The Master Corps

Disclaimer: I do not own Monster Hunter. The game belongs entirely to Capcom. All characters that appear belong to me, unless otherwise stated.

Edited by: dashboardgecko


Chapter 44- The Black Flame

A terrible roar echoed from outside of the tunnel Sabrina and Ruby were racing through, a screech like a mountain blasting to pieces. It was forceful enough to make them stall and cover their ears; small stones and pieces from the ceiling broke free and fell around them, it was so loud. The huntresses grimaced as the roar died down, exchanging looks before pressing forward once more at a quickened pace. That roar meant only one thing: Dire Miralis was here.

They soon raced out of the large vertical opening that led out of the cavern, sliding to a halt beside Annabel and Emelia just before the ground abruptly cut off into a cliff in front of him. A narrow path wound down to the left of where they stood, towards the cove bordering the Tainted Sea. The sandy expanse of beach would have looked rather beautiful were it not for the ominous black and red clouds overhead, and the fact that the water had turned a sickening red hue. A large area in the middle of the bay's crimson tides boiled intensely, and a large shape was visible beneath the waves, outlined by streaks of blazing orange. A large wave had crashed into the shore before the mass of hunters gathered there. Nearly six dozen in total Sabrina guessed, though her attention was more on the draconic beast approaching them.

Their gazes centered on the boiling water as the dark shape beneath began to rise, slowly at first. Two giant spires, the ends of which glowed with blazing lava, protruded from the waves first, followed by a long serpentine body. The spires attached to the body like wings of some kind; rather than allow the creature to fly, they acted as chutes from which lava began to pour out from. The heat seemed to intensify as soon as they appeared. Not a moment later, the creature's head broke the surface, allowing the hunters a full view of its face. The beast possessed an upturned snout, a pair of massive horns, and a number of frills lined its scalp, giving it a truly menacing shape. Orange, magma-like lines trailed across its body, feeding into the more intense collections of the blazing substance that gathered on the monster's body in various places. Perhaps most striking were the beast's terrible, glowing eyes. They were filled with pure malice: looking into them, Sabrina could only feel as though this creature was meant to destroy. It would destroy everything in its path without a thought. And considering it easily outsized a Deviljho with just its shoulders above the water, even from that distance in the middle of the bay…

It was fully capable of doing just that.

"So, uh… Ruby? We have a plan, right?"

"Yeah, and here it comes now," the hammer user replied, jutting a finger towards the entrance to the cove. Sabrina's eyes followed, and she saw what Ruby meant: the Forever Breeze and the accompanying Guild warships were sailing into view now. Though it was hard to make out, a smaller vessel could be seen racing alongside them. Ruby went for her communicator as they watched. "Alright Old Dog, ready to try some new tricks?"

"I thought I told you not to call me that! But yeah, I've got this thing figured out!" York's voice crackled over the earpieces. "Had a bit of a tussle in the marina, got a little banged up, but I'll get the job done."

"Good. We need some time to prepare things on the beach, so give it hell out there!"

The huntress turned towards the rest of her team and pulled her hand down from the communicator, gesturing towards each of them. "Here's the plan for us. Ann, Emm, you two gather up all the gunners and archers we have. Make sure they keep behind the blademasters and aim high. Make every shot count. Keep your earpieces on so I can reach you more easily."

"Got it. Annabel, c'mon, let's go."

"But I wanted to punch it… Aww fine."

The two huntresses hopped down the side of the cliff and slid down the incline to the beach, while Ruby turned to Sabrina.

"I'm going to join the rest of the hunters on the beachfront. I'll give them all the information we have on this thing and try to coordinate our offensive. While I'm doing that, what I need you to do is go scout out that wrecked dragonship we talked about," the hammer wielder continued, gesturing towards the vessel beached on the shoreline some hundred yards away. "See what kind of armaments still work, look for any ordinance, extra ammunition, anything. I'll send a few others along to help you out."

"But what about Miralis? Can't we try and help everyone on the ships?"

"Like it or not, we're going to have to let them do their own thing. Swimming out there would be suicide for us if everything we know about it is true- we'd be boiled alive in minutes. I'll try and direct them as best I can from the shore, but we just can't fight that thing out there. Let's leave the battle in the deep end to them, and if it gets close, then we can crack that dragon's skull open ourselves."

After a moment the short sword wielder nodded and took off down the jagged path to the right, hopping off the side and bounding down the rest of the cliff with a trio of leaps. She hit the beach with a roll before running off towards the wrecked vessel, though she halted and winced as Dire Miralis let out another ear-splitting roar. The whistling hiss that preceded the blazing meteors that descended on Tanzia earlier reached her ears next. Sabrina grimaced as more of the projectiles began to fall towards the beach, many of which had spewed from the dragon's 'wings' like miniature volcanos, crashing into the beachfront and the sea around it. The hunters gathered there scrambled to escape the fiery bombs, and Sabrina had to jump back when a pair slammed into the beach in front of her.

She drew her sword as a pair of golems pulled themselves out of the glassed craters- unlike those in the port, these constructs were made solely of sand, with a few hardened shards of glass visible throughout their bodies, giving them a decidedly-less durable appearance. However, the massive glowing-hot glass blades on their arms appeared no less dangerous. The huntress breathed deeply as the constructs approached, coiling her legs and bounding forwards with her shield raised. The metal plate slammed into the rightmost construct's torso, bursting the sandy body apart rather easily. As she hit the grond and rolled, a small glowing landed before her in the sand. It glowed and pulsed oddly, completely unlike the glowing blades on their arms. An idea immediately came to mind and she brought the pommel of her sword down on it, smashing it like glass. The sand that had begun amassing around the stone to reform the sandy golem immediately fell back to the beach.

"Ruby, these ones actually have a weakspot!" she said into her communicator as she pointed her sword to the other golem. "It's like a glowing evil rock in its chest! Break that and these ones won't reform!"

"Already on it!" the hammer user's voice crackled a moment later, followed by a clang and a powerful shout, as well as the sound of a heavy impact. "Thanks for the intel, but don't let these things hold you up! I need you at that ship!"

"I'd prefer to get there without having a sword stuck in my butt, thank you very much!"

"You can tone down the sass at any time, Sabrina!"

Sabrina quickly parried an attack from the sandy creature with her shield, slashing her sword across its torso. A burst of water element sprayed forth from the blue edge as well, thoroughly soaking the golem's front. The sand making it up clumped together, seeming to slow the construct down immensely- its arms moved sluggishly and slow when it attempted another swing at the huntress. She darted out of the way and dashed forwards, shouting as her blade cleaved through the construct's waist and sent it to the ground in two pieces. The wet sand making up its torso cracked and fractured, revealing the red gemstone in its torso to her. The huntress promptly stomped it, felling the sandy creature for good.

She took a brief moment to glance at her sword. Ever since the fighting in Tanzia had begun, the blade had been spouting water element, assaulting her foes with a forceful jet at every swing. She wasn't sure how or why it was doing so now, though. The smith who had made the weapon mentioned it possessing an 'innate' water element, but he hadn't exactly explained what that meant, nor how to actually use it. Now it was just… there. Not that she was complaining. If it helped her fight, she'd take any advantage she could get. As it were, this 'awakening' was just what she needed. She tightened her grip on the sword and swiped it through the air as she resumed her race towards the wrecked dragonship, and the sand golems between herself and the vessel.


The members of Team Storm anxiously glanced between one another as the large lift used to haul fuel and materials up to the top of the lighthouse continued its slow ascent. While they were most of the way up already, Wes wished it could hurry up a little. If it hadn't been for the fact that the staircase leading to the top of the structure hugged the outer wall- and that it was incredibly long, winding, gradual slope- he might've considered hopping off and running instead.

The dual blade wielder sighed before reaching up to his communicator, flicking the device on and pressing the earpiece in. "Anyone hear me? Sabrina? Ruby? Pa?" Nothing but electrical crackling sounds replied, though, just like the last couple attempts.

"Something's interfering with the frequency," Viper frowned, tapping his own device a couple times. "Could just be the walls. These don't work too hot underground, remember?"

"Perhaps. There may be more to it," Frost stated cooly, craning his neck upwards to stare at their destination. "Miralis' power is stifling. It's altering the way the entire area should be. Subjugating it. This tower is rife with it."

"Nothing feels the way it should," Snow added with a much more concerned tone. "I've never felt anything like it before… It makes that Savage Deviljho we fought feel like a breeze by comparison. If Balestra really does have control over all of that-"

"No use in worrying about that now," Wes said quickly. "We've stuck to our guns up until this point. Backing down now isn't an option. We either stop Balestra and Dire Miralis, or we go down swinging."

"O-of course, I wasn't thinking of giving up at all," she assured, planting a hand firmly on her hip. Still, her tone seemed less convinced. "It's just… it's so much power, you know? Every part of me just wants to turn tail and get as far away from here as possible. I really wasn't expecting this much from him. More than anything though? I'm not going to turn my back on all of you. Now that we're at the finale, so long as we work as a team and fight as hard as we can, I'm positive we'll see the day through."

"He is powerful, Sister. Yet, that simply makes slaying him a greater pleasure," her brother stated bluntly, planting a hand on the pommel of his sword and thumping the bottom of the scabbard on the wood floor. "I could not hope for finer comrades to share that with."

"Well, uh, can't say I'm as gung-ho for fighting as Frost- I really get where you're coming from, Snow- but personally I'm a lot less okay with dying. I've got a cute Guild gal to track down after this mess. And of course, I'm going to need my favorite wingman's help with that," Viper smirked, lightly punching Wes' pauldron. "That means you gotta survive this mess too. Same goes for you two. So if you ask me, 'go down swinging' isn't a part of the equation. We're gonna stomp Balestra, and the four of us are leaving Tanzia together."

Wes nodded and smiled, glancing upwards as the lift neared the top of the lighthouse. The platform abruptly came to a halt, followed by a few iron bars pushing into place to lock the platform into the penultimate floor. The four stepped off and advanced across the large room filled with supplies and fuel meant to keep the flames burning, circling around the giant furnace-like structure in the middle of the room as they headed for the staircase leading to the roof.

"Alright, this is it," Snow said, turning towards the team. "Let's give our employer one hell of a resignation."

The four began their ascent to the roof of the lighthouse, though midway up the stairs a powerful pressure came down on them, nearly forcing them back from its intensity. It took all their effort just to remain in place. Wes gritted his teeth and slowly reached a hand back for Datrys in spite of the droning headache the barrier was causing him. He gripped the handle and whipped the pure blade from the straps, and at once the blade illuminated itself with an intense white light while he swung it downwards. The edge cleaved through the barrier holding them in place, dispelling the dark aura and leading them to breath a collective sigh of relief before pushing onwards.

Stepping onto the roof of the structure, Wes noted that despite being much thinner than the base it was still several hundred feet across. A large indent in the center was dedicated to the fire, though it had ceased burning long before, only a trail of black smoke rising upwards from the indent being any indication that it had been ablaze at all. There wasn't much else at the top of the structure, save for a peculiar protrusion some distance between the stairs and the massive brazier. It looked like a podium or panel of sorts, with thirteen circular indentations in a wide circle on the surface. Each one was glowing with a fierce red light.

And standing just before the podium was a figure garbed in dark, blazing remains of a Guild uniform, the cloth long seared and shredded into a blazing cloak of black fire. The flames flickered and twisted over his body- his flesh had turned a sooty black color, with long lava-orange lines crisscrossing his torso and limbs, feeding into blazing red orbs in his hands, feet, and chest. Orange and red tendrils symmetrically crossed the man's face as well, his once crimson eyes were colored a smoldering yellow-orange, and his sclerae were a deep black, cracked with red veins. His black hair, normally swept back smoothly, was flared in jagged manner, framing his face with the long dark strands.

A dark flame-like aura swirled around him, darkening the space within and shrouding the figure in shadows, leaving the clearest details of his body to be the flaming orbs and lines from within.

"Team Storm. What a pleasant surprise." Balestra's voice echoed powerfully across the top of the platform. His tone was… invigorated. Renewed. Forceful and coarse, completely different from his usual stoicism. Each footstep he took left a charred print on the ground as he slowly advanced towards them. The very air seemed to burn around them, and both Frost and Snow's expressions hardened. Wes felt a cool trickle of sweat run down the side of his head, and the Dire Lord's gaze shifted towards him. "More surprisingly, Mr. Wes is here. I would have thought our last encounter had left you broken. Yet, here you stand."

