The appearance of Nineveh caused the Ether density across the surrounding Hollow region to spike dramatically. Even the elite members of Hollow Special Operations Section 6 were visibly tense in the face of such a monstrous Ethereal.
"Chief, the observational data checks out. Now it's your turn to pin it down. We'll support from the flanks," said a handsome young man with golden eyes to a black-haired girl with fox ears standing beside him.
He was Asaba Harumasa, a member of Section 6. The girl with the fox ears was none other than their Section Chief—Hoshimi Miyabi—one of the few Void Hunters representing the pinnacle of combat power in New Eridu.
"I'll deal with that thing." Miyabi ignored Harumasa's words completely. Her hand drifted to the hilt of her weapon at her waist, while a spirit-like entity floating around her silently slipped into the blade in sync with her movement.
Sensing the murderous aura radiating from Miyabi, Nineveh turned and glanced her way.
Whether it was fear—or simple disinterest—it abruptly veered off and flew away.
"Think you can run?" In a flash, Miyabi vanished from her spot, turning into a streak of movement as she lunged forward, aiming to land a decisive blow before Nineveh escaped her range.
But just as she was preparing her ultimate strike, swarms of drone-like Ethereals—resembling bees—rushed in to block her.
Scoffing at the interruption, Miyabi ended her charge and swung her blade with zero hesitation.
A burst of freezing energy erupted in a flash of white light, transforming into a sweeping sword beam that slashed through the swarms.
The resulting explosion tore through the cluster, vaporizing the majority of the Ethereals. The few that survived no longer had the strength to stop her.
Even so, in that brief moment, Nineveh had already ascended to heights far above—well outside her striking range. Miyabi was forced to halt.
"Nineveh's flying deeper into the Hollow. It's still within containment range, but we must pursue it with everything we've got. We can't let it get away!" said a stern woman with pink hair and glasses, her tone as sharp as her glare.
This was Tsukishiro Yanagi, the Vice Chief of Section 6, second only to Miyabi in command.
At her order, the members of Section 6 sprang into motion. Not that Miyabi needed prompting—she had already taken off again, hot on Nineveh's trail.
"Hey—look! There's someone up there!" shouted another agent, a blue-skinned Oni woman named Soukaku, known by her title Celestial Horn.
Following her pointing finger, both Harumasa and Yanagi spotted it too—a lone figure standing atop a building not far from Nineveh's flight path.
He wore a deep navy cloak, a white mask, and carried a giant fan on his back.
At that moment, the masked man had his head slightly raised, his gaze locked intensely on the massive Ethereal flying overhead.
"A Hollow Investigator? What's he doing there? That position's way too dangerous—he'll get hit by Nineveh for sure!" Soukaku exclaimed, concern coloring her voice as she ran.
But Harumasa and Yanagi's reactions were very different. They exchanged a look—and instantly understood what the other was thinking.
"Soukaku, that's not a Hollow Investigator. That's the legendary Hollow Raider the Association would sell their souls to recruit—Uchiha. I told you about him, remember?" Harumasa said, forcing a strained smile.
Hearing the name, Soukaku froze. Then her eyes widened in shock as she stammered, "W-Wait... that's Uchiha? Wasn't our directive to find him if possible?"
Indeed, all special divisions, including Section 6, had received the same mission.
Locate Uchiha during Hollow operations—and if possible, secure him. Use force if necessary.
It was a task they had committed to memory… but none of them expected to find him now.
And this timing posed a problem—they couldn't complete both missions at once.
Even for Section 6, facing two monsters at once was impossible.
Yanagi made the call instantly. "Prioritize Nineveh. It's the bigger threat. As for Uchiha... we'll circle back once we have bandwidth."
Between Uchiha and Nineveh, Yanagi had chosen the latter. From her perspective, Uchiha couldn't possibly match the danger posed by a super-giant Ethereal like Nineveh.
Compared to it, the giant Ethereals Uchiha had defeated were little more than warm-up acts.
After all, how strong could a Hollow Raider possibly be?
No matter how capable, no Hollow Raider could outmatch a Void Hunter, right?
Anyone who'd seen a Void Hunter in action would think that. In their minds, Void Hunters stood at the apex of human strength—anything stronger would no longer be human.
That mindset wasn't unreasonable.
But the unfortunate truth for them was this—Uchiha's power didn't belong to this world.
To this day, he had never encountered an opponent worthy of his full strength.
But now, the Shadow Clone carrying Zhong Yan's will was ready to show this world's so-called "top" what true power looked like.
With that thought, Uchiha activated Kamui—and, in a blur of dimensional energy, vanished in pursuit of Nineveh.