He tried to catch it with his hands, but he was just a little too slow.

  The arrow hit his head, causing him to fall back while sitting and use his left arm as support.

  He saw blood dripping from his forehead into the snow. He touched the wound, no skin, no flesh.

  Reiji Kurozuma's fingers were touching his exposed skull.

  The pain slowly came and boy did it hurt.

  The arrow was too slow and soft to break through his skull. The stone tip shattered on impact.

  Reiji's hand slowly lowered from his forehead, and he stared at the bloody snow in shock.

  Was he even human? He should be dead.

  From the same direction an arrow went into his back.

  "Agh!"

  He took his bow and readied an arrow. He turned and took aim at the archer that caused him to go into shock.

  It started running, trying to get behind cover. Reiji took a breath and fired.

  Thud!

  It dropped dead. He quickly moved to another side of the tree, getting that feeling again and dodging an arrow.

  He stood up and aimed. The Frost person looked at him in terror before he fired and killed it.

  He took another arrow and scanned the area. They spotted each other at the same time.

  Reiji pulled the bow back and fired. In his panic he didn't aim properly and had to dodge the incoming arrow.

  Now both of them were without arrows. The Frost person ran at him.

  Reiji pulled out the arrow from his back, intending to use it like a weapon.

  The Frost person slowed down. It was planning to use its bow as a weapon somehow, but an arrow combined with Reiji's size and strength made it hesitant.

  Reiji slowly walked towards it. It took a few steps back before turning and running.

  Who wouldn't? His skull was exposed, a stone tip of an arrow in his right shoulder. He just pulled out an arrow from his back and was also shot in his side.

  Eleven Frost people, eleven. Three close combat encounters and eight archers.

  All that was left of the patrol was a single, scared archer, running away with no way to defend itself.

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  Calling Reiji human would, to some people, be an insult.

  Reiji slowly picked up his pace until he was running after the Frost person.

  When he caught up he pushed it to the ground and stabbed the arrow through its neck.

  Reiji stood up and looked around, quiet. Finally, peace and quiet.

  He looked down at his white attire, the blood from his forehead dripping down his face and neck, staining the collar of his kimono red but his bleeding was slowing down.

  His right shoulder, side, back and forehead were wounded. If he isn't dead now, he will be. No, he should be.

  He takes the body of the archer he killed, still with the arrow in its neck and drags it onto the road Reiji Kurozuma walked on when he got ambushed.

  He threw the body in the middle of the road, turned and retraced his steps when he was attacked.

  He piled the body one by one. He then took their masks and crushed them.

  Their faces were just like human ones. Some had a bag on their head instead of a mask.

  He took the bags, clothes and boots, ripping them apart. He then piled them up.

  He cleared the snow, separated a small portion of the ripped clothes from the pile and threw them onto the ground.

  He started a fire with his flint and steel. As the fire started burning, he took more clothes and threw them into the fire.

  He took one piece of ripped fur and cloth and threw it into the snow closest to the fire, soaking it as the snow melted.

  He then whipped the dried blood from his face, neck and arm. He then noticed something weird.

  The line that the arrow cut from his elbow to his shoulder is gone and his muscles and skin had healed around the stone tip still inside of his shoulder.

  He pulled it out quickly and painfully, throwing the tip into the snow. He pressed the cloth against his shoulder, slowing the bleeding.

  He touched his forehead with his right hand, a scar. No bone, no blood. Just a scar in its place.

  How did he heal so fast?

  After the bleeding from his shoulder stopped, he took away the cloth and threw it aside.

  He threw the rest of the clothes in, including the boots. Before he did that, he took out all of the strings, tying them around his waist.

  Once the fire was big enough, he started throwing the bodies of the Frost people inside.

  There were two stone knives in the heads of two Frost people, so he took them and placed them between his obi and kimono.

  Once all of the bodies were in, he remembered his other wounds and touched the small scar left by his wound on his side.

  He then roughly pressed against his back where another wound should be. When he didn't feel anything, he decided a scar must have formed already.

  After checking himself Reiji just sat in front of the fire, the shock slowly leaving his mind.

  He gathered firewood, keeping the fire alive. He stayed around that fire until he noticed that the sun was slowly setting. It was then when he heard sounds coming from one direction.

  It sounded like something walking. He stared in the direction it was coming from until he saw two people riding on horses with what seemed to soldiers behind them.

  The timeline went like this. Reiji woke up and left to go find the Frost people. Six hours later Lord Fujioka, a general and a platoon of soldiers investigated the place.

  30 minutes after they arrived Reiji was ambushed by the Frost people. One soldier spotted footsteps in the snow.

  Luckily, it didn't snow the entire day, so they started following the footsteps. No one except Reiji and the man who reported the dead Tenebrovermis to lord Fujioka walked in that area.

  They moved quickly, faster than Reiji. After Reiji killed the Frost people, set them ablaze and took his time to rest around four and a half hours passed.

  Reiji stood up as the general and Lord approached. After staring at them he started walking towards them in a slow and menacing manner.

  Some distance away both the Lord and general stopped.

  "I am general Shirasagi Ayane! Identify yourself!"

  She spoke in a commanding tone. She had a full set of armor except a helmet. She also had a sword attached to her hip.

  She had short, layered black hair with a longer fringe falling over one eye.

  The man on the other horse was a middle-aged man with a lean, angular face and a thick, well-kept mustache.

  His hair is mostly dark, but with a white streak sweeping through the front, giving him a rugged appearance. His eyes are heavy-lidded and intense.

  He was wearing a classic winter attire.

  The general's words didn't shake Reiji who kept walking towards them in a slow manner.

  His clothes are covered in blood and that scar on his forehead is unsightly.

  She thought to herself. Seeing as Reiji didn't stop, she looked over at Lord Fujioka.

  "What shall we do?"

  "Send a soldier to detain him. I have a theory I want to test."

  The general nodded and signalled to one of the soldiers behind them to go and detain Reiji.

  The soldier obeyed and moved quickly.

  "Please, do not resist."

  Reiji kept moving forward.

  "Hey, if you won't stop, I will have no choice but to detain you!"

  As the soldier lifted his right hand to grab Reiji, Reiji shoved it away with his left hand and punched him with his right fist right into the chest plate.

  The soldier flew a good seven meters before landing and sliding another meter.

  The chest plate had a visible indent from Reiji's fist. The soldier laid on the ground, in pain and surprise.

  Everyone except Reiji was surprised by the sight.

  "That's enough! I am Lord Fujioka and we have come here to form a partnership with you."

  Reiji didn't answer and just stared at Fujioka. After an awkward silence Fujioka spoke up again.

  "Are you the one who killed all of those Tenebrovermis and The Frost people we found lying around in a different place multiple kilometres away?"

  "...Yes, and what about it? And do you even know about the Frost people?"

  Reiji asked in a suspicious tone.

  "Why don't we set up camp here? Talk for a bit. Surely you must be thirsty and hungry."

  "...Only if you aid me with a certain task. I already have a fire going!"

  Reiji pointed behind him to a fire of decent size.

  "And that task is…?"

  Lord Fujioka asked.

  "I'll tell you when I trust you."