The Hunter Amongst Villains

Chapter 1: New Soil

Death stalked the Hero Hunter's battered form, waiting to claim him at the slightest moment of weakness. Splintered wood and ruptured glade, blood trailing the dirt behind his path to the fires of hell and dying his humanity with crimson perseverance - the lone wolf glared at his hunters, their visage reflected from his very pupils.

Standing in the clearing of the woods with the earth of which bodies and blood stained cracked soil, and carrying the top half of the split tree, Garou burned with fierce demonic tenacity to crush the three opponents before him.

Blood dyed the rims of his hair, corrupting pure silver to demonic red, as he slowly exhaled through gritted teeth; his bandages torn and a red aura rippled off his frame as cracks infected the shattered earth beneath his feet. Silence permeated the air so richly only the sound of uncountable rustling leaves blew to his ear as he tightened the tree in his grip.

Bang, Bomb, and Genos stood before him; all momentarily shocked by his sudden, logic-defying power. However, before any of them could resume their fight, another party swooped from the skies.

Grabbed by the shoulders, two talons lifting him to the skies with each mighty beat of the phoenix's wings, The Hero Hunter struggled, cursed, and threatened the thing to let him go, but he could not free himself, not unless he wished for the hammer of gravity to smash him into a crimson smear.

However, before his consciousness fell, a black mist suddenly swirled around his entire being, engulfing in black without warning.

Phoenixman could neither react nor parse the event until it was too late, stupored into inactivity as Garou somehow vanished as if he was spirited away by a much more supernatural force.

"!" Garou's sudden absence stunned Phoenixman. From where did the mist come?

More importantly, what the hell just happened? Where did Garou go? No, what was that mist in the first place? Even more importantly, Garou was no longer in his possession. Meaning, he failed in his objective in the end, and soon realized that he would indefinitely end up inside Orochi's stomach upon return.

"CRAPPPPPPP!" Phoenix man cursed the heavens as Garou vanished from the face of the earth.

Puffing heavily with a face twisted with fear and, his heart thunderously pumping adrenaline, a silver-haired boy desperately sprinted up the stairs until he reached the only exit door leading outside via rooftops. Without hesitation, he barreled through the door with stumbling feet, nearly tripping his balance as it turned on its hinges. The early morn sky embraced his presence as he looked back, staring at the darkness with quivering eyes and chattering teeth.

Cackling echoed from the same darkness, a low, wicked voice that promised dread, as a figure slowly emerged from the shadows and under the starlit night. A man, no, an abomination stepped out of the same door the boy ran through. His form was a mix of putrid green and violet, tentacles and mouths dangling from his clothless body and lines of atrocious, atrophied sinew exposed for the youngling's eyes to his dismay.

"Hehehe, come on, little boy. Don't you want to play?" The voice coming out of the abomination's mouth was just as horrendous as his appearance as drool visibly leaked from his mouth.

"L-Leave me alone, you freak!" The boy shouted as the 'freak' frowned, assuming that it could even frown.

"Naughty child, to call a man you just met a freak. Didn't your parents teach you manners? Oh... they're already dead! Hee ha ha ha ha!" The villain cackled maliciously, as tears started emerging from the boy's eyes.

"Your aunt had some bad evidence against my employer, so blame her for your misfortune! A mere lawyer shouldn't stick her hand on something that doesn't concern her. Know the true price of 'Justice,' kid." The eldritch mutant gloated, reveling in the dominance he now wielded over the child as his grotesque legs of wrangled black tendons sauntered out of the door, heading towards the kid with a maniacal monstrous glee while black ichor trailed in his wake.