"What Is Your Decision"

Back to the present.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" A young boy was running through a forest, breathing heavily as his stomach caved in and expanded rapidly, tears dried and a trail of blood followed him. His hair was burnt at the tips, his clothes were burnt in tatters, and light and moderate lacerations could be seen on his arms, and under the scraps of cloth that once was a black pair of pants and a white t-shirt. The wound that would catch the most attention was a wicked scar on the left side of his face, from his mouth to below his ear, some of his skin hanging off his face leaving the inside of his mouth exposed. His wounds appeared to be made from the claw of a beast.

'Where are the Hunters? Where are the Saviors?!' The boy, about the age of 6 years old was erratic in his thoughts and his movements becoming more lethargic every second that passed due to the mental strain and blood loss from the wounds he had suffered.

'Why did this happen…'

'Why are they just leaving us to die, It's their job to protect us, right? I know we don't live in the city, but it's not right, why are they just letting us die?' The idea had already burrowed deep down in his mind, placing a seed of aversion and rancor in his heart toward Hunters and Saviors, extending even to "God" that had started to sprout.

The people who had promised to the world they would do their absolute best to protect the people within the world from the monsters, but now? They were nowhere to be seen. A village had been destroyed and they were nowhere.

That seed started to grow even more when he recalled why they had to live in the mountains in the first place.

Money.

He had known this because he had heard multiple adults complain about it throughout their time in the village.

Even though the city had more than enough space to accommodate them, it just costs so much money. The bare minimum required to live there in even the worst parts was someone who went in D-rank dungeons every single day or took on multiple E-rank Dungeons in a day. The other option was a position at the Hunters Association or a spot in the Saviors.

One had a strict criterion and the other you had to surrender your whole existence to, forcing the ones who couldn't fit into any of those categories to live outside of the city, thus why his family was out here.

As Deus's young heart was bastardized by the winds of disillusionment he fell down onto the nearest tree, with blood loss, and emotional and mental destruction, topped by the cruel reality finally set in. His young self had already accomplished a great deed by making it this far and surviving for this long, but he could do nothing anymore except lay there as his body refused to listen to him.

From the way he had run, he could see a figure coming to form.

A blue wolf with a tail that had a flame matching its fur on the end of it(just imagine the bastard is cyan)stared him down, blood dripping from the mouth with scraps of cloth and hair being held on to its face by the blood.

Deus stared back, his eyes bloodshot. The tears that littered his face were no longer there.

It was ironic to him, that even though these monsters had massacred his village, were about to kill him, and killed his sister. He still held more hate for the Hunters and Saviors.

Don't get him wrong though, he hated these Blue Flame Wolves as well, but they were monsters, even if what they did was cruel what could he expect? Sympathy? It was in their nature to do this, but the Hunters and Saviors?

The ones who had always preached that we should help each other and stand together against the monsters who were trying to destroy humanity, how every life was valuable?

They had failed to warn his village of a Warlord-type Adult Blue Flame Wolf(I believe I called it a Warlord-type Adult Flame Wolf in chapter 1) that had been forming, they probably failed to warn the surrounding villages as well. They didn't even bother to come up here. In his view, it was nature vs decision, one seemed a lot more malicious than the other.

As his thoughts were coming to an end the Blue Flame Wolf launched itself at him, ready for the final meal of the night. Deus grunted as he strongly closed his eyes, tensing his body up waiting for his death to come, hoping it would be quick.

"Few are prepared to hunt, but only those who do will have a chance to live. Are you prepared to hunt?"

But it never came.

He slowly opened his eyes at the presence of a person.

"Whaa-" A man towered over him, giving little care to his surprise as he repeated the question.

"Are you prepared to hunt?"

He knew this wasn't a dream as everything felt so. He turned towards the wolf who was…frozen? The Blue Flame Wolf was unmoving while in midair.

"What is your decision?" His eyes not moving from him

"Yes."