"What the hell happened?" Riko asked, trying to get back up.
"No clue." Sean replied, pulling his gun out again "But I'm not letting this chance go."
"Stop!" Zach yelled, struggling to get up.
"Huh? Yer still alive?"
"It'd take a bit more than that to kill me. But still… he'll be back soon."
"Yeah, so let's hurry."
"No. He's probably on our side now."
"Seriously, the hell are ya talking about?"
Matt cut in.
"If he gets back up, he could kill any of us at a moment's notice. We can't defeat him! I know that we've been able to save the aura users until now, and I know that he's Joseph and all, but…"
Nargy roared, struggling upwards. A clear challenge to any who would try to kill the one he came here to rescue.
"Even after all that, ya…"
"I won't let you either." Terrence replied. "I'll believe in him."
"Me too." Callum replied "My words must've gotten through to him somewhat. So it'll be fine."
"I doubt he'd be doing the same for me," Josh spoke with the most lighthearted tone he could currently manage "but I'm of the same opinion here."
"No choice, then. If you guys are that determined." Riko replied "We've just gotta go with it. I don't like my chances fighting that many of you anyways."
"Yeah, me too. Zino and I are too tired for this right now, so we'll just have to go with it."
"I never thought I'd see the day when you make excuses." Riko replied.
"No, I'm just saying it to go with- I mean, yeah, it's a surprise to me too. I wonder what's gotten into me…"
Bad acting aside, a general feeling swept through the room. They all looked to the ones who were opposed to this. Matt replied first.
"Well, just so ya know, I wasn't a hundred percent for killing him, so yeah sure, let's go with the other option, I wasn't that against it. I was just going with what Sean suggested."
They then looked to Sean.
"If he takes too long, then I'm gonna kill him anyways."
Before anyone could complain about him going against the mood, they all heard them.
Footsteps.
Far too many.
Advancing through the castle, towards the throne.
Natalie was the first to speak, surprisingly.
"I think… that might be all of the warriors you guys fought outside."
"Yeah, sounds like it." Alexandra replied "Well, we've been here a while, so I'm not too surprised they woke up. Question is… what exactly are we gonna do about it?"
"We've gotta fight, obviously."
"Against that many?" Lyra asked.
"Yeah, of course. It's our only way to survive."
"I don't think we can defeat all of them." Callum replied "I mean, I lost an arm taking down, just one."
"We don't have to." Said Zach.
"Huh?"
"We've just gotta hold them off until he wakes up. He'll work out some way to deal with them, I'm sure of it."
"That's a lotta faith." Matt replied.
"Yeah. I know."
He struggled to his feet, supported by Zappy, heading for the entrance. Nargy followed, almost limping. Callum and Sanchez went after them, followed by the rest.
"Let us battle until the fires of hell claim us!" Ed proclaimed, Revel letting out a roar for dramatic effect.
"No, that's exactly what we're trying to avoid here." Lyra replied.
They saw the warriors approach in a large group, almost piled on top of each other. They were resolved to carry out their orders, regardless of who they were up against.
The group readied themselves to fight those seeking only revenge.
"Hurry up and return to us, idiot."
Joseph stared up at the walls of the dead.
"What do you mean?" The voice asked him.
"What I said. I'm here to end the world. That's all there is to it."
"And how do you plan to do that?"
"By ending your control over me, of course. Well, first..."
He looked to the blade in his hands.
He kicked it with his knee. It curved at an angle it shouldn't have been able to. No longer could it be used.
"A blade like this can't protect anyone. All it can do is hurt. I confused hurting everything with saving what I cared about, but now I get it. So I'll start by getting rid of this."
No response.
"What? As if fighting would do anything. We're in my mind, ya know? So, let's just talk."
"...What would there to be discuss, at this point? You've already seen the tragedies stored within, all because of the state of the world. Do you plan to simply deny their existence? To deny our thousand years of suffering?"
"Dunno. But what I do know is that yer all oversimplifying, aren't ya?"
"Meaning?"
