Gokurakugai

"The world's become a strange place."

"But everyone turn a blind eye until they're the victim."

"How can so many people be disappearing every day?"

"I hear there've been mysterious deaths lately too."

"And this town looks no different than usual."

Rattle..... Rattle....

Early one morning on Gokurakugai street, there were many people passing by. They were all busy with their work, not paying attention to the noises coming from a small alley full of trash.

There was a figure who slowly sat up and pushed the garbage bags away from her. That person standing tall in height and possessed a voluptuous figure. She was wrapped in bandages from head to toe, leaving only a mouth with dry lips and dried blood stains on it.

That person raised his hand in front of her, clenched it and then slowly spread it out as if she wanted to check something.

She tilted her head trying to look around, instead she couldn't see anyone's face, it was simply a darkness filled with human shapes and house architecture on the street.

It was like.... She was looking through an x-ray screen....

It wasn't clear but just a blur of male and female figures, though she could hear it clearly. She felt like her remaining senses except her eyesight were enhanced.

She then raised her hand to rub her short dark purple tousled hair, the front of her bangs had white highlight stripes.

"Aaa..... Mhmm" She tried to calm her voice and speak but only came out with low hums and vague language. "Mngh.... Aa.... H...Hello....?"

Then the woman tried to speak again, this time she was able to speak out loud but her voice was still hoarse and low because of the damage to her vocal cords.

She shook her head in frustration then she kept coughing up blood causing her to fall to the ground. Her whole body was very sore and painful as if someone was holding a surgical knife and cutting every fiber of skin and muscle directly on her body.

She coughed up blood continuously and writhed on the ground in pain, she curled up and hugged her knees. The sounds of panting and coughing filled the silence of the deserted alley.

Not only did her body ache, but so did her head. In her mind there were only small fragmented memories, voices muffled by the fog in her head.

"Ugh..... Hah....." She was panting and groaning in pain, as she felt dizzy and her "vision" was spinning. Besides the pain in her body, there was a hunger, a terrible hunger that made her drool at the smell of humans.

She shrugged of crazy thoughts about treating humans as prey but she knew that if she didn't find something to eat soon she would probably go beserk and eat humans.

A few rats ran too fast past her, she immediately grabbed them and gobbled them up even though the taste was so bad that she wanted to vomit but hunger overcame her mind. Somehow miraculously she ate all the mice she caught without disgorging.

Then she used her hand to wipe away the blood from her mouth and she realized one more thing....She also needed a new outfit and a bunch of bandages. The bandages covering her body were now dirty and covered in blood, they were so torn that they could barely cover the areas that needed to be covered.

The woman carefully stood up but soon the coughing attack continued causing her to cough up blood, her whole body trembled in pain but she was forced to continue. She put her hands on the wall to support her body and slowly walked out of the alley to a small deserted street.

She walked along the walls, no matter where they led. She looked up at the sky, based on the weather and felt the air was quite cool so she thought it was afternoon. Strangely, although she cannot see clear colors, her eyes can "see" white, gray and black rays of sunlight.Looks like she still has a little luck left, otherwise her life will be very boring.

She continued walking along the walls and came around a corner when the smell of blood was so strong that she was dizzy. She "saw" something then she carefully approached, one hand covering her mouth and nose to cough.

It was the corpse of a dog but the way it died was a bit strange. The other woman slowly knelt on one knee and used her other hand to touch the dog's corpse. Its abdomen and flanks were left with only bones and the other notable thing was that it had been drained of blood.Before the sound of screaming reached her ears, her body acted on its own, sprinting towards the direction of the scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!"There was a figure of a kid holding a briefcase in his hand and running towards the monster, he threw the briefcase onto one of the monster's heads causing the money in the bag to fly out.He seemed very desperate and tears streamed down the boy's face as the monster opened its mouth to swallow him. The monster also caught another boy and he was about to put him in his mouth.

FWOOSH!

SLAAAASH!!

"H-huh?" One second the boy wearing the hat was in despair, then the next moment his eyes lit up when he saw someone rescuing him and his friends.He gasped and was extremely surprised at this person's speed and.... Her strength as he looked up at the monster's arm that had been torn off in one blow.

THUD!

"Hah..... Cough..... Cough" After the woman saved the two children, she quickly pushed the two children away from her. She coughed up blood, to the point of falling to the ground.

"Miss!? A-Are you alright?" The boy was about to come closer when the woman raised her hand in front of him, signaling him to run away. "Run" was the only word he could see what she wanted to say. That boy quickly helped his friend get up and run away.

When she determined the boy had flowed far enough, she staggered to her feet. The monster had now regenerated its arm, and it rushed to attack her.

FWOOOSH!

KAPOOOOW!!!

The woman narrowly dodged aside, but the monster was able to grab her arm. She quickly threw a punch with terrible force on the monster's face, causing it to writhe in pain. Before it let go, it bit off the woman's left arm.

Her left arm was in the monster's mouth, which it chewed before gulping it down. The smell of blood made the woman quivering, she could feel hunger and bloodlust rising at the same time. She stepped back once she suddenly stood up straight.

