3rd POV

The sound of his boots hit the light snow beneath him, creating a crunching noise. The continent he was in was currently Atlas, known for its rather "strong" military. Over the course of a few days and nights, he had learned that there was an evil known as Grimm, the stuff of nightmares apparently feared by most. He had the pleasure of dealing with a few of them that ran at first sight of him. They were about as troublesome as a group of Unggoys, only thing was that Unggoys had tactics and could change the turn of a battle at the cost of their lives, something Grimm don't do half the time.

But he loved the sight of them running away in fear of him.

The wind blew to the side of him as he walked without a direction. What more could he do other than walk in hopes of finding something? He didn't have the Pantheruos Army right now to give him orders, he didn't have a goal to complete, and he didn't have anything to keep him occupied.

He was just... wandering.

From what the ONI said about this planet, they had never achieved space travel nor even launched a satellite into space which meant their technology was severely lacking. Going to the military was off limits; never in his 425 years of life would he work with a foreign power, even if it meant he would live at the top. Wearing another uniform other than the one the Pantheruos Military provided for him was like dishonoring all that he worked for. He followed their protocols, nobody else's.

He walked for a long time, presumably a day or two until he reached a rather quiet town. People entered and exited it without a care in the world, some even looked at him while he just went by them. His cloak covered his entire body and panther tail and the hood did a remarkable job in covering his helmet or face whenever he took it off.

The less people knew about him the better. What he was looking for was a shop or something to gather more food and supplies. Sleeping in the wild was kind of relaxing and it kept his skills sharp when he fought experienced Grimm and some less than savory individuals. After wandering for several minutes and looking around he found a rather small shop that held at least food and water.

A bell jingled as he opened the door and stepped inside, browsing the selection. Some minutes passed by and he had brought numerous canned items that would serve him well and managed to find a small bag to hold the items. The cashier wasn't paying attention and didn't notice him until he put the items on the counter. She jumped in surprise and laughed sheepishly as she scanned the items, occasionally glancing at him. It was rude of her to stare but she couldn't help but shudder around him; it was like a tiger staring down its prey before lunging in for the kill.

"Is that all?" She asked, throwing him a kind smile. In reality she wished that he would kind of just leave, not that she had a problem with him but something about the way he was around her made her feel somewhat fearful.

"Yes. Thank you." His cold voice replied, making her wince. He threw some lien cards down and exited the store, those cards were stolen off of the bandits he killed previously and saw that they were the form of currency of this planet. She finally released the breath she didn't realize she was holding as soon as he exited the store.

When he exited the store and headed towards the next one that held Dust, he stopped in the street when he heard a scream and turned to see a Grimm tackle a guard at the front gate before sinking its jaws into his neck, killing him instantly. Civilians pushed past him and ran from the Grimm while he just stood there motionless as they went in their homes. Some of the guards tried to usher him into getting inside and one even tried to force him inside one of the buildings but was failing miserably. A red blip on his motion tracker made him grip the guard's collar and swing him around to narrowly avoid the lunge of a Beowolf.

It roared at him in response to his intervention but soon found a DMR round piercing its skull. He managed to bring out his weapon faster than anyone could blink and kill the offending Grimm effortlessly. Some of the people staring from their windows widened their eyes when he took off his cloak and bag then threw them to the side to reveal his large figure. He was a healthy 6'5" armored titan that seemed to have two weapons.

Two shots rang out and two Grimm fell before they could pounce on guards, making them quickly look to see an armored man heading towards them. In the span of a few seconds, he was next to them firing into the horde of Grimm. He was a lot quicker than some of them had imagined and it disturbed them a bit to see a man that large be that fast but they were glad he was on their side. The guards at the gate fired into the horde of Grimm that were quickly rushing towards only them and not Raptor. Four shotgun shells being discharged and two Ursa and two Beowolves were dead at their feet. Some of the guards glanced to see Raptor's shotgun barrel smoking a bit before he fired two more shells and two more Grimm fell down. His reloading speed made some of the more veteran guards jealous as they watched him load shell after shell with speed and grace.

He switched back to his DMR and fired seven rounds into the Grimm, killing seven with smoking holes in their heads. One of the guards screamed as a larger Beowolf gained ground on them at a fast pace, ignoring most of their rounds as it honed in on them. It managed to lunge towards one of them but quickly found its prey whipped to the side when Raptor hauled the smaller guard and watched as the large Beowolf skid against the ground. He suddenly took off while it was recovering and kneed it in the face, listening to the cracking of its armor and saw black blood fly from its snout.

