Deep within the Plains, a small battle was about to unfold.

A frightened young girl with a hint of determination… against a disgusting, strange creature.

Nene didn’t know what she was supposed to do.

Sensing the doubt in her mind, Sahara gave her command.

“Fire your fingers! Use my Resonance and shoot—able to do that you should be.”

“M-My fingers…?”

The doubt barely had time to form before she obeyed.

[Crystallization – Fingers]

The world turned white.

Excruciating pain struck her hand head-on, as if an invisible truck had run over it. The air fled her lungs. She felt her skin tear from the inside, a wet, burning sensation that crawled mercilessly along her nerves.

“Ghh…!”

She dropped to her knees, her body shaking with involuntary spasms. Her vision trembled. The cold ground seemed to rush toward her too quickly.

“No! Get up, Human Nene!”

The voice dragged her back from collapse. Barely, she managed to roll to the side, dodging the slug’s acid shot by mere centimeters. The liquid hissed as it struck the white plate, releasing bluish corrosive vapor.

“W-What was th-that…?”

“Ah, right. I forgot to tell you it hurts. Quite a lot in your case. Anyway, run and I’ll talk.”

Nene didn’t argue.

Her survival instinct took control before fear could paralyze her.

Behind her, the slug let out a viscous screech—an unnatural sound that made her skin crawl. From the trees, gelatinous masses began descending one by one.

One. Two. Three. Four.

“N-Now there’s m-more…!”

“That’s the tactic of the weak. Attacking in groups. Going keep just— faster we should be.”

To Nene’s surprise, it was true.

Her steps were putting a good distance between her and the group of slugs.

But… not enough.

Even though their advance was slow, they didn’t stop. Their persistence was what made them truly terrifying.

When the distance was just right, the voice spoke again, firm and sharp.

“Stop. We’ve created enough distance for you to aim and focus your mind.”

“A-Are you crazy?!”

“Focus. Swallow the pain and shoot. You have five claws: five shots. One for each of them. The head—that’s where their cores are. Break them.”

Nene’s hand trembled uncontrollably. It was far too hard to aim. Beads of sweat ran down her forehead.

She clenched her teeth and slapped herself with her free hand.

Come on, do something!

She repeated it to herself.

With that same hand, she grabbed her gauntleted wrist to steady the shaking.

She took a deep breath. Her legs quivered nervously, as if already anticipating the pain to come.

She extended her index finger.

[Crystallization – Fingers: [Index]: Fire.]

The reddish projectile shot out with brutal force, kicking her arm back with the recoil of a revolver. The hit was precise.

“Ghiik!”

The leading slug shrieked… but it didn’t fall.

The “finger” dissolved on contact, melting against the creature’s acidic skin and leaving behind only a faint bluish trace.

“W-What…?”

“A.K.A! We’re so freaking weak we can’t even pierce its acidic armor…? Damn it. Ru-”

Before the sentence finished, Nene was already fleeing.

But something had changed.

The slugs, once sluggish, began to accelerate. Their bodies warped, adapting, matching her pace with sickening persistence.

“AHH! W-What do we do?!”

There was a brief silence.

“I have an idea. Go back to the forest from before. Remember the parasite that almost ripped your arm off?”

“W-Why?! Wouldn’t it make more sense to run away from more enemies?!”

Then, a mental image reached her.

It was Sahara’s plan—the reason she wanted to go back.

“T-That?! You’re insane!”

“We’re going to use it.”

Biting her lips until they bled, Nene veered her run back toward the dense forest. Behind her, the shrieks and wet sounds of the slugs froze her heart.

---

With Sahara’s guidance, Nene managed to reach a dense thicket filled with those parasitic plants.

The path wasn’t easy—five slugs fired relentlessly at the same time.

Nene ducked, rolled, jumped, and cried as she dodged those terrifying corrosive shots. Whenever they missed, they struck the plants instead, burning them with a rotten stench.

“S-So now what?”

“The plan is going berfectly. Now the next step do— quick!”

The voice transmitted the plan directly into her mind. Not words, but trajectories, timing, risks.

