Long story short, thousands of years ago, humans and demons were at war. But instead of a victor being decided, Humans and demons agreed to stop the war and spare their remaining people from suffering. The agreement was that the remaining demons would no longer harm humans and live secretly in their society. Since the demons were the ones to propose the deal, they offered all their territories to the humans.
The humans weren't stupid and knew that if this war continued, both sides would be on the verge of extinction no matter who would win.
Demons began living amongst the people in secret, and after thousands of years, the majority of the humans had forgotten about their existence.
But not everything was perfect. Just like not every human abides by the law, not every demon follows the rules of the agreement. That's how the Demon Hunter organization was created with the permission of the higher-ranking demons.
------
Astrid observed a group of people arriving from the rooftop of an abandoned building. From men in suits to beggar-looking individuals, they were gathered at the abandoned convenience store.
This city had been the victim of a terrorist attack a couple of months ago. After that, this city was isolated by the government and became a nest for unsavory individuals. That also meant that nobody knew what was happening there.
"I'm in position," Astrid said to her earpiece.
"Standby," someone responded through her earpiece. "We need to ascertain the necromancer demon is present before engaging."
"Understood," Astrid replied.
The necromancer demon had broken the agreement by killing humans to turn them into his undead. They were informed that people meeting down there supplied the necromancer demon with living sacrifices in exchange for demonic power.
When a human receives demonic power, they become stronger, and when they obtain enough of it from a demon, they gain a fraction of their power. In a way, demon hunters are similar, except they acquire power by killing Demons. This was an ability passed down by the first demon hunters.
"The hostages are arriving," a different voice spoke from her earpiece.
Astrid adjusted the scope of her sniper to observe the arriving vehicle. It was a large container truck being escorted by two cars and one motorcycle.
"Get ready."
Astrid calmed her breath and aimed.
One of them opened the truck and was suddenly sent flying. "Cap..." Astrid began. "We might have a situation."
A man walked to the opening of the truck. He cracked his neck as he looked around. One of the guys in the suit pointed a gun at him, and then he suddenly lunged at one of the closest to him and used him as a shield as they began firing at him.
Astrid was about to fire to help the man, but her captain interrupted her. "Hold your fire, wait for the necromancer."
"But-"
"Hold your fire."
Astrid greeted her teeth as she was forced to watch. The man grabbed a gun from the one he was using as a shield and fired back, killing two of his attackers with quick success.
"How is this guy not dead yet?" Astrid muttered in confusion.
Even if he used a demonic human as a shield, he wouldn't be able to survive a wave of bullets being fired at him from multiple directions.
"Is he a demon hunter?" Astrid asked through her earpiece.
"Negative. Facial recognition shows no match for any registered demon hunter."
"Well, if he survives this, he'll become one."
The man dove to the side of the truck then the attackers began circling the truck. But they all stopped all of a sudden and turned towards the entrance of the convenience store. Astrid watched as a skeleton with a flaming skull exited the building.
"Fire!"
Astrid fired, but a skeleton dog somehow blocked the bullet.
"Shit!" Astrid cursed as she reloaded, but it was too late. Skeletons began coming out of magic circles that appeared all around the abandoned city. The whole area was surrounded by living skeletons.
"We're charging in."
She was informed from her earpiece just as two armored vehicles drove into the scene. A large man with gray here stepped out, carrying a giant axe.
"End these motherfuckers!"
------
"What the fuck is going on?" Alex muttered.
One moment, he was in a fight with some random thugs, and then he got knocked out by some kind of gas. Now, he was either still dreaming, or that gas was nasty. Skeletons were surrounding him, and some random gangsters wanted to kill him.
"Today is just not my day."
"End these motherfuckers!"
Alex peeked out and saw a mountain of a man carrying an axe that was probably as big as him and wielding it like a toy.
"Damn..." Alex watched as the man swung that axe like it was nothing. "Should I just leave?" He looked around and noticed that the skeletons hadn't registered his existence yet. "Do they only attack people that are moving?"
As if to answer his question, the moment Alex moved, the skeletons charged him. They weren't fast or strong, but the sheer number of them made it hard to avoid them all.
"We just need to get to the lich. Clear a path!" He heard from a distance.
The skeletons began charging towards the group of people, which opened a path for him.
"Hey!" one of the gangsters pointed at Alex.
"I'm out of here!" He ran away from the area as fast as he could.
