"Auu"

"Squee!"

"Skree~"

Howls and growls, sometimes the calls of birds even, were constantly heard under the cover of the night as the nocturnal beasts started their fight for dominance

"Hnng"

Hearing the noise the sleeping redhead couldn't help but wake up groggily, her eyes blinking slowly as they adjust to the dim room

Once she could vaguely see she sat up and looked around the unfamiliar place, slowly recalling how she got here

'We seem to have entered an apartment after the battle?'

She recalled getting into the shower first but nothing after

A soft light came from the side, letting her view the room clearly

Turning to its source she saw YuJu facing the window, moonlight spilt out of it illuminating his nostalgic figure while he combed through Anput's fur, painting a serene scene that would calm one's mind

"Awuuu"

That calm was broken shortly after as the howls of battle continued to disturb the night

Frowning Ellis looked outside but could barely see anything as the clouds soon covered the light of the moon once again

Growl~

The sound of a beast growling was heard, and that beast was none other than Ellis's hangry stomach, reminding her that it had been more than a day since she last ate, furthermore with the overexertion that she had gone through it was a surprise that it only demanded food now

She slowly slid out the quilt and stood up a little shakily, then she looked around to find the kitchen, intending to prepare a proper meal

Five minutes later sizzling was heard from the room close by as the waft of fried chicken drew Anput's closed eyes open, her nose taking two eager sniffs

Only at this time did YuJu finally stop combing through her hair, patting her to go eat while he opened the window allowing the night breeze to air the room and his figure to disappear

Seeing her master go she wanted to follow, but since he didn't tell her to she could only go to the kitchen as per her stomaches demands

Seeing her come in Ellis nodded at her, both were normally quiet, especially Anput, as for Ellis she only spoke when she wanted to learn her master's motives, else she would also keep to herself

Once the light brown that coated the chicken legs turned dark brown Ellis scooped them up from the pot and put them into three plates, one for each person

After placing one in front of Anput she returned to the room to see it empty with the wind fluttering in through the open window

"Did Master leave?"

She asked Anput after going back to the kitchen to which she received a nod

Saying no more she put his plate aside and started to cook more chicken legs all while stuffing the already cooked ones into her mouth, while it was bad manners to eat and cook she didn't think she could wait until she finished cooking all the meat with her stomach's constant grumbles

Thus chicken leg after chicken leg disappeared from the fridge, but even after cooking two bags worth of them the two of them didn't get full at all, especially Anput whos physical exertion was much more than Ellis's

The two of them suddenly glanced at YuJu's plate, it was for merely a second but the two shook the desire out their heads quickly, turning toward the fridge again

In it lay a few plates of meat and one whole chicken, there were other types of food such as vegetables and sweets but only Ellis seemed to want to eat it as Anput had her eyes glued to the meat alone

"This chicken is going to take a while to cook, Il make you the meat first, you can eat the meat while the chicken is cooking"

Though she also wanted to eat meat she knew Anput needed it more than her so she decided to stick with the vegetables and fruit

"Wuu"

Anput shook her head in response and jumped up next to the door, taking the half-frozen chicken into her mouth then ripped open the wrapper and bit into it hungrily

Ellis looked shocked by the sight and wanted to ask her what the hell she was doing but then she suddenly remembered that Anput was originally a beast who ate meat raw

'Right, she's so smart and intuitive that I even forgot she's a beast, its hard to imagine her suddenly acting all beasty like'

It is what it is in the end so Ellis turned back to cooking, giving the meat to Anput as she stuffed herself with vegetables and only some of the meat

An hour later the two ate the entirety of the fidges food except for the sweets, but the two didn't feel full at all, in fact, their stomachs were still grumbling for more

But what could they do, since their master wasn't here they couldn't go to the next door apartments to grab food since they had to wait for him

They could only go back onto the bedroom to wait as the scent of his plate of chicken legs tested their patience

Ruffling sounds were heard a few minutes after they laid down, when they turned to the window expecting their master they saw a red-eyed bat flying into the room, his fierce fangs gleamed slightly as it dived for their neck

Ellis who was its first victim snorted lightly, her hands went into her bosom retrieving her battered sword, pouring aura into it as she met the bat head on, slicing it in half with ease

Clank...

