Chapter 4

The following things that Shiro had expected when waking up would have been the familiar sight of the orphanage room above his head whilst his body rested on his bed. However, when he opened his eyes and DIDN'T find this, but instead the roof of a tent, he became understandably startled.

However, it didn't take him long to calm down as memories of yesterday's successful party when they raided this base(While being forced to party against his will), drinking, having a conversation, and partying. He even helped his instincts settle down by glancing around, locating his trusty sword and grasping it, relishing in the familiar feel of it's hilt since it brought him memories of his companions, something which worked wonders for its purpose. But, after a few seconds, the white haired boy shook his head before getting up and walked out of the tent.

Not a few seconds after he did so, his sword strapped to his back like usual, his brow twitched when a man approached him from his front. "Hey, you're up early, what a party we had right?"

Shiro stayed silent, refusing to answer and just stared as the man stopped a few feet before him, then proceeded to take something out of his bottle satchel.

At first, the boy grew increasingly guarded at the unknown identity of the object the man had been searching for until it turned out to be a small bottle of liquor, one which he held up for him. "You want a drink?"

"No, I'm good." Shiro replied, bluntly with a bit of an edge to his voice.

Though, this didn't really faze the man any, proven when he shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "Suit yourself." he remarked, taking a swig of his liquor himself. Afterwards, he put it back into his satchel, before he looked back at the small boy. "So, how do you like the band the hawks?" he asked him.

This time, Shiro didn't anticipate that question, and as such he grew a frown onto his face as he tried to decipher any hidden meanings behind the question. "..... In what way?" he replied slowly, his eyes showing clear distrust for the man. In his eyes, most if not all adults were considered as untrustworthy, after all.

Once again displaying his nonchalant attitude about it however, the man continued like he was just talking about the weather. "Do you think you'll do well? I mean, you did the most difficult part of the mission."

Now THAT question threw the boy off by a significant margin. Ordinarily, Shiro would have answered with a sharp no and left for the Orphanage. Throwing away all memory and association with these criminals. He knew the streets well enough to find his way back, and if he did then he likely would just continue his life as normal whilst helping his friends out with their dreams. However, that didn't happen, as in the words refused to form within his throat let alone leave his mouth. Why? He didn't know, and that confused the heck out of him, much to Shiro's internal annoyance. "I….. I don't know, how can I even know?"

The man stayed silent as Shiro was looking the other way.

This allowed the boy to continue when it became clear to him that he had the chance to give his honest opinion about the group, as biased as it may be. "This place is... strange. There is not a great difference between bands of thieves or mercenaries in this Village… they are violent, bloodthirsty, and mostly composed of ruffians and men with guilty conscience. It's all the same, they care only about money." he remarked, to which the other man looked on, letting the boy continue his words. "Yet, here throws a wrench into a lot of that. I was surprised by the people here. They were not like what I've seen… there's something else….. Something different with the hawks."

The man then put his hand on his chin thinking. He thought for a while, before he began to speak whilst Shiro looked on yet still showed that he was listening. "Hmmm…. Yeah, I guess you can say that. There is a lot of variety for mercenary troop fugitives: wanderers, sons of merchants, commoners, even the lowest peasants, they are all sort of people indeed. But if I had to point out something else, I guess it would be Griffith. Some are really impressed by him down to their very hearts, like you've seen. Some of us were orphans that had no one to look out for, people who didn't care about us, but everyone here was gathered by him."

Shiro arched his brow at this, remembering how the various people in this little group had been. They hadn't been the average band of thugs, due to the availability of their equipment and how unlike that said equipment was for classic thugs: horses, armour, weapons… they had looked like less of a band of thugs and more like a mercenary group… one that had been set up by the man known as Griffith. That's what he had gotten from that speech this man gave him, and it caused Shiro to frown. "... This guy seems to be a good man, then." he mused, though there was a bit of a perplexed intent mixed in there.

At this, the other man chuckled. "Yeah, you can say that anyway each one of us isn't that good of a person. We're not too different from the other thugs ourselves, just like you said. There's really no difference between a mercenary or a thug, but we're not as "wild" as the other mercenaries. We're a bit different from those guys who don't care about anything, apart from their own survival and money."

"..... usually with this big of a group how is it that you have not been disbanded yet?"

"Heh it's a wonder. Even if we keep dealing with bloody affairs like killing people, or getting killed on a daily basis, strangely we are still capable of crying, laughing, and anger. it's what Griffith said to us whenever we have an argument in the band."

Shiro stayed silent as he processed what the man said to him about the reason why the band of hawks didn't disband, before asking the man. "Griffith….. What kind of person is he?"

The man tried to think of an answer to Shiro. "Hmmmmm….. I don't know."

