Friday

A few days later, early in the morning, several core members of Belobog Heavy Industries gathered at the entrance to a Hollow.

"Anton, hurry up! We've been waiting forever!" Koleda shouted at a tall figure in the distance, a sledgehammer resting on her shoulder.

"Coming, Boss!"

Anton ran over in big strides, carrying Eous in one hand and Griseo over his other shoulder.

That was right. Today was the final task commissioned by Belobog Heavy Industries.

The specific objective was to retrieve a pile driver named "Friday."

However, this machine was built for speed and excelled at traversing all kinds of complicated terrain within Hollows.

When Belobog Heavy Industries located it, they discovered that it had already run deep into the Hollow, near the Old Capital region.

Sixth Street, video store.

"Bro, get your little sister a glass of water."

Belle mercilessly ordered Wise around, then activated the HDD to link with Eous's synchronized senses. Several familiar figures appeared on the screen.

"Whoa! Anton, Ben, Koleda, and Grace... Belobog Heavy Industries is mobilizing everyone?"

"Manager Belle." Ben's steady voice came through, carrying the distinctive weightiness of a Bear Thiren.

"After all, the place we're going this time is very dangerous. To be safe, we mobilized everyone. Of course, we do not mean to disrespect Phaethon."

Hearing Ben's apology, Belle quickly explained, "Uh, Ben, you misunderstood. I didn't mean anything else."

"Alright, everyone, we're ready to move out!" Koleda interrupted their polite exchange, slinging her hammer over her shoulder as she gave the order.

She first swept her gaze across the team, then began assigning positions.

"Anton and I will lead. Grace will monitor the signal and watch for fluctuations in the surrounding Ether Energy. Griseo and Eous will stay in the middle. Ben will cover the rear."

"Yes, President!" XN

Several of them answered in unison.

Grace first activated the locator in her hand and quietly muttered, "Signal normal," and, "Ether concentration stable."

"I'm ready too. Hollow route calculation complete!" Eous leaped into Griseo's arms, relaying Fairy's calculation results at the same time.

"Alright, move out!"

Koleda walked at the very front, her hammer over her shoulder, and stepped into the Hollow.

"This place is seriously desolate! The increase in Ether concentration is already visible to the naked eye."

As they ventured deeper into the region near the Old Capital, Anton sighed in amazement. Looking around, he saw that the Ether Corruption on the surrounding ruins was far more severe than in ordinary Hollows.

The remains of buildings were covered in dark purple Ether Crystals, while the number of Ethereals appearing along the way rose sharply.

Hearing him, Ben at the rear of the group raised a hand to sense the surroundings and explained.

"That is only natural. We are already close to the Old Capital region. With the effects of accumulated time, the Ether concentration cannot compare to other places."

"Huh?" Koleda suddenly stopped, turned to look at the others, and planted her hammer on the ground.

"Ben, Anton, Sis—you're sure the Ether concentration is really that high?"

Grace glanced down at the tablet on her arm. "The instruments show that Ether Activity has indeed risen by thirteen percent."

Just as Ben was about to ask what was wrong, Koleda raised her hand and pointed behind herself.

"Look over there."

Everyone followed her gaze. At some point, Griseo and Eous had moved to the very front of the team.

Griseo sat on Mr. Knight's shoulder, surrounded by a layer of floating Ether Energy. Like a faintly glowing veil, it flowed around her body.

Koleda's meaning was obvious.

The Ether concentration in the Hollow right now seemed lower than the concentration gathered around Griseo.

Anton could not help praising her. "As expected of the big sis... Her presence is even stronger than last time."

Up ahead, Eous jumped from Griseo's arms onto Mr. Knight's head. Through Eous's eyes, Belle looked into the distance in a certain direction.

"The Old Capital's fall, the Helios District..." Belle murmured. "The school should be in that direction, right?"

"Belle, focus on the commission."

In the HDD room of the video store, Wise walked in carrying a glass of water. He gently patted Belle's shoulder, interrupting her muttering.

Wise placed the glass beside her hand, shook his head, and spoke more seriously. "Belle, I know what you're thinking. Absolutely not."

Of course, he understood Belle's thoughts—having Griseo take Eous to "that place" to investigate the truth behind the Old Capital's fall.

With Griseo's extraordinary affinity for Ether and her strength, she might be able to run rampant through ordinary Hollows.

But the area where the Helios Institution stood was deep within Hollow Zero, and beyond the Black Wall. It was not somewhere that could be summed up with the word "dangerous."

Belle fell silent for a second, then smiled and took a sip from her glass.

"I know, Bro. I was just thinking about it. Of course I wouldn't send Griseo somewhere that dangerous just for this."

Belle flexed her fingers and resumed controlling Eous. "Let's find Friday first and finish the job."

Wise looked at her but said nothing more. Perhaps one day, they really would find Teacher Carlos.

Based on the coordinates provided by Grace and Fairy's real-time calculations, the group soon found Friday.

A Type III Hollow pile driver with four mechanical legs and yellow-and-black paint came into view.

"Friday..."

Just as Koleda was about to speak to the third troublesome child, Friday gave her a casual glance and immediately took off running.

All four mechanical legs activated at once, and it executed a graceful drifting turn before vanishing around the corner.

The motion was smooth and effortless. It did not even look back, acting as though it could not care less about them.

Anton said, "Uh... it ran away?"

Ben nodded. "It seems so."

"No, don't just stand there!" Koleda hoisted her hammer and was about to chase after it. "Get after it!"

"No rush, Koleda." Belle calmly said through Eous.

"Let it run thirty-nine meters first."

"Don't worry. Griseo is New Eridu's AAA Demon Lord Protector. Her record of solo-clearing maps is publicly available, okay?"

Koleda's steps halted. "...Huh?"

"So, do you want it to stop intact, or not intact?"

"...What?"

Koleda's brain briefly crashed for a second, though it was not really her fault.

The only people who had seen Griseo fight last time were Grace and Anton.

As the president, she had never seen what this little girl looked like when she got serious.

"Proxy, it does not need to be intact—as long as its core is not damaged!"

Grace cut in, her voice extremely urgent. "The direction Friday ran toward... has a huge gathering of Ethereals."

"Alright." Eous nodded and turned to Griseo. "Griseo, how is it? Will it be difficult?"

"No problem, Sister Belle. Guided attack ready. Ready to fire at any time!" Griseo raised her hand and waved her brush, faint light flickering at her fingertips.

"Good, Fairy, I'm counting on you!!"

[Target at eleven o'clock. Current distance: 40 meters. Speed: 8.9 m/s.]

[Strike coordinates calculated.]

[Requesting guided attack—complete.]

Eous waved her little hand with great vigor. "Griseo—attack!"

"Mm."

Griseo answered softly. Her brush descended, and Ether Energy suddenly bloomed.

Countless glowing blobs of paint appeared in the sky. Then they spun, converged, and stretched out, transforming into radiant beams of multicolored light that poured toward the direction Friday had fled.

Boom boom boom boom—!!!

Smoke and dust immediately erupted in the distance as explosions rang out without end.

When the smoke gradually cleared and the group caught up, they saw Friday standing there awkwardly—stuck in the road, all four mechanical legs sunk into the massive crater blasted into the ground.