I suppose I should actually be writing this thing, seeing as how I have it.

My first entry didn't go so well, but frankly, I never expected it to. It was difficult just writing the introduction alone, let alone talking about that awful night.

What has occurred since the last entry? Do I even bother writing down dates to mark the passage of time between each entry? I don't know….

I've felt a lot more tired, as of late. Perhaps my old age is finally catching up to me, perhaps I am still reminded of that awful night, or perhaps it's because my grandson keeps waking us all up in the middle of the night. Or perhaps it's all of the above.

I must say, in a strange sense, I feel rather nostalgic having a baby constantly waking us up. Evelynn was an only child, so we never had the chance to repeat the act of raising a younger sibling for her. It's rather funny looking at it this way since me and Siobhan believed the process to be a thankless job, but I suppose when your child grows older and becomes more independent, you tend to look back on those days with fondness. Raising a baby was not easy, but it was simpler.

So much simpler…

Spawn grumbled, closing the book after finishing that passage. First two entries and he could barely stomach the thought of reading more.

"Fucking Malebolgia…" he muttered to himself, putting the book away. He knew that the demon lord spread his venom across many realms, but even after what Eda told him, a small part of him had hoped that this one place would be safe from his influence. The one place where all connections to him were severed. He put too much faith in that notion, clearly.

Every dimension he goes to, there's always a small sliver of Hell's influence and Malebolgia's stink is all over it. Even in death, his puppets still dance for his amusement.

He began to walk deeper into the forest with a need to clear his head from all the rage bubbling inside of it. Besides, nightfall was near and he needed to be on his guard. There's no telling whether someone would pop out of the bushes or not.

As he headed deeper and deeper into the forest, he decided to finally look around, realizing that he was stepping onto some sort of stony ruin. From the shape and size of it, it was a small hut made of stone that had long been covered by moss and lichen.

He went up to a ruined wall and placed a hand on it, tracing his palm on the cold stone. It was easily a century or two old, reminding him of something he'd see in the forests of Eastern Europe.

With this in mind, he wondered what this world was like before Belos. What little history he's read about this place, it seems everything before Belos' reign was taboo. Why? What did the denizens of this realm do that was so abhorrent, that they would shun their history like that? He was no stranger to burying his past, but he's long learned to accept it for the most part. So what excuse did these people have?

As soon as he thought of scenarios, he heard snarling and barks in the distance. Of course they sent hunting dogs.

He narrowed his eyes as he heard the barks and howls of the hounds grow closer. He knew this place was archaic, but dogs? Were they that desperate?

Hunter dashed in a flash of golden light from one tree trunk to another in an attempt to hide from any onlookers while Boris just took his time jogging. They were following the tracks of the worm hounds and their distant cries that grew more intense by the minute.

"Do you have to do that?" the monster hunter asked as Hunter flash stepped to another tree.

"It's the fastest way to stay hidden." Hunter responded, which Boris just rolled his eyes at and carried on.

The barking of the hounds grew more frequent. They were getting closer to their target. Boris was itching for this. Ever since those kids and their house with two legs came into fray, his business' reputation was completely ruined and everyone was forced to leave to find other opportunities. Though he's taken a few odd jobs here and there, it was barely enough to last him in the long run.

With the Emperor's Coven hiring him to track down the Hellspawn, he just knows he'll be set for life with the reward money.

The demon stopped and summoned a briefcase with a twirl of his fingers. He lay it on the floor and opened it, revealing the components of some sort of harpoon gun. He grabbed the pieces and began to assemble them together.

Hunter turned to the hunter and raised a brow beneath his mask, "What are you doing?" he asked. Boris continued to assemble the gun as he spoke, "setting my weapon."

"Our target isn't a selkidomus, you know."

"No, but he'll need similar tactics." Boris flatly responded as he finished the harpoon gun and then pulled out a small vial that was half an inch with a cap barely bigger than a fingernail, "do you know what this is?"

