Ever since early in the morning, when their sensors went haywire thanks to those two giant beams of light coming out of the hollow, everybody at the outpost was running around like headless chickens.
Researchers were running in and out of buildings and frantically looking over the ever-increasing pile of fresh data.
The first batch of data collected during and immediately after each event seemed to point to the hollow expanding at a rapid pace. In fact, the numbers they saw were almost identical to reports dating back to the fall of the old city. The data collected immediately after suggested a significant reduction of the hollow.
And when the event appeared for the second time few minutes later, the data was nearly identical. In layman's terms, it was as if the hollow suddenly inflated and deflated like a balloon twice.
To say that the army panicked at this was an understatement because during the second event, calls came in ordering an immediate evacuation of the outpost. They were preparing to detonate the remaining Shyiu pillars in case the situation escalated further. Nobody wanted a repeat of what happened before.
Thankfully, the hollow stabilized shortly after the second time. That, of course, did not mean that everybody relaxed, far from it.
Because a special joint investigation between Section 6 and the Obsidian Squad was ordered, and they were just about to head out.
—
"Okay, so you're telling me that there is one single woman who can go toe to toe with either of you? And it's the same woman who just entered the Hollow?" I asked after listening to both of them talk.
"Yes, it is as you said." Replied the melodious voice of Nineveh. She too, was smart enough to join me. And her evolution into one of us made her vastly more humanoid than Geppetto.
She had skin that looked more like porcelain, covered in golden veins that seamlessly transitioned into a skirt-like structure in place of legs. Her face was something like a death mask. It was entirely motionless, perpetually stuck in a neutral expression, and her core was completely hidden beneath that mask.
She looked like a living statue.
As for the names I was calling them, apparently, it was those very same humans who hunted them that gave those to them, and those two were more than fine continuing to use them.
"She is a monster, and her sword… it carries something similar to us hidden inside." Geppetto added. The irony of ethereals calling a human a monster was not lost on me.
"Something similar to us?" I muttered.
"Yes, but it is unclear what exactly. It's hidden too deeply, buried behind their technology." She said. Surprisingly, it was she out of the two of them who clashed with that woman the most. Nineveh's territory stretched closer to the parts of the hollow humans sometimes traveled to. And even more surprising thing was that Nineveh was still alive, because given the threat she posed, one would think that eliminating her would be their number one priority. But apparently not, they just drove her away every time she tried to push her territory closer to the boundary separating the hollow and the outside world.
"A thing like that… Well, it should be possible. I wonder if it's the same tech they used on me, though something tells me that she is not going to be amenable to letting me borrow the sword and checking." I knew tech like that had to exist, or at least it had to have existed in the past. They did seal me away with the entire battlefield after all.
"Why not just take it? She often ventures deep into the hollow. It should be easy for one such as you." Geppetto asked.
"Satisfying my curiosity is not worth alienating her and potentially turning her into an enemy."
"They are already our enemies, though." Nineveh said confusedly, and yeah, I could see why she would think that.
"You can talk now, you are capable of rational thought. They can no longer afford to treat you like a mindless beast, and once they realize that, their attitude will change."I tried to explain gently to her.
"Will they change? Somehow, I don't think it's going to be as easy as you make it out to be."
"There will be difficulties, obviously, but showing humans that we are not a threat should go a long way. I want us to coexist, it's the only way forward." I said, looking at them both.
"I will… defer to you then, since you seem like you have an actual plan. I don't want this… to go away." He said, his hand gesturing to his new body. Nineveh just nodded her head lightly.
"Yes, same as him, but should a human ever breach this place and threaten the stability of the core, they will be eliminated. Whether you like it or not. Now that I know what it feels like, I want to live." She added.
"Hmm~ I can live with that. I want to live too, you know."
"So what next? Are we going to meet those humans? "
"Meet them? Well, you two will meet them eventually, but not right now. That big lightshow must have scared them quite a bit. They must be on edge." I said, rolling that idea in my head. Like, I was not stupid, I knew how those two looked. And first impressions are important. Especially here.
"Then you're going to approach them alone?" Nineveh asked with a tilt of her masked head.
"That's the plan. Just a brief interaction. Maybe a show of force if necessary. But I'll meet them alone." I said.
"See ya in a bit, hopefully with good news." With that, I disappeared from the core, and then, with great speed, I cut directly through the hollow to the vague direction the humans were in.
Shortly after, I was in the outer layers of the hollow. This place, despite also being destroyed, was looking more like a proper city. A lot of buildings were either completely intact or only partially destroyed.
The difference between this and the place where the core was was like night and day.
Here, I could recognize residential buildings and shopping malls at a glance. Back there? The only reason I even knew that the place where I decided to stay used to be some kind of school was because there was a partially corroded sign lying on the ground.
It read *something* Academy.
It was on top of the roof of one of those intact residential buildings where I spotted the humans first. Well, I only saw one. She was short with pretty big fox ears that added to her perceived height. She wore a blue jacket with a black skirt. It was probably some kind of uniform.
Two things that surprised me. One, she was looking directly at me. Two, one of the swords at her side was really strange. I felt the thing inside it even from this far away, and it was really something like me. A lot weaker, sure, but the similarity was there.
I watched her as she gave some kind of hand signal to the other humans. Though I could derive its meaning from the fact that nothing was attacking me yet.
Then she jumped and crossed the gap between us with inhuman speed. Somewhere along the jump, she even drew her other sword. Huh, she wasn't drawing the powerful one… how strange.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She asked, adjusted her grip on the sword.