At the same time, in the center of the Hollow.
The sky had turned dark red, turbulent currents whipping in every direction, the atmosphere unbearably oppressive.
Countless cargo containers lay twisted and scattered. The vast number of purple-and-white ether storage tanks once hidden inside them had all been crushed into thin metal sheets, their ether fully released.
Layer upon layer of ether surged in wave-like patterns toward a single massive hand at the center, without the slightest leakage.
That colossal hand, roughly seventy meters long, pierced straight out from the earth and thrust toward the sky.
Its enormous palm was clenched into a fist, as though it intended to shatter the heavens.
Along the arm, countless eyeballs rolled restlessly, surveying the world.
The giant hand remained raised high; aside from the rotating eyes, it made no other movement.
Yet although those many eyes were scattered across the arm, their gazes were locked firmly in one direction.
There, blue-violet lightning flashed; icy white frost danced; industrial machinery bulldozed obstacles flat; a black-and-crimson armored man charged forward without restraint…
Watching the spectacle rushing toward them, the eyeballs spun even faster.
"O Creator, Refine me!"
A frenzied roar, hoarse with exertion, erupted from within the fist of the giant hand.
Ether surged as if summoned, leaping more wildly as it poured into the arm, the energy growing ever more chaotic, ever more immense.
When the energy reached a peak of madness and magnitude, the tumult suddenly calmed.
Boom!
The giant fist unfurled into an open palm, the wind it stirred flinging the containers even farther away.
A massive, hulking figure stood upon the palm.
His skin was deathly pale, exposing layers of enormous, bulging muscles.
Perhaps because his physique was so impossibly overdeveloped, his skin split in many places, crimson violent energy pulsing within the cracks.
Yet the most striking feature was his colossal right hand—utterly out of proportion to the rest of his already gigantic body.
Even if his entire build rivaled that of a stone titan, it looked like a puppy beside that monstrous hand.
Justin Bringer extended the gigantic right hand, as though he intended to tear open the sky itself.
He roared in rage toward Sol and the others: "Come! Let me see what you can do!"
For this trial, he had offered up everything.
For the bastards who forced him to trigger his plan early, he would deliver the warmest possible welcome.
Hoshimi Miyabi, Sol Mercer—let me see whether you truly are as strong as they say.
…
Elsewhere, a barrage of multi-element attacks shredded the Ethereals that surged toward them.
This small elite unit had become an Ethereal-grinding machine; nothing could stand in their path.
The tidal wave of Ethereals that once swarmed them had thinned drastically beneath such overwhelming carnage.
The Ethereals in this Hollow were, after all, finite.
At that moment, Sol, who had been leisurely raising his hand to release a swipe of swordlight that cleaved another cluster of Ethereals cleanly in half, came to a stop.
He lifted his head toward the center of the Hollow. His gaze seemed to pierce the distance as he smiled to the group. "Everyone, we need to speed up. Our target is getting impatient."
"It's in a hurry now?"
Nicole let out an irritated snort and smashed an Ethereal with her weapon case. "If that bastard hadn't stirred up trouble, there's no way I'd be working overtime for free!"
She was now a woman who earned tens of thousands a day—every second was money.
If not for the damage Bringer caused threatening all of New Eridu, she would never have worked for nothing.
"Then we'll give him a quick ending. Let him understand the consequences of crossing Boss Nicole."
Sol smiled faintly at her.
"Of course!" Nicole said proudly.
"It's… expecting us?" Miyabi tightened her grip on her demon blade, Tailess.
The blade in her hand had become far too active.
The lingering spirits within the weapon urged her forward into battle, as if they had encountered an ancient nemesis.
But such bloodlust was not good. She sought to master the blade, not be mastered by it.
Blades ruling over people had cost the Hoshimi clan far too much. She would sever that fate.
She gripped the hilt even tighter, her strikes growing heavier.
Moments later—
The group was within a hundred meters of the Hollow's center, close enough to clearly see the enormous monstrosity.
A giant hand covered in eyes, an abnormally exaggerated muscular Ethereal body.
That alone was not surprising—Ethereals were always bizarre.
But…
The demon blade in Miyabi's hand grew more and more excited, to the point of nearly slipping free.
This was far from normal. No Ethereal had ever drawn such a reaction from her blade.
"That giant hand…?"
Belle and Wise stared at the eye-covered hand, their focus snapping instantly into place.
That hand—they would never forget it.
During the fall of the Old Capital, a similar colossal hand had snatched their teacher away from the Helios Academy.
Afterward, the Old Capital fell. Their teacher was blamed for its downfall and vanished without a trace.
It was then that the siblings vowed to find their teacher and clear her name.
Now, seeing the same giant hand—finally having a lead after all these years—how could they not be shaken?
They felt immense relief. Fortunately, they had come along with Sol; otherwise, they might have missed their only clue.
"You've finally arrived!"
Bringer burst into wild laughter, screaming at them: "I've been waiting for you—for so long!"
"Ethereals can talk? Did I hear that wrong?" Soukaku rubbed her head, baffled.
She had slain so many Ethereals, but this was the first one that spoke.
How strange.
"An Ethereal produced from Bringer's transformation retained his intelligence. That is crucial information." Yanagi watched Bringer gravely, her attention unwavering.
It was far too strange. According to research from the White Star Institute, Ethereals were supposed to be mindless.
Speaking was impossible—much less consciousness.
Yet Bringer, transformed into an Ethereal, had preserved his complete mind.
Was he still a human? Or an Ethereal?
And judging from the situation, Bringer had expected this outcome.
He possessed a method that allowed a person to retain their mind after transforming into an Ethereal. That was beyond astonishing.
"Section Chief, maybe we should focus on figuring out how to take down this big guy first."
"Its ether activity level is at maximum—the device is off the scale!" Harumasa stared at his detector. The needle that represented ether activity had snapped from the far left to the far right—and still tried to push further.
That meant the creature before them exceeded the device's maximum measurable threshold.
He swore: once this fight was over, he was taking a very long vacation. At least one month.
"Try this first!"
Bringer grinned viciously as the seventy-meter-long giant hand descended, casting a shadow over the world as it came crashing down.