"You can thank Ruby for that," he replied simply, drawing his second dual blade and leveling it towards the former Corps Head. "She's here too, y'know. Fighting against Miralis. Against you. Fancy that, Balestra. Even your own daughter has abandoned you. Still think this is all worth it?"

"…This power shall allow me to do what needs to be done." The Dire Lord's gaze shifted to the side then. "Snow and Frost. I'm almost impressed two murderous beasts like you made it out of Loc Lac as well. How many lives needed to be taken for that, I wonder?"

"Not a single one," Frost shot back. "Yours is all we need now."

"You may call us beasts, but we aren't the ones destroying the world!" his sister added in with a sweep of her hand. "The real monster here is you, Balestra!"

"Hmm. I wonder how many people would agree with that statement." The man's gaze then moved to Viper. "Do you, Mr. Viper? I recall you were enamored with the ideals of justice. Yet, you ally yourself with criminals and murderers."

"Yeah, to put down a megalomaniac that's currently channeling the devil itself to end the world. Seriously, you're gonna try arguing justice with me now?"

"I see that young Wes didn't explain my reasons to you all. I suppose it matters little. I shall save this world from the evils of mankind that plague it. Opposing me now is foolish- so long as my life force is linked to Dire Miralis', I cannot die." The man flexed his hand then, a blazing dark flame building up around his fist. "None of you can even scratch me. You must have already seen the devastation I am capable of. To you, I might as well be an immortal god."

"Really? I find that hard to believe," the dual blade wielder replied, bending his knees and activating Sprit Mode, wreathing himself in the white aura. Cryfder and Datrys' blades seemed to glow even more brightly. The sound of the rest of his allies drawing their weapons followed. "Let's test that theory."

Balestra eyed the four of them, and the glowing spheres on his hands brightened- a moment later, a large flaming hammer materialized in his grasp from a burst of flames, its head swirling like the core of a volcano. "Hmm. At the very least, this shall be an excellent test for my new capabilities. Let us begin, Team Storm."


"York, move in!"

The hunter gritted his teeth and pressed the throttle down as far as it would go. The roar of the strider's engine drowned out some of the noise of the vessel tearing across the sea towards Dire Miralis, spraying water to either side as it rapidly picked up speed. Were it any other circumstance, he might've been having fun with the thing. Keeping a hand on the throttle, York reached down and pulled his pure blade from its sheath as he narrowed his eyes on the various molten orbs spewing from the dark dragon's wings. He swerved gradually to avoid the first, the cut the throttle and turned sharply to the side to evade a second and third before resuming his approach, leaning far to the side as he neared Miralis' shoulder. The heat of the air intensified the closer he got, though he didn't allow that to deter him.

A shout preceded him slashing the shining blade across the beast's arm, and a massive pulse of white energy spread outwardly from the point of contact, consuming the dragon's dark barrier and removing it entirely. The blade cut into the beast's arm shallowly as well, though the massive creature hardly seemed to pay any mind as it continued its slow gait towards the beach. It was as though the beast was in a trance though, as it hadn't even attempted to attack beyond spewing globs of magma. Better for them at least- York swiftly sheathed his sword as he sped away from the dragon and brought his hand to his earpiece.

"Alright, all clear!"

It took only a few seconds Hugh and Zephyr to relay his words, and for countless booms to echo within the cove. The two Guild warships had circled to either side of the dragon and fired every shot they had loaded, catching the dragon in between two waves of explosive cannonballs. The resulting blasts echoed even louder than the cannons themselves, rocking the waves below from the force of dozens of bursts of anti-dragon shot. Dire Miralis even momentarily halted from the assault, growling in pain and reeling slightly before shaking its head and turning towards one of the ships, its attention diverted at last.

A glow began to emanate from the dragon's jaws as flames built up in its maw, but before an attack could be launched the second ship fired a large volley of heavy bolts at the beast. Despite lacking the raw power of the cannons, the shots were more focused, slamming into Miralis' head and wings and making the dragon wince before slowly shifting its head back towards the offending ship. It slowly began to turn towards the vessel, spewing more molten orbs as it roared and lurched back in preparation for a body slam, revealing a large portion of its abdomen as it rose further from the waves.

The loud clunks of the ballista binders firing from Hugh's ship sounded then, and several massive spikes tied to thick cords launched forth from the vessel, each one finding its mark in the dragon's body. The binders immediately pulled taut, and before Miralis could collapse on Zephyr's ship the dragon found itself partially held back by the weight of the ship behind it, staggering slightly to the side to avoid being thrown off balance further. The beast craned its head back in an effort to get a better look at the warship- and likely blast it with a fireball- but had a hard time doing so at that angle. The ship lurched heavily to the side when the dragon recovered and pulled away, immediately yanking the binders from its body and turning towards the ship fully. The air around it was already beginning to darken from its aura as the barrier reformed, deflecting a couple ballista shots as it did.

York immediately pulled the throttle and launched towards Dire Miralis, drawing his blade once again. Miralis had taken to launching fireballs at Hugh's warship, though the vessel had already begun moving again, narrowly avoiding the first and second shots that exploded in the waves behind it. Fortunately this left it wide open for York to circle around towards it. The hunter held his arm far out to the side as he swung, holding the blade there and carving a long line across its abdomen, dispelling the barrier again.

Miralis seemed nonplussed by the disappearance of its barrier, though, simply preparing to launch another fireball at Hugh's ship, only to meet with a volley from the long sword user's warship. The cannonballs slammed into the dire dragon's back, neck, and head, filling the cove with the sound of echoing blasts and a roar of pain. The beast took a large step, sending a huge wake rippling across the sea as it shifted so suddenly. It immediately shifted to look towards Zephyr's ship, glowering furiously at the vessel.

And with that shift came a massive appendage from beneath the waves. The creature's tail emerged from the water as it turned, crashing into the side of the ship Hugh was on with enough force to crack and dent the wood and metal plating on the vessel, as well as rock the ship dangerously, throwing a few men from the deck in the process.

"Hugh! You alright?!"

"Big blow, but we'll manage from the sound of it," the great sword user's voice sounded a moment later. "No time to worry about that anyways! Can't let this bastard get closer to the beach 'till Ruby says so!"

"We're about as good as we can be at the moment!" Ruby's voice crackled over the communicator, the sounds of combat accompanying it. "Sabrina says we've got a working dragonator on that wrecked ship, and it gave me a good idea! Try and force it towards that ship!"

"Alrighty then! Time to fire again, boys!"

Shots launched from the side of the vessel and crashed against Miralis once again, and the dragon let out a frustrated roar as the anti-dragon shells burst against it in dozens of fiery explosions. The barrage continued for almost half a minute, and even with its size Miralis staggered back another pace from the repeated blasts striking it.

Almost the second the last shot had struck, though, Miralis turned sharply towards the vessel- almost impressively fast, frankly- and more orbs spewed from the dragon's wings as it reared its head back and let out a resounding roar, this one strong enough to envelop the whole bay in its ferocity. York even found himself forcing a hand over an ear from the intensity of the dragon's cry.

As he watched, the 'orbs' of lava circling the various points of its body began to glow intensely, as did the streaks lining its body. Some even seemed to overflow, covering the dragon's body in veins of lava that spider webbed across its body. More and more globs of fire began to spew from the wings and into the sky above, raining dozens and dozens of projectiles down on the bay and the beach. York grimaced and swerved the strider to evade the falling globs, wincing as he was still assaulted by sprays of boiling hot water from near misses. It took all of his effort and attention to dodge out of the falling meteors, and by the time the rain of deathly flames ceased, he turned and looked back to find that both Hugh and Zephyr's ships had sustained more than a little damage. Hugh's had actually made it out with a few scorches and a currently-flaming sail, along with a few blackened splotches on the hull, but Zephyr's ship had been struck badly, taking a number of hits from above that set much of the deck ablaze and completely destroyed two masts.

"Zephyr! Zephyr, what's your status?! C'mon, answer me!" Hugh roared into the mic. It took several moments, but the long sword user's voice sounded.

"Not… not good. There's no way to… put this out…" he gasped with heavy, strained wheezes. He hadn't escaped injury, and from the sounds of it, he was not in good shape. "This ship'll be going down soon…"

"Gah! Bring it to land and get everyone still alive offboard!" Ruby ordered frantically. "Get away from Miralis!"

"Not much of a wheel left… or a crew…" he gasped, clearly in pain from some injuries. It sounded as though he was moving about, but considering the state of the ship he was on, that was hard to tell. "Lost my arm too…"

"Blast… just hold on, I'll be right there!" York grunted, immediately angling the strider towards the Guild ship as the large vessel drifted towards Dire Miralis. The dragon had shifted its attention from the blazing warship towards Hugh's, and was turning to face the vessel as it circled to the left towards the shore. While the ship wasn't in danger of Miralis' directed attacks, it was still almost on the complete other side of the bay from where York was…

"No… York, keep away from here. I've got… one last plan. The bastard already… lit the fuse himself, so it'd be a shame… not to take advantage of the opportunity…"

"Wait, don't-! York, stop him!"

Even at the other's urging, there was little more York could do than watch as a few binders shot from the deck of the ship, striking either of Miralis' shoulders and digging into the glowing magma-like cores. The thick metal cords tied to the projectiles drew taut, though the mechanisms didn't stop cranking the line, dragging the ship towards the dark beast. It screeched as the ship caused it to stumble forwards, though the beast soon recovered and turned its head towards the groaning, flaming vessel. A large glow began to build up in its maw as the vessel neared it, but before it could launch another fireball a loud metallic chunk sounded from beneath the prow, followed by the whirring of gears. A moment later, the large spiked dragonator shot out like a massive drill, boring directly into Miralis' abdomen with a sickening noise of steel rending through flesh. The dragon let out a truly agonized roar then- before it had simply sounded irritated or annoyed, angered at worst, but this high-pitched screech was absolute pain. The ship pressed up against the beast as the spike began to retract from the large wound it had left in Miralis' abdomen, and the beast's pained roar died down as its hatred-filled gaze returned to the ship that had wounded it so. Already a deadly blaze was growing within its maw anew.

"Right where I need to be. York, Hugh, please… tell Kylie and Iliana that my last thoughts are of them. Thank you…"

"Zephyr, wait! ZEPHYR!"

York's eye widened just before the vessel completely exploded, sending a massive shockwave in all directions as a huge fiery blast first engulfed the entire front end of the vessel before spreading outwards, completely obliterating the entire ship. The concussive force of the explosion carved a temporary crater into the sea, assaulting Miralis with the force of every last anti-dragon explosive on the ship simultaneously. York barely even finished registering what Zephyr had just done when the massive wave the blast kicked up came rolling towards him. The great wall of water crashed over him, nearly throwing him off of the vessel and forcing him to hold on for dear life as the strider rocked heavily. The water singed his exposed skin and stung at the cuts in his flesh, though fortunately it didn't seem like the wave had taken any of his gear. He wiped his face clear with a grimace and shook his head turned once in either direction before swerving around completely, his eye settling on the shape of Dire Miralis.

Zephyr's ship was no more than flaming planks of wood and cloth now from what he could see. After a blast like that, it was lucky there even was anything left of it. As for Miralis itself, though, a positively horrendous chunk had been blown out of its torso and neck. Flesh and bone were visible through the wound, and the dragon stood silently in the waves as the gaping visceral cavity pulsed and oozed blood into the sea. It was potentially the worst wound York had ever seen inflicted on a monster.

Yet as he watched, the wound was growing smaller. Bone seemed to reform, muscles began to pull over and skin expanded over that. It was a slow process given the size of the wound, but it would only take a few minutes for that to heal at this rate. Miralis let out a short, furious snarl as its eyes blazed, and it angled its head towards the shoreline. While the beast didn't move, it certainly looked as though it knew where it wanted to go now. It slowly began to turn its whole body towards the beach, though a loud echoing boom sounded from the top of the lighthouse, and the beast let out another agonized roar, staggering heavily to the side but somehow remaining on its feet.

"What just happened out there?! Anyone, give me your status!"

"Still kicking, lady!" York coughed into his communicator, giving his vessel a quick look over. It was definitely beat up, but it was still running at the very least. "Zephyr… that blast was his ship. He detonated the anti-dragon bombs."

