"Man… this place is empty. So that big bastard's in here somewhere?"
"Big one's nowhere to be seen, but there are plenty of small fry. Huh—looks like the grunts already scattered. Where's the Dead End Butcher?"
"Probably hiding in some corner."
Staring down into the crater, the three from Cunning Hares hopped off the rim and dropped in. The rain only got heavier—muffled by dense cloud cover, as if the sky itself were choking back a sob before vomiting it all down at once.
Lightning began to rake across the clouds. It was so close that the drum-roll thunder and the branch-like forks of light hit their senses at the same time. The soaked ground turned into a gluey swamp, clinging to their boots like deep-sea octopus tentacles.
"Ugh, it's sticky," Billy groaned, yanking his foot free. "My mechanical legs feel like someone smeared them with honey."
He glanced at Nicole. "Hey, boss—why aren't you getting stuck?"
"Billy," Anby said with perfect seriousness, "that's because we're Cunning Hares, and Nicole is the boss of Cunning Hares. Cunning hare, cunning hare—cunning rabbit. Therefore Nicole's feet are the slickest, so they don't stick."
"…Anby. That's a terrible joke. Please never do that again." Billy paused, then looked down at his feet. "Uh… you think the ladies would mind if I put lubricant on my soles?"
"All right—" Anby started, then her expression shifted. "Wait. It's coming…"
"It's coming?!" Billy snapped upright. "The monster?!"
Anby answered with an absolutely Anby-like calm:
"The theme music. In movies, right before the final battle, the villain's song always starts."
"...Huh?!" Nicole barked.
Billy relaxed instantly. Then, with a spinning slide, he swaggered to the front, struck a flashy pose, twirled his pistols, and marched ahead like he owned the crater.
"Heh-heh-heh! Don't worry, Anby—I've learned the law of guaranteed victory from the Starlight Knights series! Don't fight villains 'fair'! If you can jump them, you never 1v1! Heh-heh-ha-hey! Open with the ultimate flying kick! Heh-heh-ha-hey!"
"End it in ten seconds! Heh-heh-ha-hey! Don't even give them time to cue their exclusive BGM—heh-heh—"
"Watch out!"
A flash cut through the rain.
A javelin—so huge it looked unreal—tore across the sky, screaming toward them with terrifying force.
Anby's tactical blade crackled as electricity flooded its edge—she was about to step in and take it—
When a lean figure shot in from the side.
Ice-cold legs snapped out. The javelin frosted over mid-flight—then the kick didn't slow at all, punting the spear into a nearby ruin with a brutal boom.
Up on the station roof, the Dead End Butcher stared in dumb disbelief as its weapon got kicked off-course—
And then—
"Oh my," a warm voice purred from behind it. "Dear guest, on rainy days, you really shouldn't stand on high ground. Otherwise…"
"Hm hm"
The implication came immediately:
"You'll get zapped by Drusilla and Anastella!!!"
The head maid of Victoria Housekeeping was already there. Her hands flicked—and two Bangboo tore forward in a crazed tornado state. White-hot electricity detonated across the Dead End Butcher's back, blasting it off the roof before it could even react. It shrieked as it hit the ground.
"Miss Ellen—Corin won't hold you back!"
"I know. Let's go—Sharknado!!!"
The other two Victoria staff hit from both sides, Sound Engines pushed to the limit for maximum lethality and suppression.
A whirlwind of ice blades and the brutal cross-cut of a steel chainsaw tore through the Dead End Butcher, carving it into ribbons. Ether fluid gushed from the wounds like blood, splattering its body in purple blotches.
Corin's softness was gone. The sweet little cake girl vanished—replaced by a chainsaw cyclone who kept saying "I'm sorry," with zero apology on her face, smiling like a fanatic as she spun and tore and tore.
"Corin's really going all-out… trying to prove she's grown, huh?" Ellen muttered. "Then I can't keep holding back either. Deep Sea Visitor—Overload!"
Ellen's already-maxed tactical Sound Engine let out a screaming, metallic wail. Cold condensed into solid ice spines, shredding what little resistance the Dead End Butcher had left. Both its arms were invaded by marrow-deep frost—then Corin's chainsaw took them clean off.
BANG—!!!
