The warriors continued through the castle.
Lion barely dodged around attacks, Musk barreled through the enemies, Corra countered their attacks, Gol blinded them, Kara slowed them and Morgan slashed through everything in her path.
Roy and Hitoiki provided support, not as good at direct combat.
The assassins recklessly attacked, not caring for their own survival.
In the midst of all of it, Fallon attacked.
Moving faster than the rest, she slipped past the enemies. One tried to jump at her. The attack was easily avoided, the monster was knocked away by an explosion.
More surrounded her, each knocked away by a different type of elemental attack. Fire, water, electricity, ice and dragon.
One of the monsters finally managed to land a hit on her, but was barely able to leave a scratch. Another took advantage of the opening to try disarming her. The knife flew into the air, but the advantage it felt only lasted for a second as it was slashed at anyways, her hands having changed to weapons.
The monsters were unable to work out what the leader's ability was, with every attack she displayed something new.
The group slowly advanced through the castle, pushing against the wall of monsters.
The assassins gradually dropped in number, while the warriors struggled to survive.
They approached the throne room. Recognising it as the end, Fallon yelled out orders.
"The warrior team is going to go ahead to defeat their leader! The rest of you, stay outside and prevent any reinforcements from entering!"
The group of nine cut through the crowd of enemies, reaching the doors.
They finally parted, revealing the stairs leading up to the throne.
Several monsters surrounded it. Atop the destroyed throne rested one single monster, clearly above the rest.
Like the rest of the powerful ones, it was able to speak.
"I am Veritas. The origin. The one who conquered this foul country that attacked our kind without mercy. The one who created this Armageddon, for the purpose of taking revenge on you all. This awakening… it has given us purpose. We've banded together, to form a world without humans."
"So you're the leader. I'm Fallon Bachika, the incarnation of humanity."
The White Fatalis before her roared.
Rumbling was heard outside.
They looked out the window, seeing a Raviente emerge from hiding in a mountain nearby. It flew past them and crashed through the battlefield.
"Did you humans think you could beat us? Pietas will wipe out your forces outside while you're stuck in here fighting us."
With those words, the monsters went on the attack, not even allowing the enemy time to think.
Fallon analysed the situation for a second before giving orders.
"Musk! Morgan! You two deal with the Raviente! The rest of us will stay here and fight!"
They nodded and jumped away.
As the rest of the warriors began the final battle, the rest of the hunters were still occupied with their own fights.
Raf's group, no longer having Raf as a part of it, had been pushed back by the onslaught of monsters.
"I thought they'd just be running," Callum said "But this is anything but."
Their eyes were eager to destroy any human they saw.
After the battle started to go differently to how they planned, they retreated back into one of the houses.
"We can't just stay here forever." Alexandra said.
"Then what's your plan?" Anthony replied.
"No idea. But if we stay here they're gonna overwhelm us eventually. We've gotta start fighting back now."
"I agree." Riko replied "I dunno how many there are now, but if we leave things they're just gonna pick off our allies. Meaning that there's gonna be more after us."
"...Sure, but then what?" Anthony asked.
"No plan. We've just gotta work it out as we go."
"That's a very non-reassuring idea."
"Yeah," Callum told him "But we haven't got any other options, so let's just."
His voice trailed off, as a Gravios peered inside the building.
Time froze for a second, before he jumped back.
A beam of heat cut through the house a second later, forcing the ones inside out of hiding.
Refusing to give it time to attack again, Alexandra and Zino immediately attacked it. Riko followed, as well as Callum and Sanchez.
Anthony almost went to attack as well, but was cut off by the entrance of a Diablos.
A Duramboros lumbered towards them, having noticed the presence of enemies.
The regular humans and monsters found themselves surrounded, only reminding them of their lack of convenient powers to get out of the situation with.
Riko moved closer to Anthony, using the only special power he had.
"Stick close to me. I won't let them get near you."
"That's my line. I'm not letting you get yourself killed."
His attempt at using the special power was denied.
"Is a battlefield really the place for flirting?" Callum asked as he tried to look for a way out.
"Of course." Ed answered "Haven't you read anything before? There's no better time for flirting than in the heat of battle. Whether it's with your teammates or your enemy, it doesn't matter."
"...Huh, I'll have to try it sometime."
"Do we really have the time for all this!?" Alexandra asked, before charging at the nearest monster to buy some time.
Anthony tried to attack as well, but as he did he was attacked from behind by another.
Any time the group targeted one monster, the other two would attack. That left splitting up and taking them on simultaneously as their only option, but there were too many.
"Let's retreat real quick!" Callum yelled "We've gotta at least make it so they're not on both sides of us!"
