A singularity grew from her palms, clasped together as if she were praying. A black core surrounded by a pearlescent outer edge. In mere picoseconds, it grew to envelop the wrecked trainyard Belle and the Butcher had been fighting within. Then, it grew to cover half of the hollow itself before the ether energies fought to keep it from consuming the entire Dead End Hollow.
CRASH!
Within the newly created Domain Expansion Hollow, Belle kicked the Butcher in its face plate, smashing it into one of the many train cars scattered around the area. The metal groaned as the Butcher's weight smashed through it, then creaked as it picked itself out of the wreckage and glared at its hateful enemy as she floated back down, feet touching the ground as she released her hands.
"Zenless Limit." Belle finished her announcement with a childish yet somewhat psychotic glee.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the Butcher felt itself lurch forward. Like its essence was being dragged out of it. Because it was. The etheric energy that made up its form was being pulled into Belle's metallic hand, multiple colors twisting and turning in her palm. It felt its legs buckle from the sudden weakness as its lifeblood flowed from its cracked chassis created by wounds inflicted by Belle.
It looked up and saw a multicolored sword core coated in a gunmetal grey metallic cover and black crystals. A sword made from its being, of the Hollow's being.
"Neat trick eh? Absolute control of etheric matter. I called it a Domain Expansion but really.. I just created a controllable Hollow. Anything made of ether in my Hollow is under my command. But I guess boss monsters can't be directly seized huh? Ah well." Belle muttered softly to herself, metal fingers rubbing against the sharpened edge of the blade before turning to the wounded Butcher.
PSHH!
And with one swing, the Butcher found itself bisected horizontally. Its heavier upper body collapsing face first into the pavement as its legs fell backward. It looked up at Belle through its collapsing core as she turned around and started walking away in disappointment.
"No second phase huh? Too bad."
------------
The Dead End Hollow felt something within in lurch. Its size had been halved due to the emergence of another Hollow half its size. It was impossible. Two Hollows would have merged, become one and expanded. But now? Its existence was threatened by this rogue Hollow. To top that off, its core being, the 'Butcher' was dispersing. Losing etheric energy every second and feeding the rogue Hollow.
Soon, it would be subsumed by this rogue Hollow and lose ground. This was unacceptable.
Options were considered. Mustering up every Ethereal against this threat would be wasteful, simply feeding this rogue. Fighting against this rogue directly would be pointless by itself. A slow but losing battle. It had only one option left now. To risk everything on its core being. Seize it and crush this rogue under its heel.
VRRRRR..
And so, it summoned up the Ether from its whole being. Crystals, corrupt machines, Ethereal units. All turned into raw etheric matter that converged on the rogue and created an entry for itself. Several streams of Ether flowed into its fading core being's core.
It only took a few seconds.
▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅
------------
"Agh! Where the Hell do all these mooks keep coming from!?" Nicole huffed angrily as she slipped behind a concrete pillar within the mall and reloaded her suitcase.
BANG! BANG!
Billy shot down two fake Pubsec mercenaries and flipped off one of the many mall map kiosks to avoid a launched twenty millimeter grenade before ducking beside Nicole's pillar and reloading himself.
"There's a TON of mercs willing to do whatever pays well out in the Outer ring, Boss lady. Maybe Perlman hired them from there? Maybe I can ask Big Sis after we finish up this job.." Billy mused casually, then gasped dramatically.
"No..!"
"What is it? Did you spot Anby and Nekomata?" Nicole asked before peeking out of cover and shooting a mini Etheric black hole at the incoming mercs holding kevlar shields up.
VRRR-BTOOM!!
"AHH MY LEG!!"
Ignoring the screams of pain, Billy sulked and showed Nicole the remainder of his ammo he stored within his pouch. Only ten rounds of fourty-five ACP left. Nicole clicked her tongue and checked her own ammo.
"God dammit.. only have about thirty shots left myself. Note to self: don't fucking skimp on ammo anymore.." Nicole grunted in displeasure.
"Anby and Nekomata should have gotten the civilians out of here by now though, right? The Hollow suddenly shrank and gave us an opportunity to evacuate them but the real Pubsec should have seen this." Billy noted, the eyes on his faceplate narrowing as he suddenly stood up and tackled Nicole out of the store.
Right before it exploded.
BOOOM!!
Dust and debris exploded outward, hitting them both as they quickly stood up again and prepared to engage once more. But the loud mechanical stomping made them freeze in place.
Out of the dust, a black and blue mech with four chainguns on each arm walked out, taking aim at them both.
"Terror Raptor. Those Rebels must've loaned it out.." Billy stated, voice uncharacteristically serious.
"Run to the tunnel!" Nicole shouted, leaping over another kiosk as the Terror Raptor started firing on them.
"Nicole! The moment we run into that tunnel, we'll have no cover. If we run into the Hollow.."
"We'd need to find Belle! And if she escaped, we'd be trapped! We need to-" Nicole protested but as soon as they both turned a corner where the tunnel was located, they saw the barrel of an ether-attuned pistol pointed right at them.
"Duck!" A stern female voice commanded.
Nicole and Billy immediately listened, throwing themselves to the ground as ether bolts ripped through a pistol and hit the joints of the Terror Raptor, making it collapse into the floor, where it continued to fire.
"Qingyi, EMP." Nicole looked up and saw Zhu Yuan continue to fire Ether shots into the machine.
"Got it~" The smaller Android officer next to her replied, tossing an EMP grenade into the Terror Raptor's area and watched as the electrical explosion turned the deadly machine into scrap metal.
Then, behind Zhu Yuan and Qingyi, more officers ran in and leveled their weapons at the mercenaries wearing the tactical Pubsec gear.
"Everyone! On your knees! You are under arrest for impersonating Public Security Officers, conspiracy and terrorism. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." Zhu Yuan stated, pistol trained on the group of now surrendering mercenaries who were getting on their knees.
Nicole let out a soft sigh of relief before shaking her head and quickly getting up again.
"We-We need to get into the Hollow! Belle is inside and the Butcher was chasing her!"
Qingyi raised her brow and shared a look with Zhu Yuan before the latter nodded.
"That checks out with what the two witnesses stated. Nekomata and Anby informed us already. Qingyi, I trust you to handle the arrests here. I'll go with Nekomata and Aby to retrieve Belle from the Hollow." Zhu Yuan stated, seeing Nicole start to protest, she added, "You and Billy are both Rangers and you're out of ammo. You both bought the civilians and your comrades plenty of time. So please rest and leave the rescue to me."
Nicole's green eyes stared into Zhu Yuan's red eyes and she reluctantly accepted.
"Fine... Fine! Just please, hurry."
Zhu Yuan nodded, quickly jogging back down the tunnel where Nekomata and Anby waited with a few of her subordinate officers. The hollow had shrunk so much that only a service coridoor could connect to it now, so they waited outside of it, blades ready as Zhu Yuan nodded at the Pubsec officers.
"The three of us will go in and provide assistance against the Butcher long enough so that Belle can escape with us. No heroics, no sacrifices and you follow my instructions, okay?" Zhu Yuan asked, looking at the two, who had nervous but determined expressions.
"Good. Come." Zhu Yuan said as she opened the door to the service tunnels and entered the Hollow.
Unaware that the sight she'd witness would shock the world overnight..