Over at the Bauer Heavy Industries side of things, Geno and the others — already en route into the Hollow — had one small snag left to deal with.
"Split into groups?"
"That's right. To pinpoint the prototype's location, we need these three units positioned at different spots inside the Hollow so their signals can triangulate. Three-point positioning."
Grace held up her tablet for everyone to see. Three red dots on the display represented the machines beside them, and expanding rings radiated outward from each — a visual of the signals they were broadcasting.
"The moment all three waves make contact with the prototype, it'll automatically send back a one-byte acknowledgment. We capture that signal and use it to zero in on the prototype's exact location, bit by bit."
The method itself was straightforward enough. The most complicated part was getting each unit to its designated position, then keeping watch while they transmitted — until Wise finished crunching the signal data on his end.
"Which is exactly why we need to split up. Inside the Hollow, you can never let your guard down for a second."
Geno crossed his arms. He knew that better than anyone.
Surprises always showed up ahead of schedule. As a veteran Ethereal who'd managed to run into some kind of disaster on practically every Hollow run he'd ever done, he had plenty of firsthand experience to back that up.
"Alright then, here's how we're splitting: Ben and Koleda, you're one team. Anton and Manato, you're another. Geno and Grace, you're the last one."
Belle rubbed at Eous's nonexistent little chin and rattled off the groups with breezy efficiency.
As it happened, Grace's designated position was close to their current location — so Geno and Grace wouldn't need to move much at all. After that, it was just a matter of Eous (Belle) escorting the other two teams to their respective spots.
"Right, no time to waste — let's move out."
Anton pumped his fist, eyes blazing with enthusiasm as he turned to look at Manato beside him. The sheer intensity radiating off him was almost physical.
"And I end up on the same team as Manato! What a twist of fate!"
"Uh... didn't the Proxy assign the groups?"
Two absolute units, both deeply committed to physical training — what kind of spark would fly when they were thrown together? Now that was something to get excited about!
[ALERT: Master's heart rate is spiking dramatically. Shall I call an ambulance?]
"Keep your commentary to yourself! You talk way too much!"
Belle — who had already abandoned her Geno×Manato shipping in favor of the new Anton×Manato angle — snapped at Fairy without much patience, then got back to business and led the other two teams off to their positions.
Left behind, Geno and Grace found themselves suddenly alone, sinking into a distinctly awkward silence.
Yeah. Pretty awkward.
Geno watched Grace tap away at her tablet, endlessly tweaking her settings, and ran a hand through his hair.
Standing around saying nothing was always the worst part.
Fortunately, the wait wasn't long. In no time at all, Eous had delivered the other two units to their designated positions.
"All set! Everything's ready — initiating all systems, go go go! And this one too!"
Grace's face lit up as she hit the master switch on her tablet. In perfect unison, all three units began broadcasting their signals.
Bzzzzzz~~~
"Ugh — urk—"
"Geno, are you alright?"
Geno steadied himself against the wall, his stomach doing a full somersault while a low drone started buzzing through his skull. The nausea hit like a wave, twisting his face into something that looked deeply, profoundly constipated.
What is this? I feel awful. Like — like motion sickness.
What Geno didn't know was that the electromagnetic waves the pile-driver units were emitting had a peculiar effect on Ethereals — a subtle but very real reaction.
It was just like how some people get carsick and others don't. For an Ethereal, those waves were basically dragging them onto a car and slamming the door.
Windows up.
And so, almost immediately, Geno saw it — waves upon waves of Ethereals charging straight toward the two of them.
The problem was, Geno himself was barely holding it together right now.
Then again, what did he expect? He was an Ethereal too.
"Urgh — Grace! Now! There are Ethereals incoming! Urgh——"
Forcing himself upright through sheer willpower, Geno drew his weapon and threw himself at the oncoming tide. With zero grace or elegance, he swung wildly, hacking the Ethereals apart wherever they came at him.
"Ugh — urk—"
A wise man once said: when you feel like throwing up, just throw up. Keep at it long enough and you'll get used to it.
That was exactly how Geno felt right now. The more Ethereals he cut down, the less the spinning in his head seemed to bother him — as though his body really was starting to adapt.
But as he looked out at the horde — which showed no signs of thinning, and in fact seemed to be growing — Geno's expression shifted into one of distinct irritation.
At this rate, you're making my kill count look terrible.
He slung his greatsword over his shoulder, launched himself into the air, and brought it crashing down in one earth-splitting, skull-caving strike.
A whole cluster of weak-rate Ethereals never even caught a glimpse of him before they were sent sailing into the sky — and from there, back into the Ether Sea.
Grace, standing off to the side with her modified nail gun, watched Geno's absolutely feral display of combat power with her jaw hanging open, completely at a loss for words.
The pile-driver unit behind her, on the other hand, was looking on with undisguised admiration.
"Such power. Such beauty. Truly, a being beyond mortal reckoning!"
Lucky for everyone involved, Geno was too busy to hear what the pile-driver was saying — because if he had, he absolutely would have stopped to argue about whether "being beyond mortal reckoning" was even a real compliment.
[Hey~~ Grace! You two okay over there?! We've got Ethereals swarming on our end! Are you holding up?!]
Koleda's voice crackled through the communicator, snapping Grace back to reality.
"Ah — Koleda! We're fine over here. Mr. Geno's already taken care of all the Ethereals on our end."
Clang!
The words had barely left Grace's mouth when a heavy crash of metal rang out — close.
She looked up toward where Geno was standing — and froze.
The pile-driver unit behind her went rigid too, its expression shifting to something that looked an awful lot like fear.
If before it had been Geno's outrageous fighting power that left them speechless — this time, it was the sheer, towering enormity of what had just appeared that robbed them of words entirely.
"Hey~~ Grace! What's happening over there?! Grace! Answer me!"
Koleda gripped her communicator, her voice climbing in pitch. Just a moment ago she had stopped hearing Grace — and in Grace's place came the grinding shriek of metal on metal and a roar like something monstrous.
[Ko... leda.... Ge... no needs... bzzzt SCREECH~~~~]
Grace's voice came through in broken fragments, then dissolved into a sharp, ear-splitting screech of static — and the line went dead.
"Hey! Can you hear me?! Grace! Hey! Sis! Say something!"
Koleda's unease spiked into something much worse. She dropped her communicator, grabbed her wrench and hammer, and was already turning to sprint back.
"Wait! Koleda! Don't go off alone!"
Eous (Belle) reached out her tiny hand, trying to stop her — but there was nothing she could do. She could only watch helplessly as Koleda disappeared.
Though... did she actually know the way back?
____
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