Beginning of the Hunt

3 months after the partnership between James the Exorcist and Rose the Hunter…

Meanwhile, somewhere around the world….

"Welcome, traveler!" greeted the bartender when a man in robes enter the bar. He looked around the bar to see patrons each indulging in their own little conversations. Some complained about the weather, some complained about the government while others just simply throwing insult at each other while in a drunk stupor.

He walked to the bar counter.

"What can I get you, traveler?"

"A cup of water please."

"Coming right up!"

He sat and wait for his cup of water and he listened to the conversation that is happening around him.

"Hey, did you hear that they are going to increase the tax again."

"Bloody hell, just how much the government are going to suck out from us poor peasants."

"Ahh, don't talk about politics. Check out the new girl the bar owner hired. She is a beauty."

The traveler snap back to himself when the bartender passed him a cup of water.

He drank the water all the way down and put the glass on the table.

He sighed. "Ah, that hits the spot."

"Where are you from?" asked the bartender trying to make conversation while he was wiping the glass of the traveler.

"Yugoslav…"

"You are far from home. What business do you have here in this city?" asked the bartender.

"I am hunting down a target. A werewolf."

"I see…"

The sound of the glass squeaking as the bartender wiped the glass dry.

The roar of laughter from the crowd.

The two deer's head trophy hanging from the wall.

The traveler unsheathes his sword and throw a horizontal slash. All the wine behind the counter were cut and the place became wet and reeks of alcohol.

The crowd stops and stare at the scene. They were either too drunk or too shock to not realized what just happened. They didn't react right away because they did not know what just happened.

The traveler looked up to the ceiling and saw a man hanging on it. His hands or rather, his claws deeply sunk into the ceiling to keep him from falling. His eyes turned wolfish. He bare his fang and snared at the traveler.

Blood dripped from the ceiling. The traveler was annoyed that he didn't finish him from the first blow. His prey reacted too fast.

Upon seeing the scene, everyone in the bar quickly ran out of the store through the only door in the bar. It quickly turned into a stampede and people were shoving each other at the entrance, squeezing each other through the small door.

The wolf-man or commonly known as the werewolf sliced his claws and the door breaks but the people who are behind the crowd were all sliced into half. The people who are at the front are super lucky. With the exit became larger, the crowd can finally go through and they all ran for their lives, screaming "A monster!" and "There's a werewolf!"

The werewolf jumped down from the ceiling acrobatically and licked his blood stained claw.

"Yugoslav, the home of the hunters. I never thought I will become one of the target for the hunters."

He picked up one of the corpses and drank all of the blood. He wiped his mouth with his arms which has now turn big.

His nails were elongated to turn like a claw.

"You have been making yourself notorious for the past few months, werewolf. If only you stay quiet and hide in the shadows like your kind has always have been, maybe you won't even spawn in our radar and you will be still a freeman."

He smirked. "How can I deny myself the pleasure of feasting on human. Once you tried it once, you just can't stop. They taste so delicious."

"Well, whatever. My sword is eager to taste your soul. Even now, it can't stop shaking form excitement. I wonder will your soul make me become powerful."

"Hunter always have been fanatic about collecting souls. I don't see any difference between you and us. You guys are the same. Monsters who like to prey on the weak. You guys are not interesting. The only enjoyment you have is the thrill of the hunt. Always searching for new prey. Can't you guys give us a break."

"Like you said. How can you deny us the pleasure of preying on the weak when it is so fun."

"You see. We are not so different after all."

"I have no interest in engaging in a philosophical discussion with an animal like you. Words are not used to converse with your kind. Your kind only use strength."

"Humans are arrogant as always."

The battle begin but it was a one-sided slaughter. The werewolf didn't stand a chance in front of this hunter.

"Ah, what a bummer. I thought he would be strong enough. Even my Soul Eater is not satisfied with the soul he has eaten."

The man was conversing with a middleman after defeating his target.

"You are too strong Leon. It is unfair for the werewolf. He has killed all of the hunter that pursued him and you are the only who manage to put a stop to his killing streak," said the middleman.

"Yeah, me…" he said sarcastically. "I guess this is the curse of being too strong. Nothing satisfy you anymore."

"Well, you can always hunt for him."

"Him?! No way. As much as I want to, but I know my limits."

"But don't you want to die in a hunt?"

"Yea, but hunting him is no fun. Besides, aren't we not allowed to hunt him? I know I will be killed the moment I see him. What's the fun in a one-sided battle? What I want is the both of us staking our lives to kill each other. That's is what fun looks like. The moment where you are not sure whether you will live or not."

"Sigh…why are all ranked hunters have some weird behavior…. Well, since you volunteer your precious time to help the Association, I will give you this information about a new bounty being released from the Association."

"Oh…" Leon is interested.

"This message will be sent to all ranked hunters but seeing how isolated they were; it will probably take a while before this message reached them. So, to my knowledge, you will be the first one to know about this."

"What it is this time. Who will be the next prey?"

"First of all, the person who set this bounty is the King of the Sol Kingdom."

Leon's eye widened in disbelief and he started to grin.

"Ah, this is getting exciting."

"So you will be expecting a high reward for hunting down this target."

"Spare me that nonsense, I don't care much about the money. What I care is the target."

"Alright then. Here is the notice and the description of the target." The messenger passed Leon a paper and a poster with the description of the target.

The description is written as follow:

Name: James Charter

Alias: The Black Priest

Grade: SS

Leon was grinning.

"Guess I won't be bored for a while now."

This notice will reach the other ranked hunters soon. And thus, from the day they receive this notice, a new hunt has been created and their target is none other than the infamous Black Priest.

But Rose Viante will not receive this news just in time because she was stuck in a mission together with James Charter at a place where communication is cut off. And by the time she is aware of this, it will all be too late. The hunt has already begun.