"All humans and monsters have a point of commonality. They fear death."
The room was dimly lit and held a strange smell. It must have been the blood that the man speaking couldn't wash away.
"To overcome that, you must become something greater."
The following words would become etched into the one that the man was speaking to. No matter where he went, they would always follow him. They would always be there in the back of his mind.
"Become a demon, Nebulo."
Fera Gladius arc part 7: Demons In The Mist
"Crap. This would've been a lot easier if I was just going crazy. But it looks like there really was someone there. No, saying there was isn't right. It's still a threat right now."
Isabel furrowed her brow.
"I've gotta hurry. Should I just run past? If there's a guard here then that must mean I'm close. There wouldn't be a guard not on the way to the throne room, right? The king's probably a wuss anyway. Why else would he be hiding in a room while everyone else is fighting? I doubt it'll take that much effort to beat him. So I should just run past."
Isabel remembered her objectives.
"No, that isn't right. It's not about beating him, I've gotta interrogate him. And maybe hold him hostage. So that's more complicated than just hitting him with a hammer. Yeah, things will get really messy if I don't. I've gotta beat this guy up first, then beat the king. Be a lot easier if I could see him. Wait a minute."
Isabel felt like bashing her own head with a hammer.
"Am I stupid? How did I just skip past that part? Why the hell can't I see him? This is a hallway. There aren't many places to hide. So where is he hiding? I got so preoccupied with everything else that I didn't question something that obvious. I really am stupid. What am I being so passive for anyway? Whether I can see him or not doesn't matter, it's all the same once he gets crushed."
Isabel finally began to act.
"Let's tear this place up already."
Irontusk obliged, tearing a chunk out of the floor and chucking it forwards. Before the dust could settle, the two started to charge forwards.
Isabel only managed to get slightly ahead before she felt something stab into her back.
Pain flared throughout the lower right side of her torso. But it wasn't anything more than what she was used to.
She reached around and grabbed what was sticking into her.
A throwing knife. She'd never used one before, but it didn't take much deduction to work out what it was.
"What? When did he get behind me?"
Isabel turned around, just catching a glimpse of something flying through the air before it sunk into her. Another throwing knife.
Sensing that the attacks wouldn't stop with just that, she raised her hammer. A third throwing knife embedded itself into the hammer, but stopped there.
Something else flew towards her. Once more, she tried to block.
She expected her arms to shake from the feeling of another knife sticking into it, but felt absolutely no resistance at all. As though the projectile had disappeared.
It took her a second to register it as poison. Of course, how fast she responded was irrelevant. From the moment she blocked it, there was no chance for her to avoid it.
Isabel staggered backwards, seemingly struggling to process the rapid change in attacks. She fumbled around her item pouch for a few moments before extracting an antidote.
It was at that moment that it struck. A blade appeared seemingly from nowhere, with the intent of sinking into the hunter.
And Isabel turned.
She failed to completely save herself. No matter how wildly she threw herself out of the way, she still failed to get completely clear of it. But that reaction had been more than what her attacker had been expecting.
"I really, really, must be stupid. How did I not realise it sooner?"
The opponent that remained hidden from her view wasn't what tipped her off. Nor was it the strange mist that filled the area.
What tipped her off was the poison attack. It was only once she'd been hit with that that the story Isabel had been told a week prior resurfaced in her mind.
The mist that had surrounded the group when they were separated in the woods.
The poison that only served as a ruse.
The blade that had cut her brother's stomach open.
"It was you!"
She swung out wildly, catching her attacker. For just a moment, she caught a glimpse of them.
The unseen one's first response was to retreat as quickly as possible, having no plan for the situation he was currently in. Isa refused to let him away.
She fervently pursued the faint outline of her target through the mist, burning into every detail she could into her eyes.
Irontusk moved at the same time, attempting to cut the attacker off.
They were headed towards the room that Isa and Irontusk came from.
The target rounded a corner. Instead of going around, Isabel and Irontusk smashed through it.
That saved them just a second of time, enough to catch up. She swung her hammer towards what she could barely see. The fury accelerated the strike. There was no way it could have possibly missed.
Something cracked. It felt as though her weapon was embedded into the right side of whatever it was that she hit.
That feedback was the last Isabel sensed of her quarry, before they slipped away.
She came to a stop. With a brief moment of respite before her, her first thought was to finish the antidote that she'd started earlier.
"He's gone again. Considering everything that's happened, he probably wants me to tire myself out until he can kill me easily. Even I can see that. Running around blindly will just be playing to his tune."
