Sacrificial Ghost

Hollow Zero, Pioneer Memorial Plaza.

Ben looked around, surprise in his voice. "Isn't this the memorial plaza Belobog Heavy Industries was responsible for back then...?"

"Ben, you know this place?" Grace turned to look at him.

"Yeah."

Ben nodded. "Before the former president disappeared, Belobog Heavy Industries secured a project—the construction rights for Pioneer Memorial Plaza."

"Look over there!"

Anton suddenly raised his left hand and pointed toward the center of the plaza.

Everyone followed his finger. In the middle of the vast concrete plaza stood an eerie tower in silence.

A mess of scaffolding and steel beams still surrounded the tower, clearly remnants that had not been dismantled in time.

By now, those steel structures were covered in black Ether crystal clusters, clinging to the cold metal like diseased vines.

But that was not the important part. The important part was the white mechanical body beneath the memorial tower.

Its arms were raised high, tightly locking down a mass of growing black Ether crystals, as though its body was holding something back.

"Grace!!!" Anton's eyes widened as he pointed at the white machine. "That thing looks like a Belobog Heavy Industries model!"

Koleda and Grace looked over and spoke almost at the same time. "That's the Prototype Machine?!"

That was right. Standing beneath the memorial tower was the Prototype Machine Hors had personally designed all those years ago.

Belobog Heavy Industries' first independently developed intelligent machine, missing without a trace since the fall of the Old Capital.

Grace's eyes lit up. "I never thought the Prototype Machine would have ended up here after the Old Capital fell!"

She turned toward Eous, gratitude filling her voice. "Proxy, we really have you to thank this time."

As Belobog Heavy Industries' current chief designer, she naturally understood the Prototype Machine's value.

As Belobog Heavy Industries' first intelligent machine, its logic core might have preserved countless lost technologies and data.

"It was nothing. Even if I hadn't insisted on going deeper into the Hollows, I'm sure you would've figured it out eventually."

Koleda did not join the conversation. Frowning, she approached the Prototype Machine, wondering why it was here and why it was posed so strangely.

Koleda glanced back at Friday. "Friday, what exactly was the Calamity Dad mentioned?"

"I don't really understand it either. The mentor never explained in detail..."

"Don't move, everyone! Anton, get Koleda back!" Belle suddenly shouted.

Koleda turned around blankly. One of her hands had already touched the Prototype Machine's cockpit.

Anton reacted with incredible speed. He scooped up Koleda and tucked her beneath his arm like a chick, then kicked off the ground and rapidly retreated.

Ben and Grace moved at the same time, quickly closing in and joining Anton and Koleda.

Grace swept her gaze around warily. "Proxy—what happened?"

Instead of answering, Belle looked toward Griseo. At some point, Griseo had already entered a combat stance.

Her paintbrush was held across her body, faint Ether light flickering around her.

Her gaze rested on the black crystal cluster above the Prototype Machine, caught between the two gigantic mechanical arms.

"Black. Ominous black..." Griseo said quietly.

In Griseo's world, where she measured things by color, the darkness ahead was less than one percent as dense as Dead End Butcher's.

Yet its nauseating quality was more than a hundred times worse than Dead End Butcher's.

Griseo frowned. "Sister Belle, wait here, everyone. I'll clean up ahead."

Griseo waved her brush, and Ether Energy across the memorial plaza began to churn violently, gathering toward her.

"Proxy, doesn't this seem a little absurd for Griseo?"

Standing behind them, Koleda could not help complaining. Griseo was about the same height as her and even younger, yet every one of her abilities was outrageously unreasonable.

"Koleda, everyone has their own specialty."

Belle's voice came from Eous, carrying a hint of consolation. "You're the president who'll lead Belobog Heavy Industries back to its peak."

"Enough, Proxy. You don't need to comfort me."

"No, I'm building up your confidence—so Griseo won't keep crushing it later."

"..."

Koleda decided to shut up. While the two bickered, Griseo had already swung her paintbrush.

This time, she did not use the power of any other Signets. Instead, she invoked her own Signets of The Stars.

Under her brush, Ether Energy turned into paint and scattered through the air. As three paintings took shape, three figures stepped out of them.

The first was the Wheat Reaper.

Its body was hunched, its arms long, claws hanging at its sides like a farmer bent over harvesting in a field.

The second was the Girl with a Wide-Brimmed Hat.

Her French-style gown was layered upon layered, and she held half a pair of scissors in each hand. Her brim was pulled low, concealing her face.

The third was Madame Mallier on a Sheep's Back.

She had appeared during the battle against Dead End Butcher. Her lance pointed diagonally at the ground, while the wing membranes of her mount spread behind it, ready to take flight at any moment.

Koleda and the others fell silent as they looked at the three newly appeared monsters.

They could still accept Mr. Knight, who had always served as both mount and bodyguard. After all, he was humanoid.

"Proxy, are you really sure Griseo is... an ally?"

Koleda carefully considered her wording, doing her best to phrase it tactfully: Could Griseo be some kind of High-level Ethereal?

Belle laughed. "Koleda, don't worry! I'm sure Griseo won't hurt us."

"Then why are you scared of these things too..." Koleda asked, pointing at Eous's trembling legs.

"Because it's my first time seeing Griseo summon them too. She wasn't like this before."

As Belle spoke, she wondered as well. It was her first time seeing Griseo display such loathing. So what kind of Ethereal was down there?

"Mm, Sister Koleda, don't be afraid. They're very well-behaved."

Griseo turned back and reassured everyone.

The moment Griseo finished speaking, the most grotesque-looking Wheat Reaper turned its head, its hollow eyes "looking" at Koleda.

Koleda's whole body stiffened.

"...Proxy, I think I need to reevaluate the commission fee. I propose deducting some as compensation for emotional damages."

"No, that won't do. Koleda, you're the president. Your word is law!"

"Even a president can't handle this."

The next moment, as though responding to Griseo's challenge, the Ether crystal clusters around the monument suddenly shuddered.

Crash!

Boom—!

Reinforced concrete split apart, Ether crystals exploded, and a huge gray-white hand thrust out. Its five fingers spread wide and clamped tightly onto the tower's steel beams.

Behind the hand came the rest of its body, like a corpse that had slept for a thousand years sitting up from its coffin.

The monster broke free of its seal and leaped from the ruins—an adult male skeleton, mechanical armor embedded dead into its skull, purple corrosion patterns crawling across its body and leaking ominous light.

The monster roared and crashed down from midair, bringing crushing pressure with it!

A king descended from the heavens, furious and grotesque.