Chapter Eleven
He needed more practice with the bow before it was even a consideration. With that passing thought, he dropped it next to him and continued rolling, scurrying through the underbrush to throw his attackers of his tail. Sinking into Senjutsu, he honed in on his attacker's life signatures. Daichi scurried up a tree, he was making way too much noise by staying on the ground. Safely ensconced in the thick canopy, he began scratching out runes.
Runes of silence and speed attached to his feet, rune of mirage attached to his torso, rune of illusion chained to it. Rune of – move! An arrow thunked into the wood just above where his chest would have been had he not hugged his body to the branch supporting him. He pushed off, launching himself to the side and sinking further into Senjutsu. 'Path of the hunter, path of the warrior, how about path of the living?' Daichi stimulated his own life force, Touki bursting to the surface in a wave of dark crimson.
With a bit of preparation now complete, he suddenly reversed his course to the surprise of his pursuers, and slammed into one that failed to react in time to evade. Daichi's Touki imbued claws ripped out the grunt's throat like a knife carving through warm butter. He used the now falling corpse as a springboard, his energy stimulated jump blowing holes in the body as he tackled another enemy, ripping the wings from its back before replicating his last maneuver, ripping out its throat and jumping clear.
They were screaming now, shouting in fear and anger, the four remaining members of the group spreading out to encircle him. Daichi didn't hesitate, bouncing off of trees in the area and slicing into bodies, punishing openings in their defenses. He nailed a third to a tree, crushing its spine through its chest with his feet as though he were squashing a bug, then he disappeared, hiding amongst the branches of the forest and spreading his presence out to blend with the surrounding nature.
It was easy to do. The natural aura of the forest was perfectly suited to a heightened state of combat, his own feral instincts blending in with the background seamlessly. He was the hunter and his prey were scared.
They flit about the area warily, guarding each other's backs as the sudden lack of combat played havoc on their minds, the tension ramping up higher and higher the longer he waited. He struck the moment they began to relax, falling out of a tree into his full sized fox form, one massive paw slicing through the air and slamming all three into the dirt of the forest floor. They were crushed instantly, Daichi's Touki overpowering his strikes. It had been quite a while since he had reverted to his true form, and it was incredibly liberating, his black fur rippling as his body seemed to almost fade into the natural shadows of the forest floor despite his massive size. He took a few extra moments to indulge in the sensations before reluctantly transitioning back to his humanoid form.
Smaller form, smaller target.
He peered down at the crater of crushed dark elf. They were an ugly sight, but it wasn't much different than their normal bug like appearance, just a bit flatter.
(a/n: taking the appearance from God of War as inspiration)
He made his way back to the clearing Ullr initially dropped him in, recovering the bow and hanging it over his shoulder.
"That wasn't terrible." Ullr popped back into existence. "You definitely show promise. The patience of a hunter with the ferocity of a warrior. Your natural instincts are well suited to this kind of environment." Daichi gave him a very tooth filled smile, his sharp teeth visible.
"Yes. They are." Ullr grinned back at him.
"You'll spend the next three months here. That's the maximum time Freyja allowed. During that time, you'll learn to use that bow, to hunt efficiently, and to use the environment to your advantage if a fight is unavoidable." He tossed Daichi a pack of food and water. "Every week you provide the head of a commander I'll reward you with a day in civilization. Be careful though. Commanders are vastly more powerful than the common soldiers you just fought, and they always maintain a retinue. You'll have to utilize everything you have when you decide to attempt it." His lecture and warnings given, he popped back out of existence once more, his voice echoing behind.
"I'll return tomorrow to begin your proper instruction in the use of that bow. Until then, get used to your surroundings."
Daichi dug through the pack to categorize his provided belongings. It was roughly two days' worth of food and two water skins, both currently full, along with a blanket and some bedding. He took a sip from one of the skins before replacing it in the bag and hitching it over his shoulder. He needed a defensible area to bed down in before night fell. With no destination in mind, he picked a direction and took off, utilizing his oneness with nature to manipulate the plant life into easily allowing him passage.
