It's the dead of midnight in the Tanzuki Forest. The animals of the day were asleep while the more nocturnal animals were hunting for their dinner or just going about their business. The almost serene, nighttime setting was then disrupted by heavy winds caused by a large red portal in the center of the forest.
The mysterious portal caught the attention of the animals in the area. As the creatures of the night observe the portal, they see a figure come out of it.
Exiting from the red, swirling vortex was a six foot tall Black man with short golden blonde hair wearing Black baggy pants and a Black sleeveless shirt with knee-high combat boots.
The man coming out of the portal was Kanaan Tesfaye.
The animals could tell he was human based on appearance alone, but his aura felt dangerous and reptilian. Not like a snake or a lizard. Something more ancient and powerful than those two. As the portal closed and the mysterious human took a step towards them, the animals panicked and ran/slithered/flew away.
"Is this the place, Apep?"
After the question was asked, a red energy construct of a King Cobra/Komodo Dragon hybrid came out of Kane's shoulder. This was Apep, the Egyptian god of Chaos and Kane's current tenant.
"Yes hatchling, Realm #112199. This is the Elemental Nations. I can smell the chaos coming from the realm. It's amazing." Apep said, shuddering in anticipation and bloodlust.
"If that's the cause, then let's find a place to..." Kane's words were cut off when he heard the sounds of running and a little girl screaming.
He looked to the right and saw bushes rustling. Instead of seeing what he assumed to be a young girl, it was a small tiger cub.
"Help! Someone help me!" The female cub screamed until she ran into his leg. Kane examined the scared tiger cub and was mildly surprised that animals in this realm could talk. From his experience with other talking animals, she was either a summon of some kind or a demon. He then picks up the small tiger girl.
"Hey, what's got you so scared sweetie?" Kane soothingly asked.
"I'm lost. Mean hunters are trying to hurt me!" The cub calmed down as she snuggled into Kane's broad chest. The cub's calmness soon died as she heard multiple footsteps coming towards them.
"They're coming!"
He once again calmed the tiger cub by petting behind her ear, "Everything's gonna be OK. What's your name?
"K..kimiko."
Right on que, a group of five men came out the bushes wielding weapons and nets. The leader of this group of "merrymen" seemed to be a tall, lanky man holding a hand axeThey found their prize, but it was currently in the arms of an unknown man.
"You!?"
"Hello." Kane said nonchalantly while bringing the cute cub closer to him.
"That tiger belongs to us!" The leader said as his men drew in closser to try and intimidate him. Kane wasn't impressed or fazed by the numbers at all
"Really? I don't see your name on her, Mr..."
"Takeda, right hand man to Crazy Hippo."
Kane shrugged, "Is that name supposed to mean any..."
He paused his words when several things signaled off his senses: his nose and eyes caught that the dried blood on their blades was human and he could hear the scream and cries of multiple women in the distance along the screams of men.
"OK, I get it now. You guys are bandits, not hunters." Kane said grimly
Takeda started to get aggravated at the dark-skinned man stalling him from his prize, "That doesn't matter. Just give us the fucking tiger and we just maybe we won't kill you."
Kane looked at the group of jackasses in front of him and looked down at the baby tiger who was getting scared for her savior.
"Kimiko sweetie, I'm gonna put you in an energy bubble because I don't want you to see what I'm about to do. You'll be safe and they won't hurt you. Is that OK?" Kane said sweetly to the cub.
Kimiko looked at Kane with a twinkle in her eyes as if he was Kami himself. She trusted him and nodded. The bandits looked at each other confusingly and wondered why he was talking to the tiger. Setting the tiger on the ground, he summoned a medium-sized, light green bubble around her to keep her safe from harm. The bubble operated on two-way mirror logic where everyone outside the bubble could see Kimiko, but she couldn't see them.
From the mystic powers that Kane seems to have, the bandits came to the conclusion that the man in front of them was a shinobi from one of the hidden villages. Their plan of killing him and taking the tiger changed to kidnapping and ransoming him to one of the villages he might belong to. He was worth more to them dead than alive.
