19.) A Disgusting Rat

Dawn was in the middle of enjoying the heat of the shower located inside the girl's locker room while humming to herself when her shower curtain was pulled back by a grinning Lily, who only had a towel covering herself.

"A-ha! I thought I sensed a familiar presence!" announced the archer, ignoring a very flustered Dawn who screamed.

"Don't invade one's privacy!!!"

After the two girls finished their showers, they made their way to the cafeteria. The cafeteria was massive enough to accommodate everyone stationed at the base. It seemed today's menu featured fried chicken with a few vegetable side dishes.

Once the girls loaded their trays, Dawn quickly spotted Kris and Rin, and the two joined them. While in the middle of enjoying their meal, Rin stared fondly at Dawn, requesting to feed her. Only to be disappointed when she turned down his offer.

Daniel and Kris were glaring while randomly throwing insults at each other. Yet oddly enough, Dawn sensed some sort of companionship despite what their mouths said.

"Your reaction time is improving. Your kicks and punches are now starting to carry more of an impact. Your last hit in our training session almost broke my jaw!"

Lily laughed and joked. Her words brought a smile to Dawn's face, who felt happy to hear she was improving.

While enjoying her lunch, Dawn took in the atmosphere. Despite the despair that fell into these people's lives, the people in the cafeteria chatted amongst each other. Smiles and joy were etched on their faces, which Dawn rarely saw back at the warehouse safe zone.

Dawn's spirits lifted as she relished the air that filled the room. She was grateful for this slight detour that led her astray from her original plans, which consisted of her storming into a specific location and challenging the head boss in charge.

'These last three days were a great eye-opener for me. If things had gone my way, trouble would've befallen me in the future.'

Dawn counted her lucky stars for being spotted by Lily and the older woman's naive heart that took pity and brought them to this place. 'Now that I think about it, after becoming close with Lily, I feel a little guilty about lying to her. Once we wrap up things, I'll tell her the truth.'

Dawn was in the middle of savoring the delicious fried chicken cooked by the kitchen when the doors to the cafeteria burst open.

"Well, aren't you just having a good time? Eating well! Smiling! While hiding the fact you're all nothing but a bunch of hypocrites!" announced a man with slicked-back dark hair as he strolled through the door.

A sneer was plastered on his face, he was around average height, and his eyes were shielded by a pair of gold-framed sunglasses.

'A low-rank tacky gangster has entered the building.'

Dawn cringed at the loud cheetah print shirt the man sported, taking note of how his sudden appearance brought a dreary atmosphere to the room. The people's smiles were replaced with frowns that were pointed at the tacky gangster.

Following behind him were two unappealing men. One was bulky with scars covering his face. The other was tall and lanky, reminding Dawn of a snake.

Despite this being her first time seeing the three in person, Dawn was very familiar with the trio. Her knowledge of them came from the story of {World Savior}. The man in the middle went by the nickname Greedy Jerry, and before the apocalypse started, he was nothing but a low-rank thug who worked for a gang of loan sharks.

A month into the apocalypse, after escaping death twice and being kicked out from a safe base for allegedly killing another person, luck fell into Jerry's lap when he stumbled upon a {Demon Slave Collar}.

An item that worked against demons, enslaving them to their captors. Yet, a fact concerning this item was that it only worked on lower-ranked demons whose levels were between 1 and 15.

The creators of such a loathsome weapon were the angels that resided in the heavenly realm. It was a tool once used in the war waged between angels and demons. The angels would use this to shackle demons to them like slaves and order them to fight against their own kind before killing them once their use was up.

"So a rat has decided to crawl itself back here, huh?" Strolling to the front was Trevor, and Dawn was shocked when she saw his overbearing form shimmer with a rage that could rival an erupting volcano. The look in his eyes, aimed at Jerry, screamed for vengeance. Jerry for a moment paled and lost his confidence.

"The man who barged in here is named Jerry. An escapee that was brought here and later joined the Hunting Team. The hunting team he was assigned to was Trevor's. I don't know the exact details but during a mission..."

Lily began to explain, but the rest Dawn was already familiar with. In the original story, though the plot stated no names nor went into specific details, Jerry sexually assaulted a fellow female hunter, who he later raped and killed.

"The girl he killed was Trevor's girlfriend."

This piece of information was a bomb dropped on Dawn. Now she understood the reason behind Trevor's rage.

"Now that I think about it" --Lily scrutinized Dawn-- "You kinda reminded me of her. Tricia was short and spunky, a girl who carried herself with arrogance. She wasn't the type to use her head in battle but instead preferred rushing in and allowing her emotions to get the best of her. Your likeness to his dead girlfriend would explain Trevor's aggressiveness against you," revealed Lily.

"Oh, are you still mad about what happened concerning you little girlfriend?"

Jerry's fear subsided, cocking his eyebrows as he amusingly watched Trevor's eyes boil and cook him alive.

"Let the past stay in the past. Besides, I'm not here for you. I opened a new club recently, and I already got a rat that has racked up quite a bill. I'm just here to collect that debt, and once it's in my hand, I'll be on my way."

The man shrugged his shoulders, trying to come off as non-threatening but instead gave Dawn the impression of a rat that was up to no good.

While Dawn scanned the room, she felt Neko-chan, who rested on top of her head, stir awake. Linking their consciousnesses together, Dawn gained the kitten's sharp eyesight and spotted a person towards the far right side of the room trying to sneak out the back door. But she wasn't the only one who spotted the man.

"Oh, I see someone's trying to skip out on their bill. But we can't have that, can we? Diva~!" Jerry sang the name of a person that made Dawn's eyes round with shock as she swung her gaze back to Jerry and saw an illustrious blue spell circle appear before him.