Tome of Lies I: Shadows of Deception

by UkantorEX

A band of hunters from the backwater town of Kairu in Tarin, one of Altus' outer regions, is recruited by the Guild to assassinate Tenkai leader Shikimaru Tetsuya as part of a black ops mission to bring an end to the war. But as events continue to unfold, not all is as it seems, and the friends will slowly begin to question the very power upon which they so wholeheartedly rely...

5. Gigginox! Are You Mad!

5: Gigginox?! Are You Mad?!

It had been a long night for Dante.

Everybody at the base was asleep, except for the few Guild soldiers who remained on watch patrolling around the walkways on the thick, heavily fortified outer walls or those who were stationed on the tall watchtowers placed at the four corners of the walls. Irvine had told them that early tomorrow morning they would be heading to a cave in the jungle they had seen earlier, and they'd be facing a Gigginox there. Initially, Dante had figured that they'd be fine if they were careful, but then Miyuki had added that this would be like nothing they had faced before, that there was something special...or rather, wrong with it. If it was infected with the Mad Dragon Virus, there's be trouble, perhaps even more than when they'd faced the Gurenzeburu today, but Dante figured that, while he and Aaron (and Alexis, although she obviously wouldn't be there) hadn't faced a Mad monster before, but the others had spent the last month (perhaps more, Dante couldn't remember how long they'd said it was) getting to Jonton to hunt a Mad Barioth, so at least they could tell the two of them what to expect.

But Dante didn't want to think about that anymore. He had too much on his mind. Eiji was dead, and everybody was grieving for him. Not to mention that he'd went and got his girlfriend pregnant before they were married.

He opened the door to his and Alexis' room, slowly and quietly, so as not to disturb anybody next door. He was sneaking in, really, as he'd spent quite some time sitting in the empty barracks downstairs with his thoughts. As he quietly slipped through the narrow opening he had made, he saw that Alexis was fast asleep, lying on her stomach, which was her typical sleeping position, her dark brown hair splayed out in all directions. And, as Dante expected, she slowly woke up as soon as he had taken a step through the door, even though the floorboards weren't creaky and he was barefooted. She really was a light sleeper.

"Where were you?" she said, not a hint of tiredness in her voice, although it was slow and a little sad. Obviously she'd heard about the incident today.

"Oh, I was just downstairs. I needed to be alone," Dante answered tiredly. "Did...Did you hear? About..."

"Yeah, Ash came to see me. She told me everything. I can't imagine how Ichiro must be feeling; those two were like brothers, inseparable. It must be tough on him right now."

Dante didn't reply, he just kissed her, pulled off his shirt and crawled into the bed next to her. The curtains were drawn, unlike last night, and the moonbeams slipped in through the window, casting a little light upon their faces, enough from them to be able to see each other.

"Well, amidst all this doom and gloom, there is one shred of good news," Alexis said quietly, her voice alot perkier. Dante turned on his side to face her.

"Really? What is it?" he asked eagerly, equally quietly.

"...I'm not pregnant!" she exclaimed (quietly still), grinning now. Dante smiled back, with relief and happiness.

"That's great!" he said, and they sat up briefly and hugged, Alexis arms holding him close. After a few seconds, they kissed and lay down again.

"So what was all the-" Dante made a small vomiting gesture. "-About, then?" he asked.

"Well, this is gonna sound silly, but..." Alexis said, already struggling to hold back her giggling. "It turns out that the salted pork I ate last night wasn't exactly...fresh. The medic who monitored me said it was a minor case of food poisoning and that I'd be fine by tomorrow. So I can come with you guys on the last trial."

Dante laughed a little at the anecdote. "Well, at least you're not pregnant. By the way, make sure you prepare well for tomorrow. It's only a Gigginox but Miyuki said this one was different. In a bad way, I'm guessing."

"MDV?"

"Probably."

"Well, then, as much as I'd like to "have some fun"..." she muttered playfully, stroking her boyfriend's neck teasingly, lying on top of him now instead of beside, "...We should get to sleep!" she snapped, almost making Dante jump. "Besides, I don't want to really get pregnant."

But even though Dante and Alexis would have these kinds of amusing conversations filled with satire, innuendo and witty, sarcastic remarks, it wouldn't last when they really stared into each other's eyes. Alexis found her hand moving up from Dante's neck to his face and Dante found his arms locked around her waist, and it wasn't long before they were lost in a passionate kiss.

At long last, April's eyes fluttered open. But she wasn't distressed in the slightest. Most people might sit and look around constantly, maybe cry out for someone or something, but not her. Besides, even if she had wanted to, she felt far too tired to be doing things like that. She felt something squeezing her left hand, and she moved her head to one side to see Aaron, clasping her hand gently, sitting on a chair positioned with its side against the wall.

"You're finally awake," he mused, smiling at her. She smiled weakly.

"How long was I out? Where am I?" she croaked tiredly.

"You were in the hospital wing for a time while they fixed up your injuries, but you're in your room now. You won't be able to do any hunting for a while, but you'll live. I can't really say how long you were out, but I went to pick you up after the Gurenzeburu fled, and I carried you back here. It's night now. Everybody else is more or less asleep."

