"So this Resonia... It doesn't often appear in other Hollows, so its effects are only recorded by the H.I.A." Wise mumbled.

"Fairy, can you tap into their database undetected and download their Resonia catalog?"

With a quick beep, Wise and Belle saw tons of files of different buffs and effects that boosted Agents stats upon receiving them.

"Woah! There's so many..." Belle awed.

Eous zipped around a horde of Cyrtoidea, dodging their headlong attacks and nosedives with ease. He kicked away two that began to circle around the Examiner, and rushed back towards the horde in a blur.

The ruckus caused a Nassellaria to emerge from behind a sprout of Ether crystals.

Eous swept his leg and tore through a Cyrtoidea, swiftly turning his body to roll over the claw of the Nassellaria. He vaulted off and slid back toward the Examiner.

She was stumbling around as he began to race around and slash through each adversary that flocked their way.

The woman awed seeing him cleave his way through each one with ease using what seemed to be dark claws of steel.

Ever since losing the crystal sword he found, close quarters combat was all he could rely on until he found something to fall back on like the Cunning Hares weapons.

With a sudden lash of his arms so fast and precise, he eliminated every Ethereal in mere seconds. He was a far cry above what he was a week prior.

"Wow..." Was all the Examiner could mumble.

Looking at the scratch marks along the pavement of the ruined parking garage, Eous hummed as Fairy displayed the path according to the H.I.A.

"Hm. There's a small problem with the instrument. Although the unusual Ether activity of Hollow Zero often causes equipment malfunctions, this one is quite bizarre."

The woman shuffled over to him and showed that the tablet, resembling a gps/heartbeat sensor, was picking up massive spikes of Ether from two places in their proximity.

"I tried recalibrating it, but it slowly begins to settled on these two spikes anyway."

Eous gestured her to follow him. "Will that become an issue with my assessment?"

"Oh, not at all. You've performed phenomenally for an independent investigator!" The Examiner cheered.

"I wonder... Fairy, would the device be picking up Eous' Ether levels?" Wise asked.

"Not necessarily. It's far more probable that the readings catch his spikes when he attacks, but it isn't a constant detectable pattern unless he envelops himself. His new biology with my additional coalescence has suppressed his Ether to devices such as these."

"That's incredibly handy. They should chalk up his Ether attacks to being a tool or weapon now!" Belle realized.

Before Eous and the Examiner could make it far, an Armored Hati howled into the sky.

Eous slung the Examiner over his shoulder before leaping away from the wreckage they had to cross to the rooftop over.

The Examiner screamed in shock seeing a blast of Ether crash down where she had just stood. The concrete shattered and flew all around, causing Eous to twist his body and kick away a slab of it.

He landed roughly on his feet, sliding to a halt on the same rooftop they needed to be on. He set down the Examiner as the Armored Hati slunk its way atop the building.

A deep growl emit from its head, likely where its core was being protected.

"It's... ionized?! Is that what this thing is detecting? I need to recalibrate it again..."

"You do that. I'll handle this." Eous pumped his claws and rushed forward just as the Hati did.

The two clashed claws, jumping back to glide around the rooftop like synchronized dancers, meeting back in the center to tear at each other.

Sparks flew around the rooftop, and a few attacks even started to crack the concrete below them.

The examiner squeaked and scurried away to the building over from the bridge connecting them.

Eous leapt over a headbutt with ease, slamming his fist down with a grunt. The violent force cracked the Hati's armor and squeezed out a yelp of pain.

In its vulnerability, Eous grabbed its leg and spun around before tossing it into the air.

He tried to follow after it, but it suddenly flipped upright and shot three more blasts of Ether.

Eous clicked his tongue and slashed through the first, kicked away the second, and grabbed the third with a swift lunge.

He slammed it into the Hati's armor, sending shards of Ether crystals flying, along with its deteriorating body. The Hati slammed into the parking garage before falling into pixels before it could hit the ground.

With a sigh, Eous rolled his shoulder from catching the massive projectile.

"All good over there?" Eous asked as he strut over.

"W-Well, according to the instrument, the first signal, the level 3, is gone, but there's suddenly a massive spike... if this is a four..." The Examiner's eyes slowly began to widen as they crossed an overpass that sat above the Old Capital, Eridu.

A screech so loud that even Wise and Belle began to wince and groan in pain erupted from Hollow Zero. The instrument's screen suddenly shattered and began to spark.

"N-No way..." the Examiner suddenly squeezed her hands around Eous' arm and dragged him back to the stairs before the overpass.

Her panting began to grow more and more intense as a massive shadow began to cast itself over the vicinity.

"Wh-What's going on? What the hell was that sound?" Eous tried to question, but the woman suddenly slumped against the wall and brought him down with her.

