Cael stared at the spatial rift for a moment before looking around for somewhere safe to hide.
He had absolutely no combat ability inside a Hollow.
The best way he could help Miyabi was simply by staying out of her way.
After walking a dozen or so meters, Cael slipped into an abandoned shop nearby.
The wooden door was still fairly sturdy, so for extra security, he pushed several heavy objects in front of it and covered the windows, leaving only a narrow gap he could use to look outside.
Then he cleared some debris from a corner and quietly crouched there, waiting for Miyabi to finish the battle.
Dullahan.
A highly active humanoid Ethereal.
Its right arm formed an Ether-crystal blade, while its left carried a thick Ether-crystal shield, giving it both offensive and defensive capabilities.
In the game, it was considered an elite enemy.
But for Miyabi, it shouldn’t be particularly difficult.
Six stacks, triple charge, then draw—her Shimotsuki wasn’t something to joke about.
Crouched in the corner, Cael let his thoughts wander.
He thought about the Ethereals and Agents from the game, then about the fact that he’d actually crossed into the world of Zenless Zone Zero.
The realization still filled him with a strange mixture of novelty and excitement.
Once Miyabi finished the battle, they’d leave the Hollow, and then…
Maybe he could stick close to Miyabi and let her carry him through life?
Cael shook his head and laughed at himself.
Come on, Cael.
You’ve crossed into another world, and that’s all the ambition you have?
Was he really planning to spend the rest of his life mooching off a girl?
Besides, whether Miyabi would even let him was another matter entirely.
A game was a game, and reality was reality.
He barely knew her.
…
All right.
He was getting bored.
Cael stood up and peered through the narrow gap in the window.
Then he saw a burst of blue-white light erupt from deep within the Hollow.
Half of the distant sky lit up.
“What was that?”
Cael narrowed his eyes, trying to make it out.
Then a violent wave of air slammed into him head-on.
Ether particles erupted in every direction like snow caught in a hurricane.
The ground began to tremble.
Loose stones rained down from the broken walls overhead, striking Cael’s shoulders.
He instinctively raised his arms to shield his head.
BOOM!
An explosion loud enough to rupture his eardrums thundered through the area like lightning going off right beside him.
The window shattered under the pressure.
The shockwave swept through the shop and hurled Cael backward.
His back slammed into a pillar, sending a dull pain through his chest as a relentless ringing filled his ears.
“Cough…
Fuck, what the hell was that?
What just exploded?”
Cael raised his head and looked outside.
Ether motes floated everywhere around him, falling like green snow.
A support beam suddenly crashed down right in front of him.
Cael’s expression changed.
The building was about to collapse!
Without hesitation, he vaulted through the window.
The instant he made it outside, the building finally gave way and crashed down behind him, throwing a cloud of dust into the air.
If he’d been even a second slower, he would’ve been buried alive.
Standing atop the rubble, Cael looked toward the direction of the explosion.
That blue-white flash seemed to have come from deep within the Hollow.
Had the explosion been caused by Miyabi’s battle with Dullahan?
He frowned as an inexplicable sense of unease rose in his chest.
The explosion had been terrifyingly powerful, comparable to a small nuclear blast.
Even this far from the center, he’d been affected that badly.
Then what about Miyabi?
He trusted her strength.
But the Miyabi of this time wasn’t yet the Void Hunter he knew from the game.
With an explosion that violent…
Could she have been injured?
By the time Cael came back to his senses, he found himself standing in front of the spatial rift.
His rational mind told him that he was just an ordinary person.
He had no business going deeper into a Hollow.
But he couldn’t bring himself to leave Miyabi alone either.
What if…
A sense of helplessness washed over him.
In the end, Cael gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and stepped into the rift.
The instant he passed through, it felt as though his entire body had been plunged into ice water.
The prickling sensation across his skin suddenly intensified, as if countless tiny needles were stabbing into his pores at once.
Cael endured it through clenched teeth.
Then the scene before him made his pupils contract.
A scorched wasteland stretched out ahead.
Collapsed rubble from the explosion had piled into uneven mounds, while snapped steel bars jutted from the ruins like dead branches.
The air was scorching hot and carried a sharp metallic tang.
In the distance was a crater nearly twenty meters across.
The ground inside had been burned into glass-like black crystal, and thin wisps of smoke still rose from its surface.
Cael swept his gaze across the area.
There was no sign of Miyabi.
“Miss Hoshimi?”
He ran across the rubble toward the center of the crater.
The ground beneath his feet was unnaturally hot from the explosion.
Then he saw a sword.
It was embedded crookedly in the ground.
The Ethereal-Slaying Katana—Tailless.
A skilled warrior wouldn’t let their weapon leave their side.
Unless…
What happened?
Where was Miyabi?
Had Dullahan caused that explosion?
Was Dullahan really that strong?
No matter how powerful Miyabi was, she was still flesh and blood.
Taking an explosion like that at such close range…
Cael quickened his pace, desperately scanning the surrounding ruins.
Finally, more than ten meters away from Tailless, he spotted a figure among the rubble.
It was Miyabi.
She lay trapped in a gap between two chunks of concrete, her body bent at an unnatural angle.
The back of her blue jacket had been almost completely burned through, exposing charred skin and scraps of clothing beneath it.
Her face was turned to one side.
Blood stained the corner of her mouth.
Her burgundy eyes were half-open, their focus blurred.
“How…
how did this happen…?”
Cael had never seen Miyabi in such a miserable state.
He dropped to his knees and reached out to check her breathing.
It was faint.
But she was still alive.
“Miss Hoshimi!
Miyabi!
Are you okay?!”
Miyabi hazily opened her eyes.
She tried to move one of her arms, only for a wave of pain to shoot through her.
Only then did she seem to realize that she was pinned beneath the rubble—and that her injuries were severe.
Her gaze shifted upward slightly.
A vaguely familiar face entered her vision.
It was him.
The civilian she’d rescued from an Ethereal not long ago.
Why was he here?
Hadn’t she told him to find somewhere safe and hide?
This place was dangerous.
That Ethereal…
Miyabi tried to speak, but no sound came out.
The sound of shifting rubble came from behind them.
Cael turned his head.
The black crystalline ground at the center of the crater had cracked open.
An arm reached out from beneath it.
It was dark red from end to end, covered in Ether armor so thick it looked absurd.
When its fingers spread apart, the crystals at their tips gleamed like blades.
Then came its head.
A core nearly a meter wide emerged from beneath the ground, split by a vertical fissure.
It really helps the fic grow!