She chugged the drink down.
"Nah, this is fine. You'll have to show yourself to kill me. So the faster I tire myself out, the faster I can kill you. But I don't like the idea of wasting all that energy for nothing. So-"
Isa threw the empty bottle to the side.
"Hey, coward. Get out here before we demolish this place completely."
Not giving her opponent any time to answer, she charged forwards and smashed the nearest wall. Irontusk followed suit, tearing through the castle. The ancient walls had little resistance to offer them.
"If this place is more open then that means more angles I could get attacked from, but less room for him to hide. On top of that, he's here to defend this place. Can't defend it if the castle collapses. He's gonna have to stop me sooner or later."
As she predicted, an attack arrived.
At first, she noticed a single glimmer. A moment later, several more appeared before her. She didn't even register it as an attack until it was too late.
As she breathed in, the orange scales floating through the air were sucked into her lungs. Her head felt slightly off. But it was only a slight deviation from the norm, not nearly enough to warrant her attention.
What did grab her attention was the sudden appearance of an enemy.
He lurched out of the mist, sword at the ready.
There was almost no space between them. But Isa didn't feel any fear, as this was what she had been hoping for.
She gripped her weapon tighter, aiming to dodge the first hit and then counter.
She had at least enough experience to see the path the swing would take. So she twisted her body to not be within that range. Only to twist herself directly into the blade's path.
By the time she realised that her body wasn't moving as intended it was already too late.
The sword sunk into her shoulder, aiming for her throat.
Isa managed to pull herself away, throwing herself to the ground to avoid it.
"Everything's reversed! If I go left, then I'll go right! What the hell!?"
Had she even been a moment later in working out the rules of her affliction, then that surely would've marked the end of her. The attacker had let his best chance of finishing the fight slip through their fingers, but he did not give up.
The sword was thrust towards her head. Isa attempted to raise her arms to grab her attacker, or perform any action she could to slow him down.
Her arms simply flopped to the ground uselessly.
"It's not only my directions that are mixed up! It reverses what I want to do as well!"
By the time that she was able to lift her arms, it was too late.
"Ah. Am I- gonna die?"
Irontusk intercepted the attack at the last moment, blocking it with her horn.
The shadow that was attacking them backed away. Feeling out the rules of her affliction as she went along, Isa stood back up and gave chase.
Isabel was sinking. Slowly, into the depths. The longer the battle went on, the deeper she found herself going.
Further and further, she could only sink.
That which occupied the edge of her vision, out of sight, seemed to distort. The pressure rose. Her memories were dredged up, one by one.
Yet, she did not feel as though she was drowning. Even with her mind elsewhere, it felt clear. The lower she went, the better she felt.
Finally, at the peak of unbearability, she caught a glimpse of the light at the bottom of the abyss.
Once more, the attacker disappeared from view in the middle of nowhere.
But Isa didn't stop.
Her eyes, almost burning, picked up on a barely perceptible error in front of her. Something was wrong with the wall in front of her. She didn't know what it was, but she had no need to. At that moment, all she had to do was strike.
A swing of her hammer cleaved not through the spot where they had vanished into, but just off to the side.
To any outsider, it would've looked as though she suddenly stopped her attack in the air, as though performing a pantomime. But she knew that she hit something.
The feeling of having smashed into something was unmistakable. The sound of bone crunching was enough proof to any onlookers. The splash of blood only added onto the pile.
A few seconds later, it appeared. The patch that Isabel had just struck was the first part to be revealed, followed by the rest popping into existence.
A bird wyvern covered in black feathers, tipped with gold. A Nightcloak Malfestio.
"I got it. Whatever that thing is, it can camouflage itself. So he's been ordering that to blend in with the wall, then standing with it between us. That's how you disappeared before. But this time-"
She ran around, locking eyes with the one who'd just attacked her.
The game of cat and mouse had reached its climax in an instant. Realising that they were in a corner, the mouse lurched out.
The strike was easily stopped. Isa swung her hammer down, not for the sword but for her opponent's arm.
The sword pierced her chest, but she did not stop short.
The weapons made for hunters were meant for damaging monsters. Therefore, it only made sense that if one were to hit a human, they would crumple as easily as paper.
Wearing armour made from monsters helped to mitigate this. But in this case, the target was wearing the lightest armour possible in order to remain silent.
