Chapter 1: Background

1782, Victorian Era.(Steam Punk Era)

The Holy Church somehow managed to gain access to a blood which they called God's Blood. This blood has incredible healing properties capable of curing any illness or injuries no matter how large, it was also able to create new limbs and fix broken organs and cells by a particle level.

Along with the incredible healing properties comes the drastic increase in physical strength, endurance, vitality and such. The Arch Study Agency conducted an experiment with the reasons of using the God's Blood to transcend "Mortality" and reach the realm of the gods which the Holy Church deemed as blasphemous and the entire Arch Study Agency was hailed as heretics because their studies and experiments had results.

They could somehow bring a dead back to life only using a large amounts of God's Blood and somehow make the dead turn into a living. This is not within the realms that mortals should have and the Church wanted to wipe any technology as having such a power is what gods should have and not mortals. This led to a war that lasted for 3 decades between the industrial and intelligent Arch Study Agency and the devoted and saint like Holy Church.

When everyone thought that the war would finally end after almost all of the Arch Study Agency was wiped out, the scientists from the Agency suddenly let out a disease that could spread like wild fire, the disease spread so fast that it encompassed the entire continent.

This disease was called the Pale Monster Disease and anyone or anything that was infected with the disease would turn into a grotesque mindless monsters that would kill anyone or anything at sight, even their own family or friends without any hesitation. This was small at first and not many knew about this but slowly, it spread, more and more beasts and monsters appeared from the bodies of the infected, the sheer reek of smell on them could infect anyone, slowly, the world descended into chaos.

This went on for 5 years until one man stood up against the monsters that even the knights of the empire could not fight back with their silver armor and swords. With just a pistol and a sword like lance on both of his hands, he started hunting down monsters in each city, many followed to fight back, they trained themselves, studied these monsters to understand how they work, made weapons that were efficient and effective.

They were not knights in shining armor but rather, hunters that are covered in blood, mud and dirt to hunt their pray. The people called these people Hunters, monsters who slays monsters to protect the weak.

The Golden Age arrived for these hunters, although they were a little too late, barely 6% of the population was left in the continent, so they went to the center of the continent under the first's Hunter's lead and created the last city of humanity, this city was created to be in favor for the Hunters, the design and such were created in mind that if a monster or an infected turned inside the city, they would get attacked by all directions, the maze like structure was hard and unpredictable and this city named Arkvem became an fortress city which gave the humans hope for survival, hope to live for another day.

Just as hope came as quickly and sudden, despair also came as quickly and sudden. The people found out that the Hunters, the very people that became heroes could also go mad and started attacking their own allies. They who hunts monsters and beasts can also became monsters and beasts themselves. From the never ending killings, guilt, remorse for their actions, these Hunters who went mad were those who went through all kinds of sufferings and emotional trauma.

The Hunters go through all kinds of mental and physical traumas everyday, from the nightmares of the people they kill to the stabbing of their chest from the monster or beasts hands. Thankfully, due to the God's Blood, they grew stronger and also crazier. The monsters or beasts...

Has the God's Blood within them, running through their bodies and consuming such a thing led to them becoming stronger than the normal God's Blood. More and more Hunters became mad, some worshipped gods unknown to the world, made sacrifices, some created more powerful monsters in their descent to madness.

The Hunters were scared of killing the comrades and friends that fought alongside them against the monsters and beasts, the people who saved them countless times. These people, seeing their fellow Hunters go mad and kill other people, they had no choice but to kill them too less more and more people die.

Slowly, these guilt ate them and they too succumb to the madness of this dark and decaying world. Only a few Hunters with a sane mind left, just like the first Hunter, one man, stood up and brought it upon himself to kill these maddened Hunters and end their suffering.

This man is not the hero, he is nothing but a Hunter who was a little bit better than other Hunters, but he was stronger than the Hunters not physically, but mentally. He decided to bear the sins of killing his fellow comrades, to bear their guilt and pressure, the things that weighed them.

"Reuben Mortimer. The Hunter of Hunters, are you here to claim my life?" A woman wearing a dress with a vest covered with a coat drifted over her shoulders asked, her eyes covered by her crush cap, she had fluid shoulder length black hair with braids and ribbons. She had high leather boots as well as a revolver with a large chamber and long barrel that somehow could deal bigger damage and cause anything hit by it get a large wound, on her back. On the side of her waist was a hacksaw that could become a spear like saw if you were to extend the saw part outwards.

She held her crush cap up before putting it back into her head.

Reuben looked at her before looking at the scene behind her, a wolf like beast with humanoid body that had 2 short arms and a long arm to balance itself with its 2 large legs. The beast had 8 pairs of eyes and teeth could be found anywhere even on its chest. But you could see that it was once a person because it wore a ripped clothes, ripped jeans and vest but it somehow became a monster.

Rueben looked at the beast before shaking his head and turning around, using his cane to walk away. "No, Elaine. The beast that i was going to hunt was killed by you, i'll leave some God's Blood here for you to heal. Happy Hunting."

The woman, Elaine looked at him and scowled, "Jeffry is not a beast."

Rueben sighed but continued walking, "He got blood drunk and became a a beast. If he isn't a beast then what is he? A victim? A human? No, Elaine. He is a beast both within and without. The moment he turned into a beast, he is classified as one. Now, if you'll excuse me, i'll have to go and find another target." Rueben held his leather hunter hat before walking away and turning to a corner, but before he left, he said one final words to Elaine,

"And also, Elaine? Don't think that you murdered him, you saved Mr. Jeffry and its an act that you should be proud off. I am sorry for your loss, may his soul rest in the Eternal Dream."

To which Elaine respond,"...How could i be proud of killing my own fiance? I..." From that on, Elaine sat on the road and started sobbing, holding the hand of the beastified Jeffry as she placed her head on top of it. "Im sorry, so so sorry..."

Rueben sighed once again and left one final word, "Don't give up, Elaine. You still have a purpose in this world, please don't die and continue protecting our people."

With that, he turned into the corner while sighing. 'This is why being a Hunter is the most saddest thing to be.' He looked at the never ending cloudy sky as rain started dropping tears of droplets.