Stacks of unmounted explosives were piled beside the train—enough to fill three full cars.
Fortunately, there was an auto-loading crane near the train. After Phaethon overrode its controls, the explosives were loaded in a short time.
"Then, according to plan, we split into two teams."
After the loading was complete, Phaethon transmitted Nicole a location marker—a broken section of rail before an abandoned station building.
As they approached the target area, the sky suddenly grew heavy with clouds, and thunder rolled as rain began to pour.
The railway had fractured from ground subsidence, forming a basin-shaped pit, like an ancient Roman coliseum. The cliffs surrounding it were covered with ether crystals, and in them could be seen the remains of buried conduits and cabling.
A mass of low-grade Ethereals clustered in the pit below—at least a hundred by sight.
"Truly a Dead End, huh," said Ignis, standing at the broken edge of the rail, looking down. "Facing the enemy on their home turf."
"Happens all the time in movies," replied Anby calmly. "You dive into the enemy's lair, wreak havoc, and walk out victorious."
They descended slowly along the terraces formed by the collapse. The rain made the ground slick, and Nicole nearly slipped, saved only by Ignis's quick hand.
It was clear that when the subsidence occurred, a train had been passing through; several cars lay overturned beside the track, cargo scattered everywhere.
"So empty…" said Billy as he reached the edge of the lowest platform, spinning his twin handguns with a showy flourish. "That big guy's supposed to be down here, right?"
"No big one in sight, but plenty of small ones," Nicole said, one hand on her hip. The coliseum was crawling with Ethereals.
When the creatures noticed them, they turned and let out hoarse howls. Yet, strangely, instead of attacking as usual, they began to flee.
Ignis was the first to jump down, his heavy body splashing up a curtain of muddy water as he landed, then turned to help the others down.
As the members of the Cunning Hares stepped onto the flat ground, even more Ethereals began to flee the area. Ignis marked their numbers with his power armor's targeting system—at least two hundred.
The four of them walked slowly toward the center of the field like gladiators entering the arena, though there was no cheering audience—only the retreating, shrieking Ethereals.
"It's coming…" Anby scanned the surroundings.
Ignis tensed immediately, every sense sharpened, yet his enhanced perception picked up nothing out of the ordinary.
"That monster?" Nicole frowned.
"The theme song," Anby said with absolute conviction.
"Huh?" Nicole and Ignis both blinked, confused.
"In movies, the villain's music always plays before the final battle," Anby said, utterly serious.
Ignis felt his head throb. Is this her way of easing the tension?
"Don't worry, Anby." Billy, ever the showman, bounded forward, putting on a dramatic pose. "I've mastered the secret to victory from the Starlight Knight series!"
He turned his back to them, crossing both pistols behind his head, and started moonwalking backward with exaggerated grace.
"Never fight villains by the rules! Always open with a finishing flying kick!"
He flailed his arms, demonstrating the move, then froze in a self-proclaimed 'cool' pose.
Ignis had the sudden urge to smack him—but then, behind Billy, something glinted and shot toward them at incredible speed.
"Billy!" Nicole tried to warn him, but Anby and Ignis were already in motion.
Anby grabbed the flashy android and yanked him aside just as Ignis's fist met the incoming object.
The impact rang out sharply. Whatever it was, it hit hard enough to jar his arm, deflecting slightly before crashing into the ground a few meters away.
It was an axe—forged from steel pipes, ether crystals, and a road barrier, over four meters long.
"It predicted my prediction!" Billy patted himself down, confirming all his parts were intact, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Almost rolled credits in under ten seconds," Nicole muttered, still shaken, helping him to his feet.
"Up there!" Ignis pointed. On the distant station rooftop stood a dark, hulking figure.
"Is that guy a Starlight Knight fan too?" Billy reloaded both guns, ready for combat.
The shadow leapt from the roof, landing with an earth-shaking crash that left a deep crater.
It was larger even than Ignis—its body forged from black ether crystal, encased in a layer of dull, lead-gray plating.
With two reverse-jointed legs thick as pillars, it seized the fallen axe and let out a thunderous roar toward the Cunning Hares.
"This thing's no joke… I'm starting to regret this," Billy muttered, opening fire with both guns.
This time, he used special explosive rounds, each bullet packed with a small charge of ether.
