The life of a hunter could be seen as one stained in violence. From the moment they start, their job is to kill. So, they shouldn't expect a peaceful life in return.

One who kills to live cannot expect to be rewarded with peace.

Zenya Witherell's life was the same way. She began work as a sniper young, expecting nothing. Even as she found some reason to continue living, he just as quickly vanished. But, she was left with one reason to continue to live, but soon enough, she too vanished, after spending her life fascinated by the world of hunting. Zenya had gotten as she expected, with nothing to blame it on, no matter how badly she desired to identify some single problem with her life that caused this. In the end, all she was left with was a lone girl, apologising for everything. So, she accepted this. The girl became what she blamed everything on, all of her problems. She grew to resent her, to detest her, while pretending to be friendly, all so she could build towards to that final moment of betrayal. She understood the purpose of the ability she obtained at the same time. To observe this target of hers, to follow her every movement. This is how she continued on, even through her despair.

Forgery jumped out of the way of some more shots, trying to think of his next plan of attack. The gunners stopped firing, figuring it was pointless to waste bullets when he could easily dodge.

Forgery started to run towards Matt and Klaus. Klaus headbutted at him, but this was quickly dodged around. Forgery stepped in and at the last possible second created a blade to stab with, before quickly needing to withdraw as Matt fired at him.

Even as he continued to dodge, he suddenly felt a bullet graze him. "Screw it, then…" He thought "I don't care anymore. You guys are gonna die."

He summoned in another spear and chucked it straight for Alicia this time, Ayano flew out of the way. Forgery quickly got rid of the spear, then got another one ready. This time instead of throwing, he aimed straight for Alicia. Alicia panicked and fired at him, this connected with his arm but he didn't seem to notice continued forwards.

The strike connected with her side, but without much serious damage. The spear vanished just as quickly, Forgery created a shield to block Ayano's incoming tail swipe, knocking him back regardless.

He didn't have time to stay on the ground, so he quickly recovered from being on the ground and looked around. Natalie appeared to be the closest target. He closed in on her, this time creating a sword. She swung in return out of desperation, only to be blocked by a shield. Forgery stabbed forwards, catching her in the stomach with it, causing her to fall to the ground.

Natasha furiously rushed in, about to scream. Forgery quickly gave up on countering, only focusing on blocking the wild attacks, while also struggling to block the strikes from Aki.

After a few seconds, he managed to break away, now aiming for Matt. Matt quickly raised his gun, but fired too early, allowing Forgery to dodge around and throw some knives straight for him. Matt was unable to get out of the way in time, taking several hits. Klaus still stood, so Forgery wasn't satisfied at just that. He ran straight for Klaus, springing off the ground when there was a few metres between them. Then, a greatsword appeared in his hands, before being brought down on the Diablos' head, knocking him onto the floor.

He quickly got rid of his weapon and spun around, looking for another problem to deal with.

Just then, he heard pressurised water approach him.

He jumped out of the way, but before he could land another attack came for him, the swing of an axe. The strike was quickly blocked, but as Forgery looked over he noticed his opponent's glasses and brown hair.

"...So he's been freed, huh?" Forgery thought "What a pain. This isn't how it was supposed to be. All I wanted to do was use my weapons to make the world better, yet here I am. Let's just wrap this up quickly, I don't care anymore."

Ben continued to slash wildly, not particularly caring for the shield in his way. Forgery quickly stabbed at him with a knife he just brought in, but Ben didn't react, bringing his axe down in response.

Forgery watched his arm drop the ground, yet somehow the feeling didn't register with him. The world seemed to grind to a halt, before finally the pain started it back up again.

Ben watched as his opponent started screaming from the pain, his words now incomprehensible. Yet, he knew that not taking advantage of this situation would be a mistake, so he continued attack regardless. But, as he moved in for a strike to the head, a blade appeared in the air, right in front of his face, giving him just barely enough room to completely stop and jump back.

The enemy clutched at his wound as he began to work out what was going on again, blades appearing as quickly as they vanished. He stepped forwards, heading straight for Ben, with nothing on his mind anymore but finishing his opponent.

With only six of them left able to fight, they stared him down. Ben, Plessy, Natasha, Aki, Sean and Azure had to take him down.

Ben and Natasha both rushed him down, figuring they could take him from both sides. Forgery reacted with more blades, unpredictable in that not even he knew what was going on. With better range, Ben was the one who attacked, the axe bounced off but this caused the enemy to now focus on him. At that moment, Natasha stabbed forwards, catching him in the back. Forgery screamed out, swinging back, Natasha barely blocking this strike. But then, an opportunity to strike appeared before her, so she quickly switched into axe mode. She held the weapon behind her, charging it up, before swinging it around. Forgery barely blocked the first strike, but then Natasha followed this up by swinging back the other way, which was blocked far less effectively.

He was knocked back across half the room, giving Ben an opportunity to rush in. He swung his axe, barely connecting, but as he pulled back he switched into sword mode. The two began to attack each other, barely any distance between them. But, this fighting was interrupted by Plessy, jumping at Forgery from the side. Forgery blocked this with a shield of metal surrounding him. At this moment, Sean began to fire straight at him. Forgery had to shield this as well. Azure then sent a fireball straight towards him, giving Forgery no choice but to block. It was then that Forgery understood, but it was too late as Ben moved forwards.

