"Faceless German? What a terrifying name… it suits you well, hunter," the mysterious figure spoke in a harsh, dreadful voice as he gave his unique compliment to German.
German raised his sword high, then charged fiercely toward the unknown beast. But the monster caught German's sword and struck him powerfully on the head.
German fell to the ground, pointed his pistol at the beast, and fired a powerful bullet at its head, leaving a deep gash.
"How does it feel to have a bullet lodged in your filthy skull?" German spoke mockingly, trying to show that the fight was turning in his favor.
The unknown beast laughed and inserted a finger into its head, pulling the bullet out and licking the blood from it. The blood was dark, like black rain.
"No worries, hunter. I'll show you what I really am… A hunter turned monster will now show you how to hunt." As he licked the blood off the bullet, he stared at German and spoke in a sharp tone.
The hunter-beast appeared behind German and struck him hard on the arm muscles… slamming him into a wall from the sheer force.
German emerged from the pile of scattered rubble and charged with fury toward the hunter-beast, but the beast dodged every attack swiftly. In a flash, German grabbed the beast's neck, fired a bullet into its abdomen, and struck it with his fist.
The beast was sent crashing into the wall of a building, killing the monsters inside from the impact.
A monster with broken ribs tried to crawl out from the rubble, but the hunter-beast grabbed it and devoured its head in one swift motion.
He stood up in pure rage while devouring the monster's head. He then threw the head toward German, who narrowly avoided it… but what German didn't know was that the head contained a bomb planted by the hunter-beast as he ate it — and it exploded near him.
The explosion was massive. German appeared, his right arm completely destroyed. He held his sword in his left hand, clearly weakened from the blast.
His right arm was regenerating very slowly. The hunter-beast noticed this and was visibly surprised as he walked toward German. They stood face-to-face, their gazes intense and terrifying. The hunter-beast spoke in a voice filled with rage and dread:
"You're not human, are you, faceless hunter? Seems like you're hiding something else."
"Hahaha, that's right. And my truth is that I'll cut off your damn head and move on to hunt more of your filthy kind," German laughed menacingly, his voice sharp and full of menace.
"So you think you're going to su—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a sword pierced his abdomen. German embedded the sword deep into his stomach, then drew his pistol and fired at the beast's chest. Before the bullet could hit, German pulled the sword from the beast's belly.
The hunter-beast quickly dug his foot into the ground to regain balance, bent his back dramatically, and leaned forward to fire a roaring shot at German. German, taken by surprise, raised his sword to block the bullet with ease.
"Fighting you isn't boring, hunter. But sadly, you're going to die." He extended his hand forward, speaking with intense arrogance.
Suddenly, German appeared behind the hunter-beast, shocking him. "How did he get here?" And just as he was about to strike, German said:
"You'd need to blow up the entire city to kill me. But I doubt even that would work." German delivered a devastating slash across the beast's body, cutting it in half and sending it flying into a rocky wall, causing a massive explosion.
German's right arm had fully healed. He rested his sword on his shoulder as he stared at the wreckage of rock and rubble.
"Are all monsters like this? I didn't expect—what is this pressure?" His tone started strong, but weakened as he sensed something terrifying emerging from the depths of the rubble.
There was the sound of flesh tearing, screams of agony, and the greed for power — all emanating from beneath the shattered rocks. A powerful whisper echoed from within.
German could feel something horrific rising. The rocks exploded violently, revealing the hunter-beast in a terrifying new form.
His face now had four eyes, all bleeding black. His hair had grown unnaturally long. His mouth was grotesquely open, as if it had been deeply wounded, exposing sharp teeth.
Embedded in his stomach was a sharp black sword, and his other weapon had transformed into a second phase — a massive, heavy hammer-sword hybrid.
"Prepare yourself, hunter, for the beast will now hunt you." With a terrifying tone, he charged with immense power at German and struck him hard enough to force his facial features to reappear.
German was about to crash into a wall, but the beast suddenly appeared behind him. German tried to slash with his sword, but the beast caught it and delivered a brutal strike to his face, slamming him into the ground.
German stood up, blood pouring down his face. Rage surged through his veins. He charged blindly with fury…
The hunter-beast blocked the blow with just his elbow, then swung his giant hammer and struck German's back. The force drove German into the earth itself. The beast lifted German's body by his hair from the ground…
"Are all hunters this weak? Or just this bitch?" He landed a blow that caused part of German's intestines to spill from his stomach… with each blow, more blood poured out… but terrifyingly, German's eyes turned golden, filled with insane rage.