When he heard that answer, Shiro looked at the man with deadpanned eyes "So you were attracted to a guy you don't even really know?" he questioned incredulously, suddenly he began to wonder about the intelligence of the people in this group, if they had been taken in by Griffith in this manner.

"Wha?! No! Hear me out! It's just... #SIGH#, how can I put this? It's just that, when you get the impression he understands all about everything, he suddenly looks like a kid. Just when you get that chilly glare from him, he suddenly switches modes and laughs like a child. Let me ask you this: is he a child, is he an adult, is he a good guy, is he pure evil…..? In the end, you just can't really get to know what he is." the man explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he tried to explain the… complexity around Grifith.

Shiro then thought about what the man said to him as he pictures the times when he had been with Griffith. Thinking about it, he DID sometimes gets the chilly face, but then the next moment his face looked like pure evil. Like that time he had challenged the man for a second time.

Whilst Shiro pondered this, the man then spoke again. "But, he and the rest of us are different in some respects, he ponders and naturally does things that we as mere mercenaries only hear of while being used, I don't know how to explain it but….. It's not just how he wields the sword or plans battles. I think in my opinion Griffith has something we common people don't and maybe will never have in our entire lives, some kind of..... Confidence he has."

"Confidence with what?"

"With everything."

Shiro then stayed silent pondering about Griffith as he knew the man was right about the confidence part that the leader of the band of the hawk, he did look confident in everything he does, he'll give him credit for that.

Just then another man came into the picture. "Hey rookie! The boss wants you."

Shiro then made to get up as homemade to head out. "Thanks for the talk, see you around."

As he was just about to leave, the other guy said something to him. "Hey pasangan(Mate!)!" Shiro then turned to see what he wanted to say. "You'll surely find your place with the hawks, I'm sure of it."

Shiro stayed silent before following the man who called him as they passed some tents, before stopping by a door and opened it. Upon doing so, Shiro came face to face with Griffith himself, the man standing there as naked as the day he had been born. Unaware of the audience he now had, the older man raised a bucket over his head, tipping it so thay the water inside splashed out of it, drenching the man.

Shiro then mentally noted this down with a dry look. 'For some reason or another, huh…?'

Finally, Griffith noticed someone else's presence near him, prompting him to lower the bucket from his head as he turned to Shiro. "Oh hey… care to join me? It's a great way to sober up."

"..... I'm good."

A quick, two-second reply escaped the lad as he stepped forward, his escort leaving him behind so the two of them could talk in peace. However, Griffith wouldn't take no for an answer apparently, for he then grabbed a bucket of water that had been next to him. Afterwards, he began to approach Shiro as he backed away, warily. He didn't like the look that the guy sported right now. "Come one don't say that."

"Hey hey! Stop you idiot! You're supposed to act like an adult-!"

Before he could say anything more or complete his sentence, Shiro spluttered incoherently when he got splashed by Griffith. Running water fell from the top of his head in small streams after he'd gotten doused, to the point where he then made an angry face at Griffith, who proceeded to laugh at him. "HAHAHAHAH! WHAT A FUNNY FACE!"

"Alright, that's it. You want to play like that? Fine then."

In a surge of retribution, Shiro glanced around, spotted a third bucket filled to the brim, and finally grabbed it to splashed all over Griffith, who then proceeded to splash back leading to a splashing war between the two.

A while later, the two had thoroughly exhausted one another after countless slip-ups, dosages of water and more than a few times they had almost drowned the other. As a result, they then sat together behind the well as Griffith began to speak. "That was a good exercise for the morning, you fully awake now-GGAAHHH!" Griffith then yelled as Shiro pulled out an extra bucket of water, before he held it over Griffith's head. He then splashed the guy without warning, as Griffith looked at Shiro with an amused face. One which the boy didn't reciprocate as he retaliated with a dull stare. "Shiro you…..?!"

"That makes us even." Shiro retorted dryly, not at all amused.

For a moment, silence remained between the two save for the sounds of dripping water that came from the wet, naked man.

"..... Whew, hahahhahahahahaha! Alright, I lost! You're really stubborn." Something which soon got dismissed when the merc leader proceeded to laugh his ass off. On his end, Shiro scowled at him, not finding this stuff funny at all.

Shiro then noticed something on Griffith's neck, something which caused him to furrow his brows in confusion. "What is that around your neck? That strange necklace…" he asked, pointing to the said object which hung around his neck. He didn't know what to make of it, but Shiro DEFINITELY hadn't seen anything like it before, the necklace consisting of a strap attached to what looked like some sort of… crimson jewel, one with various circular holes across its form. He didn't know how else to describe it… though, deep down, Shiro got this strange feeling from it, a feeling he couldn't really describe all too well.

