The Embodiment of Evil

In the middle of the Darkwind Forest, a fierce battle was taking place. 7 soldiers were surrounding a huge Golden Lion which was easily matching them although it was outnumbered by the human soldiers.

"Protect the Princess! This Golden Lion is Level 4! Slowly retreat in formation!" yelled the captain of the group. 

Most of the soldiers were level 3 Experts, with the captain being a Level 4 Master. The Golden Lion however was a Level 4, beyond most of the soldiers save for the captain, and monstrous beasts like the Golden Lion are usually much stronger and powerful than human exponents of the same level. 

Furthermore, the Golden Lion had other advantages such as a near impenetrable hide which is valuable for making near impenetrable clothes, and its teeth and claws can be used for weapons. 

The Princess in question that they were protecting was Princess Donna, the only daughter of King Atlas of Avalon. She was the Rose of Avalon, one of the famous beauties of the continent. Her blonde locks could be seen from under her helmet and her slim and lithe body moved in perfect grace as she moved and attacked in formation with her soldiers. 

Besides being known for her beauty, Princess Donna was also a martial prodigy, being a Level 3 Expert by the time she was 18. She was a top student of the Avalon Academy, and one of their brightest stars.

Suddenly the beast lunged forwards, its claws ripping through two soldiers in front of Princess Donna, killing them instantly, and bumping Princess Donna to the ground. 

Just as the beast jumped to attack Princess Donna, a man stood in front of her, wearing robes and carrying a staff. 

"Shield!" yelled the magician Erebus one of the instructors from Princess Donna's Academy. He was a half step level 4 Master. 

*BAM* the shield managed to block the first strike of the Golden Lion. But even the first strike caused Erebus to vomit blood, trying his best to protect Princess Donna who had scrambled to her feet. 

"R...run!" yelled Erebus as the beast destroyed the shield spell and ripped his head off with its mouth. 

"Erebus!" Donna screamed as the Golden Lion charged at her. 

The remaining 5 soldiers looked in horror knowing that there was nothing they could do at this moment. The captain of the soldiers screamed her name but knew he would be too late to save her. 

Suddenly, a projectile flew from the air with incredible speed and force, hitting the Golden Lion's claw at the right angle, causing it to miss Donna's face with it's claw. It hit the lion with such impact, it caused a loud thud. 

*thud* *thud* *thud*

3 more projectiles hit the beast with such force it caused it's massive body to fall backwards away from Donna, completely changing it's trajectory causing it to fall backwards on it's back instead. 

A human shaped shadow flashed and ended up mounted on the Golden Lion's chest and in a comical fashion, he swung his right hand in a circle twice, kissed his right fist and hit it with his fist.

*ding*

The lion was hit in the head, seemingly in an innocuous place, but it stunned the beast for an instant as its eyes rolled up, then his left hand moved so fast, it was a blur and the beast's throat was slit.

Princess Donna and the soldiers looked in awe as a teenage boy took out a bottle and started draining the blood of the beast, one veil at a time.

He looked young, and was dressed only in shorts and boots. He seemed only to carry a knife, and wore a old looking storage ring. He had a handsome face, lean and muscular body with long hair to his shoulders that gave him a wild-man look. 

Several seconds later the Golden Lion regained consciousness and started trashing around but it was clear that it was weakening. Even though it tried to claw at the kid, it would seem that the teenager completely pinned the beast, making it unable to move, and each claw strike seem to miss the boy by mere millimeters as he collected the beast's blood.

As the captain looked closely with his more experienced eyes, he could see the teenager make small movements, as small as a slight shiver, to avoid all the attacks of the lion. 

"Incredible!" whispered the captain in awe.

Princess Donna was also in awe of the kid. He looked younger than her, yet he was disassembling the Level 4 Golden Lion like he was gutting a fish. 

"Excuse me, I need to do this while it's still fresh" the kid said as he made a neat cut down the abdomen of the now still beast and then deftly removed the heart and stuffed it into a box. 

