It should come as no surprise to any that the claim most denied and hidden by the Trinary Star has been proven valid.

The Last Hunter is real.

No longer can the Star simply call him a myth, or a mere story for others to use for fantasizing of better days; he is a truth, a living, breathing, and undeniably real individual.

For centuries, the Star has grown in both number and power. In terms of influence, they are second only to the flimsy example of what little government we have left in the City. And beyond its walls, only the neutral nature of the Keepers holds them at bay from spreading to the settlements.

The question you must ask yourself is how, if they have such a prominent history that dates back centuries and resources at their disposal that the rest of humanity only dreams of, could they have not known of the Last Hunter's existence?

The answer is obvious, of course they knew he existed. Their constant outcries and attempts to deny that such a person existed are almost evidence in and of itself; the lady doth protest too much, methinks. But if they were aware of his being, then surely they would have alerted the masses to the fact? Why did they not?

They're afraid.

Because, for the first time recorded in the centuries since the Star's conception, they're the ones who feel fear's cold bite rather than the ones feeding it into others' hearts. They were afraid of the ramifications of this truth, and what it would mean both for us and their order.

If the Hunter is real, were the Guardians real? They must have been. And if they were, then how did they disappear? Or, as theorized, did their abilities trickle down the generations until we were left with the Keepers, those who show an unusual versatility with the light?

The Keepers may remain neutral in their alignment between the light and the dark, but the evidence seems to point to the idea that their predecessors were not. Imagine what remarkable feats that these 'Guardians' could have accomplished, what powers they may have wielded?

It seems implausible that these indomitable warriors of the light could have just disappeared so efficiently for future generations to doubt their very existence. No traces of them, no historic records, nothing.

The only possible way that this could have happened is with the manipulation of an outside force, one that did not want the truth about the existence of Guardians to be revealed.

What other secrets is the Trinary Star hiding, and how long will it take for them to come to light?

- Anti-Propaganda put forth by the Seven Seraphs

The way Woods described the SIVA-fied Guardians, Clara pictured lumbering beasts made of cybernetic vein and tissue. It was a sickening image to have in her mind, and she was thankful that she was physically incapable of retching.

He glanced at her with a slight nod when he saw the look on her face, as though he was agreeing with how disgusting she'd made them out to appear in her mind. "If you think that's bad, then just try to imagine yourself in his position; not only did he know them personally, but they were the closest thing he had to a family."

She imagined Mathias standing there, staring into the horrifically corrupted face of the husk of his wife as the one who'd done it to her was standing nearby and gloating. Unconsciously, her hands balled up into fists at the tragedy and sheer horridness of the circumstance.

"I can't imagine anything worse," she whispered, curling her arms and legs in like a child seeking comfort.

With a disheartened sigh, the Hunter shook his head. "Neither could he. But the truth is that sometimes, our imagination is simply too weak to conjure up the same atrocities reality is capable of. This was one such time."

—X—

The bullet was deflected harmlessly by the Messenger who easily brought a hand up and summoned a small shard of void energy to take the impact. Truthfully, Matt hadn't expected the round to hit its target; he just was feeling a bit spiteful towards the Exo.

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Exo guffawed and seemed to take it in stride. "Not the first time you've tried that, yet you still hope one day it'll get me. Ah well, I'll just let you get into it. This is my favorite part."

Waving his arm, the Messenger triggered something in the SIVA-fied Guardians and they finally sprung forward to attack.

He sensed the attack from behind more than he really heard it, and he rolled accordingly to avoid the combined efforts of Eager and Dawn lunging at him in an attempt to subdue him. His roll left him open for a counter from Aria, however, and the corrupted Warlock managed to grab one of his legs. Swinging him back like a weight at the end of a string, she threw him into a pillar with enough force that part of it cracked and crumbled where his back struck it.