"Oh this?" Griffith remarked, momentarily surprised before he grabbed his necklace and held it in front of his face. With these movements, Shiro got a clearer view of it, to which that strange feeling only intensified. The thing looked like some sort of crimson egg-like thing, one with..... A disfigured face with its facial parts not in its place. Yet, even as a mild look of discomfort fell onto his features, Griffith held it gingerly as he eyed it almost affectionately, unperturbed by its appearance. "A long time ago, I bought this from an old fortune-teller, a gypsy woman. It is called a Beherit, also known as "The egg of the conqueror." the person who possessed this in exchange for their blood and flesh, their fate will be to take the hold of the world." he explained, much to the boy's confusion.

".... The world?"

Griffith took off his necklace as he gave it to Shiro for a closer look.

"Here, look."

Shiro looked closely at it, seeming interested as he looked at this 'Beherit' thing. As he looked at it though, the boy got the shock of his life when suddenly, an eye opened up and its pupil looked straight at Shiro. Something which IMMEDIATELY caught him off guard and prompted him to throw it towards Griffith, who he caught it in his right hand. "GAAAAHHH!"

"I don't know how it works but it certainly seems alive doesn't it?"

Whilst Shiro had a hand over his chest to calm his pounding heart, the boy looked back to the egg shaped necklace, now more disturbed by it than anything else. "That's disgusting."

His opinion wasn't shared by the necklace's owner, however. "Cool, isn't it?" he remarked with a large grin.

One which only made Shiro's dull look become even duller like the darkness to Griffith's light. "..... No, it's not." he stated.

This statement caused the merc leader to pout like a spoiled brat not getting his way. "Ahhhh you're really no fun."

Once again, silence dominated the two, until Griffith then chose to change to a different topic of conversation. Though, it wasn't an unfamiliar one as he glanced towards the small boy. "Shiro…. I want you to join me." he told him directly, his tone as serious as it had been when they had first seen one another.

Hearing this caught Shiro by surprise, not having expected this question after everything that had happened. "Huh….. for what?" Shiro questioned.

"... All you've seen so far… That's just a mere stepping stone…. The hawk soldiers, our victories on the battlefield. They're just the outset, just the beginning. Things will get interesting after that. So interesting it might be with risking our lives." the man replied, standing up before facing Shiro whilst sun rays began illuminating his upper body. This made Shiro resort to covering his eyes, although the adult's words could still be heard as clear as day to him. "Fight on my behalf. From now on, you belong to me. I'll be the one who will decide your place of death."

Upon saying this, Griffith offered a hand to the boy, his eyes bearing down on him like the first time they had met one another whilst lacking that previous child-like innocence. Shiro himself didn't know what to do about this still, but if there was one thing he DID know, it would be that he really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He had already lost the duel between him and this guy, so his life currently lay in his hands. Just like Griffith had declared that day. Even so, despite how Shiro didn't know if what he had to do would end up helping his childhood friends in their quest or not, for now he knew two things for certain: that there wasn't any turning back, as well as that he would be having a LOT more targets to swing his sword at.

Something which deep down, he felt a bestial growl of approval at the prospect.

Timeskip 7 years

Just seven years passed, a mere seven years since Shiro had joined the Band of hawks. During that time, Shiro had gone through multiple changes to his lifestyle which, if one were to have asked him if he thought were possible during his time back at that Orphanage, he would have laughed in their faces before breaking their teeth in.

One such change was that, to his surprise, Jamal and Brihanna had joined the band of hawks not too long after he had, about a couple weeks later. They'd done so, because they didn't want to be in that Orphanage. Though, that was mostly Brihannas reason whereas Jamal had wanted to achieve his dream of making an Orphanage of his own, so he had decided to give it a shot. Whatever befell that Orphanage now would no longer be their concern, since they weren't affiliated with it any more... though, each of them DID get a small amount of amusement when some of Shiro's bullies had tried to harass him on his last day, only to get 'the stare' from Griffith. The kind of stare that made it seem like his gaze was like twin blades piercing right into one's soul, reminiscent of the namesake his merc group had been named after.

THAT had been a fun experience.

In these past few years, Shiro and the band of hawks had performed many accomplishments, successful battles, raids, and stopping other thugs or soldiers hired by various Orphanages from entering their territory for one reason or another. The elders were very happy that the band of hawks had been as successful as they had been, to the point where their exploits had caught the attention of the village leader. The guy had shown up to them seemingly out of nowhere, though Griffith had seemingly suspected him to be coming judging by his lack of reaction, only for the man to then reward Griffith with the title of 'village defender', a rank that was rarely achieved throughout the years.

Furthermore, it had been decided that, thanks to their efforts, Shiro, Brihanna and Jamal would be given joint command over a section of the Band of the Hawks, mostly consisting of children whom their leader had seen as valuable assets to their cause. Originally Griffith had wanted to have just Shiro as the leader, only to later change his mind when he reflected on how the kid was. Thankfully, thanks to this decision the children taskforce, also known as the 'Neo-Legion' thanks to Jamal insisting the unit be called such, became a prominent part of the merc group's offense force: slaying countless opponents that had stood in their way after a while of training them on how to be proper soldiers. Training which had been mostly supervised by Jamal, who had the most experience out of the children.

