Chapter 1
Hanzo starred at his young self saying his final words as the poison took its toll on his body. He felt the pain of his wounds as his vision started to blur. In his final moments, he took solace in the fact that if Reiden and the rest beat Kronika the Shirai Ryu would survive and thrive even if he is not there to see it.
"The new Shirai Ryu are worthy, its heart, not blood, that makes them warriors," Hanzo said with his final breath before darkness took him.
He felt the soft grass beneath him, he felt the sun's heat on his face and once he could hear the sounds of birds Hanzos's eyes opened. His vision was blurry, white spots enabled him to see what was around him but he could still make out the light of some sort. Feeling the ground beneath him he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He stayed like that, trying to decern his surroundings, he could not see but he could hear and smell. He heard what he thought were birds and he could smell the scent of a forest being carried by the wind.
"Is this his new afterlife?" he wondered. As he focused his senses more he noticed that his vision was slowly starting to clear. He could now make out the shapes of trees. He stayed still more several minutes until his vision cleared completely and saw that he was indeed in a middle of a forest. "Strange," he thought. Looking up to the sky he saw the sun and by its position, he could make out that it was around noon.
The last thing he remembered was being poisoned by D'Vorah and dying in the arms of his younger wraith self and now he found himself in a forest of some kind. He looked around his body and saw that he was still wearing his gear including all his weapons, the Mugai Ryu sword on his back, his Kunai, tanto and several throwing daggers. A question quickly crossed his mind, if he was dead how did he still have all of this on him. He could feel his hellfire magic as well. Looking around he saw nothing out of the ordinary so he decided to start walking forward.
Where ever he is it certainly isn't Netherrealm or Outworld, Earth perhaps but if that's true that would mean that he is still alive. He walked for a good part of what must have been an hour pondering his situation before the sound of shrubbery moving made him stop and look to his left. He put his hand around his sword and took a ready stance, there was no telling where he is and what he could encounter, all he knows it could be one of Kronikas minions. A moment later the shrubbery moved and out of it came a running dear, it stopped and looked at Hanzo for a second before running off. He was slightly surprised but quickly removed his hand from the sword handle.
As he was about to continue walking he heard the shrubs moving once more but this time instead of dear he saw a pair of dark red eyes staring back at him. The creature took a step forward and Hanzo saw that it was covered in thick black fur. On their face is a bone-like mask with red markings, and it has bone spikes protruding from their arms, back, and knees. Its fingers and toes are tipped with long, sharp, white claws. It snarled at Hanzo and a moment later lunged at him, its mouth wide open and claws pointed at him. He easily avoided the creature's attack and moved several meters back. The wolf-like creature looked at him before attacking once more. Hanzo avoided this attack as well but before the wolf could react he moved to its side and kicked into its leg, a sound of bones breaking was heard as it fell to one knee before he finished it off by plunging the short tanto blade into its neck. An eye blink after he removed the blade the body of the creature fell to the ground.
"This isn't Earth nor some sort of afterlife," he thought. As he stared at the body he heard the sound of something charging at him. He moved around sending a powerful kick which sent his attacker flying into a nearby tree. Two more creatures like the one he beat were on his sides while the third was slowly starting to get back up. The two started to circle him, Hanzo carefully watching both of them until the one on the right attacked. Hanzo avoided the claw and pushed his blade into the creature's chest pulling it up towards the throat. He then immediately pulled out the tanto and moved towards the second beast avoiding its jaws and stabbing the short blade into its heart, then he quickly turned his attention to the final creature who had finally found its bearings and was moving towards him. Hanzo attacked his opponent, shattering its knee with a well-placed kick before punching it in the jaw sending it to the ground. The beast lay on the ground but it was still alive and moving. With one swift move, he brought his foot down on the creature's neck, snapping it.
He put the short blade back into its scabbard and took a step back from the monster. These creatures are definitely not from Earth nor any other place he had seen but there was something familiar about them, he could feel dark energy coming from them and the blind furious attacks remained him of Netherrealms demons. He could see hate in their eyes but there was little intelligence there. They also looked wolf-like, almost like werewolves from Earth's folklore. Looking at the wounds he made he saw red flesh behind the black fur. The fight was brief both due to the low level of skill of the beasts and due to him immediately going for the weak spots. It was slightly unsettling that there were creatures similar to demons out there but it was good that by the looks of it they too have limited intelligence. They have bone armor around their body but with a powerful enough strike, Hanzo knew that it could easily be shattered. As he was looking at the first body, analyzing it, it slowly started to emit a cloud of black smoke and start to disappear. Taking a step back and noticed that the other three bodies were doing the same, soon all four bodies were gone and it looked like they had never been there at all.