"It's a nice thing, to just have one single target for yer hatred. The source of all the world's problems, the cause of everything that goes wrong. I think that's what we all want. That's why aura works how it does."
"And? We aren't so misguided to believe that revenge will bring anything back, you should already know this. Our plan is more logical. Deliver retribution. And by eliminating the causes, the tragedy will not repeat. That is undeniable."
"I guess it would be, if ya weren't always changing targets."
A silence.
"I'm guilty of it too. Having something that can be blamed for all our problems is what we need to keep going. So when we lose that, we'll just go and find something else. I did the same thing when I finally defeated that Tigrex. It wasn't enough. I couldn't move on. So I shifted this goal to this entire world."
He paused.
"I'm not tryna shift the blame onto any other than me. I was the one who agreed with ya, after all. This decision was none other than mine. But… the reason I probably wanted to, was because of her."
Another pause.
"I don't get it. Why did she sacrifice herself? And why… the hell was she so calm about it!? I… felt I had to change something, using this life she saved. Otherwise… what the hell was the point of her saving me!?"
"You can still carry that out now."
"I can't. Not like this. I just said it, didn't I? Even if eliminating monsters created a perfect world like yer saying, it won't last. Because this power will keep destroying everything until there's nothing left to destroy."
A silence.
"That's an interesting theory."
"Huh?"
"It is just a theory. That's all. Without proof, you have decided to abandon everything."
"Of course it's not just a theory! It's how it is!"
"Then why are you not fully convinced of your own words? Why does that blade you claimed to no longer need still reside within your heart?"
Joseph was taken aback for a second.
"Then, I'll prove it to ya. And myself, as well. Let's head through these stories, one more time. I'll prove it to you."
"Then where shall we start?"
"How about Aron?"
They went to what remained of him. A roaring mass of anger, frozen in place eternally.
"This one should be simple enough. When he was young, he lost everything. Because of the weakness he felt then, he devoted himself to getting stronger. In the end, that failed him too, but he found something else, which was Julia. So of course, after losing her too, the despair he fell into was even greater."
"So, he planned to take revenge on the boy who caused Julia's death, correct?"
"When ya put it like that, I guess anyone would put the blame on him. I would know, I'm the scum who made that same boy believe it, after all. But looking it at it clearly, it's nothing like that. It was just that with both the meaning in his life and the ones who took it away gone, he needed a reason. Or he would crumble. So… he stuck with revenge, blaming that boy. But… maybe somewhere, he knew that it made no sense. He couldn't do anything, but he couldn't stop. Unable to move past that moment, he froze for the rest of his life."
"Would he not have been satisfied if he'd taken revenge?"
"Who knows? We can't deal in what-ifs here. All we can see is that it happened before, and if he took away the remaining family he had left, he truly would've had nothing except for revenge. So no, I don't think he would've stopped there. Contrary to that, I think that never being able to take revenge on Terrence is what prevented him from changing targets."
Joseph was silent for a while.
"Let's keep going. There's nothing more to say about him."
They moved on, next finding the members of Isaac's group. Five in total.
The remains of Isaac burnt as brightly as he remembered.
"I think this is a good idea of what I mean, right?"
"What about him?"
"When him and Josh avenged the ones they lost, they weren't satisfied. So, they turned to killing others under the guise of justice. The rest of their group was like that too. Even if we eliminate all monsters, then we'll just end up like them."
"They were only targeting the hunters who attempted to escape from their crimes."
"And how long would it have been before that turned into just anyone?"
"Didn't you already say that there are no what-ifs here? You can't show that it would've happened."
"But it already happened before. First, they targeted the hunters nearby. Then, they started targeting any hunter they could find that was like them."
"That's not the same as what you're presenting, is it?"
"Geh…" Joseph let out a noise of frustration "Oh yeah, wasn't there seven of them before?"
"Indeed."
"Well, I already figured, but this at least confirms that. When someone just lets go of their aura, it isn't absorbed by this. It's only left behind when they die with it."
"And?"
