The group of Vert, Vrai, Terrence, Demi, Ed and Revel continued forwards. Nargy had already turned back, but they just decided to not stop him, hurrying to help Alexandra. It was at this moment they saw Zino approaching. She seemed distressed, but upon seeing them took this as a signal it was fine to turn back, heading back from where she came before they could ask any questions.

When they finally entered the room, they saw two figures lying on the ground.

Zino quickly rushed towards Alexandra, followed by the others.

Vert quickly checked for breathing and announced the result to the others "She's still breathing. I doubt she'll last much longer though, we gotta get her back to the ship."

They briefly checked the other one, but whatever body was left was unrecognisable by now, having been burnt and cut up.

It was clear that whoever or whatever had done this wasn't either of them, but they didn't have any time to question it, quickly moving on.

Callum sat, waiting for the others to arrive.

Footsteps approached.

Callum almost moved forwards, but stopped himself as soon as he realised he could hear a single set. He and Sanchez both moved quickly to hide, at which point the source footsteps boarded the ship. They came to stop, presumably scanning the room before stepping to the side of the doorway.

"That must be one of them." Callum thought "He's probably getting ready to attack the others the moment they step in… so I can't just keep hidin' here."

He started to move closer, slowly, before feeling like he was in a good enough position. Simultaneously he and Sanchez burst out of cover, swinging straight for their opponent.

Judge was taken by surprise by this, but for him evading the attacks wasn't that much of a problem, so he gained some distance from them.

He analysed the two for a second, before realising something.

"I see, you were the one who escaped before… What happened to Boost?"

"That must be the guy ya sent after me… isn't it obvious? He's dead."

"How surprising…" Was all Judge responded with, before rushing straight towards Callum. Sanchez noticed this move first and knocked him out of the way, as Judge came crashing through.

The accelaxe user stopped, unfazed by this, getting ready to charge again.

"I see…" Callum said, trying to stall for time "So you're Ice Flames Isaac, huh?"

"Yeah. So?"

"...Uh… um… why?"

"Dunno."

"Well still, I know your tactics at least. Don't think I don't stand a chance against you."

"Oh, is that so? I suppose someone who did research would know how I fight… without my manifestation, that is."

Callum felt unnerved, as his enemy finished his preparation to attack.

Another charge, this faster than the last. Callum had been prepared beforehand and just about managed to roll out of the way, before lunging forwards in an attempt to stab. Judge spun around, just about dodging the strike. He then raised his own axe to strike down, but was intercepted by Sanchez' attack, causing him to back off.

Callum moved to attack once again, Judge's movements seemed less responsive than before.

Judge then backed off, before lowering his weapon slightly. Callum saw this opening and moved into attack, but this had been Judge's plan from the start.

As his left arm stabbed forwards, he suddenly realised he couldn't feel his hand around the sword anymore.

The axe had a trail of fire behind it, having moved faster that his eyes could react. Finally, his left arm landing on the ground a short distance away seemed to unfreeze time for him, as blood spurted from his wound.

Judge then raised his axe into the air, preparing to finish him off, but suddenly froze as he felt the urge to dodge scream at him, ducking under an axe swing. The accelaxe user quickly moved away from where he was standing and spun around to find a switch-axe user facing him.

Ben didn't care about the speed of his enemy's attacks, rushing forward without a care. He just wanted to hurt him.

Judge got ready to use the same move he had before, but before he could swing he had to jump backwards as Sean fired at him. He then ducked under a swing from Natasha, before being chased by both her and Ben, alongside attacks being thrown by Plessy and Aki. It was an all-out assault.

Judge wouldn't allow himself to fall here. As Natasha stabbed forwards again, she suddenly felt like she was being burnt, forcing her to retreat. Ben felt a similar sensation surrounding his opponent, but still didn't care, attacking anyways. Judge had expected this to deal with them, so with almost a sigh he swung his weapon towards Ben, deflecting one of his strikes. Using this slight opening, his axe sped up all of sudden, slashing down across Ben's chest. Ben grimaced from the pain, but even as he fell to the ground made one last swing of his weapon. Judge, who hadn't been focused on this, finally noticed it, as well as it having been switched into sword mode. As the blade caught his opponent in the stomach, Ben activated an elemental discharge, the explosion knocking the accelaxe user off his feet, before he collapsed into the ground, having finally taken too much damage for tonight.