Right now, Shiro, Brihanna, and Griffith were gathered inside a tent within the group's hideout, as Griffith talked about another raid to supply more for the orphanage they had been contracted with.

Whilst they talked, a man entered the tent gaining all of their attention. "Sir, a contact from the village elder informed me that we have lost contact with one of the large orphanages. The elders want to hire us to investigate." he informed, pulling out a scroll and handing it to the merc leader.

Griffith then put his hand on his chin as he thought about the situation before coming to a solution. "Alright, I-"

"I will go and check the orphanage alone."

However, before he could finish any sentence Shiro suddenly stepped forward, not looking much different than his 6-year-old self aside from looking like a preteen now, with a build similar to an olympic athletes (not like he knew what they were though, he'd only heard about them in passing, but never put too much stock into it). When he declared his intentions, however, Griffith didn't look too impressed by them, if anything he looked appalled by the suggestion. "Shiro! What are you talking about?! You can't do this alone!"

When the man tried to persuade him against this course of action, Shiro casually dismissed his words with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's fine Griffith, it's just one orphanage. I'll just go check there see what's the problem and I'll be back soon." he explained, his gaze clear and firm to showcase that he wouldn't be backing down on this. Something which Griffith had gotten used to seeing over the last 7 years.

Thus, he could only sigh in dismay after a moment's worth of staring into those eyes. ".... (SIGH) okay, but if you're not back soon then I will come as well if anything goes wrong." he stated, and just like with Shiro's gaze before, this one held no room for debate either.

Something which mildly annoyed Shiro, but he didn't refute the man for it since at least this way he got to do this solo mission himself instead of someone else. "... I understand, Griffith." he replied, agreeing to those terms. He then glanced towards the scroll in the merc leader's hand, pointing towards it with the following words leaving his mouth. "Alright show me where is the location."

Looking down at the scroll again, Griffith hummed for a bit after scanning it's contents again, before going to a table littered with maps of the Village's layout. He then began to look for the Orphanage in question by running his finger along one of the maps."Let me see..... That one." he proclaimed, tapping his finger on the specified location.

With that declared, Shiro walked up to the Table and checked the location out, his eyes brightening. "It's not even that far... ok, I'll head there."

"Be safe, Shiro."

Later

As Shiro walked to the place where they lost contact with the orphanage, his eyes narrowed when then saw that the whole surrounding area was quiet.... Too quiet. Shiro narrowed his eyes at this, quickly figuring out that something had gone horribly wrong as he continued to walk. 'I can smell it… blood, and lots of it…' The boy thought to himself, pocketing his hands inside his worn pants as he strode forwards with caution.

When he arrived at a big building, INSTANTLY Shiro figured that this must be one of the larger orphanages due to its size and how expansive it looked… though, in that same instant his instincts screamed at him that something bad was nearby. Briefly, he mentally swore he heard something growling in the back of his mind, but paid little attention to it.

Not only did the Orphanage look like it had seen better days, somewhat like his old Orphanage home, but it also looked like it had suffered damage rather recently if he were to look at the destruction it had been dealt to. The Orphanage looked to have been surrounded by a large, square-shaped wall, one which was quite tall in height, though right now portions of it looked to have been busted open like bombs had gone off across it, with large holes being left behind. For the main building, it had various holes in it too, with tiles on it's roof being all ruffled and dozens of cracked windows, leaving behind small holes. The Gates themselves also looked like they had been wrecked beyond repair, with one even haven fallen off its hinges completely onto the ground in front of it. Various smoke trails rose to the skies above, not too big to be noticed from a distance, but since Shiro had been close enough he DID notice.

'Looks like whoever did this, might still be inside… if this destruction's recent, then i'll have to prepare for a fight…' Shito thought to himself, internally gulping as he reached behind him and drew his sword, ready for any ambushes that might happen to him.

As he walked towards it, Shiro entered the Orphanage through it's front door, opening it and stepping inside. As he closed it behind him, he found that he stood inside a large room, likely some kind of grandiose room in it's glory days… although the sight before him made Shiro grit his teeth behind his closed mouth.

In front of him, he saw through the rays of sunlight shining through the many holes, dozens of adults sprawled across the floor, blood spewing everywhere with countless smears scattered all over the place. There weren't just adult corpses scattered around, either since Shiro saw countless children corpses too, each of them looking to be in conditions of varying dismemberment, likely due to whatever had attacked this place originally not showing any mercy to them.

