u/13taM

Hello, this is the final part of caught in her rings, it took me the most tine and effort so i hope you all have a nice read!!

The story:

The air seemed to still; no grand entrance, only dread as a huskron lunged at a screaming worker, followed by 4 smaller blascrawlers that each screeched deafeningly, their cores pulsing in unison.

Before the huskron's bulky shield-like appendage could maul the unfortunate man, a small buzzing could be heard. Then a golden ring quickly hovered above the creature; less than a second later, a giant leg slammed onto it, squashing the pest, the aftermath being the monster's slow but sure dissipation, crumbling into nothingness.

Dialyn was on the move, using her golden ring as both a shield and weapon alike, making use of her small stature to slither, duck, and counter, each parry producing a loud, satisfying sound.

"Smash them!" Dialyn shouted as she spun the ring around her arm before putting her fist through it, which came from the other side as a giant hand that squashed 3 foes, creating a small rumble that resulted in a crater in its center.

Ethan watched, stunned horror still clawing at him from the sight of the monsters, yet his focus betrayed him, flickering back to her and the way her shorts clung to her. There was something almost unreal in the way she moved, every motion precise, deliberate, as if she and the weapon shared the same breath. He caught himself staring as she carved through the Ethereals, her form flawless, not a single error or trace of hesitation. With a sharp kick, the ring split cleanly into two smaller ones that shot in opposite directions, slicing through a pair of crawlers before curving back towards her like boomerangs, snapping once more into place at her side, fusing onto the same bulkier circle he saw earlier.

As the balance of the fight seemed to tip in her favor, seemingly gaining ground over the monsters, the grim reality started to set in: she was outnumbered; no matter how efficient she would try to be or how many huskrons and crawlers she would obliterate, more seemed to come.

Even her go-to three-stage combo attacks that manifest as giant, translucent golden hand projections ravaging the battlefield proved useless.

She had always wielded her gift, the ability to hear the dead, as an advantage. It had saved her life more than once, guided her through tangled cases, and led her unerringly to the undeniable truth when digging up the past of her targets. But for the first time in her career, that same gift turned against her—what had once been her greatest blessing acted as a curse, because mid-preparation to parry the oncoming dash of an Arcavor, three screaming voices rung in her head, allowing the bastard to send her flying onto some stairs, a few Ether pills also spilling from her pocket.

"Urghh..." she whimpered softly as her vision slowly returned after impact, noticing a few drops of blood staining her panda-themed bow tie and apron, followed by an all-encompassing warmth in her forehead where corruption slowly started to form as an aftermath of the direct blow.

"HELP! HELP! NOOOOOO! AAAAAAAGHHH!" were the things she was hearing in her head despite her ears ringing painfully.

The three voices soon became four, then five as the Ethereals claimed more victims, some crawlers humming in contentment while digging into the ripped abdomen and guts of a nearby worker. She failed; she was bound to fail, just like the ones who came before her. She was caught in a storm of thoughts, the voices blaming her followed by her own inner monologue that mocked our beloved judge, all happening within the span of a few seconds. The strong sensory overload made her unable to notice a Huskron that lunged; it was over. The creature slowly rose over Dialyn, opening its limbs to attack, exposing its heart, which sat right under its maw...

The core's crimson shell reflected her face, which had the expression of someone who seized, overwhelmed when faced with a failure, unable to think let alone defend; she could only shut her eyes and brace for the inevitable, her body tensing for the decisive blow. A second passed… then another. Nothing came.

When she finally opened her eyes, the scene had shifted. Ethan stood there, trembling yet resolute, seizing the brief distraction the creature had fallen into. With everything he had left, he brought the pickaxe down in a single, desperate arc—like those carnival strength games where one strike determines everything, the force driving upward toward a final mark. Only this time, there was no bell to ring.

The impact landed true.

The huskron’s core shattered under the blow, its form unraveling before her eyes, dissolving into nothingness. His "prize" was not a fleeting chime of victory but survival itself,but due to sheer shock and the earlier slamshe passed out.