Almost an hour of trekking through the forest later, Daichi finally picked up on an anomaly in his senses. He could feel an opening in the earth with an absence of the overabundance of life the surface seemed have going on in perpetuity. A short distance later, Daichi found himself staring down into a crevice in the earth. It was large enough for him to fit, but likely small enough to keep most predators out. It also conveniently opened into a more spacious cavern that was thankfully not covered in bat guano.
With a base of operations established, Daichi did as Ullr suggested and set out to explore the area around his temporary home. He simply began circle pathing, slowly spiraling outward until he felt he had established enough of a perimeter then returning to the cave. He'd spotted three other six elf patrols moving through the area during his excursion, but chose not to dismantle them in order to keep from drawing undo attention to this area of the forest, at least until he had more properly established himself.
With the area surveyed, he set about masking his hideout. Both magical and mechanical means were utilized, mirage, illusion, and silence runes were etched into stone while leaves, vines, and bushes were coaxed into shifting to provide additional foliage and cover. All said at the end of his labors, he was feeling fairly satisfied until Ullr dropped by the next morning, took one look at it, snorted and stated one word.
"Cute."
His fur fluffed out so fast from indignation he looked almost like a porcupine.
"Alright little fox, time to get down to business. Scout the perimeter and eliminate the hostile patrols in the area. After that, we'll begin teaching you how to hunt like a true predator."
Still feeling a bit put out about his work being disregarded, Daichi piped up.
"I'm literally a supernatural carnivorous animal. How much more of a true predator can you get?" Despite his words, he had already started preparing himself with his standard runic setup. Ullr laughed a deep, dark chuckle.
"Boy, until you're the top hunter in any given ecosystem, you'll never be a true predator." Daichi paused, sending Ullr an appraising glance before realizing the only reason he knew the god was there was by the visual confirmation his eyes were providing. No scent, no sound, no presence, mundane or otherwise. The further implications of his words slowly seeped in.
"You don't mean just out here in the wilds, do you? You mean literally any environment, social, economic, raw power, skill. But wouldn't that mean you aren't a true predator either?" Ullr had a satisfied smile as he looked down on the four tailed kitsune boy.
"No. I'm not, but I know the path. I'm walking it in a bid to reach the apex, but it's slow. If you learn quickly, you might take your first step by the end of our time here." Significantly more motivated, Daichi whipped the last of his runes into place and took off into the forest to lay waste to his enemies. His prey. For sentient beings, predator and prey was a mindset, and he would be the god that looked down on the struggles of all others, or he would die reaching for his goal.
The first group of Dark Elves barely knew what hit them. Two had simply vanished in an instant when the others had been distracted. The remaining four had quickly huddled together in a circle to stay perfectly aware of their surroundings, only to fail to look up in time to notice a repeat of Daichi's attack the previous day. A massive black and crimson paw slammed into the group, shattering wings and carapace in an instant, the sharp claws sheering off limbs with ease. The only thing heard in the surroundings was a brief thump and crunching.
Daichi was gone in the next moment, returned to his humanoid appearance and flitting through the trees as he sniffed out the remaining patrols. There had been three yesterday and it looked as though they stayed in the same general areas, the first group located near where he had spotted them the day before. These Dark Elven peon soldiers were generally unskilled, only holding some rudimentary weapon training with little magical ability.
What made them truly dangerous was their numbers. This forest was unbelievably massive and every square foot was patrolled in some capacity by these lower ranked creatures. The hierarchy followed a very simple system. The soldiers were at the bottom with the commanders above them, followed by the generals above those. The nobility was then ranked above generals, though those could only be found hidden away deep within the Underdark. It was likely there was only a single general in charge of this entire forest, with many commanders and an unknowable number of soldiers under his command.