'The fuck… whoever did this, they didn't show mercy even to the kids… not like I'd expected anything less from this shit hole of a place…'

Kneeling beside one of the corpses, Shiro inspected it by putting his hand on it's throat, confirming that it was indeed dead. Not only that, but it looked like the adult had died in shock, pain and terror, like the last thing he'd seen before crossing into the afterlife had been something that would have driven any mortal soul to commit suicide. The way the eyes had rolled back with dried saliva and wide, open mouth confirmed that for him. Not only that, but it looked like a portion of his right side had been seemingly ripped out by force… and by something rather large. A claw, Shiro suspected, although he had ZERO clue as to how that could be a thing.

'Shit… this can only mean one thing…'

It didn't take him long to realize what had happened here: The reason why the Orphanage had lost contact with this place wasn't due to some malfunction... they were attacked.

But… by what? That was a question Shiro wasn't sure if he even WANTED an answer to.

Gripping the handle of his sword tightly, Shiro took a moment to compose himself, calming his pounding heart and raging instincts to get out of here as quickly as possible. Thus, he then went throughout the building, discovering an increasing number of corpses, with the number of children corpses increasing as well. At this point, Shiro suspected that there would be zero survivors for this incident and didn't believe he would find any survivors, for whatever had done this looked to have been thorough in making sure there were zero survivors.

Whilst progressing through the building, Shiro eventually came into a dining room on the second floor, as evident by the destroyed tables and chairs scattered throughout. It was here that he began to grit his teeth, struggling to repress and control his raging instincts whilst he grabbed the side of his head. 'Ugh! What the… why do I hear something growling… inside of me…?' The boy wandered as he kept hearing a beastly growl inside his noggin. However, he began to doubt whether or not it came from inside his head when the boy saw that he hadn't been alone in the dining room…

For, near the back of the room, there sat a man with his back turned to him, though Shiro didn't need to see his front to know that the guy had a fairly muscular build, somewhat like a bodybuilder or one of those large guys wielding hammers he'd seen a few times. However, from what little he COULD see, Shiro initially tensed up with his eyes wider than saucers, before he gritted his teeth as a snarl ripped from his lips whilst he got into his battle stance. The faint clanking of his sword seemed to alert the man to his presence though, as he slowly stood up and began turning to face him with a similar speed. This allowed Shiro to see his features, revealing how the man looked to be…. Barely anything human at all when discussing his facial features. He looked to sport some light brown coloured skin, something which surprised Shiro since it looked nothing like those of who he had seen here, with pointed ears and a red sclera in his eyes. His eyes being slitted like a cat's, something which only added to his ominous presence.

As he turned around, Shiro noticed that the large man had been holding a dead child in it's large, meaty left hand. One who looked to have lost an entire arm, leg and had a large gaping hole in the shoulder, something which Shiro figured that this man had been the cause for all of this.

"Oh? Looks like someone came here from the outside after all…" The man spoke, his voice almost booming even though he spoke so casually like he was talking with an old friend. Not to mention that, whilst he had stood up, he had discarded the dead child's corpse without a care in the world, as well as picked up a previously hidden weapon. The weapon in question? It looked to be some sort of mix between Cleaver and sword, one which looked to be the same length as two Griffith's with one atop the shoulders of the other.

Shiro held his own sword at the ready, his scowl fierce as he spoke. "Did you do all this?" with his sword, he gestured around the room although both knew that he really meant everything regarding this building.

It didn't look like the man wanted to hide what he did either, in fact he didn't look like he had been bothered by this act one bit as he answered simply. "Yes." He then went on to elaborate. "These fools thought they could challenge me. I crushed them all." the man proclaimed, before he stood before Shiro with his sword at the ready. "However, you seem like someone who can provide-"

"Hya!"

"?!"

SWING-CLANG!

In an instant, Shiro acted as he jumped forwards and struck with a diagonal slash, having gone for a strike that would have severed the man's arm from his body if he hadn't blocked it with his own large sword in time. However, Shiro gasped when the man's other hand lashed out, smacking him straight in the side and launching him away into one of the Dining room's walls.

'Ugh… that strength… that did NOT feel like anything even remotely human! This guy… is he some kind of freaking monster or something…?!'

Fortunately, whilst thinking this Shiro managed to recover himself somewhat, flipping backwards and landing on the floor, sliding to a halt before looking up at his opponent who looked to be contemplating something.

"A preemptive strike? Hmmmmmmmmm… Not bad, you nearly got me there with that speed of yours, boy." The man spoke as he held his sword at the ready, his beady crimson eyes bearing down on him. A low hum erupted from his throat as he cupped his chin with his free hand, almost glistening with something akin to intrigue. It looked like the man wanted to say something else, but instead chose to remain quiet, and thus charged forwards with a diagonal slash from his sword,

Quickly, Shiro rolled to the side to avoid it, then turned around and held his blade horizontally above his head to defend against a downward smash that followed after the previous attack. The large man didn't let up in spite of this however, for he constantly wailed on Shiro's defences like there was no tomorrow until the boy managed to jump backwards to get some distance between them.

