Chapter 9 - 6: Return to Action
The dull hum of the airship vibrated through Ellen's boots as she stared out the window. The cityscape of New Eridu blurred into the chaotic glow of the Hollow below, where jagged tears in reality pulsed with eerie light. Her reflection stared back, wearing the faintly amused smirk that had become a part of her new demeanor. Even so, her fingers tapped the hilt of her transformed scissors nervously.
"You're unusually quiet, Ellen," Von Lycaon observed, his golden eyes glinting as he polished his prosthetic leg. "Not nervous, are we?"
"Hardly," Ellen shot back, her voice carrying a playful edge. "Just wondering if this mission will be worth missing my vacation for."
Corin, sitting cross-legged with her broom-like chainsaw across her lap, chuckled softly. "If we didn't drag you back, who else would handle Rina's perfectionist nitpicking?"
"Ah, but you see," Rina interjected, her voice smooth and teasing, "this mission isn't for the faint-hearted. I would hate for anyone to... underperform." Her sharp eyes flicked toward Ellen, and while the words were framed with humor, the message was clear: Don't mess this up.
The Sharkboo, nestled on Ellen's lap, chirped in its strange language, its stubby fins tapping her arm. Ellen smirked and scratched its smooth head. "You've got my back, don't you, buddy?" The Sharkboo beeped proudly, as if to say, Always.
The Hollow was worse than Ellen had expected. The air was heavy with Ether, the environment shifting between fragments of reality—a crumbling cathedral floating above a rushing river, a subway car twisted into an endless loop of itself The team moved with precision, each member scanning for signs of the target: a rogue Ethereal of immense power.
The first attack came without warning. A distorted humanoid Ethereal with claws like scythes lunged from the shadows.
"Corin, left!" Ellen shouted, her reflexes sharper than before. Corin parried with her chainsaw broom, sparks flying as the creature screeched. Von Lycaon vaulted overhead, his ice-covered prosthetic leg shattering the creature mid-leap.
Ellen's scissors morphed into their whip mode, the blade unraveling into a gleaming chain. With a flick of her wrist, she snagged a second Ethereal and yanked it forward, slamming it into the ground.
"Nice form," Von Lycaon commented, his tone approving.