Shortly after the battle concluded, inside a building just outside New Eridu—
An elderly man in a white lab coat was adjusting the instruments in his hands. Suddenly, he seemed to realize he'd forgotten something. At that moment, a stream of ether energy manifested behind him.
That ether energy condensed into an arm that extended from the old man's back in a bizarrely unnatural way, reaching across the room to retrieve a sample from the table before retracting.
The sight was truly astonishing—being able to manipulate ether energy freely outside the Hollow was an ability practically unheard of.
"Number Seven..."
Suddenly, the tightly shut door creaked open, and a boy—no older than six—entered the room with a sullen expression.
In his hands were a pile of broken tiles that looked like valuable ornaments.
Staring at the elderly man still immersed in his instruments, the boy said with frustration, "One of our bases in Hollow Zero was eradicated. All equipment destroyed, no survivors. There were traces of high-grade ether that hadn't fully dissipated, which means a colossal Ethereal appeared there."
He recited the report he had just received, word for word. But from the looks of it, the old man was still more focused on his research.
After a long pause, the old man finally responded slowly, "That base shouldn't have existed in the first place. It was built within his territory—of course they were wiped out."
Within Hollow Zero, there existed a group of Ethereals beyond New Eridu's wildest comprehension. The strongest among them could destroy the entire city with ease. But because Ethereals depended on ether to survive, they couldn't leave the Hollow.
For those dedicated to half-human, half-Ethereal research, they could communicate with such beings—but those Ethereal kings were prideful and utterly scorned the hybrid monstrosities they considered neither human nor Ethereal.
Their trespasses into sovereign territory were not taken lightly. Many times, these kings had annihilated intruders.
This was why their bases in Hollow Zero were always built underground—not only to evade detection by the Hollow Investigative Association and other official bodies, but also to avoid the eyes of those Ethereal rulers.
"When did I say it was the colossal Ethereal that did it?" the old man continued. "According to descriptions from the site, it was someone who destroyed our base—and who also happened to slay the colossal Ethereal while they were at it."
The boy's tone turned cold. Clearly, he was displeased with the elder's detached attitude. But unfortunately, status-wise, the man still outranked him by quite a bit.
Hearing this, the old man finally stopped what he was doing. He looked up, his expression filled with disbelief. "Someone who can single-handedly kill a colossal Ethereal? In all of New Eridu's history, I can only think of one person—the head of that household."
Normally, he had zero interest in anything outside his experiments—unless the subject promised to advance his research.
A person strong enough to slay a colossal Ethereal solo was unprecedented—even within their own organization. There were those who reached such levels, but only after undergoing experimentation.
A pre-experiment subject with that kind of power? If the experiment were successful... his resulting strength was unimaginable.
That thought alone made the old man giddy. He had to capture the one responsible, no matter what.
Unfortunately, with no surveillance allowed in the Hollow, they didn't know who the attacker was. But as long as that person still existed within New Eridu, finding them wouldn't be too difficult.
This rare experimental subject—he wouldn't let them slip away.
...
While they began their investigation, outside the Hollow, Zhong Yan had already returned to the video store, where Belle and Wise were waiting. The three from the Cunning Hares were there too.
Having been inexplicably attacked and imprisoned for several days, they weren't about to let the perpetrators off easy—especially since no one knew if these people would target other innocents next.
Because of that, the Cunning Hares and the Phaeton siblings had decided to cooperate and uncover the organization's mastermind. Fairy had already begun running a full investigation.
And as Phaeton's personal agent, Zhong Yan naturally got involved.
"Zhong Yan, listen to what Fairy dug up about the organization. I have a feeling... this is way more complicated than we thought," Belle said, walking up to him with a serious expression.
Zhong Yan's interest was immediately piqued—perhaps Fairy had information beyond what he already knew.
"Summary follows: The 'Exaltists,' an organization originating in the era of New Eridu. Its predecessor was a small-scale laboratory from Old Eridu. It later moved into human experimentation and successfully developed a method for perfect human-ether fusion. Current activity zones lie outside New Eridu."
"The leader of the Exaltists is an elderly cancer patient, also the first subject of their human experimentation. His official identity has been erased from New Eridu's records and he is presumed dead in the disaster that expanded Hollow Zero."
"Lastly, the organization's motto: 'Abandon your frail flesh—join the glorious evolution.'"
Aside from the leader and the slogan, everything Fairy said was already known to Zhong Yan, which left him somewhat disappointed. But he couldn't really blame Fairy.
An organization born in Old Eridu and now operating outside New Eridu wasn't easy to track. That Fairy even uncovered this much was already impressive.
"So, what's the plan? We're in the light; they're in the shadows. If we're not careful, they could take us out again," Zhong Yan asked. At present, they had no clear leads—only one known base, and that was already destroyed. Unless the enemy came to them, all they could do was wait.
Or hope Fairy could pull off something extraordinary and uncover everything—but that wasn't exactly likely.
"Well... there is one person who might help."
Right after Zhong Yan posed the question, everyone turned to look at him in unison, their eyes filled with anticipation.
Zhong Yan instantly understood.
They weren't thinking of asking Uchiha for help... were they?