Before the thud of the body was heard the sound of metal hitting the wall came, the already battered sword couldn't take the tortures use any longer and broke apart, wedging itself into the hard concrete

Only then did the body fall to the ground staining the carpet red with blood

"Sigh, I am almost out of swords, if I had only used them alone I would have been out long ago"

Since swords were very scarce in modern time she had used axes and sometimes daggers to fight the weak enemies, saving the swords her master got for her after going to an old shop while the two took a break during their latest fight

Ruffling sounds were heard once again as more bats approached from the sky, clearly attracted by the scent of blood

She frowned at the sight of tens of bats closing in on the window, while she could fight the few of them it would only attract more beasts toward them and with her exhausted and hungry body she didn't think she could last like before

"Il guide them away and try to sneak back, you wait for Master here"

With that she jumped out the window without giving Anput time to protest, jumping from balcony to balcony as she led the hungry bunch onto a nearby roof where she started hacking at them with one of her last swords

The bats had a lot of space to manoeuvre around her and attack her from all directions, all that proves useless nonetheless as she weaved through the with her superior technique, the only thing she could not dodge was the blood splattering on her body once again

'Hmm? Did I wash all the blood away before I slept?'

She thought as she fought only to remember that she didn't wash up, in fact, she only remembered getting into the bath and then falling asleep

'Did he....'

The realization made her blush and more importantly allowed her flowing movement to be disrupted, enough of an opportunity for one of the bats to plunge down and bite her forearm

"Kuh"

Withholding a scream she slammed the bat into the ground with a roll effectively shaking him off and getting out the encirclement as she once again tried to regain the rhythm of attack

The battle went smoothly in her favour after the small incident, a few more bats came along but there wasn't any major group that was attracted to the battle much to Ellis's surprise

It took her about twenty minutes to finish all of them, she surveyed the area again to make sure there weren't any more beasts and jumped back toward the apartment

Spotting the waiting Anput through the window she knew YuJu hasn't come back so she decided to grab some food from a few adjacent apartments

The use of doors wasn't needed since she could directly go in through the window, the first house she came to had its windows broken so she walked right in

The room she arrived at was a bedroom that was trashed, the bed was ripped open and sunken while several items were strewn across the floor

She went through the broken door and started to search for the kitchen with some vigilance, the memory of the huge rat was still fresh on her mind when she came into her aunt's bathroom so her sword never left her hand

Quickly locating the kitchen she opened the fridge to check

'Only some vegetables? The owner must have been living frugally'

Not everyone had a bunch of meat stored in the fridge, she guessed YuJu had scouted this area and decided on the apartment they slept in after carefully looking through a bunch of them

'Master seems to have strong experience in survival methods and scouting, he seems to know a lot about whats going on, how did he get all his information and experience'

She found her self wondering once again while she headed to the bathroom to wash up her bloody hands before she touched the food

Opening the door she nearly gagged at the stench that came out

Her sword was raised in front of her vigilantly while her eyes peered into the bathroom

'Someone is there?'

What she saw wasn't a beast chewing on a dead body, only an intact body

Walking to the motionless person she nudged them with her sword, promoting them to slid to the ground, a bottle rolled out next to it

The bottle was half empty with some pills she just noticed scattered next to it

"....."

Anyone could instantly tell this person had committed suicide, whether it was before the beasts descended or after was unknown, she only knew he must have despaired to take his own life

"Sigh"

Turning around she gave up washing her hands and didn't even take the food, her hungry mood was blown away after seeing this depressing sight, she was fighting to get stronger and protect humans yet they were taking their own lives

"Maybe they found it much easier to die without feeling pain rather than being eaten by the beasts"

She comforted himself with that, not everyone had the chance to gain strength and fight like her, she recognised that she was a special case, the rest would either have to group up and survive or get lucky to meet someone like her master to help them live

'That is if there is anyone like him among us humans'

She wondered while she was on her way to the apartment