Yautja carefully set the Shadow Stalker down on the planet's surface he clipped his mask in place, and a brief hissing sound signified it sealing shut around his face. He moved through his ship, gathering the various pieces of equipment he had available. In the mask he went over the schematics his ship's scanners had developed of the target's home, a near impenetrable fortress that seemed to resemble a human castle in appearance. Of course the technologies protecting it were far from ancient, and Yautja had deliberately turned off scanning for traps or automated defences. He would find them manually, or not at all. Just as he clipped the last piece of his gear in place, his retractable spear, he changed the image he was studying. His target, some shuro who had been here for longer than any record he had hacked and viewed. Apparently the shuro believed itself invincible inside its fortress. That belief, and the claim, was what had drawn Yautja here. He could not let such a claim go untested, that would go against everything he had been taught.

Stepping off the still cloaked ship Yautja activated his own cloaking device and started moving towards the fortress on foot. He had come down fairly close, trusting in the fact his ships cloaking was several millennia in front of any other species prototypes, let alone field use level technology. That trust had been well placed, no alarms had sounded at the fortress as the ship had come down and landed. The Shadow Stalker was still monitoring the fortress and would pass anything of note onto Yautja's mask if it detected something.

Reaching the walls Seraph started advancing cautiously, and came to a stop as his mask revealed a 'moat' of proximity mines surrounding the castle. A few seconds of scanning and it had determined their capabilities, and activation trigger. The mines were rigged to various radar hubs scattered around every three metres and if something large enough entered the field they would detonate. But such simple technology was easily bypassed, Yautja's mask simply overrode the detonate command of one of the hubs and Yautja just walked past. The wall itself was fully rigged with alarms, hidden blades and more mines. But like the moat Yautja slowly climbed his way up, identifying and disarming or avoiding each trap in turn.

The residents of this 'impenatrable' castle were indeed unaware of the approaching hunter. They had grown overconfident after the many successful years of defending against the brave and often foolish adventurers seeking fame by taking the castle, and its well guarded treasure.

On the castle wall the guard was lax this day, with only two guards on the wall above the climbing warrior. As he neared closer to the top he would hear them talking, "Wonder if anyone will try today?" Soon enough another voice would respond with "Who knows? Anything's possible when you're talking about this castle." The first guard's boots would then be heard pounding against the wall as he stood up, walking over to the wall. As he looked at the surrounding landscape he said "You're right. The boss has developed quite a reputation by now." Turning his attention outward he heard the clatter of rocks below as a loose rock slipped from the old walls and crashed far downward to the ground below.

He turned back towards his partner, sitting on the wall and looking over at him, the other man sitting with a small computer on his lap and said "Huh...That's weird. What could have caused that rock to fall?" He thought for a moment before saying "Turn on the pressure sensors. Just to be safe."

Yautja was slowly making his way up the wall when a old part of the stone fell free and clattered down the wall. Cursing silently to himself Yautja sacrificed stealth for speed and propelled himself up the wall as quickly as he could. He risked running into a trap, but his mask could could see the pressure plates that lined the wall and the fact they were hard wired to a remote control. If any of the guards had heard that rock falling Yautja had to be off the wall before they activated the plates.

Reaching the top he propelled his cloaked form over the edge, and just in time as the pressure plates activated behind him. Two guards stood on this section of the wall, and neither were paying much attention. One did hold a computer, no doubt it was linked to the fortresses network. Excellent.

Yautja covered the distance between them quickly and silently, and within a few seconds the claws in his gauntlets shot out and impaled the two guards, killing them instantly. Retracting the blades he let the corpses fall as he tapped a few buttons on his left gauntlet and let the Uplink installed in it to activate and hack into the computer.

After a few seconds Yautja could 'see' the network displayed on his masks visor, the various traps and their control points as well as the layout, something he already had. One thing he did not have however was a single location that was listed as the throne room. No doubt his prey would be their. All Yautja would have to do is make his way through the entire castle, killing the guards as he went while preferably remaining undetected. Not that Yautja believed himself to be at any risk if the alarm was raised, it would simply be harder to pull off if he did so.

