The sun shone brightly, hitting the rotten wood of an old bar, located at the periphery of a small village, far far away from any main city of the Empire. The windows were closed, keeping the hot air out, only a jury-rigged air conditioner keeping everyone inside comfortable.
Large kekus, with rings coming out of their wings, and sharp metal feathers embedded near the edges, for intimidation rather than any combat purpose, all congregated there, drinking and making crude jokes with each other. No one else dared approach, or worse, enter the bar.
That is why everyone turned their heads towards the door when they heard it open, to their immediate regret.
He looked normal, like any other keku you'd see on the street, with a nice suit, average height, medium build. Then, you'd notice his aura, and the eyes holding the same death as it. And after that, if you still had the gal, the way the suit moved, coiling above dense muscles.
"And who. Are. You?" Their gang leader said, not even bothering to turn around until after the words were muttered. Too late.
His head was smashed into the table, everyone quickly pulled out their knives and the rare pistol, they had no time to react, taken aback by the weird keku's presence.
Click
The stranger placed a gun right to his head, flicking the safety off. A clear threat. No one dared make a move.
"Who is your delivery man?" He asked, his tone monotone, but carrying a lot of weight, made even more evident as the one being asked felt the pressure on his skull increase.
"I… I don't know what you-" He stammered, before being quickly interrupted.
"Do you believe that will help you in this situation? Last chance, answer the question. 5 seconds."
"Kolo! Kolo, he's… he's the one in the corner, with the red highlights on his arms."
"What the hell boss-"
"Alright then. You, where is the dropoff point for the people?" He kept the gun pointed at the leader's head. "Five seconds, same as before, first he gets it, then I shoot you, I need you for information so you will survive. Understood? Now answer." He spoke, the one named Kolo began to sweat, both from the nerves and the hot air coming through the windows.
"I- It changes. Around the northern forest, usually… T-tonight there is- was supposed to be one near the old well…"
"...Thank you." He slowly said, at the same time as he pressed something in his suit's chest pocket. Two darts came in through the windows, hitting the two kekus wielding guns, while 2 gas grenades flew through the door, bouncing on the floor in different directions and quickly filling the room. No one noticed who opened the windows. No one saw the shadows hiding just outside the walls.
Four kekus dressed in the exact same suit as the one that just entered the building moved towards the entrance, all around the same age, waiting as the final member of their team walked out, the only one in there still conscious, holding a small gas mask over his beak.
"Toka, got all of the information necessary?" One of the women in the group asked him.
"Yes. With what we know already, it should be enough to leave them a bugged decoy and track them. Kos, you prepare the money, Hoka, call a patrol car to the area, we will use them as an excuse for the decoy. We meet at the top of the old mill tonight, that should give us a good vantage point. If we catch this window we'll done by the end of the week, and have time for the tournament. Understood?"
""Understood.""
Close to dawn, as the sky was bathed in a red light, the sound of wings beating closed in from the forest. A keku would usually fly above the treeline, avoiding all of the branches and tight spaces. Yet this one, wearing a white mask to hide his identity, held seemingly superhuman agility, allowing themselves to dash around every tree in the way without slowing down. Their white coat flowed around them, hundreds of long frayed ends beating around like a blizzard. They were a cultivator, and that mask meant that they were part of the largest demonic cultivator group on the continent: Comet. A group that has survived this long for their unique ability to navigate the snowy tundra to the north of their hunting grounds, escaping even the Empire's own cultivators.
The cultivator landed softly on a wide forest trail, the cloak falling around them softly like a mist. On the edge of the trail was an old and broken well, half of its structure missing. Instead of what they expected, their contact in the area with a few kidnapped kekus from the countryside, they saw a simple bag, with a note attached to it.
Grabbing the bag and ripping the note off with one of their claws, they read it in but a glance and threw it away, huffing in annoyance, and launching back to the air, quickly being lost in the foliage. A white shadow. Yet, despite the superhuman senses they possessed, a greater shadow was observing.
"Target 1 displays exhaustion after 1 hour 15 minutes of rest from the flight. Estimated target rating: low-medium first step. Will require low penetration for piercing flesh, medium for bone." Toko spoke, lying down on a nearby hill, dressed in a light-weight armored suit, with all kinds of advanced equipment attached to it. He was holding a large sniper rifle, as big as himself, and pointing at one of the demonic cultivators in the building half a kilometer away from him.
"Behaviour indicates respect, the entire group should average around the low-end first step level, leaders will require heavier ammunition. Prepare high penetration for targets 2, 7, and 8." Kos spoke through the radio as she loaded her sniper. Jota, Hoka, Bek, 7 has exited the civilian's room, prepare to clear it."
"Roger that. Readying the snipers. Heavy concussion grenades are ready for the cleanup. Auxiliaries are ready?"
"Ready, waiting for the signal." A more grainy voice spoke through the radio, the real source much further away.
"At my signal… 3, 2,-" Toka watched as the cultivator he was aiming at slowly twisted his head, eyes enlarging as he noticed him from that far away. His mouth opened, but Toka was faster. "-1. Fire!"
Five bullets flew through the air at supersonic speeds, thunder following them. Quicker than any of the cultivators there could react, the windows broke, and before the shards could even move, 4 heads were pierced completely through, the demonic cultivators dead.
Yet one had reacted quickly enough, the leader. A thick chain was flying through the air in front of him, connected to his swinging arm. A dozen of the links were directly in between him and the bullet, almost a dozen pierced through, the ruined bullet stopping at the last one.