The group turned.
The Gravios and the Duramboros were on one side. The Diablos was on the other. That made their target clear.
Riko charged at it first, drawing its attention.
He bashed the weight of his body into it.
Alexandra and Zino followed, as did Anthony and Wave.
They managed to topple the monster over, crashing it into a building nearby. It was only a second, but that was enough time for them to get past.
The group ran down the streets, trying to think of where to go.
More monsters roamed the streets, noticing them.
They eventually found themselves at a dead end.
"No way out…" Riko muttered. "Perfect."
They weren't able to escape anymore, but they'd stopped the monsters from all being able to reach them at once. There were more than before, but it didn't make a difference when they were bottlenecked.
The hunters and monsters charged at their enemies.
The fight left them injured, but they were slowly managing to wear down the immortal monsters.
Things seemed to be going in their favour.
A presence from above crashed through the buildings behind them, opening up a path for itself.
"I see that you humans are still hanging on to your lives. Allow me, Gravitas, to change that."
One of their generals had appeared.
The Deviljho released a blast of dragon breath, forcing them out of the alleyway. Some of its allies got caught in the blast, but it didn't seem to care.
They were split up the monsters. Riko, Anthony and Wave were stuck, isolated from the rest, while surrounded.
Countless attacks.
Both were further injured by the monsters. Blood covered the ground.
Riko felt his legs about to collapse.
Gravitas moved towards them, towering over the pair.
The gunners fought against Frugalitas to little effect.
The winds prevented most from drawing near, however that wasn't the problem they were facing. Even when the bullets got through the winds, they were barely damaging it due to the armour.
Azure circled around, barely avoiding the blasts of wind. Ayano flew in the other direction, trying to distract it.
Klaus tried charging straight for it again, still unable to break through the barrier of wind.
Matt fired at it as Klaus attacked, trying to pierce through.
Blasts of wind assaulted them, feeling like invisible blades.
Sean had an idea.
He nodded at Alicia, trying to tell her to be ready to act once he told her too.
Explaining the plan now would be a waste if the enemy could understand them. All he could do was hope she'd be quick enough.
"Azure." He talked to his partner quietly "When I say, charge straight at it and hit with a fireball at the last second."
As he said that, he began charging up a wyvern's fire.
"Now!"
The wyvern charged straight down. In response, Frugalitas hit the pair with blasts of wind, but their course was undeterred.
A fireball was unleashed, managing to get through the wind. At the same time, Sean held his gun forwards, melting through the armour with a wyvern's fire.
The Kushala Daora roared, physically attacking.
"Poison it through the opening in the armour!"
He had no choice but to reveal his intent, leading Frugalitas to try guarding there.
However, the wind barrier had finally been lowered in that moment.
Klaus charged straight into the elder dragon, Matt on his back firing at it. Without the wind to back it up, the armour was broken through this time.
Ayano dove in, using her tail to swipe at the exposed area, as well as some claw swipes. Azure did the same, ensuring it was poisoned.
Frugalitas finally recovered, getting up and sending out high pressure wind to knock its opponents back.
It roared, clearly enraged. The storm only grew stronger.
It was done messing with them.
Frugalitas jumped towards Klaus first, attacking while leaving no room for a counter. Matt tried to fire back, but it didn't seem to effect.
Another fireball distracted it and got it to follow Ayano.
As their enemy only grew more aggressive, the gunners felt a sense of hopelessness.
The two sisters continued to tremble at the sight of the Glavenus.
Ben couldn't understand why, but he knew that things were going badly. He tried to snap them out of it.
"Both of ya, wake up already! We don't have time for this!"
"...Ah. Ok, it's fine now, let's go." Natasha replied.
Natalie took slightly longer, only managing a half hearted "...Right."
Ben had no time to get more of a response as Disciplina was already on the attack. The monster swung its tail around, barely missing them.
Plessy fired a beam of pressurised water at it, barely managing to make it stumble. Ben charged in to land more attacks, the demonic brute wyvern bit at him in response. The attack grazed him, he kept swinging. Plessy joined the attacks.
Disciplina swung its tail around. In response, Aki went to punch it, causing an explosion in the air as they clashed. Both pulled back slightly, but Aki was quicker to attack again, punching at its chest.
Another slash followed in response, cutting across her chest. Natasha then jumped in, hacking away at it.
Frega sparked up some electricity, briefly shocking Disciplina before retreating out of its attack range. Natalie's mind was still barely there, but she tried to play something to support the rest.
The entire time, her mind was occupied by memories. As Natasha attacked, her mind was the same.
Disciplina finally decided to target the one with the hunting horn.