Judge crashed a short distance away, reacting in time to dodge a similar attack from Natasha. Needing to change locations quickly, he retreated back to his airship. But, as he did, another group approached.

Anthony was leading the way while Wave carried Riko, but he suddenly froze upon seeing the enemy.

Zach then stepped forwards, with no means of blocking but with the intent to fire as soon as Judge moved towards them. But, Zach then noticed he recognised him, so he decided a good way of stalling for time.

"Yer Isaac, right? From back at the tournament."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"If yer a hunter, then why the hell are ya trying to kill other hunters?"

"Huh? You seem to not understand. I don't hate hunters, nor am I trying to kill them. The ones I'm trying to kill are the ones who act like they're hunters, when all they do is cause problems."

"The hell does that mean?"

"Do you know what deviants are?"

"...Yeah. So?"

"If you know how they're created, the problem should be obvious. Every time a hunter fails to hunt something, that thing gets stronger. Deviants only cause more problems than before. That's why the hunters who can't finish them off the first time must be removed. But… it's not like they'll stop by themselves. We all know that hunting is just a last-resort, so if they lose that they'll have no way to continue living. So, we have to take it from them by force."

"...Yer insane. Not much else to it."

"Of course, no matter how right I am, people like you will always disagree. Look, people like you are basically dead, you've made the choice to stop living your life you started out with. So you can't complain when all we're doing is burying the bodies."

With that, he lowered his axe again.

Not hesitating, Zach fired straight for him, but as Judge boosted himself down the hall this shot missed. With no means of defending, everyone pressed themselves against the walls, as the attack barely missed. Judge spun around, but as he did was assaulted by attacks from Zappy.

Lyra didn't have much time to attack, as she attempted to get Chante to the other ship as quickly as possible. Wave did the same, carrying Riko.

This left four of them to deal with the enemy.

Plessy also appeared, followed by Natasha, Aki and Sean riding Azure. Judge noticed them, as Plessy fired a beam of pressurised water towards him.

Judge took off running regardless, being boosted by his axe. At the same time, Sean began firing. The accelaxe user saw the incoming attacks, leaving him no room to dodge.

So, his next move was to go upwards, running along the wall. Plessy saw him coming, but before he had any time to react the axe was swung downwards, causing him to crash into the ground.

Sean continued to fire, but still missed, but as Judge closed in a fireball was shot by Azure, knocking him back into a wall. Even with this, he wasted no time in recovery, getting straight back up and swinging at the Rathalos. Azure, with no space to move, fell to the ground quickly,

Sean fell with him, barely able to move anymore. Judge wasn't willing to take anymore chances with gunners today, so moved to finish him off, but was then interrupted by the firing of an arrow.

Yet another group arrived. Vert, Vrai, Terrence, Demi, Ed, Revel and Zino carrying Alexandra.

"There's no end to you…" Judge sighed, getting ready to take out the ranged one first.

Vert already anticipated the rush forwards, but had underestimated how fast it'd be, quickly kicking Terrence out of his path instead of intercepting as initially planned.

As Judge spun around again, Vert was now taking the offensive, boosting herself forwards.

A few swings were made but dodged around, but at that moment Vrai also charged forwards, attempting to push him back. Demi joined in, while Terrence fired some more arrows.

Zino quickly moved to the over ship, as she was still carrying Alexandra, while Ed followed, figuring he wouldn't be much good in a fight anyways.

It was only once he entered that he noticed the blood everywhere. He examined the room that he finally saw Callum lying there, missing an arm. His eyes were closed, as Sanchez stayed by his side.

The expressions of Ed and Revel became unreadable.

Vert continued to clash with Judge, barely evading his axe swings. Then, a figure raced between to them, much to their shock.

As they were both confused, Ed slashed at Judge. The attack was dodged, but at this moment Revel attacked from the side with a tail swipe. Ed continued to be aggressive, now fuelled by what seemed to be anger.

But, with no experience in fighting, this wasn't going to last long. At last, an opening to strike appeared, which Judge immediately took, catching Ed in the chest with an upwards slash.