German clenched his fist tightly and struck the beast in the face, followed by a barrage of bullets. The beast dodged them effortlessly, reappeared before German, and attempted another strike—but German lifted his sword horizontally to block it.
German stopped the attack, attempted to cut the beast's arm, but the beast retreated and hurled a barrage of stones, some of which pierced German's eyes, blinding him.
A monster appeared at high speed in front of him. Before German could process what was happening, he saw the beast's sharp foot hurtling toward him. The blow sent his head deep into the ground.
The hunter-beast bent slightly, peering mockingly at German's head buried in the earth and said in a sarcastic tone with his terrifying eyes:
"Didn't know you could plant humans in the ground, hahaha."
As he laughed mockingly, German placed his gun against the beast's head. The beast was stunned — then German pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit the hunter-beast in the head, causing a gush of blood to spill. He screamed in pain and fury — the bullet was heavy and precisely aimed.
German pulled his head from the ground and rushed the hunter-beast, stabbing him in the abdomen while laughing:
"Cracking jokes, huh? From someone whose head is just black blood and filth." He taunted the beast with his words. The beast grabbed German's sword, and German's expression shifted to shock…
The beast shattered the sword with immense force. The broken fragments reflected in German's stunned eyes.
German felt like he had lost everything — even his strength was fading fast. He had exhausted all his means to kill such a creature.
The hunter-beast grabbed German by the neck and lifted him into the air, smiling his terrifying, horrific smile.
"This was a great fight. Giving up on hunting monsters was the best decision I ever made."
"Now, faceless hunter, go to the de—"
Before he could finish, a soft, innocent voice called from behind:
"Daddy… Daddy… are you here?"
The hunter-beast dropped German, who fell and rubbed his sore neck. The beast turned to see a little girl… and reverted to his previous form…
"Manrida… Manrida… I'm here, my dear. I'm here!"
He shouted her name loudly. The little girl looked at her father, laughing with pure joy.
"Daddy, I'm here… I left the church just to fi—"
She couldn't finish her sentence. One of the monsters suddenly severed her head… Silence fell. You could hear the raindrops clearer than ever… German stood in shock, unable to process what just happened… even the father had no idea where the monster came from…
The hunter-beast charged toward the monster that killed his daughter, roaring in fury and sorrow. He grabbed the beast and shredded it to pieces with his claws until it was nothing but blood.
He held his daughter's head gently, weeping uncontrollably.
"My little girl, please… talk to me. I can't live without you. Just say one word…" The words barely came out as he wept black tears.
German clutched his abdomen, still in pain from the fight, his face filled with disbelief and confusion.
The hunter-beast picked up his daughter's head and body, turned to German, and said:
"Remember this well, hunter. Not every monster you hunt is truly a monster… sometimes it's something else." He leapt away into the unknown, ending the battle with those cryptic words.
"I don't understand… what just happened? What did that little girl do to deserve this — to have him as a father… and to die like that?" German looked at the retreating beast, then up at the sky, dark and stormy as if it were screaming his name.
As he looked upward, a massive door opened behind him. He turned to look.
"Looks like someone's welcoming me after that long fight… but before I go in, something strange happened to me. Why did my face disappear? Why did I name myself German? Oh God, so many weird things in this nightmare… but hey, German is a cool name, I'll use it as an alias," he said sarcastically. He walked a bit, putting a finger to his chin, pondering all the strange things he had said.
German passed through the gate and found a medium-sized courtyard, with a massive tavern in front. Above the tavern was a huge horizontal bridge leading to an unknown path. On either side were Victorian-style buildings. A staircase led to a zone behind the tavern, but lying on it was a giant dead bird.
"Why is every area I enter locked off in some way? Even the staircase to the left has a giant dead bird… damn the bastard who dragged me into this," German muttered in frustration, when he heard a calm voice behind him:
"Welcome, strange hunter. Looks like you passed the first test."
German turned to the source of the voice and saw a man lying on the rooftop of one of the buildings, hat over his face.
The man lifted his hat, revealing an eye like a crimson Victorian clock.
"The first rule, hunter: fear the Old NIGHTMARE"