The drawbacks of that tactic were audibly clear. The only thing that could be heard in those near-empty halls were the sound of his bones being crushed.
Isa smirked, but refused to lose her focus.
"He hasn't given up yet."
A millisecond passed of studying the mask.
"He's going to say something. He was ordering his monster to hide him. He's gonna change orders. That's all he can do right now."
Isa released her left hand from her hammer and lunged forwards, grabbing her opponent by the throat. She lifted him off the ground, gripping as tightly as she could.
"Not gonna let you call for any help. This is it for you."
With that said, she dashed forwards again and slammed the back of his head into the nearest wall. The impact caused his mask to finally slip away, revealing part of his face.
Barely able to breathe, the one who had been attacking until a few moments ago began to choke. His eyes were not focused on Isa, but just past her.
Desperately, he was trying to say something. A message that would continually fail to reach the world.
Behind them both, stood another masked figure, staring on blankly.
With a blade attached to his arm, he stood there idly.
His opponent's back was open to him. All it would take was a few quick steps and an attack to finish things. His path to victory was that short. And yet, with nothing stopping him, he did not move.
Nebulo could not bring himself to lock eyes with the one looking to him. All he could offer in exchange for that gaze was a single resigned thought.
"Forgive me. It seems that I am still a coward."
"You aren't allowed to be a coward, Nebulo."
That was a sentence he'd heard countless times.
Whenever he faltered, that was always what the man told him.
Nebulo had no idea who that man was. The only word he'd ever been given to refer to him with was "Master".
For the first years of his life, all he knew was that shack near the top of a mountain. The only ones there were him, his master and his brother. His younger brother, Haze.
It was all that he had ever known, from the moment his memories began. As two of the three residents of that world, the role of Nebulo and his brother was to train.
According to their master, he was preparing them both to be the successors of a line of killers that stretched back for over a thousand years.
According to their master, they were preparing to become demons.
This preparation involved death.
Not just learning to kill, but learning to die.
Their master taught that if a creature isn't killed by something, then it will develop a resistance to that. So if they tried almost dying in as many ways as they possibly could, then they would become unkillable.
Nebulo would sometimes find himself afflicted by something unexpected during his training. His vision would become clouded. His body would vibrate. His heart would grow loud enough that he could not sneak effectively. His master described this as cowardice.
For some reason, the cowardice showed up almost every time he had to kill or be killed.
No matter how he tried to suppress it, he found the cowardice returning.
Haze, on the other hand, seemed to display no such cowardice.
Time passed on.
That small world remained unchanging.
Training with his brother was all he did. Even as they grew, that continued.
Having never seen the outside world with his own eyes, he had no reason to believe in it.
All he knew was the world that he lived in, with only three people.
He and Haze rarely exchanged words, but that did not mean they were distant. They were as close as they could be. But they had learnt to only talk when absolutely necessary.
There was no need for words between them. They could understand each other without them.
With no knowledge of the outside world, they had no idea that people may call it strange.
A number of years later, he was told something that would greatly alter the trajectory of his life. That he was worthy.
The master brought him aside to tell him this. That he was the one with the more potential of the two.
That he had one final test remaining before he could become the next successor.
That was to kill his brother. He could only become complete once he was dead.
The final test of training to kill and be killed was to kill another on the same level as himself. By fully killing himself, he would become unkillable. That was how it was explained to him.
His master went on, talking about history.
Unworthy successors would only stain the image that had been built over the past millennia. That was why only one branch existed.
His master explained to him that blood did not matter. The successors did not need to be related to him, nor did they need to have any relation to their fellow candidates. Nebulo was free to choose any successor he wanted in the future, as long as they were strong enough to survive. He could train as many as he wanted, as long as only one inherited the title.
Nebulo was given a week to complete his final trial. A strangely merciful time limit. And for six days, he contemplated.
He watched his brother. There were only two people that formed his world. Therefore, his brother was half of his world.
His brother who had been there for as long as he could remember. The brother that always followed him around. The brother that had given him the strength to keep going, for he knew no other reason.
The cowardice that plagued him was a part of his world. He could tell that the only way he could possibly free himself from that was to cut down the world. To kill his brother, to part from his master. That was the only way he could become complete.
On the seventh day, he killed his master.
It was simple. Far simpler than he'd expected.
A few moments after cutting him down, he realised for the first time that time makes things become fragile.
There were no words of explanation offered to Haze. Nebulo simply left, and he followed after. As always.
