A peaceful scene was present in the volcano.
There wasn't a single sign of life, the only thing moving was the lava.
All of this was interrupted by a Lavasioth crashing into the ground. The Seregios that had just pursued it started to pursue.
The piscine wyvern quickly rose and tried to attack, whence a girl jumped off the Seregios' back and moved around the attack, before boosting backwards to deliver a punch to its head, stunning it.
"Now, Vrai!" She yelled, as the flying wyvern took advantage of the confusion to slash at a gap in the Lavasioth's armour, sticking scales in it.
Vert grabbed back onto her partner's back to prevent herself from falling.
The Lavasioth crashed into the ground and was allowed to rest for a moment before Klaus burst out of the ground below it, sending it back up.
Being moved around so much caused the scales to make it bleed.
The Lavasioth hit the ground again, causing more cracks to appear in the armour.
It got back up again.
Klaus tried charging forwards at it, but received a ball of lava to the face, stopping him in his tracks.
Sanchez charged at it, Callum leaping off his back to slice at the lava monster as he went through the air. The attacks didn't really accomplish much, but he did look pretty cool doing it, so he didn't care too much that this left him with no way of dodging the monster's hipcheck.
As he was knocked away, Nargy flew in from above and slammed his tail down on the Lavasioth's head. Joseph then slashed at it from atop his partner's back.
Vrai moved in to attack again, sticking even more scales in the gaps in her opponent's armour.
The Lavasioth tried to bite at the targets circling it, but was unsuccessful.
Nargy flew up slightly, then dove towards the ground, slashing it as he passed. The Lavasioth readied itself to slam its body into the ground where Nargy was, but noticed the one on his back was missing.
Joseph slashed at the back of its neck a second later. Jumping off before Nargy dived in was successful in giving him a surprise attack, but the armour was still tough enough to stop him.
Still, the surprise created gave Vrai time to start attacking it again.
The Lavasioth pushed its head away from its attacker just in time to see a smaller target approaching.
Just like before, Vert boosted herself through the air again, landing a punch to the Lavasioth's head. It immediately lost control of its body, collapsing to the ground.
By the time it could focus on its surroundings again, it was surrounded by barrel bombs.
Its eight opponents stood a short distance away.
Matt was the one to speak up.
"Yer armour's pretty tough, y'know. Must pride yerself on it. So in that case… how's it deal with this?"
He fired his gun, hitting one of the bombs. They were slightly less farther from the explosion than they should've been, so it was a struggle to stay standing, but otherwise things went as planned.
Vert still seemed dissatisfied.
"What kind of last line was that?"
"It was cool." Matt argued.
"...How?"
"Look, I let you take the line cause ya said ya had somethin' planned." Joseph "But… the hell was that? Did ya just make it up as ya went along?"
"No." Matt replied.
The others started in expectant silence.
"Ok… maybe a little was improv."
The staring continued.
"Fine, I didn't plan at all. But I did my best! What are ya even supposed to work with with this thing? Lava? Armour? There's nothing to go off!"
"I mean, sure, but you can think of something, right?"
"Then what would ya go for?"
"...Defend this."
"...That's worse." Joseph pointed out.
"Don't you betray me too!"
"Can we just go home already?" Callum asked "I'm melting here."
"Ah, right." Vert remembered "We're in an active volcano."
The group walked through the streets of Dundorma, having a carefree conversation as always.
It continued like any other.
An everyday occurrence.
A noise from the alley nearby.
It was almost indistinguishable from anything else. There should've been no reason to give it attention.
But Vert felt off.
A feeling that that wasn't meant to happen, it was unnatural.
It was an irrational suspicion, but if she wasn't paranoid she had nothing else going for her.
Time felt like it had frozen. She considered the possibilities.
A gunshot rang out.
The bullet pierced the target's head.
Viridi relaxed her grip slightly.
"Again." The voice instructed her.
With any organisation controlling so much, there's bound to be an underside to it, right?
The hunter's guild wasn't an exception.
Hunters dealt with the monsters. It didn't matter where they came from.
Guild knights dealt with the criminals, they were the hunters proven trustworthy.
But obviously that wasn't everything. There were far more covert jobs that needed to be done, so for that they needed something else.
There were plenty of abandoned children scattered around, so they could at least be put to some use.
The assassins were raised to be perfect soldiers, in exchange for having some way to live.
Viridi never had anyone from the start. She hadn't even been given a name. So this way of living was everything to her.
"You must dedicate yourself to the guild!" The woman who lead the guild instructed them.
"For the sake of bettering the world, you must follow our orders. Your work is vital. Your names may be forgotten, but your actions shall never disappear."
They all obediently followed that woman's words, not understanding how to refuse.
Any time one of them couldn't what they were expected to, they were always given the same treatment.
"We're the ones who took you in. You rely on us. We're the only ones who'll accept you. So why aren't you paying us back for that? You owe us. Stop being ungrateful."
The ones who still couldn't do what they were told after being given the same slightly different explanation a few times were thrown away, never to be seen again.
Viridi never particularly struggled with keeping up. It wasn't a life she struggled with or excelled at, just one that she was living.
It was from this that she formed her own understanding of the world.
Everyone is selfish. They only think of themselves, no matter what. We're killing in return for a way to live, they're giving us a way to live in exchange for our killing. That's all there is to it. Even the ones we take out never care for anything other than themselves.
She was never interested in why she had to kill. Nothing interested her. Until that one day in Dundorma.
She was ordered to take out any of the regular hunters there.
Any time a monster showed like that one showed up, the order was always to remove the witnesses before the monster was dealt with. It was strange. But this also meant that she knew a good strategy.
Wait until they all ran, then take them out as they're busy fleeing from the monster.
They'll always eventually forget everything and run, which means they're not able to even notice you. Even if people next to them are shot down first, they'll be so focused on escaping they won't notice a thing.
The group in front of her was distracted by fighting the Deviljho. Their monsters set them apart from most, but she didn't change her strategy much.
Then, something she hadn't calculated happened.
In its efforts to catch the hunters, the Deviljho lept into the air. The landing sent it crashing straight towards her.
There was no time to dodge. She couldn't even move.
"Ah. So this is the end...?"
It felt underwhelming.
She'd always been around death, so an ending like this couldn't be called unexpected. Every day she woke up, this was a possible result.
This feeling of nothing was interrupted by a crab knocking her away from the danger.
Vert woke up what must've been a few seconds later.
It seemed that she had been saved.
"I see. So it was you. Well, I've got no choice to carry out my mission. I'll make it quick."
There was less than a metre between them. She fired her gun, aimed straight for her head.
Yet, somehow, he dodged. The bullet completely missed. It was a miraculous turn of events for him. She expected him to run, leaving the new source of danger behind.
Instead, the man turned and charged at her head-on.
She tried to defend, but for whatever reason, this was ineffective.
"Am I in shock because of how close I came to death? That seems… weird."
As she finished this calm guess, she got hit by another punch from the crab, breaking her mask.
"So this is really the end, then. They're gonna kill me now."
That day was just full of unexpected moments for her, as the next thing that happened was questioning.
She just had to give information about what was going on.
"I've been sent to kill anyone who saw what that Deviljho could do."
"Why?"
Work it out yourself.
"Because it's meant to be confidential."
"What's the deal with it, anyways? It's pretty clear our attacks aren't working."
How should I know? I'm just here to kill you. Not it.
"I don't know anything."
"It's pretty clear ya do, if yer here to deal with it."
Seriously, I'm not. But giving away what's really going on would be worse, so let's just give him something.
"About as much as can be observed. It regenerates from attacks and seems more intelligent than before."
"Well, that's about all I got."
That was quicker that expected.
"Anyways, yer gonna help us kill that thing."
...Is he serious? Why would you trust someone who just tried to kill you. Wait, before that...
"Wouldn't it make more sense to just run?"
"Living for others's what I do, probably."
...This guy is strange. Did he even hesitate to say that? Normally… there's supposed to be some hesitation. Everyone's selfish after all. He should be valuing his own life above the rest, even if they care about other things people usually just leave them when it gets dangerous. So what is this?
Does he really just not care for his own life that much?
"Anyways, what's yer name? I never asked."
So he's serious about working with me? I can't believe him. How do you even think that?
Ah. I need… to answer something. Don't I?
"Viridi, I guess."
With that, the other two turned to prepare to get ready.
The assassin found herself stunned by their trust.
She took advantage of the opening while they weren't looking to grab her gun.
A moment's hesitation. The other two noticed her. She quickly took off running.
She didn't understand why.
Before the Hermitaur could stop her, she was already gone.
She could've just shot them both. But instead, she decided to back off. She had to think about this.
"It's not normal to care about lives other than your own that much. It's ridiculous. It can't exist."
She never considered taking out the hunters like originally planned. The thought just didn't cross her mind, even though it was her mission.
A few minutes later, the sounds of fighting stopped. It was over. She had to go report.
As she drew near, she could clearly see the leaders of the guild.
The one who commanded them was recognisable even from a distance.
As the assassins boarded, Fallon turned to them, demanding their attention with just a glance.
"Have those who witnessed its abilities been dealt with?"
"Yes." They replied in unison.
Something was slightly off with Vert's response. She answered at the same time and with the same tone, but there was a slight hesitation not even she realised was there.
She just slightly hoped those hunters were still alive. It was likely the monster had already killed them, if they weren't dealt with by the other assassins, but she still wished for them to continue living, if only to fulfil her own curiousity.
She felt eyes on her for just a moment.
A fear stronger than anything else she'd felt today coursed through her body. Her mind went back through as many memories as possible. She couldn't even form a thought.
The eyes then looked away.
Fallon turned and strode onto the airship, signalling the rest to follow her.
Vert went with the others, barely remaining calm,.
A few days later, she was still in thought, trying to understand.
The selflessness was something out of the world she'd formed over the years. She'd worked out that much, but it just left with another question.
"What have I even been doing here?"
She reflected on the situation.
"I never question anything about this. I just go along with it. So why does this of all things affect me? ...Right, because it's unnatural."
More thoughts.
"I need to understand more. Everything going on, I don't get it. This feeling of being confused is the worst. I can't stand it."
A little while later, some of the others started to form a plan to escape. She joined in.
Under the cover of night, they slipped away.
By the time they were out, one of them thought of an idea.
"If we just keep our current names, we'll get caught easily. So let's think of new ones before we leave."
The rest chose their own names, before it was her turn.
"I can't really think of anything, though."
"...Then why not go for something that feels familiar?"
"...Vert?"
"It's you using it, not us."
"I guess."
They disappeared into the night.
A few weeks later, Vert realised that she had no idea what she was doing with this freedom.
She ended up becoming a hunter. The only thing she really knew how to do was killing, anyways.
But, nothing grabbed her. There was no sudden flash of inspiration like she wanted, she didn't just suddenly understand everything in the world by being a part of it.
"This shit's too hard. All I can do is destroy. I'm not made for understandings things like this."
As Vert waited for a epiphany, she found herself surprised by a crashing sound behind her.
Vert spun to see a Seregios recovering after something threw it down here.
Their eyes locked. It had already seemed to have forgotten about its previous target.
The flying wyvern raced at her, prompting a roll out of the way.
"Somehow… this thing really pisses me off!" She thought as she leapt at it.
The Seregios was unable to dodge as she punched it in the side. Instead, it retaliated by slashing her with its tail, causing scales to get stuck.
Vert ignored this and punched at it again, knocking it slightly off balance.
The wyvern swung with one of its claws, but this was stopped. The hunter pulled back with her tonfa that had stopped the attack before punching the monster in the throat with her free one.
It was knocked away, but roared and charged straight back towards her.
The fight continued like this for a while, until another punch to the face knocked the Seregios onto the ground.
She tried to follow this up with another attack, but before it landed the monster had already slipped away.
As she watched it leave, she tried to pursue, but the scales finally caught up to her and caused her to pass out from moving around too much.
She returned to town a few hours later.
"What even came over me, there? I just really wanted to fight that thing for some reason I can't explain. Weird."
She made a decision then.
The next day, she returned to the same spot. As she'd hoped, the Seregios also returned.
"I can't just go on understanding nothing. So, I'm gonna beat you up until I get why you're pissing me off so much."
The fight played out about the same as before. They took turns hitting each other, resulting in yet another draw.
Vert still didn't understand.
This repeated the next day. And the day after.
It was only by the tenth day that she got it.
"Ah. I see. You're me."
She jumped up to avoid a tail swipe, before punching it in the side.
"I can't be like them. I can't care about others. All I can do is destroy. And you, who just attacks everything in sight, are the same, right?"
More punches, knocking it to the ground.
"But I don't want that. I want to understand things. So…"
She stepped forwards.
"Wanna work together?"
Vert figured that by copying those guys, she could probably understand them better.
The Seregios looked at her outstretched hand for a few seconds, trying to work out what this meant.
It kicked her hand away and quickly scrambled into the air.
"...Wait, that wasn't supposed to happen."
It took about ten more days of fighting before the Seregios finally listened to her.
With the alliance seeming to be forged, Vert realised she had no idea what to call the Seregios.
"Um...uh...I'm still not good at naming things."
The Seregios seemed indifferent.
"Then I'll just go with the first thing that pops into my head…. Why does thinking have to be so hard…?"
The Seregios was now getting more impatient.
"Vrai! We're going with that. It works well enough."
The two violent ones wandered from place to place for a while, until they reached Riveru in 1349.
The rest of the story until now brought Vert back to this street, dreading whatever was behind that alley.
But, not a single thing happened.
Even after a few moments had passed, nothing emerged from the alley. She dashed up to it, but found it was empty.
"The hell are ya doin', Vert?" Joseph asked.
Vert turned around and realised she had no way of answering this. She then ran off.
"...Is she okay?" Callum asked.
"How should I know?"
She met up with Vrai again and now found herself just sitting next to her companion atop a hill.
"You've really changed, y'know? A few years ago, you were violent as all hell, and now you're just resting here peacefully, right next to me. Well, it's for the best if I don't say that, otherwise you'd probably get mad, but I'm glad you were able to change like that. It's nice to watch. By comparison… What have I even done?"
She just felt annoyed.
"I can't escape it, can I. Other people can live just fine, but I m always gonna be followed. Well, not actually being followed. Just being followed by that feeling of being followed. That paranoia. I can't leave it behind. I'm an assassin. Not a human. I can't be normal. I can't… care about others. They all do it like it's nothing. I guess this is jealousy."
Her wallowing in these thoughts was interrupted by a flying wyvern landing nearby.
"So this where ya ran off to." Joseph commented.
"...Did you come here to laugh at me?"
"Hey, I'm a man of high taste, I only laugh at funny things. Funny as in funny, not funny as in weird. And that was just confusing."
"So what did you come here for?"
"An excellent question!"
"So you dunno. Well, at the very least, can you keep it down a little? Vrai's sleeping, I think."
"Sure."
This left them without anything to talk about, so Vert went back to the way she was before.
Her head suddenly snapped out of these thoughts, focusing on the one in front of her. She'd had an idea.
"Hey, Joseph."
"What?"
"Have I changed?"
"Since when?"
"Since we first met."
"Well yeah, yer not tryna kill me, so I'd say so."
"...Not that. Well, kinda that. But not fully that."
"What do ya mean, then? I'm not gettin' it at all."