As Ed fell, Revel seemed to lose focus, allowing Judge time to deliver another quickly slash as he ran past. Now focused on Terrence again, yet he ended up intercepted by one of Vert's attacks.

Vert connected several attacks, but was met with a slash to her stomach. This left Terrence, who continued firing even as the accelaxe user quickly approached. Judge got close enough to swing, but at the same time Terrence grabbed an arrow, the two hitting each other at the same time. However, Judge wasn't the one who fell to the ground.

Despite his victory, he suddenly was attacked by a shot from a gunlance, as Zach advanced forwards.

Zach fired again, being dodged around again. Judge began to prepare a charge again, so Zach responded to this with preparing himself.

Judge boosted himself forwards at a blistering speed, with Zach having no time to react as the axe moved towards him. But, it was at the last possible moment that Judge noticed what he was moving towards. The gunlance built up a wyvern's fire, finally firing at the last possible second. Judge was blasted by the attack, but still somehow swung, catching Zach in the side by avoiding as much damage as it could've been.

Finally, the last participants in this battle approached.

"The hell's going on here?" Joseph asked, as he and Nargy stepped forwards.

Judge turned to face him, recognising him. Joseph barely recognised Judge, but still knew him to be an enemy.

There was a silence, before the two charged forwards simultaneously. Recognising that he couldn't win in a battle of speed, Joseph dodged Judge's swing, before trying to counter with an attack of his one. This also missed, followed by the two backing slightly off again.

Joseph glanced over at the injured. "Shouldn't ya be runnin'!?"

Terrence barely managed to stumble up to his feet. "I'm not leaving you this time. I'm gonna fight until we win!"

"Didn't we just talk about putting yerself at risk for no reason!?"

"You're doing the same thing!"

"Well, yeah, but… it's different" Joseph went back to focusing on the fight to avoid that.

As the others retreated back to the ship, Zach watched the battle.

Both were injured, but the one clearly more injured was Joseph, whatever he had done.

Zach finally thought of a tactic.

"Hey Joseph, I'm gonna have ta borrow Nargy for a few minutes!"

"What!?"

"You heard me, anyways if you refuse the plan won't work and some people might die, so y'know."

"Is that a threat!?"

"Nah, warning. I mean, he's already got us this messed up, and you're barely holding on, so unless something changes we're gonna lose."

"Well, I'd be doing better if I didn't have to talk while fightin'!"

"Sure, I won't explain the plan then." Zach said.

"Wha-? That's- Fine. Nargy, can ya just listen to him for a little while?"

Nargy reluctantly agreed, still annoyed he wouldn't get to fight alongside Joseph.

Zach then turned to Zappy. "Oh yeah also, can ya head to the ship? It'd be kind of bad if you stayed here. Sorry."

Zappy had no clue how to react to this, but despite the pain he felt was sort of worried about what would happen if he stayed, heading back to the ship.

"The lot of ya too." Zach explained to the six near the fighting. Ed could barely respond, so Revel just took him away, despite wanting to fight some more. Vert was hesitant, but after a few seconds of consideration began to retreat.

"Wait, we can't just leave Joseph again!"

"Yeah, I get that, but whatever this guy's planning is gonna be bad if we stay, I can feel it."

Terrence didn't know how to follow that up, so he just followed orders.

With only four left on the ship, Zach took a look at the ones the others had taken to get here, as well as how it was connected to the enemy's airship.

He then kicked this away, to the shock of everyone aboard, as well as the ones who were right next to him.

Without hesitation, Zach turned to get Nargy and yelled "C'mon, this way!", leading him the way he came from before.

This left just Joseph and Isaac, one on one.

The two heavily injured beasts heaved as they got ready to start fighting to the death again.

Isaac finally remembered who had been guarding his enemy until now.

"So… if you're here, then that means that Joshua…"

"Mmm. By now, he's somewhere on the ground. Why?"

"If the rest of you are here, that must mean the others are gone too. More importantly, this means that I am the last one left. It's up to me to finish our battle. The three of you, watch over me."

A sudden change in stance, like he was even more determined than before, sent a wave of fear down Joseph's spine.

