1325
Some more time passed. The group travelled around, before hearing word of monsters disappearing in the Tundra.
"So, you think this is our Jho?" Beatrice asked.
"I can't think of anything else that'd clear out a population this fast." Lock replied.
"Then let's hurry and crush it, before it can destroy much more." Allen ordered.
Nate looked uneasy.
"Don't worry." David told him "With nine of us, it should go about the same as it did last time."
"Being so sure of things is gonna be your downfall." Claire pointed out.
"I guess, but you get what I mean, right?"
"Sure, but…"
"No, you're right." Allen told him "Things will go the same way. We'll make sure of it. We don't have to rely on things like luck anymore."
They made their way into the Tundra.
"Over that way." Doug pointed.
They followed, finding the Deviljho. It stomped around the place, unable to find any new prey.
"Let's do this," Allen began "For Olivia's sake."
A response of silence that seemed like agreement.
The Deviljho stood in the middle of a wide open space.
David, Troy and Claire charged for it. The Deviljho immediately turned to face them, charging forwards. They both shifted to the defensive, being pushed away as it slammed its foot down on the ground in front of them.
David swung, managing to connect. The Deviljho tried to bite at him, forcing him to dodge. Claire shelled it and Troy poked it.
Their attempt at distraction was successful, allowing the other three melee attackers to run up to it.
"As much as I don't wanna admit it, this guy's probably more of a force to be reckoned with than the Seregios was. In that case, overwhelming him isn't an option. The only choice is to surround him and keep catching him off guard. Now… die!"
The Deviljho turned around far quicker than he'd expected, leaving him only the time to think "Huh?" before getting blasted with dragon breath.
They were knocked back. David tried to attack again, but this time he ended up missing. Before he could move again, the Deviljho swung around with its tail, knocking him away.
The gunners fired from a distance. The Deviljho turned its attention to them. It charged towards Nate.
The light bowgun user had no idea what to do. They'd all expected it to stay focused on the ones next to it.
Allen finally recovered and assessed the situation.
"This thing's better than we expected! Focus on dodging, but don't stop attacking!"
As he finished yelling this, Nate dove out of the way of a bite attack. He rolled, barely avoiding the Deviljho stomping the ground. It was about to use dragon breath, when it was cut off by slashing at its legs.
Doug landed on the ground, having had to jump to even reach, before going for another attack. The Deviljho reversed, knocking him back down to the earth.
It was about to crush him, when Claire stepped inbetween them, guarding. As the attack was deflected, she charged up a wyvern's fire. The attack had little effect.
Beatrice finally got a chance to attack, swinging for its head. Despite connecting directly, the Deviljho didn't even seem to notice. Bullets and arrows were fired at it without end, but there was no reaction.
David ran up to it, charging up a slash. Troy stabbed into it from the side. Allen performed a full spirit combo. No matter what they used, there seemed to be no effect against this enemy.
It slammed the ground, stopping them all in their tracks.
The Deviljho attacked wildly, catching some of them off-guard. The attacks never seemed to end.
A momentary pause in action as Allen was knocked back, watching the chaos of the hunters trying to fight back.
Claire ran up to him.
"Give the order to retreat!" She yelled.
"What are you talking about?"
"We can't deal with this thing. Even with the frenzy. It'd be best if we just left it to other hunters."
"But we have to stop these things, for Olivia."
"Olivia wouldn't want this. I know I went along with this for her sake but… there's no tomorrow if we die trying. So come on, we've gotta get outta here before something irreversible happens."
A momentary pause.
"So, you don't intend to fight the apex monsters anymore?"
"Huh? Isn't that obvious from what I'm saying?"
As she finished asking that, the Deviljho switched targets to them.
It went for a hipcheck, throwing its full body weight at them.
Claire barely managed to block it. Seeing the Deviljho was going for more attacks, she tried to shell it to deter it, but found her attacks even less effective than usual.
It swung its tail around, hitting hard enough to make her drop her guard. Knowing that she wouldn't have time to block again, she jumped to the side.
But, it was too late. Whether it was from her suddenly slowing down, or the Deviljho suddenly speeding up, the rest couldn't tell. All they could see was the Deviljho using dragon breath.
"Claire!" Maria yelled out.
She dropped to the ground, unmoving.
The group was paralysed with shock, as the Deviljho roared.
Allen slashed at it.
"Don't stop attacking! We have to avenge her too!"
That got the rest of them moving. A desperate attack against the beast, still refusing to go down.
Lock approached Allen.
"I've got an idea."
"Are you gonna say to retreat too?"
"Of course not. All I'm planning to do… is take revenge on this bastard."
"Then go ahead. What have you got in mind?"
A few minutes later, Allen gave out another order.
