Tales of Xalthia

Chapter 41: Hunter's Wrath

The morning sun rose up into the sky as a new day had started. The sun's morning rays penetrated through the canvas of trees. All of the plants that gave off light during the night had receded back into their buds as their lights faded. The skies were pretty clear with some scattered clouds around. Bird were chirping away as the village began to wake from its slumber to resume its normal day-to-day life. Animals casually strolled through the village without a care in the world despite the fact that people were around. It was true that the village lived in perfect harmony with nature. As the villagers got ready to go about their day, Tsuki, Cesela and Rein wasted no time and headed straight for the Elder's house.

By the time nine o'clock came around, they were already inside the Elder's house, sitting in his living room. They each had a cup of tea on the table in front of them along with a few snacks that Ryoka had laid out for them. With everyone having a much needed rest and a chance to breathe a little easier and relax, they're hoping that they can get some answers about Sirione, the Blessed Flower and maybe even learn about the royal family as well.

There was a long silence in the room before anyone spoke. It was difficult to figure out where to start the conversation. The tension and anxiety was pretty high. Then, Ryoka broke the silence as he cleared his throat. "So, we left off with the matter of the Blessed Flower, right? As you're probably already aware, the royal family of Sirione had control of their kingdom stolen from them about ten years ago" he said.

Tsuki nodded. "Yes, by a group of usurpers from what I've read about. Other than that, we know very little about Sirione and its current state" he said.

Rein sat back in the couch, his left leg over his right leg as he crossed his arms. "We don't have much information about that stuff ourselves back in Dolothlond. Not even in our capital's Grand Library where a lot of the world's information and history is store for public access" he said.

Ryoka stroked his chin a bit, nodding slightly. "Yes, I'd imagine that would be the case. In its current state, it's very difficult to get information out of Sirione as passage into and out of the continent of Megrove is heavily restricted. No one really knows what's truly happening within the continent. At least, not through official channels" he said.

Tsuki tilted his head and fell into thought. With everything he's heard, it was to be expected that learning about what's going on within Megrove proved to be difficult. With a kingdom under a harsh and restrictive rule such as that, it was only a natural thing. "If there's not any official source material to rely on, what can you tell us?" he asked.

Ryoka leaned forward and took a sip of his tea before continuing. "As I said, it's tough to obtain inside information through official channels. Esseand may have one of the best spy networks but they have yet to set one up in Megrove" he said.

Rein soon pointed his finger at Ryoka. "But you have. Which is why you have information about Sirione that others don't. So, how do you do it?" he asked.

Ryoka reached over to a drawer next to him. He opened it up, pulling a stack of papers bound by string and placing it on the table in front of them. "Most of the adults in this village, myself including, all escaped from Sirione back when the kingdom fell. We managed to smuggle ourselves onto various ships. One of my most trusted allies agreed to stay behind and send out periodic status reports via carrier pigeon. The most recent one was just a few nights ago" he said. HE then untied the sting and laid out the various reports.

Rein watched as Ryoka spread out the various reports he had received from his informant. There were quite a lot of them so it was clear that this communication has been going on for quite some time now. "So what do the reports contain?" he asked, reaching for one of them and picking it up to skim through it. The report was quite long and detailed so whoever wrote this wanted to make a clear picture of what was going on.

Ryoka shrugged. "Just what you'd normally expect from one of these. Most of them is about any suspicious activity that the dictatorship makes. But, that's not what's most interesting" he said. He then grabbed one of the reports and handed it to Tsuki. "As it turns out, there's a rebel force currently fighting the dictatorship. Some of these reports suggest that he's been involved with this rebel force for a while now" he said. He couldn't really blame him if that was truly the case. His people are oppressed and there aren't that many people who have the courage or ability to fight against such a fierce enemy.

Tsuki took the report and skimmed through it. The rebel force went by the name of Hex and had seized occupation of the eastern region of Megrove and expanded their forces to a total of about five hundred. According to the date that his informant wrote all of this down, it was around the time they first left Cayhill. The fact that there was an active rebel force in Sirione could be some use for the future. After he finished reading the report, he handed it off to Rein. "What about the most recent report?" he asked.