"Not much. It just means that this can be made to disappear. So long as the person just lets go of those feelings, then it won't be a problem anymore."
Another silence. They moved on, seeing all of Fallon's warriors.
One was surrounded by the future, the second surrounded by information, the third surrounded by strength, the fourth surrounded by song, the fifth surrounded by lethargy, the sixth surrounded by light, the seventh surrounded by reflections and the last surrounded by death.
"A bunch of wandering warriors, who were recruited by Fallon for her own purpose. I don't think any of them particularly had a problem with it, they believed that what she was doing would save humanity. There isn't much else. They believed in her, and were sacrificed for the sake of her plans. I guess it's kind of the same as what we ended up doing here. Though I guess it's also the same as..."
They moved again, seeing all of the original warriors lying before them. All of them had fought alongside Fallon, then they became the foundation of this world with their deaths.
"This, here. By gathering those nine, as well as the rest of us, she was trying to recreate something like this. Creating all of that tragedy was part of that plan too."
"It worked, didn't it? No matter how powerful, one lone being isn't enough to change things. So, more were required."
"Yeah, I guess. We ended up the same, didn't we? The only difference between us is that they could remember the old world, what they were fighting to return things to. Maybe they're better than us in that way."
They went past each warrior individually, arguing about their life. Joseph continued his argument that they changed their target from the original monsters that took things away from them to all monsters, to which the aura argued back that this was justified, and that had they been allowed to finish their journey the world would already have been restored.
Eventually, they made their way to Fallon. There was barely anything left of her.
The aura spoke first.
"Like you, she was just a vessel for other powers. Because of this, her own will wasn't as great as the rest. Just like yours."
"I know that, ya don't have to explain it."
He paused, looking forwards for a second.
"Just like me, all she wanted at that moment was to get stronger. Nah. Maybe neither of us really changed from that moment, despite the entire point of this power being to allow us to grow."
"You grew in strength, as you gathered more power."
"That's not what I mean… hey, I've got a question."
"What is it now?"
"She could speak with ya too, right?"
"Indeed."
"Was she really the one in control? Y'know, when she was leader of the guild and stuff."
"She was the one who chose to listen to us. We can't change anything ourselves, only guide the incarnation. That is all."
They continued, going through every soul lost within this land of the dead. Joseph continued arguing his point, while the aura continued to argue back with its point.
Eventually, there were only two left. The Gilmore brothers.
Perhaps they had been left this long on purpose.
Joseph looked upon the one who tried to lead.
"Now that I think about it, David never mentioned him. Not that it's much of a surprise. It's not like I go around blabbing to people about someone I killed."
"His manifestation was incredibly useful."
"Yeah, I know. The power to give others orders, on the condition that if they follow you your aura will power them up and let them go beyond normal limits. Hmm. I guess it could easily be mistaken for something forcing others to follow ya, but if it was, then I don't think it would've been that powerful."
"That's true. It was a power to help surpass their limits, not force them to follow his will. What was required was like minded people, willing to give their own lives to combat the enemy."
"In a way, he's a lot like all the original ones, isn't he? Dedicated only to that idea of eliminating monsters. To the point where he'd be willing to expose himself for a virus just so he could get stronger."
Joseph paused for a second.
"Doesn't that make him the best possible example for what I'm talking about? He caused a bunch of deaths indirectly with that virus, but didn't care in the slightest. Then he killed someone just for going against him. Then finally, he tried to kill his own brother. If he'd survived, just how many would he have gone on to kill?"
"He wasn't a normal warrior. The frenzy virus is what caused that."
"Isn't the kind of mindset to try eating monster flesh just to get stronger just to defeat an enemy something aura users are more inclined to, though?"
"Then why did the others listen to him?"
"Cause they had no idea what else to do. And in David's case… he wasn't in a position to refuse."
"So a mindset like that isn't something exclusive to warriors. If you want to argue that something like that would eventually lead to humanity's extinction, then you're saying that it can never be avoided so long as humanity continues to exist. Is that what you want to argue for?"
