Demon Hunter

A week has passed since the operation turning Laxus into a true Dragon Slayer and the guild was more chaotic than ever!

They had a massive party celebrating Alex officially joining the S-Class rank, the Master had brought up the fact that Alex declined being a wizard saint so nobody argued him not having to take the test.

They were more excited about the fact their guild just got stronger and also having another Dragon slayer in the guild.

They calmed down a bit when Laxus told them that he has always been a Dragon slayer and just decided to tell them now.

Alex had made the 4 people that knew the specifics about the operation, promise secrecy.

Erza hadn't returned from her current mission so Alex still hasn't met the overly strict red-head, he had heard of her from the guild members though and was looking forward to sparring with her.

He grew closer to Cana as she was always at the guild drinking and he enjoyed her company, he still could not beat her in a drinking contest but was getting closer each time.

He also noticed he never had a hang-over thanks to {Rapid Regeneration}.

He hadn't taken any official jobs from the guild yet, and was looking over the request board.

Standing beside him was Nab Lasaro. Nab was an odd wizard who always seemed to be at the request board, when questioned he would reply with "I'm looking for a special job, that only I can do" and then go back to looking at the board.

Alex didn't mind him and just let him do his thing. While they were browsing the request board a messenger bird came for the Master.

It caught everyone's attention and they watched closely.

"It's an emergency S-class request. Said to involve a Powerful 'Demon' " Makarov said while putting emphasis on the word "demon" and turning toward Alex. "What do you say? You wanna put your magic to good use?" He asked Alex.

"Sure, I was looking for a job anyway and it might be some fun" Alex said with a happy smile. He was itching to stretch his wings anyway.

As Alex was reading the request poster he realized it was going to take him out of the Kingdom.

"Hey gramps! Does Bosco not have S-class wizards? Why would they request our help?" Alex asked with confusion all over his face.

It seemed strange to request aid from another country's guilds.

"They do, but the Magic council branch in Bosco is desperate. Apparently all the S-class mages that could deal with it, have either declined or are busy. They can't just have a Demon running around on the loose, it would be disastrous and they've already had many casualties, so they requested aid" Makarov said with a pensive look.

'It sounds like the Deliora incident that happened in The land of Isvan some years back' Makarov thought while shuttering.

Alex just nodded to the master and asked if he could get a map of the area, while Makarov was searching for a map Alex went to let Wendy and Carla know he was going to be gone a while.

Leaving Carla in charge of the house while he was gone, they bid him safe travels. He gave them a way to contact him before leaving.

Back at the guild he accepted the map Makarov had for him and told them he was leaving right away. Walking out of the guild hall he wasted no time storing his map and leaping into the air, he flew at a fast but manageable pace to the North-east.

'Should probably get there before more people die, the request stated they had lost 2 medium sized towns already' Alex thought as he made his way to the land of forests, Bosco.

It took him a few days of constant flying to reach the kingdom of Bosco, he didn't need much sleep with his strength so he made good time.

He only realized he was in Bosco when he noticed a 'landmark' he remembered from the map.

'Guess I missed being stopped by Customs' Alex thought with a smirk and he tried locating the 'landmark' on the map again so he could tell where he was.

Locating it quickly he headed towards Bosco's branch of the Magic Council.

When he arrived at the Council headquarters he was a little taken back, "Do they seriously all use the same style of building? Could they not at least paint it with their country's colours?" He muttered to himself as he looked at the exact replica of Fiore's Council building.

It didn't take them long to get Alex all sorted out, they were very happy with the quick response to their distress call and were very accommodating.

They gave him all the information they had on the 'Demon' as well as its last known location. He also learned it wasn't a Demon from the 'Books of Zeref', but a natural Demon.

It had apparently discovered a way to massively boost its strength at the cost of its rationality and sanity. It was no real surprise it went on a rampage after that, being nothing more than an enraged beast, unfortunately like a beast it still had survival instincts and would run away if something endangered its life.

Being the same size as a regular human it could easily hide in the many forests of Bosco and the Council had lost all the Mages they sent after it so far without getting reports back.