"Dammit, so he's… The bomb compartment must have been compromised. All things considered, that was the best course of action for a doomed ship. Practical right up to the end… alright, Hugh, how's your ship doing?"

"It… ain't too good. That wave slammed us hard. Put out the fires, but we lost more crew, and the port side hit a big boulder. Captain says we're probably taking on water. Bombs aren't in any danger though."

"Alright, get back to shore. Save anyone you can. The waterfront just won't hold out, so we'll need to bolster our strength here. Toss out your ship's anti-dragon bombs on the way- we can blast them from a safe distance."

"Gotcha…"

"York, try and attack it while it's still healing. Keep that barrier down as long as possible. Once Hugh comes ashore, get out of there and we'll set the bombs off."

York grunted in response and shot towards the dragon once more. The dark barrier was forming around it again by then, leaving it shrouded in a dark flaming cloud to silhouette its shape. The great sword user's vessel sailed towards the shoreline while a number of barrels were launched from hatches in the stern into the sea behind it, slowly drifting towards Dire Miralis while the dragon continued to recover from its wound. It took some time, but the hunter soon neared the dragon, reaching for his katana as he did. A short flash of light from his chest stopped him though.

His mother's dagger had briefly lit up. It hadn't done so before, not like it just had… He narrowed his eyes before reaching towards the shorter blade instead, drawing it from the sheath on his chest. The dragon's chest wound had already healed over almost entirely, though the fact that it was still open gave the one-eyed hunter an idea. Drawing the strider nearby, York first took a swipe at the barrier surrounding the dragon, cleaving it away just as he had before. Miralis let out a frustrated growl, finally acknowledging the loss of its barrier, and began to shift its head down towards him, but the hunter had already settled on his course.

Activating Spirit Mode once more, York bounded from the strider high into the air, almost level with the mostly-healed hole in the dark dragon's chest. He took the brief moment he had to aim before whipping the short pure blade towards the wound. The blade spun rapidly before burying itself into the wound sharp end first. Miralis let out a confused roar and stepped back, reaching an arm towards the gaping hole in its torso. The wound finished healing over right before it did, though, sealing the short pure blade inside its body. York grinned as he began to drop back towards the sea below- leaving the blade embedded within the dragon might permanently keep its barrier down, maybe even weaken the beast further if it worked the way he hoped. He landed hard on the strider, groaning from the impact before allowing the white aura to dissipate and shooting off away from the beast. The new hazards to avoid were the many bombs floating in the water around him now, though.

By then Hugh's ship had already run ashore, and those on board were hurrying to get off. One of the gunners fired a shot at the nearest bomb in the sea as York left the blast radius, blasting it and causing a chain reaction of explosions that trailed up to the larger collection floating around Miralis' body, lighting up the anti-dragon explosives and assaulting the beast from all sides with powerful ruptures of fire and elementally-charged gunpowder. Miralis screeched painfully, whipping its head to the side before stumbling and collapsing into the sea, kicking up a massive splash as it disappeared under the crimson waves.

"That one was for Zephyr!" Hugh snarled over the communicator. "We'll keep blastin' ya until we send you back to hell, you damn overgrown lizard!"

York couldn't quite blame Hugh for his tone, though he still chided him briefly before explaining to the others what he had done. There was no way Miralis was dead, so they couldn't celebrate yet. The hunter grimaced as he continued to shoot towards the shoreline- their numbers had dropped substantially from the looks of it. More golems had appeared and attacked, and while he doubted a single one of them was a match for the average high rank hunter, the fact that they just kept coming meant they could overwhelm just through sheer force of numbers. On top of the balls of fire raining from the sky, there was no way they could keep holding out under this assault.

A surge of water just before the beach caused the hunter to gasp in shock though. Miralis burst forth from beneath the waves with a terrible screech, spraying water and globs of fire in all directions towards the beach before slamming its claws onto the waterfront, crushing several hunters and golems in the process and striking several more with the raining projectiles. The wave of water washed onto the beach and crashed against the legs of the hunters, toppling some of them but also completely devastating the sand-bodied creatures they were fighting, clearing them out without ceremony.

How had it moved that fast?! York was still almost a hundred feet out! The dragon turned its head towards the vessel Hugh had been on, charged up a large flaming orb in its mouth, then fired the blast at the warship. The ship didn't even stand a chance, almost immediately being blown to flaming chunks of debris that spewed across the beachfront. It was fortunate Hugh and the crew had already evacuated, but that show of raw power had clearly shaken the hunters onshore. Some even fled in terror. The dragon lifted one of its arms and made to swipe towards the hunters on the beach, intending to clear away the whole lot of them. A collective cry of fear erupted from the hunters as the dragon's limb came towards them, but one figure rushed forwards with great sword in hand, letting out a roar even more powerful than the terrified shouts as he swept the massive blade into a guard stance, streaming bursts of fire spewing from the openings in his armor.

The limb slammed into the flat of the blade, yet he wasn't sent flying. His feet dug into the sand as he was pushed back by the weight and momentum of the attack, but he remained grounded, snarling viciously as he pressed back against the limb with some assistance from the flaming jets augmenting his efforts. Through sheer physical strength he held back Miralis's limb from striking the group.

"What the HELL are you all doing?!" Hugh shouted, gritting his teeth as he continued to push against the beast's limb with everything he had. York winced at the ferocity of his tone coming through his earpiece. "Running… won't get you anywhere now! Aren't you all fighting for something here?! Then FIGHT! We CAN DO THIS!"

The great sword user grunted in pain as Miralis continued to press against his weapon, growling in frustration at the hunter's tenacious resilience. Slowly he was being pushed back further and further, down to his knees as Miralis shifted its weight down on him instead. The jets of flames were spewing against the sand below by then, searing the grains into glass. York was almost to shore then, panic starting to grip at his chest. He had to get there now! He had to-

"FIGHT!"

That shout was the last one to leave the great sword user's lips before he finally buckled and was crushed beneath Dire Miralis' weight, a resounding thoom sounding across the beach as its massive claw came crashing down. The beast let out a triumphant roar before lifting its blood-stained limb again, and once more Dire Miralis attempted to swat the hunters away. York leapt from the side of the strider as it hit the beach, rolling and pushing himself up as he raced towards the dragon, preparing to activate Spirit Mode. A bright, blazing flash emitted from somewhere in the crowd though, momentarily diverting his attention as another figure charged forwards.

"That's ENOUGH!"

Ruby's voice echoed powerfully as she raced from the crowd with hammer at the ready, the head of her weapon engulfed in a swirling orange and red light. The huntress roared and swung the weapon to meet Miralis' limb, an act that would have been completely suicidal… had a massive blast of energy not erupted from the weapon with enough force to not only force Dire Miralis' arm back, but to make the beast roar in pain and stagger to the side, nearly toppling over once again as it pulled away from the beach. A wave of yellow-orange energy erupted outwards from the blast, momentarily bathing the area in a vibrant glow. York let out a short grunt as the energy washed over him, gasping in surprise as he felt the cuts on his body close, the aches wracking his muscles and bones dissipate. Everything save for the old wounds and scars on his body disappeared. He almost felt like he was back at peak condition!

As he watched, many other hunters on the beachfront too were healed by the pulse of energy. Any that hadn't outright been killed rose to their feet with renewed vigor and repaired bodies, looking over their once-bleeding wounds with expressions of awe and confusion. Even Ruby herself seemed surprised, looking over her weapon with for a brief moment before collecting herself and turning towards the hunters.

"We have reasons to fight this monstrosity, don't we?! People and homes we wish to protect! So what if it seems hopeless?! You saw what Hugh just did for us! He was one man! If he could do that, then together we can crush this bastard! Don't let impossible odds stay impossible!"

The huntress raised her hammer above her head then, and the former cries of fear and terror were replaced with rallying cries of triumph and renewed resolve. In spite of their losses, in spite of the overwhelming threat Dire Miralis presented, the hunters had remembered what they were fighting for now. Even York spared a smile at the huntress' speech before turning his attention towards the dark dragon once more. The beast had by then recovered from Ruby's attack and was once more approaching the beach to begin its assault again, though this time the hunters charged to meet it head on, fear cast away altogether.

As he was about to act himself, though, York felt a strange sensation from his pouch. The hunter reached back and sifted a few bottles and whetstones aside before his hand settled on the Mark of the Oath. The crystalline stone glowed gently in his palm as he pulled it from the bag. Just in his hand he could feel an immense power from within.

Of course… Mother, this is your doing, isn't it? If we use the Mark, we can seal it away again, York thought, glancing towards the dragon's chest. He thought he could barely make out the glow of the dagger within its chest, and a constant white pulse was enveloping its body now, preventing the dark barrier from returning. He concentrated on the Mark, and the two apparitions of his parents formed beside him, though Elena's was flickering noticeably and lacked its weapon.

"Can you prepare the… whatever needs to be done to seal this thing?" he asked, turning towards the two apparitions. Though they did not speak, a slow nod from both affirmed his question, and the hunter turned the stone over to Elena. He nodded towards the taller one, then rushed forwards to rejoin the fray.

Hugh, Zephyr, I'll make sure this bastard never bothers anyone again. So… wish me luck.


Rapid, resounding clashes of blades and stones reverberated across the top of Tanzia's lighthouse as Wes traded blows with Balestra. The former Corps Head now wielded two flaming blades in either hand that had sprouted forth from 'orbs' clutched within what looked to be draconic talons, his hammer having been shattered from a particularly powerful blow from Frost. Sparks flew like shooting stars and tongues of fire licked at the air around them, the intensity of their duel matched only by the sweltering heat of the atmosphere and the brightness of the white aura surrounding Wes.

The young hunter let out a fierce shout as he turned and leapt into the air, slashing Cryfder and Datrys downwards at Balestra's shoulder. The blades cleaved through the air with a resounding hum, only to once more be met with the fiery orange weapons his foe wielded. The force behind the blow still managed to make Balestra stagger back a pace, two noticeable white cracks splitting his right-hand weapon where Wes' blades struck. Wes landed and pressed after the man, thrusting towards Balestra's abdomen with his left-hand sword.

His foe's reaction was quick, though. Balestra swept his right weapon up, batting Wes' attack aside before punching at him with his left hand blade.

Duck, slash low!

The hunter reacted almost as soon as Silver's voice echoed in his mind, darting just under the attack, wincing slightly at the intense heat the weapon gave off. Unabated, he rushed forwards, dragging his twin falchions across Baletra's side and cutting straight through his malefic aura as he spiraled past, cleaving away the dark barrier enshrouding him. The hunter landed with a roll and slid to a stop, turning sharply to face Balestra.

"Now us!"

Snow and Frost darted past Wes on either side, weapons at hand. The Hybrid twins rushed Balestra while his guard was down and attempted to strike him together, their weapons carving deeply into his flesh though not drawing blood. Each landed two more swings before Balestra forced them both back with a fiery sweep of one of his swords, snarling angrily at their assault.

Frost hit the ground first, rushing towards Balestra once more and slashing his long sword up across Balestra's torso. The edge ground against the man's blade, though, merely carving a long blue line through its side. Gripping his blade with both hands, Frost let out a furious roar and cleaved downwards with his sword, this time aiming for his opponent's head.

Balestra quickly raised an arm in defense, though, catching the blade on the side of a hardened magma gauntlet that had suddenly formed over the limb. The blade clanged against the plating, making Blaestra barely shudder from effort. Undeterred, Frost grated the blade against his foe's arm and freed it for a second and a third swing, both similarly met with a solid defense from Balestra's arm or weapons. The electric blue sword caught on one of the spires on the Corps Head's sword after another strike, and the hellfire-wreathed man quickly drew his arm back, causing Frost to stagger forwards a pace with his guard wide open. Before he could make good on the opening, Snow rushed to her brother's aid, vaulting into the air and slamming the tip of her sword into Balestra's chest with a powerful flying lunge, sending the Corps Head stumbling back a couple paces.

She landed deftly and pressed the attack, darting forwards with a quick sweep of her freezing weapon. A trail of ice coated the ground near the blade as she swung upwards, slamming the edge into Balestra's right hand sword. The weapons met with a terrible hiss of cold steel against blazing hot, sending a small burst of steam into the air just before Snow pulled her weapon back and made for another swipe at the man's head, a strike similarly blocked with a vertical guard. With a short snarl, the Hybrid spun to the side and swept her hand over the ground, freezing the ground under Balestra's feet solid and coating his greaves with a cool blue layer of ice.