Although, just from that short exchange the boy had found himself breathless, having exerted way more strength than he was used to in order to defend against those mighty blows. 'D-Damn… that strength took a lot out of me…' He thought to himself, mild beads of sweat across his forehead whilst he retained his original sword stance. 'I was probably only able to defend so far thanks to the large size of my blade, any normal sword would have been cleaved through by this point and their wielder ceasing to be fully whole... Looks like I can't let this get dragged out too much, then. I'll have to settle this quickly then go report to Griffith…' Shiro thought as he adjusted his stance.

Something which caught the man's attention indeed, judging by the way he hummed once again. "I see… you've been made aware of the difference between us… so you're risking it all in a single strike… interesting. I'll take you up on that challenge!" The man declared, holding his blade in both hands in a way which showed Shiro just how good he had become with that blade. Obviously, this guy wasn't some kind of pushover, if the destruction he had left this building in hadn't been enough of an indication.

Whilst getting ready, Shiro grimaced as he felt the growling inside his head again, only this time it felt even LOUDER than before. What the heck was happening here, why did something like this have to happen NOW of all times? Did it have something to do with the opponent he was fighting? Questions like these should have filled his mind at the moment, but Shiro had simply discarded all thoughts other than the ones needed for battle, knowing that if he were distracted for this one exchange then Shiro would likely have met his end… just like all the others in this place.

Not something which the white haired male wanted, believe it or not.

"Uoooooooooh!"

"Grraaaaaarrgh!"

In one instantl, Shiro slid forward whilst swinging his sword, with the man doing the same thing. If one were to look at them from an outside perspective, then it'd look like they were going to clash again like before, however in one second Shiro adjusted his grip on his weapon and shifted it's target, going from a slash right into a stab instead. One which caught the man by surprise as he failed to react quick enough which resulted…

STAB!

… in the sword embedding it's tip into his chest.

'... There. Managed to get the first blow in…' Shiro thought, remembering his past battles. His experience on the battlefield had taught him many lessons, one of which was that the one with the first blow under his or her belt would have the advantage in a fight. Thus, he felt no shame in admitting that he felt a bit prideful in the knowledge that he had done this to his opponent as he quickly pulled his sword out and took a few steps back, ready to continue the fight…

"...ufufufufufufufu…"

… when all of a sudden, the man began to chortle in dark amusement. Blood ran down the wound whilst Shiro's own began to run cold, the growling in the back of his mind intensifying to the point where Shiro felt like his head would be splitting apart at any moment. He didn't have time to ponder on it though, since the man began to speak once more, a low rumbling sound beginning to emerge from him. "Interesting… How interesting indeed… for a human like you…. To be ABLE TO STAB... MEEEEEE!"

As he spoke, changes began to happen across the man's body, the first being that his form quickly grew even bulkier, increasing in height a bit too whilst two large curved bull horns grew out of his forehead. His body's flesh became crimson, as well as got covered by fur whilst his feet became cloven hooves that looked like they could smash a grown man's skull. His hands, bulky and meaty even BEFORE, only seemed to swell with this new size whilst his mouth twisted and morphed, becoming a maw filled with razor sharp fangs, as well as a slight snout which bore those large fangs at the now stunned Shiro.

Said male only trembled at the sight of the transformed… monstrosity before him, his eyes having shrunken to the size of dots whilst his mouth had fallen open. His form remained unable to move, unable to speak or even think as he looked into the slitted eyes of the creature before him.

"THROUGHOUT MY YEARS OF SLAUGHTERING, YOU RE THE FIRST… WHO HAS STABBED ME LIKE THIS...YOU'RE MAKING ME EXCITED! YOU'RE MAKING MY BLOOD BOIL IN A WAY THAT IT HAS NOT IN MANY YEARS...HOW EXHILARATING! TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE THIS… TO GET ME ALL RILED UP… YES! YOU MUST FIGHT ME! DON'T YOU GO LETTING ME DOWN, NOW!"

With that, the beast before him jumped forwards, reaching forth towards Shiro with the intent to smash him… only for the boy's vision to finally go black.

"The town has been really quiet now."

These words escaped Griffiths' lips as he frowned, leading a small group of his subordinates consisting of himself, Jamal and Brihanna, the two of them insisting that they came along in order to make sure their friend was alright. The young adult had noticed something… something else within the girl's tone when she talked about the guy, but Jamal didn't seem to have noticed though, so he hadn't said anything about it. Especially since it only briefly appeared before vanishing right after. Furthermore, Griffith prioritized the fact that these two must have cared a LOT for Shiro if they wanted to do this for him, which made sense when he'd considered their past relationships to him. Thus, alongside a small detachment of subordinates, the group had ventured off towards the location that he had sent Shiro to investigate.