Hunter tilted his head, "poison, I imagine?"

"Close. It's venom." Boris explained, "from the Rainbow Slugs that live in the bubbling tidepools. Their venom is a neurotoxin strong enough to paralyze you within seconds of their proboscis barbs injecting it in you. Even just touching the venom makes your skin go numb, it's that powerful."

He shook the small vial a bit as he explained, "a dose this big is enough to paralyze a Great Wyvern…" His smile grew wider as he opened the vial and poured it all over the harpoon's tip, "and straight up kill anything else instantaneously."

Hunter observed in fascination, "And what happens if you shoot yourself in the foot?" He queried.

Boris chuckled, "you'll be dead before you even realized you made a mistake."

With that said, both stopped at a tree and hid behind the trunk as the barks of the hounds grew more and more intense. From the corner of their eye, they saw the hounds leaping down an edge.

After two seconds, the barking stopped.

After a minute or two, they looked at each other. The demon shrugged and the Golden Guard sighed, "Stand back and await my command." Hunter ordered, with Boris nodding and staying put as Hunter moved from his hiding spot.

From the top of the edge, he observed the reasons behind the hound's silence: They were sitting docilely in front of the Hellspawn!

His jaw dropped behind his mask as their target petted their heads without a care in the world. He then grinded his teeth with each passing second as a vein began to pop on his head. It wasn't until Spawn looked directly at him did he snap out of his seething and go straight into panic mode.

He steeled himself as he leapt down the dirt mound, clenching his staff tight as he put on a facade on confidence, "You are certainly a difficult man to track," he chuckled, instantly locking in to his confident persona, "it took the best hounds to track you down."

"A shame I can talk to animals," Spawn responded, shooing away the hounds.

"Of course you can," Hunter muttered to himself as he adjusted his cloak, "what can't you do?"

"Get away from the fucking cops." Spawn spat as he narrowed his eyes at the new visitor, "Now who are you?"

"I am the Golden Guard." Hunter responded, a fist over his chest, "Second-in-command to the Emperor's Coven and his greatest and closest confidant!"

Spawn tilted his head at his voice. It sounded like he was trying to make it sound deeper than it actually was. Regardless, he grumbled at his introduction, "Hmmmm… not impressed."

The Golden Guard was taken aback, "Not impressed-" he seethed, "I am literally the Emperor's top dog!"

"Dog is an apt description," the vigilante responded, "given how eager you are to follow his orders."

Hunter growled, his facade of confidence nearly shattering, "careful calling me a dog…" He sneered behind his mask, "you won't like how I bite."

Spawn thought it was a bit relieving that someone could actually snap back at him like that. Most of the Emperor's goons were blowhards, but this one was a bit different… Of course, there was something about this one that still bothered him.

Hunter cleared his throat and pointed his staff at him, "By order of the Emperor's Coven for crimes including, but most certainly not limited to: Murder, assaulting an officer, vigilantism…"

As Hunter continued, Spawn noticed he stopped doing the deep voice. Now that he can hear his real voice, it sounded like a teenager who was still going through puberty. Ergo, someone way too young to be in this field of duty. It shocked him to the core that the Emperor would do something like this.

Hunter finally finished the list, "... and disturbing the peace. I, with my powers and position vested in me by the Emperor himself, hereby sentence you to immediate execution."

There was a brief pause before Spawn broke it, "You sound… young." he commented, Hunter noting the rather sad tone in his voice, "What kind of fucked up emperor makes kids fight for him?"

"I'm not a kid!" Hunter spat back, "I'm more than enough to take you down!"

Al sighed, reminded of the many child soldiers he's seen on various missions putting down insurrectionists or rogue leaders. Their devotion to a cause at such a young age... It was yet another horror that shouldn't exist in the world. He simply turned and walked away from Hunter, "Go away, kid." he muttered in pity, "before you get hurt."

