Forest

(Hicks)

"Argent, how were you made"

(Argent)

"Properly"

(Hicks)

"Wait what?"

(Argent)

"Well you see, to make things you have to make them properly. Hence I was made properly"

(Hicks)

"So you don't know?"

(Sudden Voice)

"Don't know what?"

Suddenly a young man that looks a few years older than Hicks appears. He is blonde and has a white streak of hair. There is black hair at the roots so he had dyed his hair. He is rather y'all and he looks very calm while staring at Hicks

(Hicks)

"Ah Cousin Ging!"

*This is the only cousin that I like*

(Argent)

"He is strong, I like him"

(Ging)

"Get your ass up, we have a mission, assigned by your father. A guard on the east side of the empire went missing"

(Hicks)

"Outside of all the walls?"

(Ging)

"Yes, we believe he was on his normal patrol and went into a blind spot where all the guards on the wall couldn't see him. Human blood was found so we believe he was attacked. We are tasked to investigate the matter and if possible retrieve man"

(Argent)

"Quite the lengthy assignment, you already know where he is don't you, I do"

(Hicks)

*I don't know exactly but I sensed a titan class demon beast on the east side of the empire so that is my main assumption*

Hicks gets up and puts a hand on Ging's shoulder. He smiles and they start walking towards the gate that leaves the palace area. As they walk there they are met by a group of teenagers all about the same age as Hicks. The group has a smug looking boy, black hair and ghetto looking. He isn't very tall but he has chiseled muscles. There is also a girl, she carries a bow. She is attractive and has long brown hair. The other two are twins, they both have dyed green hair, the roots of their hair turning a blond color. One wields a large sword while the other wields two short swords.

(Hicks)

"They are?"

(Ging)

"You we're trapped in the palace for so long you don't even know your some of your own cousins. Well they don't know you either so I won't bother. Let's get moving"

The gate opens and the start walking to the middle walls gate. They all walk and look around at the people of the empire.

(Hicks)

"Ugh this is so very bland, I'm out see you guys later"

(Ging)

"What do you mean?"

Hicks flys away using his technique from before. He flys East of the empire and the others just stand in surprised.

(Ging)

"Thought he couldn't fly, alright let's follow"

The rest surround themselves in a white aura and follow Hicks. Hicks lands on the east side of the outer wall. There are guards there protecting any possible evidence

(Hicks)

*There is a light smell of blood*

(Ging)

"Hicks, do you smell that?"

(Guard)

"There's nothing here, what could you possibly be smelling"

(Hicks)

"Blood, it's not human. It doesn't smell like it at least, probably a demon beast"

(Argent)

"Oh look over there, fortunately enough there's a paw print"

(Hicks)

"Over there! It's a paw print"

Everyone walks over to look at the print. Ging looks amazed at the site

(Ging)

"Holy crap it's huge"

(Hicks)

"It's a titan demon beast, probably a form of tiger"

(Guard)

"Where do you think it went?"

(Argent)

"It's farther away more East"

Hicks points away from the wall

(Hicks)

"East, probably that direction"

Hicks flys up and sees more blood. He quickly flys in that direction but finds himself above a forest. He sees blood splatters at the outside of the forest.

Everyone else catches up to Hicks.

(Ging)

"There's a lot more visible blood, let's investigate, from the floor"

They fly down and Hicks quickly walks to the blood.

(Hicks)

"It's human"

He looks around and finds some wrist armor of a Heavenly Family guard

(Hicks)

"It's definitely here, but in the forest. Maybe it's hiding in a tree, or a small cave. We will enter, but we must be cautious"

(Ging)

"I'm passing control of the operation to Hicks, his judgement has been correct so far so we will follow him"

(The group of teenagers and some guards that followed)

"Understood, what shall we do"

(Hicks)

"We are going into the forest. This is a titan class demon beast so be cautious. If you find it retreat and let everyone else know. We will be sitting into groups of three. I will go alone since you guys would just slow me down"

(Ging)

"Going in alone is dangerous, we should just stick together!"

(Hicks)

"No, get into groups, I'm going in"

Hicks runs into the forest and leaves everyone else to choose groups

(Ging)

"Chu, Xho, you're with me"

The two twins approach Ging, they will be part of his group. Chu carries the large sword while Xho carries the two short swords

(Ging)

"Lang you should go with Aer, you are good in hand to hand while Aer has a bow, take one of the guards with you"

The short chiseled boy goes with the girl with the bow and takes a guard with him, they run into the forest and start searching

(Ging)

"Guess that leave one guard left, I guess you should just stay put and keep watch"

Ging takes the twins and runs into the forest.

