Striking A Deal With A Hunter

When the sky tore open. Pain came out of it. A Herrscher looked down on humanity ready to strike, but what it least expected was a group of people that were neither human nor Honkai. Hunters of high prowess. The first Herrscher appearance recorded by Fire Moth was not the first. It was the hundredth Herrscher.

"What are you all?" The first Herrscher to have ever descended down this world choked out some blood.

"Hunters. We are hunters," A man whose face was half covered in blood answered, his sword raised, ready to strike down on the Herrscher's abdomen at any given moment.

"What are you?" The hunter asked back to the woman in front of him.

"I am The Herrscher of Death," The woman still had a prideful tone, a proud smirk of introducing her name even if she was in the face of death.

"I see. But to us you are just prey. Remember that, and tell them all. Tell the Herrschers like you that we do not fear you. You are all mere prey for hunting," The hunter slowly gave the Herrscher of death a message to deliver to all the other Herrscher that would descend upon this world.

"But for now," The hunter put away his sword and knelt down in front of the Herrscher.

"This should be enough," The hunter pierced his hand through the Herrscher's flesh. His gaze focused on a part of her that had a high concentration of energy. His hand traveled inside her body tearing it apart before pulling out a crystal.

"What is this?" The hunter asked while the Herrscher was still alive, but the Herrscher just spat at the man before letting out her final breath.

"I doubt this will be the last one we'll see of her. Those damn Honkai Beast have been screaming of the descent of their Gods and one thing I know for sure is Gods don't stay dead for long,," Another hunter took the crystal from his hand and examined it.

"Run some tests," The one who killed the Herrscher told the man and the man hummed, pocketing the crystal and the group of five people returned back to their base.

"Hoorah!!" A loud cheer resounded in their base as they drank the blood of Honkai Beast while the mixed blood of the half human half Herrscher was researched for further studies.

Hunters of the 0th generation and their new apprentices raised a glass and drank to their victory. A total of one thousand hunters were gathered in the base.

"To a successful hunt," One shouted and soon those words were followed by the others. That night they celebrated the slaughter of a Herrscher.

"To Kaden," One of the hunters raised a cup and the others followed behind. They gave a toast to the 0th generation hunter that killed the Herrscher.

"To Loki," Another 0th generation hunter that gave support to Kaden.

"To their apprentices," They gave another toast.

That night was filled with celebration and joy. The next day was filled with experimentation of the newfound blood. Their research was more focused on mixing their blood with the Herrscher's blood.

"Look at this. The Herrscher's blood can completely freeze our aging," A hunter spoke and soon another looked into the microscope and saw that he was right. The cells were still in the same state as yesterday.

Although Honkai blood can slow down their aging they would still age. But this discovery was a revolution for them. This would change the hunt. An eternal hunt. A hunt forever more.

The next few days they started to inject the blood into humans, criminals they caught and one by one the criminals died a painful and gory death," Their bodies melted like candle sticks that were lit on fire, their insides turning into chumps, their screams slowly muffled as they slowly became a lump of meat.

"Test 101-A, failure," A hunter wrote down on his notepad and resumed his studies of the Herrscher blood.

"Lucas!!" A loud shout can be heard and said man put down his notepad, he turned around to see a woman walking towards him with a document.

"Ten knight class beasts were sighted near our base, prepare the defenses, squad 3 and 5 are already sent to deal with the beasts, but just to be on the safe side we should turn on our defenses,"

"Alright, give me a moment," Lucas walked past the woman and slowly made his way into a room where he sat down and started typing on his keyboard, but when he activated it he saw the screen and immediately hit the alarm.

Somehow they were surrounded by thousands of enemies, thousands of beasts of different classes.

"This is no drill! We are surrounded! Prepare for battle!" Lucas shouted into the microphone before activating the defense mechanisms of the base.

The turrets around the base activated and immediately started firing their shots, hitting their targets. The two groups that were sent outside could be seen turning around noticing the ruckus coming from their base. Immediately they wrapped up their initial objective and started to run back to base.

Halfway there they were ambushed by a group of Honkai beasts, the two groups were overwhelmed and they were all killed.

In their base they were killing any beasts that tried to enter their base, the 0 generation hunters dealt with the emperor and judgment class Honkai beasts while the rest dealt with the rest.

12 hunters can be seen overpowering the strongest beasts while the rest were struggling because of the sheer number of beasts swarming them.

At the end of the day the casualties they suffered were two hundred dead hunters, and fifty heavily injured hunters.

That day they realized that the crystal must've been some kind of beacon. The bodies they buried that day was a reminder. They needed to get stronger. To be better. To become more.

They pushed the Herrscher's of death's blood research the most. They lost hundreds of hunters, but the end result was worth all those sacrifices. They truly became an immortal race, now they can no longer age. They can only die by getting killed.