The blade slammed into the ground once again. Frega saw the attack coming and knocked her out of its path before she could react. She was then cut off from Natalie by the Glavenus stepping between them.
Natalie's brain finally processed what was happening.
For better or for worse, that cage was finally shattered. The presence of the Glavenus, that same Glavenus as on that day, had brought her all the way back to then. Her true feelings were exposed to the outside world once more.
Paralysed by her inability to no longer hold it in, she stood there blankly. Frustration, anger, sorrow, guilt. It was overwhelming to the girl who'd spent so long shutting herself away.
However, Disciplina had no interest in waiting for her to deal with this. The blade swung once more.
The rest attempted to reach her in time.
Blood flew through the air.
Aron crashed through a building.
The two Seregios tried to pursue, but weren't able to fit. Severitas slashed at Clementia to push it out of the way then went back to charging for Aron. The front half of its body was frozen in place. Clementa took over, slashing at the other Seregios as it went past.
Aron stood up again, trying to ignore how much he was bleeding.
He clashed with Clementia, blocking the first strike and then swinging back. Aron had an idea.
Clementia went for a kick, but its leg was frozen, followed by the other. Severitas took that as its turn to attack, but found itself in the same situation.
It was a struggle to concentrate enough to keep using his power in this way, but with this Aron had a chance of winning.
As expected, things went unexpectedly.
He watched as the Seregios pulled frantically, tearing their own legs off to get a chance to attack him.
The legs quickly regenerated. He had no time to do it again as Severitas was already about to slam into him with its entire body.
He blocked too late, getting knocked through another wall. Severitas tried to use its momentum for another attack, but was cleaved in half by one of Aron's attacks.
Clementia quickly followed up with another strike, but got impaled. The flying wyvern didn't seem to care, using the lack of distance to strike him with its tail.
Aron barely stopped it, but then got hit with an attack from the claws. More scales were lodged in his body. Severitas got back up.
The fight was rapidly shifting against him.
Fireballs continued to destroy the buildings.
Auctoritas roared, searching out his targets.
After getting spotted, they'd been forced to retreat.
"Isn't there anything we can do against him?" Lyra asked.
"That's what I'm thinking up now." Zach replied.
"Think quicker, nya." Shoot told him "He's gonna destroy the entire thing pretty soon."
"Telling me to think quicker only makes things slower."
Fireballs continued to destroy buildings, removing any potential cover. After spotting them, the Silver Rathalos refused to let them escape, possibly out of some stupid pride. This meant that their only option was to deal with him.
Zach finally thought of a plan.
Another fireball hit a building.
Shoot and Zach ran out of the destroyed building. Auctoritas noticed this, feeling glad he'd finally discovered his targets. He gleefully pursued them, trying to close in to finish them off with his claws.
A split in the path. Shoot ran left, while Zach ran right. The pursuer paused for a second, trying to work out which to follow. That second was what the plan revolved around.
A gust of wind was felt. Auctoritas saw the scales riding atop it. He could've dodged, but he saw no reason to. He was capable of regenerating after all, dodging an attack was only for those confined by normal mortality.
The part that surprised him was when it had no apparent effect. He finally noticed Lyra and Chante, who had been hiding. He went to attack them next, already having forgotten about his previous targets, but his body didn't move the way he wanted it to.
The Silver Rathalos roared in confusion.
"Ya can't regain control with yer immortality, can ya?" Zach asked. The attack wasn't done yet.
"Go for it now, Zappy!"
The Ludroth emerged from hiding and chucked some of its mucus at the enemy, affecting its stamina.
Even more infuriated, the king started destroying anything nearby. The plan had been to attack while he was confused, but the monster had become like a hurricane of attacks.
"Didn't this just make him more dangerous?" Lyra asked.
"...Maybe."
Joseph slashed at Virtas. In response, it swung back, barely missing.
Rocks were flung at him. He ducked underneath. They detonated upon impact with a wall behind him. Joseph charged up aura on his khanga edge and went for a mountain slash.
For once, Joseph seemed completely conscious during the fight. However, he was still different. Calling him possessed was too far, what was driving him was clearly himself. But it was a side that almost everyone present was unused to, with the sole exception of his opponent.
The rest were trying to work out how to help, but there was nearly no room for interference. The two were locked in battle with one another, not caring for where they went or what was caught up in it.
The clashes continued, moving further up into the city.
Joseph pulled some knives out of nowhere and chucked them at its eyes. Virtas roared, damaging its opponents ears and refusing him the chance to take the opening.
How many years had each side spent preparing for this? Each tactic had been planned out in advance, it had been thought of so much that there was no room for improvisation. Every single encounter they'd faced, regardless of what happened, was merely practice. This was the battle that they had been waiting for all this time.