With the young cub safe and sound, the atmosphere became chilly as Kane looked back at the meat bags in front of him with eyes that turned from brown to red. He dragged his foot along the dirt and created a line between each other.
"How about we play a game called "Life and Death"? Here's how the game's played: Your side is life and mine is death. If you want that tiger, you can cross the line and get it, but it's game over if you do. Stay on your side, tell me where your boss is, and I'll let you live. Just a word of warning though, if you cross the line, you're gonna regret it." Kane explained.
Takeda and his group of bandits laughed at the game, thinking that they had the numbers over the delusional man in front of them. He signaled for his two lackeys, one holding a machete and the other with a club, to get Kane and Kimiko. The two minions cockily walked past the line with Kane giving them a devious smirk.
The machete wielding lackey went behind Kane and held him in place by clasping his arms behind his back, while his partner was winding his club back to crack him in the face.
"I don't even need to use my power on these dickheads, Apep." Kane said in his head to the chaos god while still having the confident smile plastered on his face.
"This is gonna be good." Apep said in a joyous manner and made himself comfortable for the carnage that was about to happen.
As the studded club approached Kane's face (in almost slow motion from Kane's point of view), he headbutted the man holding his arms back in the nose and caused blood to gush out and for him to unlock Kane's arms.
With his arms free, he caught the heavy club and kicked the minion hard in the stomach. Kane then swung the club into the goon's head, turning it into red paste and splattering brain and skull across the forest floor. The man was dead before he hit the ground.
"YOU BROKE MY FUCKING NOSE!"
Fury and pain overshadowed the machete user's common sense and he rushed at Kane, swinging wildly at him with the bladed weapon.
Kane got him right where he wanted him.
He effortlessly dodged the slashes, causing the man to become even more frustrated. When the machete was thrusted towards Kane's face, he grabbed the minion's arm and broke it. The man let out a painful scream and was shocked to see the bone sticking out from the skin. It was only then that he noticed that his weapon wasn't in his hand anymore.
His thoughts were put to an end with a stab through the top of his head and into his brain. Kane couldn't deny that he was getting a mild thrill from killing these brain dead humans that thought they had a chance against just off having the numbers.
Having a god complex can be a bitch sometimes.
He looked at the remaining three bandits with a hungry bloodlust and asked, "Do you wanna tell me where your boss is, or do you wanna keep playing my game?"
The two remaining goons were shocked at their friends being slaughtered single handedly by the strange man, but Takeda knocked them out of their stupor.
"He's just one man, you dumbfucks! Let's kill him and get the damn tiger!" Takeda screamed.
The order from their boss woke them out of their shock and all three of the bandits rushed at Kane, crossing the line that he drew in the dirt.
Kane smirked at the mistake the bandits made, "Game over."
He materialized a handful of shurikens from air and threw them at the bandits. Takeda and the first minion, a dark-skinned man wielding a hunting knife, ducked out of the way. The spear-wielding lackey, however, got hit in his left leg, right pec, left shoulder, and right eye. All painful, but non-fatal spots to hit with a shuriken. Aside from the pained screams of his henchman, Takeda thought that he was safe until he heard fingers snapping and four small, wet explosions.
He looked back and was spooked by the grisly sight before him: the four shuriken that hit the man exploded, blowing off his leg, chest, arm, and half his head. The second henchman was enraged at the sight of his comrade dying horribly and rushed at Kane with his knife.
Kane would effortlessly dodge his wild slashes before stopping and letting him cut his throat and stabbing him in the stomach. Takeda cheered on his lackey for killing the mysterious man, but that happiness ended when the man's hand violently ripped though his friend's back and was pushed to the ground with a large entry hole in his chest.
The demigod then yanked the knife out of his stomach and Takeda's fear increased when the slash on Kane's neck and the stab wound on his stomach stitched itself up and healed him.
"Well, that was uneventful."