So it was Aaron who had carried her away from the highland. She couldn't tell who it was, all of the people she could see had just become like silhouettes, but secretly she had been hoping it was him.

Aaron really didn't want to burden her with the bad news about Eiji, but he figured that she was going to find out soon anyway. He decided to tell her now.

"Well, during that little...episode...we had a fair few casualties. Yumi was knocked out, we all know that. Then there was you, the thing stabbed you. But not long after you were out of it...the monster killed Eiji." The words were like stones in his heart. Nobody could've done anything but he felt responsible. They all did. April gasped mildly, shocked. She tried to sit up but her movements awakened the stab wound in her shoulder and she cried out sharply.

"Agh, it still hurts...Shit!" she hissed quietly.

"You shouldn't be moving now, you should rest," Aaron advised comfortingly. He was happy to be watching over her, although he wasn't entirely sure why. Then, his mind shouted at him. He'd nearly forgotten that he meant to ask her about earlier. The way she'd stared at the Gurenzeburu with a blank face and dead eyes...the way it specifically had its sights set on her... She must've been hiding something. But what? He waited until April had settle again, then began to speak.

"Earlier, when the Guren leaped down in front of us... You said it "impossible", as if it should be dead or something. And the way it specifically targeted you, and only you, it was weird." He pointed to a bone-crafted, mannequin-like figure in the far corner of her room, where her armour was placed. " Those little souvenirs...the two teeth and that patch of hide. The Gurenzeburu was missing two teeth. And it had a raw patch of flesh on its back," Aaron said, building up to his ultimate question. April stared at her armour from the bed.

"What are you trying to say?" she said, not lowering her pitch but speaking monotonely in every way. A short pause followed.

"You've met that monster before," Aaron said, with the same tone of voice a teacher might give to a child who they know to be lying. He squeezed her hand gently. "Haven't you?"

He waited patiently for her to decide if she wanted to talk about it.

"Tameke Forest, Arken region. That's where I first encountered that thing," April began hollowly, the words ringing heavy. Aaron leaned in slightly from his chair and listened intently.

"It was about five years ago, when I was ten. I was hunting with my father. He'd taken a quest to slay a Gurenzeburu who seemed to have taken up residence at the lakeside in Tameke Forest, and the sprawling nexus of caves that existed around it. Perhaps that's an unusual habitat for a Gurenzeburu, but y'know, ask it, not me. Anyway, my father decided to take me; he decided it was time to rear me for the life of a monster hunter. I was so excited..." she paused, her eyes flashing as she replayed the moments in her head like a play. "But father had no idea just how seasoned that Guren was. Those lacerations you saw? Most of them were there when I first saw it. Of course, the raw skin and missing teeth, those are new. Well, if you call five years ago "new"."

"Go on," Aaron said, listening fervently, holding the uneasy teen's hand all the while. It was strange how her demeanour and tone hardened like a war-ravaged veteran when she spoke about this incident.

"...It attacked us as we came out of the thick trees and to the sandy lakeside. Just came charging out of one of the cave entrances on the left had side like an angry boar. My dad put up his shield and held his lance true but the monster simply bowled right into us. Our trajectories separated, my father coming to a stop by the edge of the lake while a was slumped against a tree. My father was dazed. I saw it looming over him like death itself, its eyes scanning him like a piece of meat, decided which way was best to eat him. As it thrust its jaws down he managed to lift his lance into its path just in time. The blade gouged the creature's eye and it went reeling back," April continued.

The way she was describing it, the sophisticated vocabulary (which she wouldn't normally use at all) and the detailed account, was mesmerising. Aaron could just imagine the crowd of Kairu children gathered by the campfire, April sat on a chat with a pair before them, the fires dancing in her eyes, the way he himself used to do in the village. Aaron was the great storyteller of the village, the bard...the Wordweaver, the Village Elder would call him. He would weave stories together like silk, making even the mundane seem exhilarating. He'd even managed to turn a simple Giaprey hunt into a bedtime story to make children behave. And now he himself was mesmerised by the tale of this girl.

But is it the storytelling, Aaron? his conscience questioned him. Or is it April herself?

He looked at April. He liked everything about her; her mid-length, autumnal brown hair, her aqua blue eyes, her gentle complexion (except now, of course) and soft skin. And her personality, just a normal girl who was a good friend, with a sensitive heart. It was in these moments that he admired her more than ever.

"Of course, that pissed it of big time, so it came after him, so I decided to take a stab at it, quite literally. I'd bought this little sickle thing with me as well as my sword and shield so I pulled that out and stabbed it into his back. That pulled of the piece of hide. I knocked two of its teeth out when it tried to bite me. I shoved the sword into its mouth and that was that. It wasn't a particularly strong metal so I don't really know why it didn't just break, but...anyway, that managed to piss it off even more, so it attacked my dad again and fled into the caves. I managed to help him get back to Tameke proper and a hospital there, but..." her voice cracked and her hands began to tremble. She tried to bring herself to carry on but eventually she gave up and burst into tears. Aaron didn't mind; it was obvious what had happened next anyway. He moved his chair as close to the bed side as he could, reached over and put his free hand (the one that wasn't clasping April's) around April's neck and gently prompted her to calm down.

