Sun rose slowly from the horizon, which mark the ninth day of my escape. My training week ago had given me solid result. Thanks to stingy Rei for sharing his knowledge albeit too late, I could move freely in Aragami form without risking myself to trip over nothing. In combat my wrist blades was proven to be effective in slicing almost everything, including Ogretails and few Cocoon Maiden I've faced last night.

In my spare time while wandering around area near Wailing Plains I found a decent half-ruined building. Slightly covered in moss but still had its walls and roof, thus it became my temporary shelter. Not much, a few meters square room with cloth scraps as bedding and wooden plank as makeshift door. Rei said that was unnecessary as I need no rest. He was right as usual, but at least this gave me a semblance to human life that I no longer had. However, I'm facing a new problem now.

Boredom...

As absurd as it sounds like, my new body didn't require sleep. So run out something to do tend to happened sooner or later. I spent my whole night hunting random small fry, as result my so-called shelter filled with both Aragami Cores and random body part. Much more than my daily needs. My leftovers might still useful to God Eater, If they managed to found this place though.

'Reiii, I'm boreeed. What should I do?'

'How about a trip to the giant tornado near this place?'

'Oh you mean Wailing Plains? Okay, better than sitting around and do nothing.'

My stroll towards the Wailing Plains was uneventful. Nothing but ruin and even more moss in my sight. Occasionally a few Ogretails trying to attack me, and minutes later few more core to be added to my shelter. The sky grew darker and moisture slowly rising, negligible but easily noticed thanks to my highly sensitive senses. Ground beneath me soften as it became covered in moss, any other ground that didn't covered by it already turned into mud by endless drizzle.

Chaotic. That was a perfect word to describe area surrounding Wailing Plains. This place was a giant gladiator arena. A large caldera like crater complete with its mini hill at its center, which is where the tornado was located. Weather around here was harsh, not as terrible as Infernal Subway, but definitely bad. Constant tempest coupled with never-ending drizzle would turn melee combat into a deadly dance and sniping at long-range became nigh impossible without high velocity or homing bullet.

Despite the harsh weather this place became a hotspot for Aragami. From my hiding place on a cliff I saw a herd of Ogretails, few Cocoon Maiden, and a Vajra roaming around.

'I'm here, what's next?'

'Hm... not as interesting as I hoped. Nothing but Aragami and moss ridden hole.'

'And what did you expect?' I raised my eyebrow at him.

'Anything other than moss and Aragami.'

'Too bad, ever since Aragami started to appear, most of the planet surface had been reduced to wastelands like this.'

'Whatever. Let's return to your so called-shelter.'

'Walking for few hours and return without doing anything seems so wasteful don't you think?'

'You have other plan?'

'Of course.' I gave him a wide smirk.

My body shifting and encased in Aragami form as I jumped out of my hiding place. Cocoon Maiden and herd of Ogretails immediately noticed my loud landing. The Cocoon Maiden became nothing more than a puddle of blood when my booster enhanced fist crashed down on it.

'Showoff.'

'Oh shut up and let me have my training session.'

'More like slaughtering session.'

Herd of Ogretails coming fast at me. My booster engaged once more and my wrist blades expanded.

'It's overkill you know.'

'Of course it is.' I sent him imaginary smirk.

With deafening blast my booster carried me through them. Both wrist blades soaked in blood. Every single last one of the herd or what was left of it dead. Their torso was sliced in half, including their core.

A loud growl caught my attention, suddenly a pain stung my back. I looked around and found the source of my problem. The Vajra earlier had attacked me.

'Rei any wound on my back? Can I beat it?'

'Scorched armor plate but no internal damage. Yes but unlike usual small fry, this one can actually hurt you so don't underestimate it.'

The Vajra circling me. It suddenly snarling and jumped back, throwing its lightning ball from mid-air. My shoulder plate burnt a little even though I managed to escape its direct blast. My mouth went wide in retaliation and spewing torrent of flame at its face. A strange satisfaction grown in me as it recoiled and shake its head.

'urghh... as I thought, that felt weird.'

'Then why did you do that in the first place?'

'Curiosity.'

'Idiot.'

Vajra face now covered in burn marks. Half of its horn like protrusion was blackened. I'm preparing another attack while it still recovering. My booster primed and my wrist blades extended at full length. I launched myself at it. My blade directed right at its head. A loud crack followed by bestial wail echoes in the plains.

