An Unexpected Upgrade (2)

"Your time's up. If you want to stay longer you have to pay ex-" interrupted a guard, however his eyes opened wide once he saw what was happening.

"Where did you get that we-" before the guard could finish what he wanted to say his head lobbed to the floor, blood splattering everywhere.

The blue-haired girl took this as her chance to escape and bolted through the door.

'What was that?' thought Gray in surprise.

He had sliced that man's head off so fast that not even he was able to process what had just happened.

'When did I get so fast?' thought Gray as he stared at the headless corpse on the ground.

'Nice, your first soul. Only a few hundred more million to go,' laughed the demon in Gray's mind as his katana drained the blood from the man's body, leaving it a shriveled-up skin bag.

***

"Master, you have to see th-"

"What have I told you about coming into the throne room unannounced?" asked the master as he looked over a few documents while sitting atop his throne, not even bothering to look at his out-of-breath subordinate.

Two hands appeared out of the shadows in the room, a few centimeters away from strangling the unannounced subordinate.

"It's okay, he's one of ours." said the Master to no one in particular as he looked up from his documents to the subordinate in front of him, the hands disappearing as fast as they came.

"Forgive me Master... It's just that" *gasp* the subordinate had to pause to catch his breath.

"Look," said the subordinate, raising a picture towards the Master.

One of the two attendants that seems to stay by his side perpetually walked to grab it and brought it closer to the Master so he could get a closer look.

"A purple portal in a goblin-infested area. Though the color of the portal is unfamiliar, there are a number of portals in the goblin zones," replied the Master, dismissing the picture as if it were nothing important.

"T-That's the E-difficulty ruin that the Quincy Guild was raiding today," said the subordinate still out of breath.

"So what? Goblins took over the area?" asked the Master, becoming more impatient with his subordinate.

"It was reported that this was their tenth attempt... this week" continued the subordinate, trying his best to talk as fast as he could.

"And? Spit it all out. I'm a busy man," said the Master, a tinge of anger now audible in his voice.

"The goblins, they came out of the portal. Monsters can.... come into our world. And... and the Quincy Guild was wiped out. Last I saw of their captain, he was fighting a Goblin wearing a black suit... that could talk," said the subordinate finally, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"They came out of the portal," repeated the Master

"Wait, did you just say a goblin that can speak?"

***

Tesse had been running for nearly 15 minutes straight, even with her healing and increased stamina she was becoming tired.

Sweat dripped down her forehand as she ran in the dark, often bumping into tree buttress roots causing her to tumble over.

Her hair stuck to her face, further reducing her vision as her sides began to ache, the weight of the sniper on her back finally becoming apparent.

'Then the beast we have to hunt, that means it's hiding somewhere else,' thought Tesse as she finally stopped running, surveying her surroundings before placing the pistol back on her waist.

Just as she was about to sit down to catch her breath she heard a twig break.

"Come out," ordered Tesse, whipping out her pistol and pointing it at the source of the sound in one swift movement.

"Don't shoot," begged a feminine voice in a scared tone.

"Who are you?" asked Tesse as the silhouette of a frail woman appeared from behind a tree, raising its hands in the air.

"My name is Clare, I-I'm with the government," said Clare in a feeble tone.

"What do you want?" asked Tesse, still holding the gun pointed to Clare's head.

"I-I got separated from my group, and followed you here when I heard you running," replied Clare, her body shaking in fear.

"Why did you choose to follow me?" continued Tesse, only becoming more suspicious of the girl in front of her by the second.

'Geez, careful much? I didn't think she would ask so many questions,' thought Clare as she slowly approached Tesse.

"I-I thought maybe we could team up until I find my comrades again. It's better than being alo-"

"Stop. I don't know what you're playing at, but if you don't tell me the truth right now I'll blow a hole through your head," said Tesse flatly, moving a few steps back.

"W-what do you mean?" asked Clare innocently, gripping at the knife hidden in her sleeve.

"You followed me here in the dark? Unless you're some kind of animal there's no way you could accurately track me down,"

"W-what seriously? I-I just got lucky," insisted Clare, still keeping up her facade as she moved closer.

"And why do you reek of blood? Unless I'm mistaken there are only supposed to be two enemies here. The hunter and the shadow runner. I didn't hear any clear notification and if you faced the hunter you would've been dead by now" continued Tesse, gripping her gun even tighter.

She had spent enough time with Gray to accurately smell the stench of blood, even from the distance they were at.

"S-some of my comrades were killed in front of me and their blood ended up spilling all over my clothes," said Clare, moving even closer.

*Taw* (Pistol SFX)

The sound of the pistol being fired rang in Tesse's ears as Clare's silhouette fell to the ground.

"You said that you were separated from your group, keep your story straight," said Tesse coldly, putting the pistol back on her waist.

"Smart girl aren't you," whispered Clare, her breathe tickling Tesse's neck from behind.

Tesse elbowed the air behind her, rolling forward to create some distance between them.

However as she turned Clare was nowhere to be seen.

"I just wanted to play a little. You didn't have to shoot me," said Clare from behind Tesse. However as Tesse turned to see where she was, a cold stinging pain radiated from her stomach.

"But turns out you weren't so fun after all," laughed Clare as she fixed her spectacles. Looking down at Tesse as her body fell to the ground in pain.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm a little famished," said Clare, her tone and voice completely different from what it had been a few seconds ago.

"Now how shall I chop you u-" Clare's mumbling was interrupted by the sound of a pistol being cocked.

"It seems one bullet wasn't enough," said Tesse, firing several bullets towards Clare's silhouette.

***