The howling winds roared.

Snow filled the barren landscape, an endless visage of white as far as the eye can see.

Mountains filled the edge of the horizon, the trees bare, the wildlife non-existent.

A lone man trekked across the snow, leaving a long trail of footprints behind. He kept a neutral look on his face, but his eyes held a burning sensation. Not too far away, a small village could be seen on the horizon, in the edge of it, a small shack with smoke rising from its chimney.

The village was only composed of a few wooden huts, an indication that not many live there. There was no one walking around, which would mean they were all taking shelters inside their homes. The man could see all the doors and windows were shut tight, even the curtains were covered.

Steadily walking towards the shack, the man smiled in content after what felt like hours of boredom through the seemingly endless winter breeze. Carefully walking on the steps, he brought his left foot up, and kicked the front door open.

The door immediately gave in with a resounding smash, allowing the man to view the interior.

The loud sound of a wooden door forcefully opened brought the attention of everyone inside. Seven men, some of them looked like criminals hiding from the law, others were tribal huntsmen simply taking shelter in the midst of the storm, and one bartender whose glass had shattered on the floor due to no longer being in his grip.

The occupants kept their gaze towards the newcomer who rudely interrupted their lunches with faint hostility. The stranger himself, however, sweeped his vision across the many eyes focused on him, and kept a calm attitude despite having so many glaring daggers at him.

The first thing the occupants noticed was the newcomer's white hair, and his bright yellow eyes matching his youthful face. He wore a dark blue trenchcoat with a brown buttoned vest and black long-sleeved shirt underneath, dark blue jeans, and black winter boots. A blue bandana was wrapped around his neck, and sheathed on his back, a suspicious looking sword, completing his rather peculiar look.

"You lost, boy? This ain't no place for young fellas like you." One of the men sitting at the table shouted towards the stranger in an effort to intimidate him, though it didn't do much, as the newcomer in question merely smiled in response.

"Excuse me, gentlemen." The voice surprised everyone, as it came from the white haired stranger. They weren't expecting such a mundane response

He calmly walked towards the bartender, the owner of this place, he assumed, ignoring the stares and taking a sit in front of the bar counter, and giving the bartender a curious look. The bartender in question tried his best to keep his facade in front of the unwelcomed stranger.

"Mind giving me a shot?" The stranger asked the bartender in a charming manner. The bartender said nothing in return, hesitant on trying to engage in a conversation with him. Pouring a shot of beer, he slid the glass towards the stranger's open palm.

The stranger drank the whole shot and slammed the glass on the hard wood. The bartender hoped he would go away as soon as possible because the stranger was drawing unfriendly looks from the rest of the occupants residing in the shack. Suddenly, as if fate was toying with him, the stranger asked the bartender a question he had never heard before.

"Tell me about the Empire."

Everyone rose an eyebrow upon hearing the stranger's words. Everyone knows about the Empire. Even those in the northern and western countries know about it despite never going there. It was a strange question indicating a layer of ignorance on the stranger's part.

It was the bartender's turn to ask a question. "You...don't know anything about the Empire?"

The stranger replied calmly, "Not much. Why, should I know about it?"

The bartender kept his gaze towards the stranger, looking for any signs of lying. He sighed after not finding any. Apparently he really did not know anything about the Empire.

"Listen to me, and listen well...the Empire is hell. The country is rotten to the core, concepts like justice is basically non-existent. The people are always oppressed, and the government are a bunch of dicks who gets off on torturing their citizens with heavy taxes and violence, and waging war against other countries just for the sake of spreading their own power, with no regard for human decency. If you're from the far north, west, east, or whatever country you're from, which is definitely better than here, don't come to the Empire, especially the capital. That's where all of the corruption spreads from. It's not worth it, whatever you're thinking."

The bartender stopped to take a drink after the exposition dump he just gave to the stranger. The latter, after hearing the information, held his chin and contemplated in silence, before doing the unthinkable.

He laughed. Quietly, then eventually loud enough for everyone to hear. Cackling like a madman, his response made everyone present question his state of mind.

"Really? Now I'm even more interested in going there. Might find myself some fun while I'm there. Haven't found a good challenge since I started walking south. Although, that one village had some skilled fighters...but they're all just cannon fodder in the end." The stranger spoke nonchalantly like it was the most normal thing to talk about, whilst holding his chin in a curious manner.

The bartender looked towards the stranger in shock, unsure of how to react. Furthermore, the look on the huntsmen suggested the stranger said something that might have not sit well with them. The sight of one of them preparing to draw out his knife didn't make the situation any better, in fact it only confirmed his hunches.