"Look at me," he said gently, turning her face sideways to look at him. Her eyes were reddened from the tears. Suddenly, April felt so, so at ease. "It's okay," he said slowly, firmly, without hint of a carefree smile. An epoch of timelessness followed as their eyes bored into one another's. Then, the gaze was finally broken was Aaron rose from his chair.

"It's late. I should go now," he said, an air of disappointment about him. As he moved and his fingers slipped away from April's April quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him to a stop before he got out of reach. He looked back at her.

"Stay?" she pleaded meekly. He paused to contemplate. "...Please?"

Slowly but surely, he sat back down in his chair on the beside, gently stroking her hand until she was lost in her dreams.

Ash stood atop one of the great Forge Towers in Yii-Do proper, her short silvery-white hair gently tugged along by the rough grasp of the late night winds. Eiji was one of her very first friends, whom she'd known since she was three. A whole decade of friendship, fellowship and camaraderie, swallowed up with a mere few bites of a monster's gnashing jaws. It felt like someone had reached into her soul and ripped a hole in it and nobody could ever hope to fill it again. She wanted to scream, to shout, cry. She even thought about spreading her arms wide and letting herself fall off of the edge of where she stood. At least it would make the pain stop. But then, she remembered what Ember had told her that day, when one of the village kids threw a stone at her, when she was very little. Ember had walked her home and talked to her about it, and as Ash had stood at the door of their house, sniffling and about to cry, Ember had clasped her tiny little six year-old hands and shifted them around, placing her little and index fingers together, touching at the tip, while her others were clasped together. Ash had looked up to gaze upon Ember's face. She had been smiling, her flaming red hair and cyan blue eyes soothing and as gentle as sunbeams at dawn.

"Don't look back, Ash. Life is a one way road, with a path that crumbles behind you with each and every step you take. Don't linger too long, or you'll fall," Ember had said. That was the last thing Ember ever said to her. She died while on a hunt the day after.

She hadn't truly understood the purpose of such prudent advice until now.

"Ember..." she whispered, forming the shape with her hands she'd been taught by the very girl she beseeched now. "Sis...Help me...I'm gonna fall..."

She had to. How could she ever move on from a cut as deep as this?

She didn't have the answer just now. Instead, she looked to the sky for guidance, the silent soliloquy of the full moon soothing her troubled conscience.

Ichiro didn't know what to do.

He'd lost his only friend in the blink of an eye, with nothing left behind but blood on the ground (and on the Gurenzeburu's teeth). He was angry at himself for letting it happen, angry at the monster for killing him, and angry at Irvine and Miyuki, who had just left them too it and wondered off to God-knows-where while they were beaten to a pulp and Eiji was dead. Why had death chosen him to be taken? Why not somebody else, far away from here, who'd lived a full life? There was no answer.

Anyway, there wasn't much point being angry at anybody now. Eiji was gone, and that was a cold hard fact. There was nothing anybody could do.

But he'd run out of tears, and anger. He simply stared at the ceiling from his bed until the midnight closed in around him.

Morning.

Dante's eyes snapped open like usual, to find Alexis' head resting on his chest, his arm wrapped around her neck. He smiled. He'd always found it somewhat amusing how she was such a light sleeper and yet she could look so at peace.

As he was about to sit up to try and coax her into awakening, a rather loud rapping on the door did the job for him. Alexis almost jumped out of her skin, until she saw Dante and they smiled at each other briefly.

"Will you get it?" Alexis said sweetly.

"Okay," he grumbled resignedly, felling groggy and tired. He kissed her on the cheek quickly before pulling himself out of bed and making his way to the door. The person knocked again, a little more urgently.

"Alright!" Dante growled. "Fuck sakes..." he murmured under his breath. He grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open haphazardly. Miyuki was standing in front of him, donned in her Barioth X gear as usual. Dante had begun to wonder if the woman actually had anything else to wear.

"You should get to the barracks now, a VIP has arrived, and he wishes to see you and your friends. As soon as you're dressed, that is," she said curtly, noting his general lack of clothing. Following this, she turned on her heel and strutted off back down the corridor.

Dante shut the door quietly and lurched over to the corner where his Rathalos + armour waited on a mannequin made of bones, next to Alexis' Steel + armour, his shirt draped over its shoulder. He pulled it over his lean torso before slowly gearing up from head to toe, Alexis eventually getting up out of bed to follow suit.

"What took you so long? Did you zone out again?" Dante asked sarcastically as he waited calmly next to the door, waiting for his girlfriend to get her equipment together.

"No, I was just staring at your ass is all," she said, winking at him.

"Touché," he purred wryly. Alexis let out a little girlish gasp.

"Hey!" she squealed as he chuckled to himself. "That's totally not how it works!"

