This city was disgusting—so much corruption—but this gave me a rather great opportunity to hunt.
I studied the inhabitants living here in what they called Pentagram City. Even though there were other cities and rings with plentiful demons, my brother had requested I avoid hunting the hellborn, seeing as they wouldn't prove much of a challenge.
Though he did recommend I hunt down sinners. I asked him further why I should only hunt sinners, and he simply told me they were incapable of dying permanently, only being slain if exposed to angelic steel.
This information… greatly pleased me—an entire city I could hunt without consequences.
And so I began my hunt.
I first assessed the capabilities of these sinners by finding one that possessed an adequate amount of strength but not so much that they overpowered the others with sheer strength alone.
As I continued to explore around, I found a horned being chasing a… fluffy-looking sinner.
The horned being chased her with rage-filled eyes; he swung his weapon with reckless abandon and no form whatsoever.
He chased her all the way toward an alley, and once she had nowhere to go, he raised his weapon, fully intending to strike her down. He swung his weapon down on the fluffy creature in front of him.
But before he could even hurt a single fluff on her head, I used my silk to grab his wrist and stop his strike. This caused him to look up toward where I was standing.
He tried grabbing onto the string and ripping it off him, but as he grabbed the silk, I began running across the building, dragging him along with me.
The demon's flesh began to quickly tear off as I continued to drag him farther away from the alley, and with one final jump, I swung the demon attached to the string and threw him over me and into an open field.
With a loud crash, the demon's face was firmly planted into the concrete. He was quite a tough one—after only a few seconds of being unconscious on the ground, he shook his head and started to wake up.
"Uh! Fuck! My fucking head! Who did that! I swear if I fucking find you I'll skin you instead!" the demon roared out, screaming to the skies.
He looked around more and more, and when his eyes finally landed on me, he had a twisted grin and started licking his lips.
"Well, aren't you a pretty little thing? How's about you come over here and we could have fun? I promise I'll forgive you for your little stunt," he said, grinning and walking toward me.
"Disgusting vermin."
"The fuck you say?!" He stopped for a moment before he started charging at me.
As he continued to charge toward me, I didn't bother pulling out my needle. He didn't deserve my weapon.
Once he finally reached me, he quickly jumped at me, aiming directly at my stomach. The fool thought such a sloppy trick would work against me.
I easily avoided his "attack" by jumping over him and, pulling out some more string, I landed on his back. Using the momentum I generated when moving, I wrapped the silk around his neck and tightened it.
The demon couldn't react fast enough for what happened next. Using my legs as leverage and holding on tight to the string, with one quick motion I tore his head clean off his torso, and with a loud splat, his body landed on the ground before blood started to pour out of it.
And now in my hands was the head of a sinner who was desperately gasping for air even though his head was no longer attached to his body. It continued to gasp and thrash around for a few minutes before finally dying, and I simply dropped it to the floor. This wasn't a real hunt—just… practice.
Grabbing my needle, I threw it to a nearby building and began searching for real prey.
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It's been one week, and not one of these sinners served as adequate prey for me. They were all either too weak or simply too scared to face me and would run away.
I quickly moved on from those average demons and began my hunt for what they called the overlords. They're still sinners, but possess more abilities than the regular denizens.
So, doing my research, I found that these overlords all control and reside within the different districts of the Pentagram and rarely appear or announce themselves.
But when I finally found one, I was quite excited to finally test their skills against mine. The overlord I'm hunting was rather spider-like and spoke in a rather funny way.
But prey is still prey, so I began stalking him. I memorized his daily routine, the places he goes to, and finally where he resided.
Once I finally had enough information about him, I began my hunt. He was off on his usual routes, and without hesitation, I landed in front of him.
"Hark! Why, 'tis thou I see," the overlord spoke.
"Greetings. My name is Hornet. I have come to hunt you," I told the overlord.
"Hark, Hornet! 'Tis I, Zestial. Pray, inform me—why dost thou pursue me thus?" Zestial spoke.
"You are an overlord, are you not?" I told him.
"Nay, my dearest. Long have I retired from the burdens of overlordship; now do I merely exist in mine daily rounds and shall only commune with others upon dire necessity," Zestial told me.
"How… disappointing," I told him, before aiming my needle atop the roof. But before I could leave, Zestial spoke once more.
"I say, shouldst thou desire a hunt, I might commend one Alastor, for he is a foe of wondrous might," Zestial told me.
I turned to him and spoke.
"Tell me, Zestial. Where do I find him?" I asked the former overlord.
"Alastor doth reside within the ancient precinct; thence, find but his radio tower," Zestial informed me.
"Thank you for this information," I told him, giving him a bow.
"And gramercy for thy civility, e'en whilst mine own pursuit didst thou contemplate," he replied back, giving a small bow as well.
I turned away, and throwing my needle, I began heading toward the old district where most of the cannibal demons lived.
And as I swung from building to building, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at his funny way of speaking. How did anyone understand what they were talking about?
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Alastor vs Hornet next chapter.
Place your bets hear on who will win!