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Figured everyone already saw the news.
Even compared to every case I've covered so far, this one is genuinely beyond words.
It's just—just fucking different on a fundamental level.
At first glance I saw the blood flying and figured blood mage, right?
But the deeper I dug, the weirder it got.
The scythe and dagger that look high-build even at a glance are already a problem, but even if I give that a hundred passes and say the caster is just some talent freak—that beast-type build is straight-up impossible.
No way a blood mage, famous for being pathetic tech, produces something on that level.
That's minimum second-rank territory, and looking at the frame and height the kid's twenty at most—has there ever been a brat that age throwing around that much mana??
Yeah, except for that one person, lol.
A hunter who was on-site that day said they couldn't even track the flow and got carved up in a few seconds of exchange—said their hands and feet are still shaking.
Apparently those CCTV shots were a nightmare to get, and that's the one with the crimson wings flaring, yeah?
Look at the dagger she's holding.
The air around the blade is warping like heat haze.
Does that make any fucking sense??? How deranged do you have to be for that to even be possible?
I'm calling it now—honestly, even if you threw every single ranker from HQ at her, I think it'd be a coin flip whether they could take her down.
A full year of shut-in living had sunk into my bones so thoroughly that stepping outside and facing crowds of people felt alien now.
I'd been trying to change, but in the end my limit was still just roaming the night sky late after dark…
Well. Whatever. The heart was what mattered. The heart.
I felt the currents of air and gave my wings a single beat. The air scattered, carrying a harsh, acrid smell. Probably from smoking too hard before I came out.
I folded my wings and touched down on the rooftop of a high-rise. Once you left the outskirts and entered the city proper, even this late at night a few people still drifted through the entertainment district. This building looked upscale too—every room behind the windows had its lights on.
A hotel?
I took a brief look around the broad rooftop, then started walking. A faintly unsettling wind tugged at my clothes. I opened the rooftop door and stepped inside, where an elevator waited.
Pretty high up. Thirty-fifth floor. I didn't think I'd been here before.
I pressed the button and it shot up to my floor almost instantly, spilling light. The moment I stepped in, soft background music began to play.
Quiet. Luxurious. Back home I rode an elevator I'd designed myself whenever I went downstairs, so without thinking I found myself wanting to compare—I dragged my fingers along the wall panel.
A dense, plush texture met my touch.
The descending elevator chimed and stopped. Seventeenth floor. It settled against the wall and the doors opened, admitting a man in a blue uniform and cap. A white mark sat on his shoulder, and a name tag hung from a cord around his neck.
Hotel manager, maybe.
Ah. Our eyes met.
"Uh, uh…?"
The man made a thin sound and froze where he stood. His pupils were shaking so hard I almost couldn't believe it was possible.
"If you stand there, the doors will catch you."
"Ah—ah, yes!"
The very first person I met the moment I went out recognized me…
He scrambled into the left corner and stared straight ahead. His body creaked like something broken.
"Excuse me."
"Y-yes?"
"Do you know me, by any chance?"
He flinched.
His eyes darted every which way, completely lost.
"You can tell me the truth. I won't kill you."
He jerked at the word kill, then managed a stiff nod.
"Y-yes. I know you…"
"How?"
"On th-the news…"
The news was within expected range. No—once you were on the news, it wouldn't even be strange if the entire country recognized you, would it?
"And what did they say about me?"
He started trembling again and clamped his mouth shut.
Irritated, I drew a knife.
His gaze dropped. The color drained from his face at terrifying speed.
"Th-they said you're an awakener who shows psychopathic tendencies!! That you're presumed to suffer from multiple mental illnesses…"
"And?"
"Th-the Association is, uh… g-going to investigate…. They classified you as a danger grade…"
If the Association were making a rational call, they would shut down every investigation pointed my way, meet me in person, and negotiate.
At most I killed three people a day, maybe. As I'd said before, the capital region alone saw dozens of terror attacks and Gates—they didn't have the spare manpower to split off for me.
They'd only announced it that way for the image.
I put the knife between my teeth.
"Wow, thanks for answering. Since it's our first meeting, I'll let you off with just one arm."
Silence hung for a moment.
The man's face went past pale into bloodless.
Why only with me?
But I meant it about letting him off.
I slid the blade shallowly into his abdomen and drew blood.
The elevator doors opened, swallowing his groan.
"Don't worry. It won't affect your life."
I grabbed the collar of the man clutching his stomach and coughing, and dragged him. Being in a woman's body meant I barely had any baseline strength, so I had to layer mana into it.
This was quietly inconvenient.
"Kyaaaaah!!"
"What the—what the fuck!!"
Ugh, so loud. Why were there this many people in the lobby.
"Could you please keep it down. It's late."
A brief hush fell, and I went back to hauling the limp man along.
A non-awakener or a low-rank one would have been screaming and thrashing from the pain, but he was only letting out a few shallow groans—so he must have had stats in that direction.
"Hah… hah…"
Quieter was better.