Ryoka shuffled through the reports and pulled one out and handed it off to Tsuki. "The most recent report has to do with the incident that took place in Chesberry. As you would expect, they didn't take the news of their slave cell being wiped out with all of the Demi-Humans set free very well. Whoever that assassin is became Sirione's most wanted person with a very large reward for his head. With how he handled that, they have little to no information about him to go off on" he said.

Tsuki tilted his head, skimming through the report. "How do they know about that incident in the first place? I thought the assassin killed everyone" he said. He remembered that some of the knights in Chesberry mentioned that the entire operation had been completely wiped out.

Ryoka shurgged, shaking his head. "No idea. Perhaps one managed to get away or survive and send notice to Sirione with details of what happened. They've already dispatched several squads of Hunters to Ersheath to track him down and recapture the Demi-Humans that had escaped" he said.

Rein scanned through the other reports as the two talked. Each report was professionally done. They ranged from Sirione movements to Hex activity. There was even some that documented the lifestyle and living conditions of the oppressed people all around Megrove that have nothing to do with the dictatorship. "Overthrowing the dictatorship will be a very difficult task for your small group, It may be a dictatorship but their military numbers and might rivals a small kingdom. We're going to need kingdom backing if we are going to take any steps in restoring order to Sirione" he said.

Tsuki had a feeling kingdom backing would be necessary. Him and the others are all skilled fighters but they're all gravely outmatched and outnumbered if they were to take on a military of a small kingdom. However, with the situation between Esseand and Dolothlond, that won't be happening anytime soon. "Is there anything else in these reports that could tell us more about Sirione?" he asked.

Ryoka shook his head. "These reports are our only means of inside information. We won't know more until my friend sends out another report" he said. He then gathered up the documents and bound them together again before putting them back in the drawer.

Rein drank the rest of his tea as he leaned forwards, resting his arms on his knees. "I think we've learned all that we can at this point. What's the plan now?" he asked.

Tsuki thought of Flynn's final words as a flashback played in his mind "Head to the northern snowfields. Meet up with me in Northmount" his voice played in the flashback. He didn't know why Flynn wanted to meet up with them but something tells him that this was something that he couldn't simply ignore. However, he didn't want to go any further without everyone else. "I think we should-" he said.

Just then, the sound of an explosion vibrated the entire room as screams of panic could be heard from outside. Before they could react, someone had burst through the door. It was one of the ill-experienced guards that held arrows at them. He was quite panicked. "E-elder! We've got trouble!" he shouted.

Ryoka stood up quickly when he heard the explosion go off and one of his village guards threw open his door. "What's going on!?" he asked.

The guard pointed towards the plaza, trying to calm himself as best he could. "H-hunters! They've found us! The plaza is in flames!" he shouted.

Ryoka had a feeling in the back of his mind that something like this would happen. If Tsuki had indeed encountered and fought off a squad of Hunters with Cesela in tow, he would also become a target just like the assassin. "Damn. I was hoping they wouldn't find us but I guess it was a fool's thinking that we could hide from the Hunter's scent" he said. He then looked back at Tsuki, Rein and Cesela with a pleading look. "I'm sorry to ask this of you guys but..." he said.

Tsuki stood up, nodding as if he knew what he was going to ask of them. "You don't even have to ask. We'll be glad to help out with the Hunters. Some of your guards appear to be ill-experienced when it comes to fighting so we'll handle things. You see to the villagers' safety" he said. He then faced Cesela and got down to her eye level. "I want you to stay with Ryoka, okay? We'll be back soon" he said. He didn't want to endanger her in the upcoming fight nor does he want her to become a target instead of them.

Cesela was reluctant to stay behind but she knew that she would make any fighting with the Hunters difficult if she were present. "O-okay. Just be careful. Promise?" she asked, holding out her pinky.

Tsuki gave her a soft smile, held out his pinky and shook to seal the promise. "I promise" he said. He then stood up and faced Ryoka. "I'm sorry but I hope you don't mind watching her for a little while" he said.