"Stand away from it for a second!"
The rest were confused, but followed his orders. Lock stepped forwards.
"Oi!" Beatrice began "What're you doing?"
"Avenging my friend."
"D-don't do anything that'll just get you killed too." Nate replied.
"Unless someone does something, then it'll be all of us getting killed. So… lemme look cool and do something flashy, even if it's dangerous. It'll be fine. Just wait right there."
The Deviljho loomed over him. He prepared an arrow.
It tried to bite at him, being quickly dodged around. Lock fired the arrow towards its right eye, blinding it.
A roar of pain, followed by a stomp and a tail swipe.
Lock was knocked to the ground, but quickly rose to his feet, as the Deviljho went for another bite, being just barely dodged. Lock tried to shoot out its other eye, but it managed to avoid him this time.
The brute wyvern used dragon breath again a second later, causing Lock to run underneath it to escape. It went for another stomp, missing him but still stunning him.
Lock shot some arrows into the sky as it went for another attack, they rained down on its back.
Their exchanges continued for a short stretch of time that dragged into an infinity.
Finally, the Deviljho was successful.
It caught Lock between its jaws when he was unable to dodge.
Maria, Beatrice, Doug and Troy almost rushed forwards to help, before they heard Lock's voice.
"Stay back! Just for a moment longer! Now then… it's time to finish this, you damn beast."
Allen waited expectantly. The Deviljho didn't even seem to be listening anymore.
Lock raised his middle finger towards it, while gripping onto an arrow as tightly as possible with his free hand.
"Hurry up and drop into hell."
He stabbed into his own chest. The group below heard the sound of barrel bombs detonating, before the monster's head was engulfed in flame.
The group didn't know how to respond, but before they could work anything out they saw Allen jump up and slice at the Deviljho's neck, just to make sure it was finished off.
It collapsed to the ground, leaving them wordless.
Allen sheathed his blade as Maria ran up to him.
"...Whose idea was that, just now?"
"His. he's the one who thought of it, and the one who went through with it. He just asked me to deliver the second strike, in case destroying the head wasn't enough."
"That's not the point. Why didn't you stop him?"
"He said it himself, didn't he? That plan was the best way to limit the number of deaths."
"That doesn't mean anything when it involved him killing himself!"
"He didn't kill himself. The monster did. All that happened was that we lost another ally to those things. Which means we need to get stronger and eliminate the Rathalos, quickly."
"So they just mean nothing to you!? Are you not even gonna stop to grieve!?"
"Of course I'm upset. I'm so angry at these apex monsters, I feel like I'm going to burn up. But waiting around won't fix that. We need to avenge them. We have to be so strong we can't lose anything. That's all there is to it."
He walked away, leaving the rest behind.
They returned to town, most of the group of seven still feeling frustrated. David was completely silent.
Maria seemed to take notice of this.
"Hey. David. What do you think about this?"
"...About what?"
"About the bullshit Allen's been spouting off."
"It's not bullshit. He's probably right. We have to stop the spread of the virus, before anymore of us can get hurt. It's what Olivia wanted."
"Even if we win at the cost of our own lives?"
"They were killed by the monster."
"Like I thought you'd be. The exact same. Hey, on another note, I finally worked out why you bugged me so much."
A look of confusion. Maria continued before anyone could stop her.
"You're not really alive, are you?"
"I'm still breathing. What do you mean?"
"That's not living. You don't think for yourself, you don't act for yourself. Everything is on his orders, isn't it? You don't particularly care for your own life, so you can throw it away that easily. And that's why you don't see what's wrong with not stopping someone from throwing his away in the same way. You're not a living person. You're just an extension of your brother's will. A puppet."
David was silent.
"Hey, Maria." Troy spoke "Fighting now won't solve anything."
"This isn't a fight. It's just me observing how it is. He's a puppet. I thought that he was a part of the group, one of us, but of course a puppet can't be. He won't even feel sad for the dead if it's inconvenient to Allen's plans."
"Don't just target him because you're upset!" Beatrice replied "You think we're not all sad either!? We've already lost so much! If I have to be the reasonable one you know something's wrong, so just… cut it out for now."
"No, it's fine." David finally spoke up "She's right, after all."
Beatrice looked confused for a second, while Maria just seemed to lose interest. The rest had no idea how to approach the situation. David continued anyways.
"Ever since before you even met us, that's how it's been. Exactly that. I'm empty. Everything is on his command. I don't know any other way to live anymore. That fact's always been staring me in the face, but I just tried to forget it. Allen is the one who plans everything out, who always leads. I just have to follow. No matter what the plan is, all I can ever do is follow along. By your logic-"
He paused for a second, taking in what he himself was saying for the first time.
"I've been dead for a long time now."