I just glared at them as I calmly stood up, now more prepared for a sudden blast like that. The Deadpool clone kept his guns trained on me, as did the white-haired girl with the sword, but I just… couldn't see why the others were taking them seriously. I just opened up my helmet to stare at them, exposing my face. "Are you guys supposed to be threatening, or a bunch of wayward misfits in desperate need of cash? Because the least you could've done is talk like normal people."

"Ha, rich coming from a hollow raider- wait a minute." The pink-haired girl seemed to study my features. "...Recently bandaged wounds, totally boorish face, asking dumb questions… you're the person we're looking for, aren't ya? Damon?"

I mentally cursed to myself. "Just how many connections does this guy have?! Still, they are better equipped… I need to figure out what to do as I stall them." I crossed my arms in response. "Depends on who's asking. I'd prefer to know exactly who the 'Cunning Hares' are before we proceed any further."

"Just one of the most reliable raiders in all of New Eridu. We'll be taking you with us- oh, and the carrot leading to the treasure." She popped her suitcase open to reveal some kind of cannon as I watched the white-haired girl get ready to rush in, giving me no time even to formulate a strategy. "Nothing personal. Anby: You're up."

'Anby' as I learned her name didn't waste even a second, coming right at our group as I quickly reset my helmet, trying to focus on the weaker ones as Billy sat in the back and just fired bullets at Ranger, who was quick to engage Nicole. I meanwhile rushed at Anby, ignoring the Machinepool outright as I focused my efforts on trying to land a hit on her and keep morale up as I held her off- only to be met with electricity as she parried my efforts with her sword. But it was enough to force distance between her and the goons, as it'd seem Damon's body hardly even felt the electricity. "Everyone, focus on the gunner! I'll hold off this one!"

The goons didn't need to be told twice, running past Anby. But she didn't seem interested in them at all, intending to fight me alone. The Machinepool meanwhile laughed. "These odds against me? Oh, you have no idea the power of A STARLIGHT KNIGHT!" He would then begin to dodge the attacks coming at him, spinning about with practiced acrobatics that seemed to throw the others off. "Why the hell is Deadpool acting like some Kamen Rider character? Actually, how is that even working?"

Anby's moves were trained with the sword in mind. Despite being a whole couple of feet higher than her and in a different weight class, I struggled to even find an opening in her attacks. It didn't matter what brute force tactics I used, lunging at her with a two-handed slam, weaving to the side to jab at her ribs, even straight bull rushing her. She countered me all the same. As she dodged, she stared me down. "If you're not an ethereal, it would be in your best interests to stop fighting. You should know that us Cunning Hares have fought tougher than you." As she said that, she sliced upwards with her sword, causing me to stumble back from the sheer force behind it as she landed in a backflip, the blow leaving a large gash up my chest that was cauterized by the high voltage. This girl intended to subdue her threats rather than kill them.

"Guh…" I just glared at her as she practically combo'd me shortly after that, slashing my side twice before hitting me with a thunderous downward kick, and I was wishing that I had that runaway's body so I could go nuts with that sword. "You sure don't know who the hell you're talking to-!" I tried to say, although Damon's body wasn't exactly cooperating due to the pain, instead switching to a defensive and choosing to try and watch her sword intently. This at least made it so that I could force her impacts to be less effective as I in turn dodged and parried, only feinting some attacks to give her the idea that I was still fighting. Still yet, she saw right through it.

"You don't either." Anby would say calmly. "Otherwise you'd know that Nicole has you right where she wants you."

"Huh-?" I looked to Nicole, who was simply sitting on her briefcase as a bruised Ranger had tripped over her leg- just before I watched as some kind of dark ball of energy came at me from a cannon within the briefcase, enveloping almost the entire group with me included in some kind of burning darkness that even I felt. The goons didn't even last a second, crying out in pain as they fumbled, some kind of gravity pulling us all together that I was only just able to resist as the Starlight Knight spun about, literally posing on us as he shot at everyone.

"Damn you-!" With my focus off, Anby, she dived past me, quickly holding Ranger to the sword before he could stand up. In just mere moments, my ragtag team had been reduced to nothing but a bunch of groaning thugs on the ground, with me the only one left standing.

"Don't worry. You guys fought well for a bunch of nondescript bad guys." The Machinepool would say. "But we're taking over from here. Better luck with your next haul- now then!" He'd aim his guns at me.