Ryoka nodded. "I'll watch over her and make sure no harm comes to her. I'll bring her over to our emergency shelter within the woods. Watch your backs out there" he said.

With a nod, Tsuki and Rein headed out towards the plaza where the fighting was taking place. It would appear the number of Hunters had increased from the last squad that ambushed them as they fought their way through the village, rescuing stragglers as they went. The fight was truly a one-sided battle. The village guards stood almost no chance against the Hunters. They were being slaughtered one by one. Meanwhile, it appears that some of the other Hunters were apprehending the defenseless men, women and children of the village and held them captive in the plaza.

Among the Hunters, there was someone who has more armored up and appeared to be of a higher rank than the other Hunters. At first glance, it was easy to tell that he wasn't an average Hunter. He had an axe on his back with a massive blade attached to it that looked like something out of a fantasy. He has spiky brown hair, chestnut-colored eyes with a scar in the shape of an X over his right eye. He was very muscular and appeared to be around Ramza's height. His armor was a mix between heavy armor knights tend to wear and the loose, tattered clothing the other Hunters wear.

One of the Hunters approached the menacing looking man. "Sir, we have the village secured. The local guards are beginning to surrender. We'll be ready to move on to the next phase of the plan shortly" he said.

The man nodded, looking over at the captured villagers. There were about 15 in total. most of them being women and children. They had their hands and legs bound so they couldn't go anywhere. "Good. In the process of chasing down our hunt, we stumbled into an entire village of vermin in hiding. Our real prize is still somewhere within this village but this is a nice bonus. Once you have apprehended everyone, torch this place to the ground." he said in a deep, commanding voice.

The Hunter saluted him. "Yes sir!" he said. He then turned around and headed back into the village.

The man chuckled menacingly as he face the captured villagers. He had an extremely cold look in his eyes. "At the very least, we can replace the number of slaves we lost in Chesberry. I hope you all enjoyed your life of freedom because you will soon serve us until the end of your days" he said. He then approached a small girl with ears and tail of a snow wolf who was tied up like the rest of them. "We also have a special place for the children so don't you worry about a-" he said.

Just then, he felt a rock hit him in the face. You could see a vein pop out of his head a bit as he faced in the direction of where the rock was thrown. As it turns out, a young boy who evaded capture with similar features of the captured girl stood a few feet away from them. "L-leave them alone!" he shouted, trying to act brave.

The man started to approach the boy, taking his axe off his back as he gave him an icy cold, soul-piercing stare. "Well, it would seem we have a rebel on our hands. This is perfect. I'll use you as an example" he said, gripping his axe tightly.

The boy stumbled back, tripping over some debris behind him and fell onto his back. He then looked up and saw that the man was now within arm's reach of him. He was scared frozen, unable to move.

The man held his axe up over his head, continuing his icy death stare. "Allow me to demonstrate what happens when slaves rebel against their masters" he said. He then brought down his axe over the boy, intent on cleaving him in two as the villagers screamed in horror from the upcoming gruesome sight.

Everyone looked away and got ready to drown out the sound of flesh being cleaved. However, the sound never came. Instead, the sound of metal clashing rang out through the trees and echoed through the plaza. Everyone looked back towards the boy and saw someone standing between the boy and the a closer look, it was Tsuki.

The man looked down at Tsuki, surprised and shocked that he came out of nowhere and blocked his attack with ease. "What!?" he shouted.

Tsuki looked up at the man. His brute strength and the force he applied in his attack reminded him of his fight with Caius back in Basilwell several months back. Unlike before when he used the Sigil's power to fight back against his might, he was able to stand up to the man with similar strength without the Sigil's power. It really shows how much he's grown over the last few months. Tsuki glared at the man briefly before swinging his sword upwards, breaking the confrontation. The man soon jumped back but before he could react, Rein came charging in with his katana drawn. The blade was enveloped in black flames as he swung his katana in a left diagonal motion. With little reaction time, all the man could do was block the attack. However, once the two blades clashed, a wave of black flames shot out from the katana and blew the man back, sending him crashing into some debris.