Then he deftly removed its other internal organs, its eyes, its core, then he removed the skin and neatly lay it out to dry. The rest of the body, he cut the legs into giant drumsticks while he laid the carcass out looking like it was prepared for cooking. The skull and claws he laid out last. 

It only took him around 15 minutes to do all this and lay out the pieces side by side separately before he turned around and smiled at the group. 

"Sorry it took so long. Since you guys attracted the beast, you can take any two parts. I believe it is a fair deal" he said. 

"Er...we...I am Canaan, Captain of the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Avalon. We don't need any parts, but we would like to thank you for saving Princess Donna" Captain Canaan said, saluting him. 

"Princess.... Donna?" he looked before the girl behind the captain walked out in front. 

"I'm Princess Donna. May I know your name?" she asked removing her helmet and revealing her face. 

"My name?... uh... I'm Tyrannus..." he stammered staring at the beautiful princess. 

Princess Donna blushed as Tyrannus stared at her intensely, so she felt as if he was undressing her with his eyes and about to devour her and she could not help but look away as all kinds of emotions seemed to be overwhelming her. 

"Uh...ahem" Captain Canaan interrupted. 

"Oh....oh! Sorry!" Tyrannus said, toning back his intent and controlling his heartbeat. 

"How old are you? The way you killed that Golden Lion, you must be at least Level 4 Master?" Captain Canaan asked

"Uh, I'm 16 this year. But I don't know what level I am" he answered. 

"You don't know.... then where are you from? Who trained you to fight?" Princess Donna asked, realizing that he was two years younger than her, yet was much better than her, even though she was considered one of the top geniuses in the Royal Avalon Academy.

"I'm from Broken Tooth. My parents trained me to hunt. I don't know anything about fighting" he said with a smile. 

"...don't know anything about... fighting.." Captain Canaan mumbled. The skill this Tyrannus showed completely blew his mind. Most martial experts regularly go to the forest to look for savage beasts to train with, and this kid does it so effortlessly and says he was just hunting. 

"Hunting? You mean you were hunting this Golden Lion? What for?" Princess Donna asked. 

"Actually I was hunting a Silver Wing Serpent when I saw that you guys had attracted a Golden Lion, so I decided to join you guys instead" he said. 

"Silver..Winged Serpent..." Captain Canaan mumbled, thinking of the monstrous beast with dangerous poison and does not even have wings until they are level 4. 

"Anyway, thanks for the help. Since you don't want anything, I won't be shy to take them all" he said, swiping everything into his ring.

"If there is nothing else, I'll be off. I was following the trail of the Silver Wing Serpent not far from here. Bye!" he said, winking at Princess Donna. 

"Wait! You said you were from Broken Tooth. Where can I...uh we... find you again?" Princess Donna asked. 

"You can find me at the Riverhouse. My parents own the place" he said as he vanished in a flash.

"The.. Riverhouse?" Princess Donna asked. 

"Broken Tooth is a small town not far from the edge of the forest. It's an unruly town filled with mercenaries, hunters and ruffians. The Riverhouse is a famous restaurant there by the river known for their dishes which use the meats of savage beasts." Captain Canaan said.

"I've never had the pleasure of eating there but it's famous. But such dishes are not for everyone though. Such meats and other such ingredients contain a huge amount of energy. If one's cultivation is not high enough, it may lead to cultivation deviation, injury or even death. But if you are at least Level 3 at eat beast meats of the appropriate level, you may even gain a breakthrough in your cultivation." he continued explaining. 

"Oh. I want to go there!" Princess Donna said eagerly. 

"Ok. Lets bury the dead first and treat the wounded. We will go there on the way back to the Academy" Captain Canaan nodded. 

"Ah... yes.. please proceed" she answered. She forgot they were just in a savage battle with several casualties. 

All she could think about was the wild kid Tyrannus, with his eyes that looked like he wanted to devour every inch of her body. She shivered and blushed with anticipation.