The warrior with a new found drive for revenge boosted himself forwards at a more blistering speed than before, taking Joseph off guard. The attack was dodged, but without hesitation Judge instantly spun around and came at him without a moment wasted.

Realising he couldn't keep dodging, Joseph used his only remaining option. Judge continued his attack, but in response Joseph readied his sword. At the last possible second, he stepped to the side and quickly swung in Judge's direction, attempting for a counter. It managed to connect, but due to not even aura giving him the ability to dodge an attack of this speed the damage for both was about equal. Judge finally slowed down as a result of the attack, causing the two to now be face to face.

Judge slashed first, almost taking Joseph's arm off, but this was dodged and followed by a stab from Joseph. This connected, but allowed Judge to slash back in return, even if it was shallow. Joseph now decided to back off slightly, prompting Judge to go against this by closing the distance instantly. The cycle of backing off and being chased continued until Joseph found a door, which Judge crashed into, leading to the top of the ship.

As Joseph followed he realised he was fighting another battle in the rain, but he didn't care much anymore. At least in a more open place like this, he'd have more room to dodge around. He just had to be careful not to fall off again, his Nargacuga shaped safety net wasn't here anymore.

Judge took a swing forwards, missing. Joseph swung back, clashing with Judge's axe and pushing him back. Judge retaliated by pulling back for a second, then powering his axe up for a swing that followed this up, barely connecting with Joseph's chest as he just about pulled himself out of the way to avoid being bisected.

Joseph barely had time to respond for everything, so there was no chance of him getting to lower his guard long enough to use the same attack he had in the previous fight.

The two fighters briefly slowed down again, staring at the other, before the second's pause was over and they charged forwards once again, ready to clash until one was left standing.

"Now go left." Zach explained to Nargy, as they finally reached the cockpit of the airship. Stepping around the body that had been left he examined, the controls.

Zach was unable to understand a single thing.

He then unsheathed his gunlance and fired at the controls few times, before raising it into the air and swinging down. The airship began to tilt, pointing downwards, as Zach quickly jumped on Nargy's back.

"Now run back, as fast as ya can, please!"

The two continued to clash on top the airship, having completely lost any grip of what was going on around them. They didn't even notice their descent through the sky.

It was only as they went for more slashes at each other that they were interrupted by Nargy's screaming as he ran to where they were.

Joseph snapped out of his trance because of this, while Judge continued to attack.

"Grab on, this thing's about to hit the ground!" Zach yelled, extending his arm as Nargy bounded past. Joseph managed to focus long enough to grab on and Nargy kicked off the floor, leaving the accelaxe user behind.

Not feeling satisfied, Judge immediately began to pursue them, using his axe to boost himself into the air.

As Joseph was still trying to climb up, Zach fired back in response, connecting with his body but still somehow not stopping him. Nargy couldn't ascend much due to the added weight, meaning they were at risk of him catching up.

As the opponent got closer, Joseph still seemed calm.

Still being pulled up, his movements were limited and he only had a single arm free, yet he still seemed to have an idea.

"Nargy. Can ya wrap yer tail around my sword?"

It took a second, and despite some wondering if this would actually Nargy figured they didn't have a better option.

He wrapped his tail around the khanga edge, pulled it off Joseph's back, then turned it upside down, allowing Joseph to use his free arm to grab onto the hilt.

Judge continued to approach, getting even faster, ready for his last swing.

"Even with a swing like this, will it be enough? Using just a single hand, it won't be powerful, my normal swings can't overpower his boosted ones. If we fall, then it's over, so I gotta win this, no matter what. Then what I need is… whatever I used against Reaper. The memory of that fight is sorta blurry, like I wasn't fully in control. Same with up until now, huh. Still. If I did it then, I can do it now. Just… go over those memories, try to remember what you did."

The aura surrounding him began to move, transferring itself onto his blade, ready for the final attack. The attacker drew even closer, intending to finish this off.

A single thought united the two in this moment.

"Now… FALL TO HELL!"

The two attacks met each other, creating sparks. It seemed like their struggle lasted an eternity, but it was less than an instant.

Joseph was only swinging with a single arm from an awkward angle, while Judge put everything he could into this swing at top speed, yet even still this wasn't enough. The blade cut straight through Judge's accelaxe, cleaving it in half with a single strike. It also went straight through him, cutting up his side. Judge processed this for a single second, unable to believe it, before he tumbled back down, crashing into the airship.