"Last chance, Damon. You can act like a good boy and help us take that treasure they were speaking of and bring you back to your boss… or we'll just drag you the whole way." She had this infuriating smirk on her face, that of a girl who thinks she already won. And at face value, she was right. "Your choice. We might share you a cut if you tell us what we're looking for~."

But something inside me seemed to have changed when that dark ball hit me. I could tell what it was, but it was primal, energizing me and making the weight I had been feeling from the gloves looser. I felt and saw some kind of steam- no, smoke? Emanating off my body, almost like I was covered in some kind of dark aura. I was feeling goaded into doing something, acting even as I was seemingly snapping out of a daze I had been in. "Share a cut…?" I growled, balling my fists tighter from within the gloves. "You want to take from my friends? From the people that need closure, nonetheless?"

"Closure?" Ranger would say from afar. "The hell you talking about Damon, I thought we're-"

"Shut up." I heard my voice distort at that, but I didn't care in that moment, my eyes squarely on the trio who had ambushed us. Anby looked over, however, and instantly jumped away, her blade at the ready. She seemed to sense danger in my voice, and Ranger simply looked at me aghast. "You three want the treasure? Too bad. I don't live on my knees like a money-grubby whore."

The pink-haired girl seemed to hum in discontent, sighing with a narrowed gaze. "That's a shame. Guess we'll just have to break them."

"Yours first." I then charged at them, fists readied for contact. In turn, Anby charged at me, keen on knocking me out. We moved towards each other, Anby seemingly ready to finish me off, while I simply followed my instincts and swung well before she could… at the ground.

I watched as crystals similar to the ones I had seen throughout the hollow erupted, breaking open the concrete earth as even Anby was taken by surprise from the attack, attempting to launch into a powerful upwards slice that instead sent its momentum farther than she clearly anticipated, causing her to slip and fly into the air as the emerging crystal hit her back. Reacting as quickly as she did, I instinctively punched upwards, watching as Damon's modified glove shot off to reveal a hand covered in crystals, just as Anby was punched directly in the face as she was falling down, interrupting her mojo entirely. I then launched mid-air with strength I didn't even know I had, grabbing her and slamming her into the floor. In just a matter of moments, I had dealt heavy damage to their mainline fighter, causing the other two to stare at me in a moment of surprise.

I took the opportunity to taunt that rabbit back, pulling off Damon's other glove and throwing it to the side. "YOU WANT THE TREASURE? HERE'S THE BOSS GUARDING IT."

That seemed to get the rest of them in gear. Nicole immediately locked in, standing up to rush at me. "You dare hurt my friend-!"

"Nicole!" I watched as the Machinepool held out an arm. "I'll handle this freak. You get Anby to safety."

"Freak huh?" I growled at that, before rushing at him. "Just who the hell do you think I am?!"

Compared to Anby who was a lot more used to close-up combat, the Deadpool machine-clone didn't estimate his odds better. While he moved fast and in unexpected ways, he lacked entirely in close combat, seemingly more intent on trying to land a barrage on me, to which I gave no such room for it, constantly advancing towards him and giving him no room. Many of his shots went wild, with him not thinking once about trying to engage me in fists. The robot clearly wasn't a fighter, and it knew that. Yet it fought valiantly, doing everything it could to try and land a hit while trying to wear me down to no avail.

As he rolled to the side to try and wear me out, I slid my foot, focusing on that feeling I felt when I slammed my hand into the ground and crystals erupted. In turn, I watched the machine hit his head on the crystals and lose stability, being momentarily dazed. I watched as our Bangboo jumped in, getting on top of the crystals and breathing fire on the downed bot. "AHHHHHH, NOT THE FACE, NOT THE FACE!" He'd shriek as he'd feebly throw his arms in the way of the fire, thankfully ending up saved by another bangboo who I hadn't paid attention to. I gave it that when I slammed my fist down on Machinepool's shoulder, dislocating it. "YEOUCH! Oh c'mon, I just paid for that one!" I said nothing as I held him down by the scruff of the neck, eying the bangboo on the machine gun turret dangerously before looking to Nicole, who had her suitcase ready for another bog shot.

"Another move by you or that bangboo, and at least one of your friends aren't walking out of this hollow." I said lowly, grabbing the gunner by the throat and holding him as a meatshield. "You could've asked me to come if you left them alone. Now leave. I'm not asking."

