Snow falls from the sky as a lone man walks through the forest. He's an older man, probably in his early fifties and on his face is a look of sternness. As the man walks through the snow, he cautiously looks around the forest, searching for something.

The sound of a scream moves the man into action,.he takes off sprinting toward the source of the sound. The deep snow on the ground not slowing him down, his age doesn't seem to be either with him sprinting at a speed one would excpet a man in his prime could only achieve.

As he runs, screaming gets closer and closer until he reaches a scene at hand. A young girl, no older than twelve has climbed a tree and below her is... A thing It's appearance is monstrous, looking like a combination of a human and an antrhopod, with a human like torso and head but with several sharp legs juttong from it's body.

It's face is also humanlike... But distorted. At glance it looks human, but if you look at it for more than a second you'd see all the things wrong. It's mouth is too big, gaping with a maw of sharp razor like teethz it's nose far too narrow, and it's eyes are bloodshot and slitted like a cats.

The.. thing turns and look towards the older man and releases an ear piercing screech, the young girl above also screaming in terror. It charges at the man with speed beyond human. The man back steps as the creature slams one of its legs towarss him, going straight through the snow and impaling the ground below.

It goes for another attack with a leg but the man quickly draws his sword from his hip and deflects it to the left. This causes the creature to be off balance for a second and the man takes advantage, doing a flurry of cuts. This attack leaves one of the creatures legs with several cuts, the blade having a hard time cutting through the chitinous exoskeleton of the legs.

"My exoskeleton is far too hard for an old geezer to cut with a simple sword! Hahahahah" The creature shrieks in a taunting voice

"Oh? Is that so... Guess i'llhave to swing harder next time then" The man replies

The creature angrily tries to impale the man with another of its legs but as before, easily dodges the attack and counters with a strike of his own. This time the sword goes deeper into the chitin, but as he goes to move, he notices that his sword is stuck in the creatures armor.

The creature notices as well, and quickly goes on the agressivs again and slams his leg towards the man. The man is forced to let go of the sword and barely dodges the attack, leaving a slight gash on his left shoulder. The creature laughs maniacally, induling in it's bloodlust

The man sighs, clearly annoyed. The creature begins a flurry of attacks now that the man is seemlinly defenseless, but the man evades each attack as easily as the last.

"Let me hit you!" The creature screams in anger

It's assault carries on, even more aggressive than before. The leg with the sword slams down and the man sees his chance. He quickly grabs the hilt of the sword and kicks the tip of the sword wrenching it out of it's prison. He quickly steps back and sheaths his sword, and holds its hilt in a readied stance.

"It's time to finish this." The man says calmly

The creature charges at him and the man stands calmly with his still on the sword. As he does sparks begin emanating from where the swords tsuba and sheath meet. The creature at this point is on top of him, and he takes a deep breath.

The man quickly draws his blade in an Iai slash, releasing a thunder clap, the sword sheathed in a cloak of lightning. The sword hits the creatures legs and in a flash all of them have been sliced off like a knife cutting through butter.

The creature screams in anguish as it's writhes in it's ichor and dismembered legs. The man stands over the creature and looks down at it.

"Your torso and head aren't armored like your legs are, wonder how easily this old geezer could cut through those with his simple sword?" The man says mockingly

"Damn you! Miserable fool! Curses upon your kin!"

"Go ahead and curse them, I don't have any anymore anyways." The mans

The man quickly swings his blade and decapitates the creature. The man looks around and sees the girl still in the tree, her eyes wet with tears and her body still shaking in fear.

"It's safe to come down, come here and I'll take you home." The man calls out in a calm soothing voice

The girl to her credit comes down with no further provocation. They travel back to a small village in a valley, and the villagers there welcome the man back as a hero. They try to pay him for his help, but he refuses. Instead they ask to know his name, so they can tell stories of his legend. The man was embarrassed by this, but responded anyways.

"Kashikoi Hiroshi"

After this, Hiroshi left the town to continue his journey.