Sinners and Hollows

POV EROS

I gasped and soon sat up breathing heavily at the dream, I had my hand hold my head from the small head ache I felt.

I wanted to stand up and grab myself a glass of water, but I felt a large weight slam into me, pushing me back down on the couch.

"Eros, oh thank goodness you're okay, I just saw the W-engine was open, a-and I tried to get close to you, t-these weird crystals surrounded you…" I looked down to see Belle with tears in her eyes.

She had been crying for who knows how long, and I felt something new, something I had thought I lost for a while.

Guilt.

I had made Belle cry, and I could feel the guilt piling in my chest, for some reason, it felt worse, it felt more heavy.

When I had experienced death, and saw both Hella and Hecate, the guilt didn't feel as heavy as now.

"Chief, you're okay." Hecate made her way to my side and hugged me as well, Hella was off to the side, and was trying to hold her tears back.

I only smiled and offered her my arm, she instantly dropped her cold indifference and ran towards me and hugged me as well.

"Y-you big dummy, w- we thought you wouldn't wake up." She said through sniffing tears.

"You know I'm much more resilient than that." I smiled and hugged all of them, Wise soon came in with what looked like fresh towels in his hands, and he soon ran to my side.

"Eros, you're awake, did you remember anything from last night?" Wise asked, the girls then pulled back, giving me space to breathe.

"No, all I remembered a was talking to Belle last night, and having some tea with her." Wise then glanced at Belle with his brow raised, who only looked away and tucked back a loose strand of hair.

"So, what happened while I was asleep?" I asked them, Hecate then made her way to the sink and brought me a glass of water, and handed it to me.

"As we woke up, both me and Hecate felt a large amount of mania at your location." Hella explained, but she then became hesitant to continue.

Hella and I then made our way to your location, but when we arrived to your location, we saw bits of mania crystals growing from your body." Hearing this I spat out my water and began it cough violently.

Belle made her way to my side and began to rub my back, helping me calm down so that I could breathe.

"You… you mean to tell me, mania crystal formed on my body?" Belle nodded and soon recalled the memory.

"It… it was growing everywhere, your arms, your legs, it was even growing on your face." I then looked down and saw that she was telling the truth.

I could see holes on my pants, and on my shirt. I then stood up to check if any of the mania crystals that grew on me pierced the couch under me.

And just like I had thought, there where holes on where I slept, however I noticed one thing, I couldn't sense any mania anywhere.

"Noooooooo!" Belle shoved me to the side and dropped to her knees, hugging the cushions like a parent would hug a child.

"I made so many memories with this couch, watching movies, spilling so many stains, even watching those kinds of movies." She whispered while rubbing her hand along the cushions.

"Back to the topic at hand, what happened while I had mania growing from my body?" I asked Hecate, who then showed me a sketch.

The sketch showed me I was on my back, the crystal were piercing the shirt and pants I wore, and above me looked like the people I saw in my dreams.

However, there seemed to be one more, one that was blacked out, yet the eyes could be seen.

"Was anyone hurt while this happened?" All of them shook their head, and Belle continued to sniffle.

"No, but you need to buy us a new couch, it's only fair." She pointed at me and looked like she was about to cry even more.

"T-that's fair. How much will it cost me?" Belle began to think to herself, grinding the gears in her mind.

"2K dennies, that's how much you need to buy us a new couch." I only sighed at the amount and pulled out my wallet.

Once I had paid her the amount I owed, Belle made her way to the computer and soon began to type.

"What are you looking for?" Belle didn't respond, instead, she made her way to the interknot and posted a commission, one that had asked to look for the same type of couch.

Only to receive an instant reply by another user, one that had a familiar name, Whitestone industry.

I widened my eyes at the name and read the reply that they had sent, agreeing to take the commission and to ask if they could meet in person.

"Oh sweet, bro, we got someone who can find us the same couch." Belle said excitedly, she then turned her face to me, and soon saw how serious I looked.

"Uhh… Eros, is there a reason on why you're looking like you want to tie someone down?" She asked nervously, I soon snapped out of my annoyance and composed myself.

"Sorry, but it's best if I we come with you to meet them, for your protection." Belle didn't seem to mind, instead she smiled at the idea.

"That's fine by me, that good with you bro?" She asked Wise, who crossed his arms and smiled.

