The Eminence in the Shadow 97 Rampage... The Streets are... Blood... Run...

Within the room illuminated only by moonlight, she spares but a glance for the disturbed bedsheets as she picks up the underwear strewn on the floor.

In the same motion, she puts them up, then dives into her bed. Her beautiful face is buried into her pillow.

A lot happened today, so she is really tired now. Today's customers weren't particularly good either... let's just go to sleep.

"Nnー..."

However, the moist sheets and the smell permeating the room is just too uncomfortable. So she gets up with a sigh to open the windows.

The gag-inducing smell dissipates, in exchange for which the din from outside comes in.

"I wonder what happened..."

Usually, this is the time around when the sun rises, when even the red-light district is wrapping up work and heading to bed.

In spite of that, today the sky is showing no traces of lightening up, and the entire city seems restless somehow.

In the sky is still a blood-red moon, hanging there prominently.

When she looks further off, she sees flames enveloping several buildings.

It's a fire.

A faint whiff of smoke reaches her, carried by the wind.

But even before that, a raw, rust-like smell is stimulating her nose.

The fire is far away, and seems very unlikely to reach where she is.

However, something still seems different from normal. Passers-by are dashing through the streets. Why are they in such hurry?

It's just a fire.

As Mary is leaning against her windowsill, the red moonlight illuminates her in a bewitching manner. Her black lingerie stands out in sharp contrast to her white skin. Her purplish red hair stands out vividly even under the unusual shade of moonlight.

When such a beautiful girl stands at her windowsill with only her underwear on, normally men would stop to gawk.

But today, there isn't a single such person.
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With somewhat cold eyes, Mary looks down upon the red-light district and the faraway fire.

After being sold at 13, she's spent 5 years in this city. Everyone who comes to Outlaw City dreams at the beginning about getting back out. But with the passage of time, such emotions thinned out within her as she became colored by Outlaw City.

But hope has not entirely died out yet within her.

It might be easier if she gives up. She has been entertaining this thought recently.

Mary is one of the leading prostitutes in the red-light district, but she is notthe top. Her proprietress had said that she believes Mary could reach the top if she gets serious about it.

Surely that kind of a life is also not a mistake. Forgetting everything and just indulging herself in nights of ecstasy...

"Haah..."

It's been a while since she last thought about the outside. Surely this is the way how everyone becomes assimilated into this city.

Mary moves to close the window. But that instant.

"Kyah!"

A beast has leapt into her room through the window.

No, it is not a beast. It is a human-like figure that acts like a beast —— a ghoul.

"Ah, aa..."

Mary crawls backward on the floor.

The ghoul sneers with its sharp fangs bared... then pounces towards Mary in her underwear.

As tears stream down her face, Mary resolves herself.

"I remember advising you to run away last time..."

Together with those words, the ghoul is diced up in midair.

Lumps of meat fall all over the room, and blood splatters.

"Y-, you are..."

She recognizes that figure and that jet-black blade. Mary feels her heart beating loudly in her ears.

The person standing there in a jet-black longcoat... is Shadow.

"The Rampage has begun... Behold, the streets are stained with blood..."

"The streets...?"

Mary covers herself with her bedsheets and peers outside.

"How, how can this be... this is terrible..."

Sure enough, the road below is stained with glistening blood.

Lumps of meat strewn all over. Ghouls rampaging about. Prostitutes who ran too late being attacked.

"Watch ou-...!"

Seeing her senior among those being attacked, Mary cannot help but to cry out.

However, the next instant, the pouncing ghoul is reduced to lumps of meat.

"The Rampage is upon us... A tempest of blood demands its due..."

Beside her is a man in a jet-black longcoat.

"ae?!"

Mary whirls around, only to discover that there is no longer anyone standing beside herself.

"Run, lest you be swallowed up by this madness..."

"You, are you..."

That moment, a scream echoes out from somewhere not too far off.

The instant Mary's attention is diverted by it, Shadow disappears once again.

"... the Rampage is... blood... run..."

With a voice that seems to emanate from nowhere specific, parts of a ghoul are sent flying into the sky.

When she takes a second look, Mary realizes that the lumps of meat lining the street all came from ghouls.

She can no longer see the man himself, but the chain of explosions of ghoul parts is steadily growing further away.

Mary quickly throws on some clothes over her underwear, then packs a carry bag and hurries downstairs.

Mary's intuition proved true after all. Shadow really did come to save her.

"Thank you, Shadow-san..."

Thus Mary manages to slip away amidst all the chaos. With strong resolve in her heart to one day repay this debt to Shadow...

Chapter end