Just as he was about to leave, a flash of yellow appeared in front of him, revealing Hunter in a stance. "The hell?" he muttered before the Golden Guard jabbed his staff at his chest, a burst of electricity firing at him and sending him flying back to a stone cropping, shattering it like glass.

He grumbled, cracking his neck as he rose from the stone, "I didn't want to do this…" he grumbled, picking up a rock and crushing it to gravel in his hand, "but you've left me no choice."

Hunter suddenly had a feeling of deep regret.

Al charged forward at speeds so fast, he was in front of Hunter in a blink. The Golden Guard leapt back with a yelp before disappearing in a yellow flash and appearing several meters away from him. He spun his staff in a circle, creating a glyph, before summoning a fireball that blasted the Hellspawn with scorching fire. His target simply grabbed his cape and held it in front of him, blocking the flames like a shield.

Beneath his mask, Hunter's eyes widened at the blatant defiling of the flammable materials that are cloth before he barely dodged a necroplasm bolt from one of Spawn's chains. The Hellspawn brought out several chains like metallic tendrils before all of them began coursing with necroplasm and blasting bolts at the Golden Guard, who either dodged them or blocked them with a well timed staff swipe.

Of course, since the bolts were firing at speeds comparable to a machine gun, one of them was bound to make its mark. And so one did, knocking Hunter back quite a few feet and scorching his armor.

He hissed in frustration, wiping away the soot from his chest plate before looking up and seeing Spawn's form descending on him from the air. He flash stepped out of the way as the vigilante's fist made contact with the ground, marking a small crater on impact.

Al pulled his fist from the soil and heard Hunter teleport to his side. He looked up to see him thrust his staff at his chest once again, knocking him on his back. From Hunter's staff, a crackle of red lightning forms before engulfing the Hellspawn in a shocking aura of electricity.

Spawn grunted as he moved his hands with much effort, ignoring the numbing pain of the electric onslaught as he reached for Hunter's staff. The Golden Guard seemed to notice this and leapt backwards before he could get grabbed.

"NOW!" Hunter cried before a sudden whooshing sound was briefly heard and Al found himself impaled with a harpoon in the chest.

"Again!?" He growled, reaching for the shaft to pull it out before feeling the sudden sensation of going numb all throughout his body. His head instantly felt lighter and his vision began to blur.

"What the… hell?" He groaned as he struggled to stand, before collapsing flat on the ground as though his very bones increased in weight.

Hunter looked to Boris, placing the gun on his back with a smirk, "Nice shot." He complimented as the demon cracked his neck,

"All in a day's work." Boris muttered as he went up to pick up the harpoon from his enemy's chest, only to get a vice grip on his arm from a groggily awakening Hellspawn.

"AAAH!" The demon screamed effeminately as he tried to get out of the grip to no avail. "Y-you should be dead! Ten times over, in fact!"

Spawn growled, "I'm already dead, you stupid son of a bitch!" He roared as he tossed the demon to a ruined wall, watching him crack it and landing on the soil with a hefty thud. Boris groaned in pain before slumping over to unconsciousness.

If Hunter wasn't scared before, he certainly was now.

In desperation, he raised his staff and summoned a sword in thin air and tossed it to the Hellspawn who was still recovering from the venom in his system.

Before he could even comprehend it, a cutlass pierced through his chest, spraying necroplasm around as he yelled in pain. "Motherfucker!" he yelled through grit teeth as he reached for the sword to pull it out before his eyes caught wind of another heading straight towards his face! He caught the blade with his hand, cutting his palm and letting necroplasm leak down his wrist.

Hunter used his staff to summon a spear at the Hellspawn while he was distracted by getting rid of the swords. Al simply caught the spear as well as the other headed towards him, only for another spear to hit him from above.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Until he was basically a pincushion. Spears sticking out of him and pinning him down near the ground. He grunted in both pain and effort to get out of his predicament as the Golden Guard stepped towards him and he could just tell that he had a shiteating grin under his mask.

