Chapter I (Hunting Party)

2005, 17th of January

District of Ganacillo

Polo de Oro City

The skies above trembled with thunder while bringing down heavy rain in the dense forest. The heavy rain coated the dense forest with murk. On the hills of the forest, a middle-aged man was staggering while clasping the wounds on his left shoulder.

"O! Eloah! Save me!" He muttered under his breath.

The middle-aged man was being chased by several men called 'grim rippers'.

Not that distant, almost one hundred meters from his position, the middle-aged man spotted a humongous acacia tree. He sought to lean himself into the rugged trunk and rest.

[HEAVY RAIN NOISES]

 

"Die, thy cowards!" A loud voice suddenly echoed, causing him to veer in caution on his back. His eyes abruptly narrowed out of irritation as he recognized that voice. "Tch!"

It was one of the grim rippers that was chasing him!

[ZAPPED—BANG!]

A whistling bullet jolted him in surprise. The bullet didn't harm him but penetrated the opposite side of the rugged trunk of the acacia tree where he was leaning.

He lowered his head and hid.

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

As he hid from the acacia tree, he all of a sudden punctured his right index finger to his wound—a gunshot wound that bleeds and stings in discomfort in his right shoulder. A few moments later, he pulled out the bullet from his wound.

He grunts in pain and simultaneously curses, "ARGH! Curse you damned Jinns!"

His face contorted with surprise as he successfully removed the bullet. "A bullet made out of dark eirgo?". The bullet is a nine-millimeter, coated in a dark color.

"Cursed these damned Jinns!" he added with an ire in his voice while crumpling the bullet into pieces. His wounds then start to regenerate slowly.

From afar, a highfalutin voice resonates: "I sense your blood, Guardian! It makes my heart pump faster!"

"KYEKAKAKA!"

The middle-aged man peeps from the acacia tree. He then hears the sound of boots rustling and splashing on the wet surface, rushing towards his location, where a figure emerges from the murky vicinity.

His thoughts quickly rendered him immobilized as he realized it was a grim ripper. The grim ripper seems to be holding something sharp in both of his hands while charging towards the robust and huge acacia tree where the middle-aged man was hiding.

[STEAMING NOISES]

The middle-aged man's nostrils suddenly gush out air. His temper was looming ferociously as he saw the grim reaper charging towards his position. His eyes glinted and his teeth gritted, while raindrops around him turned into steam. He then dashes out of the acacia tree and swiftly launches an onslaught toward the grim ripper. As he boldly soared to the grim ripper, he left a hot, steaming trail.

The grim ripper ceases charging when he sees the middle-aged man unexpectedly reveal himself and launch an onslaught toward him. He was sniggering with confidence, "Oh! Such a surprise! You've revealed yourself!"

Both his eyes shifted drastically into charcoal while the blades he was holding, which are long bolo's, ignited in orange flames. He then warned the middle-aged man in his lofty way of speaking: "Are you ready to die?"

His words ticked off the middle-aged man. While soaring in the air and approaching toward the grim ripper, he responded, "Shut your mouth! You will die first before me!"

After that response, the middle-aged man swiftly faded away in mid-air. Suddenly, the looming aura of the middle-aged man was generating behind the grim ripper, where he could feel a hot, moist stinging on his skin. The grim ripper was then in total astonishment when the middle-aged man abruptly grasped and tightly gripped his neck, quelling him from speaking a word.

"GWHK!"

The middle-aged man abruptly heaved the grim ripper onto a large and sharp boulder, completely destroying it and reducing it to chunks upon impact.

However, the grim ripper seems fine after that devastating move he received from the middle-aged man. He stood as if nothing had happened.

He then picks up the flaming bolo on the ground. He later swirls the bolo in both of his hands. Suddenly, he flings it like a boomerang toward the middle-aged man. "Take this! KYEKA!"

[BLADE WHIRRING NOISES]

The middle-aged man evaded the bolo blades. Yet, to his surprise, the bolo blades unexpectedly returned to the grim ripper. A cut then bleeds above his shoulders. It wasn't that big, but he could feel a cold burning on it.

The grim ripper then confidently bragged to the middle-aged man, "Did'ya feel that Guardian? That's my dark Eirgo!"

The grim ripper called the middle-aged man a 'Guardian'.

The middle-aged man all of a sudden hovered while closing his eyes while breathing deeply. All of a sudden, a brimming light luminously glowed in his eyes that a human eye could not grasp to look at. A red, fiery wing burst from his back, stretching around three feet long and two feet wide.

His hair strands and lips transformed into a dazzling golden hue. However, what is more fascinating is the redstone that twinkles on his forehead; it shone, resembling a rare ruby, making the grim ripper utterly gaze at it in marvel and giggle with pleasure. "AHHH! Such beauty!"

The middle-aged man transformed into his 'Guardian Form'.

From the Guardian's body, immense energy discharges, with the consequence of the rain turning into steam and eradicating any living matter around one meter from his position.

After a few seconds, the Guardian shifted his gaze right at the grim ripper. He then gave a fierce statement: "I, the Guardian, and the follower of Eloah, shall terminate you according to his laws of the universe!"

