Uchiha in Zenless Zone Zero

Thick smoke billowed for several long minutes before it finally began to clear. The area where the complete-form Susanoo had stood was reduced to a lifeless ruin spanning hundreds of meters in every direction.

All that remained were the barely breathing colossal Ethereals, hanging onto life by the thinnest of threads.

Zhong Yan narrowed his eyes at the sight.

"They actually survived that..." he murmured. He had expected that slash to annihilate all of them outright, but the result had caught him off guard.

It was now clear—these colossal Ethereals had been enhanced by someone. Especially Nineveh.

It couldn't even withstand two arrows from his armored form before. Yet now it had survived a blow from his complete Susanoo?

That kind of power boost bordered on unnatural.

Still, in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter. Whether it took one swing or two, the end result would be the same.

Meanwhile, the massive rift he had carved into Hollow Zero's outer wall was now visibly repairing itself.

This confirmed something else: Hollow Zero couldn't be forcibly destroyed. To truly suppress it, they would need to lower the ether activity from within.

That said, the death of so many colossal Ethereals at once would almost certainly cause the ether concentration to plummet to unprecedented levels.

Which meant the New Eridu authorities might now have the opportunity to investigate Hollow Zero's deeper layers—something that would be a major breakthrough for them.

Zhong Yan wasn't particularly concerned with that. He had been deep into Hollow Zero before—but never its deepest parts.

Given the scale and timing of the colossal Ethereal assault, he could now confirm something with certainty: there were beings within Hollow Zero even more powerful than the ones he had just fought.

Those were the true rulers of the hollow. If he could defeat one of them, the depth and breadth of Hollow Zero could be explored like never before.

It might even affect neighboring original and companion hollows. That wouldn't be out of the question.

With this in mind, Zhong Yan didn't hesitate. His complete Susanoo raised its blade once more and cleaved down, erasing the remaining Ethereals with surgical precision.

As their life force vanished, the surrounding ether concentration dropped rapidly—visible to the naked eye.

Having cleared the immediate threat, Zhong Yan dispelled Susanoo.

For him, maintaining the complete form was still an immense drain. Prolonged use would eventually wear even him down.

Fortunately, the fight hadn't dragged out. His condition remained relatively stable.

"I'll leave the rest to you. My job here is done," he said calmly to the members of Section 6 before activating Kamui and vanishing from sight.

It was only after he left that the others began to process what had just happened. Their expressions turned utterly incredulous.

"If it weren't for all this pain and exhaustion, I'd swear I was dreaming..." Asaba Harumasa muttered, rubbing his temples. Even his usual nonchalance had been shaken.

Soukaku, more naive by nature, simply felt relief at having survived. As for Tsukishiro Yanagi and Hoshimi Miyabi—they had both fallen into heavy silence.

For a wanted Hollow Raider to possess power like that… If Zhong Yan truly wanted to, he could have razed all of New Eridu to the ground.

But he hadn't.

Which meant either he held no grudge against the authorities—or he simply didn't think they were worth the trouble.

Either way, the thought was terrifying. Thank the heavens that the attempt to capture the Uchiha had never been executed.

Otherwise, none of them would be standing here now.

...

Unnoticed by the others, on the rooftop of a distant building—

An elderly man, his hair snow-white, stood quietly atop the ruins, cloaked in a white lab coat, watching everything that had transpired.

"Uchiha... his power is just like those four we retrieved from the outer ring. He doesn't belong to this world. But his value... far surpasses anything those four had to offer..."

This was the leader of the Exaltists—or rather, a slice of the one known as their leader. He had been watching Zhong Yan for a long time, but his subordinates had consistently failed to apprehend him.

Now, New Eridu had not only discovered the Exaltists' presence but had deployed the very weapons designed to suppress them. Their infiltration into the city had been cut off, and they were now limited to operating in the barren outskirts.

Still, this fragment of the Exaltist leader wasn't discouraged. He had one final trump card—a drug that could allow Ethereals to step outside of the hollows.

The formula was still in development, but the breakthroughs were significant. Within the next ten years, the final phase would be complete.

At that time, Hollow Zero's Ethereals would launch a full-scale assault on New Eridu. Calling it an apocalypse wouldn't be exaggerating.

"When that day comes, Uchiha... will you still carry yourself with such ease? I'm really looking forward to seeing your expression then..."

With a faint smile, the Exaltist fragment gave one last glance toward the ruined battlefield before turning to leave.

But just then, from the deepest heart of Hollow Zero—two eyes locked onto him.

He froze, body tensing involuntarily.

A second later, he composed himself.

"So, you've noticed him too? Looks like we're hunting the same prey. The only question now is... whose hand will claim him first?"

...

Elsewhere, Zhong Yan returned immediately to Sixth Street after leaving Hollow Zero.

Wise had already called in one of their regular doctors. After confirming Belle was in stable condition, he finally relaxed as her older brother.

That said... something about the doctor's expression before he left was oddly cryptic, as if he were trying to hint at something.

Unfortunately, with Wise's limited people-reading skills, he failed to grasp the implication. In the end, he simply thanked the doctor and saw him off.

And with Zhong Yan's return, the previously calm air around them suddenly turned... subtly tense once again.