Anby, Billy and Alastor hopped over a road, just to find themselves standing back where they started.
"Huh?! We're all the way back here again!" Bill placed his hands on his head before another wave of Ethereals appeared in front of them.
"Damn, another fight? At the rate my ammo's depleting, I can say goodbye to my efficiency bonus!" Billy reloaded his gun before Alastor just smiled.
"I'm having a bit of a pleasure here myself though, this helped me quite a bit." Alastor smirked before fiddling with his staff before shadow tendrils appeared him again.
The Ethereals all rushed towards the three of them before Alastor was ready to blast the shadow tendrils at them. Suddenly, tiny bombs were thrown in front of the trio before it exploded into a large cloud of smoke that covered the area. Anby and Billy swiftly turned around to see a small rabbit like robot, called a Bangboo that waved at them.
"If I'm not incorrect..." Alastor thought inside his head before the three of them rushed towards the Bangboo. Alastor stared at the Bangboo with interest before having a small grin on his face.
"Hey guys, good job to all." The Bangboo started talking while Alastor closed in and flashed his yellow teeth at it before turning away.
"Very nice to meet you here, Phaethon." Alastor grinned before fiddling with his staff.
"I thought to save money, Nicole would've left us to fend for ourselves. Hiring the great Phaethon and meeting a new guy here is quite the surprise." Billy's eyes widened it surprise as he said those words.
Belle, a girl with dark blue hair that fades into orange at the bottom, was the one controlling the Bangboo just stared at Alastor, who adjusted the monocle under his eye.
"If you hadn't come, I'm afraid we wouldn't have made it out of that Ethereal's territory. Thanks for coming to the rescue." Anby emotionlessly said to the Bangboo before an Ethereal cry could be heard in the near distance.
"I suggest we keep moving unless all of us want to become one of them. After all, we don't know what might happen in these hollows." Alastor sneakily suggested before slowly walking ahead with a grin on his face.
"Alright then, let's get moving, follow me." Belle ordered through the Bangboo before moving on ahead as Alastor followed her with a smile on his face.
-Later-
Alastor used his shadow tendrils to pierce through multiple Ethereals at once before he grinned and blasted one into bits with radio waves.
"Those screams make for a satisfying broadcast~" Alastor twirled around with his staff a bit more before walking away.
"Whew, thanks to that new guy, fighting is a lot easier. Manager which way should we go now?" Billy questioned Belle before she had a small smile on her face.
"Full speed ahead!" Belle said, making everyone widen their eyes and tilt their heads.
"Um, I don't know if you know, but the thing is, that's a dead end-" Billy started before he was suddenly cut off by Alastor.
"Very well~" Alastor grinned before walking towards the "dead end" with shadow tendrils behind him.
"Thank you for another forgettable experience." Alastor rushed towards the dead end.
"See you at the store, you three~" Belle suddenly disconnected from the Bangboo as Alastor grinned and phased through the supposed dead end.
"Good luck, chums~" Alastor disappeared through the dead end back into New Eridu before grinning to himself out of sheer excitement as his antlers grew a little larger.
"Finally, I can have my fun in this world. Those screams... will make for a satisfying broadcast." Alastor couldn't control himself before a small blood dripped down his chin as he started cackling. Suddenly, Billy and Anby also phased back into the real world, making Alastor return back to normal.
"We're out, we're finally out, aha!" Billy pumped his fists in the air before he excitedly said as the woman with pink hair slowly walked towards them.
"No way, Phaethon got the time and the location spot on." Nicole covered her mouth with her hand before Alastor swiftly appeared in front of her, making her take a step back.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you again, Nicole, right?" Alastor grinned at her, she made a disgusted face at Alastor before gesturing to Billy and Anby.
"You two, get in the car, now. You're also telling me what this guy is." Nicole ordered Billy and Anby while glaring at Alastor, who just grinned. Billy and Anby swiftly got into Nicole's car while Alastor grinned to himself in silence.
-With Shido-
Shido glared at himself in the mirror while his appearance didn't change, he could see himself having a TV head. He gritted his teeth before slamming his fist against the glass.
"Failure... I'll show you failure..." Shido growled before walking into an abandoned alleyway.
"Rome... wasn't built in a day... you gotta climb a little higher... to the top of the display... where... there's a will, there's a way... you just gotta slit a throat or two to make the weak obey..." Shido's mind flashed to when he strangled his co-star to death just for a shot at his role.
-With Alastor-
Alastor grinned before walking and spinning his staff.
"Gods... were never... meant to last... you gotta cut a little deeper... just to finally elevate where... there's a mind, there a way~ you dissect a soul or two... to make the rest obey~" Alastor's mind flashed to when he was still Ren as he hustled a producer before eventually killing him to take over the radio podcast.
-With Shido and Alastor-
"If you want it just take it, the world's yours don't waste it, go make the stars/moons align!!!" Shido and Alastor sang at the same time before grinning.