"Oh, so girls can perv over boys' asses to their heart's desire but boys can't even glance? Nice," he said with sarcastic flatness as the pair of them opened the door again and set off down the long, plain narrow corridor to the barracks.

The loud knock at the door almost made Aaron fall out of his chair.

He and April had spurred into life almost instantly, Aaron rushing over to the door to open it, only to greet the expressionless gaze of Miyuki's Barioth X helm.

"Barracks. Now. VIP," she snapped, clearly tired of relaying the same message, so much so that she had dumbed it down to short, sharp and monosyllabic grunts. She'd walked away almost as soon as the words, tinny from under her armour, had left her mouth.

As he shut the door, he almost instantly began to pull his armour on (he had brought it from his room along the corridor and into April's just in case).

"I'm sorry April, but I've gotta dash. It's the final trial today, and apparently there's a VIP. I wonder who it could be! This is gonna be so awesome...!" he said, first serious, then quick and high-pitched like an exited child.

"It's okay, it's not like you can just stay," she said, a small giggle escaping her lips. Aaron looked back at her at the sound.

"It's good that you're laughing again," he said sincerely. An awkward pause followed. Then, Aaron opened the door and began to leave.

"Wait!" April cried out, almost barking. Aaron stopped and looked back. Now that she had the fifteen-year-old boy's attention, she felt as if the world was watching, the butterflies already doing loopy-loos in her stomach.

"...Thank you...for staying with me. I just feel safe with you around...y'know?"

"...Yeah."

Another awkward pause, less light-hearted this time. April had made up her mind about him. Every instinct and impulse within her urged her to leap up from the bed, run toward him, hook her arms around his neck and kiss him with every fibre of her being, but she held them at bay.

Now isn't the time. He has to go, and I can barely lift a finger without my shoulder burning... No. I'll save my feelings for the right moment.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later," she said awkwardly.

"Yeah. See ya."

He left, shutting the door behind him.

Immediately April regretted her inaction. What if Aaron never made it back? It was too late to dread now. Al she could do was wait and hope that the inescapable arms of death would not take Aaron unto their haunting breast as soon as they had Eiji.

The barracks were empty apart from Dante, Alexis and the others, which seemed to always be the case. despite having a bar on the left side and enough rows of wooden benches to fit about two hundred people in there, both times that the hunters had been there eating, they had been the sole occupants. Dante thought that either they were always in here too early or that this particular structure had been abandoned in favour of a new one, although the latter seemed very unlikely as the bar was still working (although you had to serve yourself). There was a cook, but they didn't talk to him except to tell him what they wanted; he looked normal but he unnerved them all somewhat.

"Unlike anything we've ever seen," Teiko mused, quoting Miyuki (or at least that was the general gist of what she'd told them yesterday). "What d'you think that's supposed to mean?"

"God knows," Yumi answered, shovelling as much ramen into her mouth as she could without distorting her speech (ramen was pretty much the only thing served here that wasn't monster guts (normally, that would've been first choice, but the ones there were pretty dicey-looking), so they daren't pick anything else. "It's probably the Virus."

"As likely as that seems," Ash added, eating slowly, "I'd really rather not fight a Mad Gigginox. They become so much more...well, mad...when they get infected. Not to mention 'Nox creeps the heck out of me anyway."

"I like the way Miyuki wakes us all up so damn early spouting stuff about a VIP who wants to see us when he or she isn't even here," Teiko scowled. It wasn't that early- about eleven o'clock- but, then again, any time was too early for Teiko. He loved his beauty sleep.

"It's not early, but nevermind. Anyway, I'm sure whoever it is will get here when they get here," Ruby said, her words laced with simple common sense and a patient tone of voice.

It was then that that Miyuki and Irvine burst in through the back doors of the barracks, which were situated about a metre or so away from the bar, a dusty, unlit chandelier hanging above it (perhaps not the safest place for something that could potentially fall and injure you), which swayed with the wind and made a harsh grinding sound as it did so, the way with unoiled hinges would. It was that old.

"Come quickly, all of you. Our VIP is here," Irvine hissed with a sense of great urgency, as if they were labour camp prisoners who'd be shot if they were late for roll call. Dante, Aaron, Alexis, Ichiro, Ruby, Yumi, Teiko and Ash all swiftly abandoned their half-finished meals and bolted toward the back doors, following Irvine and Miyuki's lead.

They sprinted through Yii-Do proper for about two minutes, having to duck, dive and dodge any men working in the industrial metropolis as they simply followed their instructors. Although, as they'd stepped outside, they'd noticed a huge airship overhead, very low in the sky. They assumed that it was coming to land and that the VIP was on it.

Nobody said a word the whole way there, but the teenagers all gazed skyward to the imminent airship. It was amazing. It was like a large boat, like all airships, but the wood of the boat structure was coloured black as night, with stark red streaks in rows of three. The wood of the bow of the ship had been carved expertly in the shape of rather large and fearsome-looking crow's head. The stone-grey rims of deadly cannons peeked out from square wooden hatches that were kept constantly propped open as a display of supremacy. It had three gallant blood red sails, the two on the left and right slightly behind the middle one, which bore the proud golden emblem of the Guild.