"How peculiar," Hanzo said to himself. Where ever he is it seems that this realm has some strange wildlife of demonic kind. Deciding that staying in one place is probably not a good idea he continued his walk forward, pondering where exactly did he end up. This place whatever and where ever it is was like Earth in some ways, so far its flora and fauna were identical with the birds and animals he had seen, a world similar to his home realm perhaps. He patiently walked for probably two more hours until he heard the noise of a stream nearby. He approached the source of the sound and found a small creek running through the woods. Kneeling down he filled his hands with a small amount of water and brought it to his lips, taking a sip. After determining that the water was drinkable he took several larger sips.
After getting up he looked downstream, bodies of water are good places for people to live near if there are people in this place. Walking downstream proved fruitful because after another half hour of walking he found a small dirt road. Wanting to know where exactly the road was headed and if there is a settlement nearby Hanzo expertly climbed the tallest tree he could find and once on top he gazed at his surroundings, he saw that the road was going from east to northwest. In the distance, he could see the forest slowly fading and turning into an open plane. Seeing what he wanted Hanzo jumped down to the ground and proceeded to walk in the northwest direction, towards the clearing.
When the night started to fall he made camp for the night near the road under a tree. He made a small fire which was more for comfort and to provide some light than to warm him up. He had no food and no water due to not having anything to fill it with but he didn't necessarily need it right now, a part of his training was to survive long without food or water but he will need it eventually. Leaning his back against a tree he continued to wonder what brought him here. He was clearly still alive and had no wounds from his previous confirmation in the Neatherrealm so something or someone must have interfered. Raiden said that all of the Elder Gods apart from Centrion who had joined Kronika are no more so that leaves them out as a potential suspect. Another lesser god perhaps or a sorcerer capable of bringing back the dead, it wouldn't be the first time something like that happened to him.
An idea crossed his mind, something he should have thought earlier. Using his hellfire he tried to teleport back to the Fire Gardens but just as the teleportation was starting it abruptly stopped, he tried once again but he got the same result. Hanzo then tried to teleport to the Netherrealm but the same thing occurred. For some reason, he could not teleport to any other realm. Trying to find out what the reason was he teleported himself three meters from where he originally stood. Normal teleportation worked but inter-realm teleportation did not, something like that had never happened before so he had no answer to what could be causing it, only a question.
He then checked the rest of his magical abilities from summoning a fireball into his hand to using flame aura and everything worked. So it's only the teleportation that's the problem. After spending quite some time pondering the strange events that accord so far he finally decided to get some rest and closed his eyes, wondering what tomorrow might bring.
When the dawn broke he awoke and as soon as he wiped the sleep from his eyes Hanzo continued on his path. Soon the forest gave way to a lush clearing which was split by a now slightly wider road and as he walked he felt a pleasant breeze around him. So far he had not encountered any more of those creatures, maybe he was wrong to think that they were more common than not here.
After some time he had finally found a sign of civilization, a crossroads with a sign in the center of it. Looking at the sigh he was surprised to find the words written in English. Most realms have their own writing styles but they have learned the languages and writing of others for easier communication, maybe that's the case here. Looking at the names of the settlements and the distance to them he picked the one heading west due to it being the closest. With his current pace, he should be there in an hour.
He wondered what kind of creatures would be found here, would they be humanoid or would they be like the Shokan or the Tarkatans. He hoped that it would be something akin to the former, it would be much easier to deal with someone who does not immediately attack on sight. And then there were those black creatures again, he could feel the hate and darkness radiating from them, their sole purpose to destroy.
Just as he predicted, it took him an hour to finally reach the sight of the village. The area around it was surrounded by trees, covering it from view and it had a tall wall that went all around the settlement for protection. But what really caught his attention was the sounds of battle, gunfire and screams coming from the village. Without thinking he immediately rushed towards the walls, climbing over the gates and landing safely on the battlements. Looking around he noticed people, to his surprise humans running in panic, trying to hide inside their homes, while armed men were rushing towards the wall to fight whatever was attacking them. Looking in the direction from where the fighting was loudest he made out a large horde of those black creatures storming the walls but unlike on his encounter, there weren't only wolf-like beasts but also bears. Just as he was about to move a sound of gun cocking was heard, looking around he saw six men surrounding him, all pointing their guns at him.
