I reached out to the coat rack, grabbing my tattered crimson trench coat and sliding my right arm through the sleeve, letting the heavy fabric drape over my pale, alabaster skin and my withered left stump. I took the calcified expanse of the Leech's Hollow Mask and secured it over my face, the dark, hollow left socket hiding the reality of my missing eye while my crimson right eye flared to life behind the slit. Finally, I grabbed my leather purse, checking the heavy weight of my remaining gold and silver coins, and stepped toward the front door.
Before turning the deadbolt, I paused. I needed to map out this final execution with mechanical precision.
Reaching into the inner lining of my purse, I pulled out the Registry of the Condemned… the classified, leather-bound black book issued only to the highest tier of bounty hunters. I flipped past the standard protocols straight to the very back pages, where the apex threats of the continent were cataloged in cold, ink-stained text.
I pulled out my charcoal pencil. With sharp, aggressive strokes, I began scribbling thick, black lines across the faces and reports of the monsters I had already put in the ground over the last few months:
Oksana… S-Rank. Terminated.*
Don Anthony… S-Rank. Terminated.
Cameron Gal… S-Rank. Supreme Commander of the Immoral Knights. Executed at Rebelbub Castle.
Seeing Cameron's name crossed out sent a brief, pulsing warmth through my abdomen. His lineage was mine now, safe and growing rapidly inside my womb, completely severed from his failed rebellion.
With the dead weight cleared from my ledger, my single right eye scanned the remaining unblotted pages, looking for the perfect final target to cap off my career before the Bureau's three-month summoning ritual ignited. My eyes locked onto a profile carrying a staggering 3-gold bounty.
TARGET: Laulif Flower
RANK: S-Class Threat
DESIGNATION: Sovereign of the Subterranean Flesh Trade / Leader of the Bloom Syndicate
CURRENT STATUS: Active. Intelligence reports place him near the hidden coastal docks of the lower districts, actively exporting stolen demi-human captives across the dimensional currents to the neighboring domain of beast-kin and magical races: The Milky Way Continent.
A cold, vicious sneer formed behind my bone mask. Laulif Flower. A human trafficker operating at a catastrophic, continental scale, trading the lives of demi-humans like livestock to foreign markets. Dealing with political heretics like Cameron was a matter of state warfare, but dealing with a flesh-merchant who profited off the imprisonment of living souls was a matter of pure, predatory extermination.
The Milky Way Continent was a brutal, volatile realm, and Laulif was feeding its darkest factions with fresh meat from our borders. If I eliminated him, I wouldn't just secure another fortune in gold to fund my child's future… I would completely paralyze the capital's underground slave trade, creating a massive, chaotic vacuum that would keep the Bureau's investigators distracted for months while I quietly slipped into retirement.
I slammed the registry closed and slid it back into my purse. The target was acquired. I turned the deadbolt, pushed open the door of House 132, and stepped out into the fading twilight of the 3rd District, a pregnant demon hunter embarking on her final, merciless crusade.
Before diving headfirst into the shadows after a three-gold target like Laulif Flower, I needed a flawless, ironclad plan. I had never crossed the tempestuous ocean borders into foreign continents before. To understand the gravity of this hunt, one had to understand the geopolitical anatomy of our world. The known realm was divided into three massive, deeply segregated continents, arranged in a tense, volatile cosmic trifecta: Andromeda, the Milky Way, and Triangulum.
The Andromeda Continent: This was my current home, a massive landmass entirely ruled and dominated by humans. The Luminous Knight Bureau Association and the Holy Throne governed this territory with a xenophobic, iron fist. Laws were strict, borders were heavily fortified, and foreign races were looked upon with deep suspicion or outright hostility.
The Milky Way Continent: Located across the dimensional currents, this vast domain was entirely ruled by demi-humans… beastkins, beastfolk, elves, dwarves, and other high-tier magical species. Human entities were strictly forbidden from setting foot on its soil. It was a realm protected by ancient, primal laws, making Laulif's illegal human trafficking operation an international powder keg. He wasn't just stealing lives; he was smuggling forbidden cargo directly into a hostile, closed-border continent.
The Triangulum Continent: The dark, storm-shrouded land where the true demon races resided. This was the birthplace of high-tier vampires, ancestral werewolves, fallen angels, and the late Cameron Gal's Immoral Knights. For centuries, Andromeda and Triangulum had been locked in a genocidal, holy war.
And then there was me. A dhampir. A biological anomaly caught violently in the middle of this continental chessboard. I was a former human remade into a half-vampire… possessing the bloodline of the Triangulum demons, living under the radar as a heroic vanguard within the human borders of Andromeda, and currently carrying an unborn child who inherited the apex heretical traits of an S-rank human commander. If the Bureau discovered my demonic anatomy, I would be executed on the spot. If the demons discovered I was hunting their allies, they would flay me alive. To keep my child and myself safe, I couldn't just barge into Laulif's coastal docks blindly. I needed precise, actionable intelligence. I needed to know his shipping routes, his guard rotations, and exactly how he was bypassing the continental barriers.
To get that kind of high-level data, I had to walk directly into the dragon's den: the 4th District, home to the sprawling military headquarters of the Luminous Knight Bureau Association. It was the only place that kept active, real-time surveillance on international smuggling rings.
I left the quiet alleyways of the 3rd District and marched back toward the massive sector checkpoint. The fading evening light cast long, ominous shadows across the cobblestones as I approached the iron gates.
Renny, the easygoing gatekeeper who had questioned my fading desert tan just a short while ago, was still on duty, leaning against his heavy wooden ledger table. When the distinct, crimson-shrouded silhouette of my trench coat and the calcified visage of the Leech's Hollow Mask emerged from the twilight, he straightened up instantly, his eyes widening slightly.
"Eirene? Back so soon? I thought you were heading home to get some well-deserved rest. What brings the city's top hunter back to the gates at an hour like this?" Renny called out, his voice a mixture of surprise and professional wariness.
I stood perfectly silent beneath the shadow of my hood, my single, crimson right eye staring fixedly at him from behind the mask. I didn't offer a word, letting the heavy, intimidating aura of the Crimson Phantom do the talking. I reached into my leather purse with my pale right hand, pulling out my official Hunter Status Card and sliding it across the counter. My objective was clear, and no gatekeeper was going to stand in my way.