Nicole looked at me, debating if she should fire. The staredown was intense- clearly, she had become upset that she turned out the loser in this battle, and that I wasn't coming along willingly whatsoever now. But she also knew she was outmatched, and trying to take me down any further would just get her friends in even more danger. "Tch… oddly merciful for the likes of you, especially after pulling such a dirty move on us. Explains a lot of what we were told about this situation." She stared coldly at me, before looking over to her bangboo. "Amillion, stand down. Come help me carry Billy and Anby."

With the surrender declared, I grabbed Machinepool's guns and threw them her way before releasing him. Billy stood up, his faceplate burning and his body bruised from the blows I managed to land on him. It was my victory. I looked to Ranger, who seemed to be flabbergasted by the turn of events. "You! Bring the men back to base, get some aid, or grow some guts. I don't care which."

"R-Right! Uhh…" He looks genuinely taken aback, nervous even. "I'll just umm… do that part." Without much of a word, he'd begin gathering and waking up however many goons he could, while I turned my attention to the bangboo. It was scared of my presence as well, but feeling as if it had no room to do anything, it simply tried to communicate in some form of sign language, before inevitably realizing I cared about only one thing. It looked a bit down, before inevitably getting back on the path. I made a mental note to learn whatever language that was.

Following the path the Bangboo had for me, I eventually reached a fissure. It went inside, and so did I, finding myself close to the fake Effifel Tower. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, this bizarre dream is fun, but Khors is probably inside that machine next to the fake tower. Work at the office; here I come after a health checkup!"

I quickly entered the machine, climbing it as swiftly as I could and heading into the cockpit, expecting the red-haired man to be there… only to be met with nothing but a clipboard with a document on it. I stared on in confusion. "This… isn't right. Where's the man? Isn't it the case that ending the plot of the dream wakes you up? Like reaching the limits of your imagination or something like that?" I got deeper in and grabbed the clipboard, just staring at the sheet of paper and hoping it would be illegible. It was not. I could make out everything, the money on it, the details, even the due date. I stared on in shock and confusion, simply remaining motionless as reality finally sunk in. "Holy shit… This is real, isn't it? I'm not just bugging out. Did I really just turn into some body-hopping monster? No no no, that can't be right-" But there truth was, staring me down dead in the eyes as more discrepancies forced themselves to assert dominion. The writing that I did with Foreman Thomas, the ability to feel pain, to fight and even move quickly, and to be focused on a task for a long time- all of those were signs. Every single one of them. And to top it all off, I did just kill a person by merely trying to help them.

I suddenly felt sick. I wanted to vomit, but nothing would come out no matter how hard I retched, realizing that I may have very well taken another man's life just so that I could live. Dysphoria and fear overwhelmed me at that moment, and I tried to climb out, feeling the smokey aura begin enveloping me. I tumbled off the side of the machine, damaging Damon's body even further to the point I think I heard a crack somewhere. I looked to the sky, stressed out of sanity and mind. I tried everything as I ripped my lungs of air out of confusion and despair. Memories of what happened before this moment: Nothing but work and a few scant pieces of media. Names that I haven't heard already: Nothing except Nineveh. The very nature of what my job even was: All some made-up lie I somehow connected as my own from those past media pieces. ANYTHING that could even be remotely general that would help me: Nothing but language and writing.

WHO was I? Was I always ethereal, or am I just some corrupted human, having awakened after years- decades even, of hibernation? How long have I been wandering? Questions that I couldn't answer beyond the fact that I lived were all that I could scrounge up… and now I live a life that I don't know how much more temporary it's gonna be. There was only one path ahead now. And it was going to be a hollow ending for this new life; or perhaps even body.

I grabbed the clipboard and began trying to make my way out of this place. The ethereals definitely heard all that, and there wouldn't be much time left for this body if I were to stay exactly where I was. And I needed to at least hand this to Koleda; it seemed personal to her after all, even if I had no clue who this was really for, I figured I might as well do one last good deed before being stuck to my life of loneliness.

So I ran, leaving the bangboo behind, who just watched silently as I fled in terror.

Like last time, the ethereals showed up, but I just punched and maneuvered my way around them, at one point doing a wall run off the side of a building and finding that I could instead move on walls. But it didn't bother me in that moment, as I ran about almost like a mindless animal. Perhaps I could've damaged the body less if I didn't, or at least tell if the new powers were destroying this body the more I used them, but I just didn't care. The fact I couldn't cry felt horrible. The world seemed to wish nothing more than in this one day to have killed me, yet because I was too stupid to do so before I found the truth, now living blissfully wasn't even an option. Hell, how could I even get a job? Could I even breathe the same air as the people outside without this body?

