A man in clad armor walked through the muddy streets of a village. Passing by stone houses and cottages, he continued. The villagers looked at him with contempt and anger. But the man did not care about their feelings towards him. He just continued with seemingly no end to his walk.

The place was not at all bright as the clouds blocked the sun. The place seemed dark and grim. No place seemed safe. No place seemed comfortable to sleep in. But the man had no conscience to stay there. He was there for one reason and the reason was just in front of him.

He abruptly stopped walking as he was only a few feet away from the entrance of a tavern. The tavern was filled with chatter and laughter. The man’s face was filled with dread but it was hidden by the helmet he had. He clenched his gloved hands in frustration.

For a few minutes, the man just stared into the windows of the tavern, thinking about the best approach. The villagers looked at him in fear of what he was about to do.

No one of his kind leaves a business undone.

No one of his kind leaves their enemies alive.

No one of his kind kills mercifully.

No one of his kind regrets their actions.

His kind was one of the hated in the world. Though their kind helped the country’s survival, their morality was the one always in question. From assassinations to massacres, they have done so with no remorse. This caused a rift between the populace and them.

Fear and anger filled the rift. Nothing can remove it. Not even the king of the country. Not even an empire can.

The man finally did something as he entered the tavern. The villagers outside feared the worst.

No one can beat them.

No one can escape them.

In their presence, you can only wait for the inevitable. Soldiers could not help as they have higher authority than guards.

As the man entered the tavern, his footsteps were heard. All of the people inside turned to the man. Once they took a good look at him, they were silent and frozen in fear. The menacing glare and silence of the man gave off caused them to start sweating.

The bartender was scared out of his mind as he started sweating profusely. The whole place was silent. No one dared to speak. No one dared to move. No one dared to run.

The man then slowly started walking towards the bartender. Each footstep caused loud and heavy thuds. The ones that were near him slowly back away. The bartender gripped the counter like it was his only lifeline.

As the man was walking, someone bumped into him. He glared at the man and noticed that he was drunk. The others felt sorry for the drunken man. He bumped into the wrong person. And now, his life was on the line. But nothing happened as the man just continued walking toward the bartender.

They breathed out a sigh of relief as their comrade was safe. But the drunkard begged to differ.

“Hey! You beta sai sowy fow bampi intah meh!” The drunkard spoke up to the armored man. He then decided to threaten him. “Or I’ll panch ya ta hell!”

The others were mortified at their drunk friend’s sudden outburst.

He stopped walking and slowly turned towards the drunkard; his glare intensifying as it was fueled with scorn. He stopped only a few centimeters away from the drunkard. He moved his head up and down, looking at the drunkard.

The drunk man was smaller than him by a few centimeters. He was fat and seemingly had a beer belly. He had a mustache and a bushy beard. He was wearing some simple pants and shirts. Lastly, he was angry and drunk.

He then looked at the drunkard’s eyes. They now had a staring contest. The drunkard looked at the dark eye sockets of the helmet. There was nothing but anger that was emitting out of the darkness.

Suddenly, the drunkard slammed his right fist onto the armored man’s helmet. The man merely backed away, dodging it. The drunkard then got a dagger and held it with his hands. The man just got in a stance, knees bent, hands ready, preparing for his attack. The drunkard charged him, dagger in hand, aimed at the armored plating located in the chest. The man just stood there, not moving an inch.

As the dagger neared him, he then shoved the dagger to his right before grabbing it and throwing it away. Now disarmed, the man then punched the drunkard in the stomach. The drunkard widened his eyes as he vomited beer and other substances. He flew a few feet before hitting the wall. There, he lay, coughing up blood in the process. Some people moved to help him but the armored man wasn’t done with the fight yet.

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He slowly walked towards the bleeding man. He looked at the man with anger. He then grabbed him by the front collar of his shirt and carried him up high.

The spectators were shocked. A 30-year-old man weighing about 120 kilograms was being carried easily by the armored man who looked like it wasn’t a bother for him. The man continued coughing up blood as it dripped down the floor.

The armored man then brought the bleeding man’s face to his level. He then whispered something to the man. The drunkard's face was plastered with fear and shock.

Then in quick succession, the armored man threw the bleeding one to the wall, breaking it and making him fall outside. Then the armored man turned to the bartender but noticed that he was gone. He clenched his hands again and looked down.

He then gave off a whistling sound. From the sky, a falcon appeared. It landed on the armored man’s shoulder. He tilted his head towards the falcon and muttered something to which the falcon flew away.

The falcon searched the village for the bartender. Searching at every nook and cranny of the place to no avail but continued its search.

The falcon found the bartender hiding in an alleyway after a few minutes. It then dove down and returned to the armored man.