The boy looked up at Tsuki, still visibly shaken up. "T-thank you..." he said. He tried to stand back up but he was too shaken and fell back down.

Tsuki turned around and helped the boy up. "That was very brave of you, standing up to him but you shouldn't put yourself in that kind of danger" he said. He then walked the boy over to the crowd of captured villagers when the boy ran up to the small girl he was threatening. "Is everyone okay?" he asked., looking over to the villagers.

One of the female villagers who had minor cuts and bruises nodded. "Y-yes, we're all fine now" she said.

Tsuki walked through the villagers, cutting off their ropes that bound their arms and legs. Once he was done, he stepped away from the villagers. "Alright, the village isn't safe for you guys right now. The Elder told me you guys have an emergency shelter. He's on his way to open it up so everyone should make their way to safety. We'll take things from here" he said.

The villagers all stood up and looked at each other. Then, they all turned around and headed through the village gates. However, as they did so, a blast of hot air shot out from the debris the man crashed into, shooting out the debris in all directions like bullets. Tsuki crossed his arms as they started to glow. Moments later, he opened them up to his sides as a barrier formed around the entrance, stopping the debris from hitting the fleeing villagers. Once the debris stopped, the barrier disappeared.

The man soon emerged and brushed off the dirt and ash before approaching the plaza once more. He then stopped and examined Tsuki and Rein closely for a moment. Then, a menacing grin formed on his face. "Well, it would appear that we've found our mark. You two sure did a number on my scouting party out in the canyon pass. I have to admit, I'm impressed with your skills" he said.

Tsuki glared at the man. "Oh? Well, we do aim to please after all" he said.

The man chuckled a bit, slamming his axe down with the blade piercing into the ground. "You two have a high price on your heads but if you surrender the girl to us, I'll make your deaths quick and painless" he said in a threatening tone.

Rein shook his head. "Sorry but I don't like those terms so I think I'll pass. Surrendering really isn't my style anyway" he said, mocking him a little bit.

Tsuki shrugged, keeping his glare trained on the man like a hawk. "She isn't an object nor is she your plaything to do whatever it is you please" he said in a slightly angered tone.

The man's chuckling soon stopped as anger soon began to show in his voice. "It would seem there are still fools in this world who side with those vermin. Vermin sympathizers like yourselves are worse than scum" he said, veins popping out of his forehead.

Tsuki gripped his sword, feeling the anger and power within him swell inside of him. "Maybe you should take a look in the mirror. You'll see who the real vermin is" he said.

Rein expressed a cocky grin as he couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't know. Maybe he's too ugly to see what true ugliness looks like. Or, his gaudy fashion statement broke every mirror he came across" he said in a mocking and provocative tone.

More veins popped out of the man's face. "This is a game to you, isn't it? Siding with lesser beings, mocking the Hunters. You'l live to regret it!" he shouted. He then took out a horn in the shape of a tusk and blew into the narrow side of it, sounding off a low vocal signal that echoed throughout the surrounding trees. Moments later, the squad of Hunters appeared and surrounded them. Due to their efforts on the way to the plaza, there were about twelve Hunters left. Tsuki and Rein ended up putting their backs together as they held their ground.

Rein looked over at the man with that same cocky expression on his face. "What's this? Can't take us on yourself so you call in your flunkies to do the dirty work for you?" he asked.

The man chuckled, shaking his head. "Why bother? The results will be the same anyway. You aren't going to leave here alive" he said. He then held his arm up into the air for a moment before bringing it back down.

Moments later, four of the twelve Hunters shot forward at them. Each had their weapons drawn as they lunged them forward. however, before they got close, Tsuki and Rein looked back at each other with a nod. The flames on Rein's katana began to dance as the blade of Tsuki's sword was enveloped in light. Then, they both spun around in perfect sync and released a wave of black flames and light in a circular motion that shot out in all directions. The attack was enough to stop the four Hunters which gave them an opportunity to strike. Tsuki charged at two of the Hunters. He swung his sword at one of them, clashing with the Hunter's sword. Then, he swung his sword with incredible force that sent him flying back and crashing into a tree. Then, as the other Hunter charged him, he thrusted his spear forward. Tsuki spun around, knocking the spear to the side and made a quick uppercut, slamming his fist up under his chin and sent him up into the air slightly. Afterwards, he jumped into the air, spinning himself around and brought his heel down on his stomach, slamming him into the ground with force.