“No! That’s suicide!”

“What are you complaining about? I saw your memories when we fused. You’ve are suicidal things before. Just… again find your courage.”

Nene clenched her fists.

She ran straight toward them.

The creatures swelled slightly, like balloons at a festival. Then they released their corrosive contents.

Nene slid across the ground, the stench of acid burning her nostrils.

But she avoided her deadly fate.

She grabbed a loose branch and used it like a spear,

drawing the group’s attention in a new direction.

Then she ran again, even as her muscles desperately begged for rest.

“We’re doing well! Just a little more!”

Between shots and shrieks, Nene reached a new area. This one was even more covered in parasitic plants—only these stretched between tree and tree, almost like a web.

Nene stopped.

She looked at the trees, then at her pursuers.

She swallowed.

As the shrieks grew louder, she threw herself toward the plants, narrowly dodging the bite of a vegetal creature.

With strength that didn’t feel like her own, she climbed. Jumping from bark to bark, she avoided the deadly acid of her enemies.

The guttural shriek from below confirmed to Sahara that her plan had worked.

The slugs had gotten too close to the trees. Focused entirely on Nene, they hadn’t noticed the parasites.

So the vicious plants had no trouble devouring two of them in just two bites.

Unfortunately for the human hosting an Ethereal, the Parasites died as if melting from the inside out, leaving behind blackened remains like charcoal.

Even so, the others sensed danger and pulled back slightly, searching for Nene.

Meanwhile, she was above them.

Sahara had been right. At the top of the trees, those lethal plants didn’t grow.

“Breathe…” Sahara said. “I know it hurts. I know it very well. But if you focus, that pain becomes… manageable. Now aim.”

Nene aimed. She trembled, knowing the pain that was coming—but she gathered her courage.

[Crystallization – Fingers: [Middle]: Fire.]

She fired… and missed.

The distance threw off her aim, and combined with the recoil, the shot struck the ground.

The remaining slugs shrieked, adjusted their eyes, and swelled their bodies—firing toward her position.

Nene leapt to a thick branch on a nearby tree, running without direction, tears spilling down her face.

“Human Nene, don’t lose your resolve! We’ve achieved a lot—this isn’t the time to lose your mind. Trust me. We’ll get out of this situation victorious!”

Nene was tired.

Not physically.

She was tired of being useless. Of trembling. Of running.

“What do we do…?”

Madness.

Deep within her mind, a voice echoed.

It was Martha’s voice—the Hunter who had been her superior for a few months.

During a mission where they had stayed together for hours, Nene had gathered the courage to ask a question.

How could she improve as a Hunter if she was so weak?

The answer had been… unusual, to say the least.

Madness. If you’re not strong, not smart, not cunning, then you only have one option: be insane. Think of everything you shouldn’t do—and do it in a way that’s even crazier than anyone else.

That was what Martha had said. After that, she hadn’t spoken again that entire day.

Back then, Nene hadn’t understood what she meant.

But now… now she thought she was beginning to.

“This Resonance of yours… how far does it go?”

The answer flooded her mind.

Threads. Shots. That was all, for now.

“I see…” Nene murmured, wiping her tears. “Then… I have an idea.”

“What are you thinking? We just need to shoot with more power! There’s no need to overthink.”

Sahara was like the Neo Group.

They shared something Nene had always lacked: power.

The powerful didn’t stop to observe. They didn’t analyze their actions or pay attention to what they considered weak or irrelevant. They skipped steps. Ignored details. Advanced with the certainty that their strength would be enough.

The Neo Group had proven that when they slaughtered the Ethereals the first time. It had been a massacre.

The weak couldn’t afford that luxury.

Their only virtue was this: fear. Observing until fear no longer clouded their vision. Noticing every tiny anomaly.

It was like Bender had once said: “Observing is the only way to survive. If something exists, it can be analyzed. That doesn’t require power.”

And now they had one more tool.

Madness.

Doing insane things to imitate, even slightly, the strength of the powerful.

“…Look at every detail, Nene…” she told herself.

“What are you doing, Human Nene?”