Toka, however, had no time to see that. The moment he fired the shot, he rolled to the left, and a second later, dozens of chains, only a few links in length, hit right where he'd been, impaling a few inches into the ground. This was not something a first step could do.
"Second step!" He shouted into the radio. "One more volley, take down the remaining cultivators, then retreat. Auxiliary…" He slid down the hill, opposite the direction of their target as a giant chain flew right above him, the top of the hill cleaved right through, and dozens of trees were sent flying, cut as if by a razor-sharp blade. In the distance, from kilometers away, the echo of an engine could be heard. "Head to my location-"
"-Toka! Something flew from inside the house, it's heading toward your direction!" Kos shouted through the radio, voice crinkly as they'd already put some distance away.
"-Prepare the rockets."
Toka ran through the forest, fast pace, not the fastest. No flying, no rushing, he couldn't risk any wound or accident. He grabbed a gun from his attachments, wide barrel, single shot. Aiming to his left, a cylindrical projectile flew for a few dozen meters before it exploded, sending a red signal flare up into the sky, above the treeline. As soon as it got there, it exploded again, this time not by design, another projectile had hit it.
Decoy shot, he threw a dozen small detection bombs towards it and rushed to the right. The engine noise was close, loud enough to resound throughout the entire forest, but not close enough for a second step.
Small explosions rang from behind. That was fast, he must have noticed the gunpowder trail. A hole the size of his arm appeared on the tree to his left, continuing in a line through the next dozen or so trees he could see. He dropped a smoke grenade behind him, green in color, and fell to the ground.
Again, every tree around him was cut at the head level, he quickly crouched before dashing left, passing right beneath a falling tree and avoiding getting crushed. He grabbed another grenade from his belt and threw it through the smoke, only for a hand to grab it.
"Hmm, a mortal, and one as sniff sniff, disgusting as you? Did you think-" The grenade exploded in a sticky foam, not meant to entrap the cultivator, but rather blind him. And deafen him. "Huh, punny attempts…"
Voooooo
"...What is-" But he was too late, as dozens upon dozens of missiles impacted him, the fighter squadron flying right above. Yet that was not enough, for as soon as the smoke vanished he stood there, clothes burnt to ashes and body bloodied, but still alive. "Cough, you insects, I will eat you ali-" He wiped his eyes with one hand and reached to grab his chain with the other, yet his claws only touched a molten slag.
Vooo vooo
The second and third squadron arrived just in time to hit him with another two volleys. The cultivator was, finally, incapacitated. Or at the very least, incapable of dodging the volleys coming on their return trip.
Toka pushed himself up with the help of a fallen tree, having taken refuge behind it just in time to shield his body from the last two volleys. He'd been dozens of meters away from the first, yet that was barely enough, as his armor was full of holes, not doing much to protect him against the worst of the shrapnel. Had the missiles not been specifically designed for penetration rather than explosive power in mind, he'd be dead 10 times over.
"Toka!" He heard a yell, as his teammates rushed towards him. They… they were supposed to escape. "Here, we'll get you to the field medics… uhh, Jota, you have basic aid training right?! Patch him!" Kos ordered, panicked, as she slowly laid him down on the grass.
"I-I'll be fi- cough -fine, don't worry. I-"
"You're one of the four people I know that don't innately hate me! Of course I'll worry! Don't you dare die! H-hey, don't laugh! Stop laughing, you're going to die!"
"So, a 'tournament'?" The director spoke to Toka, who sat right across her desk, his entire right side bandaged and his leg in a cast.
"Yes, ma'am."
She narrowed her eyes. "And for that, you used official funding?"
"Yes, ma'am. The exercises involved serve to foster observational and reaction skill, teamwork, between members of the same unit and between different units at the same time, while also-"
"Yea, yea. Just… you'll pay for maintenance, this has gone beneath my nose for too long."
"That's… acceptable, ma-"
"Now get out of my office."
"Roger that."
Toka propped himself up with a walking stick, getting out in just a few hops. Outside, his team was waiting. Kos and Hoka both put their arms under his shoulders to support him, as they walked towards the end of the building.
"So, what did she say??" Jota asked, excited for the answer.
"...nothing's changed."
"Yes! By the Emperor, I didn't expect such great news. So, who do you think will win this time? The 4th unit has some really tough opponents, I heard they really started training after their mission in the eastern jungle…"
"Pff, yeah, as if they'd beat this guy over here." Kos pat Toka's wing, luckily the left, undamaged one. "Even with an arm, you can take half of them at once!"
"Ha, if only…" Toka laughed as they approached the door at the end of the corridor. "I still got most of my claws, that's all that matters…"
They opened the door and entered the room. Inside of it were dozens of the most feared mortals in the Empire, soldiers that many saw as demonic, as heretics, for nothing but their mere existence. That were feared at a mere sight, no matter their appearance. That had no one, besides each other.
A giant keku approached them, his shoulders taller than most kekus in the room, and pointed at Toka. "Is the champion fighting like this?"
"I decided to give you guys a chance." Toka gave him a smirk, prompting a laugh from the giant and everyone near enough to hear.
"Pff, yea sure. Here." He gave Toka a strip of paper with a code on it. "Fifth to the right, and remember…"
Toka began walking, heading towards one of the many rows of computers.
"...to have fun at the 5th annual blank "Demon Hunter: II" tournament!"
