The ether avatar formed from her full-force concentration was utterly annihilated by a single Yasaka Magatama from Zhong Yan. The moment it happened, the Twelve Shields member sent to hunt down Airi visibly weakened, her aura collapsing as if she had suffered a fatal blow.
It was only now—facing Zhong Yan directly—that she truly grasped what it meant for him to be a legendary Hollow Raider. His strength was so overwhelming that even within the Exaltists, there likely wasn't a single person who could stand toe-to-toe with him.
But that also made him invaluable for research. If he were converted into a Hollow-type hybrid, it was impossible to imagine how powerful he might become.
If the full Twelve Shields were present, maybe… just maybe, victory could've been possible... she thought. If one wasn't enough, then gather them all.
Unfortunately, within the Exaltists, no one besides their leader had the authority to command the Twelve Shields—not even the Twelve themselves.
In other words, if she wanted to survive, she'd have to defeat Zhong Yan one-on-one.
But clearly, that wasn't happening. Not even three Twelve Shields together might be able to stop him.
She had only one option left.
Members of the Exaltists shared a similar physiology with Hollows, allowing them to absorb ether freely within Hollow zones.
To stand a chance of escaping Zhong Yan, she'd need to unleash a devastating technique—and for that, she needed ether. Ether she could freely draw from inside a Hollow.
And as luck would have it, Hollow Zero was nearby. All she had to do was find an entrance and slip inside.
Without hesitation, her figure vanished in a blur, retreating at incredible speed.
Seeing this, Airi grew anxious. She was just about to intervene when Zhong Yan raised a hand to stop her.
"She's heading for the Hollow. In there, she can absorb ether without limits. That's dangerous for you—don't let her escape!" Airi warned urgently.
But Zhong Yan, after a moment of silence, simply replied, "That's for the best."
The next second, Kamui activated. His body was absorbed into a spatial vortex and disappeared instantly.
Airi was left bewildered. She had been ready to help pursue, but Zhong Yan had stopped her—now the opportunity to chase the Twelve Shields had passed.
…
After the three had left the area, teams from the New Eridu Public Security Bureau and rescue squads arrived on the scene. But that didn't mean the battle was over.
Elsewhere, the escaping Twelve Shields member, knowing Zhong Yan and Airi wouldn't let her go so easily, dove headfirst into Zero Hollow.
The dense ether in the air instantly filled her with a sense of safety.
With ether around, failure was not an option.
But what she didn't realize was that her escape was only possible because Zhong Yan had let her go.
Had he chosen to stop her, she wouldn't have made it anywhere near the Hollow. She'd already be a corpse—though that would've risked even more damage to the district.
That, too, was why Zhong Yan let her enter the Hollow.
In here, he had no restraints.
While the Twelve Shield gathered power for a massive attack, a spatial vortex suddenly opened—and Zhong Yan appeared, not far away.
"So fast?!" she gasped, visibly shaken by his sudden arrival. She hadn't expected him to catch up this quickly.
Wait—if he could move this fast, why had she escaped him earlier?
The realization dawned.
Fear stirred from deep within her heart.
Still, she fought to suppress her panic and continued gathering power for her strongest strike.
But Zhong Yan's Sharingan saw through her completely—every move, every buildup of ether—nothing was hidden.
"In the Hollow, I won't hold back. Might as well take out some nearby trash while I'm at it," Zhong Yan said calmly, glancing to the side where numerous Hollows were converging on their location.
No doubt summoned by the Twelve Shield. They wouldn't be this coordinated otherwise.
But these were mere gnats—Zhong Yan wouldn't even need to target them directly. The aftershock of his attack alone would be enough to obliterate dozens.
It was, in fact, a good way to reduce Zero Hollow's ether activity.
"You… you let me come into the Hollow?" she finally realized, her voice shaking as she looked at his expressionless face.
"Bingo. Too bad… that's all you've figured out," Zhong Yan replied with a cold nod.
Deep-blue energy erupted around him again, condensing into Susanoo's armored form.
In its hands—a bow and arrow took shape, radiating a destructive force that made the air itself tremble.
Now she understood.
He hadn't let her go out of mercy. He didn't want to destroy the district.
But here—inside the Hollow—there was nothing to hold him back.
A single arrow outside would've killed her and flattened an entire neighborhood along with her.
"This is your fate. The fate of the Exaltists. You don't even understand what you're dealing with," Zhong Yan said. His voice had shifted from calm to chilling.
As he spoke, Susanoo notched the arrow.
Facing a strike of this caliber, she had no means of defense. Even her trump card—the ultimate attack she had been preparing—wasn't nearly enough to block it.
Only now did she understand why Uchiha Zhong Yan had such a terrifying reputation in New Eridu.
If she could, she would have taken this message back to the organization—warned them to tread carefully with him. If not, the Exaltists might never again act so recklessly within the Hollow zones.
Then—
A beam of deep-blue light tore through the sky.
The ground for hundreds of meters around the impact point was reduced to barren wasteland. Every Hollow in the area was reduced to ashes by the sheer force of the blast.
As if everything had been swallowed into a final, absolute silence.