I don't look like I'm slacking." Eous smirked before turning around just as the Sons of Calydon walked up to them.

"Later." He flushed into his Ionized form.

With a jolt of energy that nearly scorched the ground he stood on, he disappeared. The only thing left in his wake was smoke and dust.

"That guy's quite the enigma. All that power in such a free spirit. Like the wind." Lighter murmured.

"Really? I just think he's super young and finding his own way. Like a spark of fire." Piper shrugged at her own analogy.

"Well, he's definitely lost. He's not as upbeat as normal. We normally bicker back and forth but as of late he's kinda... silent." Eliza explained.

"Any idea why?" Caesar wondered.

Eliza thought about it, but couldn't place her finger on it. It was almost like the flip of a switch, so she could only ask when he got back.

Something was telling her she may not have the chance very soon.

•

Anby looked around Sixth Street, wondering when Eous would arrive since he promised he'd be there in such a short amount of time.

Unbeknownst to her, Eous had been waiting atop Random Play for about a minute after she arrived.

He smirked and appeared behind her with a grin, holding out a spare breakfast skewer he grabbed before he left.

"I'll never comprehend how you can get past my senses as of late." Anby commented with a sigh, but her annoyance was washed away by greed seeing the snack before her.

She went to take a bite as Eous chuckled. "Wouldn't you like to know. I've been on the come up as of late."

Anby swiftly chewed halfway down the skewer. "How so? I can't detect a difference."

Eous' face began to distort with mischief. "Wanna see something cool?"