"Of course not."
"Then we're stuck. We've reached the end of all the cases to review. You were unable to prove your theory, so you should now be able to see that the only choice is-"
Joseph looked down at Allen, no longer listening. He thought over the story once more, noting the similarities. They were similar, even down to their choice of weapon.
"In that case," He thought "I wonder who my equivalent of David is? Well, they were definitely all willing to fight, but I guess- wait."
It was only then that he realised. Joseph turned to the aura.
"Wait. There's one more story I haven't seen."
"What are you talking about?"
"I haven't seen David's life."
"You already saw his days with the dawn hunters."
"But that wasn't all. He didn't awaken then. It was much later."
The aura didn't respond.
"I avoided it until now because I didn't want to deal with it. His power gave me the gist of it, but I never looked at it in detail. Because I didn't want to relive that day again. That moment when the one who told me to live wanted nothing more than for me to die. That moment when my only option was to take his life first."
Joseph turned to face upwards.
"But now there's no choice. If it's what can help me finally prove this, then I can't afford to run anymore."
The aura remained silent.
Those memories finally played through his mind.
The two continued to carry each other as the years passed, eventually ending up in Loc Lac. It was about seven years later.
After some chance encounter, they ended up being followed around by a group of kids.
A short while later, he saw one of them sneak away in the night. Out of curiosity, he followed. A few seconds later, he saw the Hermitaur. He raised his blade.
"Kid. Move."
Joseph stood between him and the Hermitaur.
"The hell are you doing? That's a Hermitaur, if it grew up it could disrupt the ecosystem. Daimyo Hermitaurs aren't supposed to live near Loc Lac. It needs to be killed before it could pose a threat."
"This Hermitaur… he's my monster! Ya got that!?"
"Huh? Are you delusional or something?" David thought, before asking "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Daimyo… He's my monster. He's all I have left. If ya kill him, then… then I won't forgive ya!"
"Something bad happened, then. So for now the best strategy would be…" David switched back to speaking "I'm not sure what happened, but okay. I think I understand. Until further notice, I'll avoid hunting this Daimyo. If you don't want to talk, I'm not gonna ask. But there's still one thing bugging me… why the hell is it that you said he's all you got left!?"
The boy was confused.
"W-what?"
"Zach, Ben, Callum, those kids. You tryna say they're not important to you or something?"
He hadn't expected this question, clearly.
"Well… I mean… it's just… I don't think they're the same as me, ya know? I only have one goal, if that kills me or not, then it's fine. They can go on living full lives, but I might die. So it's fine. Daimyo's the same as me. I shouldn't trouble them." He paused "I should have already died, so it's fine if I die now."
David took this in for a second.
"Can't let this one slide. I've gotta do the same as what she did for me."
He opened with a punch to the head.
"OW! THE HELL!?"
"Don't think like that!"
"Actually, now that I think about it, just words alone probably would've worked fine."
Joseph rubbed his head.
"Whatever happened in the past already happened. You might think that you should've died, but that doesn't matter now. You have problems to deal with, as well as people who care about you. Dying would just be irresponsible, regardless of whether you care or not. You're alive, so deal with it."
The words appeared effective, so David kept talking.
"I've lost a few people myself, I'm sure everyone has. So you shouldn't just resign yerself to death over someone else's."
Something seemed to change for him in that moment, though David wasn't sure what. Some more time passed.
The two ended up looking after those four, by some weird turn of events. That life continued for a few years.
Until that day.
A call for as many hunters as possible to go on a quest to fight against monsters. Needing the money, the two of them went.
"Ya think they'll be fine by themselves?" Maria wondered aloud.
"Probably. On another note, the way they talk is rubbing off on you."
"Ah, it is, isn't it? Ah well, that's fine. Thinking about it, ya do it too!"
"Yeah, I'm just saying."
"So… ya sure you're ready for this?"
"Of course not. I never am."
"That's good, I'd be more worried if you felt the need to lie about it. I'm not ready either, but we've just gotta do it. Don't get separated. It'll be easier if we stick together."
