[Nicole Demara]
Inside a high-rise building on Fourteenth Street in the Janus Quarter, the sound of blaring sirens echoed through the streets as three Hollow Raiders ran for their lives.
"Over there!" voices from their pursuers echoed through the ruined street.
Nicole clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"Billy! Anby!" she shouted to her teammates.
Both of them immediately turned toward her.
"To the left!" she ordered.
Without hesitation, they followed her command.
Stealing from a gang wasn't such a good idea, Nicole thought to herself.
Still, she had already committed to it. There was no turning back now.
Besides…
She needed those dennies.
The three of them turned the corner and rushed down another alley before quickly taking a flight of stairs. Their footsteps echoed loudly as they sprinted through the narrow passage.
After rounding another corner, Nicole quickly motioned for them to stop.
They ducked behind a massive Bangboo statue, the ridiculous thing posed with its backside sticking out toward the street.
Nicole grimaced.
"Seriously? This is the best hiding spot we've got?"
Still, it worked.
Their pursuers ran past them without noticing, their footsteps fading as they continued down the wrong path.
Nicole slowly peeked out from behind the statue.
"Clear," she muttered.
Without wasting another second, the trio dashed out from their hiding place and continued running.
Anby moved in front, sword already drawn and ready in case they were ambushed again. Nicole ran in the middle, tightly clutching the safe containing their commission.
Billy brought up the rear, his long mechanical legs pumping wildly as he ran in a way that looked suspiciously like a cartoon character sprinting.
And so the chase continued.
The Cunning Hares soon found themselves sprinting down a hallway that, for some strange reason, was filled with televisions broadcasting the news.
One of the screens showed a nervous-looking man in uniform adjusting his notes.
"Ahem… umm, yes. Citizens, I'm the head of the Janus Quarter's Public Security currently conducting an operation on Fourteenth Street. I-I regret to inform everyone that our operation has been disrupted due to the appearance of a Hollow," came the voice of the head officer.
He cleared his throat awkwardly.
"I'd like to remind the public we are in pursuit of the Red Fang Gang the group responsible for the terrorist attack on the research institute. These are dangerous dudes… uh, I mean criminals."
He quickly corrected himself.
"Particularly their leader, Miguel Silver. Everyone should remain vigilant!"
Before he could continue, another man suddenly shoved into the camera frame.
"I'm bleep pissed! As this station's reporter, I can't listen to this anymore! These criminals need to get bleeped!" shouted the angry reporter.
Nicole glanced at the TVs while running.
"…Wow."
The reporter continued yelling at the camera.
"As soon as we find them we should just bleeping bleep them all! And then bleep them again!" the angry reporter ranted.
Billy tilted his head while running.
"Wow, the censorship budget is working overtime today."
For a brief moment, things were actually going well.
They had escaped the gang.
They were almost out.
Then
They hit a dead end.
Billy quickly kicked open a nearby door, leading them into an empty room where they finally stopped to catch their breath.
Nicole skidded to a stop.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
The televisions behind them continued playing.
"E-Excuse me, mister reporter, I'm still giving a briefing on the case. Let me—" came Bringer's voice.
"I don't give a motherbleep! Listen here you Red Fang motherbleeps! Don't think the Hollow can protect you! The Public Security air force is on the way! You're bleeped! Is that right, officer?!" the reporter shouted.
"Boss! There's a window!" Billy said excitedly, pointing toward the wall. "That's our way out!"
Nicole glanced at it.
A single dusty window sat near the end of the room.
It wasn't ideal.
But it would have to do.
"Fine," Nicole said with a sigh. "Billy, make us a way through."
The robot immediately straightened proudly.
"Easy! Leave it to me!"
Billy dramatically whipped out his pistols and aimed them at the window.
Anby silently stepped aside.
Nicole pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Just shoot the gla-"
Bang!
Billy fired.
But instead of shattering the window, the bullet ricocheted off the frame at a strange angle.
The shot sliced through a rope hanging above them.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then
A large TV set that had been suspended above the corridor suddenly dropped.
Bonk.
It landed directly on Billy's head.
"Argh!" Billy groaned before collapsing onto the ground, completely unconscious.
Nicole stared at the scene.
Then she let out a long, exhausted sigh.
"Haaah…"
She slowly looked down at Billy lying on the floor.
"…Why does this always happen to me?"
"It bounced off the glass. It must be tough," Anby said in her usual monotone voice.
"Thanks, Anby, for the info," Nicole replied sarcastically.
"You're welcome," answered the burger lover.
Nicole rolled her eyes.
Nicole walked over to the window and placed her hand against the glass.
"Damn. I knew it wouldn't be easy. This window is-"
"Reinforced bulletproof glass."