The Vajra crippled. Massive vertical gash run across its head and various burn wound marks its skin. The battle was over. Unlike it, my body suffer a minimum amount of injury. Slightly burnt shoulder plate and damaged back plate but no injuries. My armor plate did a good job in protecting me, not to mention this merely a temporary body. It tried to stand up once more only to fall on its side. What a pitiful sight, it was a great hunter and now nothing more than a dying prey. With single stab my claw piercing its chest and tore out its core.

Few minutes passed since I've finished my battle. Vajra earlier had been disassembled down to its part. Just as usual, the sweet smell of blood permeates the air. I released my Aragami form. The giant Aragami which housing my real body crumbled to a pool of oracle cells and absorbed back. It was quite strange, everything around collapsed and my senses slowly returned to my real body.

Out of curiosity I examined the wound I'd inflicted on Ogretails from before. It was clean-cut, no fractures, no jagged part. A testament on how devastating my wrist blades against unarmored target, especially when performed under booster effect.

Something buzzing from above and it interrupting my examination. No way, a helicopter bearing Fenrir mark on its side heading right to this place. I dropped all my loot and hid in one of the ruin nearby. The helicopter approached me after few minutes. Its side door opened, two persons jumping out and landed on cliff below. The first one was Sakuya, Lindow's fiancée, the second person... impossible...

It was my sister. Rina was there, standing on a cliff while looking at her surroundings. It chilled me down to my bone. My hands would be covered in sweat if I could. Half of me want to run straight to her and hug her tightly. Lindow probably had told Sakuya about me, so she wouldn't shoot me on sight. My other side feared my sister's reaction. We had a strong bond, she won't reject me even if I had become like this. The real problem is what if she refused to believe that I'm still me? What if she saw me as Aragami that masquerading as her sister?

Losing my humanity was hard but I could stand it. Forced to devour Aragami for the rest of my life was harder than before but with enough time I'll get over it. But not if she denies me. It would surely break me apart. No, I must find a way to convince my sister first. I would meet her only after she believed that my mind still intact.

They finally left this place. I had decided to avoid her until I could convince her somehow. At least she was the one that found Vajra's remains. There was nothing left for me to do here so I'm heading back to my shelter.

If I think about it, Rei hadn't spoken to me since the beginning of my hunt.

'Rei? Why did you stay quiet this entire time?'

'I was about to... cheer you up, or that's what I learned from your knowledge. However, given my inexperience with human emotions I might exacerbate it instead, thus I opt to stay quiet.'

'Thank you Rei.'

'For what? I didn't do anything.'

'For trying.'

'I don't get it. Whatever.'

I smiled at him. He was annoying and whimsical at some times but deep down he cared about me.

'Hold on, I hear footsteps. Possibly a single person and it's quite far from here.'

Unsurprisingly, my ears picked the said sound but only if I'm focusing myself.

'How could you always sense something faster than I do?'

'Because you merely lived for nine days as Aragami, unlike me.' There... His smug filled voice back again.

The mysterious footsteps actually a lone God Eater wearing a tattered cloak. Judging from body proportion its a female. This was extremely unusual. God Eater almost always work in group, not to mentions her tattered cloak. They lived in glamorous lifestyle, even if they're newbie and couldn't afford a personal cloth, Fenrir would always provide them clean uniform. So there's a good chance that she had been cut off from her main unit. Survivor from a disastrous mission perhaps?

She heads south from Wailing Plains which incidentally the same direction as my shelter. Her journey was coming to halt as a Chi-You coming down from above and landed in front of her. I crept closer without her noticing me and prone between grasses. This way I could watch or spring to her aid if she lost the fight.

Her God Arc raised. It was a blade with strange miniature gun barrel attached to its underside. Ah, the famous New-Type God Arc, renowned for switchable gun or blade mode. Chi-You raised its arm and shooting few energy ball. She sidesteps it while changing her weapon. Her blade shrinking and swapped with her gun which now resemble Sakuya's. She snipes its head. It cracked a bit and trail of blood seeping from its wound. The Chi-You screech and jump before diving right at her.

Her weapon changed back and a shield deployed just in time as the Chi-You crashing down on her. She was thrown backward, but there was no noticeable injury. She charges forward and strike right at its wing. It recoiled a bit but managed to strike back at her stomach before she retreated.