Almost immediately, though, the ice melted away and shattered due to the intense heat, leaving the Corps Head completely uninhibited. In place of the ice, two thick boots formed over his legs, matching the gauntlets in appearance like freshly cooled lava of a reddish-purple hue with symmetric extrusions of lava flowing through them, large elbow and knee protrusions like tiny volcanos, and glowing claws at the fingers and toes.

He let out a short, amused grunt before swinging one of his blazing weapons down at her with a powerful overhand swing, which Snow was in poor form to guard or dodge. Frost was there far before Balestra's attack, however. He caught the strike with his own sword, causing a flash of bright blue electricity to spark from the blade as he turned, throwing Balestra's weapon to the side and delivering a powerful upwards diagonal two-handed strike to the Corps Head's torso, scraping a noticeable gash into his body. He allowed the momentum of the swing to carry him up into the air, and he switched his weapon into a reverse grip as he fell, slamming the blade into Balestra's chest perpendicular to the previous as he landed. The blow carried enough force behind it to send Balestra skidding back several paces with a frustrated grunt.

The twins were about to press the attack again when Balestra's malefic aura enshrouded him once more, and the various gashes and cuts in his body glowed intensely before sealing themselves shut. A thick barrier of armored magma formed over his chest and waist then, forming a complete suit of dark armor like the golems they had fought before, only broader and more intricate. Red cracks ran across the wide chestplate from the swirling lava-like orb in the middle of his chest, up the large spiked pauldrons and down over his abdomen. Long, hardened lava plate faulds formed over his upper legs as well.

"Can you scratch me now, I wonder?" he mused as a helm with two curved horns formed over his head, a lava flow in each running down to the deep blazing eye slits just beneath the crest of obsidian. The searing red trails glowed brightly as Balestra's grip on his two weapons tightened, causing them to flare up intensely.

"Let's find out!" Wes shouted, vaulting over the Hybrids with his Spirit Mode-enhanced strength. He rushed forwards with a slash aimed at Balestra's chest, a blow the Dire Lord caught with both of his swords. The hunter grunted and pulled back before taking another two swings at either side of Balestra, though the man stepped back and brought his swords around to block the attacks and lock the two of them in place.

"These swords of yours… pure blades, yes? I had believed your father's to be the only ones left."

"Surprise surprise, you believed wrong. Care to see what makes mine different?"

Wes pulled Cryfder and Datrys' triggers then, engulfing his foe in a blast of pure energy while simultaneously breaking their lock, shattering Balestra's blazing obsidian swords, and blowing away the man's aura all at once. The blast sent Wes rocketing back through the air, though he flipped over to right himself, skidding back as he landed. Balestra let out a short howl as he staggered out of the blast, his armor showing a number of cracks and splits from Wes' attack already.

"Frost! Together!" Snow shouted, tightening her grip on her blade as she rushed their opponent once again. Frost followed barely a step behind her, and she pulled her arm back as if to lunge for Balestra again. The man raised an arm in preparation for the attack, but Snow stopped short with a feint: Frost darted around her and batted Balestra's arm to the side and slammed the pommel of his sword into Balestra's face plate.

Snow leapt forwards just as her brother swung downwards, matching his swing with her own as they stood beside one another. Their blades grated against the man's armor without doing much damage, though a few bits of the hardened shell fractured off from the force of the strikes. Undeterred, the twins struck once again with upwards diagonal strikes, the paths of their blades missing each other by a hair's breath. A third and fourth strike followed, each slash matching the others with flawless synchronization. The twins finished their combined assault by twisting around each other to build momentum, bringing both of their blades down onto Balestra's shoulders with enough force to cut several inches into his armor. The twins briefly nodded to each other and drew an arm back; Frost's glowed with small bolts of electricity, while Snow's was shrouded with an icy mist. The Hybrids slammed their fists into Balestra's chest, assaulting him with a powerful blast of two elements and freeing both of their weapons from his shoulders.

In spite of that, though, Balestra barely even staggered. He simply let out an angered snarl and swiped at the pair with a flaming backhand punch that summoned a wave of fire behind it, causing both Barioth Hybrids to hiss in pain at the heat. They backpedalled to a stop a few yards away, but Balestra pursued them, summoning another heavy blade to bring down towards Snow. She darted to the side in time to dodge the slash, and the blade split into the ground she stood on a second earlier with a small rush of flames, but she still lunged for the man's side with her spiked blade. It glanced off his armor just like before, though.

While his attention was on her, though, Balestra failed to see Frost sheath his sword, only turning towards the tall Hybrid as the sound of the quickdraw firing filled the air. He brought his blade up in an effort to block, but the sheer force of the swing carried it through the flaming blade and into Balestra's torso, sending him flying almost twenty feet back with a sword half as large as it had been before.

"Viper! Now!" Snow called. The archer smirked lightly, a single glowing green bolt strung on his bow. While he had but one bolt nocked, though, he had spent the last several minutes racing around the lighthouse's peak, summoning countless bolts into the air as he went. Now, a deep green glow had covered the entire area as the bolts hung in the air by Viper's command. Each and every one was leveled at Balestra as the man began to push himself up. He grunted in realization, though before he raised his arms to summon anything to defend himself the Dire Lord suddenly wretched and let out an agonized shout. A moment later the echo of a massive explosion reached their ears like rolling thunder, but they didn't divert their attention from their foe.

"Here comes the storm."

The short twang of Viper's bowstring preceded a vicious rain of green bolts from all directions. All at once the shots rained onto Balestra, skewering and impaling him into the floor. Still the bolts came, pinning him to the floor and shattering the stones around him as the bolts continued to rain down on and around the Dire Lord once the last of the bolts finally embedded itself into the slab, bathing the entire section in a harsh green glow, Viper took a step forward, lifted an arm, and snapped his fingers, causing every bolt to explode into shards of green energy. A loud rumble echoed across the lighthouse from the force of the blast, and several deep cracks split through the stone outwards from the deep crater blown into the floor. In the distance, the sound of an agonized draconic roar could be heard.

The four kept their eyes trained on the crater as an ominous quiet swept over the peak of the spire. Nothing but rubble was visible in the crater, and the entire section was thoroughly devastated by Viper's astral bolts, yet…

One of the stones shifted a moment later, and a black armored limb shot forth from the pile immediately after. The rest of Balestra's body followed after, his armor whole, his figure wreathed in dark blazing flames.

"Did I not say so before? To you, I might as well be an immortal god. I. Cannot. Die." The Dire Lord strode out of the crater towards the team, flames surrounded his right arm as he held it out to his side. A moment later a long, molten black spear formed in his hand, becoming wreathed in flames hardly a second after Balestra gripped it. "There is no victory for you. No hope of succeeding. There are no prophecies of heroes slaying this beast, no legends and myths of its inevitable downfall. There is NOTHING that can stop me. Even still, you all refuse to see how fruitless your efforts are. Admirable, but quite foolish. Had you any sense you would lay your weapons down now. I could promise you a swift end then."

Frost rushed forwards then, slashing his blade downwards at Balestra. The Dire Lord spun his spear around into a defensive position just in time to catch the blade, locking them in place as thunder element danced across the Hybrid's weapon, zapping at the flames the Corps Head's lance was giving off.

"Call it senseless. If I fall, it won't be from surrendering," the Hybrid scowled, pressing against his opponent's weapon and forcing Balestra back a step. In spite of the vicious tone the long sword user spoke with, Wes thought he could sense a hint of delight there as well.

"Very well, then you shall die like a beast come to a slaughter!" Balestra retorted, the red lines of his armor blazing ferociously. Frost staggered back as Balestra attempted to strike him with his polearm, grunting in surprise as his arms were thrown upwards by his foe's immense strength. Before Balestra could act on the opening, though, Viper fired an arrow into his back and detonated it. As Balestra growled in confusion at the surprise attack, Snow vaulted into the fray, leaping over her brother with a midair somersault as she brought her ice-encased blade down on Balestra.

"Not while I have anything to say about it!" The edge carved a thin line in his armor as she landed, and she swiftly struck him twice more before forcing him back with a forceful thrust. It was strange… before her weapon hadn't been able to pierce the man's malefic aura, but with the magic-infused ice blade covering it, now it was seemingly forcing through the barrier.

Balestra shot an arm up before she pulled her blade free, though, and the Corps Head shattered the ice covering her weapon with an overhand blow. He launched forwards, closing the distance in just a second to throw a flaming punch at the Hybrid. While she got her shield up in time to defend, the force behind the blow turned her about with a surprised yelp, just barely able to block a follow up strike that sent her flying back several yards. She turned over in midair before hitting the floor, digging the tip of her sword into the ground to act as a brake. Balestra made to press after her, though he halted and growled in frustration as another echoing boom sounded from the beachfront. A moment after, a bolt from Viper struck him in the leg and pierced through the limb, sticking into the ground and pinning him in place. Two more shots followed, the bolts had little trouble in punching through the barrier as well; one pierced his chest while the other burst against the shaft of the Dire Lord's weapon, shattering the lance into tiny pieces.

"Looks like we can still hurtcha even with that dumb fire shield! Just takes a little magic!" the archer grinned, drawing another arrow and launching it at the Dire Lord. Balestra turned and batted the projectile away immediately, smashing the ones embedded in his body in the process and turning to glare at the raven-haired man through his obsidian helm.

"Inconsequential. The inevitable can only be delayed so long. You can harm this body as much as you wish, but so long as Dire Miralis exists on this plane, you will never be able to destroy me. And pain is a feeling I am long accustomed to…"

"Then you won't mind hurting a little more!" Wes shouted, leaping into the air and slashing his twin blades at the Dire Lord. Balestra ducked to the side and swung a flame-engulfed arm towards the dual blade wielder, an attack Wes only evaded by leaning as far back as he could without toppling over, his hand almost touching the ground. Balestra then kicked at him, though Wes rolled over to the side in time to evade that attack as well.

Watch it, watch it!

He returned his gaze to Balestra just as the former Corps Head leapt into the air, both arms held high above his head. The hunter gritted his teeth and pushed himself to the side, cartwheeling out of the way of the oncoming strike. Balestra stuck the floor with enough force to split a long, twenty-foot crack through the tower's peak, as well as send a huge shockwave out in all directions. Wes himself was thrown further back by the force of the wave, slamming into the ground and bouncing into the air slightly before quickly flipping over and landing on all fours, sliding to a stop a short distance from Viper.

As the Dire Lord pushed himself upright, Frost rushed in to take the dual blade wielder's place, slashing his long sword at the Corps Head twice. Both times, Balestra blocked the attacks with his armored forearms -the lightning element coursing through the blade seemed to be bolstered by Frost's own power to let him strike through Balestra's barrier- though he allowed Frost to strike him across the abdomen to catch the Hybrid with a rising knee to the face. He wound up and slammed his fist into Frost's chest with a burst of flames, sending the Hybrid flying almost ten yards back with a pained howl. He hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop, grimacing as he clutched at the seared mark on his chest: the blow had cracked the plates on his torso and burned through some of his coat, leaving a painful-looking burn on his chest.

While her brother recovered, Snow powered her way inside of Balestra's guard and repeatedly bashed the spiked handguard of her weapon against his helm, froze her shield into a large claw-shaped limb and raked the weapon up Balestra's body with a ferocious shout. Balestra threw a blazing uppercut at the oncoming attack, though, shattering the encasing as easily as glass. Snow stumbled back several paces as Balestra then summoned a large switch axe-like weapon to his hands and swung the weapon towards her.

Snow darted under the attack just in time to dodge, leaping back swiftly as Balestra then delivered a powerful overhand slash at her. The Hybrid landed a few yards in front of her brother with a short huff, raising her weapon towards the man in defense of her injured sibling as Balestra pried his flaming weapon from the ground. Wes rushed in while Balestra's attention was on the Hybrids, though the man swiftly turned towards him when he approached.

"Yield!" the Dire Lord roared, throwing an arm up towards the hunter. Wes grunted in shock and halted in anticipation of an attack of some sort, but the worst he felt was a little buzz in his head. The others all glanced between one another as well- had they felt it too?

Silver?

He was trying to brainwash you. Unfortunately for him most of that power is dedicated to his bond with Miralis- he's not gonna be turning any of you on each other anytime soon.