Meanwhile, Rein was on the defensive as both Hunters attacked him at once. He seemed to have no issue taking on two people at the same time as he blocked and dodged their attacks with ease. Then, when the two Hunters clashed their weapons with Rein, the black flames erupted from the blade. Rein soon broke the clash and jumped back, putting distance between them. Then, he made three quick diagonal slashes in the air before leaping forward, lunging the katana forward and releases a blast of black fire along with fire in the shape of an X at the Hunters, engulfing them as they shot through the crowd of Hunters, taking some with the attack in the process and crashing into one of the ruined houses. When the black flames disappeared, there was no trace of their bodies. Only ash remained. It would appear that the intense flames quite literally incinerated them.

As they fought, the man watched in silence. When they took down four of his hunters with relative ease, he seemed almost strangely amused. "So, the report from my survivor was right. Your skills are quite impressive indeed. You'd make great additions to our ranks. It's a real shame to kill off such exceptional talent" he said. He then pulled out a purple crystal and held it up in the air. Moments later, a cloud of darkness formed around the crystal as it started to glow. An extreme heaviness soon started to build up afterwards as well.

Rein could feel the dark power coming off the crystal and the energy that it was emitting. It was almost overbearing for him. He's never felt such dark, evil power before. "Ugh...that crystal. I can feel its power. Such wickedness from such a small object. What the hell is that thing?" he asked.

Tsuki has felt this feeling before. It's something that was all too familiar to him and almost impossible to forget. Although it's a little weaker than what he felt before, it was definitely evil and it sent chills down his spine. "There's only one thing that can give off such an evil vibe..." he said.

Just then, strange beings that looked like zombies appeared around them. They appeared to be human but there was something very off about them. Their eyes were red and appeared to have no life or living will in them at all. There were about eight of them that had appeared and they all gave off the same evil vibe that the crystal was giving off.

Tsuki's fears have been realized. "There's no mistaking it. It's Dark Arcanum!" he shouted. It was of a weaker potency but there was no mistaking the feeling. Although, something about the creatures summoned by it felt a little off.

Rein tilted his head. He recalls Tsuki mentioning it back at the cave and when he filled Ryoka in on some details of his travels. "So, this is Dark Arcanum? Such evil power. No wonder it was sealed away long ago" he said.

Just then, one of the creatures lunged at Rein with clawed gauntlets, thrusting them forward. Rein blocked the attack but the force of the attack pushed him back slightly. Rein actually struggled to break the clash and when he did, he made a quick diagonal slash, cutting the creature from its left shoulder down to the right side of its hip, causing it to stumble back. Although, it didn't die. It took several more blows from Rein for it to finally fall. However, just as it fell, another reappeared in its place.

Rein was starting to lose his cool a little bit. He didn't know what to make of this situation that they were in. "Uh...Tsuki? You mind filling me in? What are these things?" he asked.

Tsuki was thinking about his options as the tide of the fight quickly turned against them before they both knew it. "They're...Shades? No, something about them is different. These aren't the kinds of Shades I fought against back in Eresseas" he said. Just then, another creature lunged at them but this time at Tsuki, lunging its spear forward. Tsuki dodged the attack and thrust his sword forward, piercing the creature. However, just like with Rein, it took several more blows for it to finally fall.

The man chuckled menacingly. "Please. Do you really think that with how deep and powerful Dark Arcanum is that Shades is all that spawns from it? These aren't your normal breed of Shades. You can say that this is there...second evolution. These are called Dusks. They're more stronger and sturdier than Shades. More intelligent as well" he said.

Rein was running out of ideas and options. Things were looking pretty grim for them as both hunters and these creatures known as Dusks surrounded them. "What do we do, Tsuki? Things are going pretty south for us quickly" he said, fighting off Dusks as they charge at him.