[ZAPPED!]

The Guardian suddenly zapped like lightning and threw a punch at the grim ripper's face. The grim ripper was able to block it using his two arms. However, he suddenly felt a heavy force from the Guardian's fists and flew away for more than a half-kilometer. He landed on a robust and huge rosewood tree.

[BOOM—BOGSH!]

[TREE CRACKING NOISES]

The Guardian continued his attack. He dashed at the grim ripper, who had just gotten up. He then grabbed the grim ripper's face and repeatedly slammed it into the ground, creating a small fissure.

[INTENSE SMACKING NOISES]

The Guardian then ceased to smash the grim ripper's face on the ground when he noticed that it was already unconscious. He then heavily gasped as he mustered all of his strength in his right fist for a final death blow.

However, an unforeseen event left him agape.

[BANG!]

A loud gunshot from behind struck the Guardian's back and weakened his body, causing him to be on his knees, unable to move a muscle. Paralyzed, he fell to his knees, unable to move a muscle.

His eyes then dilated out of surprise when a glowing circle whose circumference was around one hundred twenty inches appeared beneath him.

In the center of the glowing circle, draw a large star. On its edge, there were runes written. The glowing circle is called an 'exorcism circle'.

A rushing chain suddenly came out of the exorcism circle and shackled the Guardian's hands and feet. A group of six individuals who were all wearing the same dark robe appeared out of nowhere; they were chanting unfamiliar words repeatedly.

"Yahsimr ya'a ïblis àjahin hē lael!"

"Yahsimr ya'a ïblis àjahin hē lael!"

"Yahsimr ya'a ïblis àjahin hē lael! ...."

The Guardian was then surprised when the grim ripper slowly stood up while his bleeding, broken face slowly healed. He was smiling while saying, "You've let your guard down again, Guardian!"

"We, the rippers, don't hunt alone."

Suddenly, the grim ripper's forehead cracked open. An eyeball then popped out, restlessly moving. His right palm then held a serpent figurine made out of dark shadows, which crawled into his hands.

[HISSING NOISES]

The serpent figurine all of a sudden aggressively shuffled from the grim rippers hands and went inside the Guardian's mouth.

[AGGRESSIVE HISSING NOISES]

"AGGGGH!!" The Guardian was shrieking in pain while quivering. Observers can then witness him transform into an ember. After a few seconds, the Guardians totally froze, engulfed in flames with no life. On his forehead, the redstone fell down. The grim ripper then picked it up, lifted it above, and excitedly remarked, "A few more of this, and everything will be complete!"

"KYEKAKAKAKAKA!"

===

2025, two decades later

[GUNSHOT NOISES]

"Don't let him escape!" The baldheaded man, with a huge physique and an approximate height of five feet flat, furiously commands. His eyes were flaring in anguish.

"That Finn f*cker was a spy! He deceived me as well as the Don!"

He and his two henchmen were rushing out in a tight alleyway. They were chasing a certain individual called 'Finn'.

As they reached outside the alleyway, he hauled out a gun from his back—a well-furnished silver revolver. The bright silver revolver reflected his bald head.

The baldheaded man's name was Pedro Hilario. Also known as 'The Stinger, he is a notorious criminal working on a person named Don Ramon.

Pedro and his henchmen lost the man they were chasing. One of his henchmen, whose name was Honcho, saw blood trails on the ground. "Blood!" His eyes followed the blood trail. Not that distant, he sees it ends in the public toilet door.

Honcho then pointed at the public toilet and said, "It looks like he entered the public toilet!"

He then rushes, entering the public toilet. However, as they entered the public restroom, the man whom they were chasing abruptly fired two gunshots.

[BANG! BANG!]

Pako, one of Pedro's other henchmen, narrowly dodged a bullet to the face. Life favored him, as the bullet struck the concrete wall and the wooden door of the public toilet. "F*ck, he almost got me!"

He then burst out the assault rifle he was carrying as a retaliation. After a few moments, his gun ran out of bullets. Pako then shouted, "F*ck you, Finn! You snitch!"

Pako slowly peered at Inspect. His eyes then broadened, glinting in total awe.

"G—got him!" He joyously shouted. He saw Finn lying on the floor, lifeless, massacred by a whole round of magazines from his assault rifle.

Honcho right away tapped Pako's right shoulder. His doubting voice then inquired, "Are you sure he is dead?"

Pako reloaded his assault rifle, which he then fired into Finn's eyes. "Now he is dead! Let's see how he'd wake up to that!"

Pako's action surprised Honcho. "You are so brutal, Pako!"

Pako then retorted while he intensely grabbed Honcho's collar, "Shut up! Much worse will happen to us if we cannot retrieve the dark wooden box!"

After that small feud, Pako releases Honcho. He then inspected Finn's body and found the dark wooden box. However, he couldn't find anything. "Tsk! I couldn't find it!"

It disquieted Honcho, who quickly called out to Pedro, "It's not here!"

"Pedro! The dark wooden box wasn't at him!"`