"I'm gonna be honest, I thought you would have been a lot tougher to capture," Hunter slyly said, hands behind his back as he sneered behind his mask, "but I guess you were so used to fighting thugs that you weren't expecting the Emperor's right-hand man so soon, were you?"

Spawn scoffed, "If he sent you after me so soon, that would mean you're his left hand, kid." he retorted.

Though he could not see it, he knew Hunter's grin turned into a scowl, "what are you talking about, freak?"

"He threw you to me like spoiled meat," Spawn explained, "he's using you as a disposable lab rat to test my power level."

"Liar!"

Spawn could practically taste the sudden doubts in Hunter's mind and soul. If Steve had seeds of doubt in his consciousness, Hunter's doubts were full blown weeds encompassing an entire garden. He hated drawing comparisons, but it reminded him all too well of his last days of life, where he made the decision to retire from the life of a mercenary.

He continued on, shaking away the memories, "Believe what you want, kid," the undead intoned, "if it makes you feel any better, of course."

"Feel better?" Hunter whispered before raising his voice again, "My loyalties are with the Emperor. Your words will not deter me."

Spawn could smell the bullshit, "I can tell that you're agreeing with me."

The blondie stammered at this, trying to form a proper retort, "N-No I am not!" was all he could muster as Spawn chuckled.

"How funny is it that I meet another man in the Emperor's thrall with more regrets than their little foundation of loyalty can handle in the span of two days?"

The grimwalker clenched his staff so hard, the nerves of his hands began to hurt, "You don't know a thing about me." He hissed.

"Yes I do, kid." Spawn's tone changed to a solemn one, "more than you realize."

Hunter loosened up his tense and shaking fists with a sigh, "whatever. The Emperor wants you dead. And dead I am going to make you." He taunted, raising his staff and summoning an executioner's axe, "I think he'd like your head on a platter."

Al narrowed his eyes, "You really wanna do this, kid?" He asked, "I don't need to have super hearing to know your heart just skipped a beat."

"I'm gonna do it!" Hunter yelled, "I will accomplish my mission!"

"Are you?"

"I will! Stop trying to stall me!"

"THEN DO IT!" Spawn roared, "GO AHEAD AND KILL ME! SHOW ME YOU HAVE THE BALLS! FOLLOW YOUR ORDERS LIKE A GOOD SOLDIER!"

Hunter yelled and brought the axe down on his foe. The only sound that followed his scream was the sound of the blade hitting the floor. From beneath his mask, he closed his eyes, only opening them after a pregnant pause.

The axe had completely missed its target and was embedded in the ground.

"You flinched." Spawn flatly intoned before several chains emerged from his belt, snaking their way around the spear shafts and entangling themselves together before a strong tug snapped the spears like twigs, breaking the upper halves.

For the lower halves, Spawn simply stood back up with a strained grunt, raising his hand and chopping down on them, shattering them into many splinters. He let out another grunt as the many holes in his body began to heal up in seconds.

Hunter was too terrified to speak. He was frozen, still as a statue even as Spawn walked closer to him, his tall frame casting a shadow over him like a great beast about to kill its hapless prey.

Spawn raised a hand to his face… and flicked his mask.

This seemed to register a response as Hunter backed up, screaming, Flapjack flying out of his cloak in a panic as Hunter stopped and tried to catch his breath.

He heard a crack in his mask form. Then another. An entire web of cracks formed across it until it shattered like cheap porcelain. Hunter looked down at the broken shards of his new mask before looking upwards at the Hellspawn, who covered his body in his cape.

Spawn spoke in the most concise, but soft, voice possible, "Listen to me very closely, kid, cause I'm only gonna say this piece of advice once: Get out while you still can."

He then pointed at him, "You're young. You have a future ahead of you. Don't waste it serving a man who doesn't give a shit about whether you live or die." Hunter noted that his voice was very low, but very bitter, "Trust me on this."