Tsuki looked around, trying to stay calm as he tried to rationalize their situation. "Dark Arcanum always has an external power source. Eliminate the source and its effects will disappear. Meaning, we need to take that crystal out of the picture if we're going to get anywhere" he said, fighting off Dusks as well.

Rein looked over towards the man who was holding the crystal who was behind the line of hunters and Dusks. "That's great. I hope you have some idea on how we're going to do that. We don't exactly have a method for long range combat and he's not going to simply let us walk up to him" he said.

The man chuckled once more with a menacing look on his face. He could feel their desperation grow as they fight a losing battle. "Do you understand the futility in resisting? Give up now and spare us from the inevitable. You're both going to die here for all of the transgressions you have caused the Hunters and Sirione" he said. Then, the crystal started to glow once more.

However, before anything else happened, the sound of a gunshot resonated through the forest. Moments later, a bullet came shooting past Tsuki and Rein and hit the man's shoulder, causing him to stagger back and the glow of the crystal to fade. Immediately afterwards, a series of lightning bolts shot down from the sky and struck the surrounding Hunters and Dusks. Along with the lightning bolts, energized arrows came raining down with the lightning, also hitting the Hunters and Dusks. Before the Hunters who weren't caught in the surprise attacks could act, someone came crashing down from one of the trees and slammed into the ground, causing the ground around them to buckle and rock, knocking the Hunters off-balance. Just as one of the Hunters was thrown off balance, he took out a series of kunais and tossed them at Tsuki. He was about to react to them when a battier of light suddenly appeared around. The kunais simply bounced off the barrier when they hit it. Then, two energized daggers shot past Tsuki and impaled two of the Hunters. The man that was shot tried to regain himself to figure out what was happening when a black dome of energy formed around him. Seconds later, the inner part of the dome was suddenly hit with intense electricity, zapping the man which soon ended in a minor explosion, causing dust and smoke to soon fill the air.

When things seemed to settle down, Rein tried to see through the smoke as it covered the area. He didn't know what was happening. "What...just happened here?" he asked. He looked around and saw the lifeless bodies of the Hunters and Dusks that had surrounded them.

Tsuki was also at a loss. There was no one in the village who could fight and act out a surprise attack so fluently. "You got me. I'm not sure" he said.

Silence soon filled the air as the smoke slowly started to clear. Then, a familiar voice spoke out. "Tsuki! You alright!?" the voice shouted out.

Tsuki immediately recognized the voice. Taking into account of the types of attacks that were used, he should have known. "Wait, that voice!" he said, looking over in the direction the voice came from.

As the smoke cleared, he saw eight familiar figures emerge. When the smoke was completely gone, his hopes were confirmed. The people who came to their aid turned out to be Ramza and the others.

Tsuki was surprised and happy to see that everyone was alright. "Guys! How did you find me?" he asked.

Ramza approached him, shaking his head. "You wouldn't believe it but we had help. That Flynn guy from Sky Tower told us you'd be heading north and that you were going to be alright" he said.

Cheria wasted no time running from the group towards Tsuki and practically threw herself at him as she wrapped her arms around him tightly in a hug. "You're okay! After you guys were blown off of Sky Tower, I didn't know what to think!" she said, her voice slightly cracking from tears of joy.

Tsuki got knocked back a bit when Cheria threw herself at him but managed to keep himself from falling. "Of course I'm okay. I still have tasks ahead of me so I can't let something like that take me out. I'm sorry for worrying you" he said, using his hand to pet her head gently.

Luan stepped forward, walking up to one of the Hunters that they had struck down during their surprise attack. "We followed Flynn's advice and headed north and eventually found ourselves in Canyon Pass. Judging from what was left behind there and with Cheria's Tracer ability, we were able to pick up your trail while it was still fresh. We followed it to this forest where we also caught wind of a group of people lurking in the shadows. Soon enough, we heard an explosion and not long after that, a group of fleeing Demi-Humans came in our direction. We had to do some convincing on our parts but once we assured them we weren't their enemies, they pointed us here" she explained.