Meanwhile Hicks is jumping from tree to tree and finds another paw print

(Argent)

"It's in a cave"

(Hicks)

"Why don't you just tell me where it is, I can feel it's presence but I don't know where it is!"

(Argent)

"There's no fun if I just tell you where it is"

Hicks just keeps running looking for a cave. After a while of running he finds a cave. He is hesitant to go in but he goes. He looks around, empty. He leaves and keeps looking

The guard outside the forest is waiting around for the rest. Suddenly there is a rustling in the bushes. He suddenly pulls out a sword and prepares to slash at whatever comes out.

(Guard)

"Come out, before I kill you"

Lang and Aer emerge from the bush and collapse on the floor. They are heavily injured, covered in slashes from something sharp. Lang has splinters on him signing he was probably slammed into a tree.

(Guard)

"Oh god what happened!?"

(Lang)

"Ru... run"

Ging and the twins are just walking around looking for any clues. Suddenly Xho hears a rustling from the a tree. He pulls out his two swords in a fighting stance

(Xho)

"There's something there, get ready"

Chu and Ging suddenly get ready to fight. Then Chu suddenly gets slashed in the back and Ging gets smacked away and hits his head on a rock while tumbling. Xho turns around quickly but then everything goes black.

Hicks keeps leaping from tree to tree but then gets and uneasy feeling

(Hicks)

"Something happened, the demon beast is on the move"

(Argent)

*This has just gotten interesting*

Hicks keeps leaping finding nothing for a while but then finds a cave.

(Hicks)

"It's here"

(Argent)

"How do you know?"

(Hicks)

"It's obvious, even I can feel that murderous aura from out here"

Hicks goes in, he finds two tunnels, one going left and another going right. Hicks goes left and finds a chamber. There is a hole in the roof giving some light.

(Hicks)

"Was this the wrong tunne-"

Suddenly there are heavy footsteps and out of the eerie darkness emerges a larger red and black tiger. It looks like a normal tiger but it is fully red and has black stripes, it is also huge confirming it is of titan class

(Hicks)

"Huo Tiger"

It suddenly drags something over and it is the guard that was with Lang and Aer. It grabs his arm with its mouth and lays down with him. It starts chewing on his arm making blood splattering the stone floor. The guard tries to keep quiet while enduring this horrible pain. The guard notices Hicks

(Guard)

Whispering

"Help me"

Hicks looks around the chamber some more and sees a pile of bodies. The three bodies that make up the pile are Chu, Xho, and Ging

(Hicks)

"Oh crap, hopefully they are alive, they seem to have some nasty wounds"

(Argent)

"They're fine, just unconscious from shock"

Hicks looks back at the guard that looks like he has reached his limit. The guard gives in and screams in pain

(Guard)

"JUST END IT ALREADY!!!! KILL ME YOU F**KING BASTARD!!!"

The tiger then suddenly grabs the guard's head with its mouth and crushes it. The guard's body goes limp and blood starts dripping from the tiger's mouth. The tiger gets up and approaches Ging who is at the top of the body pile. It opens its mouth to grab Ging but suddenly a rock hits its eye.

(Hicks)

"Take that you furry bastard! ELEMENTAL DRAGON!!!"

Hicks' fist charges up with a yellow and red aura, he makes a fist and punches it right in the face

(Hicks)

"SMASH!!!!"

The tiger's head smashes into a wall and Hicks puts Ging on his back, he grabs the twins with each arm and starts running. The tiger collapses from being disoriented, after a bit it gets up and starts running trying to chase after Hicks. Hicks uses his flying technique and flys barely over the trees, his flying technique can barley carry such weight of four people

The tiger can be seen running on the ground making loud stomps, it jumps in the air and almost takes Hicks' leg off. The tiger jumps in the air once again and is sure to take off Hicks' leg. But out of nowhere a glowing blue arrow stabs into the tiger's eye. Hicks looks over and sees Aer with her bow and arrow on top of a tree. She falls out of the tree in exhaustion

(Ging)

"What the hell happened?"

(Hicks)

"Ah you're awake! Start flying and grab one of the twins"

Ging starts flying and grabs Chu. The tiger gets up and retreats deeper into the forest

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If anyone is reading this, the end of this volume is near. So yeh