Wes narrowed his eyes and resumed his attack, racing towards the Dire Lord and clashing one of his blades against the handle of his axe. A shower of sparks erupted from where the weapons met, and the hunter pressed onwards into a rapid assault of swings, some chipping away at the weapon itself while other strikes from Cryfder and Datrys scrapped past and struck Balestra directly, tearing away his barrier in the process, then delivered a powerful somersaulting double slash to Balestra's chest, sending him skidding back almost two yards. Balestra let out a frustrated grunt as he readied himself to attack again, but a bolt from Viper's bow slammed into the head of the axe and blasted the weapon into pieces, opening his guard wide just as Wes rushed in again.

"Come on, dance with me!" Wes shouted, leaping into a spinning aerial assault that cleaved nearly half a dozen cuts into the Dire Lord's armor before he landed and turned, slashing Balestra across the chest twice with Cryfder, then twice again with Datrys. His second slash with the left hand sword turned into a full rotation, and the hunter added the other twin blade to the next attack, carving both falchions deeply into Balestra's chest. Two more alternating slashes from both followed, and with a powerful roar he swiped both blades upwards, carrying the Dire Lord a couple yards up into the air with him as the hunter flipped. He let out one more shout and slashed Cryfder and Datrys across the former Corps Head's body in a cross shape, launching him back towards the ground below with a frustrated howl. Wes dropped to the ground below while Balestra turned over and skidded to a halt. He rose to his feet as Wes shot towards him again, and another weapon blazed into existence in his grasp- the sword form of the switch axe-like weapon they had just demolished. Balestra hefted the weapon in preparation of the hunter's approach, but Viper vaulted in from the side and shot an astral bolt into his leg, piercing through the limb completely and throwing him off balance. His opening clear, the hunter leapt into another spiral, flying over Balestra's shoulder and dragging both blades across the Dire Lord in the process. He landed and turned immediately, slashed four more times across Balestra's back and slammed his foot into the Dire Lord, sending him stumbling a few paces forwards. Wes immediately pressed after him, readying Cryfder and Datrys to run the man through. Viper was just at the edge of his vision, another bolt already flying at the man to stagger him.

Wait, don't!

Balestra turned swiftly just before Wes reached him, though, slashing his sword upwards at the hunter and cleaving Viper's shot in half all at once. Wes yelped and brought his blades up to block at Silver's warning, though the blow still broke his guard clean open, sending him staggering back and struggling to keep his grip on his weapons. Somehow he managed to not drop the twin blades, but as he glanced up at his foe his eyes widened when he saw a torrent of flames already bridging the distance between them. There wasn't even enough time to dodge.

The blaze was over in an instant, yet the pain it brought was far beyond anything he had ever experienced. The flames engulfed his torso, incinerating or blowing away his chest armor almost instantaneously and searing his entire upper body terribly. The blaze died out in only a few moments, leaving the blue- and green-eyed hunter standing with every layer of armor covering his torso and arms save the gauntlets completely gone, and the exposed flesh beneath burned horrendously. A few metallic clanks sounded behind him as the charred remnants of his breastplate and pauldrons hit the ground.

"My apologies Mr. Wes, but this dance is finished."

His eyes were wide with agony; the pain he felt drowned out practically everything else at the moment. Everything became quiet and still. He couldn't feel his body. He wasn't even sure how he was standing. The others were looking towards him with horrified expressions, yet he barely even half-registered that. A long, pained groan escaped his lips as a fresh, searing wave of visceral agony washing over him. The white aura shrouding him dimmed and flickered heavily, threatening to disappear entirely.

"Was that… my best…? I... I'm sorry... everyone..."

That was the last thought on his mind as his eyelids grew heavy, and Wes toppled backwards, his vision blurring out into darkness.


"NO!"

Balestra whipped around as Snow shot forth from where she had been tending Frost's wounds, everything else forgotten to her save for blind rage. The Hybrid crashed into him full force, a freezing, spiraling gale following behind her, and her icy blade embedded itself deeply in his arm before a blizzard completely engulfed the area around them, casting the once sweltering air into that of a freezing cold tundra. The Hybrid wrenched her blade free of the Dire Lord's arm before slamming it into him again and again, letting out furious shouts with each swing.

"How dare you! BASTARD!" she screamed, her icy-blue eyes having shifted into the deep crimson of rage mode, her once calm tone shifting to a gravelly and ferocious snarl. "You'll pay for what you did to him! I'll make you pay! Die, DIE!" Her assault continued until Balestra managed to force her off of him with his foot, though she landed deftly some three yards away. At once, razor sharp blades of ice formed in the air around her, and ice element began to course over her body such that her armor become covered it, some even forming over her face like cheek and chin guards. Her hair flared out into icicle-like points, billowing behind her dangerously in the frozen gale. "I'll rip your arms and legs off! I'll tear out your despicable heart! I won't stop until I've bled you across the whole fucking port! You will BEG to die for what you've done!"

"Ugh… such considerable strength," Balestra mused, glancing over the many deep gashes the enraged Hybrid left in his armor. "Were it still within the realm of possibility, I'd have little doubt you would make good on those threats."

Snow roared ferociously and charged towards the Dire Lord, launching her ice blades at the man with little other thought than to rip Balestra asunder. Many embedded themselves into his armor, while some deflected off and shattered into innumerable crystal shards like glass, and she leapt into the air with a vicious snarl, slamming her blade against his with so much strength a pulse of steam shot outwards around them, though neither budged an inch as sub-zero cold and infernal heat clashed in a deathly, unnatural union.

"You truly must have loved him. Worry not, soon you shall all see young Wes again."


"Dammit, c'mon Wes, c'mon! Stay with me!" Viper urged, dragging the dual blade wielder's body away from the freezing cloud that had formed around Snow and Balestra. Wes was still and unmoving, though his grip on the twin swords hadn't loosened. The only real indicator that he was still alive was the occasional light, raspy breath that escaped his lips. How long that would last was anyone's guess, though Viper's mind was already in a panic. Potions wouldn't heal this. No kind of medicine could fix this damage. Not in time to save Wes, at least. But he wouldn't accept that. They had to save him. "Frost, we have to do something!"

The Hybrid remained quiet in spite of Viper's pleas, though. His vision was focused on Wes, but quickly returned to the blizzard expanding and engulfing the peak of the lighthouse, to the sounds of intense fighting and furious screams and shouts within. It was nearly impossible for him to tell what was going on within. He couldn't hear nor see, let alone sense what was going on inside the maelstrom. Snow's energy was just too powerful and disruptive now that she was in her enraged state.

"Frost! I need help here!"

"Take Wes and go. I shall stay."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT! If we don't do something now, then…"

"There is nothing we can do, Viper. Nothing but continue fighting. We-"

His eyes shifted away from the archer when a terrible crunching sound reverberated across the platform. At once, the entire blizzard cloud vanished, and Frost's eyes widened at what he saw. Balestra was clutching a massive flaming bludgeon, the head of which was currently pressed into Snow's side, easily searing through the clawed, icy shell covering her shield and bending her arm at an extreme angle. Her blade was stuck several inches into his side, and there were a number of deep gashes in Balestra's armor, however...

"A good attempt, Ms. Snow. But not enough."

The head of Balestra's weapon exploded into flames then, and Snow was sent flying with an agonized scream, her sword leaving her grasp and clattering across the platform beside her as she hit the ground. Frost immediately rushed to stop her from sliding any farther, catching his sister in his arms and skidding to a halt.

"SNOW!" he yelled in panic, immediately turning his gaze to the wound she suffered. Her right arm was limp and broken, her shield crushed and seared, but that wasn't even the worst of it: the entire sleeve had been completely burned off, as had much of the side of her coat. Any pieces of armor that had been protecting her side was burned, shattered, or missing entirely. What flesh he could see was charred and burned terribly. The ice that had formed over her body was already melting away into a fine white mist.

"I-I… couldn't..." she gasped, grimacing in pain. "Couldn't... atone..."

"Don't apologize! Just stay conscious! STAY ALIVE!"

"T-the White Devil... show h-him... You don't have to... to worry... about me anymore... Frost…"

Frost's breathing quickened into a panic as Snow's eyes closed and her body went limp. She… she must have been unconscious...

Kill him!

She could still be saved. She needed treatment.

How dare he harm her!

He had to get her out of here. He...

Spill his blood! Destroy him! Tear him to pieces!

Frost felt his face contort into a vicious snarl. He felt his mind losing itself to his rage. But he couldn't lose himself. Not yet. Not until…

"VIPER!" The archer yelped at the ferocity of the Hybrid's voice, shifting his horrified gaze from his sibling to him. "Take… care of her… and keep away from me…"

Laying Snow down beside him, Frost staggered back up to his feet as his vision began to pulse with red. Sound drowned out, save for that of blood pumping through his body faster and faster. He clutched his blade so hard the handle threatened to crack under his grip while he stormed towards the Dire Lord. The ground around him began to freeze, but there was no wind. The air grew incredibly heavy, yet remained still. Lightning crackled throughout the air, and a large, dark cloud slowly formed overhead, blotting out even the ones Miralis' power had summoned. The static in the air was enough to make anyone's hair stand on end. Flag poles and metal parts began to spark with lightning, and it seemed like a bolt of electricity could fall at any moment. The conglomeration of heat and cold, of electricity and humidity, seemed to threaten the very fabric of nature itself.

How long had it been since he felt this much anger? This much rage, directed at a single person? All this emotion, this fury... His now-red eyes opened into a ferocious glare aimed directly at the Balestra. Nothing else mattered now. Balestra would die. Painfully. Years of anger, fury, and rage. He would bear the brunt of Frost's malice.

That was the price of harming Snow.

"I'LL TEAR YOU TO SHREDS!"

A bolt of lightning dropped from the heavens as Frost launched forth, vanishing in a flash of electrical sparks as the discharge struck him. Balestra let out a confused grunt, only to find the Hybrid had reappeared behind him, launching out of another falling bolt, and with a powerful roar Frost brought his blade down on the Dire Lord's shoulder, cleaving deeply into the thick plating with a burst of thunder element. He wrenched the blade free, causing Balestra to stagger around to face him, and delivered four more rapid, furious slashes, the last of which sent the magma-clad man flying back almost ten yards.

Another bolt dropped before Balestra even hit the floor, and Frost vanished just as he had before, only to burst forth from another shock that struck the lighthouse directly in front of where the Dire Lord had rebounded. Balestra just barely managed to raise his hammer in defense of the Hybrid's wrathful assault, grunting in shock as the force of a thunderhead contained within Frost's longsword crashed against the weapon, shattering the rocky handle and sending him skidding back even further. With an angry snarl Frost pressed forward, his vision focused solely on the man that dared cause harm to his sister.

Balestra summoned another weapon to his hands just as Frost closed the distance, blocking the Hybrid's blade with an obsidian katana that burst into a spiral of flames. The heat the weapon gave off barely made Frost wince- pain was a feeling he had no time for unless he was the one inflicting it. He pushed against Balestra with a guttural shout, succeeding in tossing the Dire Lord back a few feet and racing after him. He twisted about and cleaved downwards at the man with a heavy overhand strike, a blow Balestra managed to halt by bracing his weapon with both hands, though leaving himself open to a follow up kick to the abdomen.

The Dire Lord struck a large formation of ice a few feet behind him, many of which had begun to form around the area as a result of Frost's overwhelming rage. The crystalline block glowed brightly for a moment before exploding in a burst of razor sharp icy shards and bolts of thunder element, causing Balestra to stagger forward with a frustrated curse. Frost was there to meet him with a wide rising slash that sent the Dire Lord flying through the air with a huge discharge of electricity. He righted himself in midair before dropping to the ground, digging his blade into the stones to act as a brake.

"I suppose I should give credit where it's due," he began, pushing himself upright and pulling his blazing sword from the ground. "You Hybrids do possess incredible might. Still, it's not enough to-"

"BE SILENT!"

A roar of thunder followed the white-haired man as he launched forwards, crashing against the magma-clad figure within a second. Balestra grunted as he blocked the attempted bisection and parried the strike, a wave of flames trailing his obsidian blade. Frost snarled and swatted at the attack, stopping the searing edge cold in its tracks with his electric blue sword. The thunder element within zapped at the flames of Balestra's weapon as Frost pushed his arms up and threw Balestra's guard open, and with a ferocious shout he swung his blade two-handed down at the Dire Lord, cleaving a sparking line directly down the middle of his foe. Balestra stumbled back and swiped at the Hybrid, an attack Frost barely blocked by bringing his own blade up, though he released his hold on the sword in doing so, allowing it to be thrown from his grasp.