"We just need to hold out until the Proxy arrives!" Nicole shouted, firing a gravity round that detonated against the creature's side.
To Ignis's eyes, the Ethereal known as the Dead End Butcher resembled a Hell Beast—though without armor. Its grotesquely overgrown flesh had become ether crystal, and its hammer had turned into an axe of the same.
The others wouldn't survive a direct hit; only he, protected by his power armor, could hold it off—barely.
"Face me, abomination!"
He roared, drawing the Dead End Butcher's attention, and charged.
His powered fists crackled with lightning as the disintegration field flared to life.
The Dead End Butcher saw the largest target coming and committed fully, ignoring Billy's explosive rounds as it swung its massive axe down.
That blow could have split a tank. Ignis, of course, didn't try to take it head-on. He sidestepped at the last second.
The axe cleaved into the ground, sending up shards of rock—yet the monster, with a jerk of its right arm, ripped it free and swept it sideways.
Too close to dodge.
Ignis braced himself, planting his feet, tensing his core, raising his left arm to block.
The impact thundered like an explosion. Though he held, the strike hurled him several meters back.
Seeing its blow fail to cripple its foe, the Dead End Butcher tried to leap back to reset the distance for another swing.
Ignis wouldn't allow it. Though his left arm went numb, he lunged forward, seizing the axe's shaft—the steel pipe—and locking it beneath his arm. With a twist and surge of strength, he clamped down hard. His right hand, glowing with lightning, became a chopping blade.
He brought it down with all his might.
The axe shattered.
The Dead End Butcher froze—utterly stunned. Disarmed? Already?It had never known such humiliation.
Anby struck next, driving a charged blade into its right arm, electrocuting it so violently that it dropped the remaining pipe.
The creature tried to turn on her, but Ignis was already there, slamming a fist into its torso. The blow blasted open a crater in its chest.
Ether crystals across its body flared to life, gleaming in prismatic light as it began absorbing the surrounding ether formations to regenerate.
Ignis stayed on it, hammering away with relentless force. The disintegration field clashed with its ether aura, neutralizing each other—but raw power alone kept tearing crystal plating away.
Nicole fired several more gravity rounds. They detonated on the Dead End Butcher's back, swelling into pulsating distortions like tumors.
The barrage slowed its movements. It spread its arms wide, lunging to grab Ignis.
The creature's reach was immense. Ignis couldn't evade in time. Its massive hands clamped around him and lifted him high.
If it slammed him down, that would be the end.
He strained, muscles and servo-fibers screaming, but its grip was too strong. Even with the full power of his electromagnetic musculature, he could barely move.
In that instant, Ignis noticed something—the Dead End Butcher's core, pulsing behind its back, tightly shielded.
Seeing Ignis trapped, the others acted fast. Nicole and Billy focused their fire on its right arm, blasting away chunks of crystal.
It was Anby who broke the stalemate. The white-haired girl climbed the creature's side and brought her charged blade down hard on its right arm.
The voltage exploded outward, flinging her back violently—who knew how high she'd cranked the output.
But it worked. The arm went limp. Ignis freed one hand and immediately shattered the left with a charged punch.
Landing solidly, Ignis saw Anby on the ground, sparking, her hair frizzed out, face contorted in pain.
The Dead End Butcher began regrowing its limbs, helpless to retaliate.
"Anby! The core's on its back!" Ignis shouted.
Jab, hook, uppercut—every strike hit with full force. Even the towering Butcher stumbled backward, reeling.
Each time it tried to counter, Nicole and Billy's covering fire forced it back.
In the midst of the melee, Anby seized another opening, scaling its back again.
Sensing danger, the Dead End Butcher reached for her—but Ignis's uppercut smashed its face aside, stunning it.
For a fighter as swift as Anby, that was all the time she needed. She saw the core—a black, pulsating heart encased in rib-like crystal.
Her blade crackled with blue light as she counted silently to three, then drove it in.
A burst of azure lightning detonated. The Dead End Butcher screamed.
It toppled backward like a collapsing colossus, crashing into the flooded earth.
Anby rolled clear just in time, avoiding being crushed.
"Is it over?" Ignis asked, chest heaving as he looked at the motionless corpse of the Dead End Butcher.