They wore each other down slowly, taking all the opportunities they could create.
Nargy watched the battle. His face showed unease, yet he continued to look for any openings.
"He's going to get himself killed at this rate." Vert said.
"Are you sure?" Terrence asked "He's doing way more damage to it than it is to him. I know it's got more health, but that's gotta count for something, right?."
"I guess you'd be right normally. But with these things, it's hard to tell how much fight they've got in them. That'd just apply for a normal one, but the named ones are tougher, aren't they. Plus… this one feels like its somehow in an entirely different category to the named ones we've encountered so far."
"Mm." Joshua agreed "Well, I'm guessing there's worse opponents out there, but this is definitely the most fearsome one we've encountered until now. I dunno whether he'll win or not, but we gotta be ready to jump in whenever. Just not right now, we could get torn to pieces by either side at this point."
The hunter and the monster continued their frantic dance. Not for survival, but for the elimination of the other side.
Joseph swung at it with a mountain slash, cutting through it. Another roar, forcing him to stop. It charged for him, barely being avoided.
Joseph slashed downwards. That blade of unparalleled sharpness, the last memory of his oldest companion. The blade of revenge, forged with the sole purpose of avenging what had been taken. It cut through.
More slashes. His moves grew more instinctive as the fight progressed. In response, Virtas lost himself as well, growing more aggressive.
They tore into each other, waiting for the moment the other would slip up.
Finally, the moment arrived.
The hunter slashed at the monster's front left leg. The other one swung at him as he did this, forcing him to jump around it. The hunter watched as the leg he'd just slashed quickly recovered and dug into the ground, pulling up some rocks. He tried to avoid them. Two were barely avoided. The other two were less successful.
One hit the blade, shattering it instantly.
The other hit the hunter's right arm, the explosion engulfing it. The blast knocked the hunter backwards, slamming him into a wall. His face showed confusion, before he slumped over.
The rest reacted with surprise, before Nargy rushed between the two.
Despite what had just happened, or perhaps because of it, Virtas continued its wild attacks. The others rushed in quickly.
Josh was the first to reach Virtas, slashing wildly to draw its attention; It turned, trying to stomp him, before Josh was knocked out of the way by Frost. Frost then slashed at it before dodging out of the way.
Demi flew around it as Terrence shot arrows. Vert punched at it while Vrai attacked from above.
Virtas' frenzy of attacks continued, managing to catch some of them off guard but not able to land anything fatal.
Terrence jumped off Demi's back, beginning to shoot at it from the top of a building nearby.
Virtas pulled up more of the ground and chucked it at the building. It hit the roof he was standing on, sending him downhill, out of sight.
Vert and Josh looked up with concern, but something else entered the battle.
Joseph, clinging onto the remains of his sword with his left arm, stabbed into Virtas with everything he had.
The monster felt the pain. But, that still wasn't enough to kill it.
A roar lowered his guard. A tail swipe followed, knocking him backwards. Finally, it flung explosive projectiles once more.
Time seemed to crawl to a halt.
Joseph didn't have enough time to dodge. The hunter didn't even have time to process that his end was approaching.
A single interruption.
The one that stood between them wasn't the monster companion, nor was it the one trying to repent.
The assassin stood there.
"This is a weird feeling… it'd be a lot easier to survive if I just didn't get involved here. Mm. If I wanted to survive, then the best option would just to be care about no one other than myself. That's how I lived before, after all. Until then"
The rocks slowly got closer. Joseph seemed to realise what was going on.
"You can't just survive to be alive... wow, that sounds stupid. But I'm pretty sure it's right. You need something to care about, some reason to fight. That's what I don't have. None of us assassins did, we just fought because we had nothing else. I do think that being willing to die for others is a bit far, but if I hadn't seen it myself, there's no doubt I'd be in that castle right now, fighting with the rest. Dying on my own terms is a little better than dying cause I was told to, right?"
Vrai tried to reach her, but there wasn't enough time. Joseph finally seemed to notice her.
"I was only ever half a person, so this kind of ending's fine. Maybe you're not the best person. You tend to be petty, you're kind of an idiot, and you're not exactly the best at anything. But… you're definitely someone who's alive. That aura's honestly pretty scary. I don't get a lot of it. But the one thing I do get is that everyone who's had it has been driven by emotion. So, even now, you must be more alive than I ever could be."
She turned to him and gave a smile. Whether he heard the words or not no longer mattered, since that alone communicated her thoughts.
"I guess this is hypocritical of me to say… but you need to keep living, no matter what."
The rocks tore through the scene and detonated, leaving behind nothing.
TO BE CONTINUED