The Hybrid let out a mighty howl as he rushed forwards again, electricity wreathing his body. He delivered a powerful blow to the flat of Balestra's blade when he moved to guard, shattering the obsidian weapon in a flash of lightning and fire. He delivered two wide, lightning fast punches to Balestra's faceplate, knocking the man back a couple steps before lunging forward and grabbing hold of the man's helm. He fit his fingers into the split his earlier slash had caused and, with a vicious snarl he wrenched the plate off with the sound of splitting stone, earning a shocked gasp from Balestra as his face was exposed.

"W-what?! How did-"

Frost wasted no time driving a lightning-charged fist into the man's unguarded face, sending him reeling.

Frost continued his attack, his armor was shredding off with every bolt of electricity and lick of fire, his body burned and seared with every leap, yet he cared not. He launched into a savage assault, slamming fist after fist into Balestra's body and face. Each strike was expounded by a shock of thunder element that punched right through the dark barrier enshrouding the Dire Lord, zapping chunks of his armor off and splintering long cracks through the armor. Frost was barely aware of the bleeding of his hands from striking the hard surface so much, yet he continued his feral attack, smashing the back of his arm against the side of Balestra's head and knocking him sideways across the platform into another mass of exploding ice, impaling several shards into the Dire Lord's body.

While Balestra coughed and began to push himself upright with a frustrated growl, Frost stormed over to the dazed man, yanking his sword free from the ground it had stuck into before. Balestra turned and summoned a large axe to his hands, growling as he hefted the weapon and swung at Frost, only for the Hybrid to vanish in a flash of lightning. He turned and swung behind him when another bolt struck behind him, only for his axe to meet another exploding ice crystal, causing him to stumble back with a short grunt. Frost appeared from the other side of the crystal shower, dashing through the razor-sharp shards and slicing a thick diagonal line through Balestra's ruined chest armor. He turned about and slammed the pommel of the weapon into the man's face as the Dire Lord turned, knocking him back a few paces with a stuttering grunt. Balestra dropped to a knee and planted the head of his weapon on the floor to keep himself upright, shaking his head a few times and muttering curses under his breath.

His eyes still filled with unbridled feral rage, Frost slammed his sword back into its sheath as he neared his stunned foe, amassing as much thunder element into the weapon as he possibly could. The scabbard began to crackle and spark with excess thunder element, and the blade within began to clatter and rattle dangerously as the charge increased more and more. It seemed as though the weapon might explode when he came to a stop before Balestra, right as the Dire Lord began to rise, realizing the Hybrid was mere feet from him.

He barely raised his axe before Frost fired the supercharged blade from its scabbard, a savage howl splitting his lips as the largest bolt of lightning yet dropped on the tower. The meeting of heaven and blade caused a massive, blinding blue and white shockwave to erupt outwards, engulfing the peak of the lighthouse in a brilliant flash that drowned out all else save the deafening roar of raging thunder.


A low rumble and a heavy wave of sand erupted from beneath Dire Miralis' powerful talons as the great dragon brought its arm down on the beach. At least two hunters had been caught beneath the limb while the rest scrambled to escape- for them it was over in an instant. Ruby winced and pulled her hammer up to block the grains that came flying her way, taking a brief moment to take in the condition of the battlefield.

While the hunters were fighting with all they had now, and the golems had ceased spawning from the fireballs dropping from the sky and the beast's wings, they were still suffering heavy losses. Dodging a creature of this size was difficult enough, and blocking its attacks was an impossible feat for all but the absolute strongest of hunters- and even they were often sent flying by the effort. The constant barrage of meteors only further complicated matters for them. Through some miracle they had managed to keep Miralis from climbing fully onto the beach, and had even succeeded in pulling the creature along the waterfront towards the wrecked dragonship Sabrina had searched through before, but Ruby really didn't appreciate the fact that the main reason they had held out for so long was largely due to good fortune. And if 'barely holding on' could be considered good fortune, the thought of that luck running out was truly a frightening one.

Yet in spite of that, she still spurred her comrades on and fought with everything she had. As the dragon moved to pull its arm back, she and two other hunters charged forwards with weapons raised. A long sword and lance joined her hammer in assaulting Miralis' claws, and the combination of swings, slams, and rapid jabs of the three's weapons managed to crack one of the large talons and spray the beach below with the dragon's blood, making it growl in irritation before swatting at the trio. They leapt backwards, just getting out of the beast's swing radius, though the lance wielder was forced to block one of the talons, an effort that almost knocked him off his feet. He still remained grounded though, sliding back a few feet with a grunt of effort.

"That all ya got?!" the man growled as he pulled the shield around and regained his footing. Ruby hadn't fully registered who had joined her during that attack, but now recognized the lance wielder as Stonewall Geralt, perhaps one of Tanzia's best hunters. She supposed blocking an attack like that and keeping his stance alone was testament to his ability. The long sword user was former Corps member Katrina, who had landed on the beach on a raft along with Harlin some time before with a few other hunters to help reinforce their dwindling numbers. While the long sword user ducked away to attack Miralis' abdomen, Geralt began moving directly towards the dragon from the front, clanging his lance against the side of his shield as he went. Several more lance wielding hunters and huntresses joined him, forming a long defensive line that advanced on Miralis as one. "You, red girl! Mind doing that big energy attack again?! Think we could use another pick-me-up soon if we're gonna make it to the dragonator in one piece for that plan of yours!"

"I can try!" she replied before moving to the right, mirroring the long sword user's path. Like it or not though, that was the best she could do in that regard- try. She didn't even know how she had done it the first time. Something just clicked. Still, Geralt was right. They were suffering losses, and if she could heal the injured like she had before, they would stand a far better chance at pulling Miralis towards the ship. Once that happened, they could execute her plan, and Miralis would be locked squarely into place between two dragonators, wide open for them to attack from all angles and discern its weakest points with minimum resistance.

She dragged her attention from her thoughts to the battle at hand though, focusing on the dragon. Its last assault had scattered the nearest hunters, and once more it was trying to clamber up onto the beach, pressing both hands into the shallows as it began to rise from the depths. Geralt let out a frustrated snarl and turned his slow advance into a charge, the other lancers thundering alongside him with weapon points aimed forwards. From the sides other hunters began to surge towards with armaments held high. Ruby joined the hunters in assaulting Dire Miralis' left talons, swinging her hammer around behind her as she rushed forwards. About halfway through the charge she found herself running alongside Sabrina. The blue-haired huntress looked battered herself, and some of the Jaggi hides making up her armor had been torn and burned, though she still looked more than able to fight. They exchanged a quick glance; just based on the look in the huntress' eyes Ruby could already tell what she planned on doing.

With the army of hunters closing in on the talons, splashing through the shallows and slowing somewhat as a result, the two huntresses held back to the rear of the charge, waiting until the exact moment enough space around them was freed up. Sabrina hopped onto the head of Ruby's hammer as the red-haired woman wound up and swung the weapon as hard as she could. At the peak of the swing Sabrina pushed off of the weapon, leaping with the force of Ruby's strength adding to her already-superb jumping ability and practically soaring over the crowd of hunters. She drew her sword mid-flight and slammed into Miralis' side, embedding the weapon partly into its chest to secure herself by its shoulder. Taking a moment to grip a plate on the dragon's torso, Sabrina pulled the blade free and began to climb towards the glowing, swirling orb on Miralis' upper arm.

Ruby watched her for a moment before her attention turned to the mass assault of hunters on the ground. The line of lancers Geralt had assembled simultaneously leapt into the air at the veteran hunter's command, leading to almost a dozen weapons and hunters delivering full-effort flying stabs into Miralis' abdomen. At the same time the two groups of hunters launched their own attacks on the dragon's talons, shredding and smashing the claws and forehands with dozens of weapons. This massive surge succeeded in driving the beast back into the sea with a pained howl, making it stagger back a few paces as well, putting it outside the range of the blademasters' weapons by about fifty feet.

"Good! Everyone, move to the right! Keep pulling it along the beach!" Ruby called, pointing her hammer towards the wrecked warship. It was only a few hundred feet away now…

The hunters that heard her orders quickly relayed them, and the blademasters began to surge to the right of the beach. As they did several gunners came forwards, including Emelia and Annabel, and they began to fire on Miralis' wounded abdomen and chest before it completely sank under the waves. The wounds the hunters inflicted had already begun to heal, but the peppering of various bullets and arrows only further opened the vulnerable points up to damage. The dark dragon let out a frustrated growl and began to advance towards the beach again, its hateful glare centered on the mass of hunters. About halfway back the beast halted though, and an intense flame began to fill up in its gaping maw, which immediately reminded Ruby of the attack that totaled the warship Hugh's crew had run ashore earlier.

"Scatter, scatter! It's about to-"

A sudden pained roar from the dragon cut her off, and she swiftly turned her attention back towards it as it reared its head to the side in pain. The orb of flames shot forth from Miralis' jaws, soaring far over the ridge and detonating against the side of the lighthouse. The hunter's eyes were fixated solely on the dragon itself though. Dire Miralis let out another screech and clawed at its left shoulder, twisting and jerking about suddenly in an effort to dislodge its attacker. It only took Ruby a brief moment to find Sabrina, who was gripping the side of the beast's shoulder and was repeatedly slashing and stabbing her weapon into the fiery sphere located there. Sprays of glowing orange liquid, dark crimson blood, and bright cyan bursts of water element erupted out as a result of every swing. Miralis twisted once more as the huntress stabbed her blade into the orb and wrenched it out.

The blade tore through the beast's shoulder with a sickening, echoing crack, like something organic had broken. A long splash of red, orange, and blue trailed the huntress' weapon as she tore her blade free and was thrown from the dragon's shoulder by Miralis' flailing, though her assault had certainly left its mark. The once-glowing orb had been 'shattered', no longer glowing or oozing the bright orange trails down the dragon's left limb. A massive amount of blood flowed from the wound, and Miralis let out a long screeching roar before toppling to the side towards the beach. The hunters immediately cleared out as far as they could to avoid the falling dragon's body, and while a few were unfortunately unable to escape, the vast majority evaded the beast's mass.

"Let's give it everything we've got! FOR TANZIA!" Geralt roared, once again leading a charge towards Miralis. Ruby would have joined as well, though her legs were carrying her towards the sea where Sabrina had fallen. She tossed her weapon aside and leapt into the water upon sighting the short sword wielder's body floating a short distance out, swimming out to the huntress to help her back to shore. She winced as the water singed her exposed flesh, though- the ocean around Miralis was incredibly hot. It was lucky they were as far away as they were, else it might've outright cooked them alive.

"You are getting way, WAY too gutsy now, y'know that?" Ruby grunted as she hoisted on of her friend's arm over her shoulder and began to kick back towards the shore. Sabrina let out a short groan and a mumble in reply, but that was about it. She was still conscious, but she was really beat up from holding onto the beast's body for as long as she did, as well as the long fall into the water she had just suffered. More of her armor had been burned from such close proximity to the dragon's body, leaving most of the Jaggi hides as little more than blackened bits of leather. The black underarmor was mostly intact thankfully, which preserved modesty, but much of the huntress' armor was pretty close to useless now.

It took the huntress about half a minute to make it back to shore, during which she noted that a number of thunderbolts were dropping on the peak of the lighthouse now, each one accompanied by a resounding boom. She'd been so focused on Miralis she hadn't even considered the condition of those on the structure… As ominous as the lightning was, though, she knew from past experience that it was likely Frost's doing. She just hoped the battle fared well…

By the time she made it back to shore with the blue-haired huntress in tow, Miralis had begun to push itself up and away from the hunters, sending some flying with a shake of its head and a swing of its forelimb before pulling away back into the water. Innumerable wounds lined its body from the many attacking hunters, and while they already had begun to close up save the massive crack in its shoulder, it was clear that the dragon was hurting. Emmy and Anna helped Sabrina and Ruby back onto land and gave the blue-haired woman a potion, helping get her back on her feet before turning their attention to the dragon once more.

"Based on Sab's showing, those swirling points on its arms are weakpoints," Ruby huffed, narrowing her eyes on the dimmed spot Sabrina had assaulted. "Attacking them up close is risky, but the reward… Alright, slight change of plans. Emelia, round up the gunners and get them to concentrate fire on the other shoulder! Use water element- Sabrina's sword seemed to do the trick pretty fast, so it's possible that's its weakness. If that's not available, I think it's safe to say dragon element will work too."

