CHAPTER 51: 51. A PREDATOR

Walking through the ruins, Ayaka knew she had no weapon — not that she was good with any to begin with. She wasn’t trained to fight. She wasn’t even good at surviving. All she had was a passive skill she barely understood: True Sight Domain and a body that still smelled like fear.

Yet somehow, she was expected to defeat a lunatic wielding a machine gun.

Her fingers clenched into trembling fists. That thing inside her, her only hope, refused to activate on command. She had tried again and again to "use" her skill, but it was always just there — ambient, half-awake, like a useless ghost haunting her skin.

She couldn’t even depend on Yuki to have her back when things turn south. Yuki didn’t look like she gave a damn whether Ayaka lived or died.

Ayaka stopped and closed her eyes, trying once again to make it work.

Activate.

But nothing happened.

She clenched her tiny fists in frustration. The rattling sound of gunfire echoed closer — the man was near. Yuki dashed ahead, her steps nimble and light before launching herself onto a low building. Then, in one motion, she leapt to another, a taller one. She looked back over her shoulder at Ayaka, her blonde hair whipping behind her.

"Go on, kiddo!" she shouted down with a smirk. "Show me what you’ve got! Kill the bastard or get shredded! Either way, I’ll be watching!"

Ayaka didn’t reply. She just nodded, hiding the scream in her throat. She moved, sticking to crumbled walls and shattered buses for cover She knew sge was also targeted by many people who wanted to kill her for her coins. The machine gunner wasn’t the only enemy. Anyone could pop up, anywhere, anytime — and slit her throat for a pouch of change.

She crept closer, 200 meters or so from the man and stopped.

Eyes closed.

She focused.

When had her skill activated before? What triggered it? Different emotions?

She dug deep at her memories, forcing herself to feel. Pain. Fear. Rage. She recalled her father, drunk and brutal, pounding her mother’s face into the floor

Then she forced herself to imagine something twisted — something that could dig into her nerves and stir the fear deep inside.

She pictured Shin’s lifeless body, bloodied and torn, sprawled on the floor... dogs tearing into his flesh, gnawing at his face.

And then something cracked inside her.

The world unfolded.

She gasped, but not out loud.

Her vision expanded like a spider’s web, spinning outward from her chest. She could feel everything. See everything. Her perception sharpened into a vivid birds-eye map of the ruins, every movement lighting up like sparks in the darkness. She could see through walls. Hear the flinch of rats in the debris. The creak of metal a block away. The wind brushing empty tin cans across asphalt.

She moved her legs. Quicker and calmer this time. There were no enemies nearby. Only Yuki, trailing her from above, hopping from rooftop to rooftop like a shadow.

Ahead — she saw the man.

The one with the machine gun.

He towered over the corpses of his kills, his muscles swollen and grotesque beneath a sweat-stained white vest. His face was smeared with soot and dried blood. A thick mustache twitched with every breath. He grunted as he hefted the massive gun, his veins bulging and shoulders trembling from its weight.

He’s getting tired, Ayaka realized. I can use that.

She kept moving between broken structures, confident now that no surprise attack could catch her off guard. She could see everything coming.

But the man wasn’t standing still. He was hunting.

Another woman was nearby — crouched in a building, one hand over her mouth to stifle her whimpers.

But the lunatic had sharp ears.

He heard her.

With a heavy boot, he kicked down the door. The crash echoed through the ruins.

"Pleeeease!" the woman sobbed, falling to her knees. "Spare me—"

The man grinned. His finger tightened.

BRRRRRRRTTTTT.

The machine gun roared, and her body jerked like a puppet, bullets tearing through her ribs, her chest, her throat. The wall behind her exploded in a splash of blood. She slumped backward, twitching, still trying to speak with half a mouth.

He didn’t stop firing.

Chunks of her body turned to pulp. When the gun finally clicked empty, the man spat to the side, his face twisted in disgust.

"I hate it when they beg," he muttered, licking his teeth. "Takes the fun out!"

Ayaka froze. Her heart hammered so loud she was sure he’d hear it.

But then — he bent down.

Pulled a knife from his boot.

Sliced a chunk of flesh from the woman’s arm and shoved it in his mouth. Chewed. Swallowed.

Ayaka gagged, but bit her tongue.

Was he that hungry? Eating raw human flesh?

Then she saw it.

A strange glow shimmered beneath his skin. The sweat in his body dried up. His posture straightened. The fatigue vanished.

He looked refreshed. Restored. Like nothing had happened. Like he didn’t look tired moments ago.

A skill...? she thought. Is that how he heals?

She stared in horror as he devoured his kill like a wild animal, and every bite seemed to heal him. She felt like vomiting, but didn’t.

She was too close now.

She crept into a building just across from him. She didn’t even need her skill now to see him clearly. He was practically within spitting distance. She peeked around the corner.

And then he sniffed.

His head snapped toward her.

Ayaka yanked back, pressing against the wall, her heart crashing inside her ribs. Her breath hitched.

He smelled me... Like an animal. Can he track by scent?

It didn’t seem like he saw her. Not yet, but he definitely sensed something. He stood up, glancing around with suspicion, fingers tightening on his gun.

She studied him again using her skill. That’s when she noticed the fangs. Four of them. Two on top. Two at the bottom.

Like a vampire.

And he avoided the sun. Every time he stepped into the light, he began sweating rapidly, unnaturally, his skin turning red. But the moment he moved into the shade, he was calm again.

He really was a vampire.

It explained everything — the flesh eating, the animal-like senses, the thirst.

Ayaka gulped. This wasn’t just a deranged man with a gun. She wasn’t facing a normal player but a predator.

Her eyes flicked around the terrain. She had to think. Fast. She didn’t have weapons. She didn’t have powers to fight. But she had the terrain and her brain.

She began analyzing everything in her Domain like a mental map, and then her eyes lit up.

She found something.

That should do it, she thought, a quiet smile curling on her lips. I’ll use his own senses to kill him.

She was lucky. She knew a bit about vampires. Their weaknesses. Their tells. The movies might be fiction, but in a world like this — anything was possible.

If even half of the vampire lore was true...

This bastard was walking into his own death.

TBC