The Microsecond Gap

After Momo was taken away by Oulin, Betasha's feelings became exceedingly complicated.

On one hand, seeing the crown of talent fall upon her head once more filled her with the relief of having a burden lifted.

But on the other hand, Fente's pain and despondency after losing his son and daughter in succession made Betasha, the chief culprit who had brought Oulin into the household, feel deeply guilty and remorseful.

Thus, after that accident, Betasha carried this conflicted state of mind with her—following Fente's orders to work herself to the bone for the Headmaster while continuously honing her own strength.

Yet what she never could have imagined was that, upon this battlefield of ancient enmity between hunters and clowns, Momo—whom she had believed dead many years ago—would reappear before her in a new guise, as a hunter.

And after all these years, their reunion was now to unfold entirely in the form of battle.

However, it was precisely this situation that suddenly woke Betasha up. Weren't the two ailments that had plagued her heart for years now presented with a perfect solution together?

On one hand, so long as Betasha could defeat the now fully grown Oko, she could prove that the talent Fente had once doted on in this girl was nothing but a joke! Prove that she was stronger than her! That she was the child who truly deserved Fente's favoritism!

On the other hand, so long as Betasha could capture Oko alive and bring her back, Fente would surely be overjoyed and endlessly grateful. It would also greatly make up, to a certain extent, for Betasha's past mistake of bringing that harbinger of disaster, Oulin, into Sweet Home!

Thinking it over, Oko's current intention to cross blades with Betasha was, for the latter, precisely the two-birds-with-one-stone delight