It became crystal clear that this was no common airship. The expensive red fabric and the customised bow were signs that this airship was that of a very, very wealthy and high-ranking political dignitary.

Finally, Dante and co. had reached the front gates of the bastion, which towered above them. They were open at present, however, no doubt when the guard on vigil in the two watchtowers on either side had seen the airship bearing in on the base. As the daunting stone walls of the bastion fell behind, the bright, midday sun greeted the hunters, a long, narrow stone pathway with high borders stretched out for at least fifty metres ahead, where the airship had come to rest at last. Irvine, Miyuki and their teenage charges watched as a narrow slice of the airship's side was lowered down by the crew. immediately, a large squadron of Guild soldiers, all bearing rapiers, clad in their infamous red and gold uniforms, marched out and formed themselves into two long, disciplined lines along the sides of the pathway, their bodies still and their heads held high, looking up at an angle. Whoever was onboard the airship, it was most definitely someone of extreme importance. There could be no doubt about it now.

A solitary Guild soldier stood next to the end of the ramp. He readied some kind of rudimentary megaphone, then spoke, his voice very educated and precise, almost nasal in tone.

"ALL HAIL THE ILLUSTRIOUS ARCHMINISTER GRIMSLEY!"

Dante and his friends almost cried out when they heard the name. Archminister Grimsley, the Chancellor's right arm. They were stunned to be in his presence.

"I knew I recognised this ship," Irvine mused. "The Hyperion..."

Miyuki began to walk forward toward the docked ship. "Come, all of you. We greet the Archminister."

Slowly, with a great deal of nervousness and uncertainty in the air, the group of flabbergasted teenagers gingerly followed behind a seemingly calm Irvine and Miyuki, trying not to meet the gaze of the Guild soldier or the beady carven eye of the crow that, even though it was simply a decorative bust carved into an airship, seemed to be watching them. It unnerved Dante more than the others.

The party stopped about five metres away from the airship ramp, and waited in patient silence.

And, a short thirty seconds or so later, Archminister Grimsley finally emerged from the ship. He was tall, approximately six feet, with hair as black as shadow (albeit with a few grey streaks), which flowed down to the middle of his body, although two long, thick strips of it hung from his temples, a silver rings dangling from the tips. His eyes were beady, sour and stern, as dark as coals and very deep-set. His face was long, chiselled and bony, his lips almost non-existent. He was dressed in a long black robe which concealed every part of his body other than his face and hands. It turned up at the collar, with two small and very pointy lapels, the edges of which were gold. The area from his shoulders to behind his neck was made of layer upon layer of dark and gold feathers, giving him an almost hunched over appearance. The robe even concealed his feet, so that it looked as if he were gliding instead of walking, the bumps of his knees moving behind the fabric the only thing that kept Dante and friends from believing that he really was. He was impossibly thin. His skin was aged (but not particularly wrinkled, although it was freckled in places), although there was so little of the man himself that it hardly made a difference. Dante could have sworn that he'd come across twigs in the forest that were more substantial in general matter than the brittle twig of a person that stood before him. He had a gold ring with a very intricate engravings on it. It was no doubt the ring with which he stamped the Seal of the Guild into the blot of wax that sealed important letters. It was like staring at a walking skeleton (if his skin was any paler it could've actually been one). Grimsley, indeed.

"Greetings and salutations, hunters," Grimsley said, his voice archaic, precise and serpentine, lingering on his S's a couple of seconds more than normal. He also enunciated each word, and as such it took a long time (compared to the average person) for him to say anything. "What a pleasure it is to make your acquaintances."

Okay, so it's a walking corpse that talks like a half-dead snake. How appealing, Ruby thought, desperately trying to hide her inner repulsion.

"Archminister." Irvine nodded, acknowledging him. Nobody bowed. Such a thing wasn't part of Altus' culture; they saw it as vain and unnecessary. Why bow to someone when they know you know how important or famous they are?

"Tell me, Commander, how is progress on Operation: Black Harvest coming along?" Grimsley said, walking away from his ship and toward Yii-Do bastion's front gates, still wide open, waiting and ready to receive him. Irvine had followed him and walked beside him- slowly, as the Archminister was hardly able to walk, let alone walk at decent pace- and Miyuki had gestured silently for the others to do the same, and to not say a word. A pair of Guild honour guards, dressed in Damascus armour and bearing spears, followed close to the Archminister, making sure the man they had been charged to protect did not come to any harm.

"It's moving along quite nicely," Irvine answered confidently. "We have summoned our last team of hunters, from Kairu in Tarin," he continued, gesturing discretely to Dante, Alexis and the other teens behind them, "and I must say that they have yielded the most promising results so far, although one of them was claimed by the Gurenzeburu yesterday. One test yet remains, however. The Mad Gigginox."

