February 6, 2023, Early Night, Three hours before the Lantern Festival begins
"I never wanted a life with this curse. Never once crossed my mind to hope to be chosen as a vassal of the great spirit king."
Red fire in the middle of the forest, burning under the half-moon. Although the three of them were fighting in an open field. Sparks still devoured the green grass beneath their feet. Not seeing the beauty of the wildflowers or shrubs that grew with difficulty after competing for years for rainwater and sunlight under the dense bamboo trees.
Replacing the role of the moon and stars in the sky as their light.
"I never wanted a life as a prince. In a family that only respects power and dedicates its entire life to pursuing power. To proving that me, is the strongest and can defeat anyone no matter how. I don't want it at all. Seeing those who live ordinary lives able to laugh freely is what I want."
Using only low-level magic, the dog zodiac, Zhang Fei with fiery claws in his hands and movements as agile as a wild dog, easily pushed Reza and Amon under the green bamboo leaves that fell like rain.
Occasionally, burnt black leaves fell. Occasionally, withered leaves fell. Occasionally, young green leaves fell. Along with red fire and white wind clashing in the open field.
"It's almost five minutes. Huff... Huff... We'd better work together to unleash our best techniques to injure that man before he leaves, and only giving us bronze coins, Amon!"
Reza said, panting. Sweat poured down his face. He used the spirit of a wind pigeon as his weapon, but it was ineffective. Zhang Fei was not injured by the wind drill attack or the sharp wind attack because they were easily avoided and broken by his fiery claws.
Amon had burn wounds from claws on almost every part of his body, including his face. He grinned widely while making both his hands burn even hotter. He stomped on the ground hard. He began to cast a spell with Reza, who was summoning the wind spirit.
"I have almost lost all my senses as 'he' the great spirit king continues to possess my body every time I am in danger. When I woke up, blood was the first thing I saw and felt on my hands. He killed anyone near me. Including my own family."
"He prāṇa-dātā deva,
sarva-jīva-niśvāsa-vara-pradātā.
Prātaḥ-sandhyāni vāyūṁś ca tvam eva vahasi;
tvaṁ eva sāgara-vanaṁ ca vyāpta-ākāśa-vartmani nirghātayan.
Alpam te balaṁ aham ādadāmi;
mām upa āgaccha,
śatam iva tīkṣṇa-vātaṁ ripau utsṛja.
"(Oh god who gives breath to every breathing creature. Who blows the winds of dawn and dusk. Who smashes the ocean and forest with vortex from his deadly sky. I borrow a little of your strength, come to me, and blow a sharp wind at my enemy.)"
A large wind garuda spirit formed from condensed air hovered above Reza's head. It was a one-headed, six-winged eagle, with each wing length the same as a human's arm span.
"Heh, summoning a mid-level spirit. Not bad, it's been a long time since I tore mid-level spirit body apart!"
Reza extended his hand, commanding the bird above his head to attack Zhang Fei, who was running nimbly closer.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Air as sharp as a sword cut tried to hit Zhang Fei, who was running nimbly. Unfortunately, Zhang Fei easily tore apart the incoming wind attacks with the fiery claws in his hands, like deflecting a spray of water.
"This time, I will never let that happen again, ever!"
Amon stood behind Reza, casting his strongest low-level fire magic. He burned both his hands with fire as hot as he could.
"I am an illegitimate prince abandoned by my father, a desert-ruler King. Nevertheless, I have managed to climb with my own strength until now. I will not let all my efforts and those I have defeated be in vain!"
Zhang Fei was already in front of Reza's face. He was ready to swing his fiery claw hand at Reza mercilessly.
"Is that all you've got?"
"Heh, of course not!"
"أنا بتوجه للنار الأبدية بتاعة السما، ولّع إيدي، واحرق عدوي لرماد.
(I face the eternal fire of heaven, burn my hand, and burn my enemy to ashes.)"
After chanting his strongest fire spell, Amon smiled broadly, appearing from behind Reza's back just as Zhang Fei was about to land his fiery claw.
As the two fiery hands were about to clash, Reza, in the middle, commanded the wind garuda spirit above his head to help enlarge the fire in Amon's hand.
"Give me your wind! Reza!" Amon shouted, feeling the current of wind making the fire in his punch grow larger and blaze like a meteor.
"Burn him!" Reza leaped backward as the claw fire and the straight punch fire clashed.
BOOM!
A red explosion between the three of them threw each of their bodies onto bamboo branches. Zhang Fei was wounded in the chest, though only a small burn, but almost all of the front of his clothes disappeared, consumed by fire. He grinned widely, seeing Reza and Amon fall back against the bamboo.
"Hah! Hahahaha! Interesting! You two are very interesting! That attack was the best attack you've unleashed! I'll give you gold coins as a reward for your hard work."
Tap!
Zhang Fei threw his gold coin into the middle of the field. Reza and Amon tried to calm their racing breaths. Some of their clothes were torn from the explosion they had just created.
"Hah... Take that coin, Reza... My hands and feet are a bit numb after unleashing that explosion attack..."
Reza walked with trembling legs. His summoned wind garuda spirit faded and then disappeared with the night wind. He had used half of the spirit's wind power to create that explosion attack. And the result?
Reza pulled out his phone from his pants pocket. The health bar of the dog shengxiao, Zhang Fei, had decreased by 20%.
