The "Wings of the Flow of Light" behind him were just about to fold away. Facing the surrounding Ethereals, Zane casually reached out and summoned a greatsword formed from condensed Ether crystals.
His body was yearning.
It was a deep greed for the power of the Hollow.
And that aligned perfectly with Zane's own thoughts—power was the foundation of everything, the best passport.
It seemed it was time to end the Hollow's final "last flash of light."
...
Time passed.
In a dilapidated, abandoned residential area...
"Billy? Billy? Are you okay?!"
"You have to be okay—if something happens to you, what'll happen to Hare's House, Billy...?"
Nicole grabbed Billy's shoulders and shook him frantically, her voice filled with anxiety.
After Zane had stayed behind to hold off the pursuers, they had escaped the battlefield using the zip line and were planning to observe from a safer distance.
But a spatial rift had opened right beneath their feet, and they were instantly thrown far away from Zane.
Before they could react, another ripple came through—the rapidly shrinking Hollow repelled them outright, and Billy ended up like this.
Nicole was extremely worried, and her concern was completely genuine. She really, really didn't want anything to happen to Billy.
The last time Billy needed major repairs, she hadn't recovered from the pain even now.
The feeling of watching so many Dennies slip through her fingers—she never wanted to experience that again in her life.
If Billy broke down seriously again, with how absurdly expensive parts and components were thanks to those ruthless merchants, Hare's House wouldn't just miss out on getting rich—it'd go bankrupt!
And it would happen in one day!
"Boss Nicole, stop shaking me—you're about to scramble my electronic brain..."
"And if you keep it up, I really might break..."
Nicole's face lit up when she heard Billy's voice. She didn't pay much attention to his first complaint, but after hearing the second, she instinctively let go of him.
She definitely didn't want to deal with another round of expensive part replacements!
Billy placed a hand on his forehead. After a moment, his vision stabilized. Looking at everyone gathered around him, he asked in confusion,
"What just happened to me?"
Seeing this, Anby quickly explained how the Hollow had rapidly shrunk and Billy had suddenly fallen unconscious.
"Oh right, Proxy also went into an abnormal state just now, but he recovered a lot faster than Billy."
Anby lifted Eous, who was lying beside them, and spoke to Nicole, who hadn't noticed yet.
"It was the rapid collapse of the Hollow and the rejection effect that caused it. It's never happened before. After all, a Hollow shrinking this abnormally is extremely rare."
Belle added calmly, explaining that only Eous had been affected, while she herself had recovered quickly thanks to Fairy's powerful systems.
"Proxy, what should we do now?"
Now that everyone seemed safe, Nicole looked to Belle for instructions.
"Hmm hmm! (Find the boss!)"
Listening to Panta, Belle controlled Eous to nod.
"Let's head back and find Zane. Since the Hollow's abnormal shrinkage has made the area smaller, it'll be easier to return to where we started."
"Once we find out where Zane is, we can plan our next steps."
There was something Belle didn't say out loud—she had a strong feeling that the Cretan Hollow's strange behavior was directly connected to Zane.
The three from Hare's House had no objections and immediately set off to head back.
...
"Hollow..."
In the ruins of a shattered building, Zane stood silently in the center. In his hand, a black orb edged with a faint, multicolored glow pulsed slowly.
Around him, the ruins still bore the traces of battle—marks from weapons, lingering flames, and patches of frost.
"I didn't think it would turn out like this."
Zane had originally expected the Hollow to simply disperse, allowing him to absorb its energy and strengthen himself. But instead, he had absorbed the entire Hollow itself.
That's right—the Cretan Hollow no longer existed in this world.
All that remained was the black sphere resting in his palm.
And if he chose to, this compressed Hollow could explode and unleash its energy at any moment.
A trump card. A devastating weapon.
There was no doubt about it.
"In the body of an Ethereal, it really is hard to survive out in the open world."
Zane lifted his head slightly. He could clearly see the Ether energy leaking from his body.
This was permanent energy loss—something that couldn't be replenished.
If it were any other Ethereal, even a high-ranking one, they would have disintegrated within seconds.
The only reason Zane was still standing was because of the temporary surge of energy he had absorbed from the Cretan Hollow.
"My earlier hunch was right. I really can undergo a form change."
"And thanks to the Hollow, the problem of insufficient energy has also been solved."
"Seems like there's no time to waste."
There was a ripple of anticipation in Zane's voice.
After this... things were finally going to get truly interesting.
Panta was still with Hare's House, and they were likely safe. Zane had nothing left to worry about.
Without further delay, Ether energy erupted from his body, swirling around him before condensing into colorful crystals that shimmered even in the darkness.
More and more crystals formed, gradually encasing Zane's entire body until he was sealed inside a massive black shell.
The ruins fell silent. The black shell stood quietly, with faint traces of Ether dispersing from it, looking utterly unremarkable.
It resembled the other Ether crystals scattered about, slowly decaying after losing the Hollow's protection.
No one would have known that inside this "shell," Zane was undergoing his own transformation—his "feathered rebirth."
...
"It looks like the Cretan Hollow has completely disappeared."
"Twelfth Street in the Janus District is fully exposed too."
Eous walked ahead, while Belle, receiving updates from Fairy, relayed the news to the others.
"The Hollow's completely gone? I've never seen that happen in my life..."
Billy couldn't help but marvel as he looked around at the crumbling buildings.
As a professional "Hollow raider," he knew exactly what the disappearance of a Hollow meant.
"Just now, when we passed a building, I spotted two shady-looking guys. But it didn't seem like they were targeting us."
Anby, ever-vigilant, shared what he had noticed.
"If the Hollow's gone, it makes sense that criminals would start pouring in."
Nicole nodded thoughtfully at Anby's words. The Hollow's collapse had been too dramatic to go unnoticed.
Now that the news was spreading, and with the Hollow's newly exposed no-man's-land left unguarded by either the Security Bureau or the Defense Force, it had become a paradise for outlaws.