"Yeah."
They arrived and were told what to do, before setting out in a group.
What followed could only be described as akin to hell.
An endless number of monsters were fought against, as if they were at war. It wasn't their first experience with situations like this, but that didn't make things any easier.
David cut through another monster. Maria continued to fire. Enemies charged at them, one after another.
David swung, fighting off a Zinogre. Maria continued to fire nearby.
Nearby, hunters fell to the monsters one after another. The situation seemed hopeless, but ceasing to fight for a single second because of that would only make things worse.
As they fought another monster off, Maria was attacked by yet another one. David tried to help, but was cut off by the one he was already fighting.
He slashed, and slashed, but was unable to get past. A battle continued, out of his sight.
The battle finally concluded with a decisive strike. Heavily injured, he dragged himself.
The other battle hadn't concluded as fortunately.
The monsters had overwhelmed her. Without even a word, she had departed from this world, leaving almost nothing behind. Those same monsters turned to him, ready to take on another opponent.
"Hey. What are you doing? Weren't we supposed to survive together? To support each other? I… I couldn't even do that for you. It was all because we got separated. Because I wasn't fast enough with cutting down the wall between us. No more… I won't fail anymore. Things like emotions will just get in the way. I'll become a blade that can cut through it all."
An aura burned up around him, then moved to the blade. With a single swing, a monster was cleaved through. The rest backed off slightly, confused. David advanced towards them, refusing to allow escape.
That weapon cut through everything in its path, tearing through the area. He finally came to a stop when there was nothing left to cut.
A pause. His thoughts went back. A new culprit was found.
"Those boys… if they hadn't been there, we wouldn't have needed to come here. Maria wouldn't have gotten killed. It's all their fault. They must be the ones who took her away."
So, he began to walk. For days and nights without rest, the weapon dragged himself back to Loc Lac. He limped forwards, his mind only occupied with the thought of killing those four.
He moved as though he was a puppet being dragged forwards .
He arrived. He'd lost his sword a while ago, but paid it no mind. He entered, and grabbed the nearest target he could find. Without a weapon, he resorted to strangling.
An attack from the side, which he dodged. Instinct told him he couldn't deal with both at once, so he discarded the one he was focused on.
More attacks followed, but he was able to deal with them. Even in his weakened state, they couldn't overcome him.
One tried to attack with a knife, so he kicked. But the boy dodged, almost unnaturally. It connected.
Pain rushed through him, but he didn't care, still moving forwards. A weapon wouldn't stop because of a single scratch.
The fight continued. Figuring a weapon would be more effective, he used what he'd been stabbed with. The pain got worse, but if it meant he could succeed, he didn't care.
Yet, it was knocked away. His body told him that going to pick it up would be the end, so he went back to what he was already doing.
More stabs followed. He couldn't stand anymore. The puppet clattered to the ground.
He looked up, taking in the faces of the boys. With his final breaths, he spoke his thoughts.
"If ya just… weren't here, then there wouldn't have been any problems. Why did… ya have to be alive?"
Still trying to reach the ones he wished revenge upon, David Gilmore passed away. To the end, all his brain was filled with was retribution.
Joseph watched this in the present, his eyes empty. While he had already known of what happened for years, seeing the full truth had left him unable to react.
The silence continued for a while, before he spoke.
"I finally understand."
He stood back up.
"This just proves it… I was always confused, y'know? About how he could go from telling me to live one day to telling me to die the next. And it was because I was scared of losing that order to live that I never tried to find an answer. I thought that maybe if I really found out what happened, then I'd agree with him. But I don't."
Another pause.
"What changed David was the aura. His own unfulfilled desire for revenge is what turned him on us. That's all there ever was to it."
He looked clearly, seeing what was left. There was nothing but a greatsword there.
"So you've made your decision?"
"Yeah."
"So you're completely fine with not doing anything?"
"Of course. After all, I've seen it clearly. All this will lead to is things getting worse."
No response for a second.
