Allen woke up.
He was on his back, wounded. The memories returned to him.
"How crushing." Was his only reaction.
"Frustrating, isn't it?"
"Who are you?"
"That's not important for now. Let's talk about things for a minute."
"Don't have time."
"You're not going to be going anywhere with wounds like that."
"...I guess. So, what is it?"
"Say that I were to instantly heal your wounds, allowing you to fight again. What would you do, in that case?"
"Go fight it again."
"As expected. But… it won't work, will it? You'll just lose again. Torn to pieces by its claws. Crushed by its weight. Electrocuted by its weird bug things. Any of these possibilities could easily occur, and there's nothing you'd be able to do to prevent any of them."
"Of course I know that, but…"
"But it won't stop you, no matter how many times you get cut up. No matter how many times it cut you down, you'd be willing to get right back up and charge at it again."
"Don't cut me off, even if you're right. I can't let that thing win. I can't let it think it's so much better than everything else."
"Exactly. After all, that's been your goal since the start. To show those monsters not to look down on humans. Revenge against the ones who so carelessly trample on life. The problem is method. An individual is powerless."
The scene changed. Allen watched.
1318
A town under attack by monsters. The people were unable to do anything to fight back. Unable to do a single thing, the brothers stared upon the chaos.
One trembled with anger. Anger at the monster's path of destruction. Anger at the humans unable to match them. Anger at his weak self.
"It began on that day. That's when you understood."
"It was when I lost my family, on top of pretty much everything else. The only thing left was David. That's when I understood."
"Humans are powerless. Hopelessly so. We can't do a thing on our own. Compared to those monsters, which can destroy without end, all by themselves."
"So if I myself can't change anything, then what I needed was numbers. That's why I lead David all that way. After all, it was all we could do."
"But in the end, all you could do wasn't enough. Things like tactics and numbers don't mean a thing in the face of an overwhelming force like that. So… isn't it time to stop this farce?"
"What do you mean?"
"You already know, don't you? You're talking to yourself after all. Spouting shit like 'Humans have intelligence and weapons on our side, so we're able to take on monsters'. That's not a strength. That's just a compromise. No… more like an excuse, just so you can say that if you lost it wasn't your fault. 'After all, it just couldn't be helped, with the monster being so powerful.' You're not interested in conveniences like that, are you?"
"Of course not. I want to win."
"Then it's decided. Being human won't get you any further. You need to become like them. Then lead as many others as possible to the same thing, so humanity can finally begin it's counterattack. The weapons humans originally made were to imitate their enemies. But now, those weapons are broken, unable to cut a thing. So, all you have to do is imitate monsters some more, to forge new ones."
"I see. So that was the answer all along. How foolish of me. How do I start?"
"By fixing a minor inequality first. In humans, the frenzy virus does next to nothing, while monsters like that Zinogre get all that extra power for free. Isn't it frustrating? So, just simply lose yourself to that power, in return for victory."
"Not a bad idea. But how would I do that?"
"It's easy. All you have to do is give the order."
1325
The battle continued. Hunters desperately attacked, to no effect.
David stared up at an empty sky, his eyes starting to see nothing. He got the feeling that the end was near.
Someone appeared before him. He expected some kind of grim reaper, but instead found Allen.
He wasn't fully sure whether what he was seeing was real or not. Allen was different to how he normally was, yet he found him more familiar than ever. His brother held something forwards.
"Consume this, and rise above humanity's limits."
Without thinking, he followed his words.
It was a horrible taste. Unnatural. Something that shouldn't have belonged in this world. Yet, it was what he needed.
His vision and hearing returned. His pain seemed to disappear.
David stood up, standing by Allen's side.
This power was beyond what he was used to. His senses were sharper than before. He couldn't even measure his own strength anymore. The only way to find out how that had changed was to test it.
"Same tactics as normal. You focus on drawing its attention, while I do as much as damage as possible. Now then..." Allen paused for a second "Let's slice this damn wolf to ribbons!"
The two brothers dashed forwards, faster than before. The monster tried to dodge out of the way like it had before, but it didn't work. They were too fast.
David's blade was brought down, cutting through it with ease. The monster howled with pain. Allen followed this up with a slash, cutting through the fanged wyvern's side.
The Zinogre roared and sent out a blast of electricity, forcing them back.
It hadn't expected this. It hadn't even considered the possibility that something like this could happen. It was unbelievable. Yet, it was real.
The monster howled once more and attacked David. The hit connected, the claws going into his side. But, he didn't react. There wasn't even an attempt to block. The Zinogre attempted to pull back, but found that it was stuck, David holding it in place.
A second later, Allen swung for its forward left leg, severing it completely.
More howls of pain. Another slash. The Zinogre roared, barely able to stay standing, knocking its opponents away with a blast of electricity.
It charged at Allen this time, slamming into him at full force. He was knocked back. David attacked from its blind spot, leaving it without enough time to dodge.
The two hunters circled around the injured monster, both sides exchanging hits.
It tried to go for one last desperate attack against Allen, but he dodged out of the way in time.
He gripped his sword with the blade forcing upwards.
"Let's run it through!"
The brothers ran forwards in unison, stabbing into a different side of the Zinogre's chest.
A momentary pause, before the action began again. Allen pulled upwards while David pushed down, slicing through their target.
The Zinogre kept howling, releasing more electricity. They backed off. It tried to move towards them, to strike back, but its power finally gave out. The apex monster collapsed to the ground.
The hunters stood there, returning to their normal selves about a second later.
The rest watched from the side, still failing to process what they witnessed.
Allen approached, noticing they were all crowded around one point.
Olivia lay there on the ground, having been wounded by the monster's attack. She wasn't moving anymore.
David didn't say a thing once he realised what was happening. The entire group was silent, except for Allen.
"So I was too late." He lamented, before turning "Once again, something has been taken from us. Just like always, a powerful monster takes away from people, without concern."
He looked towards the Zinogre.
"But now, it's different. You all witnessed it. We have power now. We can fight back against them. The humanity that's always losing can be left behind. Follow me… and we can live without ever having anything taken away again!"