Zane crouched down, glanced at Ruby, and raised his arm slightly. Manipulating Ether energy, he enveloped everyone—some pushed forward, others lifted by crystallized ice.
Then, he floated away with the group, moving at a steady, unhurried pace. Honestly, even he was curious about the current situation.
He had never seen the world come to a complete standstill like this.
Sweeping his gaze across the deep blue surroundings, Zane could already sense the energy starting to flow again.
Clearly, the area affected by the Hollow was gradually returning to normal. That technique had consumed a substantial amount of Ether from within the Hollow, and its effect couldn't last long.
After all, the move was a bit over the top. Normally, unless Zane himself couldn't break through an opponent's defenses, once Eternal Moment was activated, anyone caught within the zone would be at his mercy.
Still, compared to other techniques with similar energy costs, Eternal Moment was far less destructive. Overall, it was more of a utility trump card—deadly in the right situation.
As for other strengths...
Zane walked while pondering.
Aside from looking cool, did it have any other perks?
Then again, being cool was more than enough...
About ten seconds later, he reached Ellen, who remained frozen in place. He glanced at the shocked expression on her face and found it oddly amusing.
He crossed one arm over his chest, raised the other to rub his chin as he studied Ellen.
Tsk... this really felt like a golden opportunity.
Now that things had mostly settled down, he could finally relax a little.
Zane's gaze shifted to Ellen's tail.
Ever since he first saw her—no, even before that, since he arrived in this world—he'd been curious about what a shark tail felt like...
To put it bluntly, he'd been thinking about it the whole time.
He'd already touched a cat's tail—two, actually—and back when he was loafing around with the Criminal Investigation Special Task Force, he'd managed to pet a lynx's tail. Seth had acted shy but was surprisingly generous about it. Thinking back, it was kind of funny.
As for a mouse tail, Jane had been awake at the time, so he didn't get the chance.
Oh, and Shin's wings—he'd had thoughts about those too, back when they first met.
"...Feels kinda rude, though."
Zane hesitated, glanced up at Ruby floating in the sky, then steeled his expression and clapped his hands.
"I saved her life. Touching a tail isn't crossing the line, right?"
"Yeah, totally fine!"
Answering his own question, he didn't hesitate any longer. He reached out and placed his hand directly on Ellen's tail, raising an eyebrow.
What a strange texture...
The tail was firmer than expected—kind of stiff. Not as soft or comfortable as the others...
As he thought about it, his eyes wandered to Lycaon's tail, and he suddenly recalled a mischievous idea he'd had earlier.
"Humans live to satisfy themselves. This isn't going too far… not at all…"
The deep blue space began to flow, gradually fading in color. Tiny cracks appeared and vanished continuously. Eternal Moment was collapsing faster and faster.
Within a few breaths, the Crete Hollow reverted to normal and returned to Zane's side. The space itself had stabilized.
Lycaon had no idea what just happened. From his perspective, it was all over in an instant.
Then suddenly—his tail hurt.
He turned around with a slight frown but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
Too many battles might've messed with his nerves?
But a second later, he spotted the crowd suspended in the sky, and his mind went blank.
What was going on?
Just a moment ago, everything was... How did it become like this?
Elsewhere, Zane was holding an elegant ice crystal rod, fiddling with something.
A closer look revealed a tuft of soft white fur in his hand.
Zane wasn't bad with his hands. In no time, he'd completed his little project. Satisfied with the result, he packed it away.
A wolf-hair brush!
The real deal.
He'd ask Qingyi to teach him calligraphy later...
Once he'd learned it, he'd gift the writing to Victoria Housekeeping.
Self-sufficient from start to finish.
Nearby, Ellen finally returned to normal. She blinked in surprise at Zane, who had somehow appeared beside her, then sensed something strange about her tail.
She frowned and gave it a twitch—nothing seemed wrong. But in the next second, like Lycaon, she noticed the people still suspended in the sky.
"Ruby!"
She called out in shock, then stared at Zane in astonishment.
When had this happened?
How had he done it?
It was just a blink—was her blink on a different time scale than his...?
Zane gave her a small smile, then caught Ruby as she slowly descended from the air.
After setting her down, he glanced at the confused blonde girl, then turned to Ellen.
"I kept my promise and brought your friend back safely. As for the favor… we'll talk about it later."
"For now, I'll need Victoria Housekeeping to escort these people out of the Hollow."
With a wave of his hand, the people above began drifting toward a nearby clearing. Thankfully, he'd controlled the dissipation of power—otherwise, they might have landed with bruises all over.
"Now, time to settle the score. You guys—"
Just as Lycaon, Rina, and Corin gathered around him and he was about to speak, the scholar—now fully recovered—spoke up again.
"Hey! Aren't you all being a little too casual about this?!"
Clearly still shaken, he couldn't figure out how Zane had pulled off the rescue. Seeing Zane calm and composed only made him more frustrated.
At his command, the rebels once again aimed their weapons at Zane and the others. Just as they were about to fire, Zane raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
In an instant, all their guns, mechs, cannons, armored vehicles—everything—crumbled into dust and vanished, as if they'd never existed.
"That power marks everything it touches—there's no escaping it.…"
Put simply, within a certain timeframe, anything caught in Eternal Moment could be reduced to ash—literally.
But he didn't go that far.
That would've been too easy on them.
Zane shook his head slightly, his eyes cold and devoid of emotion as he looked at the enemies.
"You really know how to ruin a mood. I was just starting to enjoy myself…"