"Very good, Commander. Let us hope that they make it through this last stretch. A Gigginox infected with the Mad Dragon Virus is a dangerous foe, indeed," Grimsley mused wisely. Irvine nodded his head in agreement. "It will take nothing less to be able to handle a mission deep in the heart of enemy territory."

"Come, Archminister. We must talk somewhere more private, away from prying eyes. While I trust every one of these men, Tenkai spies aren't renowned for being obvious, are they?"

"Quite so," the Archminister rasped, as Irvine led him through the Yii-Do front gates and away into the labyrinthine forest of industry.

"...All you can be sure of...is that they won't be Mad."

That was what Irvine had told them before they'd left for Yii-Do. So why, Teiko thought, is the Gigginox infected? Could it have happened recently? Or was he lying to us?

So far, Irvine hadn't kept anything from them, and there'd be no point in lying about an infected monster to them anyway; it wasn't like they were going to shy away from the proposal simply because of a Mad Gigginox. It wasn't the first -or the last- time they'd come into contact with the Virus. Teiko decided to assume it was the former, that it happened recently, although that only served to trouble him more, as he then thought about how it could've come into contact with the Mad Dragon Virus.

Could the sickness be here, too?

"...Final push Tenkai needs to be finally defeated. They have no allies, no reinforcements, they are running low on supplies and the only territory they have left is their own, the Tenkai region itself. However, Tenkai is a vast and wealthy land. They could easily bribe the poorer regions of our great country, take advantage of their neediness and poverty, and recruit them to march under the banner of Shikimaru. We must eliminate their emperor while they are weak, before the weed has time to regrow its choking roots," Grimsley elaborated, speaking about the plan to finish Tenkai for good.

Maybe said "poorer regions" wouldn't be so poor if you fucking helped them out; you are the Archminister, after all, Yumi thought angrily, glaring at the Archminister with contemptuous brown eyes.

Irvine, Miyuki, Dante and the others had gathered around one of the benches in the old barracks where they had been eating not ten minutes ago, their bowls of ramen still sitting, abandoned, on the tabletop. They thought about finishing their meals off but the ramen had gone cold and they had thrown it away.

The old barracks wasn't the first place Yumi had thought that Irvine would bring the Archminister; it wasn't exactly flattering or impressionable. It was built like any Guild Hall in any place in the country, except that it was so old that it looked like a haunted house from a ghost story. In its defence, there were no cobwebs, spiders or vermin, but the place was cloaked in dust and there wasn't single surface in the room that wasn't constructed of mottled wood that was probably decades past its prime. If you slammed the tables too hard, they'd probably break. The one advantage was that nobody would think to come in here, which gave them all some semblance of privacy in spite of the hustle and bustle of outside.

"So where is it that we're gonna be heading, assuming we're chosen for this mission?" Ruby asked, seeming unfazed by the fact that she was talking with the second most powerful man -and one of the most prominent- in Altus.

"You will be taken into the heart of Tenkai, to a small fort in Starfall Forest in Kijuka, the region's capital. It may be small, but the security there will be immense; Shikimaru Tetsuya will be present, after all. They know all too well that their region is defeated if Shikimaru falls. They cannot afford to be lax," Grimsley answered, taking his sweet time doing so too. It was like listening to a snake trying to learn to talk. In fact, everything seemed to take prestigious effort for the Archminister; he could just about walk (slowly), he took forever to make any kind of movement or gesticulation, and he took at least one and a half times longer to say something than an average person. He was like a music box that was winding down. In fact, he'd been in office for nearly seventy years. He must've been at least ninety. It amazed Ruby that the man was still alive.

"How are we going to get there? We can't just waltz into the Heart of Tenkai," Yumi questioned cynically, trying not to sound too aggressive.

"Why, by airship, of course," the Archminister replied politely. "How else did you think you would get there? I'm a politician, dear child, not a magician."

"Also, why doesn't Chancellor Tojou ever address the people anymore? He hasn't spoken publicly since Tenkai was driven out of the Eridias region four years ago," Yumi asked with politeness that belied so much negativity that it was almost palpable. Grimsley took a while to answer, although it was hard to tell the difference as he normally took "a while" to do anything, even blinking. What Yumi said was valid. Tojou always used to make public addresses every month on how the war was going, but four years ago he had stopped. Archminister Grimsley had taken his place, so as not to leave Altus in the dark.

"Our Chancellor is busy with the war effort. He is our lord, not our newsreader."

Yumi wanted to say more, but she decided that she didn't want to get on the wrong side of someone who could have her killed with a snap of his fingers (although God knows how long that would take him), so she remained silent. Even though what the Archminister had said was almost undoubtedly true, she still didn't like it.

"I will say no more. I must return to Shihon. Good luck, hunters," he said flatly. As he rose from his seat and he was escorted toward the exit by his two honour guards, and encore of screaming rushed in from outside. Everybody jumped a little, then almost panicked as they heard foul hissing and growling, and the sound of wood and metal shattering, and people dying.

"Stay in here, Archminister," Irvine instructed. Grimsley nodded calmly and returned to his seat, his honour guards both more vigilant now, standing with their spears at the ready.