"Who are you?" one of them asked in a commanding tone.
"Someone who can help, if you allow it," Hanzo said. The men looked as if they were pondering Hanzos offer for a moment before one of them lowered his gun and spoke.
"Fine, this side is clear of Grimm, the North and West walls are swarming with the bastards. The guards there could use all the help they can get, especially a huntsman," the man said before looking at the comrade to his right. "Kowalski get him to the northern wall!"
"Help will not be necessary," Hanzo said as he took off, heading to the north wall faster than any man there could register. He jumped off the wall and landed on one of the rooftops before jumping on to the next one. Now he knew what these strange creatures are called, the Grimm but what did the man mean by huntsman? He pushed away those thoughts as he landed on the wall right behind a group of armed guards who were shooting at the horde of Grimm. Now he could see just how large the horde was and they were almost at the wall. Some of the guards turned around and looked at him with surprise.
"Another huntsman," Hanzo heard someone say in surprise.
"What is the situation here?" he asked.
"We are firing as fast as we can but there are just too many of them, we can't kill them fast enough. If this continues they will reach us soon and if they get over the wall then..." the guard said and Hanzo could guess what would happen if these creatures got into the town. He looked at the charging horde and quickly made a plan.
"I will draw their attention, once they start focusing on me you pick off any that continue to charge at you," Hanzo said.
"What?" the guard asked shocked. "But there are too many."
"Don't worry about me, just do as I say," he said and jumped over the wall, shocking all people present. Once on the ground, Hanzo ran towards his opponents, his first target was a wolf Grimm which he dispatched by punching it into the head with enough force to break both its bone armor and its skull. Next, he avoided a strike from another one's claws, taking its arm and hurling it into another Grimm. Then he slid under the next one's legs and struck from behind, breaking its spine with a well-placed kick. It seemed that his plan was working because the Grimm creatures were now starting to turn their attention from the town defenders onto him.
Another wolf charged at him but Hanzo sidestepped its attack and then sent a series of fast punches to its torso stunning it before he sent the finishing blow by punching where its heart was leaving a fist-sized hole. Pulling his right hand out the limp body of the monster fell to the ground. The Shirai Ryu noticed that he was surrounded by at least a dozen of those wolf Grimm and a few bear-like Grimm.
Several Grimm charged at him at once and Hanzo moved to the closest one kicking it back into the crowd of Grimm. He then pulled out his tanto and moved his gaze towards his next opponent, blocking the beast's strike with his free hand Hanzo pushed the short blade into its chest before he quickly did the same with the next one.
He dispatched several more of these wolf Grimm before a loud roar made him turn and see that two of the bears were closing on him. Jumping forward he avoided the charge and as he landed he sent one of the throwing knives into the left bear's eye as it turned around, a roar of pain echoed throughout the field before the beast collapsed. The remaining bear charged at Hanzo ready to end him with its claws. The Earthrealm warrior spun to the side just as the monster's large paw was descending on him sending a kick to its leg joint and then pushing the tanto into its forward leg. Pulling the blade out the beast fell to its side, unable to use its right legs, Hanzo then finished it off by plunging his blade into its skull. As this was all happening the defenders were shooting at the remaining Grimm and were focusing on the ones heading for Hanzo.
A loud howl was heard from in front of him and so Hanzo lifted his head to see the source of it was a wolf Grimm but much larger and with more armor. Sheathing his tanto, Hanzo then loosened the Kunai from his hand and sent it flying towards the large Grimm.
"GET OVER HERE!" Hanzo yelled as his Kunai struck the creature in its chest, breaking its bone armor and lodging itself into the flesh beneath. With a pull from his hand he sent the Grimm flying towards him and just as it was near him, Hanzo used his free hand to pull his sword and decapitate the wolf. He then proceeded to use the body as a weapon and spun it around several times knocking the other Grimm back. Sheathing his sword and pulling the kunai from the beast, the grandmaster looked around to see the monsters all looking at him warily for a moment before the next one charged at him once more. The fight did not last long after that, he slew at least a dozen more Grimm before it was all over, the bodies of the beasts vanishing into black mist.
Seeing no more opponents he turned around he started heading for the northern gates. Once there the large wooden gates opened and out came several guards with the man he spoke at the walls in front.