Now thousands of years have passed and they built themselves an empire. A stronghold that would never be breached ever again. A safe area, a fortress. A home. Something they would never find in the outside world.

The bustling streets of the hunter's dream were as crowded as ever. Hunters trading, chatting, drinking, eating, and telling stories of their own hunts. Something they could only dream of in the past.

In a building Duke could be seen getting a medical check up. A scar was formed from the bullet wound that was fired by the 3rd divine key, but no harm was done. The corrosion the divine key inflicted to Duke was nullified by the blood vial.

"Damn bastard. When I get my hands on the one who fired that key. I'll fucking tear them apart," Duke grunted as a hunter injected a long needle to check further inside his body.

"Calm down Duke, your organs are still recovering, whilst your body is normal, your internal organs are currently in dire conditions. Had you ignored doing a check up you would've probably been dead in a few days.

"Tell the triplets I got their damn sword and I charge extra going up against a divine key," Duke grumbled, shifting his body a bit before laying down in a comfortable position. Closing his eyes he just wanted to sleep, but before that he opened his eyes again and took out his phone.

He flipped open his phone and added Rita's number to find out if they had caught the perpetrator or not.

"Hey, this is Duke. I want to ask if Schicksal has caught the perpetrator last night or not. But if it is classified information then no need to tell," He sent the message before putting it away and closing his eyes to rest for a bit.

Duke was not having his usual dreamless sleep. This time he was returned back to thousands of years ago. The time he went out hunting alone, ignoring requests of collaboration and teaming up. He was an arrogant hunter, but his skills and prowess were undeniably high. He was not the type that was all bark no bite. He was the type that would bite harder than he barks.

The environment around him was nostalgic and familiar. Turning around a few times to observe the memory he let out a sigh before walking forwards.

"So. It's this memory huh," He muttered under his breath as he entered a hut where he saw a woman on the bed. Her neck torn open, her blood slowly dripping down the floor creating a small pool of her blood. Her eyes gouged out and her limbs scattered around the room.

He heard a loud bang behind him and saw 'him' opening the door and seeing her corpse. The dread in his eyes disappeared and was replaced with rage. The thunder roared accompanied his cry of rage as the hut was slowly crushed by the sheer pressure Duke was letting out.

Duke gripped his fists tight as he muttered the woman's name. The only woman he had loved. Lucia Rossweisse. A normal girl that caught his attention because of her attitude, unlike other people when they see him. She treated him fairly. She didn't care about how other people viewed him and she treated him as she wished.

Her death was caused because of the villagers accusing Lucia of betraying the village and wanting to ruin it with Duke. 'He' soon found out about this and didn't hesitate to annihilate the village. The amount of power he used to lay waste onto the land caught the attention of a few 0th generation hunters. When they found out about what he did they simply told him to stop, but under the influence of his rage he attacked the 0th generation hunters.

3rd generation hunters were known for their tenacity and grit. Duke had both and he proved it by going toe to toe against three 0th generation hunters, albeit the three were focused in containing him rather than killing him, this was still an achievement that no one had.

Duke was crowned as the strongest 3rd generation hunter despite being self taught. His master was killed and he was left alone in this new world. He had two choices, stand up and fight or do nothing and die.

"An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Blood for Blood," Duke muttered slowly as he saw 'himself' repeating those words over and over again in his isolated room. Two 0th generation hunters watched over him and when it was time, when the storm in his heart had calmed down, when he was released. He felt nothing. He didn't go on a rampage, but the life he led had no goals. Hopping from one thing to another to fill the void in his heart, but the only solace he found was in writing.

It was until Duke saw a report of the S ranked valkyries Schicksal had. Imagine his surprise when he saw Rita. The same honey blonde hair, the same dark pink eyes. Duke woke up after that nightmare and sat up straight on his bed.

"Why now of all times?" He muttered, his tone tired and his eyes lifeless. Standing up he noticed his body feeling better than before so he took a short walk around the hunter's dream. Walking aimlessly around the plain didn't do much either. He was still reminded of that dreadful day.

"Maybe going to London was a bad idea. The more I see her, the more those nightmares.." He stopped. He shouldn't hesitate about this, he should choose one option and live by it for the rest of his life, but why. Why was it so hard to choose?

Duke's unstable emotions coupled with the hunter's trait of extreme emotional reaction was starting to become a problem for him. He's starting to slowly lose his mind, and with that his rationality.

No matter how hard he tried he was cursed. Cursed to remember. Cursed to relive. Cursed into an eternal grieve that had no end until he himself died. Writing was a way to cope for him, to relieve this curse of his.

He felt his phone vibrate and checked if it was something important. Seeing the sender he clenched his teeth before opening the message.

