In the city planet Xiannu, there existed a secret rendezvous only known to the rebel forces that opposed the government of Yueji. It was hidden underneath one of its many stone arches, where a temple which had long since cut ties with the Golden Princess in the dark served as its front.
Because of its strategic placement, it was difficult to discover and even more difficult to enter inside it. It was truly like an iron bucket with no leaks. [1]
The place where they held important meetings were inside an atrium about twenty meters in diameter, and the circular room itself were replete with marble archways and stone columns that followed Yueji's fondness for historical architecture. It was shaped like a chapel, with a domed ceiling and more than a dozen stained glass windows. Sculptures depicting the Hunter in various hunting poses—wielding a sword, holding a bow, grabbing the severed head of an enemy by the hair— was scattered in between the stone pillars.
At the center of the room was a large stone table, engraved with various symbols. Around it were intricately-carved wooden chairs with crimson velvet cushion on each seat.
And seated on those very chairs were hooded figures draped in cloaks depicting ancient mythical beasts, where they had bodies of men but the heads of an animal, like werewolves and vampires. Twining around the bodies of the mythical beasts, almost as if chaining them, were the barbed vines of red roses.
"We have to let the people of Yueji face the fact that our planetary system is declining with each decade," one of the hooded figures spoke, clasping his hands underneath his chin.
By the cadence of his voice, it was obvious that he had been delivering his speech for quite a while. Hearing his words, the other hooded figures nodded their heads in agreement.
"While I see nothing wrong with worshipping the Golden Princess, her edicts and teachings have led Yueji to become a governed planetary system filled with lethargic officials and passive priests and priestesses. A long time ago, the Hunter had conquered lands and seas, expanding our territory. He had been unstoppable. Fierce and unrelenting just like the thrust of his sword, everyone bowed in fear at the mere sound of his name. While the Golden Princess gave him his salvation, and also advanced our knowledge, in fact, what had brought us our former glory was the aggressiveness and fierce spirit of the Hunter. It is time for our era of long peace to be over.
"Wake up, my fellow brothers! We have already been far from peace. While a war hasn't broken out and destroyed the galactic alliance, many planetary systems that are 'at peace' are in fact far from peaceful. Most of them are having endemic violence that far exceed those coming from warfare. Traditional peace agreements and peacekeepers are simply closing their eyes to a long-ignored reality. Without a fierce wake-up call like war, our planetary system would forever keep the status-quo, a constant plateau of passive laziness that would do harm to our future in the long run."
The hooded figure who spoke was an excellent orator. The firm decisiveness in his tone and his clear goals roused the spirit of everyone that was listening. Questions and proclamations broke out, as if they were all injected by chicken blood.
"If we capture that girl and use her to blackmail 'him', would we really be able to threaten the other planetary systems?"
"At last we can finally make our move. Waiting and planning for this long, we have to definitely achieve victory!"
One of them hammered his fist on the table, showing the depth of his emotions.
"Perhaps the Hunter has seen our perseverance and blessed us all. Praise and honor to the Hunter!"
"Praise the Hunter, for he had heard our prayers!"
A cold laugh suddenly rang across the chamber, chilling them. It made the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end. Startled, the hooded figures looked around them.
"Who did you say blessed you?"
Stepping out from behind a sculpture, a tall figure appeared in front of them. Strands of black hair blocked his eyes, and he was polishing a jian sword which glinted from the soft rays of moonlight coming from the stained glass windows.
He wasn't moving, but even his stillness felt terrifying to them, like a predator on its haunches about to strike its prey. An eerie quiet swelled like a fog around him, until it covered the whole room and even the hooded figures held their breath, not daring to make a sound.
"You seemed to have forgotten your history, hmm?" He flexed his wrist, seemingly examining the sword if it had been thoroughly polished. "The Hunter was a servant of the Golden Princess. He worshipped her, so everyone should worship her. And the first rule he had ever laid down was..."
In front of their eyes, he suddenly disappeared. There was a small sound of a gurgle, and they stared, wide-eyed, as one of them fell down on his knees, clutching his throat.
"'Anyone that resisted this new religion would be banned as a heretic, and be put to death.'"
The stranger propped his feet on the empty chair of the hooded figure he had just stabbed. With a brief flash of metal, he once again struck down, stabbing the hooded figure on its back, skewering him. Watching the blood spill on the floor, Xu Jinhai's ice-blue eyes glinted red with bloodlust. He hadn't punctured any major organs yet, simply playing with him.
Xu Jinhai...no, rather the mind of Xiang Feng that melded with his, wanted to ensure that all of them wouldn't be granted a quick death. It had always been his favorite method to simply subdue his opponents first and then come back to torture them.
Xiang Feng felt that it had been a while since he practiced peeling off skins. Xu Jinhai also didn't have any objections. Great, just treat this as practice for peeling apples for Jia in the future. Maybe he could even try for a rabbit-shaped one.
Using teleportation, Xu Jinhai appeared in front of another hooded figure. This time the enemy was more ready, and aimed a laser gun at Xu Jinhai. He didn't even blink as he caught the hooded figure's arm, flipping it back to release his grip on the gun. Once it clattered to the ground, he slid his sword into his stomach, giving a final, deadly twist.
While the wound was fatal, he wouldn't die immediately. Xu Jinhai glanced in distaste at the gun on the ground and stepped on it.
Using Xiang Feng's extreme strength, it was immediately crushed beyond recognition. While guns were convenient, it was too detached from the act of murder. With enemies such as these, daring to lay a hand on their wife, they would rather be up close and personal.
"Ack!"
"Please have mercy! I'll give you anything I own...!"
"Don't, I...I have a wife and children!"
"O Hunter, please save us all!"
With Xu Jinhai's teleportation powers and Xiang Feng's superhuman reflexes, it was easy for all of the hooded figures to be quickly cleaned up. A flash of light, and Xu Jinhai would appear, smashing a hooded figure's head to the floor. Another flash of light, and someone would be diced to pieces, the movement so quick it was a blur to the eyes.
Another flash of light, and like a monster created straight from their nightmares, his tall figure would appear behind another one of them, his hands on either side of their head, twisting their necks.
For several minutes, only screams of utter terror and cries for help resounded in the chamber. Blood dyed the floor red, soaking the grooved stones. Perhaps it would stay like that for several years, the stain forever painting it a different color.
When only one of the hooded figures was left, he dragged his body across the floor, shaking and trembling like a leaf. He had long peed himself from fear, the pupils in his eyes so dilated that it looked as if he had driven himself insane from terror. Seeing the tall figure whose sword was dripping with blood slowly approaching him, his hand barely managed to curl itself on the leg of one of the sculptures.
"O Hunter....save us from this monster..."
Hearing his prayer, Xu Jinhai laughed. His laugh was extremely cold and cruel, revealing the ruthlessness deep inside his bones. His eyes were now fully red, and he stepped on the hooded figure's hand, looking like the personification of the god of death, a grim reaper set on taking countless lives.
"I'll tell you a secret," he said to the hooded figure, raising his sword high in the air. His conversational tone made it almost seem like the two of them were simply having a cup of tea, if it wasn't for Xu Jinhai's boot that was slowly grinding his hand into a crushed pulp of muscle and bone.
"Both the Hunter you're pleading to and the monster about to kill you are one and the same."
With that statement, the sword struck down, and blood splattered in the air.
[1] Uncertain idiom where I don't know if it's a chengyu or a western one. I'm pretty sure I heard it somewhere.