When the report came to the armored man, he exited the tavern and went towards the alleyway where the bartender was hiding. He did not care about the once-living person laying on the ground, blood pooled everywhere.

After looking at a few alleyways, the armored man finally found the bartender who was hiding in a one-way alleyway. To say that the bartender was scared was an understatement. The bartender was petrified with fear as he looked at the armored man.

He stood up from his curled position and suddenly, loud snaps and other blood-curdling sounds were heard. The bartender was transforming into something.

After the transformation, the final appearance of the bartender was clear. It was a tall and slender monster with bat-like facial features. It also had wings like a bat’s and had red eyes. Its skin was a dark gray color. It also had two sharp fangs appearing from the mouth. Both legs and arms were long and thin. The fingers were long as well whilst the toes were more like talons.

It then proceeded to give off a blood-curdling, high-pitched scream.

The armored man wasn’t scared at all. No fear radiated off the man. There was only one emotion that appeared.

Rage.

The bat-like creature looked at its enemy, the armored man. It knew that they were dangerous, so it did the only thing it could do to evade death. It flapped its wings with its forearms, levitating from the ground, and soon it soared up high.

The armored man stared at the creature that was trying to escape his grasp. He could feel the desperation of the creature.

It should have known better.

The falcon that was on the armored man’s shoulder flew towards it. Its speed rivaled the creature it was catching up with. Then, out of nowhere, feathers from the falcon detached and flew towards it. The whistling feathers alerted the creature of the incoming attack but were too late to dodge as the feathers pierced through its wing membranes.

As the creature fell from a great height, it saw the falcon’s eyes. The creature then widened its own eyes in realization. The realization turned to anger. It then redirected itself so that it didn’t fall on the buildings, instead, crashing towards the alleyway where it originally was hiding.

A shockwave ensued as the creature crashed towards the ground, and small piles of rubble and debris flew everywhere.

It then stood up on its two legs as if nothing happened. Sharp claws then appeared on the tip of its fingers. The creature snarled at the armored man. The man merely got in a defensive stance after that. The creature stared into the eyes of the armored man.

The man radiated anger. No other emotion.

The creature then charged toward the armored man, swinging one of its claws to his chest. He took a step back and it missed. Not wasting time, the creature used its other claw to attack. Still, the man took one step back and dodged it.

The creature was angry and confused. Did the man want to kill him or toy with him? Because he was doing the latter and was annoying to the creature.

The creature then formed a fist and tried to uppercut the armored man. But as it neared, it was dodged again.

The man was still unfazed and didn’t look tired not one bit. The creature then decided to pounce on the man, using its body weight to hold the man down and kill him.

That was another mistake.

As it pounced, the man grabbed one of its arms with both and swung it around. After a moment, he then threw the creature back into the alleyway. Stumbling and crashing onto the ground. The man didn’t waste a second as he walked toward the creature. It also didn’t waste a second as it quickly stood back up. The creature drew one of its arms back, readying for one powerful punch. The man just walked towards him. No hesitation.

One of his hands formed a fist, indicating an attack.

When the creature released its powerful punch, the air around it changed direction as the power of the punch was enormous.

It was a quick attack; the power was powerful and it affected the speed.

A huge shockwave then occurred as the punch was met by something hard. The punch left the creature’s arm broken and bruised. The creature expected the man to be dead…

But there he was, one hand in front as it was the one that collided with the creatures punch. He was standing strong like nothing ever happened.

The creature widened its eyes once more. This man was no ordinary hunter.

This man was no ordinary soldier.

This man was no ordinary killer.

“Shame…” The armored man spoke with a gruff voice. “I expected more.”

The creature remembered that voice.

He heard it once.

That was enough to haunt him.

Once was enough to know that every training he could do would be in vain as fighting the hunter was useless.

“What’s with that face? You remember my voice?” The man asked as he saw the creature’s face. The creature started sweating.

“W-why are you here?” It said in a raspy voice. “I d-d-d-did n-n-n-nothing! I didn’t break a-any rules!”

The man seemed disappointed.

“Do you see a badge?” He asked. The creature looked at the man’s chest plate before realizing that there was no badge. The man then gripped the hilt of the sword that was on his back.

“P-p-please! No! I beg of you don’t!” The creature begged though that didn’t stop the man.

“Say my name…” The man whispered.

“Bane! That’s your name!” The creature responded.

Bane got out his sword and decapitated the creature’s head off. All of which were done in a quick second.

The head was still intact but after a second, it fell and blood gushed out of its neck. The body then went limp as the head collided with the ground.

What was left in the alleyway was the corpse of a monster…

and Bane: The Monster Slayer