He desperately attempted to create a shield, but with no aura left from blocking the other attacks it was like a sheet of paper. An elemental discharge was the final attack.

After the explosion ended, Ben took a few steps back. The shields disappeared, leaving only what was left of his opponent's body on the floor. Not really able to believe this was that real, he just collapsed and passed out instantly, leaving the other two to sort out how to get back.

Riko dashed forwards, drawing the attention of their opponent.

Anthony was momentarily stunned in confusion over this, before taking the chance to rush the other way, not wanting this to go to waste. Pilot's eyes indicated they saw him, but she remained focused on Riko, seeing him as the first target.

Riko saw nowhere he could dive for cover in front of him, so once he wasn't able to run anymore, the only choice he had left was to block. The bullets hammered into his weapon, barely providing a shield for him.

He felt himself begin to slip, barely able to defend anymore. After a few seconds, he knew that he was about to fall.

Anthony quickly rushed in, causing Pilot to now spin around to face him. But before she could point the gun at him, he swung his hammer upwards, causing it to fire into the roof.

He then yelled out "Now, Wave!" The Lagiacrus that had been hiding outside the room this entire time burst in, heading straight for the one that Anthony had briefly stopped.

He quickly grabbed her using his jaws and began to slam her against the floor. Pilot still refused to let go of her weapon, even as this was happening.

"Is this for real?" She thought "There's just no way. All I wanted was to build more weapons, so that I could better the world. Well… at the very least…"

Anthony quickly ran towards Riko, to check if he'd been harmed. It was at this moment that Pilot saw her chance.

"Let's come as close to fulfilling that as we can."

The gun began to fire one last time, deafening in the silence Anthony assumed was to follow. He felt himself being pushed back, a few seconds passed before he recognised the one that had pushed him away was Riko.

The second of frozen time ended, as Riko was knocked back into the ground by the impact. The gunfire only lasted a single moment, Wave quickly slamming her into the ground, seeming to finish her from how the gun flew away.

Anthony ran forward once again, to find Riko barely breathing.

"Why did you-?" He asked desperately.

"Better me taking the hit than you, right?" Riko coughed back, weakly.

"The hell are you saying!?"

"Look, I don't have much reason to live, so it's better this way."
"I'm like… what… no. You're not dying here anyways, I won't let you, come on." He held up a potion following this.

The two of them started to move, heading back to the other ship, since Anthony figured Riko needed attention right away.

Noble continued to laugh at his opponents, before quickly snapping out of it to focus on Lyra again.

"So, you should understand now, right? This is the difference between us. Revenge pierce is the ultimate move in both offense and defence. You cannot hope to harm me. I am both immovable and unstoppable."

He smugly glanced back. "There's no way that beast could've survived my attack, so there's one down. Now then… shall we find out who the next to go is?"

He slowly began to walk forwards, heading straight for Lyra. He had already forgotten what his mission was to begin with, with the adrenaline having completely gone to his head.

Lyra waited for him to approach, not having any clear plan in mind, but wanting to stall for as long as she needed.

Finally, there was barely any distance between them.

"So, no attacks? Not even a comeback?"

Lyra remained silent.

"How boring." He muttered, before bringing his lance down. Lyra rolled away from the attack, but unlike before there was no great impact.

More lunges were made in Lyra's dodged, being barely dodged each time. After a few more attacks, Lyra finally saw her opening appear. She swung straight for it, but still found herself blocked.

"As if that would work. So long as I can see an attack coming, there's no way I can't block it."

He then followed this up with an attack of his own. This was once again narrowly avoided, but now left a noticeable dent in where it connected.

It was at this moment that Noble heard the footsteps of someone approaching him. Zach started him in the eyes as he advanced, before stopping a short distance away from him.

"Oh, yeah. I was supposed to guard you. Well, it's not a problem. When did you get free, though?"

"Little while ago. Still though, I've already seen everythin'. It was hard to sleep through all that noise ya were makin' back there."

With this, he swung straight for Noble. The strike was quickly blocked with ease. But, Zach didn't stop, moving closer. The two were standing right in front of each other, as Zach continued to attack wildly.

Eventually, the attacks seemed to let up a little, which provided Noble with an opportunity, his attack having been charged by Zach's failed ones.

He swung forwards excitedly, Zach hurrying to block the attack, recognising its danger but having given himself no room to dodge. The lance connected, creating a sound like an explosion just like it did before. Dust rose everywhere and Noble couldn't stop himself from laughing again, having taken his opponent out in a matter of seconds.

It was at that moment the sound of a gun firing filled the room. Noble had less than a second to respond, before a bullet flew towards him. It connected.

He stumbled back. The hit wasn't fatal. It had hit him in the neck, but somehow the pain didn't affect him. But it was the shock getting to him, the idea that someone could land an attack on him.

