The journey to the Eastern Front, bordering the Mystic Republic, was relatively uneventful for Mors, allowing him to slowly bond and develop an awkward friendship with the temporary team he had been assigned to.

A human, John Fielding, led the group he joined with the rest of the team consisting of a female elf that kept to herself, known as Seer, a water elemental called Nepra, a Fae named Breena and a gecko-like, Amos.

Unlike most of the adepts at the Wolf's Den, the Huntsman HQ, the team tried hard to integrate Mors, going over and beyond to bypass his prickly outer shell and, a few days before they reached their new home, at least for the next few months, the draconic demon opened up.

However, unlike Kelora had promised, Verz was deep behind enemy l, eliminating threats on the Republic's side of the border so, instead of being trained personally by her, Mors and his team were put on cleanup duty.

The nobles, at least those that they encountered in the east, were beyond corrupt, and like a fireball hurled into dry grass, the Huntsman passed through the villages, towns and cities, cleansing any that harboured ill intention toward the Federation, or in Mors' case, those that earned his rage.

To say they were heavy handed was an understatement. The Federation's scouts where the scalpel, its army the hammer and the Huntsmen, the tactical nuke. Young, old, man or woman, it mattered not to the Huntsmen as they continued with their gruesome business of stabilising the region, no matter the cost.

This behaviour was one of the main reasons why the Huntsmen had become so feared and hated, even amongst its own people.

Considered Zealots to their missions, without mercy or remorse, most had huge bounties on their heads from underground organisations and the other nations. Though, instead of finding this daunting, the huntsmen treated a bounty like a badge of honour or an unofficial ranking system.

Though there was no official declaration of war, the region had fallen under martial law on both sides of the border, with Kelora and Rock taking control in their captain's absence.

Surprisingly, instead of stopping Mors and his rampages, they provided him with even more information, resources and at times, troops.

Mors' relative free reign in picking his targets, with the consent of his team leader, wasn't because he was untouchable or had the Captains favour, but because he was targeting the scum of society, the ones that if the rest of Huntsmen didn't have pressing matters, would remove themselves.

It also had the bonus of training Mors in the way of the hunt, which he became frighteningly good at, earning him the begrudging respect of the garrisoned Huntsmen. Though to them, even if he was effective, he was a loose cannon that could not be controlled, and soon, those in higher positions started to move against him, limiting Mors' exposure to delicate or high profile missions.

It wasn't long before Verz's covert efforts in the Republic's territory, along with the Huntsmen's 'housekeeping' of their own de-escalate the threat of war.

This was also due to the vast expanse of territory in question, as well as the costs of maintaining specialist armies and the removal of any warmongers, resulting in the Federation and Republic pulling troops away from the border, and just as Verz had predicted, it was over before it really began.

At this tentative time, where things were starting to calm down, Mors came across a small town's slave trader and a dying slave girl.

Slavery was one of the things Mors abhorred, having regained a few of the memories of his previous lives he lived as a slave, but what he found, sent him over the edge. The girl was an almost perfect match for his daughter and mysteriously, in her dying moments, screamed out for her father, cursing the world and everything in it.

Though on paper he was weaker, Mors' mentality, fractured memories of past lives, cunning and unpredictability gave him a huge advantage over his peers, and it wasn't long before no one on the Eastern front, both friend and enemy, underestimated him.

The town was wiped from the face of Acoria in a matter of hours, due to being mostly made up of civilians, but the slave trader was able to escape Mors' clutches, taunting him as he fled into Republic territory.

Even though they were horrified by Mors' disregard for life, which was an impressive feat as Huntsmen were desensitised from killing, the rest of his team were forced to follow him as he charged across the border after the man.

This was a fatal mistake as they fell into a well-prepared ambush, in which only Mors and John, managed to escape, on the cusp of death as they returned to the regions HQ.

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The destruction of the town, due to the actions of a single slave trader, even if after the ambush few believed that a third party didn't orchestrate the event, and the destruction of his team, alienated Mors from the majority of the Huntsmen once again.

While they were vicious and without mercy, they still had a code of conduct and killing civilians without a justifiable reason, was one of the things that the considered taboo.

Also, due to the similarity between his team and Ethemeusa's death, rumours one again started to circulate and Mors obtained a new title, The Cursed Huntsmen.

It wasn't long after that Verz returned from the shadows, her mission complete to find that most of her units, besides her team, had turned on Mors, ostracising him to the point where he was one again living in the nearby forests.

