“But… Damn it!” Mia gritted her teeth in anger, “how dare they, those scum, trash”. She stomped on the ground, with each second her anger grew.

Nomi, who is still hugging her, “Please, please relax, it’s fine”.

“Nomi it isn’t fine”, Hikaru walked up behind her and rested his hand on her head. “What the beasts are doing is terrible, and it will be stopped. But first, Mia, you need to calm down. Running out there in anger will only lead to your death”.

Soon enough the tense air began to lift.

“Take some deep breaths, I understand how you feel, but you need to be level-headed”, the Captain said as he peeked outside. “Hm, there isn’t anyone in sight, it may be early but you’d assume that there’d be some early birds”.

As he said, the streets were desolate, you could drop a feather and hear it land.

–

Mia put her fingers to her temples, trying to gather her thoughts and soothe her mind. Of course it was fair and natural to be enraged at such a sight but becoming reckless in a situation such as this would lead to problems, problems for everyone.

“So what do we do? I’m sure that it will report us to its boss. Aren’t we screwed?” Mia looked concerned, her worries were desperate and her rationality began to slip.

The Captain pulled his head back inside, “this works to our advantage… Mia, this is good”.

She looked even more confused than before, “nothing he’s saying is making any sense”, she thought.

“Ohhh, sir, I get what you’re saying”, he pulled his hand from Nomi’s head and crossed his arms.

“Mia, did you know that we have the ability to track beasts? Heh heh”, Captain Yakusuke chuckled, oddly proud of himself.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, when a huntsman gets into a certain proximity to a beast, we can pick up on their energy, or officially referred to as "Quelle". It’s the energy that ties all beasts together and allows them to form packs as well as make hunting easier. Though, since we get our powers from beast effigies, we’re able to tap into that ability and use it more efficiently”.

The Captain turned to Nomi, who now has released Mia and sat on the couch, “it’s also not unheard of for humans that come in close contact with beasts to develop their own quelle, though it is rare”, he said.

Nomi looked up, “so I could be like all of you?”

“Theoretically, you could but you could also stay normal for the rest of your life. In fact, if you were to develop quelle you’d have to abandon your life as a normal girl and come to Seiren”.

Captain Yakusuke raised his head and looked at his subordinates, “now, let me tell you what we’re going to do”.

Mia and Hikaru looked at eachother, “what’s the plan”, they said in unison.

“It’s rather simple. It banks on two things. Firstly, we track down the beast that escaped, or rather, that we let escape. After that we follow it to its hideout and to its leader. Once that’s down it all becomes simple, we just exterminate its pack and rescue anyone that’s still alive”, he said proudly.

Mia twiddled her thumbs, “you know I was really hoping I could do some more fighting”.

Hikaru took a step and sighed, “Mia, let me say something that will help. The fact that this pack of beasts was able to take control and extort the villagers means one thing. The leader has a couple tough lackeys beneath it. Ones that are most likely stronger than your average beast. With that you can surely drain your animosity in a fight against one of them”.

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From a face reflecting the word “meh”, was now filled with excitement. Mia clasped her hands together with joy.

“Oh and one final thing”, the Captain turned back to Nomi, “you are to stay here and not follow us, I can’t have a little kid getting caught up in this”.

Nomi stayed silent but her face said it all. She was clearly bothered and somewhat disappointed. Afterall, who wouldn’t want to watch their big sister in action.

However, she nodded her head and reluctantly agreed.

–

A while prior to the current events. Three beasts were making their way down the street.

-

“Kekekek! I can’t wait till tonight's harvest”, one beast said as it stalked down the old road. It peered in windows as it walked past each building.

“Ah, the boss said we could have fun with any humans that don’t make an offering, and the one we’re going to see supposedly had three seen with her”, another noted.

“Wasn’t she a child? I hope she’s a child. I’m quite fond of their young flesh. It really makes my mouth water”.

The three proceeded to make their way to Nomi’s house, each craving the thought of devouring her and her offerings.

–

“Here we are”.

The tallest beast, raised its foot and prepared its entrance.

WAAM!

“Mmmmm, the smell of flesh reeks in here, it’s orgasmic”, the one beast said as it sniffed the air.

“It’s been too long since I’ve killed a human, my cravings just might get to me and I don’t think one little girl can satisfy it. I might just have to go on a rampage”, another beast snickered at the thought.

After a moment of the beasts chattering amongst themselves, the tallest and most terrifying of them all crept over to Nomi.

“Where are the three offerings you had yesterday? You were seen with three other humans in strange clothes. Tell me… WHERE ARE THEY!”

Nomi shuttered and began to shake from fear, “I-I can get them… I promi-”

“Huh? You promise? That’s funny… You PROMISED you would deliver three other humans… Or don’t you want to see your precious mommy? Right now we have her chained up naked. Kekekek!” It chuckled itself and grinned maniacally.

“Ma-ma”, she uttered.

The beast clenched its claws and began walking towards Nomi, WAM! It threw her against the wall and held her by her neck.

“Well… If you can’t keep your promise then we might just have to dispose of you”

“Kekek!” The other two beasts snickered behind them.

Thhhhlick

The beast draped its tongue across Nomi’s face, “my oh my, you taste good… I’m rather excited to feast on your organs”.

It began to lean in…

“YOU PIECES OF SHIT!”

The beast began to turn its head but it was too late.

SCHIK!

Hikaru’s blutklinge went directly into its skull, penetrating its brain and killing it near-instantly.

The beast's limbs went limp and it fell to the floor, gushing blood from its head wound.

Across from the room, “WHAT THE HELL!” A beast yelled, but it was met by a flying pillow coming at it, “Wha-”. It didn’t even manage to finish its sentence before it was sliced clean in half.

The final beast looked at both of its dead companions, “DAMMIT!” It howled, and bolted out of the door.

Now sprinting down the street at full speed it looked back periodically to check for any followers.

“DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!” It repeated.

WOOSH! It jumped, landing on a roof, as it connected several tiles that fell off the building broke apart on the ground.

The beast continued on, jumping from roof to roof, desperately trying to return to its den to inform it of the dangers it had uncovered.

“Must… Tell… Dangerous… Humans… Master…”