The warrior rode on his wood-elk towards iron town.

Wearing a cloak of green, and a pale mask, he was indeed a fearsome sight.

After a small disagreement among the guards, he was allowed to be let in to stay for a few days.

The head of this town had come to see him. "Welcome, warrior," She said. "I am Lady Eboshi. We are pleased to have you here."

"You may sweep aside the politeness, milady." The warrior replied coolly. "I will only be here for a short while, if fortune grants it. Just show me my quarters, and besides food, I will not be of any disturbance."

"It shall be done," She said.

He was shown his room, deep in the busy town in an old flat and left alone. Taking out his bag, he took out his arrows, bow, weapons and armour. Tonight he was going demon hunting.

------

"What do you make of him, Ashitaka?" Lady Eboshi asked the young man whom she had sent for.

Ashitaka paused for a moment before speaking. "He is a great warrior." He replied softly.

"He is," Eboshi said, "And I have only heard of him once. He is known as the demon-hunter."

"A man who hunts demons?"

"Yes. We should let him stay, as long as no misfortune befalls us."

Later that evening, the hunter, who was known as Kariudo, slipped out of his bed. Putting on his garments and taking one of his swords with him, he walked through the gate, saying that he would be out for all night, and into the forest which had grown back impossibly fast.

But Kariudo had no concern whatsoever for the forest. His only target was the demon that remains hidden inside.

Striding swiftly through the dense undercover and bush, he listened out for any sound that wasn't right. Even at night, the forest was active and the hunter wondered why the demon had not shown its grotesque face or made any trail for him to follow.

His ears suddenly picked up a faint, odd sound. Dashing forward, he saw a group of men around something. Hunters, he realized. What have they caught? His curiosity overtook him and he silently crept forward.

The sight that greeted him made him reach for his arrows. Two wolves, that still were cubs, had been caught underneath nets, obviously badly wounded. And in the middle, where all the men were gathering around, he thought he saw…A woman?

It was. Underneath a net, Kariudo spotted a woman dressed in ragged clothes and struggling against the hunters. They were yelling in triumph and jeering at her.

Even though he seemed to be a cold demon hunter, underneath those walls of ice was a good heart. He drew his bow and several arrows, took aim, and fired.

The arrows which he had shot in quick succession hit one of the men, attaching him to a tree. The others grabbed weapons and rifles, lining up for a good shot.

With animal-like speed, he sprinted towards them, evading the bullets with well-honed senses. The hunter leapt into the air, whipping his sword out and slashing at them aggressively.

The men threw down their guns, grabbing swords and daggers and attacked in many numbers. Kariudo deflected the blows, striking at all angles to defeat his opponents.

They immediately started to draw back, realizing they were up against a more experienced adversary, jumped onto their horses and took the guns on the ground. As they were aiming, he took his bow, readied some arrows and fired.

The shots were incredibly accurate and powerful. The arrows beheaded some of the men, and the others severed their arms. The remaining men fell back, rearing up their horses and galloping into the forest.

Kariudo watched them disappear into the distance, then slung his bow onto his back and went to help the lady.

He took out his dagger and slashed the net open. To his surprise, the woman tried to attack him before attempting an escape, but he held on tightly with his right hand. "Who are you?" He demanded. "Why were these men trying to capture you?" In response, the woman clamped her teeth into his arm. Pain would have overcome a normal person by now and they would have let go, but Kariudo was no ordinary person. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," He whispered in a deadly, quiet voice.

Transparent, strange red tentacles suddenly appeared, wrapping themselves around Kariudo's right arm and started to spread rapidly across the woman's face. In fear, she snapped away, trying to pull her arm from his powerful grasp.

Kariudo loosened his grip, and then walked over to the trapped cubs.

Once being set free, they circled around the strange person, teeth bared in aggression.

Surprising the wolves, this person did not run, nor, scream or do anything that they were used to. Instead, he stood there and simply fixed them with that cold, hard stare of his.

The wolves started to back away, fear creeping up on them. Then with a few growls between them, they jumped on him.

Well, tried to anyway.

The human leapt at them as well! He grabbed one of the brothers, grabbing him by the throat and wrestled him to the ground. The wolf tried to move, but this human was incredibly strong and wouldn't let him budge. When the other wolf reared up to attack, he warned, "Stay there, wolf, or I will break your brother's throat."

So the wolf stayed back, and eventually the human let go. The beast scurried over to his brother, having more fear than any other time in his life.

"So will you tell me why they tried to capture you?" Kariudo turned back to the woman, "Or what your name is?"

"Her name is San." One of the wolves answered, terrified the human might capture her.

"What do you want?" The man asked.

"We – We are hungry." The wolf admitted.

Kariudo sprinted into the forest, leaving his weapons behind.

While he was gone, the wolves scampered towards their wolf sister. "Are you alright?" One of them asked.

San struggled up. "Yes," She replied.

"That man held more force than any other that I had ever seen," One wolf admitted. "He threw me around so easily…I couldn't believe it."

"Me neither."

A few minutes later the man came back with several creatures thrown over his back, which he placed on the ground. "Cooked or raw?" He grunted, and without waiting for an answer, tore one apart and bit into it.

The others followed suit, and soon they had regained their strengths.

San asked the question which all of them had been bursting to ask: "Who are you?"

The man considered the question for a moment before answering. "Nobody. I am known by many names, but you may call me Kariudo."

"Kariudo. Right." San scanned him for a moment. "Why are you here?"

But Kariudo was staring across the evening sky. "Return to your den," He said. "You don't want to see what's going to happen." And with that, he left.

But San and her brothers DID want to see what he was doing. With burning curiosity, they followed him.