The core sputtered tar-like goo, which held crimson queues onto the handle, prompting Ethan to throw the weapon onto the ground, a life-saving gesture as it melted right before his eyes, but he had no time to waste. Upon noticing some crawlers closing in and his only hope of survival or of getting out lay frozen in front of him, he began to shout, "Dialyn, please...you can't give up! Snap out of it!" He said while shaking her up and down by her forearms, "Please...don't leave us here! We need you!" But it was useless; she was still in shock, her battle being an internal one rather than external, the voices overwhelming her and further sapping at her mental fortitude , making her unresponsive to the outside world except for basic functions that kept her alive, such as breathing.

Alerted by the commotion, an Arcavor started to loom closer, preparing a devastating dash right in front of them while bloodcrawlers slowly skittered from all sides and the corruption on her forehead expanded towards her eyes, the ether amorphous mass pulsating fast.

That was when Ethan made a rash decision. Moving on instinct alone, he fumbled for a pill, unscrewed a water bottle from his backpack, and took a quick swig before pressing the tablet between his lips.

Then, without hesitation, he closed the distance between them.

His lips met hers, colder and unresponsive, as he tilted her head back, trying to force the moment into something functional rather than intimate. It was clumsy and desperate, proven by the fact that water slipped from the corners of her mouth as he did his best to trigger even the faintest reflex, willing her to swallow,their audition being only the corpse that laid right next to them of an unfortunate worker and a few others scattered nearby,some whole,some dismantled,lacking limbs,guts or even heads.

"Please...please..." he begged as, in a last-ditch effort he grabbed her golden ring and swung off a crawler before putting his hand onto it,aiming a closed fist at the Arcavor that went through the projection,slamming onto him and sending the ring flying out of his hands, making it clatter in the distance, dislocating his left shoulder in the process from the impact, the ring serving as a last line of defense between them but without accounting for the kinetic energy. The dislocation was also followed by a loud snap,a spiral fracture also took place but the adrenaline that flowed through his body numbed most of the pain.

Ethan was always a selfish person, placing his own needs and desires before others, laundering money, and doing dodgy practices and scams and exploitable loopholes, whether they were legal or not, but in that moment his only thought was to protect, throwing himself over Dialyn as the dazed Arcavor recovered, his coral-like glowing head locking onto the pair again, raising its slender legs, and striking a pose that's nothing short of an acrobatic miracle, reminiscent of a ballet dancer twirling on ice, which meant another thing: he was ready to initialize another devastating dash.

Less than a second later he lunged, and in similar fashion to Dialyn earlier, Ethan braced his whole body, doing his best to hold the plank position over her with only an arm for stability. He barely managed to brace, feeling the ether creeping right away, breathing down his neck before suddenly it went away, followed by seven loud concentrated bangs that sent the creature flying.

If someone's jaw could drop to the floor like in cartoons, Ethan would have done it in similar fashion because once he opened his eyes and looked up, the sight of who stood before him stilled his blood more than the grotesque miasmic fiends that he had to deal with earlier and cover from.

Banyue stood tall with an imposing, almost sculpted frame; it was clear his design left no room for interpretation, his body a seamless fusion of polished metal and reinforced plating, each segment fitted together with mechanical precision, a precision that required a team of master techs to labor over for weeks of sleep. His torso bore a sleek, silver-white finish, interrupted by darker joints and golden accents that pulsed faintly, as if something within him were quietly alive, his chest core glowing faintly of the same gold that trimmed his body.

His arms were thick and powerful, built more like industrial machinery than human limbs, with exposed segments and subtle vents that hinted at contained energy or heat. He nodded respectfully at Ethan, his alloy-encased mask resembling the one of a lion, the undisputed king of a jungle, the jungle being this hollow, raising his giant arm, a gesture followed by seven golden spheres that returned to him, which now hovered in a controlled orbit, bowing to his will alone and gaining a redish hue to them as they ignited.

