"Fuu... fuu... fuu..." Shallow breaths escaped the lips of a young boy, his figure barely visible through the dense winter mist. Blood soaked his clothes, yet none of it was his own; it belonged to the wolves he had slain. Five bodies lay sprawled around him, their lifeless forms frozen in the snow.
"When is the damn thing gonna show up". he muttered, eyes scanning the forest. The silence pressed in, broken only by his labored breathing.
"I wonder how mother and the others are doing" he thought.
His thoughts drifted back home. Earlier this morning, he woke up as early as dawn. He needed to sell those perfectly chopped fire woods that he spent all night cutting.
"Dera, you're up early again", his mother's voice, frail and laced with concern, had sounded from her place near the fire. Though her eyes were blind, her senses missed nothing.
"I heard you chopping up firewood all night, did you even get some sleep"?
'Ah.. did she hear me last night, and i thought I was chopping it as quiet as possible.' he thought.
With a gentle smile, Dera had brushed off her concern. "I want you and the others to eat well this Christmas, Mom. Don't worry about me," he'd replied, but he'd felt the weight of her worry.
" But...? " his mother hesitated .
" Come on mom, have you forgotten how strong I am. People always say I take after dad you know" he lied, teasing her. she smiled.
From behind, a small voice piped up. "Brother, can I come with you this time?" It was Chizara, his youngest sister, her wide eyes shining with excitement.
"Not today, Chizara." He said.
"Uhmmm., but brother...." She concur but he'd patted her on her head which he knew she always liked. she giggled, content.
Just as he turned to leave, his brother Dikachi appeared, carrying their baby sister, Chizuru, on his back.
"Brother, you're going out again?" Dikachi's voice held a trace of worry. Dera ruffled his hair reassuringly.
"Yes, I'll be back soon. Take care of everyone while I'm gone, alright?" he'd said, adjusting the basket of chopped firewood on his back.
"Of course brother. Come back early this time, we'll be waiting for you!" Chizara shouted as the all wave at him, he waved back at them and looked around if he could see Chika but he probably isn't up yet.
When he reached the village, familiar faces met him with disdainful glares, their once-warm eyes turned cold. Since his father's death, the kindness they'd once shown the Chi family had disappeared. His father, Kempachi, had been a revered figure—the strongest man in the village, known for venturing into the night in his red kimono, emblazoned with a fire emblem, and wielding his katana. But those days were long gone.
Now, with Kempachi dead, strange things haunted the village. Deaths, mysterious disappearances, livestock slaughtered by wild animals. And as if fate had chosen them as scapegoats, the villagers blamed Dera's family, forcing them to live in the slums on the edge of the village. Dera had grown used to the whispers, the pointed fingers, the muttered insults—"Weak. Disgusting. Cursed."
After selling the firewood, he returned to the woods, ready for his true mission: hunting the fabled white barbarian tiger that had terrorized the villagers.
Roar!!
A thunderous roar shattered the silence, echoing from the depths of the forest.
"Hungry, are we?" Dera smirked, his eyes alight with fierce anticipation. "I knew you couldn't resist the scent of blood, even if you know it's a trap." He gripped his axe, preparing himself.
Roar!!
Another roar erupted, closer this time. The ground trembled as the beast neared.
In a flash, the monstrous white tiger lunged from the shadows, its claws gleaming like steel as it aimed to strike him down.
Dera rolled to the side, narrowly dodging its initial attack.
"Damn, you're even bigger than I imagined." He grinned, sizing up his opponent. The tiger stood a towering five feet tall, a hulking mass of muscle and fur.
Roar!!
The tiger roared, its eyes blazing with deadly intent. It lunged again, claws slicing through the air. Dera dodged, but not quickly enough—the tiger anticipated his move, closing the distance with terrifying speed.
Dera's eyes widened. 'It's… fast'
Swoosh!
The tiger's claws swiped across his side, hurling him backward into a tree with bone-jarring force.
"Kueks!" He spat blood, his back screaming with pain.
'Tsk, if I hadn't instinctively blocked that attack at the last minute with my axe, I would be like it right now' He looked down at his broken axe, splintered from the impact. He spat blood, his gaze locking on the tiger, which prowled closer, muscles coiled, eyes alight with ruthless hunger.
"You're strong.." he said as he managed to stand on his feet while wiping the blood off his mouth.
"No wonder many hunters have tried to hunt you down but you've killed every last one of them.."
Not only that, the tiger was one of the reasons the villagers resented their family. it was normally his father who takes care of this stuff, but ever since his father died, the villagers, overwhelmed by their own weakness pushed the blame to the Chi clan.
"You're weak.. tsk, if only kempachi was here" a villager had said to him.
" You weak little thing, you're from the Chi clan, aren't you suppose to be strong " another said.
" Disgusting "
" weak!"
" weak!!"
" weak!!!"
Dera clenched his fist as awful memories of the villagers flashed his minds. He loathe the word weak, Hated the word weak.
"And looking at your expression, you must be thinking that am weak too, aren't you" he said to the tiger, it was almost as if the tiger had a smirk on it's face.
"Well I guess I have to use my last resort then" he turned around showing his back to the tiger and the tiger who thought Dera was about to make a run for it like the other hunters did, leaped towards him, but.....
It was all in its mind.
Dera wasn't running. He'd trained relentlessly, perfecting a single technique—the one he'd crafted to end this fight in mere seconds.
As the tiger leaped, Dera sprang upward in a fluid backflip, narrowly dodging its strike. He landed on the beast's broad back, his hands gripping its massive jaws in a flash.
"Neck-Twisting Technique!" With all his strength, he twisted, feeling the bones snap beneath his grip as the tiger's body convulsed. In five short seconds, the life faded from the creature's eyes, and the white barbarian tiger slumped to the ground, defeated.
Breathing hard, Dera stepped back, watching as his shadow fell over the fallen predator. For the first time, he allowed himself a moment of pride. The villagers might still call him weak, but he knew better. He was strong—stronger than they'd ever realize.