Rock and Kelora tried their best, but the situation was turning extremely volatile, particularly after the suspicious death of John, his body found mutilated and hung upon the huntsmen's regional fortress.

John had become Mors one and only true friend, even after the ambush as he did not blame Mors in the slightest, and his death hit the demon hard. To the point where even approaching him was almost impossible.

It was clear to most that Mors was being set up, more than likely by the Sun Clan as they were the only ones they knew that had a vendetta against the draconic demon as well as the means to carry out such a risky plan.

Even with this reasoning, it didn't save Mors from the rumours as the Huntsmen, due to the nature of their jobs, were extremely superstitious. He soon became akin to a bad omen and was avoided at all costs.

Verz, realising that if this continued, her plan at using Mors's ability to save her clan's heritage would be destroyed, left her team behind to deal with the withdrawal from the Eastern front and took Mors back to Flatner to train in isolation.

Though many questioned her decision, the leader of the Huntsmen to disappearing for six months just to train a single adept, none were brave enough to disagree with her and could only hope that her fascination with the Cursed Huntsmen would soon end.

Disappearing deep into the ancient forest, Verz trained Mors mercilessly and without rest, putting him in dangerous situations and forcing him to adapt and grow, focusing on his skills and individual combat abilities instead of relying on a team tactics.

She had come to the realisation that Mors was not suited for group battles or to have many allies, mainly due to his personality, and started training him in the way of the Pathfinders. The lone wolfs of the Huntsmen.

Though he would still need to pass the final trial in a team, once he passed, she would immediately assign him the title, allowing him to work independently.

During his time with Verz, Mors had grown very attached to the wolfkin, even with her brutal training regime and warped sense of humour, she made it clear that the reason she was so interested in him was that of his abilities and strangely that greatly reassured him.

After the death of John, Mors needed someone to rely on more than ever, and with Verz's unique disposition, her strength and the fact she held no secrets from him, no matter how much it hurt the demon, enabled him to form a bond. One that rapidly grew, even without the aid of his angelic bloodline.

It wasn't only Mors' attitude that changed. Slowly, Verz unintentionally peeled back the layers of Mors' defences and found something familiar, reawakening feelings deep inside her that she long thought dead. It did not help that Mors rapidly adapted to her methods of tormenting him for fun.

Eventually, the only way she could tease the demon was, in a warped way, with kindness. Violence and brutality were almost second nature to him but, with a single act of kindness, she could almost completely disarm him, before brutally taking advantage and often, breaking more than one bone.

After a few months, one of Verz's challenges, to infiltrate the city hive of trolls and steal a sacred treasure, Mors was discovered and thrown into a life and death battle.

Displaying the might of all his training, Mors was gradually pushed back by sheer numbers though, to a normal person, even this was an incredible feat.

Just as it looked like he was about to fall, and Verz prepared to step in, Mors unknowingly killed the troll king giving him a brief respite as a battle erupted amongst the trolls in an almost scripted, power struggle. However, he wasn't completely ignored, and with his acquired injuries he was slowly faltering to the point where he believed that he would not survive the encounter.

The infighting ended when a young, female troll, wearing a gold band and a matching ring, killed another, which turned out to be her brother, claiming the right to rule over the trolls.

Her first order was for Mors to be left alone.

Exhausted, surrounded by dead trolls and covered in wounds, Mors collapsed as black swirling mist gathered around him, condensing into a spiked cocoon.

Everyone knew that Mors was evolving, being a common event for most species, but what happened next completely surprised Verz.

Not only did the new troll queen order her subject to stop attacking Mors, she personally picked up his cocoon and moved it into her new royal chambers, treating Mors with reverence.

Trolls were fiercely territorial, and although the huntsmen had something of an unofficial non-aggression treaty with them, she could not work out why the new queen would protect him.

With Mors' life not in any immediate danger, Verz decided to wait until she could take Mors without agitating the trolls unnecessarily. Luckily Mors was not wearing his mask or Huntsmen cloak so it would be hard to link them together, not that it really mattered. The trolls might be strong for a tribe, but the Huntsman could purge them in a few weeks if it came to that.

Days past and eventually, the new queen of the trolls, left Mors with a small guard as she solidified her rule. Verz was slightly concerned why the queen was so infatuated with Mors, but in the end, she put it down to her being attracted to his strength and nothing more.

Using her abilities, Verz successfully retrieved Mors without killing any of the guards and rapidly left the troll territories in preparation for when Mors would complete his evolution and return to the Huntsmen fortress.