The town of Knife Peak was completely obscured with the thick fog that surrounded it. Even the walls and towers were barely visible and it didn't help that there was rain on top of it, which made visibility even poorer.

It was extremely quiet as no one could imagine what was going in inside the town, when suddenly the quiet was broken with a high pitched scream that could only be called unexpected by a random traveler ...

Elise: COME AT ME YOU DEMON!!! "He screamed as he grabbed his cyan blade and charged ahead"

...But as he was preparing to attack the demon in front of him, he suddenly stopped in his tracks , stunned and terrorized, horrified even. Demons were coming out of the fog one after the other.

When Elise came to he suddenly thought of running away but unfortunately demons were coming out of the fog behind him as well, he was surrounded with no way to escape.

As he despaired and accepted his fate, he thought of fighting and dying valiantly. However, his thought process was soon interrupted when he noticed a faint glint of yellow and blue neon light in the fog behind the demons.

Elise: What in the angels name is that? "He thought to himself"

...And as it came closer and closer, Elise felt a sense of relief.

Elise: What took you so long...?

Elise said while two figures cut down some demons and joined his side...

Elise: Cap'n, Edward...

Captain: Elise, are you okay? Where's Felty?

Elise: Cap'n, Felty is dead ...she was eaten by that demon. "He said while tearing up and pointing towards the remains"

Edward: Oh my god, are those her legs? "He said while holding back his vomit"

Captain: Don't think about it for now let's think of how to get out of this mess...

Edward: ...what about the mayor he's still in his mansion.

Captain: it's probably safer for him. After all, the demons are busy with us now so let's think about how to survive for now...

...While the three demon hunters were forming a circle formation, the demons were contemplating how to best kill their prey; you could see it in their eyes and expressions, truly a sight of nightmares.

Far away from the action stood one man hiding in a house and looking through the window. It was Pike and as the fog cleared up a bit he could clearly see what was going on out there. He was scared, this was his first encounter with a demon and it terrified him to the core.

There Pike sat on the ground next to the window and started thinking of mundane and useless things like how the ceiling, had some cracks that allowed him to see through to the room above: then suddenly a drip of water came down the crack. The people living in this house clearly didn't take care of it very well...

After thinking and agonizing , he could only come up with two choices "fight or run" ...

And he found that in his heart he had already made his decision...

Meanwhile inthe courtyard...

... As the demons were finished contemplating what they were going to do to the humans in front of them, they started getting ready to massacre them when suddenly Elise started shouting...

Elise: I ain't going to let these demons kills us without Resistance!! "He said before attacking the demons"

Captain: That's the spirit, LET'S GO AND MEET OUR MAKERS!!!

Edward: Hell Yeah!!

... And with that they all resolved themselves to dying in the glorious theatre that is battle. But amidst all the action, the captain noticed one peculiar thing as the fog grew thinner, the figure of a man making his way to the entrance of the town, that he quickly discerned as...

The Captain: Pike? PIKE!! Where Are You Going?!

Pike did not even look back before exiting Knife Peak completely...

Edward: wait, did that bastard just leave us ...Argh! "He said while blocking a demon's blow."

Elise: i always knew ... He was a first-class puss... Ah!! "He said while taking a blow to the shoulder."

...this made Elise lose focus for a single moment which cost him dearly; both his arms were grabbed by the demon and ripped off entirely. This horrific spectacle could never be separated from the equally agonizing screams coming from Elise.

He screamed so hard, it was as if he forgot he had to breathe; with Elise out of the equation the other two hunter's flank was open, and thus the massacre ensued.

...As Pike was making his way outside of the town he noticed that the carriage they used to come here was wrecked, and the horses shred to pieces.

He only had one choice to run on foot and as he made his way towards the forest he stopped hearing battle sounds, then it was followed with a series of screams. Pike suddenly put his hands over his ears and started running frantically...

Pike: it's not my fault ... it's not my fault... "He kept muttering the same words until his figure was no longer seen between the charcoal like trees of the forest.

... The hunter was running for about an hour before finally realizing that he couldn't hear his comrades dying screams anymore, suddenly stopping to catch his breath.

Pike: I'm sorry... Guys "he said with a melancholic expression on his face" i had no choice... I...I would have died too..."then he broke down in tears feeling a mix of sadness, regret, anger and shame not towards the demons but towards himself for simply abandoning his comrades"

...After a while Pike started to get himself together...

Pike: Alright... I may feel like shit now but i should survive for now, I'll be sad later." And with that he steeled his resolve but only for a brief moment..."

...Because suddenly he heard a voice that was oh so familiar to him, that came from behind him in the dark. He froze in place, chocked...

Felty: ...Whhheerrree...are...yoouuu?... Why would ...you lea...veeee meeeeeeeeee......

Pike: ...Felty? "He said before turning around to look behind him"

...A demon was holding Felty's detached head with his mouth and using her vocal cords, making it seem like she was talking. As soon as the demon heard Pike, he slowly turned his head towards him; one of Felty's eyes was rolled back while the other was looking straight at the man. Then suddenly, Feltys mouth started moving again...

Felty: Oh....there you are...

Then the demon smiled and dropped the head...

Pike: Oh shit ..."he said before suddenly crouching"

It may have been a gut feeling or perhaps divine intervention, but somehow Pike had dodged a demon leaping at him leaving a wound on his right shoulder; with the sheer speed and strength of the leap the demon was propelled very far from pike and the latter saw this as an opportunity to run...

... As he was making his way to escape he noticed that the mouth demon was only walking unlike the other one that came leaping, and without even considering it he dropped his equipment to make himself lighter and ran as fast as he could.

As Pike made his way through the forest dodging tree after tree and holding his shoulder, he kept thinking of the comrades he had abandoned to survive, his friends.

This only made him feel worse, and as he looked up to the sky with the orange glimpses of a setting sun, he could only feel overwhelmed at how beautiful it was. Still he couldn't figure out how to evit the forest, since it looked like a maze. Nevertheless, Pike kept running

Before eventualy, he passed the last tree and left the forest for good. He looked behind him for good measure and saw nothing, then he felt a sense of relief ...

Pike: Yes, I Did It! "he thought to himself"

... Before stepping on a hole in the grass, then suddenly collapsing face first to the ground, passing out instantly from the sheer impact of the fall...

...While his consciousness was slipping, Pike kept thinking about his life and how pointless it all was. He regretted joining the Venatores as well as running away from home to do so, he missed his mom that he hadn't seen in a year and his childhood sweetheart that he now realizes had a real chance to marry. He only now realized that he could have lived happily, and have a family instead of dying a useless death in the middle of nowhere, or at least that's what he thought.

Then suddenly Pike came to and noticed that he was covered in mud. He tried to get up but he couldn't, so he turned around to figure out what the problem was,at this point he was numb and confused, so he was chocked when he say that his left leg was broken; his bone was visible and had pierced through the side of his calf muscle. As he looked up he noticed that it was already night, and the moon's rays of light were shining down on him and his surroundings.

Pike: Oh no... It's NIGHT?!!

...and just as he was frantically searching his surroundings for what to do, he noticed dark figures slowly coming out of the forest one by one, as if they knew that their prey was trapped. Pike started panicking and could do nothing but crawl away from the forest and the figures, he knew the identity of.

As he was crawling with all his might, desperate for even another minute of life, and with the looming threat of death, he finally noticed that there was another figure in front of him...

Pike: Oh...My...

Chapter:End