Sliding to the ground silently in response to the shocking pain he felt, he almost had to fight with his own body to move out of the way just before a large, SIVA-enhanced fist crushed his skull in. Barely managing to dodge Ash's advance, he was once again left without a proper counter to the next opponent who rushed him.

Scorch seemed to have much greater agility than the others, darting around and stopping in place unnaturally fast, almost as though her momentum completely disappeared at will. In such an instance, she effectively materialized like a ghost behind him, and kicked him back towards the center of a ring-like formation that they'd created between them.

Barely managing to retain his grasp on his weapon, he slid forward on his stomach and was once more rendered incapable of a proper response to the copious waves of fire that seemed to be engulfing his muscles wherever he was struck.

"Matt," came Seraph's voice again, "I know what you're thinking- but you won't survive unless you fight back. Maybe not even then. But there's far more at stake than any of our lives right now."

He groaned both in pain and at what he knew she was telling him; he wanted to save his family here, but it might be too late for them. The City still had a chance.

He'd have to let go of his inhibitions to fighting them, and stop holding back.

As Aria charged forward, he yelled and fired the Hawkmoon into her abdomen. He had no idea what would happen or how strong these things were, so he simply blasted until the chamber was emptied.

It appeared that the entity before him, as it was clearly no longer truly Aria, hadn't been expecting such a reaction based on his previous behavior and both of them were startled to see a sizable fist-sized hole having been blown through her stomach.

He almost dropped the gun in sheer horror at the realization of what he'd just had to do, but disturbingly the husk of Aria didn't seem to falter. Instead, new red tendrils and buds began to enter the wound and insert themselves into both flesh and armor, multiplying the threads until the gap had been filled. Then it, entered a combat-stance once more.

"They've been perfected," called the Messenger with that sickeningly conceited tone. "No longer are Guardians simply undying- they're invulnerable."

With a roar that screamed of torture and rage intertwined, the husk of Aria leapt at him.

—X—

How many times had this scene played itself out before her? She couldn't remember, everything was hazy and confusing with the claustrophobic presence of the red enveloping every orifice, sense, and thought of her.

No matter. She would make sure that this would be the last time.

It was still preoccupied in its game, the game that it played with the Hunter endlessly. A thousand times she'd watched him fail, and she'd be damned if she was going to watch a thousand more.

She did not remember, but still she knew- why? Perhaps as a result of the very nature of its symbiosis with her, she was part of it just as much as it was a part of her now.

What would come next depended on how quickly she worked her way through the connections; she'd never attempted this before, but she doubted she'd get a second shot if it detected her. Painstakingly, she felt herself grow through its extremities, the minions who had become mere phalanges of the red.

Finally, she made progress. She felt her own mind inhabit the body of another, just as the red did. Rather than staying, she continued along the path that would lead her to her target.

—X—

The Messenger was right; the 'perfected' Guardian's didn't go down as easily as he both hoped and feared. He didn't want to- end- the only family he had, he still wanted to hold out hope that they could be saved. Ash's blue eye stood at the forefront of his evidence for that theory … but if they were truly gone then he would rather be able to dispatch them than having let them endure this awful existence.

Unfortunately, they were strong, fast, and damn near invincible. He could damage them, but they just regenerated anything he destroyed.

Driving his blade through Scorch's shoulder, he felt a shameful satisfaction when he watched it separate and fall to the floor, followed by a sinking feeling as the SIVA consuming her immediately sprung into action and conjured up a wicked-looking prosthetic composed of metal and strands of red. There was no longer a hand, but a sharp blade much like the legs that the SIVA-infected Dregs had, and the defiled Hunter wasted no time in trying to impale him with it.

Twisting his body, he narrowly managed to avoid a fatal mark and instead cried out as the knife-like arm punctured his own, spearing through the underside and out the top of his left forearm like a harpoon. Wrenching it away, blood sprayed from the wound and he looked at it to see that his armor had done practically nothing in the way of protection. Red drops splattered against the ground wherever he walked, and his arm shook from a combination of adrenaline and nerve damage.