It roared at him and swiped downwards but he just leaned out of its attack and curled his fist, sending it rocketing towards it's snout once again. Bone cracked and teeth flew as another roar escaped its lips. Rounds pelted it from the guards at the gate, who had finished dealing with the oncoming horde, and were assisting Raptor. It roared at them but yelped in pain when he slammed his foot against its leg and broke it. He watched its large body fall to the ground and jumped high into the air, letting his combined weight of the armor, speed, and his super strength to slam against its head, making it explode in a shower of black blood and gore.

Everything was quiet for a while as some of the townspeople slowly came out of their homes and stores to look around. Soon their eyes wandered to him as he silently went back to his tattered cloak and bag before putting his weapons on his back then slink the cloth around his body and let it cover him again. He could feel their eyes on him but that didn't matter, as he was about to leave the town he was stopped by someone and that led to everyone in town crowding around him, thanking him for saving them.

All he really answered was their questions about what he needed. They gave him some Dust, some supplies to bathe himself once he gets out of his armor and uniform, some more supplies, and some money after some reluctance on his part. He didn't even enjoy being rewarded this much for saving them but it's not like he could talk them out of anything at the moment.

"You should stay, I mean you must be tired." One of the people said.

"I'm fine. I just needed supplies." He answered curtly. Some looked at him and saw him begin to walk back out into the wild. They didn't even get to ask for his name, all they managed to get was his description of his black-olive green armor plated affixed to a brown clothing.

The most prominent thing was the black panther roaring in front of a white moon insignia.

There was a tiny objective on his mind, head to a new continent. As much as he enjoyed the snow, it got quite boring after trekking through it for the last several days. He had been travelling for several days and found a way to get his armor and uniform off in privacy. This served him well since he had to relieve himself and bathe. He did made sure to destroy any DNA or stuff to not get cloned or a way to kill him. He usually slept in caves or in trees that were strong enough to hold his weight.

It was around that time when he gotten another report to ONI and Command from the TACPAD then continued to walk towards the port. From what he understood from the map, there was a shipping area that housed numerous ships. One of those ships could possibly take him some place other than the snow, it was annoying to see nothing but white all the time. He wanted to see some green, a little bit of red, even some orange wouldn't hurt but nothing but pure white snow was going to drive him nuts.

A hollow blip on his radar made him stop walking, letting the wind blow his cloak to the side and partly reveal his armored knee pads. More blips appeared around him and had him surrounded but that didn't really make him nervous like most. He had a small hunch that someone would eventually find him, he had saved two settlements in the last few weeks so it would be foolish to think that word didn't travel fast.

Instead of waiting to figure out who was surrounding him, he just started to walk again. If these people wanted to have a conversation then they would be disappointed, if they wanted to fight then they better start praying because he would be happy to show no mercy to them.

He saw the blips follow him until he was in a snowy clearing, the oddly broken moon illuminated the night as the wind kept blowing to the side of him. After a few minutes of walking in the clearing he stopped and finally looked over his shoulder to see some people following him. Despite them thinking they were well blended, they weren't. He didn't even need to look at his motion tracker to see that they were following him, it was just that he knew they were there. They just stared at him while he did the same before turning back around and continuing to walk.

Their blips suddenly turned red as one of them rushed at him from behind. He moved to the side and equipped his knife. The attacker barely caught the shimmer of the blade before their world when black when he shoved it in their skull. A wet, squelching noise broke the silence as he ripped the knife out and fully turned to see several attackers. The blood dripped down from his knife and landed in the snow with a soft impact sound.

Some of the attackers stood at the ready before parting ways when a woman with a rather strange mask stepped out in front.

"You have some skill to take on my members on that settlement a week and a half ago. They were some of the more competent members." She complimented with a mock clap. The air was tense as the group stared at the lone man who took out a member in half a second with no hesitation at all.

His eyes flicked to each one quickly as he took in their features before closing them and opening them once more. They saw him spread his feet slightly and flip his combat knife in a reverse grip then standing still as a statue.

She whistled and two bandits sped towards him, each one raising their weapons, only to fall over dead when he brought out his shotgun quicker than anyone could blink or think. That little knife stance was merely a deception, it worked perfectly since those dead attackers were none the wiser. The shells clattered against the snow and bounced once before coming to a standstill as he continued to stare at them.