…It's that realization that came to me as I stopped at a rooftop, stopping to look at the world around me. That was entirely possible. I could be just fine as long as nobody else knew. My job doesn't even know that. Surely these Cunning Hares and Adamant Wolves think I could be localized to this place? Or maybe this power could be something that other people can more often use? As long as I didn't get caught, right?

…The sun seemed to agree with me. "Sure seems to." A voice behind me would say.

I would pivot backwards and raise my fists expecting a fight, only to be met with some sort of humanoid-elephant. His appearance outwardly reminded me of the elephant bangboo that I left behind, although naturally much larger. I figured I was supposed to know him, but before I could respond acting as if he's my boss, he spoke ahead of me. "Not even a 'boss'? …Then I guess the footage I found of you acting like a crybaby after barely beating the Cunning Hares wasn't just some fluke." He'd snort. "You left your bangboo behind. That's supposed to lead you in and out of these places."

"...You can't just walk in and out?"

"Not unless you intend on being lost. Which is probably why you haven't recognized that you've been in this place for well over 6 hours at this point… ethereal." I opened my mouth in shock. "Don't worry, I ain't gonna attack you. Instead, I want you to go finish your little exploration mission with Belobog. Then you continue working with us."

"How do I know you're not just looking for the nearest opportunity to go kill me or get me handed to a bunch of scientists?" I asked with some suspicion, to which the elephant just huffed.

"In case it isn't clear, you have one of my subordinates' remains with you, and rather than killing anyone at the scene earlier, you opted to let them all live. Plus, if I wanted you dead… you haven't fixed up some of the injuries you have." I'd watch as he'd cross his forearms- no, forelegs? Whatever you could describe a standing elephant's limbs to be like. "That makes you as much as a mystery as my intentions with you right now. So shut up and go solve yourself first if you want answers." I'd watch as he dropped some medical supplies before then turning away, and moving to exit the building.

"Whatever you think you are after what you've done: Ask yourself if you still care as you head to Kritikou Sky Tower. Because even if you can't feel anything like an ethereal should… even a psycho has no real reason to make the world around him sad." He would leave with those parting words. I wondered for a moment if I still at least have an ally amongst the Adamant Wolves… or if somebody just looking to quickly profit off of somebody that DOES technically owe them.

"I guess he's the best thing I could get to an ally if my cover is blown outside as Damon…" Was all I thought, before looking around and deciding to use them up. "Guess I should heal up and get moving. It's not like I could get lost if I just avoid those spatial rift things, right?"

I patched myself up as best as I could see, making sure my neck was in the proper place as I wrapped any bruises or bleeding wounds that I had on me, before heading out… and as a result only got nowhere, eventually heading back to where I met that elephant. I wasn't able to keep track of time, but the sun definitely rose higher and I ended up being forced to only encounter more ethereals. This time, I met something new, some kind of sword and shield ethereal that was roughly my size and reminded me of the smaller sword ethereals which had clustered themselves around it. Seeing is it was unique amongst the rest, I decided to call it Dullahan due to its more humanoid appearance.

Dullahan fought like an experienced sword fighter much like Anby, but it was much slower and not as ferocious as she was. I focused on the smaller ethereals, slamming them down as I used my crystal powers to hamper the movement of the sword and shield ethereal who tried to fight me. By this point, I had gotten pretty good at using them, although fighting the Dullahan still proved dangerous. Eventually, I had managed to knock it down through enough consecutive attacks, taking a chance to punch at it whenever I dodged its stabs, as it always seemed to stop attacking after a moment like that. It even showed some new techniques that it seemed to do with its own etheric crystal powers, which while I didn't understand how to mimic it, I did keep in mind to figure out how to 'power up' a fist strike for future reference, deciding to practice after finding a way out of here… which was entirely unsuccessful. Until I found a wandering bangboo that looked to be some kind of small, robotic police officer. While it didn't seem to arrest me, it did seem to want me to follow it, to which I did. And eventually, I found myself back outside where civilization was.