"aaaaaah"

She cried in pain and thrown away for second times. A nasty cracking sound coming out from her landing. There was no doubt about it, two of her ribs fractured. She stood up once more and started to cough. That's it, I had to intervene this immediately. If I didn't either she died in fight or she died after fight. I stood up and closing in on them.

'So you decided to help her. It's already wounded but still, be careful.'

A spike went through Chi-You's palm, and second later another spike impaling its other palm. Another strange satisfaction grown in me when it screeched in pain. My blade formed and I dashed at its side. The Chi-You tried to strike me but I dodged and severing its wing instead. Without giving it a chance to recover my blade cut off its other wing and went right at its head. A clean cut followed by a thud marked its demise.

"Who... are..."

Another thud come from behind me.

"Greaaat, now I have to carry this bird part AND an unconscious girl to my shelter." I shouted in exasperation.

'Good lucks with your labor.'

'Oh shut up.'

Finally, I reached my shelter after around an hour of walking. Right now the still unconscious girl lay down in my makeshift bed. I've removed her tattered cloth and examined her. She was around my age, had a shoulder length light blond hair, and slightly pale skin. Her cloth was extremely revealing though, a black mini shorts, a teal bikini style bra, and teal small vest. Seriously, less cloth means better movement but this is on whole new level.

Her wound was quite worrying. As I suspected earlier, she got two fractured ribs, few bruises, and multiple lesions. However, something is amiss with her God Arc. It was damaged from multiple sources at different times. Some of its part began to wear, not to mention there almost no sign of maintenance for quite long time. A separated God Eater main priority is to regroup with their unit, yet from her God Arc it feels like she didn't even trying to. I had to ask her when she had regained her consciousness. Right now I got two problems that need to be solved as soon as possible.

I didn't have food or medicine.

A God Eater was an augmented human, but in the end still a human. They need food, sleep, and medicine when wounded, unlike me. So even a God Eater was still quite fragile in this ruthless world.

There was nothing more I could do for her except basic first aid. This was one of the rare instance I wished that I took combat medic course instead. I shredded a part of her cloak into makeshift bandages and started to wrap her chest.

"uuuh"

She began to regain consciousness. No way, I just started to bind her. I worked even faster than before. Slightly rough but at least her chest would be completely wrapped up when she finally woke up. She slowly open her eyes right after I finished tying the binding. I moved away as she slowly sit up.

"Take it easy, and don't make sudden move. You got two fractured ribs."

"Where am I? Who... WHAT THE HELL!"

She screamed and stood up immediately, only to grunting in pain. Why the hell did she screamed in panic?

"As I said, you broke two of your ribs. Sit down before it become worse."

"No! Stay away you monster!" She took a step away and put herself in the corner of the room.

Damn, I forgot about my yellow slitted eyes. Anyone would be frightened if they found themselves alone, wounded, and defenseless with Aragami in their face. Ever since my first hunt I had accepted the fact that I wasn't a human anymore and will never became one again, but being told a monster right on my face still hurt a lot. However, now is not the time to think about it. I must calmed her down immediately before she hurt herself even more, by force if necessary.

I raised up my hands and walked away slowly while facing her. "I mean no harm. If I really wanted to kill you I wouldn't save you from that Chi-You, remember?"

Her eyes widen and her panic slowly fading away. She sat back on the bed and began checking her wrapping.

"Oh about that, I rip a part of your cloak. Sorry but I don't have other options. Oh! Where's my manners. My name is Rena Asari, nice to meet you." I leaned against the wall.

"Marguerite... Marguerite Claverie. What exactly are you?" Her tone was extremely flat.

"You already know the answer." My voice carried a slight sadness in it.

"Aragami."

I nodded slowly.

"How? I never heard anything about humanoid Aragami, let alone the sentient one. And where did you get that uniform?"

"It's a long story but basically this was given to me. Now tell me, why did you leave Fenrir?"

She immediately tensed up. Her eyes shining with hostility. "So you are their hound?"

"Me? Working with them? Impossible," I scoffed at her.

"Then how do you know about me?" Her voice full of distrust.

"I don't. Your God Arc is a dead giveaway. Multiple damage from different source along with lack of maintenance."

"I hate them, that's all I can say. Now where's my God Arc?" Her tone soften, but still had an edge in it.

I raised my eyebrow at her. "And what are you planning to do with it?"

"I must leave."

"With that conditions? I think not."

"Give. me. my. God. Arc." Her tone became more menacing with each word.