Her hair went from dark purple to white and gray, with subtle crimson highlights. She used one hand to cover her mouth, not to cough but to smile wickedly with her fanged teeth.

Blood poured out from the marks on her body, soaking the bandages, but she didn't feel any pain, on the contrary, she felt better. Her body was in Berserk state but somehow she temporarily retained her humanity without going rampage, yet.

SWOOOSH!!!

In an instant, she rushed straight towards the monster and used leaps to jump onto the surrounding terrain. She picked up a trash can lid and threw it into the sky, then the woman also jumped straight up, out of the monster's reach.

She used her speed and strength to jump onto that trash can lid, before using the recoil power from her speed and footrest on the trash can lid, she launched herself back down onto the monster at high speed.

To produce physical power equal to an exponential amount of her body weight. Then she channels that into shockwaves...

A punch combined with her destructive power and the shockwaves emitted shook a road and shattered all the glass of buildings in a nearby radius. At the same time, it also crushed the monster, causing its blood to splash on the walls of surrounding buildings.

BOOOOOOOOOMM!!

RUMBLE!!

The monster's body was punched to pieces so that it could not recover and became a lifeless pile of flesh on the ground. The woman flipped her body to jerk back away from the monster. The increasingly strong smell of blood made her dizzy.

"Cough.... Cough..... Cough...."She collapsed to the ground and coughed up blood continuously, her body quivering and throbbing in pain. Drool ran from her mouth as she inhaled the strong scent of the monster's blood. She smelled a human scent and was about to get up and run away when she felt a cold object pointing at her head on the back of her head.

CLACK!

"Looks like we're late" It was the voice of a woman. Her body smelled of cigarettes. Based on the way she held the gun without any tremors, the bandaged woman judged that she might be a professional assassin. "it's quite a performance when viewed from afar, with a shabby body like yours..... I have compliments"

"Ms Tao!" Another voice rang out, a bit panicked and that person quickly stopped the woman holding the gun. "It's just an injured girl! She can't even move!"

"Can't move but can kill Maga? Impressive" The woman named Tao spoke indifferently, but if you noticed carefully, there was doubt and sarcasm in it. "You have one minute to reveal your identity."

The woman named Tao muttered, pressing the barrel of her pistol even more against the other woman's head. Tao observed the woman carefully, her body trembled every time she coughed up blood. Her left arm, which was not bandaged, had red craked panes of glass spreading all over it.

".....I-I'm not a monster...." The bandaged woman was silent for a long moment as if thinking of something to say. She could feel Tao squeezing the trigger, she tried to calm down and counted the numbers in her head.

"1"

"2"

BANG!!

"3" As Tao pulled the trigger, the woman dodged the bullet, it only grazed her cheekbone and then regenerated. The other woman counted to three and then placed her hand on the barrel of Tao's pistol. Before Tao could pull the trigger, the woman with just one pull of her hand took the upper half of the gun.

Tao widened her eyes in surprise at this trick of the bandaged woman. Before she could recover, the woman turned around and knocked down Tao and the teenager next to her.

THUD!!

SWOOOSH!

LEAP! LEAP! LEAP!

The woman with the bandage ran away as soon as she had the chance. She used leaps and took advantage of the terrain to jump onto the roof of the building and run away. In less than a minute, she ran away, leaving Tao impressed and watching the woman's figure until she disappeared from sight.

"Heyyyy, come back here!"

"Al, don't chase her. Don't underestimate her injury.... She is also a Hybrid like you..."Tao kept looking in the direction of the woman who had run away and stopped the red-haired boy. The smoking woman looked at Maga's corpse, which the bandaged woman had taken down with the gun. The woman took the entire upper half of the gun and threw it nearby."Or more than that.... It seems like she has a lot of experience with these things" Tao took a long drag of his cigarette and muttered to herself. That mysterious woman. Her movements were different from a 'Demi-Maga', as if she was more like an assassin.

Tao recalls the movement where the woman lifted the entire upper body of the pistol as easily as candy, it was perfect and without a single redundant movement. "Where in the world did she get such skill...?"

"Ooh.... I have never seen you so stunned like that before, Mrs. Tao" The teenager next to Tao teased her. The woman was a bit startled when he said that. She picked up the barrel of her pistol and put it in her coat pocket.

"Shut up, Alma" She muttered and continued smoking. "If that woman was around, we might see her more often. Let's capture her then."

"Yes ma'am!" The young man with red hair named Alma smiled brightly and raised his hand to salute in obedience to orders like a soldier. Unlike Tao, he was thinking about how much he was looking forward to meeting that woman. Based on the attack that knocked down both Tao and Alma, he knew that that woman was also a martial arts master. That made him grin because he always wanted to meet someone similar to him.

"Hah..... Haah....."After the woman wrapped in bandages escaped from Tao, she immediately went to an alley to hide. She leaned against a nearby wall and gasped continuously."H-Help me!! Somebody hel--!"