I bit down hard on my lip and rubbed my eyes.
Ignoring the frozen counter staff, I dumped the man roughly and hurried out of the hotel.
"Slurp, suck, tsk."
I licked the blood off the blade, then just threw the knife away. Irritation surged up fast and hard.
Mana grass. I needed mana grass.
I half-blooded my body and picked up speed. I cut into an alley, took a few turns, and stepped into a dim warehouse building.
A mana-grass smuggling zone. Honestly, I owed these people a bit.
"Get lost. No kids allowed."
I lifted my eyes toward the thick voice. A big man with a scar carved into his face.
The height difference was considerable.
"Move."
I didn't particularly want to kill him.
"You little sh—"
I spun once and slipped past his fist. Blood sprayed free and I condensed it into a scythe. I carved across his abdomen and kicked him.
He slammed into the wall and groaned.
I walked over and kept stomping. I was already seething—why the hell was he acting up.
Around the time his teeth flew and the floor started cracking, the door burst open.
"What—what's goi—!"
"Hello."
A man in a suit appeared. He looked a touch more refined than the one under my foot.
He startled when he saw me, then spotted the man pinned under my shoe, and his eyes swung back to me.
"Oh my, a guest. A distinguished one at that. My apologies. I should have come out to greet you myself."
Between the hotel reaction earlier and this, my face must have been plastered everywhere by now.
Watching him put on a fake smile and bow his head in a frantic series of dips, I smiled.
"It's fine. May I come in?"
"Ah, yes yes! Please, right this way! I'll make sure this ill-mannered bastard gets a proper education!"
I hadn't particularly cared.
"If you're going to educate him, may I do it?"
"…Pardon?"
"May I do it?"
"Ah—ah! Of course! Hahaha…"
I hauled the dazed man up off the floor and cracked him across the cheek a few times.
Blood flew. Skin split. He twitched and reacted.
"The education part was a joke. I just wanted to help him come around."
"Th-thank you…"
Slap. Slap. Slap.
After several more hits, the man coughed and opened his eyes.
"Are you all right?"
I didn't particularly want an answer.
I flicked my hand through the air and hurled him across the street.
"Please step aside now. I'd like to go in quickly."
"I-I'm sorry. This way, please!"
I felt his throat bob as I walked into the building.
"—None of your colleagues' lives are in danger. Fortunately the wounds were serious but avoided the vitals. What's truly remarkable is that Miss Erika's injuries were far more critical, and yet she recovered in only a few days…"
"Haa…"
Erika leaned against the wall of the Association ward and drained her coffee. That girl had been strong. An untouchable power had radiated from her.
Before Erika could even mount a response, her body had already been carved open.
The truly strange part—someone of that caliber could have completely destroyed her, and yet, just as the doctor said, every vital had been deliberately avoided through the entire fight. That fact left a restless unease she couldn't shake.
Did she go easy on me? But why? There was no need for that.
That day, with her abdomen and chest savagely cut open and consciousness slipping, rage had swallowed her before the primal emotion of fear could even surface.
The girl had walked right up to where she lay, smiled that smile Erika wanted to tear off her face on the spot, and sneered, asking if she was all right—and fury had boiled over.
After that Erika had spat something or other, but she couldn't remember it clearly. Something about hunting her down to the end and killing her… that sort of thing, she thought.
But even in the face of that stance, the girl had only looked into her eyes.
If she were a true "villain" who killed while immersed in a character, she should have flown into a rage at those words.
Was it because she was a psychopath?
But they didn't even know if she was a psychopath.
"Ha."
Combat was the real thing, though. The moment the girl had spared her, Erika was already plotting the second operation.
"Yes, Director. Don't worry. I'm perfectly fine. You know my ability. That girl is as good as dead already. I'll drag rankers with me if I have to and tear her to pieces."
"…Erika. Look, that girl is fine, her case is fine, but… aren't there other, ah, other matters that are rather urgent?"
"What?"
What was this man even saying right now?
"What's urgent right now is the terror attacks and Gates in the capital region. Leave the girl to other rankers or veterans…"
"No, please say something that makes sense. We've almost got her—"
The voice on the other end of the line stayed calm.
"Two rankers seriously injured. Three veteran hunters knocked out. Catching someone on that level is going to take considerable time. And on top of that, the cycle of her appearances is irregular. She knows we're after her now. Do you really think she'll show herself willingly?"
"……"
"I understand how you feel. A vicious murderer needs to be caught immediately. But there are more pressing matters right now. You didn't go down to the Gyeonggi provincial office solely because of that girl, did you? As it stands, one Gate is already showing signs of opening. In the Gyeonggi region."
Erika bit her lip. The truth was, she already knew that much.
The Gates and the monster problem were urgent too.
But it was fine. After hanging up, Erika arrived at a single conclusion.
In the chaos of a Gate opening and a city thrown into disorder, there was no way a girl of that caliber would sit idle.
That was when she would catch her.
Without fail.
By any means necessary.