A weak, sobbing voice came from behind them.
Nicole slowly turned around.
A man was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, hugging his knees and crying.
"You won't be able to break it…" he sniffed miserably.
Suddenly, a grown man appeared in the doorway, followed by several armed henchmen.
For some reason, despite looking like a hardened gang leader, he sounded like a blubbering baby.
Miguel wiped his eyes dramatically as he spoke.
"Reinforced bulletproof glass… You won't be able to break it…" Miguel sniffed loudly.
"The Cunning Hares odd-job agency… Why? Why would you steal from the Red Fang Gang?"
His voice trembled.
"My men went through so much trouble to get that strongbox… sob"
Nicole immediately shot back.
"You stole the strongbox from the institute! We're just returning it to the rightful owner!"
She crossed her arms.
"Don't make it sound like we're the bad guys!"
Miguel wiped his nose with his sleeve.
"We're all just trying to get by on the sand streets… Why… why would you help the cops?!"
Nicole rolled her eyes.
"Sorry, but it's not Public Security that commissioned us."
She tightened her grip on the safe.
"And besides, that's none of your business anyway."
Miguel's expression twisted into a pout.
"Of course it is! They had people steal from my territory, so I have to teach them a lesson!"
He pointed dramatically.
"Sob… W-Why don't you just give it back to me?"
His voice cracked.
"It's so important to us that I'm willing to exchange it for your lives!"
Nicole stared at him.
Then she smirked.
"So you need the whole gang armed and ready just to deal with three people?"
She tilted her head.
"This is the 'Silver Tears' everyone talks about?"
Her smile widened.
"It's even weirder than the rumors."
Then Nicole noticed something strapped to one of the gang member's legs.
Her eyes lit up.
"Wait… is that a flashbang?"
Anby glanced over calmly.
"Correct. It is a GS-2 high-lumen military flashbang."
She nodded slightly.
"The blast is quite strong."
Nicole grinned.
"Awesome."
She pointed toward Billy.
"Time to wake up, Billy!"
"What-?!" one Red Fang member shouted.
Billy suddenly sprang upright.
He had been pretending to be unconscious the entire time.
In one swift motion, he grabbed the flashbang strapped to the gang member's leg.
"Eyes open, everyone!"
He peeked through one eye between his fingers.
Billy pulled the pin.
"SAY CHEESE!"
A second later
The room exploded into blinding white light and deafening sound.
BOOM!
The Red Fang members screamed as they stumbled around blindly.
"Wahhhh! My eyes!" another gang member cried.
Miguel staggered back.
"Ahh! S-So… you choose to resist?!"
He drew his sword and lunged forward.
"In that case I have no choice but to KILL YOU ALL!"
But Nicole simply smirked.
She even chuckled.
"Hahaha… you've made a mistake, mister."
She casually gestured upward.
"We aren't your enemy."
She paused.
"That is~"
All three Cunning Hares pointed upward simultaneously.
Above them, a helicopter hovered outside the building.
Its spotlight suddenly flooded the room with bright white light.
"Falcon-4 to Commander. We've arrived at the source of the signal and located the Red Fang Gang," the pilot reported over the radio.
"Repeat, we've found the Red Fang Gang. Awaiting orders."
"B-Boss! It's the air force!" one gang member shouted.
Nicole and her teammates raised their hands slightly to show they were not hostile.
Miguel's jaw dropped.
"That flashbang… it was to attract the helicopter?!"
Nicole smirked again.
"You finally noticed?"
She leaned forward slightly.
"Now it's your turn to choose, crybaby~"
"You can stay here, fight us, and then get caught by Public Security…"
She shrugged.
"Or you can run."
"And we all get to live."
Miguel clenched his fists.
"Damn you, Cunning Hares!"
Nicole winked.
"It's in a hare's nature to avoid getting caught~"
"Don't hold it against me."
The televisions in the hallway were still broadcasting the chaotic news report.
"What?! You found the Red Fang bleepers?!" the angry reporter shouted.
"Then what are you bleeping waiting for, Commander?!"
"Pick the biggest gun you've got and rain down JUSTICE!!!"
The pilot hesitated for half a second.
Then-
"Falcon-4. Attack order received."
Everyone froze.
Nicole blinked.
"…Wait."
A missile launched from the helicopter.
Nicole's eyes widened.
"…We're done for."
KABOOM.
The explosion tore through the building.
Billy screamed while falling through the collapsing floor.
"I WANT TO FILE A COMPLAINT!"
The ground beneath Billy and Anby shattered.
They dropped straight into the Companion Hollow below.
Inside the Hollow, Anby fell through the air.