Meanwhile, outside, everything had turned to chaos. Although Yii-Do proper was about the size of a small city, the creature had already smashed its way through the first sixty metres of it. Not all of it, of course, but there was a clear trail of crazed destruction from the entrance to where Dante and co. were now. Even as it approached them, it knocked over huge vats of water, metal, stone and other things, swatting people out of the way as it moved.

It was the Mad Gigginox.

It looked nothing like a Gigginox should. It was almost entirely black and it was covered in a network of purple varicose veins, and the normally purple patches on its head and tail had turned a deep, terrifying scarlet. It drooled slime everywhere and was hardly ever silent, its breath rattling in its throat. It seemed to treat everything around it as a mortal threat and lashed out at anything, even if it wasn't moving.

All ten of them drew their weapons.

"This is something you are unlikely to face a regular basis," Irvine shouted above the noise, "but nevertheless, you must face it now. Be ready; one foot wrong will be the death of you."

"Dante, I'm scared," Alexis said. She didn't sound scared, but Dante knew her well.

"It'll be fine. Stay close to me," he said seriously.

Barely three seconds more passed before the Gigginox made its first strike at Miyuki, slapping its left arm down ferociously. Miyuki calmly sidestepped out of the way. The Gigginox then lashed out with its head, jabbing its face forward at her the way frog's tongue ensnares a fly. Miyuki cried out with all her might and swung her arm mounted shield into its path. The shield batted the Mad Gigginox's face out of the way, but it seemed unfazed. Miyuki slashed at its arm with her sword, making a small cut on its leathery skin. It hissed and spun a hundred and eighty degrees to the left, its midriff smashing into Miyuki and knocking her into a nearby wall.

Before it had the chance to chase after her, it felt a searing pain in its tail. It flipped its body around to see Ash, slicing at it fervently. As she prepared to jab its face with her longsword it whipped her away with its eerily flexible neck, which it swished around again to bring it slamming into Teiko, who was busy hacking at its side.

"Duck!" Dante screamed, grabbing Alexis and forcing her down with him as the creatures tail came whooshing over their head. The Mad Gigginox was so fast, so furious, that if you so much as blinked or looked away for a few seconds you'd have missed about five different movements. Dante, Aaron and Alexis had never faced a monster with MDV before. It was hard to keep up. But they were confident that they would pull through. After all, the others had managed to bring down a Mad Barioth. This was a smaller monster with more hunters. Surely it would be just a little easier.

"MOVE!" Irvine shouted, pushing Dante and Alexis out of the way, so hard that they fell over. Irvine's Rukodiora blade pierced the red raw flesh of the Gigginox's underside of the Giggonox's hand. It screeched with pain and reeled back, a little blood dripping from the wound.

At first, Dante was wondering how Irvine could have done something like that; the physical strength of the Gigginox, amplified by the Virus, should've hurt him somehow. And how could Miyuki so easily see the berserk creature's super-fast attacks coming in time to be able to sidestep around them. She had just been calmly striding closer and closer to the face of the Creeping Venom like it was another day at the office. Then, he remembered what he had been taught at school back in Kairu, about the Guild's elite. They were enhanced through the power of recently discovered technology. A special serum was administered to each of them, and it would give them a boost in physical ability, not quite normal, like, say, a Mega Demondrug, but not quite superhuman either. The effects never wore of, as far as people had seen. The technology was very new and had only just been commissioned for use, after being approved by Archminister Grimsley. Dante often wondered why such matters were never referred to Chancellor Tojou, but the whole thing never really meant much to him until now, where he could see its effects in action.

"Don't just stand there, you fools! Move!" Irvine hissed back at Dante and Alexis. He regained focus on the fight again just in time to duck under a whip-like strike from the Mad Gigginox's stretchy neck. He bent over backward, staring at the black flesh and purple veins that were mere millimetres away from skimming his face.

Suddenly, the black shape fell away from Irvine's view, followed by a tortured shriek. Irvine righted his body position to see Aaron attacking the creature fiercely with his gargantuan with his Shiny Rathalos Sword G, the blade digging deep into the Gigginox's black flesh, blood spurting out, an almost chasmic gash on its neck, close to its face. Aaron was attempting to decapitate the beast.

But the Mad Gigginox wasn't going to lay down and accept it. It swung it's body around recklessly, violently, flailing like a fly in a glass bottle. It swatted Aaron away before he could finish the bloody job. It then swished its tail instinctively. It had sensed Teiko coming up from behind to attack it. With a cry, Teiko was slammed face down into the gravel and the dirt.

The Gigginox then yelped again, craning its thin, rubbery neck around to see Ash's Gogomoa longsword stuck in the bare red flesh of its underside. Thick, contaminated blood was sliding down the blade. It hissed angrily and batted Ash away with its forearm, then let out an ear-splitting, bloodcurdling screech, piercing the ear drums of the hunters- as well as any terrified civilians who were rushing past the creature while it was distracted- like a cruel knife that sent all the chill of the tundra with it. Dante and a few of the others had normal earplugs but it wasn't enough. A few of the civilians that were closest collapsed, shrieking incoherently with pain, blood trickling from their ears, while most were curled up into the smallest shape possible, hands clamped down on their ears like vices (much like the hunters were).

