On the outskirts of Hollow Zero.
Night draped the sky, stars scattered amid silvery haze.
Countless people had gathered here. Trucks and armored vehicles formed tight ranks, while shells and missiles were lined up with meticulous order.
Whoosh!
Headlights flared on all at once. Blinding white beams converged, washing over the ever-shifting surface of Hollow Zero. The once-quiet night suddenly looked brighter than day.
Whum—whum—
Heavy wingbeats thundered overhead. Tens of thousands of pureblood vampires descended from the sky, folding their wings as they landed atop the trucks. Their gazes were cold, their voices deep and steady.
"The vampire society's forces are assembled. Whatever the half-blood vampires lack, the purebloods will make up for. Prepare to enter the Hollow, Deputy Section Chief."
"Mm."
Hearing the proposal to advance, Yanagi nodded silently.
Ever since the command center had been blown up by Phaga and contact with No. 11 had been cut off, battlefield command had fallen to her. With disaster pressing in and Misha absent, even the pureblood vampires were willing to set aside their grudges for now and follow Yanagi's lead.
"All personnel," she ordered, gripping the megaphone tightly, "make final preparations. We're heading into Hollow Zero!"
Her amplified voice boomed across the field.
Engines roared to life. In the night, motors howled and massive wheels began to roll forward. On every vehicle, the soldiers' expressions were solemn.
Even after fighting nonstop all day, exhausted to the bone, they pinched themselves hard, forcing their minds back into focus. Their eyes burned as they stared at Hollow Zero, so intense it looked as though they might bleed.
The Hollow—especially Hollow Zero.
It was rich and beautiful, magnificent and resplendent.
The opportunities it offered had allowed refugees to rebuild civilization amid the ruins. Endless Ether resources gave rise to endless smokestacks. Factories roared day and night. Steel, forged through relentless hammering, spread across the land, driven into oases, propping up humanity's spine and hope.
But no one forgot—
The Hollow. Especially Hollow Zero.
It was riddled with danger, peril at every turn.
The price of its abundant Ether was the old civilization, slaughtered by its blade. The scars ran bone-deep, blood-soaked and impossible to ignore.
No one wanted a ticking time bomb more dangerous than a nuclear leak—especially one whose output might not even rival a nuclear plant.
It felt like a solemn, sacred ritual was underway.
The trucks advanced slowly. Just as they were about to cross the treacherous membrane covering the Hollow's surface, every gun barrel rose in unison with a chorus of clicks.
Killing intent filled the air as the convoy moved forward—steady, measured, unhurried.
Yanagi let out a breath and quietly closed her eyes. Her slender hands clasped together before her chest as she bowed her head in silent prayer.
At this moment, she was more devout than any believer, hoping some god might hear her wish and cast down even the faintest glimmer of light… even just a little.
"We will… no," she murmured. "We must take this world back from the Hollow."
Boom!
Almost as soon as her wish left her lips, a massive meteor plunged from the sky, crashing straight into the Hollow.
The colossal explosion hurled several skyscrapers into the air. Before they could even hit the ground, they shattered apart mid-flight.
Then came the gale.
A hurricane-force wind swept through, catching the still-airborne debris and flinging it like hail toward the armored vehicles.
Yanagi snapped her eyes open amid a piercing shriek of wind and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Everyone, get down!"
In the very next instant, she lunged sideways, grabbing the dazed Soukaku, forcing her down, and diving beneath the seats for cover.
What was that?
A meteor? Could luck really fall on our heads like this?
The thought flashed through Yanagi's mind—but she didn't dare lift her head.
She heard the wind screaming overhead. Stones smashed through the windshield with a loud crack, rattling violently against the seats. The upholstery tore open, exposing the stark white stuffing inside.
"Yanagi…"
Tears welled in Soukaku's eyes as she watched sharp stones strike Yanagi's back, her chest tightening in pain.
"It's fine, Soukaku. It doesn't hurt," Yanagi said, forcing a smile.
But when another, slightly larger stone struck her, Soukaku clearly saw the corner of her eye twitch.
"Yanagi!"
"Quiet, Soukaku," Yanagi said gently. "The wind… it seems to have stopped."
To keep Soukaku from worrying, she shifted the topic. Bracing herself with one hand on the seat, she leaned forward and looked out through the windshield, now shattered beyond recognition.
A light breeze stirred her hair as she stared outside in a daze. Her gaze slowly lifted—and with each horrifying sight it took in, her heart lurched and her eyelids twitched.
Not far ahead, at least a thousand Ether crystals stood upright. At their center was a massive crater dozens of meters deep.
Everything around it was scorched black. Skyscrapers had collapsed en masse, their cross-sections smooth as mirrors—clearly shaved flat by blade-like winds before the shockwave even reached them, then shredded to pieces in the gale.
If not for the Ether crystals blocking the way, it wouldn't have been just shattered windshields. Every truck would have been beaten into scrap metal by the flying debris.
Worse still, the vehicles might have been blasted apart entirely.
And yet, this wasn't even the most shocking part.
What truly stunned Yanagi was this—
The Hollow, which had been so close it felt within arm's reach… was gone?
No. Not gone.
Hollow Zero had been forced back—by a full kilometer.
And the cause of it all was what Yanagi had mistaken for a meteor: an enormous pink flower bud.
Looking higher, she saw it had two pairs of arms—one broad and swollen like giant palm fans, the other delicate and slender, almost human. Dozens of colorful ribbons rose behind it like a floral crown. Its narrow waist could be encircled with two hands, its chest thrust proudly forward.
—Nineveh!
And there was more.
Straining her eyes, Yanagi saw someone standing on Nineveh's shoulder. That person was holding someone else—lifting her by the waist with one hand, like a kitten.
That was…
Phaga and Misha.
Yanagi froze, her mind going blank.
Phaga and Misha?
Why were they on Nineveh's shoulder?
And why did Misha look like she'd been kidnapped?
She didn't know—but someone else did.
Several vehicles away, Ellen spotted Phaga standing atop Nineveh's shoulder and immediately ground her teeth.
"I knew it. I knew it!"
"I knew why Nineveh suddenly learned how to draw blades from Ether crystals—so it really was him!"
"Damn it, I'm going—don't stop me! I'm dragging Phaga back! If we're any slower, he'll enter the Hollow!"
"Ellen, you can't go!" Rina shouted, clinging tightly to her waist. "The Ether crystals are blocking the way—we can't reach Hollow Zero!"
Anastella and Drusilla rushed over to help, piling on and grabbing the Black-White Doll as well, leaving it howling in protest.
[Mmngh! Why are you pinning me down?! Since when does the Black-White Doll get a say in decisions anyway?!]
Anastella and Drusilla froze for a moment, then released the doll and instead grabbed onto Ellen.
"I can get in!"
Ellen clenched her teeth so hard they ground audibly. "What does it matter if the trucks are blocked? That's my vampire! That idiot's planning to suppress Hollow Zero all by himself—I'm going to knock some sense into him!"
"Who does he think he is," she snapped, fury blazing in her eyes, "trying to play the lone hero?"