"As long as you fill the car with gas, I'm fine with it." Belle silently pumped her fist in the air and began to celebrate.

"Alright, let's go meet the employer." Belle said and soon ran outside, followed by Hella and Hecate, before I could catch up to them, Wise stopped me.

"Eros, thanks for helping her, and for being a part of our lives, though IO just wanted to ask you something." He said and patted my shoulder.

"Take care of her for me, wont you?" I only gave him a smile and took his hand in mine, giving him a firm handshake.

"No worries, it's my job to protect the people." I then made my way out, leaving him alone with fair.

[Assistant, I fear that Eros did not understand what you meant to say.] Wise only chuckled and nodded his head at her words.

"Yeah, I can relate to that, he's like me in a way." He said while closing his eyes and nodding to himself.

[How so?] Hearing Fairy's question Wise sight and sat on front of the monitor, staring a the digital eye and looked emotionless.

"He doesn't understand girls." He then leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk, his voice now sounded more hollow.

[That assumption is false, the chief of the MBCC understands women, he chooses to not make any advances to them, since the sinners he has captured are also women.] Hearing this, Wise could only lean back, staring at the ceiling.

"Damn, we're not so similar after all." He had a smile on his face, and a tear ran down his cheek.

Meanwhile, the four of us were on our way to meet the people who had accepted the commission, but where they wanted to meet was odd.

They had sent Belle the location on where they wanted to meet, and it was made my suspicion rise, at the edge of the city.

Seeing the location, Belle became nervous, but a small pat on her shoulder from me calmed her down, and she began to drive more confidently.

"So, Eros, I wanted to ask you something." She then turned left and soon stopped.

"If it's anything about the sinner, I can't say." Belle only shook her head and soon clenched the steering wheel.

"I uhhh… I wanted to ask…" Belle then cleared her throat, before she could ask, I felt a whiff of mania and looked outside.

"Stop the car, Hella with me, Hecate stay with Belle." As soon as Belle stopped, me and Hella soon got off, making our way to the location.

Along the way, both Hella and I kept quiet as we drew closer to the location, while also looking behind us to make sure we weren't being followed.

"Chief, what's got you on edge" Hella whispered, I didn't reply, instead I placed my back and tried to listen, Hella soon did the same, and we heard voices, voices that were all too familiar.

"Boss, how long has it been since you sent the location? I wanna go back to sleep." Whined a male, it sounded exhausted, and they sounded like they hadn't slept well.

"Che, it hasn't been that long since boss sent the location, so shut up and don't say anything." The voice of a female was heard, and soon a third voice was heard.

"Oh come on you two, there's no need to argue again, we're in a new place, and that means new clients." The voice sounded sweet like honey, but the first woman scoffed.

"Boss, need I remind you, we don't have money, our reputation is already bad, and we have the cops chasing us." The second woman only sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, but it was only a few mess ups, and for them to call us hollow raiders, that is a huge misunderstanding." Said the second woman.

I then stepped outside to look at the three people in front of me, and to see who it was, I shouldn't be surprise.

The first person I saw was a male, the man had messy blond hair, with the back tied into a a messy ponytail, with a black cap covering his eyes.

He wore a large military green jacket, with black pants. He also wore a pair of combat boots, with two weapons hanging by his side.

On one side he carried an ax, while the other carried a kopis, both weapons were covered in black, and hung from two straps.

The second woman wore a one piece combat attire, with a white shirt underneath, her shoes were a pair of thigh high boots, and two batons in her sides.

The woman also had short black hair that reached her neck, with a pair of amber eyes. The woman tensed at the sight of me, her hands reaching for the batons.

The final woman was leaning against the wall, her hair a mix of black and silver, on the inside part of her hair, was fully purple.

The woman herself wore white leather pants. That started from her waist, all the way to her feet.

She wore high heels, which was an odd choice of foot wear, but I'm not the one wearing them.

She also wore a large brown jacket, that covered her chest, hiding a purple bikini strap that was underneath.

"Bai yi, Che, and K.K. I would say it's a surprise, but I'd be lying." I said, Che only rolled his eyes and lowered the cap.

"Chief, what a wonderful surprise, I didn't expect you were the one who posted the commission." Bai said with a genuine smile.

But I knew a fake smile compared to an actual smile, and with how Bai was acting, it was fake.

"Well, since being here for a while, I had caused some damage to the host who let me stay for the night, so I owed them a favor." Neither side made a move.

