"Give it to her."
"Boss!?"
The familiar voice came from behind them. Ben Bigg and Anton spun around in shock to find that their president had somehow regained consciousness.
Before they could react, Koleda was already forcing herself upright, staggering forward toward Eous.
Ben Bigg rushed to her side to offer support, but Koleda pushed him away, signaling that she was fine.
"If we use this, my big sis will wake up — right?"
"That's correct, but—"
"No buts."
Koleda's eyes were dim, unfocused, like lenses that had lost their calibration. She stared at the vial in Eous's grasp, snatched it away, then turned and staggered her way over to where Grace lay.
Grace's complexion was ashen, her lips thin and bloodless from the massive blood loss. Her abdomen was wrapped in loop after loop of red-soaked bandages — Manato's own sleeve, torn and wound around the wound. There had been a risk of bacterial infection, but there was no room to worry about that now.
Even so, it had not been enough to fully stanch the blood still seeping out. If nothing changed soon, this iron-willed woman — head full of machines and gears — would simply fade away from this world.
"You always said I was the dumb one. But looking at you right now, you're the biggest idiot of all."
Koleda gazed at Grace, whatever thoughts she was turning over kept to herself. But her hands didn't stop moving for a single moment — she pressed the syringe against Grace's neck and slid it in.
She pushed the plunger. The green serum emptied into Grace's body, every last drop.
Koleda fixed her eyes on Grace, watching. The faint rise and fall of Grace's chest suddenly went still — and Koleda's already unfocused gaze began to tremble.
The pause lasted only a heartbeat. Then, a strong and steady pulse thundered to life.
Thud — thud — thud —
Again and again. With each beat growing stronger, Grace's chest rose and fell with increasing force.
Then the wound — which had been beginning to clot — suddenly erupted with fresh blood, and a grimace of pain crossed Grace's face.
"Grace!"
"Don't touch her!"
Ben Bigg had lurched forward to press down on the wound, but Koleda stopped him.
She watched, and gradually, a light returned to her eyes. Her pupils trembled with rising excitement.
For as Grace writhed, the gaping hole in her abdomen was slowly closing. Blood continued to pour out in a relentless stream — and yet the wound itself was shrinking, contracting with every passing second.
Soon, even the bleeding ceased, like floodwaters receding from a river, the torrent subsiding into calm.
Koleda stepped forward and peeled back the soaked bandages. Beneath the mess of blood and gore, Grace's abdomen bore not a single trace of injury.
Had they not seen with their own eyes the Sacrificial Wraith's blow punch clean through her, none of them would have believed that just moments ago there had been a gaping hole in her body.
"Thank god. Thank god!"
Anton cried out, overwhelmed, throwing his fists into the air and letting out a long howl at the sky.
Ben Bigg exhaled at last, a long-held breath finally released, and stood rooted to the spot, watching as Koleda pulled Grace into her arms — tears streaming freely down her face.
"Thank god. You're still here. Thank god…"
Tears blurred her vision. In this moment, Koleda could no longer hold back everything surging inside her — it spilled out as warm drops overflowing from her eyes.
Seeing this, the anxiety that had gripped Eous gradually loosened its hold.
Then it turned around and looked toward the black wall still looming in the distance — and felt its composure waver again.
"Geno… he should be alright, shouldn't he."
"Don't worry. Geno is strong."
The Belobog Heavy Industries crew were still submerged in the overwhelming tide of emotion that came with Grace's miraculous recovery, unable to pull themselves free.
Only Eous and Manato were still thinking of Geno — trapped behind the black wall, locked in a cage fight with the fused Sacrificial Wraith.
Back inside the enclosure, no more than a minute had passed since Geno and the Sacrificial Wraith had begun to clash.
And yet within that single minute, the two had exchanged blows no fewer than twenty times.
Every time, Geno would Blink to the creature's face — and immediately its arm would shoot out to intercept him, giving him no opening whatsoever to break through its guard.
"Annoying turtle shell — how can these things be this hard!"
The materials used for the prototype unit and its fellow intelligent machines had been engineered specifically to resist Ether Corruption. The finest specimens from the Old Capital era, now further reinforced by the Sacrificial Wraith's own Ether energy, had long since surpassed the hardness of ordinary alloys.
And this was still under conditions where the seal had only just been broken — before the creature had absorbed any significant quantity of Ether energy.
If the fused abomination was allowed to continue developing, it would eventually shatter the constraints of its current level — and in doing so, accelerate the expansion of the entire Crete Hollow.
With no progress to show for his assault, Geno's patience began to fray. He swept his gaze around the interior. The black wall blocked the sightlines of Eous and the others entirely — so Geno abandoned all restraint, unleashed the full force of his Ether energy, and shifted into his Ethereal form.
"So this is why I should have just started in Ethereal form from the beginning!"
With the Ether bracelet's restraints released, the full measure of Geno's power gradually drew level with what the fused Sacrificial Wraith had been displaying.
His movements were sharper now, faster — and at last, Geno broke through the Sacrificial Wraith's defensive perimeter and reached the cockpit again.
"Let's see you block this one — Dimensional Slash!"
In Ethereal form, Geno's command of Ether was far more precise. The blade wave he unleashed sliced through space itself, striking directly at the Sacrificial Wraith's true body inside the cockpit.
The Sacrificial Wraith shrieked as the piercing blow landed. The entire mechanical frame erupted in showers of sparks, and the body lurched into wild, involuntary motion.
Geno couldn't dodge in time and took another hit.
Then the fused Sacrificial Wraith, still spraying sparks in every direction, collapsed to the ground as if paralyzed — seemingly dead.
Geno shook himself back to his senses. Rather than let his guard down at the Sacrificial Wraith's stillness, he pressed forward toward the cockpit, intent on delivering the finishing blow.
Slash!
Just as he expected. Even with a direct hit to its true body, the Sacrificial Wraith's ferocious vitality kept it struggling. Its enormous hand shot out — the same trick as before — reaching to restrain him once more.
Geno severed it in a single stroke.
"The same move won't work on me a third time!"
Having been caught out twice already, Geno had absolutely no intention of falling into the same trap again.
He raised his blade, poised to strike.
But the Sacrificial Wraith — whose face showed no expression — made no move at all, as though it were simply waiting to die where it lay.
Geno felt something was wrong. He spun around — and saw the mechanical body, fused together and grotesque, extending a long, whip-like tail that came stabbing straight toward him.
Clang!
Blade and tail crossed each other in a shower of brilliant sparks.
Geno blocked the strike — but cursed himself for it, because he had fallen for the Sacrificial Wraith's trick yet again.
Forced onto the defensive, he looked back — only to find that the Sacrificial Wraith was nowhere behind him.
It had slipped through his hands once more and escaped.
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Jujutsu x Mieruko: Oh no, am I a villain too?
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone