It had been a short while since Fallon's declaration of war.
After what was revealed, the world briefly went into a state of panic, as news travelled across the country. Amidst all that chaos, Fallon carried out her plans.
All the hunters across the country were forced to join, otherwise they'd lose their hunting licenses. There weren't enough airships to carry all of them, so regular ships had to be used as well.
It took a lot of convincing, but the group eventually managed to bring their monsters with them. This left them on the boat, staring out into the distance.
"How long has it been now?" Natasha asked.
"About fourteen years by now, I think." Natalie replied.
"That long? I can barely even remember what it looks like by now."
"Same here. That's probably why I don't feel anything that strong towards the place."
"Mm. Well, at times like this, I guess there's only thing you can say."
"What's that?"
"Y'know."
"No, I don't."
"The scene where we finally return but are in doubt as to whether there's anyone still there, but then the lights show up and they spell out 'welcome back' and we go 'we're finally home' and its all emotional. Y'know. We were planning it for ages."
"How would they even know yer coming back?" Ben asked, walking over after having checked up on Plessy, who was carelessly swimming around in the ocean.
"Dunno. Didn't think that far ahead."
"Wait, now that I think about it, ya mean this is where ya came from?"
"Wasn't it obvious?"
"I've never claimed to be capable of thought."
"I mean…" Natalie replied "It's not like we ever really explained it, so it's understandable."
On another part of the boat, three gunners stood around idly.
"I never expected this week to turn out like this." Matt muttered.
"I did." Alicia replied.
"How?"
"These things happen."
"No, they don't."
"Then what's happening now?"
"...That's beside the point. I meant they don't happen usually."
"No, it isn't. But speaking seriously, yeah, I can get the feeling."
"It's fine, isn't it?" Sean asked.
"It seems dangerous, though." Matt replied.
"We're getting paid, so it's fine. Danger's just a normal thing for us."
"It's always about the money with ya, isn't it?"
"Yeah. What else?"
"Ok, stop there, cause this seems to be escalating. There's a lot of us, so let's just stick to what we always do and things'll be fine."
"...Sure."
At another part of the boat, two stood there, looking at the sea blankly.
"I guess this kinda ruins our plans to go to Kotoko." Riko said.
"You were still planning on that?" Anthony asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Look, me trying to avoid it aside, saying stuff like 'I can't wait to do x after this is over' when in a situation like this is a bad omen."
"No, that's not it. The ones with a reason to keep living are more likely to live."
"I've never heard anything like that before."
"What, you don't believe me?"
"I can't say that I don't want to, but it's a little hard to believe, isn't it?"
"Unless there's some invisible force that only exists for the sake of causing irony, I'd find my idea easier to believe."
"Yeah, here's the thing. I'm pretty sure that does exist, everyone's had run-ins with it before. Countless times."
"...That's just coincidence."
They continued discussing the existence of the invisible force, while a group on another part of the ship talked about slightly more important things.
Zach, Lyra and Shoot had gathered. Callum and Ed were also there, finally accompanied by Alexandra, who had shown up because she didn't want to be a third wheel elsewhere.
"So they're trying to make aura users into our leaders, huh?" Zach thought aloud. "Well, I can't deny they're strong, but…"
"The great power will eventually lead to temptation and ruin, as is the fate of all sentient beings." Ed replied.
"Yeah, more or less." Callum replied "Based on the ones we've seen, they don't seem like the best leader material. At least, if we're talking about the unstable ones. Though our stable one isn't exactly leader material anyways, just for different reasons."
"Maybe it's the only thing we can do, though." Lyra said "Against monsters like these."
"Don't worry about it," Shoot told her "We were already able to defeat the ones at Dundorma. It's not like we're powerless against these monsters or anything."
"Well, you're both not wrong, I guess." Alexandra said.
"Don't give such vague responses."
"Sorry, I'll explain. Sure, we normal humans could probably deal with this by ourselves. The problem is mindset. I mean, it's not just us. Everyone's afraid of the immortal monsters. And why wouldn't we be? But having some abnormal fighters of our own to match them will help make it seem like we're equal again. So in that case, I guess having the aura users act as leaders is necessary to get everyone to fight."
"...That makes sense, I guess." Zach replied "But things ain't turnin' out exactly like that. Most of the hunters here don't even believe in the aura users, even when the guild leader confirmed it and all it's barely above the rumour it was before."
"Hmm… I guess that is a problem. It's different for us when we've seen it firsthand, but this type of thing's hard to believe just on word alone. If I had to guess, that woman's probably planning on turning things around with a first impression, whenever the combat begins."
"...We'll just have to see how dramatic she makes things, then."
The final conversation took place with the four hadn't shown up yet, concerning something slightly less significant than the war.
"So anyways, ya don't have to worry about Aron." Joseph said to Terrence "I told him ya were dead after the announcement."
"What? Why would you do that?"
"So he doesn't come to kill you, of course."
"That's assuming he even believes you." Vert told him.
"Well, I did kinda slip up earlier and tell him that Terrence was fine, but then afterwards I told him I was lying then, so it should work."
"...How stupid do you think he is? Actually, more than that, how stupid are you?"
"Let's not go there." Josh stopped her "But do you really think it's a good idea to try and take his reason to fight away from him?"
"When his target's Terrence, of course."
"I guess, but… look, from what I've seen, aura users all need a reason to fight, right? While it's inconvenient to us, if we take away his reason for having the aura, then all that'll do is decrease our forces for the upcoming fight."
"That's fine."
"No, it really isn't."
"It's better than him wanting to kill Terrence."
"I'm…" Terrence replied "That's not too much of a problem. I'm fine with it."
"It totally is a problem, stop valuing yerself so little."
"...It's not a problem cause I plan on fighting back."
"I'd be glad to hear it, if ya had any enthusiasm about saying that at all."
"...I can hold my own against him, you know? I already did it once. But in a situation like this, we probably need all the power we can get, right? So long as we just don't meet each other, it'll be fine."
"It's not like that doesn't make sense, but I don't approve anyways. I mean, no aura user other than me's probably needed for taking out these immortal monsters."
"...You almost died when fighting three at once." Vert reminded "Don't be ridiculous."
"All ya ever do is undermine me."
"This isn't- I mean, I'm saying this one out of concern. But back to the point, they have a lot more than three on our side. Don't go running off alone."
"Well, I won't be alone. The only reason they got the better of me was cause I wasn't fighting alongside Nargy. So this time we can take care of them without a problem."
"What'll you do if they separate you again?"
"Hmm… die, probably."
"What kinda plan is that!?"
"It isn't one, cause I don't need to plan for that case. Cause it won't happen."
"On what logic?"
"We're fighting the main force. And the higher you get into a villain group, the more pointless cocky they get, to the point where they let the hero get away with anything to win. One of those 'come at me on yer own terms, I'll crush you anyways." type deals."
"What are you even basing this on?" Josh cut in to ask.
"Well it happened with yer group, more or less."
"...Can we not go there? And that's just one evil group!"
"Which means that so far it's happened a hundred percent of the time."
Vert was about to argue back, when the boat suddenly shook more violently than normal. Loud noises could be heard above.
The group ran upstairs, finding the other boats under attack by sea monsters.
"Should've expected something like this." Vert muttered.
Cannons fired at them, barely managing to hold them off.
The hunters tried to fight back against them, but were unable to do much without risking falling into the ocean below.
Of course, that limit only applied to those who were stuck on the ground.
Nargy was the first to take off, followed by Vrai, Demi and Frost. Azure, Ayano and Klaus also took off. Finally, Frega and Revel followed.
Zappy, Plessy and Wave dropped into the ocean, surrounding the boat to guard it from attacks.
Watching this, the aura users joined them.
Raf flew into the air, being pushed around by an invisible force like wind. The wind changed direction, aiming to the sea. He dove towards one of the monsters, slashing at it as he flew by, before changing directions again and heading out of reach.
The entire time the boy kept an emotionless, uninterested look on his face, contrasted by the confusion from the hunters watching.
"Think you're the only one who can show off!?" Avery yelled out.
They jumped off, aiming for one of the monsters attacking below them. Their aura extended to reach one of them, before they pulled out a lighter. The end of the aura exploded, damaging the creature as well as the boat.
More explosions followed. They moved through the air, more awkwardly than the rest through the force of it.
"I think that ability's more of a threat to the boats than the monsters are." Alicia observed, before going back to firing.
Fa didn't move off the boat, clearly having no similar flight-related abilities to speak of. Instead, one of the monsters came to her.
A Royal Ludroth leapt up from the depths, trying to attack her first. She raised her arm to block.
The Ludroth was unable to break through her guard, as her arms turned to a substance like steel.
"Done already? Then, it's my turn next."
Fa kicked her opponent with the force of a hammer swing, sending it backwards. She closed in, aiming to crush it to death.
Aron watched this, before jumping down himself. A Gobul waited below, but before it could attack its back was frozen, preventing it from releasing spikes. He landed on top of it and stabbed into its back, before slashing at the lantern before it could flash.
Monsters surrounded him, so he prepared to fight them as well.
Chaos ensued.
The ships came close to sinking, as the fight continued.
Nargy swooped down, allowing Joseph to slash at monsters on the way.
Aron continued using the immobile monsters as platforms while fighting off the rest with his instinct alone. Fighting without his ability was more difficult than he expected, leading him to get overwhelmed by his opponents.
An attack caused him to lose his balance. He slipped off the monster's back.
Joseph watched.
The monsters waited below, ready to tear him apart once he was on their turf.
"...Nargy. Can ya dive down there?"
He saw no reason to refuse.
Joseph barely caught him in time.
The man looked up blankly.
"I guess I have to thank you."
"Ya don't. I just did it cause you getting ripped to shreds here'd decrease our fighting power more than I'd like. Now get off."
Aron didn't reply, trying to analyse his intent.
"Did I stutter? Get off. Nargy can't carry ya, musclehead."
Aron finally noticed how much the Nargacuga was struggling.
"Where should I get off?"
"Here."
Joseph dropped him onto one of the boats.
The battle continued without much major happening.
The next morning, the boats finally arrived at Dia.
The hunters stepped out into the country of monsters, uncertain of what was to come.
TO BE CONTINUED