"Let me handle this; I am detecting 9 more heat signatures nearby, faintly beating but alive regardless," he said in a stern, calculated voice. "Gather them in a safe spot right next to the cable car reception area, load them onto the oncoming one, and wait for the helicopter to aid in the rescue as well." Banyue added while a thin, tail-like appendage that extended behind him, flexible and precise, reinforced the sense that every part of him was built for both balance and control.

"Took you long enough, rust bucket. Had to polish your panels, you chromed-fingered clanker," uttered now a conscious Dialyn who got up and dusted herself off, her forehead ether almost gone. With renewed anger, she called her ring and gripped it tighter than ever,her knuckles turning white on the shiny alloy. "Six died...I can hear them screaming...we can't let these demons take more lives." She then wiped her still moist lips "This....I will deal with you later," she added, shooting a deadly glare at Ethan, who got the message and started to check on the alive workers slowly dragging them one by one with his working arm in the requested area while Dialyn and Banyue tore through the Ethereals like a knife through butter.

Crawlers fell, Huskrons, Arcavors, and even some Miasma Spawns joined the slaughterfest. This was supposed to be a rescue mission, not an all-out battle. The miasmic abominations lasted only seconds in front of this formidable duo before being pummeled. Once Banyue's heated wrath state subsided, Dialyn's giant ring would fracture into 4 smaller ones. 2 pairs would hit a giant creature via projected limbs from left and right, while the second smaller pair would act as golden bracelets for her, producing a satisfying cling sound once she clashed her fists, allowing Dialyn to charge Banyue's power back to full within seconds.

As all the invading miasma entities fell, Ethan managed to gather all the workers in a small circle where he was instructed to. The mission finally starting to brighten up as the remaining miasmic forces scattered and dispersed, but due to the raging combat and commotion, something else was attracted by it.

Stepping out from the dispersing crimson mist, a bigger figure emerged; its most striking feature lies in its grotesquely developed arms, the embodiment of the Wicked Wraith's fury, but this one was worse, imbued with miasma. The limbs themselves are bulkier than a standard double-door refrigerator, coated in dense keratin layers that interlock to form a natural hammer shape.

What's the plan, bolt muncher? "You dealt with these things before, right? Before you know it?" The whole being abandoned and left to rot, blah blah sob story," asked Dialyn, who raised her ring in defense, preparing while the intelligent construct sized the approaching creature up, looking for weak spots and openings before speaking. " I will hold and parry his heavy blows; you will pummel him from all sides with the projections. Once his core is exposed, we will deal the killing blow, but we need to be fast; the workers display signs of heavy corruption. We don't have time to spare! "Banyue said as now it was time to go all in , while his panels started to hum faintly gaining the now familiar fiery orange and red he had was displayed similar to earlier wrathful states. This time however it was different; his face mask shifted, the trims covering his mouth retracted towards his ears, revealing a fierce smile that let out scalding steam while 4 arms protruded from his back. It was now or never.

Dialyn was no slouch either, hitting the creature from all sides via the giant limb projections that came out of her rings while Banyue tanked the acidic miasmic goo the creature spewed and in conjunction with his golden spheres, held his ground very well, matching blows with the threat.

It was time to take it up a notch as he shot a glare to Dialyn, telling her all that she needed to know. The Krampus judge started spamming leg kicks onto the ring, each one materializing in a flurry of blows onto the creature's back, keeping it in place. Banyue raised his arm not with urgency but with quiet authority as the ground obeyed.

From opposite ends of the fractured street, two house-sized slabs of rock tore themselves free, dragging dust and debris in their wake as they rose. They hovered for a breath, suspended like executioners awaiting a signal, and then his fingers curled.

The boulders surged inward at once, colliding from both sides with a thunderous impact that crushed the bulky wraith between them, the shockwave rippling through the ground as fragments scattered like shrapnel.

"NOW DIALYN! HIT IT IN THE CORE!" Shouted a tired Banyue that collapsed to his knees, overheated after the prolonged fights and forced chargings from our panda-themed menace.

She took off, weaving miasmic sludge from the wraith, stepping onto a pooling puddle that melted her right high-top sneaker, but she did not care, still held in place by the boulders that started to crack. The entity roared loudly, the barrel of his shotgun limb shattering the rock in its way, granting it a clear line of sight between it and Dialyn.

