Nekomiya Mana had no idea how she should feel in the current situation. Her plan was straightforward: to utilize Nicole's greed for money and lure her to the Dead-End Hollow, directly towards the deadly Ethereal known as the Dead-End Butcher, so it could finish her along with her squad to exact her revenge, as she believes the Cunning Hare had murdered her former boss, Miguel Silver of the Red Fang Guild.
And for some reason, her terrible luck ended up leading her bait towards their ally, and that ally seemed to be much stronger than she would've predicted. The amount of Ethereal corpses piling around the trail shows how much of a threat Caelus is.
But, much to her surprise, this man somehow revealed something much more important. He told them how Vision's attempt to demolish an old metro rail could cause unnecessary casualties. What surprised her even more was Nicole, whom she assumed to be a rotten, greedy bitch, volunteering to help without any hesitation.
At first, Nekomiya had suspected she was trying to act nice in front of Caelus, but with how familiar he is with the woman, it doesn't seem to be the case. She can't think it's a ploy to fool her since Nicole's been shamelessly showing how greedy she was, so her lack of hesitation to save a group of innocent civilians was genuine.
This ends up raising a question: How does this woman, who led her squad to kill her boss, show sympathy towards a group of innocent civilians? She had believed she and her squad were evil for killing her boss, who was a kind man to her. But, when she thinks everything over, her boss isn't...a perfect nice guy.
Was she being too biased due to grief?
While Nekomiya lost in her thoughts while following Caelus and the Cunning Hares through the Hollow, Anby can be seen walking next to Caelus while poking his arm continuously. Caelus had tried to ignore her, but she won't stop poking him, and it starts to annoy him.
"...is there a reason why you keep poking my arm, Anby?" Caelus asks.
"Let me borrow your lance," Anby says bluntly.
"And for the last time, no," Caelus says with a deadpan manner. "You have a nice, sharp blade that works perfectly with your W-Engine, so why would you keep pestering to borrow a weapon that isn't compatible with you?"
"It's a cool weapon," Anby says plainly, which made Caelus stare at her blankly.
"You know, I expect such childishness from other members of the Cunning Hare," Caelus says, ignoring the indignant 'Hey!' from Nicole and Billy. "But, you?"
"Every adult has an inner child. Some choose to hide it, others embrace it." Anby explains.
"...you got those from a movie, aren't you?" Caelus says, and Anby didn't show any reaction, but to him, her lack of reaction says a lot.
"Hey, are you sure this is the right path?" Nicole asks as Caelus frowns a bit.
"How is it, Slyboo?" Caelus asks, ignoring Anby's pouting face.
"Ehn-Na! (It's close!)" Slyboo exclaims before he runs off. Everyone glances at each other before they follow suit. "Eh? (Eh?)"
"What's wrong?" Caelus asks his Bangboo, who stops in his tracks as he stares in surprise. Caelus looked in the direction where Slyboo stared and was greeted with a sight of a little girl standing in front of them, looking like a deer in headlights.
"A...little girl?" Nicole exclaims in surprise before glancing at Caelus.
"Hey, kid. Why are you here in a dangerous place?" Caelus asks calmly, putting away the lance back into his inventory, shocking everyone.
"Whoa...how did you do that, mister?" The little girl asks in awe.
"It's magic," Caelus chuckles a bit. "Also, you haven't answered my question, girl."
"...I could ask you the same thing," The little girl says, snapping out of her amazement, and grows slightly wary.
"I am here because it's my job," Caelus lies. "I could explain more, but I think getting you out of here is the number one priority. Mind explaining why you are here without your parents?"
"...I was trying to find a way out of the Hollow," The little girl mutters.
"So, she was trapped here during the evacuation?" Nekomiya ponders.
"What evacuation?" The little girl asks innocently, which is enough to gain everyone's attention. They all stare at her with wide eyes before looking at each other.
"Your worry is in the right place..." Anby mutters before lowering herself and pats the girl's head. "It's nothing, let's get you out of here first."
"Wow, you're surprisingly good with kids, Anby," Billy says in surprise. "I suppose watching those movies helps."
"Mhm," Anby nods before everyone hears a roar. Before anyone could raise their guard, something crashed near them. The impact creates a huge cloud of dust and a powerful shockwave that staggers everyone.
"Ah, shit!" Caelus exclaims before summoning his lance back. When the cloud cleared, they were met with a giant Ethereal holding a giant spear. The gigantic creature roars at them, specifically at Caelus.
