*Rustle* *Rustle*
A man's head snapped to the side of his vision while running and dodging the various jungle flowers and fallen trees. His breathing is hard; sweat runs over his eyebrows and down his face from the effort he felt.
He remembers that a long time ago his heart was pumping just like now, when he fought to become the Tripe leader, a time when he was the Hunter, not the hunted.
The more he thought about it, that somebody or something daring to HUNT HIM like a rat, the angrier he was becoming.
The more he ran, the more time he had to understand that, while he ran and exhausted himself, that thing he was hunted by had never attempted to attack him.
No, it kept up, slowed when he slowed, and sped up; when he sped up, it was almost like he was not hunted by an animal; instead, it was almost like a Human.
His eyes grew, and finally, he understood that he was not hunted by an animal; no, not even an animal with a quirk would dare to hunt him; a human hunted him.
He ran for some more seconds until a small area of clearing came into his eyes; hiding there wasn't possible.
Running to the middle of the clearing, he feels finally in Controll.
Everywhere he looks, various jungle plants and bushes think trees. The moment the thing steps into the clearing, would he gut it, be it human or animal?
Smiling, it was perfect; now he had the upper hand. "Come out; I know no animal will hunt me in this region. I am The King, The Ruler of this territory. I fought to command this land, so fight me man to man, so I command you to show yourself" He screamed at the dark jungle of the Amazonas.
He had to buy some time to recover himself, even if that thought disgusted him. All that running had exhausted him, even with his blessed body.
His eyes scanned left and right before finally he heard something to the right, and his head snapped right at it. His instinct wanted to jump at it and strangle the bastard to death, but patience won every time, and his stamina was still not perfect.
Slowly, he could see a shadow coming out of the jungle, the silhouette of a man. The man slowly and carefully stepped 3 more meters toward him and then stopped. Now he could see everything about the man he was hunted by, he was tall, around 1.98 meters tall, and very muscular, yet not the shredded physique the young people today want to have. The most prominent feature, though, was how he didn't walk, it was better said he stalked like a predator, his steps almost completely silent. His clothes were simple, though he could see a Bowie knife attached to his opponent's vest.
He, as a hunter, saw in this man's eyes, which were glowing like a lion's,he saw, that he was a hunter.
"You are not a king, not a conqueror, or Human, your Prey." The man spoke to him in a heavy Russian accent.
"You dare-" Before he could finish, his opponent jumped at him, Bowie knife drawn.
In mere moments, The Worm was upon him, being caught off guard, he received a wound on his right cheek, though he jumped to the right side in time; if not, the knife would have been in his eye.
He could only dodge and wait for the time before he would activate the gift the gods had given him. Dodging a slice at his chest, his enemy was open, so he swung his arm in an arc and activated it. The worm sensing his doom tried to jump away from him, yet the worm still dodged too late and received four large claw wounds on his chest,that penetrated the vest it wore.
His left arm was transformed; it was larger and hairier, and his nails were longer and sharper.
A smile bloomed on his face, having wounded him. Why was he not fighting him at his hut or sooner in the jungle? "Do you see now? That is only 10% of my power; you are prey; I am the Hunter, so have the gods decided by blessing me." He laughed.
His opponent, however, wasn't scared or intimidated; he had instead a small smile on his face, going with his fingers over his bleeding wounds" Good, very good. A hunt without prey that can fight back, is not worth my time. Show me your true power."
He had finally had enough, but the man still considered him to be the prey, so he activated his blessing even more. He grew bigger, fur started to spread throughout his body, his Human teeth transformed into those of a predator, his senses finally achieved inhuman keenness, and his muscles and bones got stronger and broader.
Letting out a growl, he had not transformed into his blessed form for a long time, for he had no prey anymore, or so he thought. His form resembled that of a mix between a human and a wolf.
His opponent had, at the same time he transformed, made himself ready for a fight.
He jumped, his claws like a spear, wanting to end the fight with his hands through his opponent's chest. Instead of his target, he hit the air; his opponent had crouched down and attempted to slice off his Achilles tendon, so he jumped high into the air and, using his momentum, used his tail to whip at his enemy.
Not reacting in time, his tail came in contact with his opponent's face, and a loud snapping sound was heard, and the worm was thrown backward a few feet. Not letting the opportunity go, the moment he landed on his feet, he was already upon him again with a claw swipe. Yet, his opponent did something unexpected, and instead of his anticipated block or dodge after recovering from his hit, got closer and, using his speed, got thrown down, hit the ground, and, using his inertia, was almost immediately back up. Just fast enough to block his enemy's thrown knife with his left arm, which buried itself in his left forearm.
Grunting from the unexpected wound made him lose his concentration for a second, a mistake he felt by receiving a blow on his liver, which staggered him. Yet, pulling himself together and not wanting to go on the defensive, he kicked his enemy's chest with his powerful legs, which blew him back a dozen feet and made him spit out blood. Yet, he could see a smile on the worm.
