Throughout The Lands

Hey guys! Ready for some more Fairy Tail? Well, if ya are make sure you have the lights on in the room and don't sit too close to your screen.

-Previously- Satoru was present for the return of Natsu Dragneel and the induction of the newest member of the Guild Lucy Heartfillia, however, upon returning he took on yet another monster hunting job and has left. His journey the Hunters Village and the Spooky Forest. -

Location: The Hunters Village- A city of well-known hunters. The people of this village make their money by catching and selling the various beasts that inhabit the nearby forest, known as the Spooky Forest. Their trades include mammals, reptiles, and even fish, making them quite a famous traveling spot for entrepreneurs looking to buy and sell items.

" I must thank you for coming so quickly." 

The villages elder, an older man, short of stature with a face full of wrinkles and long grey hair.

" Of course. Though, I must admit, I'm a little surprised by this request. I had heard there were many famous hunters in this village. I find it hard to believe that a place renowned for its many hunters to be struggling with taking down one beast." Satoru told the man. 

" You can't imagine what this creature is capable of." He said.

" Why don't you start by telling me what happened?"

" It happened almost three weeks ago, now, one night while our group of young hunters in training were out completing their trials to become full-fledged hunters, a creature swathed in black vapor suddenly appeared and kidnapped almost all of them. Only our youngest son, a young boy named tyth, returned." The elder explained. " We rallied our best hunters and sent them into the forest to try and rescue our children, but it's been a week and we've had no response of any kind from our party. I'm led to believe that they too have suffered the same fate as our children. And now we can't even go out to hunt, due to fear of being killed. Our village is suffering greatly."

" I see. Did This Tyth give a description of the creature? What did it look like?" Satoru asked the man.

" He said it was a large monster, with two horns at the top of its head, that walked on two legs, it had a long black tail, and red glowing eyes." The elder explained.

" Is that it?"

" I'm afraid that's all we could get out of him. He hasn't been very vocal since."

" I see, and do you happen to know around what time the first attack happened?"

" It was at night."

" Makes sense." Satoru spoke. He pushed himself up off the ground, groaning from his tired legs and brushed himself off. " Well then, I'll go take a look and see what I can find." Satoru told the man.

" Eh, but wait, what about our people?"

" I'll see what I can do. But I'm gonna be honest with you.... The chances of them coming back after all this time is slim to none. If I were you, I'd start telling the parents to expect the worst outcome." Satoru told the man.

In such a situation like this being honest was important, even if it was cruel, but to get their hopes up on a miracle was even crueler than that.

" I- I see. Very well. Safe hunting's young man, may you bring justice to our people." The elder stood up and gave a slight bow to Satoru, which was returned by a faint smile and a wave. 

Stepping outside of the hut, Satoru sighed. 

" Black fog, red glowing eyes, and horns. That's a start. But just finding the creature wouldn't be enough, I'd have to find its lair too. If there's a chance those people are alive, I should look for them, or at least confirm it... If they are gone."

*Wheeeeeeew! 

" Huh, the wind's starting to shift. I can feel it, something ominous is coming." Satoru muttered.

Satoru turned towards the forest and suddenly flickered away, vanishing almost instantly from the regular eye. 

.......

Later that night.

*Smack!

The sound of Satoru's foot planting itself onto a tree branch echoed as he jumped through the forest.

* Smack!

" This forest is big, and easy to get lost in, huh? What a pain. Huh?"

Satoru suddenly came to a resting stop atop a large oak tree. Something wicked was filling the air. 

" It feels as though, I've just entered a bog. Oh man, heh! Maybe it's a good thing the new girl didn't come after all, hahaha! Something Ominous is here. The wind... It smells like.... Blood."

Satoru picked up the pace, jumping straight towards the dreaded sense. Something told him that if this beast didn't find him, he'd find it, sooner or later.

As he moved forward the scent of blood grew thicker. Eventually he came to an opening with the forest itself, a small patch of grass and what he saw looked like a scene out of a nightmare.

The entire field was stained red, with bones littered around it and in the middle was a diagram. 

