In Terra, a Hunter and a Bad Woman

Brutal, resolute, ferocious, yet calm.

Though its body was merely that of a frail human, it contained a power that even it feared.

From its perspective, Maria before it was nothing more than a crude outer shell. Inside her, creatures of the same kind as itself had been torn into countless fragments and brutally sealed within that body.

They showed no movement, as though they had been utterly conquered, lying quietly within her body.

No longer resisting.

That terrified it beyond measure.

If it were killed by her, would it become part of her body as well?

It did not know. Right now, all it wanted was to run!

But the problem was that Maria was staring at it... staring with absolute resolve.

That made it realize it had no chance of escaping.

The moment it made any move to flee, Maria would attack!

And what awaited it then would be utter death!

It could not escape...

Absolutely could not escape!

At that moment, the two sides seemed to have entered an invisible cage.

Only the victor would earn the right to live!

If it did not kill her...

If it chose to run...

Having understood this, the Three-Headed Hound's expression gradually twisted into a snarl.

It stared fixedly at Maria.

A threatening growl rumbled from its throat.

But that could not stop Maria's advance in the slightest.

Trembling, the Three-Headed Hound was driven to extremes.

The crimson eyes on its central head opened!

"!"

Seeing that it had finally opened the eyes of its last head, Maria stopped and silently raised her weapon.

"What is your final ability...?"

Maria watched it, her gaze growing wary.

At that moment, the Great Beast's two side heads began to droop.

Before Maria could figure out what was happening, those two heads rapidly shriveled. Within only a few blinks, they vanished completely.

At the same time, its body began to swell rapidly!

Three meters...

Four meters...

By the time Maria came back to her senses, its standing height had already exceeded five meters!

Beneath that enormous frame, its originally black skin had become exceedingly strange.

It was as though its body did not belong to this world, giving off an unnatural sheen... At a glance, Maria almost thought she was looking at nothing but a flat surface!

A surging pressure crashed toward her!

But...

"Whoosh—!"

Blades came down.

But...

"Clang—!"

Metal struck those grotesque muscles, and the sword snapped!

After all, the sword in Maria's hand was only an ordinary weapon. It had already suffered considerable wear during the long slaughter just now.

That blow shattered it completely.

But...

On the Great Beast's body... where Maria had struck just now.

A little blood seeped out.

It was not much, but... it had worked.

"So it is not completely hopeless, then?"

As she considered it, Maria suddenly smiled.

At that moment, she had no weapon left, only one Blood Vial remained, and the Great Beast before her had clearly entered a berserk state. No matter how one looked at it, she was at a disadvantage.

But...

She had not lost all ability to fight back!

Right before the Great Beast, Maria thrust the broken sword through her own chest without hesitation!

"!"

With that mad act, the blood around her seemed to receive some kind of summons and began rushing frantically into her body.

In the blink of an eye, the pierced wound began to heal, and a bloody aura started to coil around her entire body!

This was her ability alone!

Blood-for-Blood!

Staring at the Great Beast before her, Maria discarded the broken blade and raised both hands...

Her eyes slowly opened.

The first thing the girl saw was the campfire, already close to going out.

The faint flames still struggled to burn atop the wood. They were small, but they still provided warmth to the room.

She struggled to rise from the ground. The exhaustion of the past few days could not be cured by a single sleep.

As sharp pain shot through her body, the Puppy girl trembled all over.

But she quickly recalled the last scene in her memory...

"Maria!"

She instinctively turned around, hoping to see that familiar figure.

But there was nothing around her except gray-white, decaying buildings.

"Ah..."

At that moment, the Puppy girl noticed the note in her hand.

Quite a few words had been scribbled on it messily... but unfortunately, the girl could understand only a limited amount.

Yet those words filled her with terror.

Each warning was like the tolling of some declaration, making her uneasy.

Instinctively, she tried to run out through the doorway and chase after her goal.

But before she had run very far, she felt strength leaving her body.

This was because she had gone a day and night without food.

Powerlessly, she fell to the ground.

Then she climbed back up.

The damp ground declared that it had rained here not long ago. Covered in mud, she looked like a homeless stray dog.

She could only clutch that wet note tightly and lower her head to cry...

"Maria..."

"Maria..."

She called out to her again and again, but in that silent world... no one answered.

"Wah..."

With her head lowered, she kept wiping away the tears on her face, but as though she had lost her support, she began to panic, began to fear.

Again and again, she called out from where she stood, until even her voice became hoarse.

And that pathetic sight finally drew someone's dissatisfaction.

"If this is all you can do... you cannot survive on your own at all..."

Under the rising sun, a woman in black slowly emerged from the forest.

She was still as the Puppy girl had seen her before: cold, proud, as though not the slightest smile would ever appear on her face.

But the familiar tricorn hat was gone. Her white hair swayed faintly with her movements, making her seem more elegant, and softer as well.

Her skin was so pale it hardly seemed human.

"Maria!"

Seeing the woman once more, joy immediately flooded the girl's face.

She instinctively wanted to chase after her, only to see Maria raise a hand.

It was an order to stop.

The Puppy girl obediently did so.

"Maria..."

She called her name again, longing for a response.

But Maria only silently watched the girl.

The silence made the Puppy girl uneasy.

So she called Maria's name once more.

"Maria?"

"...Do you know what home is?"

Maria did not answer the girl. Instead, she turned her head to look at the sunrise, something absolutely unseen in Yharnam, faint light flickering in her eyes.

"Home is a wonderful place... There are people waiting for you to return, people who trust you, people who love you, people you dislike but who will always believe in you."

"No part of anyone's life can be separated from home..."

"It is not fixed. It can be a person, an object, or a place."

"And that place is your home..."

Maria murmured, then turned to look at the girl.

"You should have a home of your own too, Puppy."

"Wah?"

The Puppy girl clearly could not understand Maria's heavily suggestive words. She merely tilted her head, looking at Maria covered in blood, fidgeting anxiously where she stood.

"I will be leaving for a while, Puppy."

"Do not make that pitiful face... I am only leaving temporarily."

"You cannot hide in the forest for your entire life, either."

"How about this? Let us make an agreement."