"Everyone, get the girl out of here! Slyboo, guide them out of here!" Caelus exclaims as he raises his lance to block an incoming attack, but it ends up sending Caelus flying towards a pile of rubble.
"Caelus!" The Cunning Hares exclaims in concern while guarding the little girl. Nekomiya stares at the scene in wide eyes, not expecting the guy who mercilessly butchered a horde of Ethereals earlier to be sent flying, and she believes he might not survive.
The giant Ethereal then roars before jumping away, going to where Caelus crashes. Before they could react, a horde of Ethereals suddenly pops left and right, growling at the Cunning Hares and Nekomiya.
"NA! (OVER HERE!)" Slyboo exclaims as he waves at the squad to follow him. Without any choice, the Cunning Hares and Nekomiya follow Slyboo, with Anby scooping up the little girl.
"Wait! We can't leave that mister alone!" The little girl exclaims in concern.
"He asks us to get you out of here first!" Nicole exclaims, which froze the young girl as they continued to run. Nicole opens up her suitcase and launches an Ether-charged bullet with the cannon inside her suitcase, exploding an incoming horde of Ethereals.
Billy pulls out his guns and starts shooting every Ethereal on the horde, making sure every one of his shots counts. Anby skillfully swings her sword and kicks any Ethereals on the way, while also protecting the team from the horde. Both members clear paths for others.
Nekomiya, with no other choice, pulls out her pair of short knives and does her part in clearing the path. After everything that had happened, she is rather conflicted at how she feels towards the Cunning Hare. But, she also knows it's not the right time to ask, and they have a more important mission to do, keeping the innocent girl safe.
Back with Caelus, who was groaning in pain as he felt his back was broken, he slowly got up from the rubble while using his lance as a support. At the worst time, the notification from his system appears on his face.
[Warning: 32% of your HP has been lost]
[Preservation (LVL 0): 890/1000]
'Now's not the Aeon-damned time!' Caelus thought before suddenly the sky got darker. Caelus didn't hesitate to roll away as the giant Ethereal crashed into where Caelus was.
Caelus grits his teeth before pointing his lance right at the Ethereal and preparing to thrust it. As the Ethereal recovered from the landing, Caelus didn't hesitate to rush towards it and attempt to stab the giant monster. To his surprise, the Ethereal swings its spear and parries the attack, knocking Caelus back.
[Preservation (LVL 0): 900/1000]
"This isn't gonna work," Caelus says before replacing his lance with his baseball bat.
"Rules are meant to be broken!" Caelus shouts before his bat starts to glow blue, electricity crackling from the glowing bat as it starts to vibrate violently. The Ethereal senses the energy from the bat and roars before charging at Caelus with frenzy rage.
In response, Caelus uses all of his strength to slam the glowing bat right at the charging Ethereal. Upon contact, an explosive shockwave ripples around the Hollow. The Cunning Hares, who were too busy clearing the path, got pushed back alongside the Ethereals. Anby uses her body to shield the little girl while everyone is panicking.
Much to their disbelief, they are all tossed right at the nearby rift. All of them could feel the acceleration of their fall as the rift brought them right up to a building's ceiling. Noticing the little girl somehow ended up falling first, they all did everything to cushion their falls, in which they ended up piling on each other, with the girl at the top.
"My back....my back!" Nicole complains as she holds her back. She was the unlucky of them all as her back falls right on Billy's metallic shell. To make it worse, Nekomiya and Anby fall right on her.
"I guess not all cats fall on their feet," Nekomiya mutters before getting off and stretching herself. The fall was painful, but Nicole's boobs helped cushion her fall.
"...ouch," Anby says in a blank tone, earning a giggle from the little girl.
"I-I'm sorry..." The girl says, but she can't stop giggling. This made Anby's lip twitch upward.
"Um...boss?" Billy calls.
"What? Can't you see I'm being sandwiched by you and Anby?" Nicole grumbled as she saw Billy's finger pointing in a direction. She looks in said direction before her eyes widen in shock. Around her, there are civilians, consisting of young kids, elderly people, and disabled people, and Nicole even notices some are sick.
"Oh..." Nicole mutters in surprise as they all get up, glancing around to see civilians everywhere. From the amount alone, they can count it's at least a hundred.
"Ehn-na na.... (Caelus was right....)" Slyboo, who also falls along with them, mutters. "Ehn-nu nuh! (We have to do something!)"
"Speaking of Caelus..." Billy says. "....is he gonna be okay?"
Everyone is silent, unsure how to respond to Billy's question, even the little girl.
To be Continued