'Looks like I'm going in blind... kinda, I bet it has some sort of Camouflage and kills through ambush. That is until it openly goes on a rampage' Alex thought as he read over all the reports the council secretary gave him.

Without any of the mages sent after the Demon returning, the only time they had absolute knowledge of its location, was when it was massacring a village or town.

So far three towns had been lost with most of the inhabitants dead or missing, based on the order of the massacres and locations the Demon seemed to be heading further north. The most recent town hit was a good 10 hours on a train, but Alex could fly much faster than that.

Getting a much more detailed map of Bosco from the secretary, Alex headed in the direction of the last destroyed village.

He was given a communication lacrima so the Council office could contact him if the Demon attacked again, It would be helpful if he couldn't find a trail.

When Alex got to the town he was finally able to see the extent of the damage this demon could cause.

The damage was pretty intense but it wasn't total destruction, there were still corners of some buildings that had been hit, and even some building that seemed untouched.

He noticed the big cemetery right away, the fresh graves were hard to miss.

There were a few people milling about the rubble of the town when he walked up, looking for who seemed to be in charge, he approached.

"Excuse me sir" Alex called out to the elderly looking man.

"Huh! Oh... Sorry, ya snuck up on me. What'cha need lad?" the man asked, as he gave Alex a curious look.

"I was sent by the Bosco Magic council to hunt down the Demon plaguing this area, and I was hoping to get a first hand accounting of the attack, from you?" Alex asked the man with a respectful tone.

"So yer a mage then eh? Well follow me outta the way and I'll tell ya how it happened" The man said.

Alex and the old man went off to the side so they would not interfere with the remaining villagers that were trying to clear rubble.

The old man introduced himself as Stanley and began his explanation, the demon had come out of the forest and started destroying all the buildings in its path as if they were its most hated enemy.

It did not seem to actively target the people, but if they got in the way it killed them with no hesitation as it went around town destroying all the building and killing anyone inside them.

Strangely enough, if you were outside a building and not in its way, it just left you alone.

This behaviour didn't make any sense to Alex and tried thinking about what it could mean, not coming up with anything he shelved that thought for now.

"How are there still building up if it destroyed them all?" Alex asked noticing a hole in Stanley's story.

"We are a village of Carpenters, anything with wood as it's base is no problem for us and it's quick!" He said with pride and a small smile.

Alex just nodded and thanked the man, he needed to have a look around before the villagers moved everything too much more.

During his look around the village he noted a couple scents that did not belong to the village, one of the smells he could identify as a demon simply because that's what his magic was telling him it was.

He had not seen a demon yet, so he didn't have a reference. Trusting his magic he focused on the other scent, it was very dark with a corrupted aspect to it.

'Kinda smells like corrupted Ethernano, I wonder if this is the so called "Demon particles"? That fuels their magic and appearance?' he thought as he tried finding what direction the scent led.

It didn't take him long to find a trail, and just like the council thought, it was heading north.

After following the trail for about a KM he was surprised when one of the scents just disappeared, the scent his magic 'identified' as a demon just disappeared and all the was left was the 'corrupted Ethernano' scent.

'My guess was right, it does have some sort of stealth skill. Fortunately since it uses the 'corrupted Ethernano' he cannot hide from me' Alex thought with a smirk.

He knew that without {Mana Manipulation} he probably wouldn't be able to follow this trail even with his enhanced senses, but because he could he knew it would only be a matter of time before he found his prey.

For three days he followed the trail, though he wanted to just keep going and forego sleep, he was not stupid enough to do so.

It was a death sentence to be mentally exhausted during a fight, so he rested when he had too and meditated to replenish his energies. He could tell from the scent that he was getting closer to the demon and always kept full stealth up.

'It's kind of strange that it didn't bother to fly, I thought all natural demons in this world had wings' Alex thought as he was running through the woods.

He would be flying to catch up quicker but wasn't able to follow the trail from the tree-tops and the thick foliage and canopy made it slower to fly below the tree-tops.

As he was running through the forest following the trail he suddenly came to a halt while sniffing the air, something else had joined the scent he was following.

'Blood, lots of it. Though it's strange, it doesn't smell human.. Beast?' He thought as he picked up his pace, he was getting close.