*3rd POV*

 

In another part of Mount Natagumo, Haku traveled with 8 others.

 

The Mountain looked the same wherever you walked yet there was something hiding in there, he was sure of it.

 

'Perhaps more of those threads?' He began to think.

 

His fears were confirmed as he saw a spider trying to climb its way on top of the legs of a Corps member.

 

"Stay still." He said and the running man stopped immediately.

 

They had begun to respect him after he had saved most of them in the attack on the Outpost, even more after he saved another man from the thread.

 

It felt weird being respected and treated as an equal. He had never been very good at getting treated better.

 

'Always asking for more' that's what they called him when he was a child.

 

He supposed he was pretty enough, older than all of his friends too, though not the prettiest in them.

 

He was good enough with soft brown eyes and curly hair, though his looks weren't as appreciated at times especially when he was younger.

 

An adorable child was something to be jealous of he supposed, and by the gods were some of the people he begged for food jealous of him.

 

He grew up from that soon enough, went from adorable to sly and then they chased him away even harder.

 

He touched his locket with a sigh and then removed a knife and plucked off the spider.

 

"Keep moving. I saw where the spider thread was from, move fast and try to not get anything attached to yourself." He said and they listened, even in them he was of the highest rank.

 

He knew exactly where the threads were coming from and just needed to get there, if one of them fell down from a spider in between he would still kill the demon first before helping one of them.

 

That's what he was taught, from badgers he had learnt. Of how to trick people but also how to know when to trust them. But also how to make a straw hat.

 

He hadn't met his master in a long while, the monster might've even forgotten him at this point.

 

'I doubt he'll let an investment such as me go.' He thought with a chuckle as they ran.

 

They were near the demon. He was sure of it.

 

He hadn't been taught how to gain respect that he learnt from his friends. Even the bow that he used now was given by Asura and the eyes were given to him by his parents before they died.

 

'And yet I still always ask for more.' He thought as they entered a clearing.

 

"You.....how, how did you find me!" A woman shrieked.

 

Well women was the wrong word. Sure she looked the part but he was taught to see ugliness behind the beauty.

 

The woman was a demon, with flowing white hair and markings across her face.

 

Weaving webs from her fingers onto small spiders.

 

"Don't go near he-" he started to warn the others before...

 

*Splat*

 

The demon....it was turned into paste, and he couldn't help but look at the eye lying next to his feet, staring at him with fear.

 

The rock the demon sat on, her entire being was reduced to just a smudge beneath a massive warhammer.

 

"Blegh." He heard someone behind him vomit but he didn't know who.

 

'It's alright you've dealt with this before it's just the same. Some ugliness, nothing more. Look boy! Look where it came from!'

 

He tried his best to look but the warhammer seemed to have appeared out of thin air and landed straight on top of the demon.

 

There was nothing left of her at this moment except smudges of blood which were turning into mist as well.

 

"Yet more unsavory characters enter the shrine of my god. Incompetence in the house of my god, may he grant his kindness on that poor soul before making her repent for wasting her boons." A booming voice sounded and he could barely make out a massive silhouette far away in between the trees.

 

The trees snapped around the figure like branches before it sat down without a care into the dirt.

 

It brought its hands together in what could only be called a mock prayer before a strange glow appeared from behind him.

 

Haku couldn't believe his eyes, the world seemed purple for a moment.

 

"Accursed are those bound to themselves." the demon said in indignation and brought the largest wineskin Haku had ever seen to its lips.

 

*Glug*

 

He heard someone swallow heavily, was that one of the people behind him? Or was that he himself? He forgot.

 

He couldn't notice that the light behind the demon was far too bright and it was hurting his eyes.

 

Why did it turn so bright suddenly?

 

....and then he felt the flames.

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Hope everyone has a nice Day/Night.