With the situation at hand, it was fair that the three of them were tense, well, Bai didn't appear tense, she acted as if we were long time friends.

And she was about to ask me a favor for something, she then made her way to my side and wrapped her arm around me.

"That's the chief we all know and love, acting all tough and cold, but really…" She then patted my chest.

"Your a warm, and great guy." She kept her smile and began to shake me gently, to be honest, I wanted to catch her right here, right now.

However, she already had disappeared and reappeared in front of us. Giggling and wagging her finger in front of me.

"Uh-uh-uhh, I saw that look in your eye, you have to be faster than that." She teased me and soon placed her hands on her two swords.

"But there is another way you can catch me…" She then swayed her hips and bit her lower lip.

"You could always just buy me." She purred and soon placed her hand on my chest, running her hand lower and lower.

However, she soon pulled back, avoiding my hand that was about to grab her own.

"But that would be no fun, so, you'll just have to find me without your fancy gadgets." She giggled and soon disappeared.

Leaving K.k and Che in front of us, K.k herself had pulled out her baton, ready to fight, while Che just raised his hands in surrender.

"Che, what the hell are you doing? Get up and help me!" K.K demanded, but Che just rolled his eyes and did nothing.

"It's too much work, besides, thee boss already left us." He said and made his way towards me

"I'm only doing this because I'm still tired." He said and held out his hand, I only sighed and looked at K.K with pity, but I still took Che's hand.

After activating the shackles, he didn't finch as he saw the red markings run across his arm.

"Did you bring a car by any chance?" He asked and rubbed his eyes, I only need to point behind me for him to understand.

"Don't harm the civilian and Hecate." Che only nodded and walked off to meet with Belle and Hecate.

Leaving K.K, Hella, and me in the alleyway. K.K herself could only scowl at Che's choice, but she didn't bother to call him out for it.

"Tch, I still don't get why Bai still keeps him around." She then rushed towards Hella and swung hard to the side.

Hella herself was able to dodge with ease, since her entire body frame was small, she only needed to duck and weave out of the way.

"What's wrong K.K, trouble hitting me? C'mon, it's just little ol' me." She taunted while striking her with her metal pipe.

Even though Hella struck her multiple times, K.K seemed to remain fine, not even reacting at each strike that made contact with her.

K.K herself is a B-rank sinner, belonging to the endura class, the reason why she was assisted to this class, was because of her ability.

K.K was able to suppress her pain receptors, allowing her to fight for longer periods of time.

However, this doesn't allow her to regenerate health, the best way to subdue her, is to break every limb.

However, K.K was born in the syndicate, she had time to train and learn on how to fight, as the battle continued, K.K was slowly landing small hits against Hella.

She gave Hella a spartan kick as soon as she saw her in front of her, causing Hella to tumble towards me.

I had to jump to the side to avoid getting hit and was distracted, as I returned my focus on to K.K, she was in front of me with her fist close to my face.

I barely reacted in time to avoid her fist, but I was still grazed lightly, and the stinging sensation on my cheek was felt.

"Sorry chief, but I don't want to make this harder for you." She said and soon rushed at me, throwing simple jabs to knock me unconscious.

"I appreciate the apology, but you know I can't let that happen." I said and raised my hands, lightly jumping up and down.

'You sure you want to do this? You don't have the strength or spe-." I cut her mid-sentence with a jab of my own, striking her square in the face.

She didn't move an inch when I struck her, but she soon glanced at me, the only noticeable thing that could be seen was a drop of blood.

"Fine, but you asked for this." She then pulled back and began to throw multiple punches, with a few kicks as well.

As I move back, I made sure to throw in a few punches myself, but it only caused her annoyance to grow.

My back was then flat against the stone wall behind me, and K.K had thrown another punch, I had no choice but to move to the side to avoid getting hit.

K.K's fist soon imbedded itself into the wall, and when she pulled back, there was a fist size dent on the stone.

I had no choice but to keep moving to the side, but K.K made sure to stay close to me, throwing punches and leaving more evidence behind.

As soon as I saw I was being pushed to a dead end, I raised my foot and slammed it against her leg, it wasn't strong enough to break it, but it was enough to cause her to stagger and kneel to the floor.

I wrapped my hands around her head and slammed my knee against her face, trying to knock her unconscious, but she raised her hand in time to stop my attack.