"Fuck...she doesn't have time." Ethan uttered quietly, watching the fight with clenched teeth,dazed from the Ether that started to also envelop him, scrambling his brain for a solution, his gaze drifted around, thats when he noticed something shiny nearby.

The next 5 seconds are hard to describe as Dialyn, who now gained enough closure and laser focus, threw her ring at the pulsating exposed core of the trapped creature, failing to account for the barrel of the shotgun appendage aimed at her chest only a few meters away.

Baaaaaanggggg!!! The shot went off at the same time when her ring collided with the creature's core... followed by another splatter, then silence. Her left side of her hip felt the same warmth and numbness that flooded her when she was sent flying earlier. As the creature started to fade away, she noticed her right side of her white uniform was stained. The ethereal still hit her, but its shot was deviated somehow. She quickly applied pressure and, while shaking, looked at a Banyues sphere that landed nearby, then at Ethan whos right arm had a few surges of miasmic red before subsiding surging around his right arm which was extended similar to a baseball player after doing a pitch.

As the Wraith subsided, the mist finally cleared, leaving nothing but the aftermath in its wake. Six bodies lay scattered across the ground, twisted and broken, while the nine surviving workers barely clung to life, Ether corruption creeping across their skin and clothes. Dialyn weakly limped towards the group, each step painful and unsteady, the voices ever so present pounding in her head but fainter now, and Banyue was still cooling off. Everything was too much for Ethan, who finally collapsed, passing out but not before hearing a faint rotor sound in the distance.

Ethan was surrounded by darkness, awaking in an endless void that seemed to encompass him, every sound now barely a whisper; he felt warmth, fatigue, and a faint feeling of longing for this endless abyss.

His problems no longer existed. They felt distant and meaningless, as if they belonged to someone else. In this state of quiet nirvana, he drifted weightlessly, unbound by gravity or thought.

To Dialyn, the panda-themed customer rep who had caused him so much trouble. The frustration that once defined her presence faded, replaced instead by the faintest hint of a chuckle.

Banyue followed soon; his fear of him now morphed into admiration, recounting the refinement that the intelligent construct had displayed in combat when vanquishing the Ethereals.

He then saw a pair of 6 crimson eyes in the distance slowly creeping closer, lingering nearby; no matter how far he ran, they would follow soon.

"Thank you" was what he heard whispered in his ear, but why? How? It made no sense.

"I am so sorry you all had to die! "I tried!" pleaded Ethan, deciding to turn around and wait for the glowing orbs to catch up to him.

Six misty entities roughly resembling the workers all bowed to him, a seemingly older one coming in front. "You did well, young men, but...I am afraid today is not your day. The miasma bonded us here; we are all sharing the same conciousness...but.…be wary of them...they are on their way…" The absolute voice stopped. All of the entities subsided one by one, vanishing into the same nothingness slowly. "What does this mean? Who? Why?" Asked Ethan, startled, "Their product...it's invasive, but...it evolves us...it's the ultimate...evolut—" The voice subsided fully now, the same quietness taking place once again, now eerie rather than relaxing.

Time seemed to lose its meaning inside this void as he wandered freely; it could have been minutes, hours, days, or even weeks. It felt like the kind of sleep and contentment you have minutes before an alarm shatters it.

He started to hear faint beeping that quickly picked in intensity, now shaking the whole realm.

Then it started to crack, the black being replaced by faint white lines that multiplied quickly and started to reach for him, tangling him and sapping his absolute peace, similar to shackles; he then was propelled upwards towards a more blinding white as the beeping got louder and louder, similar to a soldier being blinded by a flashbang grenade.

In that realm he felt weightless and unchained, but when he awoke in that hospital room, the opposite was the reality: multiple IVs were strapped to his right arm while his left was in a cast, machines beeped, he craned his neck to the left painfully, and he noticed that his bunk neighbor was no other than Dialyn, her small stature barely denting the mattress she sat on, who was still asleep, and in contrast Banyue, who stood by her side in a comically small chair compared to his frame.