"You did it, you actually did it," the man said in both shock and awe.
"You did your part as well, that is why the plan worked," Hanzo said.
"I… thank you for helping us. I'm not sure what would have happened if you had not shown up but much more people would have died if you did not."
"How grave are the casualties?" he asked.
"We are still counting but so far it's only the defenders, no civilians," the man said, his words bringing some relief to the Shirai Ryu. It was regretful that people died but they died fighting and defending their homes. Hanzo nodded to the guard. "We thought that one huntsman was going to be enough with the combination of our guards but we were wrong. It seems it took two of you to save us."
The grandmaster raised an eyebrow at the man. "Forgive me but I'm not a huntsman nor do I know what that is."
The guards all looked at him as if he had grown a second head. "Really?" the head guard asked.
"Indeed," Hanzo replied.
"Then what are you?" one of the guards asked puzzled.
"I'm a warrior," Hanzo answered in a calm and slightly proud tone. "But I would like to know what a huntsman is, considering you think me to be one."
The men still looked at him with surprise but the head one spoke again. "Huntsmen are basically people who fight the Grimm for a living, they protect people from them and from other threats. If you want more details you are going to have to speak to the huntsman that came here, that is as soon as he is done patching up his arm. He took a hit during the fighting on the west wall."
Hanzo nodded. "I intend to."
The guard sighed. "Come on follow me I will take you to him, maybe he's done by now."
Following the guards, they made their way through the small town. With the looming threat of Grimm over the residents of the town were starting to come out of their hiding places. Those that were in the streets instantly noticed an armed man being escorted by the town militia. Soon they reached what looked like to be the village hospital or something akin to that. In front were injured men, mostly guards who fought but there were few civilians as well. Among them one person stood out, a tall, dark-haired man dressed in a blue shirt and pants, black shoes. He had a bandage around his left arm and was currently putting on a black leather jacket. But what really made him stand out where the pair of hock swords on his back.
"That's the huntsman," the guard who followed him said and his voice was picked up by the aforementioned man who looked from his wound to them. His eyes scanned Hanzo for a moment before he got up from the crate he was sitting on and walked over to them.
"So you are the one who saved the north wall, its good to see another huntsman in the area. I thought I was the only one."
"He is not a huntsman," the guard said and the huntsman raised an eyebrow at that.
"It is true, I'm not a huntsman but I'm a warrior," Hanzo said.
"So if you are not a huntsman what are you doing here, why help out?" the man asked intrigued.
"To answer your second question I might not be a huntsman but I'm a warrior sworn to defend others."
The dark-haired man shrugged. "Good enough for me."
"And to answer the first one, it seems I'm lost. I came here by accident by following the road."
The huntsman chuckled. "So a lost traveler accidentally comes to a village swarming with Grimm, that's some luck."
"Indeed, but I would like to know where exactly I have found myself."
"This is the village of Vatra," the guard said.
"And where is that?" Hanzo asked.
"The western frontier," the huntsmen said.
Hanzo looked with confusion at the two men. "The western frontier of what?"
Now the two men looked with confusion at him. "Vale, of course," the huntsman said. The name did not ring any bells for Hanzo. He had accumulated a sizable knowledge of the realms over the years but he had never heard of Vale. Not wanting to raise any suspicion just yet he nodded at the answer as if he understood.
"Where did you think you were?" the huntsman asked.
"In another place but that does not matter now, what is important is that I'm here," Hanzo said.
The black-haired man hummed. "By your attire, I would say that you are from Mistral. Am I right?" Hanzo did not know about this place either but considering he was in unfamiliar territory he decided to go along with it.
"That you are," Hanzo lied.
"So what is a warrior from Minstral doing in the middle of the Vales frontier?"
"That is something I too am interested in," Hanzo said telling the truth this time. "The last thing I remember is fighting and getting injured, the next thing I knew I was in a forest," The huntsman gave Hanzo a skeptical look before shrugging.
"Tough luck mate, I can't give you an answer about what happened to you but I'm willing to give you a portion of the reward for helping me out, it's only fair."
"It is much appreciated," Hanzo said respectfully.
AN: And I'm going to leave it at that, I think the first chapter is a good enough introduction. The story will follow Hanzo as he makes his mark on Remnant. You are free to leave your comments and review, they are much appreciated. I'm not sure when the next chapter will come, probably in the next few weeks. This is my first crossover, hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did writing it.