"Kami above!" Takeda exclaimed at the unnatural feat. This wasn't a man, it was a demon. Fuck the tiger and fuck Crazy Hippo, he needed to escape.
The bandit tried to make a run for it, only for Kane to appear in front of him and deliver a brutal stomp to his foot. This caused Takeda to fall over in pain from his broken and bloody foot. His screams of pain were muffled by Kane's hand and the knife on his throat.
"Shhh, shhh. Now this is how it's gonna go: you're gonna tell me where the rest of your buddies are or I'm gonna turn you into a human pin cushion." Kane said softly
"I don't know what you're…
Takeda's muffled statement ceased when Kane put the hunting knife deeper to his neck.
"Don't lie to me, I heard the screaming and laughing from here. I know there's more of you. I have ways of making you talk if you don't plan on telling me." Kane threatened and moved the knife from the bandit's throat to his eye while taking his hand off his mouth
This caused Takeda to crumble under pressure as he saw a sharp knife pointed inches away from his cornea.
"The west side of the forest! It's a base with a big fence and heads on pikes! You can't miss it!" Takeda screamed.
Kane moved the knife from Takeda's eye, "West side of the forest and heads on pikes?"
The scared bandit nodded.
"Thank you." Kane said
Takeda sighed in relief that he was possibly going to make it out, "So, can I g..."
A sharp pain erupted into Takeda's body, especially in his chest. He looked down to see a knife sticking from his and Kane gripping the handle. He started spitting up blood as Kane slid the knife deeper towards his heart
"But...I...told you..."
"You went past the line during my game. I told you before that I would kill you if you crossed. I'm a man of my word. Be lucky I'm giving you a quick death. Your rapist buddies at your base are a different story." Kane explained as he watched the bandit's life slowly fade away.
Kane looked around at the dead, brutalized bodies and could feel a sense of domination and bloodlust wash over him. The feeling of dominating these weak, evil humans felt good. He could also hear Apep egging him on.
"That's it, Hatchling. Give into violence, give into chaos. These awful humans have hurt countless people. It's your job to..."
"Will you shut the fuck, you oversided garden snake?! I know what I wanna do and I don't need you instigating." Kane interupted while breaking out of his bloodlust.
Apep was silent for a few seconds before letting out a hiss and shrugging his non-existent shoulders, "You can't blame a god for trying."
Kane was about to go to the bandit's base until he forgot about the young tiger cub in the energy bubble. He quickly burned the bodies to ash because he didn't want to traumatize her.
"Are you OK, Kimiko?"
"Yes, Kanaan-sama. I heard screaming. Is everything alright?" Kimiko said from the bubble.
Kane kneeled down and popped the bubble. Kimiko looked around to see Kane giving her a loving smile and the smell of ash and fire hitting her nose. She gave him a cute head tilt and asked what happened to the bandits.
He picked up the cute cub and said, "Those bandits aren't gonna hurt you or anyone else again, but I need to take care of the rest of them, so they don't hurt anyone else."
"And then we can find mommy?"
"Yes sweetie, we can find your mommy afterwards. What does she look like?" He said as they walked towards the base.
"She's big, really big. And pretty." Kimiko said using her front legs to show how big her mother was.
Kane chuckled at the young cub's description, "Anything else, sweetie?"
"Mommy has a scar over her nose."
BANDIT'S BASE
Kane and Kimiko finally made it near the gates of the bandit's encampment. As described, the gate had decapitated heads on pikes. Kane's senses were assaulted by the sounds of laughing, screaming, and crying from men and women along with the smell of blood. He knew what was going on in the base and that these people needed to die immediately.
He placed Kimiko near a tree and placed her in another energy bubble, "I'm gonna go take care of these other bandits, Kimiko. It won't take too long and then we'll go find your mom. OK?"
Kimiko nodded, having full trust in her savior.
With the tiger cub placed in her safe bubble, the dragon god's warm smile morphed into a cold, indifferent frown. A look almost devoid of compassion.
Armed with only a hunting knife and the mentality of a slasher villain, Kane slowly crept towards the base for another round of ultra violence.