Feeling unbelievably tired after that slash, Joseph very nearly dropped his sword, but just about managed to hold on. He still didn't have enough energy to sheath his sword or pull himself back up, forcing Zach to do most of the work for him. As he finally got up, they saw the airship crash into the ground, exploding.

Nargy tried flying away, but due to being unable to properly support the weight of two people and the weather being bad, was forced to land. He landed a short distance away from the wreckage of the airship. Due to the fire that had just started, it'd be easy for the others to notice them here.

But, somehow, despite everything that had just happened, they heard movement. Judge crawled out from the scene of destruction, staring them straight down.

"I'm not dead. I'm not gonna die. While you're still alive. While you're all still alive!"

Joseph began to step forward, but was stopped by Zach. Judge was unarmed and bleeding heavily as dragged himself across the ground, there wasn't any point. Judge continued to struggle on, focused on his targets. He could barely move, but he was surely making progress.

His right arm desperately reached out, but it didn't even seem aimed towards them anymore.

"Hey… where the hell are you guys going?" Isaac yelled "Don't leave me here! I did all this for you! Will! Dan! Joshua! I'm gonna finish this for you now, so just don't leave!"

The others couldn't understand what was going on anymore, but a few seconds later, Judge's strength gave out. With a final yell, he collapsed into the ground, not moving anymore.

The three remaining decided they wouldn't try to understand that, as it was impossible for them to decipher and they didn't have the energy left.

All that was left was a burning wreck and rain.

"Well, I guess this means that everything's over." Zach began.

"Mm. We survived." Joseph replied.

"Yet again."

"What does that mean?"

"Don't you think these guys were similar to David?"

"Ah… I guess so. Well, in the sense that they were both determined to kill us for no real reason."

"And we dealt with them in the same way too."

Joseph now realised that Nargy had no idea what was going on.

"Oh yeah, by the way, I kinda killed someone a few… uh… around ten years back. In my defense it was kill or be killed but yeah that's why this happened… Sorry, I guess?"

Nargy didn't care much anymore, he just wanted to go to sleep.

"Well, anyways." Joseph continued "Do ya think we should tell everything about this, or…?"

"Well we should if they ask. It'd be unfair to hide it from them. After all, without even knowing what we did, they came all the way out here for us. So… we should trust them."

"Yeah… I guess so."

"...Do ya think they were right?"

"What? Of course not."

"Well yeah, I agree. But, isn't it kinda weird? Most people don't have multiple people try to kill them, even if it was ten years apart for us."

"Well, I guess it is weird, but who cares. We just want to be alive. Some people don't want that. What can ya do? All we've done is fight to stay alive. There's nothing wrong with that. It's our job I guess, as hunters. If we need to, then that's what we'll keep doing."

"Mm. Let's go with that one."

The rain finally subsided, as the sun rose in the distance.

"...We were seriously out here for that long?" Joseph asked, stunned.

"...It was a long night, I guess." Zach sighed in response.

They then saw the airship approach them, ready to take them back to Dundorma. It was here to return them to their normal lives.

Fallon sat in her room, alone, looking over the battle, as there was finally only one response waiting in that direction.

"I see. What a shock, in a one versus seven situation I'd never have expected him to come out on top. It looks like he's quite the warrior."

"It's not as though he did it alone." Another voice chimed in "Some of the responses disappeared simultaneously. He must've had normal allies."

"I suppose so. Still, it's a shock. Wait a minute…"

"So you noticed that too? He must be identical to you."

"Ah, I see. Then the reason we thought he was different before must've been because he encountered another warrior before. How strange…"

Fallon started to laugh a little.

"Isn't this great?" She continued "We've gained a powerful piece, who's gotten even stronger as a result of this. Though, I think we should hold off on contacting him for now. We need to let him grow his strength naturally. Besides, without our involvement all of this has already happened. So, what exactly is gonna challenge him next? All we have to do is watch. We'll only move in once we need him. Let's just be patient, and let our pawn make its way across the board by itself."

The entire room began to celebrate this turn of events.

TO BE CONTINUED