In the darkest night, Headhunter walked his way into the depth of the jungle in one of the prefectures of Japan. Despite the danger of the predators alike, he just walked without hesitation, as if death did not scare him enough to make him retreat. As one of the pathway was bathed in the moonlight, his dark armored form reflected the light, thus showing his warrior form.
In the middle of the jungle, Headhunter stopped midway as he sensed something was crawling to his way. Following his own instinct, he leaped for several meters and landed on a tree, only to find out that there were moving vines below him. As the vines moved faster to strangle his legs, Headhunter immediately slashed the vines using his sword with little effort before continuing his journey.
Eventually, Headhunter reached the deepest part of the jungle. There, he stood before the ruins of a seemingly destroyed temple. Under the moonlight, he entered the ruins, searching for something under each debris. For hours, he tirelessly searching, as if the thing meant the world to him, but to no avail.
As the sun was about to color the east sky with orange hue, Headhunter sighed as he did not find the thing he wanted and believed it was time for him to return. Thus, he left the ruins as he disappeared, leaving no trace of his existence there.
***
Months later...
Only silent echoed inside the classroom 4 RK during that morning as Iru rested on his seat, eyes closed. Being early than anyone else, Iru had the classroom cleaned and the tables arranged in its supposed position. That was his way, being early than anyone to enjoy the fleeting silent before the class began. Despite seemingly sleeping, he was well aware of his surroundings.
Then, the moment his classmates entered the classroom, the silent immediately drowned into the echoing sound of chatter and playful banters, much to his annoyance.
"Hey, Iru! Still sleepy, are you?" said Wan as she passed by Iru's seat.
Instead of replying, he tried to completely immerse himself into falling asleep, ignoring Wan's call on him.
"Man, he really falls asleep." Wan muttered.
However, he did not fall asleep for too long, for the teacher entered the classroom right when the clock ticked at 6.45 am. He let out a deep sigh as he slowly opened his eyes. With a spiritless face, he gazed at his classmates and surroundings right before the class was about to start.
As the class going on, Iru barely had his focus on the lesson. His thought wandered beyond the walls of the classroom, all while he was physically inside.
Eventually, the bell rang, signaling the recess time.
*Sound of chatter
Everyone was already leaving their seat, while Iru was still leaning on his, gazing on the ceiling with a spiritless gaze.
"Iru, come on, lets go to cafeteria!" said Black beside Iru's table.
"Just go. I am not hungry." Iru said in a monotone voice.
"Come on! The cheesecake is running out of stock! I don't want to miss one." Black said, with his body facing Iru's table.
"I won't repeat my words, Black. Just go." Iru replied, still in a monotone voice.
"Damn. Don't blame me if you get hungry watching me eat the cake." Thus Black walked out of the classroom in defeat.
Unknown to them, some of their classmates were watching their antics from afar.
***
As Black was midway to the cafeteria, he could feel his shoulder being patted from behind.
"You should have wait for us, dude." said Mano. Beside him were Patrick and Parker.
"I wanted to bring Iru as well, but he refused." Black said with hands inside his pockets.
"Do you notice that he seems different today?" Patrick said.
"Well, I do. He looks more emotionless, and brooding." said Black after realising Iru's change in behavior.
"He seems moody. There must be something happening to him." said Mano.
"Can it be that he was possessed by an alien, or worse, devil?!" said Patrick with surprised tone.
"There is no way a man like him can be possessed by alien. He is an Armorer." said Black, refuting Patrick's words.
"That is why I told you to stop watching those X-files documentary!" said Mano to Patrick, while Patrick only chuckled.
They were overwhelmed by their own thoughts.
"Nah, he must be thinking of something. I am sure he will be alright. Come on, the recess time is almost up." said Parker, brushing the thoughts off their mind. He then led them to the cafeteria.
Meanwhile, Iru was drowned in his own thought. "That fighting style, only one person knows it. That warrior, I will end him by my own hands." He muttered in his own mind.
***
*Bell ringing
"Alright, class. Don't forget to submit your homework tomorrow. I will be waiting at my table." said Mrs Y to the 4 RK students.
"Yes, Maam!" said everyone, except for Iru, who was seemingly absent-minded.
Right after that, everyone made their way out of the classroom. Once the teacher called it a day, they were free to do everything at home. While waiting for their car to fetch them, all the students stood before the school area. Some were getting snacks from the nearby stalls, while others were having a little chat among themselves.
