Little Red Riding Hood

Biodata

Power Progression

• The documented progression concerns Shen Yu’s attunement with her E.G.O., not an increase in Little Red Riding Hood’s own rank.

Background / History

The previous manager selected Little Red Riding Hood and Big Bad Wolf during the Day 20 cycle, then overwrote the memory repository. By the time Shen Yu took over, both belonged to Central Headquarters’ dangerous “golden duo” 1 14 17.

Her mental world presents an earlier Little Red Riding Hood living with her grandmother in a drought-stricken, starving village. According to their account, Wolf swallowed them both before Hunter cut them free and filled its belly with stones. The girl subsequently resolved to kill a wolf herself, while privately worrying that she was a burden 46 47.

The mercenary recalls that sharpening an axe every day had already become a habit by the time she was fifteen. Visions encountered when Shen Yu entered her mind show a gray-blue creature feeding beside a corpse, followed by a red-cloaked girl holding a bloody axe among dead wolves and humans. The exact sequence behind these images remains unexplained 24 45.

Appearance

Little Red Riding Hood’s mercenary form wears a heavily damaged crimson cloak over black light armor. Her mouth is hidden behind a frightening, fang-painted mask 18.

• Cloak: Covered in scorch marks, bloodstains, patches, and seams 18.
• Eye: A visible yellow eye with a blood-red pupil 18.
• Weapons: A dried-blood-encrusted Meat Cleaver and a firearm worn on opposite sides of her waist 18.
• Presence: Accompanied by a strong bloody aura and murderous intent 18.
• Child form within her mental world: Thin and pale, with sunken eyes, parched lips, a dry cough, faded gray clothing, and a tattered red cloak. Her eyes are only pale yellow, without the mercenary’s crimson pupils 46.

Personality

Little Red Riding Hood is proud of her strength and experience, initially dismissing Little Knight as a cub whose stamina and combat knowledge should fall short of hers. She nevertheless admits defeat after he overwhelms her and accepts Shen Yu’s reduced offer 18.

Her hatred of Wolf dominates her decisions. Merely mentioning him provokes a violent lunge at Shen Yu, while the promise of information about his location is enough to secure her cooperation. She denies having psychological problems and interprets relaxation, empathy, and gentleness as tools for devising more elaborate killings 18 24 45.

The child encountered in her mental world is defensive about her family’s poverty and determined to prove her usefulness. She cares for her grandmother, prepares medicine, and fears that her absent parents abandoned them because they were burdens. During Wolf’s rampage, she also pulls Hank into shelter rather than leaving him exposed 46 47 48 50.

Abilities & Skills

Armed Combat

Little Red Riding Hood fights with a Meat Cleaver and Hand Cannon, combining close-range attacks with gunfire 18.

• Attempts to intercept Little Knight’s Shade Soul with her cleaver, then fires at his head after losing the exchange 18.
• Can fire repeatedly while moving; Shen Yu initially cannot imitate this because the E.G.O. Flintlock’s recoil leaves his arm trembling and weak 31 48.
• Her weapons cannot block Little Knight’s Void attacks. The containment chamber’s suppressor and walls also restrict her ability to evade him 18.

Regeneration

Blood-colored liquid flows from her wounds and repairs severe physical damage 18.

• Restores a hole torn through her chest and her severed arm after Little Knight defeats her 18.
• Recovery does not prevent suppression: she concedes the fight before regenerating 18.

Mental World

The Dream Nail can tear through her physical shell and admit visitors into her mental world 45.

• Contains a desolate mountain, a starving village, her grandmother’s cottage, and a child version of herself 45 46.
• Shen Yu suspects its unusual scale may result from sharing it with Wolf; this remains his hypothesis 45.
• Striking the child with the Dream Nail reveals her thoughts but does not transform her into the mercenary 47.
• Shen Yu uses this world as the site of his grade-three Cogito experiment, successfully bringing Quirrel into existence 45.

Crimson Scar — Derived E.G.O.

Crimson Scar is the WAW-grade E.G.O. developed from Little Red Riding Hood. Its enhanced abilities below are demonstrated by Shen Yu, rather than directly measured on her own weapons 28 33 36.