Daichi crashed into the next group, ripping one directly out of the air. The remaining five scrambled to attack, arrows and throwing spears flying to his landing zone. One of his tails swung out and latched onto a nearby limb which flexed and then slung him back towards the group where he promptly relinquished another elf of their life after it failed to respond to the surprise change in direction.
Daichi launched himself into his next victim, crushing its neck in his hands, then somersaulted up into the foliage, disappearing only for a few moments before suddenly crashing into a pair that strayed too close together, their lives ending in the same instant as sharp crimson claws pierced their skulls. The last member was already fleeing before Daichi managed to turn and end it. A growl of frustration rippled through him before calming himself.
He would have needed to let one escape eventually to report back. They would start sending more patrols, or more numbers in each group, which meant more targets for practice and more fear amongst the prey. If he wanted to keep in contact with Sera and Gabby on the weekends, he'd need to start luring commanders into what was now his domain. With a one last chuff of irritation, he took off into the forest once more.
Fifteen minutes later Daichi returned to his camp, Ullr sitting patiently on a log.
"It's done."
"You allowed one to escape."
"It was not my initial intention, but it works in my favor regardless."
"Explain."
"More prey, more targets, more fear."
Ullr opened his eyes which, for the first time, held a sinister glint.
"A decent start. Let's expand on your education."
For the remainder of the day, Daichi learned. It began simple, he would practice with the bow, Ullr critiquing him as he shot arrow after arrow. Once his Touki had been exhausted, they sat and talked until he had recovered, the cycle repeating itself as Ullr lectured over anything that seemed relevant to a particular topic he had chosen for each day.
Ullr was more than just a god of bows or the hunt. He held an incredibly prominent place among Norse myth and religion. While those were the domains he was most known for, he was also a warrior, and had briefly held leadership over Asgard during a period where Odin had gone into temporary exile. However, beyond those facts, there was little known about the god except that he seemed to be of immense importance to the pantheon. After interacting with the god, Daichi already knew the lack of information was by design. A hunter known to his quarry is a poor huntsman indeed.
That first day Ullr spoke on mechanical camouflage and stealth. How to step, where to step, how much to step, what the rest of the body should be doing during each step, how to avoid excess noise while moving through areas, what colors blend best, what to use for each color, how to break up his silhouette. The list was extensive, and they only touched on each topic briefly between practice sessions. Ullr was an unending font of knowledge and Daichi did his absolute best to absorb as much of everything as he could.
A/N:
Yukilumi – Yea, it's basically an experiment on my part. Can I write three different characters with the same base person but driven and developed into different personalities by the events of their new lives and make it all make sense? It's been challenging but really fun so far. I've caught myself swapping between character names several times while writing lol
The childhoods are actually kinda interesting since because the universes are so different the character interactions and MC developments all change ever so slightly over time.
Unique is probably my personal favorite simply because Daichi is so much fun to write. The Devil-May-Care attitude is a ton of fun to try and express but also keep in line. But then again, we haven't really stepped too far into the other stories yet either, so that may change once the pace really starts to pick up.
I've been tossing that power theory around in my head for several years now, since it works to explain a lot of universes' dynamics, especially in anime style worlds. It manages to give background and cover up some plot holes that are pretty common in these types of stories.
NazgulBelserion – There were a ton of characters that had a bunch of potential in the DxDverse that I felt were casually used as plot devices then discarded once their value to the MC was expended. It's kinda sad tbh, there was a lot of potential to really turn the story into something more than an ecchi battle harem, though I admit it does what it does very well.
ExtraterrestrialFlyingCat – Yes, I did. As I said above with Yukilumi, it's something I'm doing as a thought experiment. Can I do it? And can it be done successfully? What are the implications of certain events on the mentality of a person in such drastically different situations? It's been a lot of fun keeping track of the different characters and their developments and most people seem to enjoy it so far, so I'm tentatively labeling it as a success. :)
