Vincent narrowed his eyes in glee, having a sense of relief that his prey had still been alive and had not wandered far off course.

Hiding his presence and slowly moving towards her, he still could not help but feel a little excited. He had already taken a look at the goods that laid beneath her clothing. Vincent couldn't wait to savour the taste of such a delectable woman.

"?! Who's there!"

A frantic whisper soft enough that he would almost miss it. Vincent was rather shocked. Did he mess up?

But even if he did, wasn't the woman busy with flashing the light underneath her feet? How did she manage to notice him?

No matter, he thought, his smile returning to him again. She must have exhausted all of her strength anyway. She had no weapons, and most importantly, not determined enough to kill a man.

He revealed himself from the parting of the grass and bowed his head, as if mimicking the actions of a gentleman.

"Pleased to see you again, Fiona~"

The woman was called Fiona, and he thought it would be rude to not give out at least a salutation before he hunted her down.

Fiona stayed silent, but seemed to be trembling in the dark, her back continuing to face him.

She really doesn't want to see me eh~ Hehe... it just makes the aftertaste even more favourable~

Vincent licked his lips, as his eyes laid upon the dishevelled mess on her attire. Her clothes which seemed to be one of a night attendant. Fiona was probably a hooker at a pub somewhere.

"How could you..."

The faint whisper could be heard again. Vincent grinned even wider, he enjoyed watching people reaching the brink of despair. He came even closer to her back.

Fiona didn't seem to move away anymore, and it felt like she had already given up after knowing that she could no longer run away.

"Hehh... Don't worry, miss. I'll send you to heaven right away~ Various meanings included~"

As lust took over his body, Vincent slackened his guard and moved his fingers over to the area under her armpits.

Just a little more... just a little more...

And he touched it. Fiona's chest.

...It was flat.

"Eh?"

"How could you be so stupid."

"Wh-"

He faintly recognized this voice, now that the person no longer whispered. Without waiting for Vincent to react, the person disguised as Fiona threw a piece of cloth at his face.

"?!"

The cloth unwrapped itself, revealing a large number of Mutated Lilacs. All of them splendidly hit his face without missing, and some of them had already successfully latched onto him while the other fell to the ground near him and started working towards his feet.

"Wh-what the fu- Get it off! ARGH, GET OH'FF!!!"

Vincent cried out in panic as he tried to get them off. His torch... that's right, his fire torch, he would use it... but-

"?! My th'orchhh!!!"

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He had lost grip of it and it fell onto the grass clearing, the flame still burning on the ground yet not spreading anywhere fast enough. Avoiding the flame, the maggots merely quickened their scuttering towards Vincent's feet. Their bites intensified, and it seemed that they would be working towards his inner veins any time soon.

Vincent no longer had time for the crossdressing White, who had begun to stand up slowly and walk towards him.

"...A fire torch, as expected."

White picked up the fire torch from the ground and then fished out a knife in Vincent's back pocket easily. He quickly flung his hand around to shake off the maggots that were sticking to it. For now, White noticed no other weapons other than the knife. That was somewhat regrettable, he thought coldly. He wished that he would've gotten a little more than that. Besides that, he also loosened the fanny pack strapped around Vincent and shook off those Lilacs crawling around it as well.

There was nothing else much he could take from him.

"G-gh'aaa, you... you brat!!! Give those back!!!"

The man swung an arm towards White, but he did not have enough reach. His balance was also extremely off from being pestered by the creatures around his ears, thus White merely had to step back a little without much effort.

Lighting the area around his legs with a torchlight on his right hand and the fire torch on his left, he moved away from Vincent and seemed to be searching for something on the ground.

"Still..." White continued while searching around, his head looking downwards as if Vincent's predicament was none of his business.

"To actually come up with such a straightforward plan... As expected of a hunter, I guess? You prioritize efficiency."

"Gh'aaa!!! GYAAHHHH!!!"

"Kaka! You know, I have to thank you..." White did a strange cackle.

"Wh-what?!"

Vincent couldn't help but question White, and also to buy some time. He thought he hadn't given anything away that he was clearly going to kill him. This boy that he coincidentally heard from a loud scream while he made his way to the forest. He wanted to get the boy to the 'collection point' so that he wouldn't have to make two rounds. He would not survive alone in the forest looking like that anyway. But why had everything turned out like this?!

But he still clung on to one last hope. The boy had merely thrown the Lilacs towards him, and did not harm him with his own hands. This was a big difference. This was maybe something he could exploit. After all, no human being could kill another this easily without hesitating. He would use that gap, and-

"Did you know, the cuts you made as marks in case you got lost around here. Those were pine trees."

"Wait..."

"And the sap of these trees, are highly flammable."

"Don't... don't do it!!!"

Vincent had shaken off a majority of the maggots around him, but some of them he had already ingested. Still, it didn't even come close to the pressure and bloodlust coming out of the boy. But contrary to that frantic appearance, Vincent was extremely elated inside. He felt like he had already won.

Hah, you idiot. Looks like you're really new to this world...

He thought the boy would have wanted to burn him, and he knew that it was a mistake since the Lilacs hated the light. Moreover, he was used to being burnt and the pain was less than the heavy bites of countless Lilacs sticking to his body. Once he was free from those monsters, Vincent would then beat him up and kill him with ease.

"Ah, found it."

"Huh-?"

It seemed White had found what he was looking for.

He threw the fire torch onto the ground. It suddenly lit up, following a full circle, it quickly became an enclosed field where the Lilacs could no longer escape from. And since they had no other choice but to come to the inner circle where Vincent was, they attacked him even strongly.

"GAHH!!! IT HURTSSS!!!"

Incidentally, White had already left the circle and was watching the hunter from the outside, though the flames were also starting to spread outwardly. White clicked his tongue.

"Tch. I really wanted to retrieve the remainder of your belongings intact, but you're too strong for me. I need to kill you quickly before something else unexpected happens."

Vincent had finally realized, that this boy held not a single shred of empathy in his heart. He was just like him, or even worse. He had experience in murder. Throwing a bunch of Lilacs in his face was not a compromising action, it was merely a judgement that understood that he could not overpower Vincent who was far more experienced in combat than him. Once he had come to the realization that the Lilacs would die trying to get into his insides to avoid the light, Vincent's face paled.

He had an omen of his own impending death.

"One of us has to live, and the other has to die~ So, please die."

"...Guhaaa!!!" Vincent's eyes widened, as they met the gaze of the boy's outside the ring of fire. The flames were closing in, and the maggots were getting even more active. He faced death in all directions.

The eyes of the boy were cold and calculative, not even a smile hung on his face. White did not feel anything from it, not even joy. He was just like a monster following his instincts to live.

"You... you monster!!! N...NO...!!! THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN... THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY NEW CHANCE AT LIFE...!!! THIS WAS MY KINGDOMMM!!!"

Fresh blood spurted out of his mouth, and Vincent slowly lost his strength from the blood escaping from holes all over his body. The Lilacs that he had shaken off began to crawl back up again.

White looked down at Vincent as if he was looking at trash. He had already fallen to his knees.

"There are no second chances in life. This is merely the afterlife, you're not supposed to enjoy it."

The flames fanned on in the night, and the anguished cries were drowned out by the creatures crawling into the man's body.