With a proper destination Yautja set off. Rather than take the time to use the normal method of descending the walls into the courtyard he simply jumped. As he landed he dropped into a crouch as his body absorbed the impact. Even for him such a drop send a flare of pain through his body, but it caused no damage. Now in the courtyard Yautja set off towards the throne room, guided by the schematics he had, warned by the trap layout he had hacked and shielded by his cloaking device.

The sensors activated, but not in time to save the guards as they had no time to react or even move as a claw plunged through their bodies. As the claws were pulled loose the two unsuspecting guards collapsed, their blood spilling quickly out onto the stone, while the computer remained intact and fell quickly to the advanced hacking program attacking it. The network of defenses protecting the fortress was quite advanced, even putting some A.D.D and slaver compounds to shame, but it was likely no more then childsplay for the powerful warrior.

His jump into the crowded courtyard managed to remain undetected, even with people milling about near where he landed, and as he proceeded into the main hall using his stolen knowledge to avoid the many varied traps hidden everywhere within the castle. There were so many that it would almost be considered overkill as even the guards had to tread lightly to avoid a gruesome death.

Now in the hallways of the maze like castle it was much tougher for him to remain undetected, and soon enough the guards he passed in his cloaked state began to follow him even though they had no idea what they were following.

Yautja knew he was being followed, and suspected any chance he had of completing this entire hunt undetected was gone. But perhaps the alarm being raised would make this vaguely difficult. Glancing up Yautja noticed an outcrop on the wall near the roof and a quick scan from his mask revealed it was not trapped. Moving quickly before the gathering crowd of guards caught up he leapt up the wall, and soon he was hanging from the outcrop as he looked at the floor beneath him and waited.

He did not have to wait long for the guards to catch up, and it was at that moment they would have changed from being suspicious to alarmed. The moment he had seen the middle of their group he had pushed off from the wall, and as he landed his descent crushed one of the guards while a vicious circle was spun around him via the use of his fully extended spear.The heart of the guards formation was cut out, and he quickly moved to finish off the few left.

Just before killing the last one he heard the alarms go off, and his mandibles clicked with pleasure. Now he would see just how good the defences here were.

The group chasing the cloaked hunter was managing to keep up, but it was quite hard to keep track of something you could not see. And with that problem they did not notice him jump up to an outcropping of rock on the wall so they only kept walking, soon walking under the hanging warrior. As he jumped only one had the good senses to back away as his heavy frame crushed a nearby guard and a flash of light left many of the others joining him on the ground. With the few survivors being quickly picked off this perceptive guard only managed to sound the alarms before he joined his comrades in death.

With the alarms now blaring it would sound as if the whole fortress had come to life with the sounds of many hundreds of soldiers gathering their gear and rushing towards key points of the castle. And with almost the sound of shifting stone a spidery network of blue appeared on the ceiling of the castle a powerful device, unmarked on any of the castles layouts, which managed to disable the cloaking device protecting the powerful warrior.

Yautja hissed with annoyance as his mask reported interference in the air making his cloaking device useless. As the alarms blared around him he started to move, his gauntlet using its uplink to force all cameras and sensors into a loop, ensuring that they could not use surveillance to track him.

With that done he sprinted through the hallways, easily dispatching the few guards who stood in his way. Of course his easy progress could not continue forever, and eventually he reached a strong point of guards. With one final check of his weapons he charged into their midst.

Without his cloaking hiding him he was hit multiple times all over his body and head from the gunfire. But for every hit he took several guards collapsed dead. Some had been cut nearly in half by his spear, some had chunks of flesh missing from his tearing claws while others were impaled on three inch bolts tipped with a deadly poison. Within minutes the fight was over and Yautja reviewed the damage.

Nearly fifty guards lay dead around him, and while his arms and legs stung from bullet impacts his armour had protected him from any actual damage. The impacts on his mesh had still hurt, but it had only caused pain. His body was undamaged, and a quick check in his mask revealed that his armour was not even scratched by the weapons fire.

Yautja clicked his mandibles in a mixture of pleasure and annoyance, both at himself and his prey, and he set off again. His destination was still the throne room, which was the most defended part of the fortress and since the alarms had sounded his prey would definitely retreat there if he wasn't already present.