I looked at the familiar streets outside of the Hollow I was just in, thanking the bangboo in the meantime. The construction site was just up ahead. And from the looks of it, I was expected already early in the morning. "Shoot… alright, just act natural, hope they didn't see me come out." I tried to ignore the slight burning sensation I was feeling on my neck. "Better if I just hand this off and then disappear for a bit. Maybe they'll be too focused on this thing to notice anything more about me."

After taking a deep breath and telling myself everything was going to be fine, I made my way towards the group I met yesterday. Their eyes landed squarely on me as I came closer into view. None of them looked particularly pleased to see me, so I tried cracking a joke. "Did I read the time wrong? I was thinking that I should've slept earlier; although knowing me even if I could teleport via the ether I'd still be late." The joke wasn't well received. "...Ok, I'm not that late, right? Pretty sure I got up early."

The President looked between Anton, Ben, and the mechanic girl I met late yesterday. "Damon, right? We need to talk about all that ether you left around the site."

"The what? Wait a minute, is she saying… oh fuck." I was even moreso thankful that Damon's face doesn't seem to ever reflect my current emotions. Continuing to try and play this smoothly, I walked up to her with the clipboard and paper that I found deep in the hollow. "Oh, I forgot to clean up? My bad for the damage. This should make up for it though." I then handed it to her, and proceeded to try and walk away-

"Now hold up there friend." Anton would say as he'd place a hand on Damon's shoulder, thus preventing me from leaving. "This is serious. You left so much around that it exceeded record norms found on anyone who had exited a hollow. While we're not the type to make a fuss about hollow raiding as long as company materials aren't touched and decontamination is had… that's what you didn't."

I turned to look back, forcing a nervous smile on my face. "Right, yeah, like I said, my bad. Didn't mean to do any of it, and probably would've washed myself-"

"-If you knew about hollows, right?" The mechanic girl would cut me off with a sigh. "Look, while you didn't touch any of my babies- and I am fine too as long as you don't cross that line, you can't just walk around not knowing a thing and yet acting as if you know more than you do."

"What you've got is a little more than amnesia." Ben would add. "While we appreciate your work at the site, it's been decided that we simply can't-"

"Where did you get this?" The President would interrupt, the tone of her voice getting everyone to look at her. I followed in suit, quickly noticing the expression on her face as my senses became aware of her. Gone was that lack of closure… and instead replaced by a boiling grief. I gulped as I watched Anton take a closer look, his eyes widening at what Koleda was seeing. Did the air always taste so hot?

"I found it recently." I clarified with some nervousness. "Just lying around. In a machine-"

She looked at me. And I must've forgotten to wipe off the smile that I forced on, because after a short staredown, she suddenly jumped at me, grabbing me by my jaw and yanking me down. "WHERE DID YOU FIND GEROY-"

Squelch.

That was the only thing I heard before I watched as Damon's- my head, fell off, landing unceremoniously on the floor with a small stain of red and purple coating the ground, the visible sensation looking like I had just taken some helmet with a HUD off. The shock to my senses was as much of a shock as it was to everyone present. Everything was a blur after that, as wracking pain filled everything that I had been feeling, the sensation almost as if I had just gotten my arm ripped off by Koleda. I felt an immense amount of weakness flooding me as the world grew colder.

I assumed the worst at that moment. I fled out of sheer, sudden instinct, a desire to self-preserve taking over all other thoughts. There was shouting behind me as I ran for the hollow, but I couldn't make out any of it. Only that everything burned. I could hardly even breathe as I ran, feeling almost like I was choking just by being outside at the moment. I tried to use my crystal powers to hasten my journey, only to find they weren't even responding, leaving me to just run as fast as I could, dodging everything I could as my vision began to blur, holding my non-existent neck as I pushed past any smaller obstacles that got in my way.

Then something big tried to tackle me, large and fluffy in nature. I felt my legs ripped off, yet my arms move like machines in their place, with me barely being able to keep balance as my consciousness was beginning to fade. The world was beginning to stop feeling like a scalding blizzard and more of an empty chill, as the world was turning to darkness around me. I was dying. I didn't have much time or strength remaining- yet, somehow as if I were self-possessed by something greater than me, I managed to make it to the hollow.

And then the pain faded alongside my vision, the last thing I saw being that very same elephant bangboo.

"...And that was our strange encounter that we had with that half-ethereal being." Nicole would explain to Wise, having connected her Bangboo to their TV. "He didn't transform outright like all the others, but he sounded close. Yet he seemed to show some level of compassion and mercy, as well as control over the Ether… seeing as it took us off-guard, we were hoping you might have some intel on it."