"Shut up, you whore! Nobody gonna hear you screaming in this dirty alley."The woman, whose body was covered in bandages, had sharp hearing and immediately heard the screams of another woman and a man's voice.

She staggered towards the direction of the scream when she saw the man trying to sexually assault the young girl.

SWOOOSH!

THUD!

The woman raised her hand and ripped off the man's head, throwing it aside. Then she put her mouth full of sharp teeth into the bleeding neck of the corpse.

She drank all the blood from the dead body until the body was left with only flesh and skin, then she began to eat away the corpse's limbs until only bones remained.

"N-No please don't kill me!" The young woman stepped back when she saw the woman covered in bandages reaching out towards her. She was so scared that she covered her face and trembled but nothing happened. The woman held a pair of dark glasses and handed them to her. Those are the glasses of a young woman. "H....Huh...? Thank you..."

"W....Why didn't you kill me....?" Awkward silence enveloped the two for a long time while the bandaged woman was still devouring the corpse until it was just bones. The young woman's voice was filled with worry and a bit of curiosity.

"I....need a shelter...." The bandaged woman tilted her head and thought for a long moment. She turned her back to the young woman, continuing to eat, but she still responded with a mouth full of meat. She answered hesitantly with her deep, hoarse voice.

"This is my place. There's nothing much..." The young woman led her back to the young woman's house, which was a pharmacy at the end of the street. The woman wrapped in bandages stood outside the gate, not daring to enter the house. "What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid I'll dirty your house...." She hesitated to answer, she looked back and forth looking anxious. The woman's entire body was covered in bleeding bandages, including her left arm with those strange, slightly glowing red marks that were bleeding.

"It's okay, just go in. I will take the aid supplies and bandages. Besides, if you stay out on the street like that, someone will notice, right?"

The young woman pulled her hand. After a brief psychological struggle, the bandaged woman also let down her guard and slowly entered the house. The young woman's house was filled with the smell of herbal medicine and scented candles."Oh, I almost forgot. My name is Ling. And you?" The young woman said with a smile as she went behind the pharmacy counter to get the medical kit.

".... Yue" The bandaged woman was silent for a while longer, she looked out the window. Today was a full moon day, then she looked down at the vase with white lilies and a name came to her mind. "Yue Hua (YuèHuā)"

"The moon flower? It's a lovely name isn't it?" Ling chuckled softly dreamily, it seemed like she was a poetic and a bit absent-minded person. Then she shook her head and stood up, pulling Yue towards a room. She pushed the door open and it was a bathroom."This is the bathroom, you can just take a shower. I will prepare temporary clothes for you." Saying that, she left Yue alone in the bathroom. Yue looked around bewilderedly, then she slowly took off the bandages on her body. Revealing her voluptuous figure with red marks like broken glass appearing all over her body.

"Yue! You must close the door when taking a show--" Ling froze as her gaze accidentally passed over Yue's body. Even though Yue's bangs covered her eyes, that only made her androgynous appearance even more beautiful. Yue also has a body that is both beautiful and sexy but also sturdy. The strange red marks on Yue's body made her body even more attractive and she has pointy ears like an elf.

"Woah..... Ahem, here is your clothes. I'll just hang it over here...." Ling blushed for a while before she calmed down, she hung the clothes on the hanger in the bathroom for Yue. Ling then quickly left with her face red.

"Oh my... Yue.... Do you know that... Your body is slowly falling apart...?" After Yue and Ling finished bathing, they both had dinner before Ling began examining and bandaging Yue. Ling's eyes widened as she took Yue's pulse, she could sense Yue wouldn't live long.

"Your body is shattering like a cracked glass. These red cracks are some kind of power that is slowly taking over your entire body." Ling said nervously as she bandaged Yue, her hands shaking as she touched the red cracks on Yue's body. Yue remained silent without saying a word, she sat still while Ling bandaged her wound. She sometimes coughed up quite a bit of blood, but thanks to the medicine Ling prescribed, she got a little better. The atmosphere of silence and awkwardness enveloped them."I know you are not a normal person, you may not remember or want to tell me about your past. But...." Ling paused for a moment as she neatly applied the bandage to Yue, cutting off the remaining bandage and then continuing to bandage the other parts.

"I guess you have a sad past, you also didn't want this power." Ling continued to be silent after saying those words. Yue also remained silent but she secretly looked at Ling's expression. It looked like someone from her memories, but it didn't matter who it was.After Ling finished bandaging Yue, she packed her things and left the bedroom she had prepared for Yue. "Goodnight, Yue."

"Night...."Yue spoke softly, she was lost in thought for a long while as she looked out the window. She took the bullet she had secretly taken when she confronted Tao this afternoon.

She picked up the bullet and put it to her nose to smell it. She smelled blood and suppository. A bullet made from human blood? No, the blood of that monster?

Hybrid's blood?

Strangely, she wondered what effect the Hybrid's blood had on the other monster. If possible, perhaps tomorrow she will try to follow the two people she encountered to find more information.