• Its weapons resonate in the presence of a powerful opponent with a desire to hunt rather than fear 36.
• During Shen Yu’s fight with Oro, the armor forms a hood, yellow eyes with crimson pupils, and a fanged mask; his blood ignites into crimson bloodflames. This manifestation does not heal him 37.
• A portion of the armor can be reshaped into a child-sized cloak to disguise Little Knight as an Abnormality when entering mental worlds. The cloak cannot withstand his full ancient power 41.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Meat Cleaver — Her blood-encrusted melee weapon; damaged during the fight with Little Knight 18.
• Hand Cannon / Flintlock — Her waist-carried firearm, retained in her left hand even after severe injuries 18.
• Crimson cloak, black light armor, and fanged mask — Her mercenary attire 18.
• Isolation headphones and eye mask — Required by Shen Yu to block sensory contact with Wolf and reduce containment risks 18 19.
• Rusty axe — Carried and repeatedly sharpened by her child form within the mental world 46 47 50.

Containment & Employment

Recruitment Terms

Shen Yu secures her employment by offering information about Wolf after Little Knight defeats her 18.

Management Restrictions

• Employees who work with her or are injured by her are forbidden from entering Big Bad Wolf’s containment unit 15.
• She strongly dislikes Repression Work, repeatedly trying to strike Shen Yu when he explains company regulations through her headset 19.
• Her blindfold and Little Knight’s presence prevent those attacks from connecting 19.
• Shen Yu seals her chamber while concealing that Wolf is right next door. After Anglerfish escapes, her counter does not drop, supporting his isolation strategy 18 19.

Relationships

• Shen Yu / Manager X — Employer and organizer of her treatment. Controls her cooperation through promised information about Wolf and later investigates her mental world 18 24 45.
• Big Bad Wolf — Target of her consuming hatred. Her child form attributes her determination to hunt wolves to nearly being digested by him 18 47.
• Little Knight — Defeats her during recruitment and opens her mental world with the Dream Nail. Within that world, accompanies the child home and drives Wolf away from the cottage 18 45 48 49.
• Hod — Assigned counselor. Little Red initially dismisses her, then praises her as a “genius hunter” after misinterpreting empathy exercises as guidance for torture 24 45.
• Grandmother / Old Lady — The child’s guardian within the mental world. Little Red prioritizes caring for her and says having her grandmother is enough despite her parents’ absence 47 48.
• Hunter — Initially admired by the child as her rescuer and trusted to kill Wolf. Shen Yu’s investigation uncovers evidence of human attackers impersonating Wolf 46 47 48.
• Hank — A bereaved village child whom Little Red drags into a house for safety during the giant wolf battle 47 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Recruitment and Failed Counseling

Shen Yu recruits Little Red Riding Hood as part of his effort to manage dangerous Abnormalities through unconventional means. Little Knight’s decisive victory gives him leverage to impose reduced wages, treatment, and strict isolation 17 18.

The counseling project is restarted specifically for her, but Hod’s exercises backfire: meditation inspires hundreds of new killing methods, and perspective-taking becomes a way to prolong prey’s terror. She begins pounding on her door, stopping only when Manager X promises to help her reach Wolf the following day 23 24.

Investigation of the Fairy-Tale World

Shen Yu enters her mind intending to address her psychological problems. After the Cogito experiment produces Quirrel, the group investigates the starving village and encounters Little Red as a frail child still living with her grandmother 45 46.

Her account helps direct the investigation toward the supposed wolf attacks. Examination of buried bones reveals blunt-force damage, and Shen Yu encounters attackers disguised as Wolf, complicating the village’s account of its suffering 47 48.

Wolf later arrives at the cottage with apples and an apology, but Little Knight drives him away. After villagers attempt to butcher him, he transforms into a giant blue monster. Little Red protects her grandmother, accompanies Shen Yu toward the village, and shelters Hank while watching the ensuing battle with her axe clenched. Her treatment remains unfinished 49 50.

Notable Quotes

“I lost. We'll do it your way. But you have to tell me where that bastard is.” 18

“I was only fifteen when sharpening my axe in the garden every day became a habit instead of picking little flowers.” 24

“Never mind. As long as I have you, Grandma, that's enough.” 48