"She will wake up soon; you are still under muscle relaxants and sedatives, so try not to move, same with her," said Banyue in a solemn voice that hinted at compassion. After a long pause, he spoke again, "It's thanks to you we pulled through without you...she would have been oblitera—" "Ugh...quiet down, Fusefreak. Can't even be in a coma near you. Agh, my head is still pounding," said the customer rep, who was now slowly waking up.

"Look...Ethan...the Hollow was unpredictable; the miasmic ambush that resulted in that all-out fight was something that none of us could have predicted. Something about those porcelumex workers drew them in," said Dialyn in a grim voice.

"Nine survived and are slowly stabilizing, but we lost six," said the ever-so-stoic Banyue.

"Point is, Ethan, it's thanks to you I am here; the nine porcelumex workers are alive, so...I will forgive the kiss. Also consider your files...thoroughly erased, doofus," she said, faking a soft smile at Ethan.

"That money you laundered can be...justified after that Hollows performance, Krampus." She paused, realizing she was supposed to keep it a secret. "Ah, to hell with it, I might have an open position as my bailiff since the executioner spot is taken by a blue-haired freak who thinks that walking around shackled and with a robe that leaves you practically naked underneath is a great idea." She paused, looking more stern now.

"Slowly that income of yours can be justified, purrified, but you are not scott free yet. A certain meat-eating bunny wants to see you once you recover; consider it a job interview, but with my help, I can write up a very motivating recommendation letter, and I'm sure you will nail it!" she said, forcing a small wink that made her shudder in pain as things slowly started to head on the right path.

Ethen's recovery was unusually fast; doctors were taken aback by the sped-up recovery time he had displayed. He was able to walk again even before Dialyn, who pouted each time she saw him get out of his hospital bed, secretly glad that he recovered and that she had someone to quip with and annoy.

The doctors did not celebrate his recovery, at least not in the way one would expect. Their relief felt restrained, buried beneath quiet glances and unfinished sentences exchanged just outside his room. Tests had been run more than once, then repeated again under different parameters, as if the results themselves refused to be trusted; even his brainwaves seemed to be off.

Something that lingered where it shouldn’t, flowing faintly through his system like a residue that refused to dissipate or be broken down. It behaved like ether, yet lacked its usual volatility. No degradation, no visible strain on his body. If anything, it remained… stable.

"This is...unheard of, throwing that sphere with such strength that it managed to deviate that hulking beast's limb; no human is able to commit such a feat," said a pale researcher at the facility who analyzed a sample of Ethan's blood under the lab's microscope, a special request by the doctor who tended to all of the rescued workers as well, now sitting by his side, noting these groundbreaking results on a report file. "The ether should have caused a rapid decline in his health...“It’s not rejecting it… if anything, Doctor Earl. This is unbeliveable...It's subtle, but the ether cells just refuse to go away." Added the researcher adjusting his thick glasses. "Also...from the bodies who still had an untouched brain, we managed to see...that all of their brainwaves synced, somehow still active after rigor mortis as well as Ethan's," said Earl who brushed off his sweaty hair from his slick forehead.

"We must send this to...those specialists at section six...or somewhere competent; this cannot go unnoticed...this could change everything..." The automatic door at their lab suddenly opened with a loud hissing sound, revealing a man. He has sharp green eyes and neatly styled ash-gray hair, his stern expression matching the crisp white coat and formal attire that give him a composed, authoritative presence along with a way shorter pink-fur bunny Thiren, whose 2 distinct right ear piercings glinted in the dim lab fluorescent light. She was followed by 2 burly bodyguards behind the pair who closed the door behind them as if they owned the place.

"I am afraid this whole operation will need to be confidential," said Zhao, who now took off her sunglasses, handing them to Damian, who bent his knees slightly to reach her hand and take them. "We managed to track and administer proper judgment to those who allowed and even forced the workers to mine in that area despite the risks; they violated quite a few policies," said the bunny, who now smiled cutely. A few red stains could still be seen on the left side of her black skirt. "Hand over all of the reports and files and forget this even happened; everything comes with a price, won't you agree?" She then snapped her fingers, a burly bodyguard firmly placing a suitcase on one of the lab's tables, revealing endless green in it.

