The Judge

The Hunters Union regulates all the Hunters and their activities as well as the Dungeons that appear. It is where the Hunters register and receive their first Demon Core to become a Hunter. The first Demon Core would usually be bought, but if the aspiring Hunter could not afford one, the Union would provide one for them as a loan.

While Hunters would usually find a guild that they want to belong to, the Union recruits potential Hunters to work for them instead. The Union would provide income for the Hunters as well as connections and political power.

While most Hunters choose to be part of guilds and earn money, some chose to be part of the Union and gain the political advantage. The Union has close ties to the World Government and has influence that could benefit them.

Ironically, not all the members that commands the Union are not exclusively. The highest rank in the Union was called the "Judge" and among eight Judges, only one Judg e exclusively works for the Union. The rest has their own guilds that they either lead or are part of.

Judge Wilsburg was one of the oldest and most powerful Hunters and he is the only Judge that exclusively works for the Union. He was a living legend because he singlehandedly saved a city from two S-rank Demons in his prime.

"Judge Adam Wilsburg," Keith gulped. He stood and kneeled right beside Linda. "Sir, you are here."

"Yes, I am," Adam closed the door and took his robe off, revealing his button down plain white shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. Keith couldn't help but wonder if Judges wore casual clothing underneath their robe. They look intimidating with the robe on, but look like a normal person underneath.

Linda took the robe and led Adam to sit on the couch inside the room. She stood beside the man and did not moved after.

"Hunter Keith," Adam spoke. "I have heard a lot from you. Especially your... choice in clothing."

"You're one to say," Keith almost say and roll his eyes, but stopped himself from doing so. If he was careless, he could go to jail.

"Sir, I think my clothing has nothing to do with your presence here," Keith said confidently. He wanted to know as soon as possible if the Union was on him. If they know that he was a Demon King, they would surely kill him.

He heard the rumors before. Demon Kings are beings that are a threat to the Union. His hazy memory recalled that some surviving Demon Kings that do not die naturally was killed by the Union. They could not risk such a powerhouse to roam around.

"You were at the disaster and was one of the three that survived," Adam said. "Could you recall what happened? I don't think I have too much of information regarding what happened. Angel was shielded by Judge Simmons and received a privilege to secrecy."

"Angel's guildmaster was also a Judge," Keith whispered. "I do not have that kind of luxury, so I'll tell you everything that I could remember."

Keith managed to tell the Judge everything that he knew but stopped right after Angel brought out his explosives. He said that he had no recollection of what happened next because he passed out. Keith then added that the Demon must have been killed from the explosion because it was too powerful.

But he was lying through his teeth. He knew that the Demon survived and managed to kill the rest of the Hunters. He knew that Angel was powerless against Chiron and that there was nothing he could have done against him. Keith was lying and knew it.

"Well, that's a shame that it happened," Adam held his knees but a powerful pressure boiled inside him. Keith felt the intense pressure burning inside, but he didn't comment on it. He just sat there and looked down. "I'm not going to lie. I wish that incident would never happen, but if it did, why did it have to involve the Ragners?"

Adam growled and looked up, trying to compose himself. "Because of their son's death, the Ragner Corporation pulled out their support for the Union. It will definitely impact us."

Keith didn't know what to do, so he just sat there and waited for Adam to be finished. When his pressure was settled down, the man stood and took the robe from Linda. He smiled at Keith before exiting, not saying anything after.

"What was that?" Keith gulped in both fear and confusion. "The Union seemed tob be in denial for what happened. They didn't want to be guilty."

"Woof!" Heath barked. "Woof!"

Keith smiled at his dog and pulled him up. He turned around a couple of times just in time for the door to be opened once again. This time, the real nurse entered. She smiled at Keith and told him that Linda was just trying to investigate.

"You made a very good recovery, sir," the nurse said. "Only two days, but your wounds healed already. It's amazing how Hunters have superior regenerative capacity. It's wonderful."

"Yeah," was the only thing that Keith could say. Hunters did indeed have better healing capacity than normal humans, but broken bones should take at least a few weeks even for Hunters. "What happened to the other two that survived?"

The nurse was taken aback by the question. She hummed and then smiled. "They're both fine and had made full recovery."

"Full recovery, huh?" Keith asked as he watched the screen display Angel again. "I don't think things will get back to normal."

The sound of the TV echoed inside the room. When the nurse left, there was complete silence other than the television.

"Hunter Angel Rivera had agreed on his reevaluation yesterday," the news reporter said, making Keith's ears pay attention to her. "It was rumored before that the Hunter belonged to higher rating, but he refused to be reevaluated. That all changed yesterday right before he completely recovered when he went to the Union HQ and had himself reevaluated.

"His previous rating was B-rank, and now just like what most people thought, Hunter Angel now belonged to the S-rank Hunters," the news reporter continued. "It was believed that his powers greatly contributed to the defeat of the S-rank Demon. This catapulted him to the position of Vice Guildmaster in his guild, Bloody Fields."

"He's an S-rank now, huh?" Keith chuckled and shook his head. "Angel. You really are something."

Keith looked at the window to see the sun going down. The door opened to reveal Johnny with a large bento box. "They told me that you're awake."

A smile formed on Keith's lips. "Yeah, I guess I am."

–

"He survived?" Angel asked when a woman reported to him about Keith's condition. "That's good. I should cut all my ties to him too. It's not good that I get to be seen with an F-rank."

"Now that you're an S-rank, you look down of the weak?" Donna chucked as she handed Angel a glass of wine. "Congratulations on your promotion and your ascension. Although I might say, you have always been an S-rank. You were just hiding."

"I don't know now," Angel sighed and glanced at his missing arm. "But I do know that my journey is far from over. I still have many Demons to kill."

"Good," Donna smirked. She was about to walk away when she stopped and looked back to Angel. "And I'll help you watch over that kid. The Union shall not know his true identity. The Judges won't be happy, but that kid might become useful to us."

"How did you—"

Before Angel could even finish, Donna walked out of the room, leaving Angel in complete shock. He clenched his teeth and fist. "May the gods help you, Keith."