However, for Iru, once the bell rang, it meant that his mission continued. As he disappeared from the world, he immediately returned to his hideout somewhere hidden from the knowledge of the world.
Slowly, he opened the secret entrance to the hideout, which was a dark room with walls painted with stained grey colors. There were no source of electricity except for a small box of generator built by Iru himself. Right after he entered the room, he immediately placed his bag on the old matress that was no better than a junk. The whole room was far from modest, but to Iru, as long he was able to survive for tomorrow, that was more than enough for him.
Once he had his clothes changed, Iru decided to perform a prayer before he continued his mission. It only took him several minutes before he finished his prayer. Right after the prayer, he immediately stood up from his praying mat, walking his way to the small table at the corner of the room. At the corner, he took a bite of a seemingly expired bread served on a plate. Just as he was about to finish the bite, a faint deep voice called upon him from behind.
"Where are you going?" asked the voice.
"To find the killer." said Iru coldly.
"Have you find him?" asked the voice, surprised by Iru's words.
"There is only one person in this Earth that know such fighting style." said Iru.
"And now you are going to challenge him, aren't you?" said the voice.
"I'm going to ask him nicely, unless he prefer otherwise." said Iru.
Then, in a flash of light, Iru's flesh was replaced with an organic metallic armor, thus changing his appearance from the human form to the armored warrior, Headhunter.
"I might be coming home late." Headhunter said as his body slowly teleported away. In the blink of an eye, Headhunter vanished into nothingness.
As the armored warrior vanished, the voice sighed heavily at the back. "Man, what has become of you, my friend?" the voice muttered.
***
Once again, Headhunter emerged in a flash of light atop of a 100 stories building, watching over the city below him. However, the city below was not just a normal city, it was the alien city, the place that was not known by humanity, where no laws and justice upheld. There, aliens lived in a society full of criminals, fugitive from outer space and there were some who just wanted to live a normal life on Earth.
In the streets filled with the aliens, walked a figure under a black hood among the citizens of the city, hiding himself in the plain sight. Unknown to him, he was being watched by the very being who was hunting him.
Seeing his target from above, Headhunter decided to make his move. As the hooded figure walked to the left, which led him to a dark alleyway, Headhunter immediately leaped from the building and landed smoothly on the ground, right before the figure stood.
"What do you want?" asked the figure, unflinched by the sudden appearance of Headhunter, as if he was expecting him.
"Are you the one who murdered this girl?" asked Headhunter as he showed him a picture of a girl dressed in school uniform. With a short hair, said girl wore glasses on her face.
"Never met this one, for sure." the figure said.
"The killer was somebody who practiced Dark Scorpion Martial Arts, and you are the only person on this Earth that knew such style." said Headhunter while keeping the picture back.
"You are wrong. There are others who are also the practicioners of the style scattered on this Earth. You might need a lot of time to find each one of them, but I will help you to find the killer, because I know somebody that could be that person." the figure assured Headhunter.
"Why would you do that?" asked Headhunter.
"Because we don't have any vendetta towards each other, do we?" said the figure.
"Or you have the vendetta towards that somebody." said Headhunter.
"Consider that I put a bounty right now." the figure pulled out credits from his coat's pocket before handing to Headhunter.
"Your martial arts is only a legend. If I'm not mistaken, you are the only survivor of that school." said Headhunter.
"Once again, you are wrong. I want to tell you now, but that might be the story for another day." the figure denied Headhunter of his statement.
"Then tell me where he is." Headhunter received the credits from the figure.
"There you are. This will lead you to the person." the figure handed him some kind of flashdisc.
After receiving the flashdisc, Headhunter immediately vanished into thin air, leaving the figure alone in the alley. Not long after that, he emerged at the rooftop of the previous building while gazing at the flashdisc in his grasp.
"Don't worry, Kyoko. I will avenge you." he muttered to himself.
As he turned his gaze to the sky, he was surprised to see the sun was about to set. Stunned by the view, Headhunter did not let his gaze off the sunset. As he watched over the orange and red hues at the horizon, a flood of nostalgia hit him hard, as if he was brought to the past. He let out a heavy sigh as he looked at the setting sun.
Right after the sun disappear, the world was swallowed by darkness. Thus, Headhunter disappeared at that moment, continuing his mission to hunt down the bounty.