Feet patter on the dark campus grounds. A cloud of warm air exits the mouth of the unknown monster. It loosely circles the campus grounds searching for anyone dumb enough to be alone. It passes through the courtyard its red eyes darting from side to side. In the distance, a group of students is outside and they’re making a lot of noise. The creature snarks with delight as it sprints towards the noise in the distance. “The hunt is on “it whispers behind its long canine teeth. It slows its pace to a stalking walk as it crouches behind bushes next to the student housing. There were 4 students outside and none were in school uniforms. The creature knew they wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight. It licks its lips I’m anticipation waiting for the right moment to attack.

"I told you to have my money today you twerp!"

"But I don’t have any money my family is poor, please don’t hurt me again!

"You made it difficult, you didn’t even bring a portion of it. I would look weak to the other first years if I let you off."

"Tommy, Smash this face."

Two of the students hold one of the students down. The student recoils I’m fear as the third and biggest student begins to punch and kick him. Soon he’s a battered mess as the students finish with their attack. One of the students search his pockets for money and spit on his unconscious body when he finds none. The trio then turns and walks towards the dormitories. The beast approaches the unconscious boy and begins to sniff him. He is no scavenger he doesn’t want others prey. The thought of eating something that had already been hunted disgusts the creature. It turns and begins to stalk the trio. Its eyes were focused on the ringleader. He had enough meat on him to please the beast. The other two would just be bonus snacks.

"I told you we need to find richer kids. These low stats having little shits are always broke."

"Yeah but the richer the kid the higher the stats. Were unlikely to beat any other mid-tiers."

"You idiot there’s 3 of us. Kicking the piss out of one person should be easy. "

"Yeah, maybe you’re right. Fuck it I’m down bro."

The trio nod in agreement and decide to lurk the campus for another 1st year out alone. As they walk the creature conceals its bloodthirsty aura and stalks them. After an hour the leader decides to break off from the group. He turns a corner around the barracks and begins to relieve himself. The creature struck quickly from behind rushing the student's neck. The student's body goes limp as he struggles to breathe. Finally, the creature felt the familiar feeling of the student's body weight falling. That always meant the prey was dead. He was hungry, so very hungry. However, there was more hunting to do. It backed into the darkness and found the duo waiting on their leader. He could sense their impatience from his vantage point and his excitement grew. The creature already had its main course waiting so it decided to have some fun. The beast allowed its bloodlust to leak out and filled the air with its sinister mana. It slowly walked into the view of the students. The duo was at a loss for words when this hideous creature slowly approached them. From the first glance, they knew they didn’t stand a chance. They had to flee. The two turned around and fled trying to reach the nearest dorm room.

*How I love the hunt. Run, Flee, Scream. The taste will be much better when your fear soaks into your flesh. * The beast has a singular focus, the hunt.

One of the students made a sharp turn separating from the other. He hoped the monster would focus on his partner and not himself. If the stayed together they would both die. At least one may get away with this palm and he was betting on himself. The creature's heart pounded with excitement as Its prey separated. Its eyes darted looking for the tougher of the two. Based on the idea that the one who separated was smart, it assumed that he would be the tougher kill. So the beast turned sharply increasing its speed. The student was running with all of his heart afraid to look back. He could hear the creature panting behind him. The fear he felt was so overwhelming that he felt he would die from a heart attack. The creature leaped in front of him blocking his path. The beast stood on to two legs and revealed razor-sharp claws.

“Fight me human.” It said as it walked towards the students.

Thinking quickly the student leaped backend started chanting. He fired tiny needles of water at the beast. The shards dug into its chest and failed to penetrate its flesh. The creature was let down by this attack and could tell by the boy's fatigue that it was all he had. It proceeded forward work its claws outstretched.

“Another disappointing hunt. If this were the wild, I wouldn’t bother killing you. Too bad for you, he sent me on a mission.”

The student backed up and fumbled falling. Everything went black.

The final student didn’t hear or see the beast. He knew it had veered off and attacked his friend. Although this saddened him, he was happy to still be alive. He sprinted and made his way to the closest door he could find. He pounded and pounded with all his might and was starting to panic when the door finally swung open. He pushed passed the sleepy student and slammed the door behind him.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“The monsters after me man. Please I need to stay here tonight.”