That was a quite satisfying result for a beginner like him.
Zhang Fei sat at the edge of the field, without trying to escape.
"You can challenge me again after you catch your breath, kids. You'd better not disappoint me. I'm tired of being disappointed."
Reza nodded while Amon grinned.
"Next, we'll beat you black and blue."
***
In a small town. Below the academy and Hunter Qincheng headquarters.
"Muhahahahah! I found it! My prey!" Baldur, with his axe, laughed loudly in front of the pig shengxiao, Yuze Tao.
"Congratulations on finding me. Young people are indeed full of spirit." Yuze Tao began to draw his sword. A dark blue-bladed sword, not too large and slender. But there were slash marks on its blue blade. It radiated a lapis lazuli color when hit by the light under the street lamp.
"You there." Pointing his sword behind the lamp post. From the shadow of the lamp post emerged Jason, dressed all in black. "Are you just going to stand there and let that big man hunt me?" Yuze Tao smiled faintly. He realized someone was stalking him from the shadows.
"..."
Jason did not answer and remained silent beside the lamp post. He pulled out a stiletto from under his black clothes.
"Hey! You! Interrupting a hunter hunting his prey is impolite, you know." Baldur raised his axe to his shoulder, looking displeased at whoever was behind the street lamp post.
Unlike Yuze Tao, who knew of Jason's presence from his breathing, Baldur did not realize or even suspect someone was standing behind the lamp post if Yuze Tao hadn't pointed at that place.
"Hunting? I'm here to kill. I don't care about this hunting game."
Yuze Tao grinned at Jason's words. Baldur smirked widely.
"If you can kill me, do it. In world of Hunters, even hunters hunt each other. That's quite normal. But..."
In one step, Yuze Tao was already behind Jason and made a light slash.
Slash!
Jason felt something move quickly behind him, and instinctively ducked. The slash almost touched his bald head if he hadn't ducked while crouching. Yuze's light slash neatly cut the lamppost.
Right after the pole was cut, Jason immediately spun the stiletto in his hand and stabbed behind his back without turning or looking.
Clang!
Yuze Tao easily guessed the direction of Jason's stab, which was aimed at his heart, and easily blocked the stiletto's thrust.
Yuze raised his left hand, but Jason immediately jumped back away.
"Good reflexes. You have the talent to be a shadow assassin." Yuze Tao scratched his itchy waist with his raised left hand.
Baldur seemed disbelieving at the speed of his opponent's movement.
"Heh! My prey is so great! If I manage to hunt him, it means I'll be the greatest hunter in this place!"
Without further thought, Baldur ran forward while raising his heavy great axe. He jumped high then swung the axe from above his head at the center of Yuze's head, who was still standing calmly with a slight smile.
Clang!
Yuze, with the back of his sword, gently deflected the axe attack from above his head to the side. So Baldur's axe swing fell to the ground and formed a deep, large scratch.
Thwack!
But what Yuze didn't expect was the sharp ice wall that emerged from the ground as Baldur's great axe plunged into the ground.
Yuze was almost hit by several sharp ice stabs in his legs as Baldur's axe touched the ground. Fortunately, he was quick enough to immediately jump aside before ice from the ground pierced the soles of his feet. Only the shoes he was wearing had a few holes.
"Magic weapon. I didn't expect it. Among the contestants, someone would bring an elemental magic weapon." Yuze Tao smiled with an open mouth. He calmly assumed a sword stance in front of his face.
"Hahaha! My axe will freeze you! God Ullr have come to me!"
"An enthusiastic child. You don't even realize the wound on your chest."
Drip. Drip.
Baldur then touched his chest. He touched something warm and wet, which was none other than his own blood. There was a long cut from his right shoulder down to his lower left waist.
Baldur then laughed loudly while raising his axe.
"Hahahahaha! When you deflected my axe to the side, in the same time that's when you slashed my body?! Amazing! I'm even more excited to hunt you!"
Yuze Tao smiled faintly. "You remind me of my former student. It's a pity he's no longer with us. And you..."
Jason appeared from behind Yuze Tao's exposed back. But, just before the stiletto pierced his neck, Yuze Tao first ducked down and swept Jason's leg then kicked his stomach hard, sending Jason stumbling back several steps.
Thud!
"Also like my student who always use sneaky ways to defeat me. It's fate to see both of you wanting to hunt me here."
Yuze Tao stood calmly again with a sword stance in front of his face. A stance that seemed to have so many openings and was easy to attack. But, Jason and Baldur couldn't even touch a single strand of his hair.
"I may not be as talented as the dragon shengxiao in using magic weapons. But..." Yuze gripped his sword tightly. A stream of water began to emerge from the blade as he performed a short sword dance while looking at Jason and Baldur who were preparing to attack. "In swordsmanship, I am the master of all masters on this continent."
In the darkness of the night, what was visible in that darkness, was merely a neat and beautiful sword line flowing with blue water, slashing Jason and Baldur who were running fast and attacking Yuze from two directions simultaneously.
Yuze stood behind them and sheathed his sword.
"This is fun. Good night, kids."
He didn't forget to toss bronze coins at Jason and Baldur, who now lay face down on the ground, drenched in their own blood.
"They are not members of the inverted cross organization. Time to find other kids."
***