One of the huntsmen suddenly stood up and firmly spoke, "So..you're the one who's been attacking those villages?"

There was a silence for a brief moment, yet despite how brief it was, it felt like eternity. The stranger didn't move an inch, and merely responded, "...I'm guessing you know those men?"

There was no response, but none was needed. The white-haired stranger turned around to be greeted by the sight of all the huntsmen, now out of their chairs, and preparing to draw their weapons, the sense of killing intent permeating the air. Even the bandits have stood up and have a hint of hostility in their eyes. The bartender took a step back, realizing what was about to happen. He glanced at the stranger, who was still sitting comfortably, holding the empty shot glass in his right hand.

None of the huntsmen had brought their heavy swords and spears, only their backup knives and daggers on their waistbelt. They had never expected to meet face to face with this demon. The one who killed all those fellow warriors, some of them their friends. The villages were now without protection, no one but seniors and young children and their mothers, who couldn't even wield a sword.

Said demon remained calm. His yellow eyes darted towards each one of them, and he grinned.

"Well...they attacked me first. I thought it was a good challenge."

Silence.

Then the stranger spoke once more.

"Care to entertain me?"

A simple provocation, but it was more than enough.

The first one drew out his knife and immediately charged in, only to end up slashing the air. The stranger casually sidestepped his attack and spun around, his right hand brought the shot glass to the man's face, shattering it and drawing blood.

"Aaagghh!!!" The man attacked blindly with his right hand while holding his bloodied face with his left, a bad move. The stranger grabbed his flailing arms, and with a swift move, spun his wrist to an awkward angle, breaking it and forcing the knife to fall to the floor, or it would've if another hand didn't reach for it first.

Holding the knife in his right hand, and holding the blinded man's broken wrist with his left, he blocked an incoming attack from another huntsman armed with a dagger. The stranger kicked him with enough force to send him flying back and breaking a table, and brought the knife to the blinded man's neck.

Releasing the man, who was now gasping for air and drowning in his own blood, the stranger ducked to avoid two slashes coming from two other huntsmen. At the same time, he delivered two powerful punches to both men's abdomens, forcing them to vomit blood.

The stranger sidestepped another downward slash from the huntsman he kicked earlier, and quickly knifehanded his neck with his left hand, shattering his throat. He spun around once more and elbowed the huntsman in the back of his head, caving in the back of his skull, putting him down for good.

The two men earlier turned around, the taste of blood still present in their mouths, and began attacking the stranger once more. But the stranger was faster.

There was a gush of wind, and two bloodied severed arms, daggers still gripped tight within their palms, fell to the floor.

They tried to scream out of pain, but they never had the chance. Another horizontal slash, and both the huntsmen fell down, meeting the same bloody end as their former friend, drowning in blood.

The battle, if it can even be called one, was short, it didn't even take 10 seconds. The stranger still held the bloodied dagger in his hand, and slowly turned towards the remaining occupants in the bar who were still breathing. The bartender had made his way to the far corner, away from all the blood, but his eyes remained glued to the white haired stranger.

There were 3 left, all of them bandits, who had stood up from their seats and drew their blades forth. They weren't affiliated with the huntsmen, or with any of the native tribes in this land, but that didn't mean they should not be afraid towards this cold-blooded monster of a man. A hypocritical outlook, one could say. One of them carried a revolver, and it was aimed towards the stranger-no, demon. He pulled the hammer, ready to fire, but he wasn't sure if that was the brightest idea.

The bandit's hands were shaky, he was sweating bullets, even though it seemed like he had the upper hand. The white haired demon, didn't seem to carry any ranged weapon aside from that strange sword on his back, and that dagger he was holding, and he had him held at gunpoint. Yet, he didn't feel much safer at all. Those demonic yellow eyes struck a sense of despair and suffering that he had never felt before.

The demon smirked.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

His tone was calm, almost soothing, but it bore such potent sense of malice within each word.

The bandit proceeded to make the biggest mistake of his life.

He pulled the trigger.

Bang

The demon twisted his head, and effectively dodged the metal projectile, a superhuman feat. Needless to say, the bandits were shocked.

The demon slowly turned his head once more to the bandits, but his mouth was open. Strangely, smoke was coming out of his teeth. Or rather, what was between it.

The bandits widened their eyes in disbelief. The demon didn't dodge the bullet, he caught it in his teeth. And said demon was smiling.