"It's a bit of a secret matter, could we perhaps meet up? I am still in London cleaning up some mess,"

"How many days has it been since I've left?" Duke asked

"It's been three days, hunter," She replied and Duke closed his phone before entering the same building Ethelred did.

"Emendiel. I need a ride to London," Duke said to the hunter who was sorting some paperwork.

"Sure," The man snapped his fingers and a portal opened up.

"Thanks," Duke spoke in gratitude before stepping into the portal that brought him to a dark alleyway.

Flipping his phone on again he texted her "Where do you wanna meet up?"

Waiting for her reply he stepped out to the city and walked around, buying a cup of coffee along the way and reading a newspaper to find anything interesting.

Eventually he received a text to meet him in a cafe. An italian cafe that he was in, so he took a seat and continued reading his newspaper. After half an hour he felt a tap on the shoulder. Turning around he saw Rita no on her maid outfit, she was wearing a brown coat and wore black sunglasses that she tucked above her eyes.

"Did I make you wait too long?" She asked, but to Duke her voice, her figure, it overlapped with Lucia's. Shaking his head to deny and to shake those thoughts away he gestured for her to sit down.

"Seeing how you're not in your usual maid outfit it seems like you're doing this without Schicksal or even Durandal's knowledge," Duke concluded, Rita who just gave him a smile for an answer took his offer and sat down.

While he raised his hand to the waiter he asked the maid.

"What did you find?" Duke asked, lowering his hand down when the waiter saw him and walked to get the menu.

"Someone called Jackal that had control over a Honkai beast, and another one that fired the 3rd divine key. They were spotted here in London, but for now their objectives are unknown," Rita told him, but Duke knew she wasn't telling him the full story.

"I see," Duke muttered, the waiter who went to grab the menu returned and gave it to Rita, the waiter waited on their table until Rita ordered a cup of jasmine tea.

"If that's all you needed to say then you wouldn't need to go behind Schicksal's nor Durandal's back to meet me," Duke turned to Rita with a serious gaze.

"Schicksal has very little information of hunters, but that doesn't mean that we don't have any at all,"

"There was a file encrypted in Schicksal's database. It didn't originate from Schicksal and I'm sure it was from the previous era, but Schicksal probably forgot about it. I've only cracked around ten percent, but all I got was the number 12, the rest of the title is still being processed. Do you know any significance the number 12 is to the hunters? If you can tell me this I can tell you what we got from London," Rita offered. Duke, who was interested by this offer accepted it and told her what he knew of the number 12, while he was told that Schicksal found the 2nd divine key.

"But for now we can't enter. There is someone inside that prevents us from entering," Rita explained, Duke furrowed his brows a bit, someone even they can't beat?

The previous dilemmas were immediately replaced with EXCITEMENT.

"I want to fight it," Duke's sudden request made Rita choke on her tea.

"Wha..what?" Rita wasn't sure if she was hearing him right or not.

"That thing that blocks you. I want to fight it. I don't need anything in return. Just the battle will be enough and the divine key is you," Duke explained and offered her a deal.

"Heck to sweeten the pot I'll even let you take the credit," Duke added, Rita stared at him as if he was someone crazy.

"All I want is one fight," Duke's voice was serious and stern. His gaze held no humor nor amusement. He was dead serious in fighting the guardian.

"No, I can't grant you the permission for that unfortunately," Rita declined, but Duke wasn't accepting no for an answer.

"Then I'll ask for Otto himself, and you'll have to explain to him why you told him," Duke smirked calmly as he played his cards right. His opponent was a maid that has served the Overseer himself for years. There was no room for error.

Rita although her face was calm, she was chewing her lips trying to figure out a way out of this, but the more she thought about it. The more bad it could be for her. Her curiosity of looking into the hunters has brought her into this position.

"If you can guarantee no one would know then.."

"Trust me. No one will find out, no one would even notice me," Duke had a smirk that made Rita shiver for the first time. A smile that was wide, filled with malice and lust. A lust for fighting.

Rita agreed, but she had to disable the surveillance around the divine key so that he could slip in, Duke had no problem. He was promised a fight so he could wait.

The two parted ways, Duke went to a hotel while Rita went back to one of the Schicksal branch bases in the area. In her office she asked herself, why did he feel so familiar. But she shook those thoughts away as she had more important things to do.

She opened the data regarding the hunters and when she saw the title she knew what it meant, she could roughly guess what the data contained.

"The hunters of the 0th generation had another name. A name forgotten through the annals of history, one that some are glad it's forgotten, we call the 0th generation hunters the 12 founding fathers, but their name in the past was," She remembered what he told her back in the restaurant and read the title carefully.

The title read.

"The 12 Eldritch Horrors,"