Carrying Ruby's backpack, Phaga slowly beat his wings as he descended, reaching an arm out to Lighter.
"Grab on!"
Lighter lifted his eyes and reached back. Their hands locked tightly.
The sudden extra weight of more than two hundred pounds made Phaga drop a full tier in altitude, but he recovered at once. One strong beat of his wings steadied him.
Ether crystals formed across his face, sealing in beads of sweat before breaking apart and falling as tiny glittering fragments.
Phaga still found time to tease. "Ellen's childhood photos really have some heft. Over two hundred pounds."
"Ugh… I wasn't even being scolded, but it still feels awful. What kind of messed-up psychological journey is this?"
Ruby, yanked along by her backpack, looked like a cat being lifted by the scruff of its neck.
"Forget this pointless stuff. With this many Ethereal in the hollow, the rebels are probably all dead already. We should get out of here while we can…"
Before he could finish, Lighter seemed to sense something. His gaze slid downward, and when he saw clearly, his pupils shrank. "Look at that road sign!"
Ruby's heart jumped. She stared wide-eyed, but all she saw was a massive wall of purple fog rushing toward them, twisted and oppressive, the air itself hissing faintly.
"Th-that's… wh—whoa—"
Before she could even cry out, Phaga abruptly pulled back. The hand gripping Ruby's backpack swung on instinct.
Ruby spun through the air like a flail, and at the same time a massive Ether crystal burst out from the nearby high-rise, stretching across their path and completely blocking the purple fog.
The next instant, Phaga frowned, his eyes cold as he fixed on the ground below. There stood a creature almost identical to Arlaune, yet far larger than any normal one.
Its four legs were planted firmly. A huge bud crowned its head, writhing as it gathered Ether Substance and condensed it into a brilliant, eye-searing purple sphere.
Phaga murmured, "Feels like an evolved form of Arlaune… And the ether concentration in this hollow, hasn't it gone up?"
He had thought earlier that Ruby being chased by large numbers of Ethereal must have been because of her freakish talent.
But thinking about it now, it really was not her fault.
The ether concentration in this hollow had spiked abruptly. It was far too suspicious.
Should he stay and investigate…?
Just as the thought crossed his mind, Phaga sensed something else. He lowered his gaze slightly, and a faint, plaintive voice drifted to his ears.
"Stars… so many stars…"
Ruby dangled from her backpack, swaying with inertia, her eyes spinning. She looked like she was about to pass out.
Phaga then glanced at Lighter.
Outwardly, Lighter still looked fine. But through his vampiric vision, Phaga could clearly see his blood flow slowing, his body temperature steadily returning to normal.
The adrenaline was wearing off.
Even an undefeated champion couldn't defy physiology. When the rush ended, it ended.
If he forced his body to surge again too soon, the backlash would be brutal. At best, Lighter would pay for it later with days of forced recovery. At worst, his body would simply give out.
…Forget it. Better to pull back.
Phaga withdrew his gaze from the mutated Arlaune beneath the road sign. With a beat of his wings, he started toward the edge of the hollow and said casually, "Let's go, little pet. Stop playing around."
[Damn it! Don't you dare call Lord Black-White Doll a little pet, you stinky vampire!]
The Black-White Doll darted after him, puffed up and glaring.
He was awful. The doll decided it was going to kick him.
Just as its furry foot was about to touch Phaga's back, something caught the corner of its eye. It glanced back instinctively, then hurriedly patted Phaga's back and shouted,
[Hey, vampire, look behind us! There's—]
Whoosh!
Boom!
An Ether crystal erupted straight from the ground, blocking the purple fog spewed by the mutated Arlaune head-on.
The fog burst apart on contact, scattering like brilliant fireworks.
At the same time, a bulge rose on the surface of the crystal that had blocked the attack. In the next instant, a spike shot out.
It tore through the air, the compression exploding into a sharp crack.
The mutated Arlaune tried to dodge, but it was already too late.
The spike was too fast. Before it could even react, it had pierced straight through the flower core and driven into its core. Purple smoke spiraled up as the mutated Arlaune collapsed.
Like a sculpture made of sand, it quietly dispersed in the wind.
"What was behind us?" Phaga asked without turning, continuing to fly forward.
[…Nothing.]
The Doll swallowed for no reason, its pupils trembling slightly.
A cool breeze brushed past, and it suddenly realized how far ahead Phaga had already flown. It hurried to float up after him.
Putting on a fawning smile, the Doll rubbed its little hands together with exaggerated sincerity and stared straight at Phaga.
Phaga glanced at it. "If you've got something to say, say it."
The doll sidled closer, delicately kneading Phaga's shoulder, grinning obsequiously.
[Hehe, it's not really anything big. It's just that my time as an Ethereal was actually pretty short. Like humans say, I'm still a kid, just a bit… unruly. I was hoping you could…]
"You want me to beat you into shape, right? Sure. But we'll do it after we're out of the hollow."
Phaga said it lightly, a faint smile at the corner of his mouth.
[What?! You know exactly what I was going to say! Aaaah! I can't stand you! You really are a stinky vampire! I'm not talking to you anymore!]
The Doll instantly exploded.
Completely broken, it dove straight into Ruby's backpack and refused to stick its head out again.
"Tsk. Can't even take a few words? Didn't I tell you to read more? You didn't learn a thing about restraint."
The way out of the hollow was not long, but it was not short either. Phaga found having someone he could tease at will rather enjoyable.
Not long after he finished speaking, a rustling sound came from inside the backpack.
The Doll rummaged around, and before long the soft rustle of turning pages echoed every few seconds.
It glared viciously at a physics textbook as if the words themselves were Phaga, muttering under its breath,
[Damn it… they say knowledge is power. Fine. I'll learn. I'll get strong on my own.]
[And when I do, I won't just beat you with success—I'll crush you.]
[A hundred times over!]
Of course, Phaga never heard the Doll's muttered curses.
By the time it finished ranting, he had already passed through the final spatial rift.
...
The purple haze dissolved, replaced by a blinding white.
Lighter and Ruby felt their vision blur and their bodies sink.
When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves outside the hollow.
The Class President was sitting cross-legged on the ground, idly playing with his phone as he waited. Hearing movement in the air, he looked up and immediately spotted Ruby and Lighter, grinning shamelessly.
"Oh? You're soaked in sweat. Looks like it really was the smart choice not to go in with you!"
"You have no idea how intense it was in there! You missed out big time by not coming with me!"
Ruby puffed out her cheeks in protest, launching straight into a full rebuttal. Yet an unmistakable flush spread across her face, steam practically rising from her head.
"Phaga!"
Ellen ignored the commotion entirely, even leaving the others she had come with behind. Right in front of everyone, she rushed forward.
Her tail swayed gently as her nostrils flared, greedily breathing in the scent from Phaga's neck.
"Ellen, there are other people here."
Phaga lowered his head and whispered softly into her ear.
Ellen came back to herself at once, shifting slightly to the side. She wrapped an arm around Phaga's waist and looked behind them.
At the edge of their vision, a pink-haired woman approached.
"I'm glad you two still remember me after such a brief parting."
Yanagi walked forward with unhurried grace, her long legs smooth and pale. Faint redness showed at her ankles where her high heels had rubbed.
Rather than detracting from her beauty, that subtle flush only made her look more delicate.
"I would have liked to leave you some time alone, but we cannot afford to waste it. Let's talk about business."
Yanagi adjusted her glasses out of habit. Light caught on the lenses, reflecting the fatigue in her eyes as her voice grew subdued.
"The vampire clan… they've betrayed us."
"More precisely… they have declared all-out war on humanity."