"Listen up idiot, I saved you, carried your unconscious body to this place, and dressed up your wound. I'm not going to waste all my efforts by letting you die out there. Unless you give me a damn good reason you'll stay here until I tell you otherwise," I snapped back at her.

We glaring at each others for a while before she released a sigh.

"I'm on a mission to gather Aragami core for Nemus Diana's Anti-Aragami wall maintenance. It might breached if I'm not return soon." She finally relented.

"So you want to hunt again in that condition and bring back Aragami Cores right away. Do you have a death wish? And what the hell is this Nemus Diana?"

"Settlement that is not under Fenrir jurisdiction. I'm willing to take the risk. People in there depending on Anti-Aragami wall for survival."

This news caught me off guard. I never heard anyone other than Fenrir had enough resources to built and maintained a fully functional Anti-Aragami wall. The cost was simply enormous even for small sized one, not to mention oracles needed for upkeep.

Someone or some group managed to built and maintained a functional Anti-Aragami wall despite all odds, interesting. What should I do now... If I just let her go she would get herself killed. If I kept her here people from Nemus Diana would suffer the consequences. Neither of it sat well with my conscience. Or...

"Alright let's make a deal. Give me your cloak and I'll escort you to Nemus Diana. I'll even give you half of that as bonus." My finger pointed at my stash of assorted Aragami parts and cores.

Her cold facade falter. A blend of surprise and wary flashed for a second. She stared at me for a moment.

"Why?" Another flat tone coming out from her mouth.

"If I let you free you probably gonna do your suicide mission. If I keep you here your people will get slaughtered if Aragami managed to breach the wall. So I give you my stash and I will protect you until we reached Nemus Diana."

"What's the catch? I don't think this will benefit you at all." Her voice filled with intense distrust.

"On the contrary. By giving you my leftovers I get a cloak and a chance to explore new places. It's a win-win for both of us."

"I don't trust you. It's in Aragami instinct to devour everything. You can just pretending to help me only to attack people when you arrived." She spat at me.

I flinched at her frank display of brash mistrust. Justified, but still hurt me.

"Try to think using your brain for once. Why should I do that when other Aragami are much more common and filling to eat? You're right about instinct part but I'm not driven by it, unlike those mindless Aragami."

She stopped for a while and seems to ponder over my reasoning.

'Why don't just tell her that you want to help her?'

'A sentient humanoid Aragami is rare enough, a helpful one? Borderline impossible. I tone down my intentions to make it believable at least.'

I picked up her God Arc blade behind me and offered its handle to her.

"Sooo, do we have a deal?"

She sighs once more before grabbed the God Arc handle. "Fine. I'll be watching you."

Both of us packed up immediately. There was not much to take aside from Aragami materials and cloth from my bedding. By the time we were ready to leave it was evening and the sun about to set.

Another hour of walking and we reached Wailing Plains. It was nighttime thus her sight significantly reduced. If not for the moonlight she wouldn't be able to see her own legs. I asked her to make a camp there but she stubbornly refused and kept pushing forward instead. Soon we arrived at forest border east of the Wailing Plains.

"Okay, no more walking. Let's make a camp."

"No. We almost reach Nemus Diana. It's in the middle of this forest." She kept refusing me.

"I've relented when you refused me to set up a camp in Wailing Plains but not this time. Entering a forest in the midnight is just plain nuts, furthermore I need to check your bindings."

"No. I must ret- HEY LET ME GO!" She screamed immediately when I pounced and tied her down with my cloth.

She desperately wiggles closer to God Arc that fell not far from her. Nope, she wouldn't have it. I picked her God Arc and glared right at her. A frustration formed and it eaten my patience. Can't she understand that everything I did was for her sake? She wouldn't last long if she entered a forest at night, let alone when wounded. God Eater had no night vision and their hearing was slightly better than a normal human. She would become easy target for ambush.

"Nuh-uh, I had enough about your idiocy. It's obvious that you don't realize how bad your situations are. If not for my sight, which is unhindered by darkness, you probably became Ogretails chew toy by now."

"Then help me like you previously do." She maintained her glare at me.

"That is a forest blockhead. No matter how good my hearing and sight there's always a room for ambush. If such thing really happen what will you do? Now shut up and let me check your wound."

