73. Hunting time
Marcelline walked out of the store with her shopping bags in one hand, Leo trotting beside her. The evening breeze brushed her hoodie, and Hollowmist City glowed peacefully—
Until her entire body stopped.
Mid-step.
Mid-breath.
Mid-heartbeat.
Like someone punched her soul.
A violent, raw surge of demonic energy exploded somewhere far across the city—
so strong, so ancient, so corrupted
that every neuron in her body screamed.
Leo instantly transformed back to his half-beast alert stance—ears pricked, fur bristling, fangs showing.
Marcelline's eyes widened behind her mask.
"What… the hell was THAT?"
It wasn't faint.
It wasn't subtle.
It wasn't like the weak demons she'd been sensing all week.
This—
This was a monster.
A source.
A core.
Something old enough to rot the ground it stood on.
Something powerful enough to punch through her detection walls like they were paper.
She felt it again—
a shockwave of pure malice that rippled across the city, making streetlights flicker and birds scream into the sky.
Pedestrians around her shivered, confused, looking around without knowing why.
But Marcelline knew.
This was no ordinary demonic presence.
This was THE ONE.
The thing she had been searching for.
The origin.
The predator hidden beneath Hollowmist.
Her fingers twitched with excitement.
"Finally…"
Her voice dropped into a quiet, dangerous whisper.
Leo growled, his eyes glowing a deep amber.
Marcelline's heart thudded once—
hard, sharp, almost painful.
She turned toward the direction of the surge… and froze again.
Another wave hit her—
worse than the first—
thick with suffering, rage, broken souls, and—
blood.
Her breathing hitched.
Someone at the heart of that energy was dying.
More than one.
And fast.
Marcelline's eyes narrowed to slits.
"Leo," she said quietly.
He rumbled.
"That thing… it's feeding on something. Or someone."
Her jaw clenched.
"And it's not stopping."
The sky darkened unnaturally for a moment—only a second—but she saw it.
That was no coincidence.
That was possession-level darkness.
Her mind raced.
"No weak exorcist can handle that."
"No human can survive long near that."
"If I don't go, bodies will start dropping."
A faint vibration pulsed again—
sharp enough to sting the tips of her fingers.
Marcelline snapped her head toward the direction, eyes blazing.
"…Mansion area," she muttered.
"Far. But not too far."
Finally—
FINALLY—
after chasing shadows for a full week—
her real target roared.
A slow smile curved under her mask.
"Leo," she whispered, voice sharp, excited, dangerous.
"Pack up.
We're going hunting."
Leo let out a deep, eager growl.
And the shadows around her shifted—
as if the night itself bowed to her will.
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