Sahara’s question was valid.

Their shared body leapt from branch to branch until reaching the ground again.

Nene spread her arms wide, as if welcoming the acid slugs into a suicidal embrace.

Every part of her body screamed at her to run. Not to be stupid.

But that would be following reason.

And right now, she needed madness to analyze her situation.

She activated her Resonance—and noticed something.

Before their bodies fully inflated, there was a starting point. An origin.

The keel.

From the very back of the creature, a sac began to expand. The process moved upward through its gelatinous body, reaching the mouth and eyes, where the acid was expelled in a grotesque spray.

At the same time, something else changed.

The color of their aura weakened.

From an intense, almost electric blue, it faded into a dull cerulean.

“Move!”

Sahara’s shout snapped her out of it.

Nene fired one of her fingers—but didn’t release it completely.

[Crystallization – Fingers: [Thumb]: Fire + Thread.]

A crimson thread kept it connected to her hand. She pulled hard, using it like a hook, dragging her body out of the acid’s trajectory.

The ground exploded behind her.

“What are you—?” Sahara stopped. “…Huh? Who the hell cares where they store their acid?”

Being inside Nene’s mind, Sahara didn’t need to ask.

She read her thoughts clearly.

Still, she didn’t understand.

Waste a shot? Expose herself just to confirm a theory?

It was only natural she wouldn’t.

After all, she had been a powerful monster—one that likely devoured Ethereal beings without ever thinking about how they worked.

But to pierce the defense of something stronger than you…

You had to analyze every variable. Every opportunity. Every possible mistake.

“Alright… Sahara,” Nene whispered in her mind. “I trust your power.”

There was a pause.

“You… hmm. I see,” Sahara replied. “You’re insane. But fine. If you are… then so am I.”

Nene felt like fainting.

The fear of being hurt again squeezed her from stomach to throat. Nausea. Trembling. A childish urge to disappear.

She had two shots left. Two slugs.

She couldn’t miss.

Twisting her wrist, she pulled herself back to the ground.

As she landed, she rolled and rose, running straight toward her enemies—who charged at her in return.

When the slug on the right began to charge, Nene let Sahara “take control” of her body.

She didn’t know if it would work.

But—

Sahara reacted instantly.

She was the one who had promised that whatever Nene couldn’t do, she would.

That sounded nice.

But neither of them had truly considered doing it literally.

It was insane to think Sahara could control her movements.

…And yet, she did.

The Ethereal’s instincts flooded her mind, sending unpleasant shocks through her nervous system. It felt wrong—as if her nerves no longer belonged to her, as if she were inside someone else’s body.

But she didn’t resist.

She let Sahara take over, guiding her hand.

One shot.

It had to be precise.

Sahara had lost much of her power—but her control remained lethal. Even within a fragile vessel like Nene’s body.

[Crystallization – Fingers: [Pinky]: Fire.]

The timing was perfect.

As the keel sac fully expanded, the shot tore through the skin with surgical precision.

The contents burst out like a fountain.

The freshly formed acid completely drenched the other slug.

The creature shrieked gutturally, turning its head and eyes toward its attacker. Instinctively, it retaliated, spraying acid back.

Both Ethereals screamed.

Their skin tore. Peeled. Dissolved.

Yes!

Nene celebrated only in her mind, relief flooding through her.

Her theory was correct.

During the brief charging period, the slugs had to extract acid from their own skin, gather it, and direct it. That process left them exposed—without protection.

That was why their color faded.

If the skin was torn at that moment, the acid would be released uncontrollably.

The rest… was animal instinct:

You hurt me—you’re my enemy. So I hurt you.

Both creatures were now wounded. Defenseless.

“Kill them!”

Sahara didn’t allow the victory to settle.

[Crystallization – Fingers: [Ring]: Fire.]

The final shot, guided by Sahara’s aim and Nene’s resolve, pierced the Ethereals’ brains with surgical precision.

This time, the acidic layer that had protected them before was gone.

A dry crack echoed.

Their cores were shattered.

Silence fell instantly.

“I…?” Nene swallowed. “We… won…?”

---