The two landed. The Butcher's mangled body slammed down with them.
But an Ethereal that gives a Hollow its name isn't some cheap fraud.
With a roar—half furious, half exhilarated—the Ether inside it, usually kept in a low-activity dormant state, began to boil—like fuel being pumped into an engine. A horrifying qualitative shift started.
The high-concentration Ether stockpiled inside it turned violently reactive in milliseconds. Energy surged exponentially, forcing its limbs to warp and mutate into a more savage, more ravenous—
Feasting Form.
"Oh? So it wasn't over that fast," Rina said pleasantly.
"…Looks like more overtime," Lycaon added.
"Victoria Housekeeping—stay alert!"
"Cut, slice, chop… why won't you just die obediently, Mr. Ethereal?" Corin's smile sharpened. "If you keep struggling… Doctor Chiya will be unhappy…"
The entire combo had happened so fast that by the time Nicole processed what she was seeing, Victoria Housekeeping had already knocked the Dead End Butcher down and reset into formation for round two.
Nicole's lips trembled. "W-wait—weren't we supposed to be the main attackers? Why is it—"
"Looks like 'main attack' was just a nicer way to say bait," Billy said, his grin gone.
Anby finished the thought, cool and precise:
"They probably didn't trust us to hold against the Dead End Butcher's offense, so from the start they planned to take point."
"But the decision that we would be main attack came from Chiya, so they couldn't openly object. This was their workaround."
"…How high-and-mighty," Nicole muttered.
"Ellen. Corin. Fall back!"
"Dear passengers, the train is about to arrive at the station. Please stand behind the yellow line and board in an orderly fashion."
A shriek of steel and wind—
In the distance, Eous, Nekomata, and Chiya came riding in on the roaring train.
As it closed in—
"Proxy! Little doc! Hold tight, nya!"
Nekomata grabbed them both and bailed off the side.
The train didn't slow.
It slammed straight into the boss mid-transformation, interrupting the phase shift. The Dead End Butcher howled as it was driven into the wall.
Chiya and Nekomata rolled across the wet ground, then popped back up.
Chiya stared at the struggling monster, reached into his coat, and produced a doctor's essential miracle tool—
A handgun.
He loaded the prepared dose, held his breath, shut his eyes, and drew a cross over his chest.
He didn't believe in God.
But he'd prayed—many times.
At operating tables. In front of photos with teachers and classmates. Beside patients he couldn't save.
Every time, he prayed for someone else.
This time—
"God… greedy as I am, I'm begging again. Please—let this shot work…"
"Chiya! (Sir!) The Ether index inside the Dead End Butcher is spiking fast!"
"Okay!" Chiya snapped his eyes open. "Harumasa—hope that archery you taught me transfers to shooting, too. Let me land this."
He raised the gun, sighted, and squeezed the trigger.
The dose punched into the Ethereal's body.
One second. Two. Three.
Nothing.
It even grew more arms.
Victoria held guard. Cunning Hares sighed in resignation. Chiya's eyes dimmed—
Then the Dead End Butcher screamed.
Its body started to collapse like a punctured balloon. The extra arms dissolved. Its whole frame began to come apart.
The train it had just hoisted up crashed down onto it again.
"It worked!!!" Chiya shouted, voice cracking with relief. "It's finished—now! Kill it!"
"Your will is the direction of Victoria Housekeeping," Lycaon said, stepping in to strike—
Then his brow twitched.
He pivoted.
A long blade wrapped in electric current stabbed past him, the surge strong enough to char the pristine fur on his tail.
The blade embedded into the train car.
Above them, the storm clouds that had been gathering for ages finally answered—thunder roaring as the wrath of the sky came down.
A bolt like a giant axe split the air, struck the car—
And detonated the Ether explosives inside.
The Dead End Butcher vanished in fire and smoke.
But nobody cared about its ending anymore.
Lycaon looked down at his scorched tail, turned, and began walking—unhurried—toward Cunning Hares.
Anby stepped forward to meet him.
They stopped two paces apart.
After a moment of silence, Lycaon spoke first.
"Miss Anby… what is the meaning of this?"
"To secure our interests," Anby said coldly, "you liar…"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter50)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter50)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter50)
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