The Gigginox pounced on Irvine before he had a chance to recover. He was stuck in place on the ground, the Gigginox's heavy, leathery body lying on him and keeping him in place. His Rukodiora rapier was just out of reach. He strained as he reached for it desperately, his fingers wriggling like a tin of worms as he struggled to clasp it once more. He swivelled back as he registered the impact of large globules of drool from the Gigginox's gaping maw of a mouth, droolign being a common characteristic of monsters affected by the Mad Dragon Virus. The smears of purple on its face seemed to be scanning him intently, as if it were deciding if Irvine was safe to eat. Finally, the Gigginox's mouth spread out in all directions, the abyssal maw creeping ever closer, slowly preparing to consume the black ops soldier. A hundred thousand rotting corpses couldn't hope to best the stench of the Mad Gigginox's breath.

Irvine then returned to struggling for his blade, more frantically this time, but to no avail. The Gigginox was beggining to swallow him up where he lay even now. He felt its tiny little fangs grinding against his armour.

"Here!" a voice shouted. Not long after, Ruby's Uragaan-clad foot had kicked Irvine's blade into his hand. Immediately, Irvine thrust the black and yellow sword into the monster's left "eye". It screamed with pain and annoyance, dragging its wounded face away from Irvine, who's legs came out of its mouth slimy and slick with saliva. He quickly pulled himself to his feet as Dante, Alexis and Aaron came running up to join him.

Ruby had dug in, followed seconds after by Yumi, Ruby's Crimsonwall slashing at the great bloodied incision Aaron had left in its neck while Yumi's Great Demonbind G, in sword mode, sliced away at its tail. In fact, even after all this hunting, they and the others could barely tell the difference between a Gigginox's head and tail. The only thing that gave it away was Aaron's enormous wound to its neck.

Soon, Ash, Teiko, Ichiro and Miyuki joined in, mobbing ferociously like they had done the one-eyed Gurenzeburu. Alexis, Irvine, Aaron and Dante also jumped in to have a piece of the slaughter. After about a minute of harsh and relentless slashing, stabbing, slicing and hacking, the Gigginox, was covered in bloodied wounds and a few larger lacerations. The once purple patch on the monster's face that marked its eye was now smeared a deep burgundy. The hunters slowly, cautiously drew back from the Gigginox, which was slumped in place on the ground.. It was breathing, but the breath rattled in its throat even more than normal and it was hoarse and dry and it almost seemed to be choking on its own blood. Alexis finally stepped up to its face and, with a loud, determined cry and all the might she had, thrust her Hi Ninja Sword G into the surface of its head, aiming for the brain. With naught but a yelp (which was cut off midway), the Mad Gigginox's body became flaccid immediately, fresh maroon blood still flowing weakly from its multitude of wounds.

It was difficult, frightening and frenzied, but they had finally bested the creature. The Mad Gigginox was dead and they had passed the third trial without a single non-civilian casualty.

"Superb," Irvine stated simply, sheathing his weapon, a little breathless. Then again, they all were, even Miyuki (albeit just a little). They had almost lost themselves in that brief minute of bloodshed, beneath a mindless and blood-soaked haze. "You handled the creature with a balance of quick thinking, good timing and careful attacks. If it weren't for you- well, Ruby, at least- I would probably very well be missing a limb right now, if not dead. You have my thanks...and my authorisation."

"What, you mean we're going to Tenkai? We're going on the mission?!" Teiko asked, his eyes shining like a puppy in a pet sho window.

"..Yes. And don't so close to me! You smell of Gigginox blood," Irvine said, almost amiably.

"Sweet!" Aaron exclaimed, filled with glee. "This is gonna be super super awesome...!" he said quietly. The others cheered a little, happy to have been chosen above all others but at the same time not letting their happiness cloud their sense of responsibility. The end of the war was now in their hands. It wasn't a matter of winning or losing the war, but being sent on a black ops mission to assassinate emperor Shikimaru Tetsuya wasn't exactly an everyday job.

"It is settled. We will travel with a small group of black ops soldiers by airship to Starfall Forest, Kuhnii, in the heart of the Separatist Province of Tenkai to end the Ten-Year War for good. Come, we must prepare to leave at once. There is no time to waste," Miyuki said instructively.

"Wait, what about here? Who's gonna clean up all this mess?" Yumi asked seriously. Her questioned was answered almost as soon as she'd asked it, as large groups of Yii-Do residents, most on foot, but some with carts and tows, had begun to swarm in. Already, the corpse of the Mad Gigginox was being piled onto the back of a cart, ready to be taken to an incinerator for safe disposal. The soldiers who lived in Yii-Do might have been unprepared for the attack, but they certainly knew how to clean up their own machinery by themselves.

The ten hunters slowly headed away from the scene. They had a mission to plan for.