He avoided the skeletons and bashed a few skulls along the way. It wasn't much of an army, more of a quantity-over-quality situation, so it was easy to get past them. But even if they were weak, they could overwhelm him with numbers before he could even get far.
Alex ran into one of the buildings, making his way straight to the roof. He didn't understand what was going on, but he needed to figure things out if he wanted to get out of there safely. Getting a good view of the situation would be helpful with that.
Alex had a habit of always getting into fights, but he had a talent for always staying calm and rational. It was easy to deduce that he wasn't a priority for the enemies. If anything, he was just unlucky to be caught up in this situation. He remembered catching a glimpse of the faces of the thugs he was fighting earlier that day in the truck they kept him in, so they just grabbed a bunch of people.
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"Time to see what's going on," Alex muttered as he went to the edge of the rooftop.
It was like a small-scale war. The group that looked like they were from the military was overwhelming the skeletons and gangsters with power but had a severe disadvantage in terms of numbers.
In the distance, Alex noticed a skeleton with a flaming skull. "That one is definitely the leader."
-------
Astrid provided cover fire for her team as they charged towards the necromancer demon. After her failed attempt to take it out, the demon had retreated to cover.
All her team members were one-core demon hunters except for the captain, a two-core demon hunter, so their formation consisted of the captain charging forward and making a path. The others formed a line behind, assuring that nobody flanks him.
"This should end quickly," Astrid muttered as she shot down one of the kidnappers.
She tried looking for the man earlier but didn't know where he had escaped. Since he had taken out a few demonic humans and some skeletons, a portion of their demonic energy would have transferred to him.
Demon hunters refer to that energy as cleansed demonic energy. When hunters get enough of that energy, they can create a core. Once a demon hunter forms a core, their physical abilities are enhanced. When the core they created is filled, they could even develop an ability. But if they absorb the core of an original demon, they will get a core and an ability corresponding with the original demon's lineage.
"We've reached the necromancer demon's base," the captain informed through the earpiece.
"Keep an eye out for traps and curses," headquarters replied.
Astrid also did her part and ensured the kidnappers couldn't help the necromancer demon.
The necromancer demon wasn't powerful in terms of direct combat. They relied on undead soldiers and curses to deal with their opponents, not engaging them in direct combat. Once they reached the necromancer demon, this mission was over.
"We have engaged-" the captain's voice was interrupted when the convenience store exploded.
"Cap!" Astrid yelled.
"We're alright," the captain replied. "I managed to land a hit, but the necromancer demon escaped."
"Astrid, survey the area," headquarters ordered.
"Understood," Astrid got up from her position and dismantled her gun.
------
"Holy shit!"
Alex took cover as the explosion occurred. He rushed back inside to avoid the debris landing on the roof. Then, he noticed a purple symbol glowing on the floor.
"Huh?"
The symbol glowed even brighter, and then the flaming skeleton appeared. Its skull was cracked, and its robe was torn to reveal that one of its arms was missing. "Insolent humans!" the skeleton yelled in anger.
"Well," Alex grinned as the skeleton turned towards him in a panic. "Looks like you didn't get very far," he cracked his knuckles.
"Do you know who I am, human?!" the skeleton yelled.
"In a few seconds... a pile of bones," Alex dashed toward the skeleton.
"Fool!" the demon raised its remaining arm and sent black tendrils towards Alex.
He stepped out of the way of the tendrils and grabbed a chair, smashing it on the demon's flaming skull. "I was minding my own business," Alex stated as he used a piece of rebar to smash one of the skeleton's legs. "Now, I'm your problem."
He proceeded to beat the shit out of the skeleton, letting out some frustration in the process. "Fucking hell," he panted as he stepped back and leaned back against the wall.
The skeleton was reduced to a pile of broken bones. It was even starting to crumble into dust. As he was catching his breath, he took off his jacket, and it fell to the floor with a loud thud.
"Thank god I was wearing a bulletproof jacket."
Alex had been in many fights, and it wasn't rare for someone to suddenly pull out a gun. It was a good thing he knew a guy and had a bulletproof jacket made. It cost him quite a bit, but it was goddamn worth it.
"I need to buy another one if this is going to be a regular thing," Alex muttered.
He glanced at the pile of bones or where the pile of bones used to be. It had already crumbled into dust, leaving only a purple crystal sphere.