It had been about 3 hours since the boy had gone to learn what had happened in that area, and he hadn't come back. As such, the worried man had decided to go and check on him to see how he had been doing or if he needed any assistance. He felt that Shiro likely wouldn't be too pleased with the help, but in this case his word overruled the boy;s desire to fight solo and prove himself for some reason.

"Yeah you can say Griffith, I even don't hear a single person or a noise!"

Beside him, Jamal scowled as he looked around, putting his right hand over his forehead like a makeshift shade one would use to get out of the sunlight as he tried to see as far as he could of his surroundings However, no matter how hard he looked, the buff dude couldn't see any souls in the vicinity for the life of him. That revelation alone set off many alarm bells inside the young teen's mind, as well as increased the worry for his bro all the more.

On Griffith's opposite side, Brihanna cupped her chin as she cautiously surveyed the scenery, clutching the grip of her main choice of weapon: a Bow, tightly. Though attached to her hip was a shortsword for defensive purposes in case the enemy got too close. "This clearly looks suspicious, maybe it's a trap." she remarked, thoughtfully.

Though, the merc leader shook his head as he sternly added on to that opinion. "We don't know that Brihanna, but if it is then we must be prepared."

"You got it boss." both kids responded with a salute gesture, something which Griffith had taught them to do when confirming his orders. Apparently where he came from, a lot of people did this gesture in the military as a form of respect to one's seniority.

As the group walked to the building where Shiro had gone to, they grew increasingly worried that something bad had happened to their companion. Add in the fact that that he didn't come for a while, and it resulted in them deciding to go check on him, with Brihanna and Jamal worried about their friend.

Finally, they come across a big building that must be the orphanage, although the sight of it proved more than a LITTLE unnerving as Jamal soon pointed out. "This must be the place guys, I'm having a bad feelings about this..."

"Me too Jamal, lets take out our weapons just as a precaution." Brihanna responded, before glancing at their leader for his permission. "Ok, Griffith?"

It didn't take long for him to reply, but the way he did so confirmed to the kids to draw out their weapons. "We don't know what happened, but we need to know if Shiro is ok or not."

"... I hope you're right Griffith."

Whilst the group took out their weapons, they walked to the orphanage, passing through the damaged gates and entering the outside yard. Once they got inside there, they went into the Orphanage and found themselves in the large entrance hall that Shiro had seen previously. There, they saw multiple men down on the floor, blood spilling out as they were horrified at what happened.

"What….. Happened here....?! A-Are they...?"

Griffith's gaze remained as stern as it had been during their trip here, but he confirmed the buff teen's fears all the same. "Their dead, Jamal." he declared, and it didn't take a magnifying glass to know that the man had been right. The states of the corpses had been enough of an indicator, as well as the lifeless looks in their eyes.

"Did... did Shiro do this?"

When Griffith heard Brihanna's question, he glanced down at her. He soon noticed how she looked quite nervous, but nothing that could be described as scared as she gripped her Bow tightly in her right hand, her left one itching to go to the quiver on her back to draw an Arrow. "Doubtfully Brihanna, because look it looks like the adults died in shock, pain and terror, like the last thing they had seen before crossing into the afterlife had been heavily traumatic. The way the eyes had rolled back with dried saliva and wide, open mouth confirms this. Not only that, but it looks like they weren't butchered just by a sword… but also by something rather large. A claw, perhaps given the shape the wounds had."

Now THIS sent chills down the spines of the two kids, several soldiers behind them turning pale with fright at the thought as Brihanna launched the following exclamation. "A claw?! How can an animal do this?! I mean sure there are bears and wolves but this huge wound? How can this be?!"

Even as he understood her concern, Griffith only focused on one thing: the possibility of Shiro needing help which seemed increasingly likely. Though, the lack of combat sounds definitely didn't do the man's nerves any favours. "We don't know for certain, but if it did cause this, then that means…"

".... Ah, shit! SHIRO, HOLD ON! WE'RE COMING!"

"WAIT, JAMAL!"

In an instant, Jamal broke off into a mad sprint deeper into the Orphanage, ignoring the orders to wait by Griffith although he soon followed suit. Soon, the rest of the group ran after Jamal and Griffith, the former having realized that Shiro was likely in MAJOR trouble right now.

Whilst they they ran past the corpses in the room, they soon began running throughout the entire orphanage. To which they also passed by some children's corpses as well. As they looked left and right, uncaring about the dead bodies as they looked for their friend, each of them feared the worst for him.

Was Shiro okay?

Did he find what had caused this?

Was he even alive at this point…?

Thoughts like this filled their minds whilst the group finally broke into a large dining room. When they looked they saw countless gashes and slash marks all around the room, and in the middle of it all was their friend laying down on the ground.