Ruko scratched the back of his head and examined another dead Hunter. "I know you've probably heard this a thousand times by now but you sure love getting yourself into situations that don't fall into your favor, don't you?" he asked. Traveling with him for a while now, it should come as no surprise by now.

Tsuki shrugged his shoulders as he tried to calm Cheria down. "Hey, what was I suppose to do? I couldn't just let them do what they please" he said.

Lynette walked up to Tsuki and giggled a bit. "We know. You can't help yourself when it comes to helping others but you should really try to be a little more careful" she said.

Phi sighed heavily, shaking her head with a hand over her face. "At least that's one trait of yours that hasn't changed one bit whether it's in the line of duty or posing as a traveling swordsman" she said.

As the group reunited with each other, Rein examined everyone that arrived. He didn't get a chance to properly examine them back at Sky Tower due to the circumstances that were going on. "Well, at least that saves us the trouble of finding your companions" he said.

Nagi looked over at Rein, tilting her head. It took her a moment to recognize him. "Aren't you the person who was fighting with Flynn?" she asked

Rein looked at Nagi and nodded his head. "I am. A lot has happened in a short amount of time. When things settle down, I'd be glad to properly introduce myself" he said.

Cheria released Tsuki from the hug and took a few steps back. She then looked around and noticed that someone was missing. "Where's Cesela? Is she okay?" she asked.

Tsuki gave her an assuring look and nodded. "She's fine. She's with the Elder. They should be at the village's emergency shelter right about now" he said.

Just then, the air around them grew heavy once more. The man who took all those hits stood up with ease and chuckled. It was like he brushed off everything that just happened. "So, the vermin have retreated to another hold, I see. That makes things even easier" he said. He then took his axe, charging towards Tsuki and swinging it at him.

Tsuki quickly turned around and blocked the attack. However, the force used behind the attack was too much and it sent him crashing through a door to someone's house.

The man continued to chuckle as he faced into a different direction of the forest. After a moment of silence, he had a menacing look on his face as he started to walk off into that direction. "You can't hide from a Hunter" he said. Then, he sprinted off into the forest with incredible speed.

Lynette quickly ran up to Tsuki and started to heal his wounds that he had sustained. "Are you okay? Let me heal you up" she said. A light surrounded her briefly before the light started to envelope Tsuki.

Tsuki felt relief as his wounds were being healed up. However, he couldn't move. It would appear that the force of his attack temporarily left him stunned. "Thanks. Lyn. He just caught me off-guard is all. I can't move though it would seem" he said. He tried to get up but no matter what he did, his body wouldn't respond. "Damn, it's no use. Listen, you guys need to chase after him. The villagers are in danger" he said.

Cheria looked off in the direction the man went and then back at Tsuki. "We can't leave you like this!" she said.

Tsuki shook his head. "I'll be fine. I'll catch up with you guys once I can move. Rein, go with them. They'll need your help" he said.

Rein nodded. "Alright. Try not to push yourself" he said.

Cheria didn't like the fact that they had to leave Tsuki behind but she knew that he was right. They didn't have much of a choice. Not only were the Demi-Humans in trouble, Cesela was also in danger as well. "Alright. We'll be back soon" she said. She then stood up and closed her eyes, facing in the direction the man went off in. Moments later, a faint glow appeared around her as time seemed to seemingly slow down for her. In her mind, a visual of the forest appeared with a trail of particles going out into the direction the man went off into. This was her Tracer ability that she had used to track down Tsuki. "Alright, I got his trail. He's headed west" she said.

Ramza nodded. "Right. Let's get moving then. Judging by his speed, he already has a significant lead ahead of us. We've got no time to waste" he said.

They all then ran off to the west, soon disappearing into the brush of the forest while Tsuki remained in the village to regain his strength. Without Cesela to use her sense of smell, they had to rely on Cheria's Tracer ability she had learned along the way as they searched for Tsuki and Cesela. Along with Rein, they rushed through the thick brush in order to catch up with the man and save the villagers and Cesela.

To be continued...