Upon hearing that Billy was under attack by two upper-tier Ethereals, everyone immediately understood the severity of the situation and broke into a sprint toward his location.
In the game, just one Dullahan-class Ethereal could force both Billy and Anby to retreat. Now there were two. If Billy was alone, he stood no chance.
"All the Hollow's spatial nodes have been reconstructed—I'll need time to redraw the Carrot!"
The bad news came swiftly. Due to the Hollow's structural reconfiguration, all prior spatial nodes had collapsed, and Belle's Carrot were now useless. She would have to re-render them from scratch.
Thankfully, with her HDD system, she could draw the Carrot faster and more accurately than even some official units—but it still took time.
And nobody could tell just how far away Billy now was from them within the restructured Hollow. That, too, was a critical issue.
Knowing how urgent things had become, Nicole began to panic—but she quickly regained her composure and started thinking hard. She immediately thought of one person who could change everything:
Uchiha.
According to rumor, Uchiha could traverse Hollows without needing Carrot data systems. He moved with a strange, incomprehensible technique that defied the standard rules of Hollow travel.
No one knew how it worked—but it was undeniably faster and more effective than any conventional method.
Throwing her pride aside, Nicole turned to Zhong Yan.
"Zhong Yan, can you ask Uchiha to help Billy? Please—I really need his help. This is the biggest favor I'll ever ask in my life! If he helps, I'll even return that three million Denny I tricked out of him last time!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Nicole clamped a hand over her lips, realizing she'd just admitted to working with Uchiha before. But considering Billy's current danger, she had no time to worry about appearances.
So now she's not calling on Phaethon—but coming to me instead, huh...
Zhong Yan didn't mind the request. Now that he had fully separated Uchiha and himself via the Shadow Clone, there was no longer need to tread so carefully.
As long as Kamui existed, no one could ever remove Uchiha's mask—so the secret was safe.
With that in mind—and considering he didn't want to see any of the characters get killed—Zhong Yan nodded and asked for Billy's current coordinates.
Nicole was instantly overjoyed. Anby and Belle said nothing, having only recently stopped doubting Uchiha's intentions themselves.
Meanwhile, in the Kamui dimension, the Shadow Clone instantly received Zhong Yan's message.
In the original Naruto canon, shadow clones couldn't receive commands like this—but for whatever reason, Zhong Yan could communicate with his clone directly. A very convenient perk.
That said, memories and experiences from the clone would still only return to Zhong Yan after it dissipated.
Upon receiving the instruction, the clone didn't hesitate. Activating Kamui, he warped out immediately.
...
At the same time, on the other side of the Hollow—
Zhu Yuan stood with her sidearm drawn, eyes cold and steady as she stared down the two Thanatos-class Ethereals that had tracked them here.
Only now did she realize the mistake—she had forgotten to clean up the trail of Nekomata's blood. That was how they had been tracked.
It was an avoidable failure. As a Public Security officer, she should've known better.
But now wasn't the time for regret. They had to survive.
Billy had already sent out an emergency call. Zhu Yuan wasn't sure how someone who stumbled into the Hollow by accident managed to contact others—but if help was coming, they just had to hold out.
"I'm almost out of ammo! If this keeps up, we're all dead!" Billy shouted, his twin pistols blazing. He stood in front of Zhu Yuan, clearly the main firepower in their tiny defense line.
Zhu Yuan's standard-issue pistol wasn't Ether-enhanced, severely limiting her combat ability against these threats.
Billy wasn't in great shape either. Even on his best day, fighting a single upper-tier Ethereal alone was a stretch—and now there were two.
With Zhu Yuan backing him, he could barely keep them at bay—but his ammo reserves were running dry.
Inside the building full of civilians, Ether Crystals had begun to creep up the walls and stairs. Time was running out.
Nekomata had just gotten her arm wound bandaged, but without proper disinfection, it now burned like it was on fire. She could do nothing but watch helplessly as Zhu Yuan and Billy were slowly overwhelmed.
"At the very least—we need to get these people to safety!" Zhu Yuan shouted as she fired off a string of shots, slowing one Thanatos for just a moment. Then she turned to Billy. "You move them! I'll cover you!"
Moving this many civilians safely wouldn't be easy. Someone had to stay behind as a decoy.
And staying behind most likely meant dying—unless someone was heartless enough to abandon the group and run alone.
Zhu Yuan was clearly not that kind of person.
Billy might not have her sense of justice, but a Starlight Knight wouldn't let innocents die.
"You take them. My firepower is stronger—I can stall longer and buy more time for their escape," Billy said, his voice serious, as though he'd made a final decision.
"No. That's exactly why you should stay with them. They'll need protection later, and besides—don't underestimate me. I was this year's top Youth Officer. My skills are officially recognized," Zhu Yuan retorted, though her tone betrayed her exhaustion.
Titles meant little to Ethereals.
No matter how skilled Zhu Yuan was, she was still flesh and blood. How could she possibly hold her own against creatures like Thanatos?
Billy was a machine—his durability far surpassed that of a normal human. Even if the Ethereals tried to tear him apart, they'd break their own claws first.
As the two argued, a deep voice suddenly echoed through the warping air around them.
"Such a noble exchange of sacrifice... Truly admirable."
A vortex formed in the twisting space—and from within, a figure emerged.
Cloaked in a deep blue robe, face hidden behind a stark white spiral mask, he stood like a messenger from the underworld—radiating a dense aura of mystery.
"But I have a better idea," the masked figure said.
"Both of you—stay."
"Leave the Ethereals... to me."