The Prey.

Vergil looked around at his surroundings as he left the camp. It was night time, the moon shone on him and the surroundings basking it in its glory. Vergil could hear the occasional wolf howling and shrubs rustling but nothing ever did attack him.

Although Vergil had left the wolf camp kind of abruptly, it's not like he didn't have a plan. What he planned to do was find some hunters, hunters who would buy or sell the fur for him. If possible, Vergil would also like to find a blacksmith or someone who can make the fur into armor.

Vergil made his way through the forest as his thoughts overtook him, thinking about all the different types of wolf armor he could make distracted him. While walking on the nonexistent path however, he failed to notice that something was tracking him.

Vergil wasn't made aware of its existence however because of its high stealth and the way that it maneuvered. So, Vergil continued walking seemingly endlessly until the sun started coming up. After thinking for a whole night about what to make, Vergil finally decided on a wolf vest and some pants made out of wolf fur.

Vergil decided against boots made out of wolf fur since he already had his somewhat comfortable waraji's. He also thought about making some wolf gloves as getting his hands dirty wasn't something Vergil liked.

After finally making up his mind, Vergil felt a lot more relaxed and calm as once he did find the hunter, he would know exactly what to ask for. Vergil was about to continue making his way through the forest but before he could, he heard a small sound.

Although Vergil would have normally regarded this as the usual, this sound was a lot closer than the others. Usually, when he heard the rustling of a nearby bush it would be from about a couple of feet away. This one, however, sounded like it was about a foot away.

Vergil just stood there as he continued listening in on any suspicious sounds. He continued this for what seemed like forever but eventually brushed it off as he heard nothing similar afterward.

Vergil calmed his mind and with a loud sigh continued walking through the forest. After he was gone, a medium-sized wolf came out of hiding. It had purple hair and dominating orange eyes, nothing like the norm.

This was because this wolf was not normal, it was what some people in this world called a "variation". Variations are special types of creatures that are rare among their respected kind, normally only born 1 in 10,000.

Variations are normally this rare because they are special. Special in the way that they are born different from their species. From having different colored hair to looking nothing like their species, variations are normally always born with an added or extra skill or change in appearance.

The wolf that had just come out of hiding, had a special skill that allowed it to be stealthier when hiding behind or in some cover such as a bush. So much so, that it was almost impossible to sense it unless the person had some ultra-high superhuman like perception.

It also had the convenient ability to do double damage when it attacked an enemy that wasn't aware of it beforehand. Along with the stealth skill, these two went hand in hand and is what caused the purple wolf to be called the Purple Flash of the forest. People called it the flash of the forest because they couldn't even see what had come at them when it attacked.

The wolf did some kind of "wolf sigh" as it had almost been spotted and continued to track its newfound prey. Vergil unaware of what was to come, simply continued his walk.

Eventually, Vergil got bored and started messing around with the system. He clicked on all sorts of things only to receive a message warning him to stop fooling around.

Vergil, instead of listening to the system, simply continued. Eventually, the system got angry at Vergil's antics and made a new tab called [Missions]. It then forcefully brought Vergil over to the new tab and with a nonexistent hand, Circled on the mission called [The Journey Begins!] with red ink.

Vergil looked at the mission for a while before remembering why he had bought a bow in the first place. He had bought it to complete this mission, the mission that would unlock him a new form.

Vergil made a somewhat surprised looked on his normally expressionless face. All this time he wasted he could of spent training with his bow, as he was still too experienced to hunt fast and docile animals such as the deer.

Vergil simply let out a sigh as he took out his bow and arrows from his inventory. He took off his backpack that had Ryujin Jakka in it and put it to the side as he began his training. Vergil found a nearby tree and with his arrow made a makeshift bulls-eye. His objective for today was to hit the bulls-eye at least once.

Vergil held up his bow as he aligned his arrow with it and shot at the tree. Unexpectedly, the arrow missed and hit a nearby tree. Although Vergil had missed the tree, it was still a big improvement as before he had been missing by meters now, he only missed by a couple of feet.

Vergil plucked the arrow from the tree and continued his training session unaware of anything but himself, the bow, and the tree with the bulls-eye. While Vergil was training, however, the Purple wolf made his move.

Along with his high stealth and high damage, the Purple wolf also had another defining feature. It was much more intelligent than its species. Although wolves are already regarded as some of the smartest animals because of the way they cooperate and work in groups. The purple wolf was a step above them, and the way he thought could be compared to a highly trained assassin luring its victims in.

It didn't gain its title for nothing as the Purple Flash lured its victims by making them fall into its traps. Usually, these would involve luring them by stealing items that belonged to them or baiting other animals into attacking them. In Vergil's case, the wolf noticed that Vergil was carrying around a bag with him and decided to use that to lure Vergil.

The wolf hid around Vergil as it prepared to make its move. It waited and waited until finally, it spotted the perfect opportunity. Vergil had put down his bag a few feet away from his as he practiced his bow shooting. Noticing that this would be the perfect and only chance to make his move, the wolf immediately came out of hiding and with its large jaws that could tear steel like paper, grabbed the bag with great agility.