"...I mean, personality. I'm not the exact same, right? I wanna believe I've changed."
"Well yeah, yer less into murder now."
"Seriously, that's not what I mean. Why are you so stuck on that?"
"Most people don't stop getting stuck on it!"
"Be quieter! What I mean is more… um…uh..."
"Just say it."
"Don't rush me. I'm thinking."
Vert took a deep breath.
"Am I… even something resembling a person who can care about others?"
"Meaning?"
"What I said. I'm not concerned for others. I can't. Never been able to. But… I wanna change that, y'know. I can't just stay like this. But I can't escape it. So I just want to know. Am I any closer than I was before I started?"
"Huh, that's pretty heavy. I mean, ain't ya already there, though?"
"Don't give me that."
"I mean it, though. Did ya already forget who yer right next to there?"
"Ah."
"Exactly. If ya didn't care about Vrai, then why would ya tell me not to disturb her? Ya just wouldn't care. So there, boom, problem solved."
"That's barely anything, anyone can do that. How does that prove I can care about others?"
"I think ya got the bar too high as far as that's concerned. Well, it's not like just doing only small things is enough, but doing them so casually shows that yer fine, right? Caring about others doesn't have to be something like constantly yerself into the path of danger for them."
"...That doesn't mean much coming from you."
"Ah, yeah, that's another angle to go for. Ya never shut up about how I'm a suicidal idiot, do ya?"
"That's just cause I don't like watching idiots die for no reason."
"Ex-act-ly. See, ya care for others in a bunch of ways, yer just too hard on yerself to notice."
"...Alright, I get it." Vert showed a slight smirk.
"Then that's good. Anyways, now that we've finally worked out how things are and established that you care for others, I'm ready to accept your dramatic love confession scene at any time."
"Ah, so you immediately went back to being an idiot."
"Well c'mon, it makes sense. The one who seems aggressive at first, tries to kill you a little, then after some time softens up into having a moment like this. It's the perfect tsundere arc, right?"
"...Don't sort people into character archetypes!" She yelled while throwing a punch, which was dodged around with a retort of "Then stop perfectly fitting into one!"
They continued to fight. Nargy chilled a short distance, wanting nothing to do with this.
They were all then interrupted by a roar. Vrai had been woken up by the noise. Her wrath was about to be incurred.
As they ran for their lives, Vert thought.
It still didn't feel like it was enough. She wasn't satisfied. Something was missing. She still couldn't understand everything. She recognised that.
But, for now, that didn't matter. As long as she could enjoy this peaceful moment she'd finally reached, that was enough.
For now though, she had to focus on surviving the next five minutes.
TO BE CONTINUED
Yo, I still don't remember how to write author's notes.
If you've been paying way more attention than you should, you would've noticed that this marks the entire cast having all their backstories set up, so that ends this little arc (which ended up longer than any other arc) of giving them all focus chapters, so while this wasn't a dramatic finale it's over now.
Next chapter the final arc begins.
Unfortunately, I'm also kinda taking a break.
My schedule's been all over the place for the past monthish I think and this chapter's an entire week late, I really can't keep up with a biweekly schedule anymore.
I've also got exams coming up soon, so even if I continued I'd have to take a break partway through the ending and trust me, the final arc won't have any good place to stop for a few months.
So I'm leaving it here, before shit goes down.
Still, I won't stop completely, I still plan to work on 0 when I have free time. The plan is to get that finished before I return to finish this up.
Hopefully this should return around June or July, though it could be later if I'm an idiot. At the very least, my plan is for this to all be over before the end of the year.
Oh yeah and as one final note to the anon who keeps asking for Riko to get a monster, sorry but it's not gonna happen. Phantom's arc (or at least the backstory to it) was planned from the start (which made you requests fun to read), so the idea was always for him to not get a monster. I don't have enough time to fit in him getting a new one and I don't really feel it'd make sense. So uh, sorry, whoever you are.
That's about it, anyways I'm off to spend the next few months trying not to die.