— an abandoned building in portland, oregon, september 2022

"Are we seriously going to do this?" Hayden whispered behind Isaac's back as they watched the other people filling up the shoddy old chairs within the crusty lecture room.

The brown-haired boy just shrugged his delicate shoulders. "At least she cleaned up the room."

With a sound of disapproval, the other still followed behind his underclassman to sit down. He could swear there were some familiar faces, but Hayden Chase wasn't exactly known to attend regular classes and thus wouldn't clearly remember any of the faces of his peers.

Between the occasional people with their face hidden from the rest, there were your expected goths and school clowns, trying to one-up each other in poking fun at every word the lecturer said. But it soon became obvious that even making fun of her wasn't going to win them anything, as she didn't react at all – instead, she was earnestly trying to instill the fear of god into them, saying there were dark beings around, trying to corrupt unsuspecting youths just like them.

'She's likely not entirely wrong,' Isaac thought, 'depending on how it is judged.'

She was very directly talking about vampires. It felt as if she knew quite a lot about them, which would make the assumption possible that she had met one in the past and lived to talk about it.

But if so, why weren't the vampires stopping her from opening her mouth like this? They had hidden so well up to this day, so why would they not be heavily invested in keeping people from spilling all their secrets. It didn't seem realistic to him, as he thought about it.

And yet, the way she was going into realistic detail, talking about Domains and Daywalkers, it felt as if she knew what she was talking about and had been subjected to these topics close up and personal.

The same things were going through the mind of one of those masked individuals in the room.

'So this is her?' He barely found a lead on the enemies he had been sent to investigate in the name of the vampires' elder.

Or was it young elder? He couldn't wrap his mind around the person he had met at their hideout.

Simply remembering her face, he almost blushed at the thought. Out of the enemy's den, he had to admit to her innocent beauty. Then again, she wasn't the type of person one could calmly call "innocent", not even with an angelic face like hers on top.

'But she does remind me of a cat, even without her helmet on,' In-Sung had to admit to himself.

By now, he had his elbow rest on the cracked table next to his chair, propping his head up with his hand pressed against his jawline.

This truly wasn't how he had imagined his stay in the United States this time around. "An open window won't let them in," he heard the woman at the podium say, as he saw her stand right next to an old skeleton with a few spinal cords missing and it looked hilarious, "but a Vampire's duress also works through windows. So make sure you hide – sleep in the sink if you have to."

Well, she wasn't wrong about that part indeed.

"Is that all we have to do?" a young girl chimed in and he turned just slightly to see her eagerly awaiting an answer, pushing up a big pair of glasses sitting on her nose. She couldn't have been older than fifteen years of age.

'Do her parents know that she's in this part of town?'

The same question was true for Isaac, as he realized he did know one of the participants from school. 'What was her name again? Rue?'

Right, the girl with the phone in the hallway. Was it truly coincidence to meet her here? Her clothing did make her fit the bill, so he concluded he didn't actually care.

"Just don't. Let. Them. In." The second she spoke those words, one at a time, with the intensity of a parent telling their child not to follow a stranger with a van, the room fell silent.

Nobody knew what to say about any of the things she spouted. Even the youths who had come to mock her and the people listening in earnest were somewhat speechless.

Around a handful of people in the room were feeling something everyone else wasn't at that very moment. It wasn't something obvious, but there was something in the air they couldn't quite place.

The Hunter among them stood up at the speed of light, as the woman in the tweet jacket jerked to the side, but they both weren't fast enough to avoid the shards flying at them from the side.

Glass was strewn across the room, as the group was trying to shake of the feeling of disorientation and the ringing in their ears, caused by a screeching noise cut that into their eardrums. Some yelled in panic, trying to hear anyone, even if it was their own voice.

Most people had already cleared the room, finding the door and running without stopping, while others were taking cover under old tables and other furniture which had fallen over and created some sort of shelter.

'A Break?' he frantically thought, 'No, I would have felt the energy from the Gate, so that's-'

His thoughts were rudely cut off by something lunging for him, claws barely crazing his cheeks. Choi In-Sung, who had tried to cover for the normal people in the audience, had already taken the brunt of the first attack, together with the woman who had stood upfront.

He turned his head, looking annoyed. "You know, you could introduce yourself first, if you're going to engage in-"

Again, he was cut off without any politeness, as someone was flung in his direction, forcing him to catch the person mid-flight. Surprisingly, this was a man he recognized.

Black hair, pulled together in a loose low ponytail was right under his nose and a pair of deep red eyes met his as Kristoff turned to look at the Hunter. Only then did he realize that they were basically in the twilight-zone. With the sun still there at the horizon, ready to set at any moment, the vampires would be lurking to come out of their shadows.