She slammed her hand over where she assumed his mouth would be as a creaking began to echo from above them.

Eous finally caught sight of an Ethereal so massive it put the Dead End Butcher to shame. Its insect-like body converged to the shape of a humanoid ethereal with petals surrounding its core and abdomen. A horde of Hornet Ethereals followed its form as it glided across the sky.

Eous heard a small hum foreign to the electronic ones he was used to as the massive Ethereal passed out of sight.

Jerking his head over to the rooftop they came from, he spotted a Hornet bolting at the two.

He slipped from the woman's hold and reeled back his claw to cleave straight through it, but by the time he slashed forward, there was already a single cut carved straight through it.

The pixels fluttered past him as the Examiner looked up from his absence. The two spotted someone standing not even meters away, deep charcoal colored hair and fox ears swaying in the wind.

The woman spared Eous only a single glance, before rushing by him and after the gigantic Ethereal that passed by.

Belle and Wise released a breath they hadn't even noticed they kept hostage for so long. "Just... what was that thing?"

Eous wasn't sure what just transpired, but he knew one thing. He couldn't beat that yet. Ionizing was no match for whatever horror that creature decided to call itself.

People in similar uniform to the woman before slowed to a halt beside the Eous and the Examiner, clearly worried for their hasty comrade.

"Chief, remember to keep a safe distance from the target." A woman with pink hair and glasses warned, her name tag reading Yanagi.

A rather pretty man with black hair and yellow eyes shook his head. "There's no way we can catch up with the chief when she's sprinting like that." His name tag read Harumasa.

"Your uniforms... y-you must be from HAND! And not only that, but you're Special Operations agents!" The Examiner exclaimed in relief.

Yanagi fixed her glasses and nodded her head. "Hollow Special Operations Section 6. We're carrying out an emergency response mission. An extremely dangerous Ethereal has appeared in this area. No matter your goal here, you are advised to head to the nearest evacuation point."

She suddenly turned to Eous with a stern glare. "I know who you are. I need you, Nova, to support this operation as a mobile tactical unit. This is an official mobilization order from the deputy chief of Hollow Special Operations Section 6, me."

"You're the boss. I'm here for recruitment anyway." Eous shrugged, but he felt somewhat challenged by the massive Ethereal that passed overhead.

What he'd soon find out, was that it felt just as challenged.

"Soukaku, escort the examiner back using the carrot data. With the Proxy, we won't be needing it."

"On it! Means I can get lunch sooner!"

The Examiner gave a flustered wave to Eous before being escorted the opposite direction. Seems she was rather grateful for Eous' saves.

"Our target has deviated from the expected route, so your cooperation is of the utmost importance." Yanagi explained.

"B-But don't worry, now that you're in our operation— we can cover any medical bills!" Harumasa said with a shaky smile.

"What?!" Belle shouted.

"Well, it's the HSO. The best of the best. He's probably in better hands than he's ever been." Wise reasoned.

"Yeah, but medical bills aren't the best way to reassure someone to join a mission! That's like saying you'll pay for life insurance before throwing me into traffic!" She spat in frustration.

"Reasonable." Wise cleared his throat. "Be careful, Eous, and listen to every word they say."

Since he couldn't really respond, Fairy sent a thumbs up emoji to the HDD.

Eous glanced over at Soukaku, who was rather quick to return from the evacuation sight. She held a burger in her hands, chowing down on it as she shuffled back over to her team.

"Partner, the Ether levels recorded are at an all-time peak. They surpass your Ionized state by a rough estimate of 134%. Shall we proceed?" Fairy whispered.

'Not much else we can do.' He shrugged and began to follow after his temporary team.

•

The three's teamwork made far quicker work of an Armored Hati than he did, impressing Belle and Wise.

It was taking a bit longer to catch up to their chief when she was leaving behind a trail of angry Ethereals, but with Eous' Ether and Fairy's tracking capabilities, the four began a full sprint after catching sight of the massive Ethereal flying overhead just where Eous said it would be.

"You work crazy fast, kid! But where's the chief?" Harumasa asked as they followed from below.

"There!" Soukaku pointed out the black and aqua blur racing along the floating debris the ginormous Ethereal soared between.

"We supposed to do anything about that?" Eous asked in concern.

"With the chief, there's not much we can do—" Yanagi was cut off when a sudden hoard of Hornets zipped around and took Eous in their grasps.

"Proxy!" They shouted.

Harumasa fired nearly a dozen arrows in attempt to strike down the fleet of Hornets that had taken off after their Queen with their only means of navigation to no avail. The more he shot the more that would take their place.

Eous kicked and swat at the Hornets, but their size and numbers only grew the higher they carried him. Grunting and growling in frustration at being handled the way he was, Eous slowly began to enter his Ionized state.

