Richard sprinted at the abomination, throwing himself forward with every ounce of strength, his bones creaking under the strain.
Dust exploded in his wake as he used everything he had to close the distance, determined to seize the initiative. His eyes followed its movement, taking careful note, neither underestimating the monster nor losing track of it.
Richard saw some of his men shouting in panic but he couldn't hear the surrounding noise anymore, it was a waste of processing power. The only thing that mattered was to kill this thing.
The creature mirrored his actions, charging at him, its grotesque form surging forward with terrifying speed. It swiped at his eyes with the same foul claws that had ended his brother's life, but Richard was ready.
His nerves sang with adrenaline, every heartbeat a fiery drumbeat in his chest. He swung at the air to its right, aiming to intercept its attack.
The monster twisted its body in a way that shouldn't be possible to avoid the blow.
It's spine bended with a sickening creak and two of its ribs visibly cracked but it twisted even as it struck back.
Richard dodged, calmly, looking like he just decided to not be where the creature's strike landed.
He watched, he analysed, and he adapted, just like his shard was whispering, just like a true hunter does when facing new pray.
The monster, he realized, was merely a rank 9. It was the strongest rank 9 he ever had the misfortune of facing, but still, not on his level.
He threw a powerful punch at the monster, his fist whistling through the air as it struck his target. The monster was sent flying back, crashing into the wall with enough force to cause it to crack.
Seizing the moment, Richard pressed his advantage, lashing out with a kick that sent the monster tumbling across the ground. He followed up with a flurry of punches, each landing with devastating force. The creature was tossed around like a ragdoll, its body battered and bloody.
Despite its injuries, the monster refused to stay down. It stared at Richard's hands, fixated on the burning flames engulfing them, its eyes wide with so much hatred that it almost gave Richard pause.
Almost.
Richard didn't hesitate to continue his assault, unleashing a fiery kick, sending the creature flying through the air once more, slamming it into a nearby building and scorching deep burns into its body.
This turned out to be a mistake. As it fell to the ground, the monster's interest in the fight vanished instantly. Like a vulture drawn to carrion, it sniffed around with a grotesque eagerness. As if its instincts had overridden its mind, it clawed its way to the nearest corpse.
His brother's corpse, to be exact.
Richard's heart lurched as he realized what was happening, but he was too late. He couldn't stop it, no matter how fast he moved. He could only watch in horror as the creature tore open his brother's chest, revealing the Celestial Shard within.
The shard was an orb of soft red light, its surface swirling with iridescent colors that seemed to shift and pulse with an inner fire. Its beauty was otherworldly.
The monster's mouth stretched open impossibly wide. It lurched forward, teeth snapping like a ravenous beast, and swallowed the shard whole.
Its throat bulged grotesquely, and a dark, oily trail of saliva dripped from its lips. The monster's body convulsed as if the shard burned from within, yet it showed no signs of pain-only a twisted satisfaction.
Richard had never truly known what it was like to hate someone. He'd thought he hated people before, but this abomination taught Richard what true hatred was. It opened his eyes to that wide, burning spectrum of human emotion which now flowed like volcanic horror through every vein in his body.
He cried out, but there was no pain to be heard in his voice as he reached the monster. The thing claws dug into his flesh, stronger, faster than before, its grip tightening, and yet he felt nothing.
There was only anger. All he knew. All he was. His flames burned brighter, and the monster seemed even more maddened.
He slammed his free fist into the monster's chest, unleashing a blast that sent it flying once again. But this time, Richard was faster.
With the same hand that struck the monster, he grabbed it by the wrist and tore, throwing the arm away with a rain of blackened blood following it
The monster didn't seem to feel pain as it sailed through the air, landing with a wet thud and bouncing back up.
The hunter didn't seem to care as he pursued his prey. The prey took one step, then two, before leaping almost five feet into the air, trying to avoid another blazing fist and aiming a kick at the hunter as it fell.
And then it was over.
Richard sidestepped, anticipating the moment the creature got airborne.
With a quarter-second precision, he buried a flaming fist through the monster's chest, slamming it down into the stone floor with such force that his fist went all the way through and into the pavement, causing a detonation that echoed through the entire street.
The pavement itself issued a sharp "crack" as the stone shifted slightly. Richard's fist pinned the monster like a fly, sending a flood of black, viscous blood spewing from its mouth, splattering its front as its lungs collapsed from the impact.
The street fell silent as the monster stopped moving, but Richard didn't stop. He couldn't stop.
Not until this thing was nothing but a smear on the pavement.
He stomped, punched, cut, and burned the creature that dared to take away the brother he cared more about than his own life.
Finally, when the rage subsided, he walked away, ignoring his men as they tried to talk to him. He even killed one of them when they tried to grab his shoulder.
The hunter was broken, tired, and empty. The fact that he didn't find even one of the two Celestial shards he was supposed to retrieve from the corpse... right now, he couldn't care any less.
Richard Ohen walked away from the alleyway where he made the worst mistake of his life.
And he didn't look back.