Yet the huge Werewolf, growling angrily at them while picking a big piece of glass out of his chest, was just as strengthened by the last rays of the autumn sun. His golden eyes gleamed and seemed to sparkle at them. He would have been inclined to marvel at it, if it hadn't been for the danger this situation exuded.

Invigorated by the two hundred percent power up he would get when charging ahead, he pushed back Kristoff and held off one of the paws directed at him. Surprised, but not for long, the Werewolf withdrew a bit, shaking off the pesky Korean Hunter in front of him.

He had followed the man from the Club to this building without ever knowing who he was. Not that he could have known, as his face had been covered by a hood first, and a mask later. Shockingly, he was a celebrity!

A deranged sounding laugh made its way through the deformed vocal cords of the wolf creature, as he shook himself and steeled his muscles, feeling the ticklish sensation of his skin trying to fully heal the deep cut across his torso he had earlier received.

Before any of that could happen, the Hunter leaped forward and landed a kick in the same place where the glass shard had stuck before. A moment before all of that ruckus had transpired, a girl with frizzy blond hair and a pair of glasses on her nose was rallying people out of the room and the building.

Only two of them were not among them, so she turned and realized a door next to the one she had left behind second ago. The janitor's storage?

And indeed, it was Isaac, tucked under the arm of his companion, as they sat hid in the small room, waiting for the fight to end.

"Monsters? Seriously?"

Isaac was still flabbergasted at what had just transpired, though he was unable to see or hear anything of substance from the confinement of this room. He hadn't wanted to go in the first place, but as Hayden had determined that he wouldn't be able to beat this being, which was in fact a Werewolf and not a Dungeon monster, the dark skinned kid had grabbed him and ran.

'At least, he might have the smallest of qualities in him to become a Hunter after all.' He could have run on his own, after all.

Hayden on his end was curious what was going on in the biology room – at the same time, he would only get in the way if he was out there without any proper training, he knew that much. Once it was all over, they would surely know.

On Isaacs side, he had long since taken on a concentrated stance, fully taking in the Mana that was in the air around them, connecting to his Authority lying in wait. He knew this wasn't such a good idea, especially considering how it had ended last time, but he had to see what was going on, as this wasn't a fight they would usually engage in with civilians around.

Just what had happened since the last time he had shown himself in front of them? First this lecturer telling tales about vampires and ten minutes later, they were duking it out in broad daylight. The pain was a lot worse this time, creating a sensation as if hungry bugs were eating through the fiber under his skin, almost forcing his fingers to twitch at the stinging stimulation of his nerves.

He could tell a door opened next to him, but he didn't know what had happened; only that it was neither of the brawlers next door, as he had them perfectly in his vision, watching their fight from a front row seat.

Of course, outside of Gates, Hunters weren't nearly as powerful as they were inside, which was another downside when it came to Breaks, despite even the monsters being somewhat weaker in their world – only in this case, the enemy of said Hunter wasn't a monster from a Gate, but something entirely different; something that didn't adhere to the rules of the Gates.

He realized that truth, when his enemy grunted slightly as he caught his foot, pausing for a mere fraction of a second before turning and throwing In-Sung through the hole in the wall, where a window had been just a few minutes prior.

As he flew out, he thanked his god for his Iron Skin Skill, crashing into the ground like an amateur. He was too easy to get, even in his own eyes. Jumping up, using the Unique Passive Skill "Ruler of the Battlefield", he stepped on air to easily slip back into the building. He hadn't accounted for this, as he faced off against the beast, but the vampire was right behind it in order to throw two blades, cutting through the air, yet missing the target by a hair's breadth.

Choi In-Sung wasn't going to let them continue, as there were still a bunch of innocent people in the vacinity. His Vanguard Strike had ceased the moment he was thrown out and the Daywalker took the initiative, he maneuvered between the two.

A pale hand with sharp nails slit threw the light brown fur of the Werewolf, yet was caught right after; bones were cracking loudly, meat was mangled and a bit of dark blood trickled onto the dusty tiles. With In-Sung coming between them, separating them with a thrust slightly below the Werewolf's chin, snapping its head back and causing it to tumble back in confusion; the vampire's arm was ripped off with a wretched sound with the abrupt fall to the back.

"Aish. That was accidental," he blurted out, looking at the exhausted expression of the undead man in front of him, holding onto his elbow, with bits of flesh dangling down.

"What do you think this is?" Kristoff asked, drained off all his energy at the sight of what he determined to be a simpleton with too much strength for his own good.

"That's what I would like to know," a familiar voice interrupted, holding a hand out against the Werewolf lying on the floor, ready to get up and claw at them again, "what are you doing here?"

And Isaac had a feeling he already knew who this lecturer truly was.