SEASON 2 — EPISODE 4: HUNTER VS. HUNTER
Cold Open — Clash at the Citadel Gates
Snow danced like white fire in the night sky, twisting in furious spirals around the towering black walls of the Frostwraith Citadel. No beast roared. No magic cannon thundered. Only the shrieking wind filled the void between two men.
Ten paces apart, Xavier and the Cloaked Hunter stood, their boots buried in the snow, their gazes locked with unblinking precision.
The Cloaked Hunter's silhouette was a living shadow — still, save for the faint rippling of his tattered cloak.
"When you fight a beast," his voice was calm, almost conversational, "it reacts. Predictable. Instinctive. But when you fight me…" His head tilted. "…I've already planned ten moves ahead."
A flicker of HUD data flashed in Xavier's vision:
XAVIER — Level 40 (Titan Slayer Lv.2) — LIMIT BREAK READY
CLOAKED HUNTER — Threat Level: ??? — Estimated Level 55+
The two moved at the same instant, their boots shattering the snow beneath them. Steel met steel with a sound like tearing lightning, and the world went white.
Act 1 — First Exchange
The courtyard's outer wall blurred around them as their blades danced. The Cloaked Hunter fought like no opponent Xavier had faced — each strike a feint, each feint a trap. His movements weren't about overpowering; they were about pulling Xavier into positions where every counter led to another dead end.
Xavier drove forward with Volt Breaker Overdrive, electricity crackling down his limbs, the air vibrating with speed.
The Cloaked Hunter stepped aside. Not a dodge — a calculated reposition — and swept Xavier's legs out from under him. In the same motion, he pinned his blade to Xavier's throat.
"You rely on beast patterns," the Cloaked Hunter murmured. "Hunters are chaos."
The killing thrust never came. Instead, the blade lifted, and the Cloaked Hunter stepped back, as if testing something. As if the fight was only half the game.
Act 2 — Reading the Hunter
Snow gusted between them. Xavier's eyes narrowed.
Beast Sense… nothing. No heartbeat. No breathing. No telltale shift of weight. The Cloaked Hunter's presence in the battlefield was an absence, like fighting a phantom.
"Kai," Xavier murmured over comms.
"Yeah?"
"I can't read him."
"You're trying to read him like a monster," Kai shot back. "Stop thinking like prey. Start thinking like him."
Xavier shifted his stance, lowering his guard. Instead of lunging, he feigned a stumble, letting his blade dip in the snow.
The Cloaked Hunter took the bait, closing in for a decisive strike.
In that fraction of a second, Xavier's arm snapped upward, steel catching steel in a vicious parry. Sparks exploded between them, and Xavier's blade tore through the edge of the Cloaked Hunter's cloak.
For the briefest instant, something glinted underneath — a silver vambrace, etched with familiar runes.
Xavier froze. "…That's my mentor's."
Act 3 — The Mind Game
The tempo of the battle shifted. Their attacks slowed, no longer frenzied, but deliberate — each man probing for the other's intentions as much as their openings.
The fight became vertical. They slid across iced-over stone, leapt to frozen ramparts, used the Citadel's jagged walls for cover and redirection. Blades rang against stone as often as they met each other.
The Cloaked Hunter's voice came in the lull between strikes. "Your mentor knew the First Hunt's truth. That's why I spared you… back then. But now—" His blade locked against Xavier's in a press of strength. "—I need to know if you're ready to hear it."
Xavier's eyes narrowed. "I'll hear it after I put you down."
"You still think this is about winning."
Act 4 — Limit Break Clash
The world blurred.
Xavier's Apex Hunter Mode detonated into golden arcs of speed. The Cloaked Hunter answered with Bloodflare Surge, his movements igniting with crimson afterimages.
Every impact between them cracked the courtyard stone and sent cyclones of snow spiraling outward. Blades clashed so fast the air itself seemed to ripple.
The Cloaked Hunter slipped inside Xavier's guard, his blade tracing a burning line across Xavier's chestplate.
"Too slow," he hissed.
Xavier gritted his teeth, channeling everything into a single counterstrike. Apex Fang Sever roared to life — not striking flesh, but tearing cleanly through the mask that had hidden the Cloaked Hunter's face.
Act 5 — The Unmasking
The mask split in two, falling to the snow. Half a face emerged from the shadows — scarred and weathered, framed by a single silver eye that burned with cold clarity.
Xavier's heart stopped. "…No. That's impossible."
The Cloaked Hunter met his gaze without flinching. "The man you call mentor… is gone." The faintest flicker of emotion crossed his features. "I am what's left."
Before Xavier could move, a frost-smoke grenade burst at their feet, swallowing the courtyard in white.
When the snow cleared, the Cloaked Hunter was gone.
Ending Cliffhanger
INT. CITADEL INNER WALLS — NIGHT
The Cloaked Hunter knelt before the Shadow King — a towering figure draped in dark furs, seated beneath the massive mounted skull of a long-dead Titan.
"You've seen his strength," the Shadow King said, his voice deep and resonant. "Will he survive the First Hunt?"
"…If he doesn't break," the Cloaked Hunter replied, "he might."
The Shadow King turned his gaze to a sealed war gate carved with the sigil of the Titan King. The chamber trembled faintly, the sound of something vast breathing from beyond.
"Then open it," the Shadow King commanded.