"SHIRO!" A loud shout escaped him as Jamal dropped his weapon, ignoring it's clanking against the carpets whilst he went to Shiro. Kneeling beside the unconscious boy, he gently picked his head up, proceeding to urgently yell at him whilst shaking him. "Shiro, are you alright?! Speak to me!"

"Uhhhhh."

When he heard the boy groaning, confirming that he was indeed alive, not just Jamal but the entire group each released sighs of relief, knowing that despite the massive amount of death here they hadn't lost one of their best members. "Oh, thank God you're alright, man… Thought we'd lost you for a moment there. Hold on, we're getting you out of here!" he proclaimed, quickly grasping wrapping one of his friends' arms around the back of his shoulder and placing his free arm around the unconscious Shiro's waist.

Jogging up to him, Brihanna looked around with concern, not liking the thought of what they had seen around the young boy. "What about the bear Jamal?" she questioned.

Before he could answer with something along the lines of him not giving a shit compared to getting Shiro to safety, Griffith beat him to it with a more levelheaded response."Once you go back to the base, call in reinforcements. If this causes this much damage, there is no telling what it would do next."

Jamal nodded his head in understanding, knowing that something so dangerous could definitely cause a LOT of damage to the Village if left unchecked. Although, he still held concerns whilst holding Shiro close to him at the same time. "Alright I will but what about you?" he questioned the man.

Said man turned to view the surroundings in their entirety, suspicions telling him that this was NOT just this mystery beast's doing with flashbacks to the camp forming in his mind. 'I bet that… thing came out again when Shiro got attacked by whatever destroyed this Orphanage. It seems to mostly come out when he is under great stress and danger, which explains why it came out when I first fought him as well as back in that camp…' the man thought, all before addressing his subordinate. "I have to make sure it doesn't do more damage to it, I'll stay here for a while, now go!"

"Ok Griffith,. just be safe!"

Timeskip 2 months later

In a dark room, lit only by a single lantern in the middle of a round table, multiple figures that were cloaked by hooded cloaks looked to be urgently discussing an important topic… one which started with a 'G' and ended in an 'ith'. One guess as to who this subject was.

"We must do something to this band of the Hawk, especially their leader Griffith."

"Agreed."

"I completely understand."

"But why do we need to plot against them? they have brought glory and order to our village. If this keeps up, we can eventually expand and evolve into a more prominent location."

"You don't understand, since you're new here we'll tell you. You see, Griffith is a dangerous man, not only has he managed to raid multiple strongholds belonging to multiple high-profile officials throughout the Village, but he apparently has countless soldiers on his side, alongside the love of the populace for his leadership as well as his strength. Who knows what would happen, or the amount of damage he could cause if he decided to betray us."

"Especially since he is an outsider coming from something called a 'church', whatever that is. We can't take any chances."

"Why not make them disband?"

"... No it won't work, because from the spy info, they completely trust each other especially Griffith they have great trust in him that even if they disband the group, they would regroup again."

"Then what should we do then, if we can't get rid of the group then how can we even get rid of him?"

"Hmmmmm, how about since he's popular with women? why not make one of our daughters seduce him?"

"What?! You suggest we give one of our daughters to him?! Absurd! No! I will not allow my daughter to get involved!"

"Me too! My daughter already has a family and I'm expecting a grandson soon!"

"..... fine, show of hands. Who won't allow their daughters to be involved with this?"

…

...

"..... and who shall allow their daughter to be involved with the plan?"

"...."

"... I will allow it."

"Dalton?! Are you sure about this? If they even find out that you were behind this, not only will they know that your daughter is involved but us too!"

"If it's the risk is too high…. Then I'll take it, for the greater good."

"..... fine, but we need to plan carefully so that they won't realize that we were involved. It would take time but we need to have patience."

"Ok, what should we do?"

"Well…"

AN:

Hunter here, welcome to the fourth chapter of Frenzy DxD. As one might expect, since this is the prologue arc we're going to have to cut corners with the whole adapting berserk's content. We will have to make multiple changes due to the changes in time and place, but hopefully it'll work out. Also, anyone want to take a guess as to what it is that Shiro has? It's obvious that there's SOMETHING within him, but what? Anyways, hope you like and look forward to the next one.

PEACE OUT!

Finally we are back at this story!.... My name Darklord, bringing you a chapter of our first made story! Now, if your wondering why we came to this story, it is because this is being left out for some months and we can't just abandon it. If we did, then we can't call ourselves writers if we abandon a story. So there isn't much to say but let tell you why these are plotting against Griffith, they are paranoid and afraid because they have too much power, too much power would make anyone afraid of them. The plot is starting to thicken now for the main event will soon arrive. Alright thank you for reading our story, be sure to leave a review if you want check out my partners profile if you want to read his story and I'll see you next time!

GOOD LUCK!