"Eous!" Belle and Wise shouted in fear.

The nest of hornets began to envelope him completely before being burst into pixels from an eruption of Ether and Mist.

Eous' flaming hair blew off his hood and revealed the Ionized state from when he took out the Dead End Butcher. He slowly began to plummet back to the ground before being caught by the Fox Thiren that saved the Examiner.

She slung him forward, his body rolling against the fractured sky scraper that hovered all these miles above the ground.

Catching his footing, he sprinted alongside her with a glare.

"You're more capable than I previously assessed." The woman muttered, no misstep in her stride.

Appearing from nearly thin air around the gigantic Ethereal, another nest worth of Hornets raced for the two.

"This was not in the job description!" Eous grimaced seeing another wave of insects.

"Neither were you. Yet here we are. Attack." The woman lunged forward and slammed her heel into the eager first Hornet.

She kept her momentum and kicked away the next with a spin, quickdrawing her blade to slash through the next three.

Eous circled around her and clawed through a Hornet with far more difficulty than he imagined after seeing her do it. Its body cracked and burst into pixels just as he flipped forward and dropkicked the next.

By the time he oriented himself, he needed to lunge forward and slam his fist through a billboard so hard it turned into splinters.

With her speed unaltered from leaving him to attack, the Fox Thiren raced forward in a frigid arrow of blue mist that slashed and sliced through the horde.

Eous charged up as much Ether as he could in such a short amount of time and followed her lead, albeit a bit slower.

The lines of pink and blue lacerations only grew in number after the woman grabbed Eous by the arm and slung him around like a pinball, using only herself to throw him back and forth like a bullet.

With one last thrust she threw him far beyond the massive Ethereal and followed after him.

He crashed into another piece of sky scraper and rolled to a stop as the Fox Thiren landed beside him.

"Ugh. That is not how I want a woman to handle me..." Eous stood up despite being nearly upside down against the concrete.

"Wishful thinking. Prepare yourself. It's deemed us worthy to retaliate." The woman's monotonous voice made the sarcasm hit Eous even harder.

He chuckled before clenching his claws with a glare. As he began to power up, he noticed that the woman became enveloped in a blue flare that made his skin crawl, a red orb slinking into her blade as she concentrated.

The two turned to the behemoth below and saw that it was fluttering its frilly petals in a deep rage as it reeled back its humanoid hand to crush the two.

Before they could be crushed by its grasp, the woman slashed forward in a burst of mist that collided against its hand, holding it back enough to give Eous an opening strike.

He lunged forward through the smoke and fire with a roar and threw his fist down, missing its core by just an inch.

"It..." Wise's eyes widened.

"Dodged...?!" Belle shouted.

Eous' strike tore off one of its abdomen's petals in a vicious haymaker that sent a ginormous wave of Ether through the air. The petal flushed into pixels that swirled around Eous as he plummet to the ground below with no control.

"Crap! That explosion was massive! The chief really went all out!" Harumasa shouted in awe of the blue ash pouring down from the sky. The massive smokescreen didn't allow for the three to see the outcome of such a dramatic event, until a soft thud sounded behind them.

The Fox Thiren slid to a stop and quickly rose to her feet and brushed off her dress.

A faint scream could be heard from above, leading them all to look up just in time to see Eous crash against the bridge's railing with a metallic crunch.

"DAMN!" He screamed in anger rather than pain.

The three aside from the Fox Thiren winced as he slithered off the railing and to his ass. With a loud groan he stood up and stretched his back before hearing a satisfying crack that made the three wince again.

"Oh~ there we go. Far better." He flicked his hood back up as he turned off his Ionized form. "We all done here? That thing ran away after I showed it what's worth."

Yanagi rolled her eyes, Harumasa shook his head, and Soukaku chuckled at his bravado. Only the Chief knew that he was right on the money.

It didn't find her attack anywhere near as threatening if it took her strike head on, but avoided his at the last second.

"Miyabi. Status report. Are you and the Proxy uninjured?" Yanagi questioned.

"Uninjured. However, results were unsatisfactory. My strike... It felt cumbersome. Like chalk against a chalkboard." Miyabi replied.

"Oh, like splitting the cutting board when you just wanna cut a slice of butter!" Soukaku cheered.

"That... is not what she meant." Harumasa mumbled in confusion. "At all."

"What chief meant was that her attack failed to injure Nineveh in a significant way. So, we need to track it down once more." Yanagi explained.

Harumasa nodded. "Leave reconnaissance to me. It's hard to lose track of such a big target."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Eous stepped in between them all with a long sigh.

"Some of us have lives outside of this operation. I'm hired help, but I wasn't even hired for this... Can I get my license and go home?"

The four blinked a few times before remembering he wasn't actually apart of the team.

"Who is he again?" Soukaku asked the three.