The Hunter With Change: Rebirth.

Beneath the shadows

{The Stalkers}

Haruto as a child runs forward, through the snow in his village. He eventually reaches a nearby forested area.

"Hey look! I brought you food!"

Haruto calls out as he drops plenty of different berries on the snow in front of him.

A small baby fox manages to come out from behind a tree. Clearly having been separated from its parents.

"It's okay, you can eat up. You're safe now."

Haruto smiles brightly at the fox as it begins to eat the berries.

"Ah wait, I should get you more so you have a meal for later in the day!"

Haruto runs back to the village, buying more berries before trying to rush back.

Through the trees and snow, he sees the baby fox from a distance. The fox laid on the ground with a wolf standing over it, blood covering the face of the wolf.

"No..."

Haruto falls to the snow in a sob.

THE HUNTER WITH CHANGE.

REBIRTH.

Book one: Shadows.

Beneath the shadows.

March 19th

Under the darkness of night, the five slayers and Sumire jump across rooftops of Suwa before all gathering on one rooftop. "There they are... the stalkers." Takeshi says. "Why don't we just go down and kill them all? It's a swarm of weak looking shadow demons." Token asks. "That's stupid, even by my standards." Jigoku says. "Jigoku, don't be mean. We've tried attacking the shadows before, our swords just go right through." Yuri comments. "So it's summoned by a demon and all it's done is wander about for the past week or so?" Haruto replies. "That's right. It's not even a coverup or anything. They've just wandered around for the past few nigh-"

Suddenly a demon with a long crescent shaped blade arm appears behind them. Swinging its arm at the six and catching them off guard. They end up falling down into the alley where the shadow humanoids are gathered, right after they fall the crescent bladed demon disappears.

"Why did it disappear right after attacking? Let's just get out of here and try to find it." Takeshi orders. The six rush through the shadows, suddenly one turns around and swings a sword at Token. Yuri blocks the attack as Jigoku rushes to cut down the shadow, killing it. "So some of them are active? What the hell is going on?" Jigoku shouts. "The horde is only getting bigger and bigger. This is a problem if some can attack!" Token shouts back. "Guys, everyone back to back and create a circle. We're going to advance towards that fence over there and enter the other alleyway!" Takeshi orders as he points at a fence in the distance. The five slayers go back to back, forming a circle with Sumire inside the circle. They slowly all walk forward, cutting down any shadow that even moves a tiny bit off.

"We're almost there guys. I'm going ahead so open up the fence." Takeshi says as he runs to the fence. Breaking it down real quick. In the moment the formation breaks multiple shadows with blades jump towards the group. Each slayer holding off two shadows. Three of them charge at Jigoku. Jigoku cuts down two of them as Yuri rushes and cuts down the third. The slayers start heading towards the opening in the fence. As Jigoku turns towards the fence a demon's hand comes from the shadow humanoid. It covers his mouth as another hand comes out, holding a sickle. The sickle stabs Jigoku through the heart as a mouth forms on the shadow's face.