No matter the advantage in numbers or area the guards of the castle seemed to be no match for the powerful warrior, and that was made quite evident as he easily ripped through the scattered defenses of the many hallways. They hardly had a chance to organize with their cameras and sensors betraying them, leaving the guards not running in groups fodder for the hunter as they moved to their stations.

Within minutes he would reach his first real block as a squad of fifty blocked the hallway and with only a moment the squad leader said, "Fire at will! We can't let him get to the throne room!" It was no use however as even with him visible to be shot at their bullets could not breach his armor. Within minutes they were all dead and his way was clear, at least for now.

Meanwhile, in the throne room, the master of the castle was waiting confidently in his throne with the door outside guarded by no less then one hundred of his guards. The guards would hear his powerful voice floating through the thick door as he said "No matter the losses we will stop this intruder!" He didn't seem to be worried, as the guards knew ever since he captured her their master seemed to grow supremely confident and powerful. And so they waited, armed to the teeth and ready, as the powerful hunter approached the throne room and not far from it, an unexpected prize.

As Yautja closed in on the throne room he continued to speed up, and by the time he reached the doors he was moving at his height. The guards may have known about an intruder, and would have heard from the cut off screams of pain and death that he was coming. But as always they underestimated just how fast, and how strong Yautja was. By the time they realised he was on them he was in the heart of their formation, their captain dead in a pool of his blood.

Despite the fact the odds were stacked even heavier against him the speed Yautja was moving, and the sheer savage power he wielded, ensured that he was hit even less than before. The fact that he was outnumbered twice as badly meant nothing when he was in the heart of the guards formation. If they had managed to maintain their firing line they might have stood a chance of piecing his armour. As tough as it was it was not invincible. But the moment he broke their formation that chance faded, and with it the last chance his prey had of using his lackeys to stop Yautja.

As one sided as the fight was it still took Yautja some time to finish off the guards. Several tried to flee, and while Yautja tried to kill them a couple managed to escape. However after a solid ten minutes of fighting the sounds outside the door grew quiet. The silence was broken by the voice of one of the guards calling out. "The intruder is dead"

Of course the guard's voice was faked, replicated through the use of Yautja's mask. While he could easily melt his way through the door, or simply cut it, Yautja would prefer it to be opened normally and he not have to damage it. Once opened Yautja would slip through the moment it opened enough for him to pass. The deception would fade almost instantly, but it would hold for long enough.

Sitting in his throne, the master of the castle's fingers tapped against the large plasma cannon he used as a weapon. He listened carefully to the chorus of pain and death just outside his door wondering what could possibly be so tough as to have not died already. His castle may have been one of the most advanced in the well known parts of the galaxy but his one fatal flaw was the lack of information they could gather of the universe on the quiet planet.

And as such when he heard the voice of one of his guards reporting in he shouted "It took you long enough you weakling! Bring me the corpse!" He tapped a button on the armrest of his throne and before the door even finished unlocking his gun was raised as in all his years he had learned not to trust his ears. He waited patiently as the heavy door swung slowly inward, revealing his ornate throne and a door braced by heavy metal bars behind it.

As the door opened Yautja was already in motion. He almost exploded into movement as he raced towards his prey. One gauntlet was aimed and a single bolt was fired at his weapon, with the intention of destroying it and removing the ranged weapon from the fight. However his prey was ready and already aiming, and as fast as Yautja was he was a fraction of a second to slow to stop the plasma cannon from firing. As fast as he was he could not dodge a gun, and with his momentum going the wrong direction he could do nothing but trust the heat resistance of his armour.

As the blast of plasma hit Yautja felt the heat searing his skin. He roared in pain, but as the glare of the plasma blast faded, allowing everyone in the room to see again, he was still standing, still charging. A quick check of his mask diagnostic revealed that while his armour was currently red hot it was cooling quickly and had taken no damage. It helped that it was made of the same metal that the Kali built their ships from, a metal that could allow them to move far closer to a star than any other race. The attack had caused pain and light burning to the parts of his body that were covered by mesh rather than plating or mask. But such burns would heal quickly, and Yautja constantly conditioned himself to be used to pain. As for his foe the bolt had shot straight through the plasma blast with no slowdown or variation of aim point, if anything being superheated by the plasma had made its effects stronger as the bolt had speared into the plasma cannon, making it nothing more than a unwieldy piece of metal.