She returned my glare for a minute before finally given up and stopped struggling. I released her and undoing her chest wrap. Her bruise had healed up quite a bit and no longer swelled. Her ribs had gotten better than before. Still fractured and slightly bruised but no noticeable swell. It seems God Eater had faster healing than a normal human. Still, moved around so much with two broken ribs... This girl had quite high pain tolerance. I dressed back her wound and stand up.

"Your wound has healed up, except your broken ribs. Now I'm going to hunt you some food in this forest. You haven't eaten anything since I saved you. Promise me that you will stay here until I return." I stared right at her eyes.

She slowly nodded at me. While she didn't say anything, her eyes held no lies. I smiled at her and walked away.

And again, my prediction was true, it was dark in here. Dense foliage had completely blocked everything, not even a shimmer of moonlight could pass through. All my senses constantly flooded by new sensation. A pine like smell mixed with a tinge of flowers scent, sounds of bird chirping and flapping their wings in the air, a distinct vibration right beneath me as rabbit or mole passed through a tunnel, and even distant growl of Aragami.

A movement followed by sound of stepped dried leaves coming out from a bush ahead of me. I made few sleek spikes and let it float above me. These spikes were much thinner and less bulky, almost as thin as arrow. This way I could kill without destroying my prey in front of me, which either a fox or rabbit.

First spike flew forward but only rustling leaves was heard. Another one flew ahead, this time a small snapping sound followed my spike. My prey had stepped and broke a twig. The third spike went right at the source of noise. I was rewarded with a yelp and scent of blood.

It was a fox. By the time I found it the fox was on its dying breath, my spike had entered its chest and completely went through it. I snapped its neck and walked away with its carcass, back to my new friend at the edge of this forest.

A relief mixed with happiness grown in me. She fulfilled her promise. Not only that, she even built a tent using my scrap cloth. Right now she aims her God Arc in gun mode at a bundle of wood. Her gun spitted a blaze bullet and igniting it, effectively turned the bundle into a campfire.

"Hey Marcy~ look what I got for you." I swung the fox side to side in front of me.

'Stop that fake cheerfulness, its creepy.'

'Shut up you jerk.'

'Not a chance.'

"Marcy?" She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Yeah Marcy. Marguerite is way too mouthful so you are Marcy now. Oh yeah, this is your dinner." I dropped the fox next to campfire.

"I didn't give you permission to nicknaming me." She sat down and skinned the fox.

"I don't care. You are Marcy now, unless you give me your nickname of course." I sat down in front of her.

"Whatever."

I created a sleek spike in my palm and hand it over. "Here, use this as a skewer."

She was surprised, but didn't say anything. She took my spike and began to grill the fox over campfire.

"Convenient isn't it. I can even make a toothpick if you want."

She didn't respond to my joke, not even a word, what an ice block. I watched the fire dancing below half grilled fox.

"... Thank you."

It was almost inaudible, barely a whisper. I wouldn't be able to hear it if not for my enhanced senses.

"Hey Marcy." I grinned widely when she looked into my eyes. "I heard that, no problem."

She looked down immediately and began to eat. An incomprehensible mutter coming out from her mouth between each chew and her heartbeat increased. Did she somehow embarrassed? Nope, not even a tint of flush on her cheek. Either she really didn't or she was the best poker face user I ever met.

I turned my back and took out an Ogretail Core. After more than a week I had finally accepted that this is how I lived, by consuming other Aragami. Even so, I'm not going to indulge myself by eating Aragami for pleasure, it so bestial.

Just as usual, the core had delicious taste in it, like a pure honey, sweet yet fresh. An intrusive thought crossed me while I was savoring the taste. Gradually, I become more like Aragami in behaviors. A week ago I still repulsed with eating any Aragami part, in next few days it was no longer repulsing, now it became enjoyable instead. What would happen if my sister saw me like this? Probably disgusted. Mad? A possibility. Not because she cared about me, it was because she considered me as Aragami that took her sister's life. No, I must prevent that. It would become almost impossible to fix our relationship if she considered me as nothing more than a fake.

"I'm going to sleep."

Marcy voice stopped my brooding. That made me half annoyed half grateful. Nothing good came out from moping after all. I stood up and walked away.

"I'm going to patrol around this area. We'll move out in the morning, good night."

Her only response was a nod. She put out campfire before lay down in her tent. Patrolling was merely an excuse, nothing could sneak up without me hearing it first. I bolted away with a blade in my hand, searching any prey that could be used as a target for my frustration.