But she remained calm.
With practiced precision, she avoided the floating debris and twisted her body mid-air before landing gracefully.
Her sword stabbed into the ground to halt her momentum.
She pulled it free and looked around.
"Confirmed."
She scanned the area.
"We've fallen into a Hollow."
As if responding to her words, dark shapes began forming nearby.
Ethereals started appearing from the corrupted environment.
"engaging combat" as she prepared to fight them.
[Mousa Jama - 5 minutes earlier]
Okay, step one: getting out of the warehouse complete.
Step two: finding a way out of this Hollow.
I slowly pushed the large metal door open just enough to slip through. The rusty hinges creaked loudly in the silence, and I froze for a moment, waiting to see if anything reacted.
My eyes scanned the surroundings carefully.
Left.
Right.
Above.
My grip tightened around the steel pipe in my hand. With Invisible Air wrapped around it, the pipe now looked like it was holding a faint, transparent blade.
If one of those Ethereal things decided to jump me again, I at least had something to defend myself with.
Nothing moved.
No scraping sounds.
No distorted screams.
Just the faint humming atmosphere of the Hollow.
"Coast clear," I muttered quietly after finishing my inspection.
Still, I waited another few seconds.
No ambush.
No monsters suddenly crawling out of the shadows.
Good.
It was time to move.
But that brought up the next problem.
Where exactly was I supposed to go?
I already knew what would happen if I stayed here too long. The medical knowledge that had been forcefully downloaded into my brain earlier had made that painfully clear.
Ether corruption.
The longer a normal human stayed inside a Hollow, the more the environment would slowly start changing them. Their body. Their mind. Everything would begin to break down until eventually they turned into something else entirely.
Something like the creatures chasing me earlier.
The Ethereals.
Yeah.
Definitely not something I wanted to experience personally.
I rubbed the back of my neck and looked around again.
Broken buildings.
Floating rocks.
A strange green glow covering everything like some kind of toxic fog.
None of it looked even remotely familiar.
"Great," I sighed.
"I need to get out of here…"
The only problem was
I had absolutely no idea where the exit was.
Then suddenly
Something fell from the sky.
I blinked.
"Is that a plane?"
The shape got closer.
"Is it a bird?"
It got even closer.
"…Nope."
My eyes widened.
"That's a girl."
She was falling very fast.
Actually, scratch that.
She was practically plummeting.
no more like sky diving it
"…Huh."
For a brief second, I just stood there, watching her fall from the sky.
Then my brain finally caught up.
Wait.
If she survived that fall
And she looked like someone who knew what they were doing
Then she probably knew how to get out of here.
I watched the direction she disappeared toward.
Northwest.
"…Alright."
"That's my new objective."
I started moving in the direction where the girl had fallen.
But I hadn't even walked that far before a few familiar shapes crawled out from behind some broken train cars.
Ethereals.
I quickly ducked behind the side of an old train carriage, pressing my back against the cold metal.
I carefully peeked around the corner.
"Okay…"
I counted quietly.
"One… two… three…"
More appeared.
"…Four."
"…Five."
"Five of them."
I pulled my head back behind the train.
"Alright."
"Think, Mo."
Fighting them head-on would be suicide.
But maybe…
An idea slowly formed in my head.
It was risky.
But it might work.
I quietly moved to the other side of the train, making sure to stay hidden from their view.
Then I picked up a loose stone from the ground.
"Alright… here goes nothing."
I threw it hard against a pile of metal debris.
CLANG!
The loud noise echoed through the area.
Immediately, the Ethereals reacted.
Their black orb heads turned toward the sound.
One by one, they slowly started moving in that direction.
Perfekt.
I quickly slipped around the opposite side of the train.
Now all I had to do was wait for them to pass.
Once they crossed
I could sneak behind them.
Then stab them one by one using Invisible Air.
"…Please work," I whispered to myself.
Because if this plan failed
I was very, very dead.
anyways
They moved past the train, grouping together on the other side.
I moved.
Shup.
The invisible blade pierced straight through the first one-
And the second one right behind it.
unfortunately his fall on the floor kinda alerted them 3 of the 5 turned
I could have fought against them but living in a peaceful…..
Kinda peaceful….
a world where every escalation could lead to death
like slipping
flight and fight
i choose flight
for now
but i got something in exchange
for killing a Faun 1 silver random ticket
for killing a Alepca 1 silver random ticket
yes please give me something good please another one
i ripped two of them immediately
Rip
Rolling
[Blessing of Bast]
|Uncommon Trait|
You are blessed by the goddess Bast, the goddess of Cats and Grace. You have improved cat-like reflexes and agility as well as night vision. In addition, you are beloved by felines.
