The creature looked like a human-crow hybrid. Its dark black feathers were covered in dried blood and its talon-like hands were stained crimson, it had recently feasted. In its eyes burned a malevolent cunningness.
Without warning, both fighters suddenly disappeared. They reappeared with a loud clang and a burst of sparks. A clash began, blade against talon.
Bane, wishing to end the fight quickly, swung his blade in an arc aimed at the creature's head. Taking the Butcher by surprise, the creature didn't flinch back or try to avoid the slash. It instead leaned into the slash, just barely slipping under the arc and shortening the distance between it and its attacker.
Instinctively Bane took a step back to distance himself from the creature. This proved to be useless as the creature, once again going against Bane's expectation, didn't aim to take his heart. A feat that, with its sharp talons, would've proven quite easy had the distance between them been shorter. It instead reached for Bane's sword hand which it mangled with a nauseating crunch.
The Butcher just barely managed to escape the creature's grip in time to keep his hand. The hand had still been mangled beyond recognition. A few fingers were missing and the cuts on his palm were deep enough to reveal white bone. With a tap, tap, tap, Bane created some distance between the crow-man hybrid and himself.
A sadistic smile was still stamped to the hunter's face as he threw a handful of throwing knives with his off hand. The crow-man dodged each one with incredible ease.
I guess those cunning eyes aren't for nothing. Bane thought. With an unholy sound his hand began to squirm and bend in ways it shouldn't have. Once the otherworldly sounds of bone and flesh subsided, all that was left was a fully healed arm, as if it had never been mangled. The crow-man was taken aback by the grotesque sight, distracting it for a brief moment. This gave Bane the time to lunge forward and send a thrust at the creature's heart.
On the sidelines, Mellie could only watch this fight between inhumans, much too scared to attempt running away. The entire crow-man's existence was unsettling but it didn't compare to the Butcher's unholy act. He had healed himself, that wasn't something just anyone could do. Especially not to the degree he had done it. Bane had created missing fingers out of seemingly nothing.
He couldn't be human.
The cowering woman looked up just in time to see a blade pierce the crow-man's "heart". She had expected an outburst of blood but nothing came out, it was as if the creature had been sucked dry.
"Kekekekekekekekekekekeke!"
It let out what could only be guessed to be a laugh.
The smile fell from Bane Marius's face as the gravity of the situation hit him.
Not wasting another moment, he released his grip on the sword and snapped his fingers.
"Ful!" He screamed as a blaze of fire engulfed him and the crow-man. The fire rose high, almost overtaking the trees. It burned so intensely that even from where she was standing Mellie felt like she was melting.
With another set of snaps, the flames were gone.
Standing above a charred corpse was the Inhumane Butcher, his cloak had burned and revealed a dark black body suit underneath. On the elbows, forearms, chest, knees, and calves were pads. Mellie couldn't tell if the armor had always been black or had been blacked by the intense flames from a few moments ago.
Bane looked down at the crow-man with intensity and picked up his sword. He cut the corpse where the heart should be and began his investigation.
Inside the creature was a flesh as black as night, but it didn't seem to have any life. The flesh was frigid despite having just endured flames mere moments ago. There was nothing where the creature's heart should have been.
Strange…
As far as Kitils went, this was the strangest one the Butcher had seen. Pushing the matter to the back of his mind, he beheaded the creature and pinned an aged paper to the head with a throwing knife.
"Kill the monster in the Forsaken Woods, 10 devis.
"Description:..."
He turned to the woods, his eyes piercing into those of the woman who was still cowering behind the foliage. He tossed the head at her. It rolled for a little before reaching her feet, causing her to jump up.
"Daknes." She heard and when she turned to look for Bane, he was gone.
…
Back in an inn deep in Eastern Meriany, a silhouette stepped out of the shadows. The silhouette was dressed in an all black padded body suit, in its hands was a blade that should have been crimson.
"I've been waiting for you!" A voice said.
Bane's eyes widened as he looked toward his bed. On it was a beige skull with two large gemstones where its eye sockets should've been.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Come here, I've gotta talk to you!" The skull said.