There was no respite from the fight however, no opportunity to recover before the husks were on the offensive again. Dawn looped a tendril around his midsection and raised him up into the air only to slam him back down into the ground with renewed force. They paused, almost daring him to continue to resist their power.

Weakly, he tried to raise his right hand with the Hawkmoon still in his grasp. Before he could even think about where to aim it, a claw-like foot of Eager's kicked it away and stomped hard on his appendage. He cried out in agony as the bones were pulverized, crunched to mush by the absurd strength of the perfected.

"Enough!"

The voice of the Messenger was not harsh, but rather more like someone simply telling a dog to drop a toy. "I'd rather be able to enjoy what comes next rather than trying to explain it to a bag of flesh like I've had to in past iterations."

His thoughts clouded, Matt tried to think past the pain and decipher what meaning he could from the Messenger's dialogue; iterations? And he spoke as though this were a story that he knew the ending to, like he'd read it many times before …

Stepping next to the Hunter, the Messenger looked down at the broken Guardian and leaned in close. "You're lucky that I'd rather you be in better condition than they usually leave you; I prefer you to be coherent as you watch everything come to an end."

Reaching down, the grabbed the tattered back of his cloak and brutally pulled the Hunter upwards until he was resting on his knees, the closest he could come to standing as he was capable.

The Exo gave a synthetic sigh of satisfaction at the sight before him, soaking it all in. Kneeling down to Matt's level, he rested a hand on the Hunter's shoulder in a show of mock sympathy. "I know how it feels, you know. To have everything taken from you in a single instant, to be at the precipice of ultimate victory and have it stolen away."

Clapping his hand on Matt's back, the Messenger stood up once more. "It was you who did that to me. First, you turned the Warrior- you turned Sara into that poor excuse for a replacement-"

"I didn't do that," he grunted in spite of his predicament, "Sara chose that herself when she destroyed the crystal you gave her-"

He was immediately backhanded by the Messenger and fell backwards to the floor again. Above him, both Rook's and Reynard's eyes glowered at him. "I thought I made it clear that you're not worthy to speak her name."

Leaning down, he forcefully grabbed Matt and brought him up to his knees once more. "First, you turned her against me. Then, you stood in the way of the culmination of centuries of planning, managing against all odds to both save the Traveler and kill me. I'd have thought that at least I killed you too, but you came back while I was left in the rubble to rot until the Darkness saw more potential with SIVA."

He circled the Hunter like a shark, gloating while the perfected Guardians stood still and unmoving, simply witnessing the spectacle as though they'd done so a hundred times.

"Every time it throws a threat your way, you're not far behind with the others to defeat it. It's taken time, but the ultimate realization has finally come that you are the largest impediment in its way. All of you. So the goal has been rather simple this time around." He stopped in front of Matt and stooped down to place his frankenstein-like face in front of his.

"It wants to make you suffer. To watch you fail. To die trying to stop it, over and over again just as you have done so to us."

The perfected Guardians began to glow, and suddenly disappeared into the same red flashes that had made them materialize to begin with. The Messenger didn't sound like a maniac, he didn't sound like he was some unhinged lunatic; instead, he spoke with confidence that only came when one was completely sure of victory. The Exo wasn't daring him to succeed, or challenging him to rise up again; he was crowing about the fact that he knew the Hunter could do nothing but look on helplessly.

A red flash began to envelop the two of them, and the Messenger laughed as the sanctum disappeared around them to be replaced with clouds and dark skies.

"Allow me to show you your destiny."

A/N: for the love of god people, throw me a bone here

or at least a bit of feedback every once in a while, sheesh

Anyway, I don't think any of you are prepared for what's gonna come next. Remember what I said on my profile page, about breaking each and every one of your hearts with this book?

There are three separate points in the story where I'm going to do this, and the next few chapters are going to make up the first one.

Get your tissues ready, there's gonna be some waterworks.

Until the next time,

- Matteoarts