The Phaethon Siblings analyzed the footage over and over, as if making sure what they were seeing was correct. "It seems like when it was exposed to the etheric energy from your energy field, it suddenly became aggressive, shedding its act of being human… yet its core didn't show, nor did he finish transforming after." Wise would hum in thought as he places his hands under his chin. "I don't think we have anything like this in our data. This must be a new ethereal variant that cropped up in the Cretan Hollow as of late… or maybe even from somewhere else. There's no telling if is been going in and out of hollows like we do before contact with one of your clients."

Belle would then pipe up in turn. "Could be that he might have been turning already… but besides from the deadened expression, which paradoxically gave way to emotion later on, that should've resulted in his immediate death. Maybe the time he managed to spend outside of the hollow slowed down its host's destruction, while also preserving itself from immediately dispersing?"

"One thing's for certain though based on the commission: An ethereal had bypassed the norm of staying outside of the hollow." Wise would note with a frown. "...Fairy, can you pass off an anonymous tip to Public Security?"

"Data has been safely leaked to both official and Interknot-based sources already, Master." Fairy would announce. "In addition, I've also taken the liberty of checking to see if the Ethereal has a smartphone. If you would like to track the ethereal, please say 'Fairy is the best AI in all of Eridu!'"

The siblings looked at each other. "I don't think it'll go that far…" "Ethereals don't watch movies anyways, right…?" They then turned back to Nicole.

"At any rate, let's continue our focus on why that strongbox was so important." Wise would say with some finality. "This Ethereal doesn't seem to be that strong, so we need to focus on getting more answers about that strongbox first. There's probably a good chance that it gets captured or dies off on its own if it had so much trouble trying to fight you guys without throwing you off-guard, plus without a bangboo even an Ethereal shouldn't be able to escape a hollow."

Nicole would nod. "Right. Better we get back on track to seeing what the Red Fang Gang had to do with all that. The White Star Institute would get to it sooner or later-" Her phone then vibrated, which she then opted to pick up after signaling that she needed to answer this. "Hello, this is Nicole of-"

"Bad news Nicole." Anton would say over her phone, his voice even more serious than normal. "Damon's body was hiding that thing's core. And it escaped into the hollow again."

The pause was palpable, and Nicole was thankful she didn't just throw it on speaker. "I'm sorry, how did something like that not die immediately when its core was exposed to the air?" This rang off alarm bells in Phaethon's ears, however, and so they began to piece the nature of the conversation together.

"It helped us close a longstanding scandal regarding embezzlement, which shocked us all enough that even after the President ripped its head off, only me and Grace had the sense to try and chase after it got a short headstart. Ben only managed to catch its legs before it fell into the hollow, which became the other part of the body we kept." Anton would clarify, causing Nicole's eyes to widen. "Look, I don't know if you have time at the moment… but if you can help us find and contain him before PubSec does so, we might be able to recover important company assets. Call me back when you're able."

AN:

Hey all. Had this cooking for a while, and recently found the will to get this posted. I hope the switches between the thought process of 'Damon' and his more conscious-level thinking haven't been too jarring, it's a writing style I thought would've been neat to express in 1st person POVs. A quick FAQ I predict in case anyone has been confused so far:

Bold is the voice of Corruption.

Italic is the personal voice.

Both is when they think alike.

The MC is from our world/time(however you wish to see it, but for the sake of them being an easy insert, they don't have much of an identity. As such, do not expect much more than the cut-off height and weight in Chapter 2; what happens in Ohio stays in Ohio.

The descriptions of the ethereal so far have been basic enemies, such as Tyrfling, Holpitai, Alpeca, Armored Haiti, and as previously described, Dullahan. I avoided using the names on purpose to convey how the protagonist sees the monsters as someone who has never seen them before. Please do let me know if you'd prefer descriptions, names, or both.

As to why he didn't die immediately when out of the hollow and even with a massive open wound: Think of it like pressure. The inside of Damon when the MC instinctively possessed him became bloated with etheric energy(which consists entirely of the MC), so when the head was ripped off this chapter due to the pressure finally giving way on the weak bindings, it was more like he was bleeding out until he made it back into the hollow to heal.

This story will, provided nothing gets in the way, get updated weekly or bi-weekly.

This is my first story in a LONG time, so I hope you enjoy it.