The moment her blade—no, her leg-cannon—spilled blood across the concrete, the Outerverse guild-net pulsed. A ripple through coded aether, spreading from one world to the next, faster than light, faster than thought.
"Bounty update. Target: Rose-Metal Girl. Reward: One million credits, one Forbidden Token, automatic Rank Ascension."
Every tavern, every dungeon-hall, every shadow market lit up with her name. Her image shimmered in holos and spell-screens: half-flesh, half-metal, eyes dead, mouth twisted in a smirk that promised cruelty.
Hunters froze mid-drink. Dealers dropped their cards. Even the immortals—those who didn't flinch at death—turned their heads.
"She's only level two…" one cyber-warlock muttered in a backroom of the Shatterguild.
"Don't matter," another snapped. "The Forbidden Token? That's god-tier access. You could break your bloodline limits with that."
Across dimensions, crews stirred. The Vampiric Clans of Nihlos licked their fangs at the thought of a million credits. The Wolf-Shifters of Hollowreach bared teeth and drew lots for who would take the hunt. Even the Necro-Courts, usually too arrogant to dirty their hands, whispered her name like a curse.
But it was in the Wastes of Veyrun that two hunters truly listened.
Nutasi leaned against the half-broken ruins of a clocktower, rolling a cigarette between her lips. She was tall, bronze-skinned, scars like constellations trailing her arms. A crimson chain coiled around her waist, alive, writhing like a serpent. Her power wasn't subtle—she devoured souls and wore their voices.
"Rose-Metal, huh?" she said, exhaling smoke that turned into black butterflies. "A bitch with a cannon leg and dead eyes. Sounds like my kind of fun."
Beside her, Shinzoo knelt, sharpening a blade that wasn't quite steel and wasn't quite bone. His eyes—three of them—glowed faint in the dying light. Calm, deliberate, a predator that didn't need to speak much. His power lay in silence; his strikes erased sound, erased screams, erased even the memory of pain.
"You'll take her head," he said evenly. "I'll take her heart."
Nutasi laughed, sharp and wild. "Careful, lover. They say she kills for fun. No respect, no restraint. A mirror, maybe."
Shinzoo slid his blade into its sheath. The ruin wind howled, carrying whispers of the bounty announcement. All across the galaxy, more and more hunters were stepping into the hunt.
But Nutasi and Shinzoo weren't like the rest. They weren't desperate scavengers clawing at a prize. They were predators who wanted the thrill, the kill, the challenge.
Nutasi snapped her fingers, and a rift split the air. Beyond it: a dungeon-gate pulsing, marked with her scent, her kill-scent, still fresh from the blood she'd spilled in her last mission.
"She thinks she's the only one who can level up without limit," Nutasi grinned, stepping toward the rift. "Let's remind her—every monster has predators."
Shinzoo followed, silent as a blade's shadow.
The rift folded shut behind them.
And somewhere, deep in another world, Rose-Metal's deadless eyes twitched, sensing hunters on her trail.