He spit out the smoking metal to the ground.

He uttered a single, short sentence.

"You really should've listened."

Faster than the eye can see, the demon unsheathed his sword, and seemingly vanished into thin air.

For a moment, it felt like time suddenly stopped.

In a split second, dozens of pale blue lines appeared around the bandits, seemingly cutting through the layer of space itself, and disappeared.

There was a gush of wind, and the demon appeared once more, back in the same spot he was now, crouching and holding his sword outward. Strangely, the sword's blade was sky blue in colour, and it was glowing, there was even small crackles of electricity traveling through the blade. There was not a trace of blood on it. The demon slowly sheathed the sword back, while standing up.

The sound of flesh and bone tearing apart broke the short silence. The bandits literally fell in pieces. Their organs, bones, and flesh, all reduced to tiny slices. A vomit-inducing sight indeed. But the smile on the demon's face never wavered.

He turned towards the only remaining human alive, the bartender, who was trying his best to hold in his lunch.

The white haired demon simply shoved his hand in his pocket, and took out a silver coin. He flicked it onto the counter.

"Thanks for the drink. Now, if you'll excuse me."

His tone never changed, his smile never wavering, his eyes simply not caring. It was as if the bodies and piles of human flesh around him was never there at all. The demon turned around and headed towards the exit, while carefully walking so as to not step on the pool of blood and mutilated corpses.

He whistled an unfamiliar tune as he walked, and eventually went through the door, leaving behind the visceral scene and the mentally scarred owner of the bar.

Those eyes.

They reminded the bartender of a certain person, back when he was a simple soldier in the Empire. Before he decided to leave the capital, and live somewhere far from its influence.

Such cold, inhuman, merciless eyes, there was only one person who harbored the same look. A certain woman with pale white skin and long blue hair. The strongest person in the Empire.

General Esdeath.

If that demon turned out to be her long lost sibling or something similar, he wouldn't be surprised. The only thing different is his white hair, and his yellow irises, giving his eyes an unnatural glow.

The bartender looked towards towards the bodies. He sighed. Despite the fact this was an isolated town not many people know of, this actually wasn't the first time he had to clean up a "mess", and considering how often dangerously armed people actually come to this place, he doubt it would be the last time either.

-

The sound of whistling permeated the air.

The storm had calmed down, for now at least.

A single man trekked across the snow, his hands inside his pocket, leaving the small town behind him. The whistling tune continued to echoe across the barren white landscape.

He was dissappointed. There wasn't much of a challenge at all. He thought the tribesmen in this part of the country would be much better warriors than he anticipated, but they didn't even put up that much of a fight.

Perhaps he had gone a bit too far with slicing those bandits to mush, it wasn't like they were that much of a threat anyways. But he liked to set up an example. A message, to those brave, or stupid enough, to come to him with their blades out of their sheaths. And he was sure that bar owner would make quite a good messenger.

He wondered if this Empire would be more fun for him. He always enjoyed seeing new places. And possibly burning them down. Depending on his mood.

He has heard of the Empire before, usually through small talks from the occasional passerbys, but he never thought it was important. He wasn't into politics anyway. But after hearing what the bartender said...perhaps there was a lot more he wasn't aware of in the south.

The song coming out of his lips became merrier. He felt a sort of excitement, just thinking about it. After all, a city full of demons sounded like a special invitation for someone like him. His blade crackled in electricity, almost like agreeing with him.

He looked up to the sky, spots of light can be seen across the black canvas that is space. It was already nighttime.

And the night is long.

-

Author's Note

So, I was gone for a while. It's been what, 2-3 weeks since I last updated this story? Yeah it was a pretty long time to update compared to my previous chapters.

Like I mentioned before, I won't be updating frequently. Sometimes in a few days, and sometimes perhaps up to a month or two. Trying to write a good story, and getting motivated enough to actually write it, is a lot harder than I imagined.So, this isn't really a new chapter, more like a teaser for what is to come. Sorry to dissappoint you like that.

This is just a little insight into one of the potential major antagonists in this fic, also another OC I made. Who exactly is he? Can't tell now, all we can be sure of is he's a bad guy, and he will definitely show up in future chapters.How strong is this guy going to be? Won't spoil anything just yet, but uhhh...just imagine Vergil from Devil May Cry, but with less self-control. Yeah, something like that.

If you're wondering what song the character was whistling, look up Twisted Nerve by Bernard Herrmann. Or just look up the whistle song from Kill Bill.

Sayonara.