"To shine brighter! Brighter than the heavens in the skies above! You'll be brighter! Going supernova all the eyes look up! Brighter!" Shido could be seen brutally dismantling a corpse in his own basement before grabbing a microphone and taking over the person's job.
"Don't praise the occult, do not praise fate, this brilliance answers only to my name. I climbed through corpses to touch the dark, now amplify the signal let it rewrite~ this is not chance, not prophecy, if you want truth then raise some certainty~" Alastor can seen leaning against his microphone, using it as a staff while grinning down at the co-star he bashed in the head.
"Fish likes to swim... next to sharks! Yeah, you eat or you get eaten, and you're feasting on their hearts~" Shido could be seen tapping on the glass of a shark tank, cutting the gas wires to cause a leakage as well as loosening the screws for a wheel. The shark crashed out of the tank and ate his fellow co-star while the gas leakage caused an explosion as well as the wheel being loosened ran over another person.
"If you want it just take it, the world's yours don't waste it! To make the moons align! To go... darker! Darker than the hell in the grounds below~ you'll be darker! Going dark eclipse all the eyes look down at you, at you, darker!" Alastor stood off against Shido before Shido stared at Alastor with eyes filled with nothing but pure admiration while Alastor grinned and got closer to Shido and stared down at him.
"The signal is humming inside their own minds, we'll leave all the absolute gods behind, you want something newer, you want something purer, surrender your will I'll improve you~ burn the myths, tear down the thrones, I stand illuminated as the whole world glows~ at last I'll show you what I'm meant to be~ darker~" Alastor is seen to be standing on a throne while Shido joined alongside him, attempting to stand besides Alastor, only to be shoved aside, to the sidelines. Shido's eyes widened at Alastor while Alastor just had a massive smirk on his face.
"They swear it's divinity when they're on their knees... adoring me... DARKER! Darker than the moons in the skies above! You'll be, darker! Going dark eclipse, all the eyes look down! Darker!" Alastor could seen standing over a wave of people, who are all on their knees while Shido just stared at him with wide eyes, looking absolutely betrayed while his fingers shook, his eyes started to wander before he gritted his teeth and ran away from the absolute darkness that Alastor had generated for himself.
"Finally I'll show them what I'm meant to be~ darker~ they won't believe their eyes when I bring them to their knees, to worship me, darker!" Alastor grinned before sitting atop a throne, only meant for the absolute best of the best.
-Credits: Brighter, Dottore Version by ZenDJRandom, very good song, go take a listen to it. Also, other credits to Brighter from Hazbin hotel, sang by Christian Borle.-
-At the Random Play store-
Nicole, Billy and Anby finally arrived at the video store before Belle was standing outside, grinning at them.
"That was long, where's the deer guy?" Belle looked around, only to find Alastor missing.
"We kinda... uh... left him there." Nicole looked around nervously before stuttering those words out.
"You... left him at the exit, right?" Belle's eyes widened before groaning and sighing.
"Yes, I left him at the exit, of course not in the hollow!" Nicole pouted before Wise chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, since the three of them have been extracted, pay up, Nicole." Wise grinned at her before Nicole stopped him.
"Not so fast, that's not what we agreed on. The commission was, "My people and my client's item." You've only completed the first half!" Nicole stated while twirling her hair.
"Don't worry, I remember that. It's just a joke." Belle stated as Nicole started to chuckle.
"I knew that Phaethon was the most reliable and trustworthy!" Nicole praised before Anby stared at Belle.
"According to what we saw before the extraction, the strongbox should be in the territory of a highly dangerous Ethereal. The White Star Institute has it registered as Dullahan, a superior Ethereal." Anby emotionlessly stated before Billy rubbed his head and smiled.
"Well... we say that it was a superior Ethereal, but the dude with the deer ears kinda just fought it one-on-one and beat it. That red fang dude sure was unlucky, his ether corruption must be pretty intense, considering he became such a dangerous Ethereal. What exactly is even in the box, is it worth the effort at this point?" Billy groaned at Nicole, who just giggled.
"We'll find out soon enough, take a look at this!" Nicole handed a tooth necklace-like flash drive to Belle, who just stared at it with a blank face.
"It's a mini-storage system, it's Silver's, I picked it up in the building before I got out of 14th street! He always had it on his person, so it must be something important! Phaethon, can you do some of your magic with that computer of yours, please~?" Nicole exclaimed while her eyes started shining.
"The HDD is mainly used to process hollow data, but if we only need to extract them... hey, sis, maybe I could try to extract the data with Inter-knot's processing power." Wise stated to Belle while Nicole grinned.
"Great! It's a deal, then! We'll try to locate the strongbox in the Hollow. We'll come to you when we learn something new!" Nicole exclaimed, however, unbeknownst to those 5.
-With Alastor-
Alastor appeared behind the random play in a flash of shadows before grinning to himself.
"Going back to the Hollow, eh~? Ooh, this will be fun~" Alastor cackled to himself while fiddling with his staff.