"Neat... a souvenir," Alex picked up the crystal and examined it. "Maybe I could sell this."
"Stop!"
I turned toward the end of the hallway and saw a blonde woman with what looked like a sniper strapped to her back.
"Let go of that before-"
It was too late as the crystal in my hand began to glow before vanishing. "What the hell-" The words died in my throat as I felt a sudden pain in my chest.
I fell to my knees as everything began to blur. My ears were ringing, and my head practically spinning. The only thing I remembered before losing consciousness was the blonde woman running towards me.
------
Alex was woken up by the sound of beeping, and bright lights hit him the moment he opened my eyes. "Fucking hell..." Alex tried to block the lights with his hand, and that's when he noticed the IVs attached to his hand. "Am I in a hospital?"
Looking around, he noticed several people were lying on their beds. Most of them were heavily bandaged and even missing a limb. He almost felt out of place for being the only one that looked fine.
"Oh, you're awake," a short and tan woman in a nurse uniform approached Alex with a clipboard. "Your body had a hard time adjusting to the core you absorbed."
"Core? Absorbed?" Alex looked at the woman in confusion.
"Did you not know about demons before this?" the nurse asked.
"I did, but I only knew that some thugs were getting dosed by them to get stronger," Alex explained.
Alex lives in a rough neighborhood, so it's impossible for him not to encounter demonic humans. He would even occasionally get into a fight with a few of them. They would even boast about how they got their power.
"I don't know about absorbing cores though," Alex stated.
The nurse nodded. "Whenever a demon hunter defeats anyone or anything with demonic energy, they absorb a portion of it as their own."
Alex snorted. "Demon hunters use demonic energy?"
"Not exactly. The demonic energy is purified before it gets absorbed. We call that energy Aether," the nurse explained. "When a demon hunter gets enough Aether, they can use it to make a core. Another way to get a core is to absorb one from an original demon."
"Original demon? Like the skeleton?"
"Yes," the nurse nodded. "Absorbing an original demon's core even gives you an ability from their lineage. In your case, necromancy."
Alex cringed. "No offense, but his abilities kind of sucked."
"It depends on the wielder. You won't exactly get the abilities you saw demon used."
"Can I ask what abilities I could get?"
"For a naturally created core, you would get an enhancement-type ability," the nurse began. "As for your case. You absorbed a core from the black magic lineage. You could get shadow magic, necromancy, curses, or other black magic. Since you got it from a necromancer demon, there's a higher chance for necromancy."
"Ugh..."
"Not your style huh," the nurse smiled. "Don't worry. You can get other abilities from other cores."
"I'll keep that in mind," Alex sighed. "Can I go?"
"Sure," the nurse replied.
"Can you take these-" Alex stopped himself when he noticed that the IVs were already gone. "How did..."
"I'm good at my job," the nurse said with a smile before leaving.
"I'm in love..."
------
Alex had begun wandering around the facility, trying to figure out where exactly he was. At first glance, it looked like an underground military base with forest-green walls and many military-dressed personnel walking around.
"Are you a new recruit?" a man asked Alex.
"Ah... no. I was just taken to the medical room," Alex replied. "I was looking for where I could get my stuff."
The man looked him over. "If you were taken to the recruit's medical wing, then you must be an exposure."
"A what?" Alex asked in confusion.
"You got Aether," the man answered. "Anyways, if you're looking for your possession before being sent here. It should be in the holding bay," the man pointed down the hall. "Go straight. Once you reach the stairs, turn left."
"Thank you," Alex bowed before walking away.
Following the man's instructions, Alex found himself in a giant lobby. After looking around, he found a counter with a sign that said "Holding bay" on top.
He approached it. "Excuse me. I was told my stuff might be here," Alex spoke politely.
The woman at the counter looked him over. He only had a white tank top and pants, along with his shoes on. "Name?"
"Alex Gray."
"That name isn't here," the woman said.
"Look, I just woke up at the medical bay, and I don't know who brought me here."
"Your name is not on the list."
His eyes twitched and just sighed. Alex walked away. "I fucking hope I get my jacket back or someone's going to die," Alex muttered as he walked away.
He didn't have a phone or wallet with him, so he at least didn't need to worry about that.
"Hey!"
Alex turned around to find the blonde woman he saw back then.
"Welcome to the demon hunter organization."
"Where's my fucking jacket?!"