"Not bad, seems Rahu has been teaching you well." K.K muttered, but she pushed my leg to the side, and swiped my leg.

Leaving me in the air with no way to dodge or defend myself from the upcoming attack.

K.K was soon above me with her fist raised, and she soon lowered it hard, slamming her fist on my stomach and punching down to the ground.

The air was knocked out of my lungs, and my vision was starting to fade in and out, K.K soon stood back up with her foot raised, her eyes stared at me with pity.

"I'll admit, you got better, but this is the end chief, sorry about this." She was about to drop her foot, only to block what looked like a canned soda.

"Get away from him, you big bully!" I turned my head to the sound of the voice and saw Belle, in her arms, she helped multiple canned drinks.

She kept throwing can after can, but K.K only made her way towards her, her boots echoing the stone floor.

Belle began to back away as she saw K.K getting closer, but she didn't stop attacking her, however, as soon as she had her back up against the wall, she was staring at K.K in fear

"Normally, I would knock you out, but since you are close to the chief, I'll just do this." K.K then raised her hand, while Belle closed her eyes and raised her arms.

Instead of a punch, K.K raised her hand to Belle's head, and gave her a finger flick on the forehead.

"Ow, I expected a punch, or something else." She said while holding her head.

"I don't hurt the weak, but I can respect you for protecting the chief, not a lot of people do that."She then turned around and was about to leave.

"I'm sorry, but your efforts were in vain." K.K was then snatched by something, and she was slammed against the wall, knocking the air out of her lungs.

Hecate then walked out of the shadows and made her way to my side, helping stand on my feet.

"I thought I told you to protect Belle." I said and leaned on her for support.

"I did protect her, you never told me to keep her in the car." I couldn't help but chuckled at her words.

"Touché, Belle." Belle herself only breathed heavily, but she forced a smile for my sake.

"Y-yeah, just wanted to h-help you." She said and landed on her legs, she ended up passing out and nearly landed on her side.

Hella soon made her way to the side and caught her, she moved Belle to her back and began to carry her.

Hecate herself then ordered nightmare to bring K.K closer, so that I can apply the shackles.

As soon as they were in front of us, K.K could barely raise her head, but she was still able to talk.

"Damn, Hecate, still… still hiding behind chief." She said, however I placed my hand on her head and forced the shackles on her.

The red glow over taking the light and the thorns soon wrapped around her neck, acting like a collar.

"Let's go, we don't want anyone to see us." I ordered, The five of us soon made our way back to the car and we could see Che in the drivers seat.

"How was the fight?" He asked while looking at the now unconscious K.K.

"Start the car." I ordered while we all piled inside, Hella and Hecate placed me and Belle in the back.

I made sure to place Belle's head on my shoulder to let her sleep comfortably, while Hecate sat on the other side to make sure I was safe.

As for K.K, she was stuffed in the trunk to not draw any attention, Hella then sat in the passenger seat next to Che, who still looked tired, and was chewing gum.

"You know, K.K will be mad if she hears about this, right?" He asked while putting the car in drive.

"Well, the only one she'll be taking her stress out on will be you, so I don't have to worry about that if she learns what happened, right?" That caused Che to remain silent as he drove away.

"Chief, with the two of them secured, we might be able to track down Bai Yi." Hecate said, but I only shook my head.

"Bai Yi is smarter than that, and she wouldn't abandon both K.K and Che without a reason." I said and turned my focus to Belle, who was sleeping peacefully.

I raised my hand and moved a strand of loose hair behind her ear, as I did that, I saw her smiling, moving her body closer to mine.

"Che, what does Bai Yi want?" Che who was still driving responded to my question.

"She wants you to help her with a client, and the pay is good, we just need a proper leader, and a proxy." Che said without looking back.

"And I'm the leader she wants, right?" Che only nodded at my question, and soon made a right turn.

"If you agree, the boss will let you shackle her. We can split the cut if you want." He said and looked at me through the rear view mirror.

"Let me guess, she needs a proxy as well?" I asked, Che only nodded at my words.

"Fine but we negotiate in person."

[Wow what an interesting start, what'll happen to the chief, and that slutty bitch, can't believe she wears a bikini top, oh well, send in those power stones, cus now I'm holding the story hostage, send in fifty and an extra chapter will be posted soon, bye bye!]