What was before him changed shape. His parents appeared.
"The monsters will continue to evolve, only becoming more dangerous towards humans. Unless we stop them, they'll eventually destroy us."
"They only evolve like that when we attack them. That's the explanation for things like deviants."
This time, Maria appeared.
"It doesn't matter what started it, what matters is that it's what's happening now. It's too late to stop. You're the only one who can save humanity from this, yet you're selfishly deciding to abandon it."
"That's true."
Daimyo appeared this time.
"If that won't work, then what about your revenge? Are you not angry about what's been taken away from you?"
A pause.
"...Of course I am."
Ben appeared this time.
"Exactly. Everyone's the same. Even killing that Tigrex wasn't enough, was it? It wasn't worth their lives. The only way you can repay them is to change the world completely!"
"I guess that's true."
Finally, Vert appeared.
"Then, there's no reason to refuse. No matter what happens, you have to change everything!"
Another pause.
"But I can't do that."
All of them were now before him. Every single person he'd lost.
"You have to be the one to change it."
"I can't! I'm sorry for letting all of ya down, but I won't."
"Then you'll doom humanity!?"
"Yeah, I will! I won't be yer hero or anything like that! I never had the right from the start! All this power ever was was self-satisfaction! Don't delude yerself with anything else! This won't change a single thing! I can't save anything!"
Silence. There was nothing more to say.
The walls began to crumble. The world was fading away.
Joseph watched the dead slowly disappear.
"Not yet. I've… still gotta do one thing first."
The group continued to struggle against the warriors. They were slowly being pushed back while the idiot they were waiting for continued to sit in the throne room, his mind elsewhere.
"Just how many of them are there!?" Natasha yelled.
"I didn't take an exact count, but at least a hundred." Terrence replied.
"I wasn't asking for an exact number, I just meant that there's too many."
"Oh, I see."
"We don't have to win, we just have to hold them off." Zach tried to reassure them.
"We already know," Lyra replied "But can't he wake up any faster?"
As she asked this, there was finally movement.
The leader stepped forwards.
"Stop fighting!" He yelled "There's no meaning in any of this!"
The warriors stopped and turned to him, as did his companions.
"Let's move somewhere else. This isn't the place to talk."
As if they hadn't been fighting to begin with, the warriors followed him away. The rest went behind them.
Joseph sat before them all.
"I will now reveal the entire history of this world, in its entirety, as according to what I've learnt from the aura."
He told them everything from the beginning.
The warriors had already heard about the old world before, yet he had left out a lot of the details. He spoke of all the stories.
They all shared something in common. A desire for revenge, which almost always spread to other targets. They continued blindly chasing it until their very last moments, regardless of what they ended up chasing.
As he finished his stories, he provided one final thought.
"This was never about saving anything. We were deluded. This power was only ever self-satisfaction under the guise of changing something."
Words of protest. The warriors complained to him. About how he was the one who had led them this far, and now he was going back on that. About how it was unreasonable to expect them to just let go of their hatred.
But, he persisted. He persisted in telling them about how it would only lead to more tragedy, over and over.
Until finally, things began to be overturned. Upon realising the futility of their actions, the warriors gradually lost their grip on their desire for revenge.
One by one, their hatred left them behind.
It ascended towards the sky.
After a long while, it all finally disappeared. Upon confirming that it was gone, it was time for Joseph to do the same.
He took one last look at the world, taking it all in. At all of his own memories, at all the hatred that had been left behind not just by himself. At all those so unable to change they lost their lives trying to return to what they had before.
Joseph destroyed the world.
Just like the rest, that thousand years of hatred ascended towards the sky.
He looked down to the khanga edge in his hands. It too faded away.
As Joseph watched it go, the feelings finally hit him. The emotions welled up inside him. For the first time since he could remember, that man was finally free of his own desire for revenge.
All he had left was to grieve.
So he did.
In front of all of those people, in the middle of that ancient destroyed ground, at the end of it all, that man finally let out all of his emotions.
TO BE CONCLUDED