He then turned and began walking away, leaving Hunter alone. Well, not alone. Flapjack rustled in his pocket and chirped with concern at his friend's frozen body.

Hunter, meanwhile, didn't know what to say. He just stared at his shattered mask on the ground as though he was waiting for it to do something.

His uncle was surely going to be mad at him for not only breaking his second mask, but also disobeying direct orders. He was supposed to report, not engage!

He cursed himself. He let his pride get to him- No. This wasn't pride. Deep down, he knew it wasn't pride at all. Not in himself, not in his title, not in the Emperor's Coven, not even in his servitude under his uncle.

It was desperation.

He wanted to prove his worth to his uncle. He's felt like such a failure in recent times that killing the Hellspawn would have surely gotten on his uncle's good side. It would have made him a hero. It would have gotten the respect he's long missed.

But he failed. And now he felt nothing. He couldn't even muster the dread from Belos' inevitable outrage directed towards him.

He felt empty.

Purposeless.

"I'm not Golden Guard material…" He muttered to both himself and Flapjack, not even having the energy to form tears, "I never have been."

He should have taken that purple-haired girl's hand at Eclipse Lake.

The brigadiers watched as Hunter stood lamenting to himself after his defeat at the hands of the Hellspawn. All of them had a mutual feeling of disappointment running through them.

"I knew he couldn't do it." Gendry spat.

"It's just like what Kikimora said." Hyden snarled, "he's gone soft."

Meera sighed, "Such wasted potential," she muttered before pulling out one of her blades and sharpening it with a whetstone, "now what?"

"We do what we're told." Gendry muttered, "Even if we don't like it."

Hyden crossed his arms, "What we're doing is treason." the witch muttered, "The Emperor will have our heads for this. Both figuratively and very literally."

Meera sighed, "I would argue it's the ultimate test of our loyalty to the Emperor." she said, sheathing her now sharpened blade.

"I care little about the short term effects," Gendry chimed in, "only the long-term results. And this will benefit our Emperor in the long run."

Hyden grumbled a bit, before he sighed and nodded, "very well. If one tends to the garden, you must pull out the weeds."

The three of them leapt downwards from the ledge and towards the old ruins where Hunter still stood, staring at his mask. It was only until they were near him did he register their presence. "What do you want?" He asked them. "Thanks for not helping me, by the way."

Gendry looked behind him to see his fellow brigadiers giving him a nod in approval. The burly demon grunted before lifting his hammer again over his shoulders… and swinging it down right towards Hunter.

"Aagh!" He screamed before flash stepping to a rocky wall a mere millisecond before the hammer turned him into paste, smashing into the dirt below, instead and kicking soil everywhere. He took rapid breaths as Gendry pulled his weapon out of the ground with a grunt. "What the heck is wrong with you!?" he yelled as the brigadiers all looked at him, murderous intent visible even beneath their masks.

"Nothing is wrong with us," Hyden said, prepping his halberd as Meera unsheathed her swords on her back, "we're just following orders."

Hunter was shocked, not getting what they were implying "What is your major malfunction, numbnuts!?"

"Your failures have cast a shadow on our great coven," Gendry growled, cracking his neck as they all grew closer to him, "the Emperor will never be dishonored because of your incompetence ever again!"

Hunter froze. Surely there's no way his uncle would order them to commit treason like this-

"Kikimora!" he hissed to himself. He knew she hated him for the pettiest of reasons, but he never could have imagined she would stoop so low as to conspire an assassination plot against him! When he gets his hands on her, he'll wring her body like a wet dish rag!

Hunter got into a stance as all three brigadiers charged at him. He dodged them all with a well timed flash step to the side, but his adversaries expected this. Meera turned and unleashed a flurry of blade swings at his direction, which he dodged with quite some effort.