I felt… great.
My reflexes were sharper now, faster than before. Everything around me felt clearer, like my body was finally keeping up with my thoughts.
And Flexible combined with it…
Dodging and escaping became almost natural.
Before, I would've stumbled.
Panicked.
Moved too late.
Now
I moved instinctively.
One of the Ethereals lunged at me, and instead of freezing, my body reacted on its own.
I leaned back
Then pushed off the ground and flipped backwards.
A clean backflip, landing perfectly on my feet.
"…No way."
That felt straight out of a movie.
Like Leon or something.
Another one came at me.
This time, I sidestepped smoothly, my body bending just enough to avoid the strike.
Light.
Fluid.
Almost effortless.
"…Okay, what the hell."
I moved again
Fast.
Sharp.
Like a predator.
Like a black panther slipping through attacks without getting touched.
Precise.
I was actually fighting back.
I glanced down at myself for a second.
"…This is insane."
Then my eyes shifted to the new notification ticket.
Right.
"The other ticket…"
I pulled it out slowly, still catching my breath.
[Novice Hand-to-Hand Combat]
|Common Skill|
You are reasonably talented in hand-to-hand combat. You know how to punch and where to punch and that's enough for most people. You won't be winning against professionals but you can confidently beat up the average person. You will however improve much faster than other people if you choose to train yourself.
Another wave of memories flowed into my head.
This time, it wasn't knowledge like medicine, it was experience.
Rough, practical experience.
The kind you'd expect from a street thug.
I suddenly knew how to throw a proper punch, how to keep my balance in a fight, where to strike, and how to react when someone came at me. It wasn't anything refined or fancy but it was effective.
"Hand-to-hand combat, huh…"
That made me glance at my weapon.
"…So the sword style is kinda obsolete now."
Trying to swing that invisible blade like Saber from Fate was insane, especially since I didn't even have any experience with swordplay. It probably wasn't the best idea anymore.
Instead, a new thought came to mind.
If the Invisible Air could shape around the pipe…
Then I could control it.
I focused.
The wind-like energy loosened slightly, revealing the steel pipe underneath.
Then-
I threw it with all my strength.
The pipe spun through the air and slammed straight into one of the Ethereals.
THUD.
It dropped instantly.
"Okay… that worked."
I didn't waste time celebrating.
I focused again.
This time, instead of wrapping the Invisible Air around the pipe, I split it.
The compressed wind shifted
And wrapped itself around my hands.
Like invisible gauntlets.
I hesitated for half a second.
"…This might mess up my hands."
But then I glanced at the remaining Ethereals.
"…Yeah. Still better than dying."
I clenched my fists.
Then moved.
Fast.
I stepped in and slashed with the compressed air around my hand, cutting through one of them.
It staggered back.
I followed up immediately, kicking another one straight in the torso.
It flew back and crashed into a wall.
Another lunged at me with its spear-like arm.
I ducked under it just in time, the blade barely missing my head.
My heart was pounding.
Too fast.
Too loud.
But my body kept moving.
I grabbed the one I had knocked down earlier and finished it off.
One by one
They went down.
A few seconds later, I stood there, breathing heavily.
"…Okay."
I looked around.
The group was gone.
All of them.
I swallowed.
"…I actually did it."
Then I looked in the direction where the girl had fallen.
"Alright… no time to stand around."
"I need to get to her."
taking care of a group of ethereals 1 random silver ticket
but before this another ripped ticket i knew the game now already
Rip
Rolling
[Universal Rations]
|Uncommon Item|
A bottle of small white pills, consuming a pill will completely satiate you and give you all of the nutrients and dietary needs you require regardless of your race or peculiarities, the pills do not have flavor. Each pill is roughly equal to a regular meal and will satiate you for at least 8 hours. Each bottle contains 100 pills. Restock Timer: 120 Hours
The bottle appeared in my hand.
I opened it and took out a single white pill.
"I was kinda getting hungry anyway," I muttered before swallowing it.
The hunger faded almost instantly.
"Okay… that's actually useful."
I slipped the bottle into my cargo pocket. Luckily, I had enough space to carry everything without any trouble.
I glanced back once more, then turned forward.
"Alright…"
"Northwest it is."
Chapter 2 end
Author's Note:
At first, I wanted to continue the chapter entirely in first-person, but I honestly didn't know how to start it. Then I had the idea to open with the Cunning Hares escaping, and after that, everything started flowing much easier.
How did you find the chapter? I'd really appreciate a review or any advice on how I can improve future chapters.
Also, do you think I made Mousa adapt too quickly? Should I slow down his progression a bit, or does it feel fine?
Anyway, have a nice day