He had a serious wound just now, so he had some time to prepare before his opponent had recovered. The knife in his arm made his left forearm almost useless, so grabbing the knife and pulling it out, a deep grunt escaped from him; the knife he now had, he sheathed it on his belt.
He looked at his adversary, who seemingly also had a few more tricks up his sleeves, from the looks he gave him.
"Your blade I will take as a trophy to remember that I still reign supreme, though that metal must be quite extraordinary to make me bleed, and your strength is also quite impressive. No wonder you were so sure to kill me. Yet, the time of playing comes to an end," he said, impressed at his opponent's strength.
Using his full strength in his leg muscles, he surged forward like an arrow. He swiped this time with his right hand. Yet before his claws could reach his enemy, he got countered with a kick to the face that made a loud enough sound to even hear a few dozen meters further. That counter also made him stagger for a moment, preparing for the next attack. He made himself ready by jumping back.
Seeing his opponent take out a blow dart and shoot it at him, he dodged by slightly jumping to the left, suddenly feeling an intense pain that left him gasping for air for a moment. He looked down to see his leg in a trap that had several small stakes through his foot.
When was the trap laid here? Yet, not wanting to leave himself open, he shut all of this useless questioning out; the questions came later after killing his challenger.
His opponent, taking the presented opportunity, sprinted at him at an almost inhuman speed. Currently, he wants to be in the state to dodge, so, waiting for an opportunity to grab him and then end the fight by biting his head off, he waited.
His advisor, while running, blew a blow dart again, which this time he was unable to dodge, and blocked the dart with his right arm. Which by the not present pain didn't penetrate his skin.
His challenger, pulling his arm back for a punch, used his momentum to suddenly jump, to try to use an axe kick with his right leg. Seeing now his moment, his long arm grabbed him mid-execution of his kick by the leg, and used his other arm akin to a spear to penetrate his challenger's stomach. He was stopped by the man's other leg, by a strong kick to his wounded arm that directed his spear-like hand to harmlessly go by to the left.
A howl of pain came out of his mouth, because of the pain he felt in his arm. He felt like he couldn't use it anymore, so using his last chance, he opened his jaw wide to bite his challenger's head off. Yet even that was blocked by the man's forearms, though by the familiar sense of blood, his teeth were also buried through them. He slowly tried closing his mouth, but the men had just enough strength to not let him do that.
They were at a standstill for what felt like an eternity, but slowly he was being overpowered. He felt himself getting weak; was it the blood he lost? He wondered, was it because he was old? No. Why was he getting weaker, he wondered?
The strength in his arms and jaw was with each second weaker, so weak in fact that he dropped his challenger on the ground as well out of his mouth. His knees were the next to fail him, and his body crashed to the ground with a resounding umpf.
"How…could I lose? I was stronger, more durable, better—I was chosen! He screamed at the end and used the rest of his strength to try to stand on his knees.
"Prey that you can't kill with your hands; you kill with planning and tools. I spied on you for weeks and laid traps around the possible areas where we could have fought. You thought it was your idea to fight here; no, I allowed it to happen."
His challenger lowered himself and, getting on his knees, looked into his eyes and continued, his voice calculating and cold." The trap had poison, and the dart you thought didn't penetrate your skin had a numbing effect and a neurotoxin that slowly paralyzes."
He had underestimated the worm, his eyes growing large; he never had any kind of control in this fight; he was toyed around with. His anger bubbled so much that he still tried to swipe at this Monster in front of him, just to make him sever one of his tendons.
Yet, that was easily stopped by the man's foot stomping his arm.
"But most importantly, you underestimated me and my abilities"
The worm—no, his opponent—then slowly took out the knife that he had on his belt and looked into his eyes.
"Die, knowing that you live as a part of me"
Before he could ask what he meant, he felt the knife enter his throat, gurgling on his blood. He tried taking the knife, yet his opponent grabbed his hand and forced him to look into the man's eyes while he died, like an animal.
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Seeing the life going out of his prey's eyes, he pulled the knife out of his throat with a wet sound.
"Good Kraven, now do it, let the beast's strength flow through you" he heard the familiar voice of his father.
Turning around, he saw his father accompanied by part of his family. Father was right; he had something to do before greeting them.
The prey he slayed was worthy of becoming part of him, so laying the corpse on the back, he slowly and precisely cut open the sternum and, with force, cut or broke the ribs to reach the heart. Cleaning the knife after the cut and sheathing it away, which was placed on the right side of his vest.
He now had to fulfill the ritual; the cut he made at the sternum, he inserted his hand in the chest to grab the heart. Knowing exactly where the heart was made it a lot easier, so grabbing it, he pulled it out of the beast's chest.
Activating his quirk, he could feel every prey that he slayed and consumed, every ounce of power that it gave him. Now his power will grow once again, biting the heart he held in his hand piece by piece; he could feel the power.
Finishing devouring the heart, he was now a step further ahead of his dream to become the apex of all the hunters in the world, this world's apex predator, or his name wouldn't be Kraven Kravinoff.