The prey belongs to the hunter

“G-good… Miss Eileen is such a good person… I understand… I will definitely repay you…”

There it was again.

Eileen was nearly speechless.

The girl in front of her never stopped talking about repaying, as if she really had anything she could give her…

Though, maybe that wasn’t impossible either.

“Alright, alright.

If you really want to repay me, then go buy two bottles of hot cocoa from here.

It’s my sister Rosakaya’s shop.

Don’t forget to tell others that it tastes really good.”

Eileen smiled as she shared an address with her.

It really did taste good—no need to lie.

“Mhm! Is she your sister?

She must be very cute too…

I’ll make sure the whole convent, my parents, and all my brothers and sisters buy from her!”

Parents…?

Hearing that word, Eileen faltered.

She was someone who still had a family—unlike Eileen herself…

Well, maybe that meant she could buy a few extra bottles.

By now, it was time to part ways.

The church couldn’t be entered anymore—the entire structure was collapsing inside the spatial bubble.

Eileen hadn’t found any trace of an anomaly, but at least she had tens of thousands worth of loot.

Enough to solve urgent needs.

Luck really was on Eileen’s side!

But just as her excitement faded, she suddenly realized a problem.

W-was it getting dark?

The fight with the vampire monster had been too tense.

While digging and thinking about how to haul the loot away, she hadn’t noticed the already-dim sky turning pitch black.

Once the two fell silent, the timid Sydney began trembling all over again, staring at her as if wanting to say something.

Those big watery eyes… forget it.

Might as well do a good deed all the way.

Besides, she had saved Eileen once too…

“Sydney, where do you live?

I’ll take you out.”

Eileen looked at the shivering girl beside her, like a frightened rabbit, and spoke helplessly.

There was no way she could really leave her here alone.

At Eileen’s words, Sydney’s tense body relaxed.

She let out a long breath of relief, immediately pressing close to Eileen’s side, whispering softly:

“Mhm, thank you, Miss Eileen.”

The two pushed the heavy cart, carefully skirting the warped space around the ruined church.

They retraced their way down the broken street.

The world was still silent, only the cart’s wheels grinding against gravel, and the faint, unsettling crackle of the singularity behind them.

“My home is at Saint Maria’s Convent, on the edge of the city…”

Sydney spoke quietly, her voice unusually clear in the silence.

Eileen absentmindedly hummed in response, her mind racing with how to get the full cart of treasure safely out, and then find a boss to sell it for cash.

This haul was huge.

Her sister’s expenses for next month would be covered…

She even wondered if she should bring something decent back for Utoya, that weirdo.

She couldn’t let her eat plastic mushrooms forever.

But the thought barely surfaced before Eileen crushed it herself.

Tch! Why think of her at all?

Yet just as they were about to leave the dust-coated street and step onto the main road—

The light before them suddenly shifted.

The impenetrable black night that had wrapped around them vanished in an instant.

It became… morning light?

Not the bleak, lifeless gray of a winter afternoon.

But the pale light of dawn.

Eileen froze, yanking the cart to a screeching stop.

Both of them looked up at the sky in shock.

It was still iron-gray, heavy clouds piled above, but undeniably—daylight.

“Why… why is it bright again?”

Sydney was stunned too.

She instinctively clutched Eileen’s arm, eyes darting around in confusion.

Time!

Of course—time!

Just like a black hole, gravity anomalies distorted time.

That was why Sydney had seemed so slow when running earlier…

A whole day!

A full day had passed!

She had missed the sunset rendezvous!

A chill shot straight up Eileen’s spine.

Her blood froze.

Under her hood, her cat ears flared wide with terror, and her tail went stiff as a rod.

It was over.

Totally, utterly over…

“Miss Eileen? What’s wrong?”

Sydney stared at her pale face and horrified eyes, panicked.

But… it was too late.

At the exit of the street, where the alley met the main road, a tall, silent figure stood under the gray light.

Golden eyes burned like molten metal, cold and inhuman, locked directly on Eileen.

It was Utoya.

She wore her dirt-stained hunter’s garb, a freshly killed mutant beast slung over her shoulder.

The stench of blood and gunpowder carried across the distance, heavy and suffocating.

She didn’t shout.

She didn’t accuse.

She only stood there.

And that silent gaze was more terrifying than any roar.

Eileen could feel the suppressed storm of fury inside those golden slitted eyes.

Cold betrayal.

And the chilling dominance of a hunter cornering her prey.

The air froze solid.

The cart wheels stopped.

Sydney gasped, terrified, and ducked behind Eileen, clutching her clothes, trembling like a leaf.

Eileen forced a stiff smile and called out:

“Um… Hunter—”

No reply.

She dropped the corpse to the ground, stepped forward, and drew closer.

Her gun on her back, her hand holding something…

A collar.

With chains.

“Wait, it’s not what you think! You’re an experienced hunter, you know anomalies—listen to me, don’t, don’t come any closer…”

Getting collared wasn’t the worst thing—but not here, not in front of others.

Even she couldn’t bear that humiliation.

Seeing Eileen’s terror, Sydney seemed to understand.

In the grip of fear, she burst out from behind Eileen, teeth clenched, throwing her arms wide to block the hunter:

“Don’t hurt Miss Eileen! You bad person! Let her go!”

She swung her thin arms, trying to scratch at Utoya, her voice trembling with tears but burning with courage.

Yet that courage was as fragile as paper before true power.

Utoya didn’t even look at her.

Her eyes never left Eileen.

Sydney felt an immense, irresistible force seize her slender wrist.

Pain shot through her arm, forcing a cry from her lips.

With a flick of Utoya’s wrist, Sydney was hurled aside.

Thud.

She landed hard on the grass, stars bursting in her vision, but she was otherwise fine.

“Will you put it on yourself, or shall I?”

Utoya stood before Eileen, her hand forcing Eileen’s chin to face her.

Her features were cloaked in shadow, only her golden eyes gleaming.

“I won’t wear—ugh!”

The cold edge of metal pressed tight around Eileen’s throat.

The collar snapped shut with no gap, heavy chains clinking as it locked.

A sudden yank, impossible to resist, wrenched her forward—straight into Utoya’s arms.

So… warm…

Even dragged like a pet, Eileen felt an inexplicable sense of safety.

The radiation zone was deadly, but here, in these arms, she felt… she had someone she could rely on.

Like Sydney had relied on her.

But what was the price?

Eileen couldn’t tell.

“M-my things!”

She struggled, eyes darting to the cart.

“I’ll take them. Home.”

Utoya’s hoarse voice came.

Her grip was unyielding.

One arm holding Eileen, the other dragging the cart, she strode into the forest.

Sydney lay on the ground, watching in horror as Eileen was pulled away by the chain, like captured prey.

Tears streaked down her dirt-smeared cheeks as helpless sobs escaped her.

H-how could this be?

Was the radiation zone truly this cruel?

An angelic girl, taken away like a s*ave?

No…

It couldn’t end like this.

She had to save Eileen.

She had a sister.

She had to go find her.

They needed to plan…