"Don't breathe a word to anyone," said the butlers in unison.

The scared doctor and researcher nodded, taking the bribe, shaking Damian's hand, and scurrying away.

"I told you it would be easy," said Zhao, laughing and ordering the bodyguards to gather everything useful from the lab.

"Also...Damian...hand me my veggie salad; I swear if it has onions again you are getting demoted to janitor. I hate those pungent, sour vegetables, yuck," she said, stretching lazily and then leaving but not before ordering for the whole lab to be closed permanently.

A week later Ethan sat lost in tought watching the sun go down on the balcony of his apartment, left arm still in cast.

One second it was peacefull the next a small thud could be heard next to him "Hey there whats with the long face? Everything went well right?" said Dialyn nudging his shoulder with just enough force. "Dont need to speak, i know whats on your mind, everything was pedal to the metal but with some ties i managed to discharge us both sooner, the families of the dead porcelumex workers were all given generous compensation and all of the medical expenses from the injured ones were paid off, the CEOs made sure of that" she said in her usual sing sang pitched voice masking the pain she still felt at her side,the wound still healing,hidden by lots of bandages which were hidden by her outfit.

"Thanks Dialyn....the world is.....a messed up place....i used to sit here, unbothered, being lazy, i could have never known what was out there....how...bad some people had it just to make ends meet while i....exploited the system, found loopholes and how scary everything is....the Hollows....the Ethereals...."

"Ooooh, big talker" sang Dialyn smirking at him, no need to get sappy on me, point is" she then reached behind her back handing him her rotary phones handset "Welcome to Krampus compliance authority, as promised you will work under me, methaporichally speaking but it can be literal if i feel generous , bonus points" she paused sizing him up and down with her green hued golden eyes, " your not hard to look at or a steamy scrap heap " she winked giving her hips a playfull sway, waiting for his decision.

"Im in!" he shouted picking up the receptor,sealing the deal. "Good because i would have hated silencing you , also....that massage you gave me a while ago? Yeah, consider that a requirement from now on after i get back in office from each field work mission and maybe we will skip the gloves too" she added with a soft laugh "and you will be required to sign an NDA and lay an oath that you know nothing about this organisation, we will see what job we will assign you to as a cover up so no worries!" she continued to ramble and Ethan just listened, knowing damn well how much she needed to vent.

When they parted ways, by the time he went inside he felt his left eye twiching, looking in a mirror, barely noticeable, a few small red dots similar to the miasma he grew familiar in that Hollow materialised on his sclera, lasting only a few seconds before they subsided.

“Bloody hell…” he whispered, though he wasn’t sure if it was fear… or something else but something was certain, theres way more to this plague that consumed the earth and the moon than it meets the eye, the way it spoke to him or manifested, the workers...if someone knew about it, who was familiar with it, that would be Banyue, who went way back with these phenomenas back when he was a miasma killing machine, perhaps he is knowledgeable enough in this matter, but everything will come at the right place and time.

The end.

Despite Ethan being a self insert he will appear again along with the others in my next stories as a important a side character, i might turn this into a weekly thing starring more characters and exoanding on this universe.

The proxies will be included later down the line,their skills highlighted and with an inclination towards pre 2.0 story where they are rather smart and don't go into Hollows, void hunters as well and everything will hold clues and slow build up towards something greater.

I really felt like Dialyn did not get enough recognition considering how complex her character truly is so this whoke fanfic was more of an appreciation letter for her.

If you made it this far let me know how the story was and if it kept you entertained, feedback is much appreciated, have a blessed day yall and gl on the Cissia/Seed pulls!!!!!

A Jane story will drop on friday!

Caught in her rings (all parts)

Caught in her rings (artist @kyo_zip)

Caught in her rings all parts (artist iiiiiphoenixx)

Caught in her rings 3 (finale)