1 The Marauders of the Forest

After their crossing to the river Hideki and his grandfather finally reach the river where they used to fish .

-Grandpa, Grandpa, help me, the fish is pushing too hard!

With an effusive and unwise reaction Hideki falls into the water. With this, his grandfather, who was quite attentive to his grandson's movements, lets out a laugh.

-AHAH my dear grandson it seems you are not yet ready to catch the big fish in the Legendary River of the Giant Forest!

Hideki starts laughing too and quickly gets out of the river, soaking wet. Sitting down next to his grandfather he hoped that his grandfather would be able to catch his lunch as quickly as possible, for as a child he had always been a boy with a big appetite.

In the meantime, Grandpa had already advanced some work.

-Look Hideki, this is it, here he comes!

With a precise and strong movement his grandfather pulls the giant fish out of the water, and although Hideki has seen this hundreds of times, every time his grandfather does it, Hideki is always extremely amazed by the fact that how his 60-year-old grandfather could pull a fish that was almost five feet tall out of the water with such ease and precision.

-Grandpa, how did you do it?" asked the young man with a puzzled look on his face.

-AHAH don't worry that one day you will be able to do it too and much easier than me! For now worry about training and at this moment eating this giant fish that I just caught eheh!

With this Hideki and his grandfather return to their house in the middle of the forest, which was not far from the river and easily distinguishable because it was built next to a large tree. While his grandfather makes lunch Hideki goes out to play in the forest, where there used to be some animals. Hideki had always had a great connection with both the animals and the forest itself, so it was quite normal for him to venture out into the forest in search of new adventures.

While Hideki was walking through the forest, he climbs a tree and sees several figures penetrating the forest. Hideki, having never seen anyone but animals enter the forest before, decided to investigate these individuals a bit. As he gets closer, Hideki can clearly see this group was very similar to what his grandfather called the "doom of mankind". However, to Hideki's amazement they were similar if not identical to him in physical terms. Hideki decided not to make any moves and to just watch as this race, according to his grandfather was aggressive and malicious.

-We have finally reached the Giant Forest! - says one of the individuals

-That's right, after all we've been through, we better find some rare creatures to sell at next week's market! - says the other individual laughing.

-Well for now let's set up camp here! Hey you two, since you're not doing anything, go take a look around the area and maybe you'll find something interesting!

-Yes boss!

Hideki on hearing this, not understanding any of the conversation , starts thinking to himself. "But who are these people? Are they part of that 'doom of humanity' that grandfather talks about? If they are I'd better watch out!"

Two of the armed men eventually break away from the group to go search the area, and Hideki decides to follow them. While they are walking through the forest, they find a litter of gray wolf pups resting in a bush.

-Hey Hey, are those gray wolf cubs?

-Yes, I think so!

-The chief said that the tusks and fur of these wolves are worth a fortune! Let's take advantage that Mom is not here and bring them back to the camp to show the others!

As the scouts are approaching the cubs, a she-wolf jumps out of the nearby bush ready to go attack the neck of one of the scouts, but the scout in one swift movement pulls out his razor and makes a shallow cut on the she-wolf's chest.

As this happens the other sacker says:

-Forget the cubs, if we kill the she-wolf here, we can benefit a lot! What do you say we share the material and keep the skin of this wolf without others knowing. That way we would gain even more!

Catching the wolf off guard on the ground wounded the other scout withdraws the sheath of his sword ready to kill the wolf. But in a precise and quick movement Hideki jumps over the man ready to kill the animal with his sword and hits him over the head with a stick causing the individual to fall to the ground.

-Damn brat, if I catch you I'll cut you in half! Get him, you bastard!

With this the other batterer grabs Hideki's head lifting him off the ground. Hideki begins to feel very intense pain both in his head and all over his body, barely able to stand it any longer, sends a kick to Hideki's chin, thus falling to the ground. The other scout seeing this happen starts to hit Hideki even harder and when Hideki was about to faint he sees a figure approaching, it was Grandpa. The grandfather in a particularly unusual speed hits the scout with the punch in the belly throwing the same through the air until it goes against a tree thus making the looter faint, but suddenly in a desperate movement the other man tries to stab the grandfather but both to the scout's astonishment and Hideki the knife had not even pierced the skin of the grandfather...

-DESAPPEAR! - says Hideki's grandfather with a serious look.

At that very moment a strong aura was released from the grandfather's body causing both Hideki and the scout to faint.

When Hideki woke up he was already home and it was almost night