Three bandits came rushing at him and he put away his shotgun and took out his knife, parrying the first slash at him before countering it with a throat slash. The second one swung at him twice while the third came from behind to try and stab at his back. He moved out of the way as the machete impaled the second one before he grabbed the third one by his neck and held him high with one hand. He gagged violently and tried to hit Raptor's arms but suddenly went limp when the man applied pressure on his neck and broke it like a stick.

Snow kicked up when he dropped the body then went back to staring at the group, who's numbers were dwindling rapidly. It set them on edge and even the leader was beginning to grit her teeth. She had seen his armor and weapons and that desire to have all of it clouded her mind, on the other hand, she wanted him in her ranks. His skills meant they could train new recruits and have more successful raids.

"... It seems we have underestimated you." She gritted her teeth.

"It seems you have." He spoke for the first time. His cold voice seemed to have a lower temperature than the air outside.

"Huh, and here I thought you were some Atlas death machine. Good to know that you're human." She smirked, but unknowingly insulting him by calling 'human'.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"At first, your supplies but now that I see you're a capable fighter so I'll cut you a deal. If you-" She didn't get to finish when he started to walk again.

"Fuck no." He interrupted.

"No? No?! Don't you turn your back on me!" She shouted.

"I'm wasting my time listening to a piece of human garbage with a childish mask. I'd rather reach my destination then listen to you monologue about me joining your bandit gang." He answered curtly. It was true, he had somewhere to be and she was wasting precious time. He needed to find some place that would be different and the military was after him. Yes, he knew the military of this world was after him after he saved those two settlements. Word travels fast around here. Plus the undercover ONI agents gave him a heads up.

"You... you bastard!" She bellowed and shot towards him. His motion tracker caught sight of her speeding figure and he turned around just in time to avoid a rather wide slash of her sword. He recognized her sword as an odachi, a rather large sword meant for long slashes.

Despite it being a rather large sword, she was swinging it extremely quick. It kept him on guard some of the time but years of dodging bullets, plasma, and energy swords honed his skills.

A horizontal slash made him duck underneath the blade but then quickly twist out of the way when she followed up with a vertical slash. She slashed at him twice before sending a kick out, to which he parried and sent an open palm to her solar plexus. Her air supply was cut off and she couldn't inhale or exhale, giving him the window to send a series of quick, but lightly strong, jabs to her face and chest. When she recovered enough air and slashed at him, he had to hold up his forearm to block her quick strike. He saw her blade snap on impact. Her eyes slightly widened and he took this opportunity to grip her arm and flip her over his shoulder, equipping his knife and thrusting it towards her, sending the blade deep into her shoulder and splashing the snow with blood.

Her scream made his eyes flicker to his motion sensors to quickly let her go and spin out of the way of a torrent of rounds sent towards him. His DMR was brought out quickly fired a single round, striking the attacker in the skull and splattering the pristine white ground with blood and brain matter. Before any of the other ones could react, he fired three more rounds and killed three more bandits before turning his attention back to the woman.

She growled at him and air kicked up behind her as she rocketed towards him and began to slash at his unguarded parts. Her eyes narrowed in fury when he would either parry her attack or simply dodge, very rarely would she be rewarded with a successful hit but his extremely strong durability otherwise took a majority of the hits. More rounds pelted his body and tore into his cloak and he reacted by firing two rounds into another bandit, killing him quickly then turning back to the woman once again.

If looks could kill, he'd be dead where he stood because she was glaring at him while putting her broken sword back in it's sheath then bringing it out again with a different colored blade. This one was a dark purple, almost black color, and every time she swung at him it felt like gravity itself was pushing against him. He moved out of a diagonal swing and kneed her in the stomach, watching as her eyes widened in pain before he gripped her hair and threw her onto the ground.

She swung at his feet but he jumped quickly then slammed his right foot on her offending wrist. The snapping of bone met his ears, the arm bent in a terrible way, and her scream echoed in the night while some of her assailants widened their eyes at the noise. He ignored her scream then kicked her face, breaking the mask, her teeth and her nose in the process while breaking her wrist even further.

Did they really think he'd show mercy in this fight? Mercy in a fight like this only meant one's downfall and he'd be damned if he showed any to these filth kids.

And the reason he called them kids is because he's over 400.