Vergil unaware of what was happening around him simply continued practicing with his bow. When Vergil noticed that it as starting to get dark, he stopped his practice. He had gotten a lot of progress in as he was now able to somewhat hit his target. Although he couldn't hit the bulls-eye, Vergil was still very satisfied with his results.

Vergil plucked the arrow from the tree where it had landed and put it in his inventory, along with his bow and other arrows. Vergil then went to look for where he had put his backpack. He went to the spot where he had originally left it only to find it was not there.

For a second, Vergil could feel his heart sink into his chest as he thought of the worst possible situation. He calmed himself relatively quickly though, as he simply regarded it as a mistaken placement on his part. He began looking around all over the area, using his mini-map to check if there was a change in the surrounding area.

Noticing no change, Vergil just looked around as he became more worried by the second. When he was done looking all around and found no signs of the bag, however, Vergil lost all hope and almost teared up.

He almost didn't tear up from being sad but simply teared up because he was frustrated. He was frustrated that this could happen to him of all times and especially so during his training. Vergil made a promise that if he ever practiced with his bow again, he would wear the bag on his back no matter how much extra weight was on it.

Vergil was about to curse at the system once more before in the corner of his eye, noticed his bag sitting about 5 meters away from him. Although happy, Vergil was still suspicious as the bag's location looked very skeptical.

He took out his bow and some arrows as he slowly made his way towards his bag. Walking very slowly, Vergil looked around at his surroundings, noticing nothing strange, he walked at a bit of a faster pace. Vergil eventually made it to his bag where he made one last look around his surroundings before he bent down to pick his bag up.

Before Vergil could though, the Purple Flash jumped at him from a nearby tree. Vergil immediately pushing all his senses to the side, using the bow as defense out of instinct. The bow immediately broke, as the Purple Flash's Jaws were simply too strong.

Noticing that he had missed his target, the Purple Flash went back into hiding leaving Vergil somewhat dazed on the ground. Vergil snapped out of his daze relatively quickly though as he ran to his back and took out Ryujin Jakka.

Vergil realized this opponent was extremely strong and one wrong move would mean death. So, instead of using Ryujin Jakka as a staff he immediately activated his newfound power. "All things of this world, turn to ashes! Ryujin Jakka!"

As soon as Vergil shouted those words out, his staff changed to a zanpakuto with a purple handle, and a heavy inferno surrounded his current area. Vergil had recently gotten a large increase in strength and magic and since the flame's intensity scaled with the users magic and strength, they were currently the size of a small house and had the intensity of around 1,500 degrees.

Not only that, but due to his increase in magic, Vergil could now stay in his Shikai form for longer without passing out from magic over-usage. Vergil waved the sword that was currently on fire around as he started sweating from the profound heat.

"COME OUT, YOU COWARD! I KNOW YOU'RE THERE! IF YOU DON'T COME OUT I'LL BURN YOU MYSELF!" Vergil shouted as he looked around, trying to find the current location of the wolf.

Vergil looked around and around but found no signs of the wolf. He was starting to get worried as he wondered if his magic would soon run out. Instead of standing still and waiting for his magic to run out though, Vergil moved around as he carried the immense heat with him. The surrounding trees and bushes were burned to ash as he walked.

Although he gained a better visual of the surroundings thanks to the trees and bushes being burned to ashes, he could still not find a single trace of the wolf. He was about to run out of magic when from the corner of Vergil's eye, he noticed a tail.

Using his last bit of stamina, he rushed at the bush where he had seen the tail, immediately burning it to ash. "AWOOOOOO" the Purple Flash howled as his tail immediately burned into nothingness.

"GOTCHA YOU STUPID WO…" Vergil cut his words early as he fell face-first into the ground. He had overused his magic and was on the verge of losing consciousness as he tried to lift himself.

Along with his magic being overused, his flames also immediately disappeared as their user could no longer keep them "alive". The Purple Flash stopped its howling as the flames had burned out leaving him with a nonexistent tail.

The flames would have probably continued to burn until the Purple Flash turned into nothing but ashes. That was now no longer possible as the flames had been completely extinguished.

The Purple Flash noticed this and looked at the user of the flames. He was on the ground barely able to move his head as he tried to escape. The wolf noticed this and made a wolf-like grin as his prey had now become incapacitated.

Slowly making his way over to its prey, the Purple Flash extended his claws and with great precision pounced at Vergil. Vergil noticed this and with a loud sigh made his final claim "I'm sorry...I'm sorry I let you down...goddess…" Vergil lost consciousness soon after this as if letting the wolf claim its life.

The wolf was about to make its kill before an arrow shot out of nowhere, hitting the wolf with such force and accuracy that it was knocked back. "It seems I've found myself the Purple Flash!" The mysterious person said as they made their way over to Vergil.

---END---