"And explosives... Always explosives."

"That goes without saying, Anne. If we time this correctly, we could very well take this thing's head off… Get to it then, I'll look after Sabrina until she's ready to move." Emeila and Annabel raced off back towards their allies while Ruby turned back towards the short sword wielder, and towards the ship lying in wait in the middle of the bay. She brought a hand to her communicator and knelt down beside the huntress. "Dustin, we're just about ready. Keep your hands on the wheel, and get ready to fire that dragonator. We can't afford to miss."

"I hear you. I'll keep the Breeze ready to move if need be."

Sabrina downed another potion after Ruby helped her to her feet, tossing the bottle aside with a relieved sigh and a short nod. Ruby retrieved her hammer from where she'd thrown it and turned back to rejoin the fight along with the blue-haired huntress.

Things seemed to have turned about on the hunters, though. Dire Miralis was clearly infuriated by the wounds it had suffered, launching dozens of fireballs into the sky to rain down on the beach while renewing its attack on the small army, swinging limbs and swiping claws, even snapping its jaws down on a few unlucky souls. The hunters were hard pressed to counterattack, let alone defend- one group that attempted to flank the beast was completely foiled by an offhand swing of the arm that knocked every one of them into the crimson waves. The rest that hadn't been struck down were being forced back towards the ridge by the dragon's outrage.

With the surrounding area once more cleared, the dark dragon began another attempt to climb up onto the beach. Ruby gritted her teeth and raced towards its left talon once again. They couldn't let it up onto the beach, or her plan wouldn't work. She and Sabrina were the only two who were in any position to attack on this side, though, which was a much deeper concern. Looking to the left, though, the hammer user saw the white-cloaked figure of York racing towards the opposite talon, sword at his side. Her attention leapt back to the target before her then.

We have to drive it back… We have to! She repeated in her mind, her grip on her hammer tightening. I won't let anyone's deaths here be in vain!

It was then that the 'click' she had felt before happened again. A surge of energy washed out from her and into her weapon, wreathing it in a golden blazing light like before. The huntress grinned at the sight, hefting the weapon behind her as she neared the dragon's claw and, with a might roar of effort, swung the weapon at its hand, crashing the head of the weapon over one of the talons hard enough to break a heavy split through it.

The resulting burst of golden energy was rather unremarkable compared to before, though. The wave barely traveled more than ten feet, and she didn't feel much less injured or fatigued than last time either. Only Sabrina was close enough to be likewise affected, and she only raised an eyebrow in confusion. The short sword wielder pressed the attack regardless, slashing at the dragon's hands and spraying the area with jets of water element. Ruby took a brief moment to reel at the fact that the attack had so much less power behind it before shaking her head and joining her friend in attacking the claw. She quickly found that every swing from the hammer sent a painful shudder through the weapon into her arms though- it was like striking a block of steel! Sabrina's sword hardly even scratched the dragon either- its very flesh had hardened into a nigh-impervious density that deflected all of their attempts to wound it. Even without this new defense stopping them, their combined assault was barely a match for that of dozens of hunters at once, and the futility of their effort became more and more apparent with every yard of Dire Miralis' body that rose from the water.

"Damn… DAMN! Sabrina, pull back!" she urged. The pair quickly backed off, turning their heads high as a larger section of the dragon's body continued to rise from the waves. They both paled at the sight of Dire Miralis' full height. Its head must have been able to reach the peak of the Tanzian Ridge! And that wasn't even accounting for the dragon's tail, which was still submerged… It must have been dozens, no, hundreds of yards long! All its vulnerable points were far too high for them to reach with blade or bludgeon, and the thick plating on its lower legs and abdomen suggested that nothing but the absolute sharpest of blades would stand a chance at even scratching it. "Gods above…"

Almost the entire beach had been stunned into silence by the dragon's true height. If it wasn't for the fact that the beast had begun raining more orbs of fire down on the shoreline, they might've all just stood there forever, mouths agape. The hunters scrambled into a panicked mess when the projectiles began to fall, losing all cohesion they had before and adopting an 'every man for himself' mentality to avoid the blazing meteors. Ruby briefly eyed a number of gunners racing towards the lower cliffs on the ridge, led by Emelia, but her main concern now was avoiding the meteors and getting the hunters back in order. The only way they could do that was by forcing Miralis back into the ocean again, but how could they? None of them had that kind of strength! Both of the warships were devastated as well, which left-

The huntress switched her communicator back on as she ran to avoid the blazing death from above, shouting in surprise as one crashed barely a yard to her left. "Dustin, I need binders NOW! Pull it back into the water!"

"Got it, they'll fire at once! I'm not sure the Breeze can yank it that hard though…"

"Leave that to us!" Emelia's voice crackled. "We've almost got a good shot at its other shoulder, and believe me, we are packing a LOT of heat!"

"Then you'd best deliver! FIRE THE BINDERS!"

Half a dozen ballistas with long cords attached to them fired forth from the Forever Breeze. Two of them bounced off the hardened wings uselessly, but the remaining four met their mark in Dire Miralis' upper back, sticking deeply into the rocky spikes there and drawing taut. Miralis let out a short growl of frustration, craning its head back in an effort to set its sights on the ship. Unlike last time, though, the dragon began to lean forwards away from the ship, even beginning to drag the large vessel through the waves after a few moments of effort.

The resounding bangs of numerous bowguns followed the groan of steel cables and wood, completely drowning the noise out. A quarter of the way up the ridge Emelia's gunners had set up on a jagged cliff, unloading their ordinance into the dark dragon's right shoulder, and the glowing orb visible there. Almost every shot struck true with either a large splash of water element, a burst of dragon element, or the fiery blast of gunpowder. Miralis screeched in surprise at the assault on the blazing sphere and whipped its head back towards the ridge, attempting to twist its body away from the barrage of projectiles and stepping to the side in the process, putting the vulnerable point out of the gunners' sights.

In doing so, however, the beast's leg overstepped the shallows, and with a shocked roar the dragon toppled sideways into the ocean, creating a massive wave that spread outwardly in all directions. The rising tide knocked both Ruby and Sabrina off their feet, and most hunters close to the sea were similarly washed several yards back by the wave. Ruby coughed the salty water from her mouth and wiped her eyes, glancing around to regain her bearings. The thick circles of bubbles surrounding the spot Dire Miralis had collapsed into were the main indication of where the dragon was, as everything save for the end of its tail was submerged, and most of the hunters on the beach were strewn about as well. She surmised that they likely only had about a minute to regroup before the dragon was on them again though. Perhaps most importantly, the wrecked ship had been dragged farther forwards along the beach and into the shallows, leaving the dragonator just barely protruding over the water.

"On your feet, hunters!" she roared, pushing herself up with the help of her hammer. She did her best to mask her own pain and fatigue- her weapon had battered against her as the wave crashed into them, and she felt her and Sabrina's bodies may have struck one another a couple times as they tumbled through the water. Looking herself over briefly, she realized her armor wasn't holding up too well either- nearly half of her faulds had been shredded and torn off, and her right gauntlet had long cracked off, leaving her only protection on that limb being a long red glove with a few plates to guard her hand. All that on top of her previous wounds and exhaustion was really starting to wear her down, but she wouldn't let herself stop fighting. Not now, not when they were this far. "Dire Miralis isn't done yet, but neither are we!"

Most that could rose at her call, but she was painfully aware that their numbers had dropped to about two dozen now. Many were either too injured to continue fighting, too terrified to continue fighting, or were outright dead on the ground. Emelia and Annabel slid down the ridge along with the gunners with them, and Sabrina too stood up after a few sputters and coughs, wincing at a bleeding gash in her sword arm. She was glad her team was still standing at least. York was shaking water off his robes a short distance from them, muttering curses under his breath, while Stonewall Geralt was pulling his lance free from the sand behind them, barking a few orders to the lancers around him who also struggled upright. She eyed Kat and Karlin elsewhere, the huntress helping the switch axe user to his feet with some effort before they recovered their weapons. All of them looked battered or worse, but they stood ready all the same.

"Dustin, disengage and circle the bay once," Ruby said into the communicator. "We can't have its attention on you for this to work!"

"Binders are already disengaging! I'll line her up!"

The ship's sails unfurled and the wind immediately began to pull it away from where it had been anchored. Ruby's mind continued to race for a new plan of attack. Miralis' hide had begun deflecting their weapons, and they only managed to put it back in the water through another lucky break. They had to pin it down now, or they wouldn't be able to hold out any longer. The waves were beginning to churn as the beast's mass moved underneath the surface, and she knew the dragon would be on its feet again very soon. The chances of toppling it in front of the dragonator was unlikely, but they had to try.

Emelia and Annabel hurried over to her a Sabrina's position while the short sword user downed another potion, and the red-haired huntress turned to the side. "York, think you could take the lead with the rest of the hunters?"

"I could, but…" The older hunter frowned and looked further down the beach, leading to Ruby following his gaze. Another glowing figure was standing almost on the complete opposite side of the shoreline, giving off a bright white glow. "If we're going to see this thing through, I need to help ready our ace in the hole now. Think Stonewall could do it? Maybe your other Corps buddies?"

"We'll figure something out I suppose… but what do you mean by our 'ace in the hole'?"

"What I mean is that if what I have cooking up on the other end of the beach works, we can seal Miralis' soul away again. Don't ask any more about it, cuz it would take way too long to explain right now."

Ruby's eye twinged at the older hunter's words. "…Do you mean to tell me, that this ENTIRE TIME, you-?!"

"We don't have time to argue this!"

"Oh, tell that to Zephyr and Hugh! Tell that to all the hunters that died for this plan!" she snarled, throwing her arm out in a wide sweep to her side. "If you had something up your sleeve this entire time, we could have planned around that! We could have avoided all these casualties! But you still kept this to yourself until NOW?! What were you thinking?!"

"I had my reasons not to say, alright? Just trust me on this! It'll work with what we've been doing already!"

"Gods above- FINE! Fine!" The older hunter nodded and began to walk away, leaving the huntress fuming beside her teammates, muttering under her breath. "I swear, even Wes wasn't this bad about teamwork before… Oh gods, now I know where he got it from."

After a couple steps York looked off to the side, then halted and turned towards Sabrina. "Hey, Cobalt Head. Catch."

The huntress blinked in surprise when he tossed the still-sheathed pure blade to her, and she barely managed to bring a hand up to catch it. She stared at it in confusion, opening her mouth to say something, but York had already begun to run towards the other side of the beach by then.

"Well, uh… okay then," Sabrina muttered, running her eyes up and down the weapon's scabbard confusedly. Ruby simply sighed and shook her head. That wouldn't get him out of the frying pan after all this was done.

The huntresses whirled towards the water as Miralis finally broke the surface with a terrifyingly powerful and furious roar, spewing more globs of molten balls of flame into the sky as it did. They winced and shielded their ears while backing away a short distance. Miralis wasn't too far from the dragonator now…

"Geralt, get the rest of the hunters together and ready up for an all-out attack! Emm, Ann, fall back! Sab, with me!"

The two began moving diagonally to the right, while Annabel and Emelia backed off, firing bullets and arrows at the dragon in an effort to regain its attention. The shots merely bounced off its hide, but Miralis' irritated growl and the shifting of its gaze towards them at least showed their intentions succeeded. The dark dragon once more began to advance towards them as they hurried towards the front of the ship. The beast let out a short screech though, lifting itself slightly and turning to the side. Its massive tail shot forth from the ocean and swung through the air with a heavy whoosh, snapping the remnants of the dragonship's mast clean off in the process, before it slammed the rocky lash down on the beach between the huntresses and the ship, bringing them all to an immediate stop with the resulting quake under their legs. They barely had time to regain their footing as Miralis let out another screech and began to drag its tail over the sand towards them.

"Shit! Down, DOWN!" Ruby shouted, leaping forwards to shove Sabrina down. Several yards away Annabel had swerved around and attempted to do the same for Emelia, though the tail was on them almost immediately. Sabrina hitting the sand with a yelp was the last thing Ruby heard before the massive, rocky lash slammed into her side.