“What monster?”

“The one that has been terrorizing the campus. It is right behind me man. It is vicious. Please, please, please HELP!”

“The fucking monster? And you brought it here!?”

The two students quickly shut their mouths when they are interrupted by the absolute feeling of dread. The creature’s magical aura was intense and violent. They couldn’t see it, but they knew it was on the other side of the door. The two backed up against the wall and the owner of the room began to chant. As he did claws appeared through the door cutting deep lines into it. The ease that the claws cut through the door was alarming. The homeowner concluded his chant and ice began to form all over the door. It completely covered it and the window next to it. The other student who had escape liked the quick thinking and began to do the same, he poured all of his mana into making a wall of thick ice on top of the owner's wall. The creature sneered at their cowardly tactics and attempted to claw through. As it did the ice was reforming and pushing his claws back. Although they were weak it wasn’t worth the risk of being caught to pursue further. The creature fell to all fours and sprinted off. It had already secured two kills. That was more than enough for now.

*The hunt is over* The beast thought before vanishing into the shadows.

The frightened students managed to reach out to security. It was as if once the beast left their message feature began to function again. Maybe the creature could stop people from communicating through magical means. Whatever the case may be the students were safe now. The two were escorted by security to the headmaster’s office. He asked them to have a seat and explain everything that happened that night.

“Sir, I never actually saw the beast. I could just hear it. However, this guy says he encountered it directly. I don’t know if I can help much.”

“That is perfectly fine son. You may leave. I would like a word in private with this one.”

The student followed the headmaster’s instruction and left the survivor alone.

“You are aware that lying to the headmaster is a great offense, right?”

The boy was shocked that the headmaster seemingly changed his personality on a whim.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, sir”

“Ah, excellent. Then what were you and your little friends doing out after curfew?”

“Oh… we were just hanging out. Nothing special.”

“That’s very strange. Another student seemed to indicate that you may have been extorting a weaker student. Do you think we allow that type of behavior?”

“Sir… I thought this was about the monster.”

“Silence CHILD. YOU WILL ANSWER WHATEVER I ASK”

The boy was frightened by the headmaster shouting. Furthermore, the headmaster is well known to be a high-level induvial and rumors suggest he may have participated in hunting the previous demon lord. Not a single person on the planet would ever doubt the headmaster’s strength. There are maybe 4 people in the entire world who could defeat him in combat and none of them could help the student in this situation. He decided to comply.

“Sir, we were just showing the difference of strength to the boy. Why have this power if we can’t use it occasionally?”

“You present a good argument son. Maybe the strong should flex their power occasionally. However, if that is the case then why even bother expelling this beast from the campus? It is strong and its opponents shouldn’t be so weak right?

“It is not the same! It’s a monster”

“Indeed, the weak would see anything stronger than them as a monster. Allow me to demonstrate.”

The headmaster extended his right arm opening is hand. He looked the student in the eyes as a massive amount of mana flowed into his hand. Time seemed to stop for the student as the pressure of the mana began to feel physical on his body. He was slowly being pushed into his chair as more and more mana formed. The headmaster's hand begins to glow a golden color as the student’s lungs began to deflate. There was so much mana pressure on his body that he could not breathe. His chest was being pushed in by the pure force of mana. The mana swarmed violently making a humming sound. This was the first time the student had ever witnessed such power. As the student’s vision began to fade, the chair under him collapsed and the headmaster closed his fist. The student stood up. He was covered in sweat and panting hard. His heart was thumping loudly and rapidly. He understood that the headmaster was indeed a monster of a different caliber.

“Now from the beginning. Tell me everything.”

“Yes sir..”

The next morning the students reported the events to the school. The school was now out in full force attempting to find the beast. As the morning sun began to rise there was a gruesome discovery. The heads of the two students were found stuck to the welcome sign of the school. The creature seemed to be telling everyone that it was out to get them. It was the first day of school and many new students left due to the fear of being hunted. The school's population was already low as it is due to the war raging in the country. Now it had to prove that it was generally a safe ground for the new students. This marked the beginning of Kinkaru’s 4th year, and it was already shaping up to be a fight for survival. Kinkaru took a deep breath and headed towards the training center. He needed to get much stronger if he wanted to stand beside his friends.