He had to roll to the side when a hammer struck the ground next to him then swung at him again. This time, he gripped the hammer tightly and made the attacker's eyes widen before he wretched the weapon out of the man's hands then swung it with all his might and speed. That sickening crack of the skull made him smirk and the snapping of the man's neck made him shake his head at the foolish attempt of an attack. He looked back to see the rest of the bandits shaking in their boots.

"Anyone else brave enough?" He coldly asked before they turned tail and ran away. It made him scoff at this. 'Smart, but cowards.' He thought.

There was groaning and he turned back to see the woman that attacked him starting to crawl away while blood leaked from her nose and mouth profusely. She heard the sound of snow crunching behind her and crawled towards her weapon but was dragged away from it. A hand gripped her throat and hauled her high off the ground with one hand, making her stare into the black visor of the Pantheruo.

"I merely wanted to leave this continent and you had the audacity to stop me..." He said calmly, too calmly in her opinion. It was like a predator staring at its latest prey before sinking its jaws into it.

"I could've shown you a way off if you would've joined me." She managed to get out while crying a bit from both the pain and fear.

"At the cost of being a parasite like you? I'd rather die alone than stoop to your levels." He bit back coldly. She used her right unbroken fist to punch him in the visor but widened when he caught it and twisted it with a sickening crunch. She screamed once again in pain before gagging when he tightened his grip immensely. Her feet dangled as she kicked his chest but was met with a metal that was harder than she had ever dealt with.

In a last ditch effort, she opened up a portal and used an immense amount of aura that was poured into her legs to kick him. It made him stumble and loosen his grip on her which she used to kick off and fall into the portal, effectively closing it behind herself before the monstrous man before her could enter.

He stood there for a while, confused as to what just happened. The woman that had broken wrists managed to escape him by opening up a portable warp drive? That was about the size of him. His new objective was to find this woman again, if she had slipspace technology then there could be a chance that she could find her way back to his home planet. It did irk him that this thieving, wasteful sack of skin had that technology and used it to steal from less fortunate people.

Raptor's POV

That little black hair bitch!!

I tightened my grip on the handle of my DMR, fuming with anger and frustration. That little black-haired bitch managed to slip through my fingers with a warp portal. Just when I thought I had her, she vanished like a ghost, leaving nothing but blood-stained snow in her wake.

My motion tracker was clear, but my mind was racing. This woman had some serious tech—slipspace technology in a portable form, no less. If she had access to that, she might have a way back to my home planet. I needed to find her again, and soon.

With the bandits either dead or fled, I took a moment to assess the situation. The wind had picked up, blowing snow across the clearing and partially covering the bodies. The cold air helped to clear my head, but I couldn't shake the image of her escaping from my grasp.

I scanned the area one last time before resuming my journey to the port. If she had tech like that, then it was even more imperative that I find a way off this continent. She had information, and possibly connections, that could be crucial to my mission. The thought of her using that technology for her twisted purposes made my blood boil.

The snow crunched under my boots as I picked up my pace, the anger fueling my steps. I needed to stay focused, find a ship, and get to the next continent. If she thought she could outrun me, she was sorely mistaken. This was far from over.

The port came into view after a few more hours of trekking. Large cargo ships were docked, their lights glowing in the early dawn. Workers moved about, loading and unloading crates, oblivious to the carnage I had just left behind.

I approached one of the larger ships, scanning for any signs of security or barriers. A few dockworkers glanced at me but quickly averted their eyes when they saw my imposing figure. Good—they knew better than to mess with me.

I found a secluded spot near the loading area and waited for the right moment. A group of workers were taking a break, chatting and smoking, providing the perfect distraction. I slipped past them, my movements swift and silent. The ship loomed above me, a hulking mass of metal and machinery. I needed to find a way on board without raising any alarms.

As I navigated through the shadows, I overheard snippets of conversation. They were discussing their route—heading to a continent called Mistral. Perfect. From what I gathered, Mistral was a warmer, more diverse place, far from the endless snow of Atlas.

I waited for a cargo loader to pass by before slipping into an open container. The space was cramped and smelled of oil and metal, but it would suffice for now. I settled in, listening to the sounds of the ship as it prepared to depart. The hum of engines and the clanging of metal echoed around me, a symphony of movement and progress.

As the ship began to move, I allowed myself a moment of satisfaction. I was one step closer to finding her again, and I wouldn't rest until I had answers. She could run, but she couldn't hide forever. I would track her down, no matter where she went. The hunt was on, and I intended to win.