...

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Aries was running for her life, gasping for breath. A fierce-looking deer-like creature was chasing her relentlessly.

"Huff... Stop chasing me, you weird demon!!" 

Aries shouted as she continued to run. She didn't know where to go, but she’d rather keep her life than be eaten by that bizarre creature.

...

A few days earlier, the city was peaceful and bustling. Suddenly, the sky turned gray and ominous, followed by the appearance of a huge black hole in the sky... From within that black hole, hundreds of monsters spilled out, all of them deformed and grotesque, as if failed experiments of someone or something.

They leapt down, tearing apart and devouring people...

...

And now, Aries was being chased by a monstrous creature.

Honestly, she didn’t understand what was happening or why. All she knew was that she was about to be eaten.

"Aaaaahhh! Stop chasing me!! My meat isn’t even tasty!!" 

Aries yelled. She was exhausted. She felt like she was about to give up... At that moment, she noticed she was holding a pistol in her hand.

“When did I get this...?”, she was tired and confused, but there was no time to wonder. Aries aimed the gun behind her and ran while shooting randomly...

Bang. Bang. Bang.

She didn’t know if she hit anything, but upon hearing a shrill howl, Aries stopped. She turned back and saw the creature lying there, convulsing and crying out in pain. Aries slowly approached, still aiming her gun at the beast...

Once she was sure it was immobilized, she went over and kicked its head a few times... No movement.

"...Huff... finally you're dead..." 

Aries muttered, struggling to stand. At that moment, she looked around... The grass, trees, and buildings... all were destroyed and burned... The sky was dark, but not entirely black.

"...YYYYOO!!!" 

...No response. Aries took a deep breath. She was exhausted. She didn’t know how long she had been chased by that monster; her legs were heavily drained now...

Suddenly, she heard a scream. Startled, Aries turned toward the sound. Without thinking much, she quickly ran toward the source of the scream. Behind a building, she saw a large nine-tailed wolf, and in front of it, a woman clutching her frightened child tightly. Aries immediately aimed her gun at the wolf and shot twice. The wolf howled in pain and collapsed. The woman was startled and frightened, holding her crying child close.

Aries hurried over to the woman, knelt down in front of her, and grabbed her shoulders to comfort her.

"Are you okay?"

"...T-Thank you…"

Aries nodded, glancing around. For some reason, she felt a chill down her spine...

Suddenly, snap!

The woman’s head fell off. Aries was taken aback, quickly stepping back.

What just happened..? Aries gasped, staring at the woman's severed head... Feeling something was terribly wrong, she swiftly ran toward the child...

Snap!

The child's body was torn in half... Aries’s eyes widened in shock and she felt her heart race. She looked around, searching for someone suspicious.

“Useless, damn it.”

Aries looked up. She saw a young man with black and blue hair sitting on the windowsill of a ruined building, staring fixedly at her.

"Hey, why did you kill her?! She didn’t do anything!!"

Aries snapped in frustration and anger. The man looked at her with disdain, his eyes cloudy, devoid of whites, only bright blue irises.

"Now is not the time to be worrying about that."

Aries stared at him, puzzled and angry. He shrugged dismissively.

"Take care of yourself first, or you won’t know when your own life will be gone."

"But you didn’t have to kill her!"

"..."

Snap.

A few throwing darts sliced past Aries’s shoulder. She jerked back, furious and annoyed.

"Are you planning to kill me too?"

"I already told you, worry about yourself first..."

"Not your concern!"

"...."

Suddenly, several darts appeared around him. Aries’s eyes widened, and she took a step back.

“Dumbass, fine, I’ll deal with you right now.”

With that, he threw darts toward Aries. She quickly ran away. How can she fight back? With only one gun against dozens of darts? Better to run first. So Aries kept running while dodging to avoid injury, while he continued chasing her, hurling even more darts...