This had been Zach's plan. He had seen, and heard, what had happened with Noble's attack before. In the moments where he gloats, he's at his most vulnerable, his guard is completely dropped. He also basically got the effect explained to him, so he knew that if he could bait out one of these attacks he could take advantage of that opening. He struck wildly to set Noble up for an attack, then waited for it to come. Of course, he knew he couldn't take the hit, so he had to pull his arm away from his shield at the last moment. It had been destroyed, but it was worth it compared to losing an arm. This left him with just a gunlance and an opponent who still hadn't been finished off yet.

"I thought I was supposed to be perfect." Noble thought, panicked "This can't be happening. There's no way… someone like this… got a hit on in me. It was dirty, he cheated, I won't accept it, I'm invincible, I won't accept it, I won't accept it, I won't accept it!"

He made a wild charge forwards, but it was at this moment that Zappy charged towards him from the side. This was blocked, but Noble's mind was still rushed, so he wasn't able to properly push Zappy back, only gaining a few metres between them. Noble didn't care about this, turning to back to charge for Zach.

He was now the one swinging wildly, attacks which Zach was less successful than Lyra in dodging. A few were deflected, but that was about the extent of it. However, this attack didn't last long. Noble felt a burning pain in his back, which he had somehow been completely unaware of until the moment it connected.

The lancer turned his neck around, to catch a glimpse of Lyra, with her glaive buried into his back. The pain still didn't hit him, compared to the anger at his perfection coming to an end. In even more rage, he began to swing around, but as he did a cloud of scales flew over him.

Noble understood what this was, yet he didn't want to accept it. The Malfestio he thought he had taken out looked at him triumphantly, even if she was struggling to stand.

The prideful one let out a roar, unable to control anything.

Zach was the one who made the next move. He moved closer, raising his gunlance. Not even thinking of blocking, Noble also attacked. The lance caught Zach in the side, but he didn't stop. It was at the moment where it was only a few metres away from Noble's face that he noticed the gunlance charging up. Next, he felt his legs swept out from under him, briefly noticing Shoot having done it before crashing into the ground. Zach continued his attack, now aiming his gunlance down. In a rush, Noble tried to raise his shield, but it was already too late.

"But… I'm supposed to be perfect…"

The fire burnt into the ground.

Chante was barely able to stand still, but for the most part this had been settled without major injury on their side, so they began to head back.

Alexandra was still shocked "But… Zenya, why are you…? You are, Zenya, right!?"

"...Yeah, that's me." Scope replied.

"But why?"

"If you don't know, then why should I answer?"

With that, she pulled out a light bowgun she had been hiding, firing it at Alexandra. She blocked, but this gave Scope time to get away from her.

After backing off a safe distance, Scope began to observe again.

"I can't forgive her. She said it herself, she's the one who is responsible for Jude's death. That's why. It's her fault. Until now, I've killed, I don't even know how many, just to sate the desire to kill her. She needed to suffer, to repent, first. That's why I watched. But now… she's right in front of me. If I don't finish her, the chance will disappear. The time for my revenge… has finally arrived."

Alexandra began to charge forwards again, leaving herself open to attacks this time. Scope watched this. "There's no way this isn't a trap."

So, she continued to back off.

This repeated, with Zino nowhere in sight, only building Scope's suspicions.

Finally, Alexandra spoke. "Why aren't you finishing me off?"

Scope responded with a confused silence.

"I don't really get what you're doing here still but… this is because I let Jude die, isn't it? That's what caused all of this, isn't it? That's why you're trying to take me out, right? Well, it's not like I disagree. I… am definitely responsible for her death. If I had been stronger, more focused, more dedicated, she surely would've survived. There's no doubt about that in my mind. It's all my fault. I've tried to get stronger to deal with that, so I can carry that on but… If you want to kill me here, for revenge, then I won't stop you."

She remained silent after that, staring down Scope, waiting for her next move.

Scope took this opportunity to properly scan, expanding her range to its limits. It was then she finally worked out where Zino was. She had already moved on, going to help the others who were ahead of them. Alexandra… had no intent of a comeback.

Scope stepped out of cover, so the two were facing each other. Alexandra watched her quietly. She aimed her gun towards Alexandra, so that the shot she fired would connect with her head. Her finger wrapped around the trigger, ready to end it at a moment's notice.

Alexandra didn't move, but she also didn't close her eyes. She just started at Scope.

"Once this is done… everything will be over." Scope thought.

Seconds passed, as this sunk in. She didn't know what time it was by now. Scope's journey… would end, right here, with this move.

The gun dropped to the floor.

"Why… can't… I..." She muttered aloud. "I can't… forgive you. But… the trigger… won't pull. I can't… hate you anymore. It's just ridiculous."

She looked at Alexandra.

"I can't blame anyone in the end, can I?" She continued "It was all just misfortune. I just wanted… someone. Someone to be the object of all those misfortunes, the cause that I could blame. You've… already repented more than enough. The one who's wrong is… me."

Zenya felt like she was about to crumble under this sudden change in her. The hollow quest for vengeance began and ended in apologies.

TO BE CONTINUED