" A ritual sight?" Satoru dropped down into the patchwork and started observing the environment around him. " These people have been dead for some time, that or their bones were licked clean." He said. He knelt down and felt the red stained grass. " It's been singed. It seems whatever these idiots summoned was more than they could handle."

There was a slight tingling sensation on the back of Satoru's neck and from out of nowhere a large hand grabbed him up. 

It was the beast, oozing black smoke, thick scaly black skin, and red eyes. 

" Hahaha! Another human dares to wander into my forest?"

Satoru "struggled" in the creature's grasp. Writhing around trying to break free, but to no avail.

" Quit struggling, you aren't going anywhere, but my stomach." 

" Damn it... What did you do with the villagers?"

" You're going to need to be specific? It's been a while since I've been out of my book. And all you humans look alike."

" The hunters from the village, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you ate them, right?"

" What do you think?!"

" Heh."

Satoru suddenly stopped struggling, surprising the demon. He then looked up at the demon and grinned? 

" What's so funny?" The demon asked.

" Sorry, sorry. It's just... Well, I tend to go a bit overboard when hunting." Satoru told the creature.

" Hahaha! What a pretty pathetic thing to say, don't you think? Considering the fact, I've got you dead to rights."

Without wasting time or energy Satoru freed himself from the demon's clutches.

" No, what's pathetic is you demons thinking, you're so much better than humans that you believe we could never touch you. Well, my friend, if you think for a second, I'm like those people you've been devouring, then you are so naive." 

The demon charged Satoru; both of its arms thrown out ready to strike. Only as it tried, Satoru vanished. 

*Slash!

Satoru reappeared behind the demon. There was blood dripping from his right hand.

" I'm sorry, but you are way too slow." Satoru told the demon.

" But- How?! I barely sensed any magic energy at all." The demon asked. 

*Thud!

All of a sudden, one of the demon's arms fell off, causing blood to spray everywhere.

Satoru smirked.

" Yeah, sorry. When it comes to Magic, I'm the worst."

" But that's... Impossible.... You mean to tell me, you moved that fast, without using magic. No... No human could move like that. What in the hell are you?"

Satoru laughed at the demon. There was a certain amount of pleasure in seeing a beast so used to killing weaker prey, all of a sudden realizing that there was someone stronger than him.

The demon turned towards Satoru and in a bid to avenge the loss of his arm he struck out in a rage. 

" Hell Blitz!" 

The demon fired out a blast of fire at Satoru, however, like before, Satoru vanished and reappeared in front of him.

" What? How?"

The demon was left speechless. There was nothing like this a hundred years ago. 

" Shirahama Style: Counted Overhand Stroke! Count it down! Four! Three! Two!" Satoru shouted as he stabbed the demon with his fingers.

The Shirahama style- a style of Martial arts created by Satoru's father Kashimo Shirahama. The counted overhand stroke is a technique meant to break through the toughest of defenses. The user rotates his arm, in a circular motion, and stabs his opponent multiple times. Each time decreasing the number of digit fingers used in the attack. Adding onto that already powerful technique Satoru uses wind Magic to increase the speed of which his arm moves.

" ONE!" 

Satoru's final finger shot forward like a cannon and drilled the demon in its chest, piercing its thick hide all the way through to its core.

" I- Impossi.... Ble."

" You lost the moment, you thought of me as a weak little human wizard." Satoru told the demon. " It's true my magic power is lacking, but I more than make up for it through skill. Remember that in your next life, if you have one."

The demon's body went up in a cloud of smoke and from that smoke a small book dropped to the ground with a hole through the center of it.

Satoru knelt down to take a look at it. The title read- Zeref.

" Tch! This was a demon from the book of Zeref? I can't believe it... It couldn't have been that weak." Satoru muttered. There was a clear disdain in his voice for that name. ' Father.' He thought. He grabbed the book and put it in his pack. " Without a body, it's going to be hard for me to prove that I completed the job. Still, it's unfortunate, that I couldn't help those villagers. But sometimes, there is no.... HAPPY ENDING."