The moment the stray dog lunged at Hayami Reina, she reacted.

  She yanked the headless corpse behind her into its path as a meat shield, then sprang to her feet and dashed upstairs. As she ran, she knocked over everything she could reach in a frantic attempt to slow the beast behind her.

  All the wild dogs except for one massive bck-furred brute were drawn to the headless corpse, leaving Reina alone in its crosshairs.

  The bck dog easily leapt over the scattered debris and caught up to her in a heartbeat, sinking its foul, drool-slicked teeth into her shoulder and dragging her to the ground.

  The teeth, soaked in rancid spit and bits of rotten flesh, pierced through flesh and muscle like a hot bde through butter. Reina let out a cry of pain.

  But the will to live gave her no room for hesitation. The moment she hit the floor, she grabbed the fallen candlestick and swung it with all her might at the beast’s head.

  Wham!The blow struck the dog square in the eye. It yelped, loosening its grip and revealing Reina’s mangled, bloody shoulder.

  She didn’t stick around to fight. Now wasn’t the time. Any further noise might draw the rest of the pack back to her.

  Her footsteps spped against the floor as she bolted upstairs. She dove into the only room with a door, smmed it shut, and twisted the lock with a decisive click.

  BANG!No sooner had the lock clicked than the door shuddered violently. The bck dog had come after her.

  What the hell?! Why me?! Isn’t that headless body downstairs more than enough to chew on?!

  BANG! BANG! BANG!The pounding continued, relentless. The dog wasn’t going to stop until it broke the door down.

  Reina stared at the rattling doorknob with no illusions about its durability. With every thud, it creaked ominously.

  Her eyes darted around the room, desperate for anything she could use.

  Bare walls. A photo frame with no photo. Mold in the corners. A rickety wooden wardrobe with half its door missing. A single wooden bed. A broken nightstand beside it.

  But on the nightstand—a hunting knife, its bde sheathed in worn leather.

  That’s it!

  She snatched it up, gripping the handle and drawing it free. The bde, slightly longer than a dagger, gleamed under the dim light, casting its reflection on her blood-drained, ghost-pale face.

  …

  BANG! BANG!

  Time passed. The other dogs had wandered off. But the bck one… it kept hammering away.

  Reina crept to the side of the door, crouched in the shadows beside the wall. With a soft click, she unlocked the door.

  CRASH!The door burst open, and the hulking beast charged inside, momentarily stunned by the empty room before it.

  She was ready.

  In a fsh, Reina lunged from behind the door, throwing herself onto the beast’s fnk. Her left arm wrapped around its neck while her right hand, trembling yet firm, drove the bde down toward its skull.

  ARROOOOOO!The dog howled as the knife struck its already-injured eye. It twisted, yelping in pain, rolling to the floor and throwing Reina off.

  Now belly-up, it gred at her with its one bloodshot eye, fangs bared, murderous intent pouring off it in waves.

  Reina’s body shook—but her hand didn’t hesitate. The knife shed out again, stabbing at the exposed throat.

  The dog knew. It remembered.

  It had seen this tool before. Its master had wielded one just like it—slicing open prey, peeling back hide, carving out hind legs as a reward for the beast's loyalty and skill.

  The dog had learned.

  Just as the bde was about to find its mark, it twisted its neck violently, jaws tching onto Reina’s knife-wielding hand.

  And it bit.

  Hard.

  It used the same move it had used to bring down stags rger than itself—twisting, tching onto the throat, hanging on, tearing deep with every struggle.

  It had been the pride of its master, a legendary hunter whose return was once a guarantee of meat and triumph.

  But the master had abandoned it.

  Vanished into a stormy night with all the food, all the gear—never to return.

  It waited.

  Days passed. It starved. It stood vigil in the rain, waiting for the voice that would say:"Bello, look at this weather! Perfect for a hunt. Move, boy—let's chase something wild!"

  But that voice never came.

  And so, in its rage, it snapped the chain around its neck and became a beast.

  It hated humans.

  Its teeth sank deep into Reina’s arm. She could feel bone grinding under pressure, the dog's single red eye gleaming with madness and pure, killing intent.

  Not hunger. Not survival.

  Just bloodlust.

  And Reina understood.

  This dog didn’t kill to live. It lived to kill.

  She, on the other hand—

  “I’m sorry. But I want to live.”

  Her grey eyes locked with its crimson one. No screams. No curses. No hate.

  Just calm. Just a truth spoken aloud.

  The trembling stopped. Fear of death vanished.

  Her right hand sckened. The knife dropped into her left.

  Bde downward, she plunged it into the exposed throat.

  To the hilt.

  “Goodbye,” she whispered.

  She twisted.

  Blood burst from the dog’s neck with every wrench of her wrist, soaking her hair, her face, her torn clothes.

  She was covered in blood.

  The dog stopped struggling.

  Its one eye dimmed—madness, hatred, and violence fading with the light.

  Reina killed to live.

  The bck-furred hound killed to kill.

  But in that unrelenting will to survive, Reina had something the beast could never possess—an unbreakable drive, a purpose that would forge power greater than any predator’s fangs.

  This was a fight that had only one possible ending from the start.

  Reina had found her goal—or perhaps, her dream.

  Since arriving in this world, she’d been lost. She knew who she was, where she came from.

  But not where she was going.

  This new world, this unfamiliar life—it had been a grey void before her.

  But now, after staring death in the eye and fighting with everything she had…

  She knew.

  She would live.

  That was all.

  A small wish. A simple one.

  In her old world, she had never met a soul who lived just for that.

  But here—in this brutal world—she would have to fight for that humble wish with everything she had.

  Anyone in her way—

  Would die.

  “Hey! Kid! Hand it over! Give that to me!!”

  A man, driven mad by hunger, had heard the noise and stormed into the house. He gawked at the blood-soaked “girl” standing before the dog’s corpse, his voice booming as if he could scare her into surrender.

  “Be my guest.”Reina stepped aside, as if offering him the spoils of the kill.

  The starving man grinned, stepping forward, reaching for the carcass.“Heh, smart brat.”

  Thunk.

  The knife slid into his chest, piercing straight through heart and lung.

  “You—”He looked up, stunned, locking eyes with the girl’s icy grey gaze.

  No fear. No hesitation. No trace of guilt.

  As if she’d just swatted a fly.

  The bde slid free. Blood spttered across the floor.

  The man opened his mouth, but no words came.

  He fell.

  And even in death, his eyes were wide with disbelief.