Yautja roared once more as the blades of his gauntlets shot out from their holsters as he reached his prey. His claws lashed out towards his preys neck, with the intention of decapitating the skull to claim as his trophy, his proof of his skill and honour.

With the time it took the 'guard' to respond to his order the master already had his finger on the trigger as the powerful warrior burst through the doorway, and with the shot already firing as the claw lashed out there was nothing it could do to dodge as the bolt hit him perfectly leaving the room shining with the residual energy of the shot. When the light from the shot faded and revealed that he was still standing even as its claw sheared through his plasma cannon the man said "Damn man. What are you?!"

Even when speaking he had the presence of mind to dodge as the claws lashed out towards his neck. Standing from his throne, the two looked similarly built although the castle's master was not nearly as well armed. "Here for my life are you? You want it, You'll have to work for it" And with that the human, large but likely no match for Yautja, took a fighting stance preparing for battle. He was unarmed but his fists seemed to glow with some sort of light as he took a swing at the mask covering the intruders face.

As his prey swung a fist at him Yautja jumped back, putting several feet of empty space between them and resetting the fight. His hand touched each gauntlet in turn and with a hiss they snapped off. Next he removed his shoulder cannon, and from their slowly worked his way through his various weapons. Within a few seconds even the armour plating that covered him was removed, leaving Yautja in only the mesh and his mask.

With the field of battle levelled somewhat Yautja let out one last roar before moving forward towards his prey. Dodging a blow his fist slammed into his preys side and sent him smashing against the wall. Rather than follow up the advantage Yautja held his position and waited. It went against the concept of the hunt to strike prey while it was down, even if the hunter was the one who had placed it in that position. As his prey rose Yautja's mandibles clicked in pleasure. Few beings could even take a single blow from Yautja, a lone punch could snap bones and tear through muscles as it they were twigs and paper.

This prey was well worth the effort it had required getting this far.

The large human waited patiently for him to take off his weapons and armor, as he was not one who needed to take advantage of a situation that would leave an opponent defenseless. "A fair fight then. Get ready!" he told the warrior before rushing in, a heavy blow rushing towards his unprotected body. The shot left him open however, and as Yautja dodged the shot he felt a heavy shot pound into his ribs and sent him flying into the wall.

Pushing himself up, a grunt of pain escaping him, he said "Now that's gonna leave a bruise." He was tougher then most humans could ever be, really he had to be to control the rowdy bunch working for him. Rushing back in he took a couple quick blows towards the powerful warrior. Nothing seemed to be working though as Yautja continued to easily dodge the human's well placed punches.

At first glance Yautja's style was simply brute physical ability. His strikes were hard, fast and savage. His movements almost animalistic in the way they flowed. His strikes were brutal and he used his strength advantage well. Yautja used his elbows, knees, shoulders in addition to his hands and feet as he fought. Each blow seemed to naturally flow onto the other, and the moment his prey gave him the slightest opening Yautja struck, and hard.

As the minutes dragged on however Yautja slowly seemed to be getting forced more and more on the defensive. Whereas before he had easily dodged his preys strikes now he was only just managing it. Soon those strikes started to clip him and Yautja appeared staggered by the impact.

However when his prey tried to take advantage of this sudden turn of events Yautja sprung his trap. His hands lashed out and gripped each of his prey's forearms. Before he could react further a knee was slammed into his stomach. The blow that would normally send him slamming against a wall instead sent agony through his shoulders as Yautja's hands held his prey in place. That strike was followed by another, and Yautja released one arm to punch his prey in the chest. The impact caused his body to snap around and with a crunch the still held arm broke as it was bent around on itself.

Although he fought like an animal Yautja was not a brute force fighter. He knew his prey was overconfident, and knew the easiest honourable way to defeat him was to play to that. It had worked. Like always his prey underestimated his abilities, be they physical capabilities or actual competence.