Chapter Text
A Bangboo with the name Eous was currently dashing through a metro station within the Ballet Twins Hollow.
"The client must be nearby based on Fairy's readings," a male voice came from through its speakers. "Keep going, Belle."
"Just a right turn from here, right Wise?" Belle replied.
"Exactly."
Connected to the Bangboo was an individual operating it from afar.
In this case, it would be Belle.
Meeting up with their anonymous client should have been business as usual, where they'd complete the assigned task and be rewarded money, but their Fairy's next assessment would be a prelude to the spiral of events that came next.
"Warning, detecting strange spatial phenomenon directly up ahead," Fairy, their AI assistant, warned.
"Strange spatial phenomena?" Wise repeated. "Is the Hollow acting up?"
"Now of all times?" Belle groaned, slowing her pace with Eous. "Directly up ahead by how many meters?"
"A half meter."
She fumbled with her words. "Couldn't you have said that sooner?!"
Before another word could get out, a strange glob of unearthly darkness formed in the space Eous was about to pass. It was a phenomenon comparable to a fissure to some extent, but the way it looked was nothing like it.
"Oookay, what the heck," Belle tensed up with Eous' body, making the little Bangboo skid to a halt, but it was already too late.
"Belle, there's something exiting, watch out!"
"Huh?"
True to Wise's words, a figure stepped out of the black distortion.
Eous was promptly smacked by the leg in motion.
"W-wah!" Belle yelped due to motion sickness, making Wise tense up.
"Belle, are you alright?" He grabbed her shoulders to stabilize her human body.
Suddenly, Eous' momentum halted. Two long arms had reached out to grab him whilst he was flying through the air.
"Uh…?" Belle's pupils rolled around her sclera in a dizzying trance.
Eous was lifted, and Belle received the view of a very tall man who stood well over 2 meters.
"Oh… oh wow," she mumbled dazedly, especially at his other features.
On his forehead was an organic vertical third eye which was larger than his standard set. His earlobes were elongated enough to reach down his abdomen, and were aligned with a continuously looping piercing which fit its length.
Curling around his head left and right were two large horns.
He was, in a word, monstrous.
"Hm?" the stranger's voice came distorted from the other end. "What exactly are you?"
"Huh? Wait, hold on!" Belle began jolting when the stranger began poking Eous, tilting his head. "Eep!"
"Strange. You can't be the same type of creature as that white one…"
Wise stared dumbfounded. "Hello… sir?"
"A second voice?" the man said, extending Eous forward.
His face became a lot clearer.
"S-stop—oh." Belle patted herself down. "Hey, what gives?! Do you randomly go around poking and prodding at Bangboos?"
"Bangboos?"
"Hold on, you two." Wise raised a hand at Belle, caressing his forehead. "You… who are you? And where did you come from?"
The monstrous stranger looked thoughtful, glancing skyward and to his surrounding environment. Though to the siblings, it didn't do much to lessen his intimidating stature.
In that moment, Belle whispered to Wise, "Can you also tell him to put Eous down?"
Wise was about to whisper back, but the man had already responded.
"Is this Earth?"
"Ah?"
"Huh?"
The question elicited two different responses from them as they turned back to the screen.
"Is this Earth," he repeated, staring dead into Eous' eyes.
Wise and Belle side-glanced each other.
"This is New Eridu," Wise answered. "Specifically, you're inside Ballet Twins Hollow. Does that ring any bells?"
"New Eridu? The name of a city, I suppose," he noted. "Which nation does this belong to? The United States?"
Wise and Belle side-glanced each other again.
"Sir," Belle said this time, "New Eridu is the last surviving civilization on this planet. What nations?"
Although what he said sounded nonsensical, the two couldn't help but feel a strange anxiety.
It was said New Eridu was the last surviving civilization due to the Dark Wall. It was unknown whether other pockets of civilizations existed out there aside from New Eridu, only theorized.
"I see," the intimidating man said. "It seems I've landed somewhere quite unexpected."
"So, are you going to answer our questions?" Belle asked. "Also, put me down!"
The man complied, setting Eous down and then answering.
"My name is Dabura Karaba. I come from Planet Simuria."
His statement made the two siblings freeze up, the previous anxiety completely gone, instead replaced by bafflement.
Because his statements became even more ridiculous!
"Ha?" Belle furrowed her brows with a strange sound of disbelief.
"You're joking, right?" Wise leaned forward, placing a hand over his mouth.
Unperturbed, Dabura continued on, "I was planning to use an application of my Cursed Technique in tandem with the usage of Mul to travel back to Earth, but—"
"It sounds like you're speaking a whole load of nonsense right now," Belle blurted out.
Wise wanted to reprimand the crude statement, but he himself didn't believe even a modicum of what the tall man was saying.
Surprisingly, Dabura didn't seem to feel one bit disgruntled or aggrieved. "Perhaps the terminology I use is inaccurate here."
"Listen, we have a commission we need to complete right now," Belle explained. "We really, really need to be on our way now, so—"
"Warning, Ethereals drawing near from all sides," Fairy warned.
"Now of all times…?" both Belle and Wise said at the same time, Eous' legs getting ready to scramble.
It was too late. A group of quadrupedal Ethereals had landed and cracked the ground, snarling at Eous and Dabura.
Speaking of Dabura, he spun around to meet all of them, a curious light in his gaze.
"They are unlike Cursed Spirits or Kalyans," Dabura noted, tilting his head ever so slightly.
"Hey, Mr. Karaba!" Belle called out. "Can you fight?"
He turned to silently stare down at Eous' adorably small frame. There was a stoic attitude within him which seemed to convey a thousand words.
Words the two siblings couldn't actually read, of course… but there were far more pressing matters!
"Are you going to—"
Wise's and Belle's lips clamped shut.
A vast killing intent pervaded the entire vicinity, originating from Dabura.
The two siblings could feel it tangible even behind Eous' screenview, even when it was not directed their way, as he had veered to ascertain the Ethereals once more.
They reared back in agitation when facing the brunt of his attention.
When they could no longer bear the pressure, they shrieked and leapt Dabura's way.
The Ethereals didn't last long.
They were instantaneously vaporized by a chorus of exploding lights, a blink-and-you'd-miss-it moment.
In that instant, the killing intent vanished.
Wise and Belle released a breath they didn't know they had been holding.
Disorientation and confusion replaced their uneasiness.
"There is no Cursed Energy or Rolloluca I sense," Dabura said, turning back to the siblings' Eous. "I would say this is something completely different." His hand reached out to feel the air, as if he could feel the aforementioned energy. "In that case, may I accompany you, strange creature? I need to learn more about this world."
"Uhm…" Belle said, still somewhat shaken. "Sure…" It didn't feel like they had much of a choice on the matter.
"Yes," Wise sighed. "I guess we owe you for helping us."
"You have my gratitude."
…How did their day turn out like this?
Somebody from another world?
As if!