After that, everything blacked out for a few seconds. Minutes? She wasn't sure. Her vision returned hazily, and she found herself lying with her head pressed into the sand, her body wracked with pain. Her hammer lay cracked and broken some distance away, nearby the still bodies of Annabel and Emelia. She tried putting an arm underneath her to push herself back up again, but found herself completely unable to. Her right arm and leg felt… she couldn't tell. The daze, the swimming vision, the unbearable pain… Was anyone else even left standing after that? She couldn't even turn her neck to see now.

Her eyes slowly shifted to the side. Miralis was roaring into the sky in triumph, yet she couldn't hear past the ringing drone in her ears. As she watched, though, a figure began to push up from the sand, staggering heavily to the side and propping herself up by sticking the sheathed blade she held into the sand. Was she…

"Sab… save your… self..." the huntress choked out, weakly reaching towards the sword wielder with her left arm before she blacked out entirely.


Viper's focused his gaze on the billowing cloud on the other end of the platform, a light blue electrical glow still emanating from within. He breathed out a low sigh as the dropping of lightning bolts and the exploding ice crystals halted. The very sight of Frost's brutal assault on the Dire Lord terrified him thoroughly; he'd never seen Frost so furious, so… savage. He'd backed away further during the assault, dragging Wes and Snow along with him, though he hadn't made it too far on account of their combined weight, as well as the lightning strikes and shaking of the tower nearly taking his legs out from beneath him. One of the larger quakes in the tower hadn't actually come from one of the lightning bolts, curiously enough, but he wasn't exactly eager to learn what that was.

The cloud of smoke soon began to dissipate, and he breathed a short sigh of relief when Frost came into view. The Hybrid was panting heavily, and a number of jagged blue lines crossed his face like lightning bolts. His right sleeve was completely shredded off, revealing that his muscular arm was similarly covered in bolt marks and burns. The rest of his armor was thoroughly shredded and burned as well, revealing his entire body had been badly affected by the overwhelming thunder element and the… 'lightning hopping' he had been doing. The blue blade in his grip was broken near the hilt as well, leaving not even half a foot of its length remaining in his grasp; the rest of the weapon had clattered to the ground beside him uselessly. Other than that, though, Viper couldn't tell how injured the Hybrid was. He couldn't see Balestra's body, though…

"Frost!"

Upon hearing his name the white-haired man immediately snapped his attention towards Viper, and the archer gasped lightly in surprise. His eyes were blood red, and the expression on his face… He'd rarely seen Frost's face, but he'd always seen a calm, focused look when he did. Now, all he saw was pure, unbridled, feral rage. They locked eyes for a moment, and for a brief moment Viper thought the Hybrid might charge him then. Frost's warnings from before echoed in his mind- stay away. It was too late for that now, though…

A flicker of movement from within the remains of the cloud drew his eyes away from Frost. They widened as a dark figure lunged from within, a large blackened lance in one hand, the head glowing orange like embers in a flame. He didn't have time to shout a warning: the weapon slammed into the Hybrid's chest, cracking through the remaining plates over his chest and impaling him terribly. Frost staggered back with a pained howl as the figure pressed out of the cloud, keeping the Hybrid at lance length as he did.

"I ought to thank you for diverting your ally's attention, Mr. Viper," Balestra's mocking voice echoed as his molten-armored figure came into view. The armor looked absolutely destroyed: numerous spines were cracked or missing, a great number of splits were carved into the plating, and the front of the man's helm was broken clean off, revealing his cold, indignant expression. Frost let out an agonized grunt as the Corps Head thrust the lance forward ever so slightly, injuring him further. "The beast proved very strong indeed. But not enough. Even the mighty Hybrids pale in comparison to the power of Dire Miralis."

As he watched, the various cracks and breaks in Balestra's armor began to repair. The gaps glowed a bright orange, lava-like color before sealing, the spires on his shoulders rebuilt themselves, and a new mask formed over the man's face, leaving only the eyes to glow a fiery red. Soon, it appeared as though no damage had been suffered at all.

Frost let out a furious snarl and hurled the remains of his blade at Balestra, though the weapon merely bounced off the man's shoulder armor without a scratch. Balestra let out an amused grunt as he pushed Frost back again, closer to the edge of the tower. His foot struck the remaining section of Frost's sword across the platform and over the edge, and it was then that Viper fully realized what he meant to do. The archer immediately broke out into a sprint towards the Corps Head, though he only made it about a fourth of the way there when a blast of fire erupted from the head of the lance, completely engulfing Frost's torso in the blaze. The Hybrid roared in agony as the flames seared across his chest, forcing him off the lance and stumbling back several paces as the blaze died down. The hunter forced himself to run faster as Frost neared the edge, a panicked grimace splitting his lips as he drew near. Thirty feet, twenty-five, fifteen, five-

Frost reached an arm out as he fell back, his eyes shifting from red to blue and the electric tendrils fading from his skin as he tipped over the edge with a blank stare. Viper dove out to catch his hand, missing by a fraction of an inch and slamming onto the edge as the Hybrid fell.

"FROST!" the archer screamed as the man dropped far, far below his reach, slamming through one of the wooden platforms on the way down and disappearing from sight. The hunter stared after him in complete disbelief for several moments. A vicious snarl split his lips then, and the archer swiftly turned about, whipping his bow from his back and moving to nock an astral bolt.

Balestra was already in the air above him, lance held overhead. The archer yelped and rolled to the side right before the lance plunged into the ground, getting to his feet and launching the bolt he had summoned at the man's feet. The green projectile exploded on contact with the ground, causing the small section Balestra was standing on to crumble away. The Dire Lord grunted as the tumbling stones threatened to pull him off the tower as well, though he leapt from the platform with a burst of flames, slamming into the stone some twenty feet from him.

Viper had already nocked another three bolts by then, letting them fly the second Balestra hit the ground. Balestra spun his lance rapidly, shattering the first two on the shaft, though the third exploded in a green flash of shrapnel just before striking the weapon. With Balestra's vision momentarily obscured, Viper quickly summoned a massive bolt to his string and launched it high into the air, where it split into two dozen regular-sized bolts that abruptly halted and angled themselves at the Dire Lord.

The magma-clad man swept his weapon to the side as the cloud of green light disappeared, and he lunged towards the archer with another burst of flames, dragging his lance across the ground beside him and tearing a blazing streak through the stone before swinging upwards at the archer. Viper ducked low as the attack came, summoning another large bolt and firing it after the man as Balestra skidded to a halt. Though the Dire Lord recovered swiftly enough to tilt out of the way of the projectile, the astral bolt split into another dozen shots that likewise angled themselves at Balestra's back.

"What do you hope to accomplish alone, Mr. Viper? You are but a man. You lack the same abilities as young Wes, and you are certainly no Hybrid," the man taunted, beginning to stride towards the archer anew. "You understand you have no chance of victory. It is exactly as I said- I am a god compared to you."

"Shut your mouth for once, would you?!" Viper snarled, summoning another bolt to his hand and waving it through the air in a clockwise circle around him. One after another, glowing astral bolts formed around him, numbering almost thirty by the time he drew the one in his hand back on the string. "Better yet, I'll shut it for you FOR GOOD!"

Balestra tensed in preparation for Viper to fire the shots around him, only for the ones behind him to fly at him first. The projectiles slammed into his back and impaled themselves through his limbs and torso, making the man stagger forwards with a surprised grunt and a lowered guard. It was then that Viper had the shots hovering in the air far above rain down on the Dire Lord, skewering him numerous times from above and shattering the lance in his grasp in the process. It was then that Viper launched the final volley at the man, slamming him directly from the front with another few dozen bolts, so thoroughly entrapping the Dire Lord in the bolts that his body was barely visible between the countless glowing green bolts.

"Enjoy your fall from grace!"

With a quick snap of his fingers the bolts simultaneously detonated with enough force to utterly destroy the floor beneath Balestra and send him flying back several yards and over the side of the lighthouse, his armor almost completely gone from the all-encompassing blast of Viper's arrows. He fell out of view with a strangled howl, his voice echoing into nothing on the roof of the structure.

Viper let out a heavy sigh and dropped to his knees barely a second later. He knew that probably didn't finish Balestra off- he'd survived all four of them attacking him simultaneously and come right back, no worse for wear. At the very least this drop would leave him occupied, hopefully long enough for Viper to get Wes and Snow somewhere safe. He just had to-

A loud rumble sounded over the side of the tower, and he glanced up in time to see Balestra launch up back into view, flames trailing his legs and arms like jets. He abruptly fell back to the roof, slamming into the structure and cracking the stone underfoot as his armor began to reform once more. The plating had barely reformed when the Dire Lord shot towards him again, a massive flaming blade forming in his arm. Viper yelped and tried to summon another bolt, only for a brief flicker to appear in his hand- he'd used all his energy on the earlier attacks. Out of offensive options, the archer hopped back as the Dire Lord neared.

He wasn't quite out of range, though. Balestra's blade seared through the top half of his Green Nargacuga bow, effortlessly slicing the weapon in half and making the archer yelp as the flames trailing the weapon licked at his arm. The Dire Lord's other arm shot out and slammed into Viper's chest, hurling him across the platform with a pained shout and a large hole burned through his chest armor. The archer hit the ground hard, rolling to a stop with a pained groan nearby where Wes and Snow both lay, still and unmoving. He began to push himself up and shake his vision clear, dimly aware of Balestra's ever-nearer footsteps.

"What did you hope for by confronting the Black Flame of Calamity? There was never any hope for you to begin with. Dire Miralis has already devastated those who stand against it at the Tainted Sea. And now... now, you are weak and alone, Mr. Viper. Your 'hero' lays dead, your Hybrids slain, and now your bow broken. You have lost. I will allow you one last look at your teammates' charred corpses. Your 'Storm' dies out here."

The Dire Lord hefted his weapon above his head as he came to a halt above the archer. Viper grimaced, bracing himself for the coming attack. That was it. They had lost. Wes, Snow, Frost… and now him.


Author Notes: Please review!

Sorry about how long it took for me to get this out, but as you can probably tell by the word count, this chapter took a LOT of time to edit. I actually debated splitting it up into two chapters, but I decided I'd rather not separate the final battle into three different chapters. Speaking of that chapter, though, it's already with Gecko for editing! Similarly, the rest of TMC's chapters are all drafted now, so we are quite truly near the finale at last! Just a little longer now, my faithful readers!

Fun new character abilities too! Aside from Balestra going god-mode, gaining access to the Dire armor and Megiddo weapons from 3U, Viper showcases his astral shot limit breaks- Astral Storm and Astral Riptide, respectively (yes, I name the attacks), Ruby shows her own power, Sun's Fist (based heavily off of Sol from Fire Emblem, along the same vein as Wes' Luna-based Lunar Phase Slash and Viper's Astra-based ones), and Frost reveals his own rage mode at last, which is basically what happens if you take the Shagaru Magala fight's exploding frenzy pools, mix it with lightning bolts, throw in a healthy dose of teleport spam, and on top of it all make the most stoic and unflappable character in the story second only to Balestra himself actually angry. Yeah, that was a fun one to write.

Ah, who am I kidding. All the fights were fun to write, even Miralis'- I was really worried about how I'd manage this one when I initially decided to use Dire Miralis as the primary elder dragon threat of the story. I'm not so great at writing underwater fights, which is why I do my best to avoid them in most cases, but I also realized it'd be kinda dumb to have a prolonged underwater fight against a living volcano. Everyone would be boiled worse than ramen noodles. So, I decided that if underwater was out of the question, what about the surface? I already wrote a few ship battles, and I introduced the strider back in the desert arc, so I thought "why not incorporate aspects of both and turn the water half into a naval battle?". At that point the main matter was the land battle- I upsized Miralis to about four times as large as in-game, as well as the Tainted Sea and beachfront, which helped justify the ship battle taking place in a relatively small space. Then the problem became- how do you realistically fight a monster taller than a mountain? I didn't want to make it an expy of the Lao Shan Lung fight, so I opted instead for something kind of akin to the Excelsus fight from Metal Gear Rising.

But I think I'll leave my commentary at that for now. There's still next chapter, after all!

Battle Themes:

Miralis Phase 1- Dire Miralis' battle theme from 3U (because let's be real here, not using that would be a sin)

Storm vs Dire Lord Balestra- Weak Fantasy (Instrumental) by Nightwish

Frost vs Balestra- Yours is an Empty Hope (Instrumental) by Nightwish

Miralis Phase 2- Dire Miralis Intense Symphonic Metal Theme (if you haven't heard those, look them up on YouTube- they're really good)