Each swing was faster than any normal denizen of the Isles could pull off and Hunter knew he couldn't keep this up forever. He slammed his staff to the ground, unleashing a wave of light that blinded his foes.

Taking advantage of their brief stunning, Hunter leapt up into the air and fired several bolts of magic with his staff. By the time they recovered their vision, they had to dodge the hailstorm of bolts coming at them or use shields.

Behind his shield, Hyden pulled from his belt, a chakram - a bladed disk. With a sneer, he rolled to the side of the shield and tossed the bladed disc right up at Hunter. Almost immediately after he tossed it, he traced a spell circle that made the chakram glow, and out emerged a pink magic blade on top of the existing metal expanding it into the size of an industrial sawmill blade!

The blade of magic headed straight towards Hunter, who had to cease his fire to dodge it. He looked at the blade that missed and noticed it seemed to take a U-turn straight back towards him!

Hunter's pupils shrunk, "Uh-oh," he whispered as he got on his staff and began to fly away from the homing blade. He flew across the tops of several trees and looked back, seeing that not a single one of them slowed down the blade, instead it was cutting right through the tops of the trees like they weren't there.

He then flew to ground level, and took a sharp U-turn, the blade still following him and slicing through everything in its path, trees and branches collapsed in the distance and even stones were cleaved in two from the magic blade's path.

It was some kind of homing weapon, so maybe he could trick it into careening towards his enemies. By the time he knew it, he was back at the ruins where the brigadiers were. Good. He made a steep dive straight towards them!

Gendry raised an arm and swung it towards Hunter, the impact forcing the air out of his chest and off his staff, which crashed and embedded into a stone wall. Hunter hit the ground on his back almost as hard as the punch.

The magic blade suddenly curved upwards and stopped before slowly settling down near Hyden's finger and dissipating, reverting back to a regular chakram that he sheathed on his belt.

Hunter grunted as his vision cleared. He saw the brigadiers looming over him, but before he could do anything, his cloak rustled a bit and out emerged Flapjack!

Flapjack made a beeline towards the biggest one, Gendry, and zipped around his face, disorientating him and making him flail his arms around.

"AH!" He screamed, nearly crashing into his comrades, "a palisman!? You dishonor our empire further!" He yelled as Flapjack pecked at the eyeholes of his mask.

The orc managed to finally grasp his big hand around the palisman with a grunt. He looked at the struggling palisman in his grip and smirked behind his mask.

"LET GO OF HIM!" Hunter yelled before getting knocked back down by Meera.

"Check this out!" Gendry called out as he clenched his fist around Flapjack, "Have you ever seen something squeezed so hard, their eyes pop out of their skull?"

The orc laughed as he squeezed on Flapjack's body, the sound of splintering wood accompanying its breath becoming a wheeze.

'LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Hunter yelled as he tried to get out of his bonds to no avail. He felt Meera pull his hair and open his eyes.

"This is what happens when you fail the Emperor." She snarled.

He could swear he became lightheaded as Gendry's laughs drowned out every other noise. His ears began ringing, but the mocking laugh was as clear as day as he watched his only real friend get crushed…

A green blast then interrupted Gendry, causing him to let go of the palisman, who hit the ground with a limp before running away to shelter. The three brigadiers turned to see a figure on top of a stony outcrop, his hands still lit with green necroplasm and cracking his neck.

"Rule number one of special forces: always bring back up in case things go south," he muttered, before leaping downwards and teleporting in a green flash to where Hunter was. The sudden move surprised the two as he grabbed the Golden Guard and teleported back to his original spot, Hunter in arms.

"Wh-what?" Hunter muttered as Spawn put him down.

"Take it easy, kid." Spawn assured him as he got back up to face the brigadiers, "I got it from here."

His hands began to crackle with necroplasmic flames and his chains slithered their way out of his belt like tendrils, "Hmmm, decisions, decisions…"

"Regarding what, freak?" Hyden asked.

"Which one of you assholes I kill first."