The outside world wasn't anything like the closed off world. It was different. Crushing in a far different way to the training they had endured. But to survive, the two of them did anything necessary.
Using everything they had been taught, they carried out anything and everything that people were willing to pay for. All to have some way of continuing to live.
That eventually led to them becoming slightly infamous. Without any input on his part, people began to call him the demon mist. It was probably because they made the link between him and his predecessors. That eventually led them to swearing allegiance to the king of the wild.
He became a general. Haze became his sole pawn.
Nebulo carried on, always plagued by his cowardice.
Which led Nebulo to this spot.
Their role was to defend the king. So they had set themselves up to defend.
With the advantage of being familiar with the battleground on their side, they planned to hide themselves and silently deal with anyone who managed to get far enough to reach the castle.
The first attacker somehow saw straight through them.
Nebulo didn't understand.
When he came to recruit them, the king had brought Minerva with him. Their fight only lasted a few moments. After just two attacks were exchanged between them Nebulo immediately surrendered, recognising that he had no way to win.
It didn't matter whether or not he was hidden. The moment that he revealed himself and stabbed Minerva, he sensed that he had already lost. The gap between the two of them was that uncomplicated.
Nebulo had no problems with accepting that someone stronger than him existed. From the moment he set foot to the outside world, the fact that there existed things above him became clear.
To back down contradicted what he had been taught, but he did not care so long as he lived. What he could not accept came later.
Just a week prior, the old man with a sword had completely seen through him without even needing to see him.
Minerva hadn't been able to do anything to catch him before he struck. She could only take action after seeing him.
But he blocked Nebulo's strike. Moreover, he talked as though he had known Nebulo was there the entire time.
He did not have any belief in his own strength. What he trusted was his ability to deceive, to remain hidden.
To have that so easily dismantled shattered his confidence.
Therefore, as he had once before, when faced with overwhelming odds, retreated as quickly as possible.
He lived for his brother. His brother lived for him.
Since setting foot into this strange world, that was the system that they had silently agreed upon.
He had been taught that he must become a demon. Something beyond any living being, with no fear of death. Naturally, that meant being above them. If he ran from a fight, then he wasn't fulfilling the legend that he was tasked with perpetuating.
Had he the chance, he would've asked his master if fearsome opponents such as these existed in the time of their predecessors.
Never being able to receive an answer was his one regret about killing him.
Regardless, he continued. Because there was nothing else he could do. The dread that he had felt only a short while before came back to him as the attacker stopped and called out to them.
Was it just a lucky guess? He had no way of telling. All he could do was defend, as he had been tasked.
Gradually, he began to realise that it hadn't been luck.
The first attack with the poison was Nebulo. Following that, Haze struck from the other side.
The same rotation of attacks they'd used a great number of times before was executed without any problem. The only issue reared its head at the very end, when Isabel somehow managed to dodge their last strike.
He found himself somewhat paralysed by fear.
All he could do was watch as Haze's attempt at an attack failed. All he could do was watch as she chased after Haze, those piercing blue eyes refusing to turn away from him.
All he could do was watch as Haze had his bones crushed.
Something was clearly wrong with her. She didn't have the same strange energy about her as the old man had, but she was clearly some kind of abnormality.
Living things fear death. That is why pain exists.
That was one of the beliefs that he had been given. He could feel it himself. Any time something was injured badly, it would recoil.
The feeling of something recoiling as he attacked it was proof of its attachment to life. That it could be killed.
If something overcame that, it would be unkillable. That was what his master had described as a demon.
When he stabbed Minerva, he felt no such thing. As though she had no attachment to this life. Maybe that was a demon.
While he had failed to cut the old man, he recognised there was something unnatural about it. Nebulo felt that what he was facing wasn't alive. That was, of course, impossible. There was no way that he could cross blades or be lectured by a dead man. But it certainly didn't feel as though he was alive.
Rather than one or the other, Nebulo felt like he was looking at something in between the two states. Maybe that was a demon.
She wasn't like either of those. She was clearly human. Nothing but human.
But even despite the threat to her life, or even because of it, it seemed like she was enjoying this.
As death surrounded her, it seemed like she was only waking up. That she was enjoying being on the verge of death.
She was a human. But as the fight went on, something else seemed to be appearing. Like it was crawling out of her head.
Maybe that was a demon.
He hadn't become complete. He had chosen his brother over that. If he gave up on his world, then would he be like them?
He didn't know. All that he knew was that they could see through him.
Nebulo was still standing there, staring at Isabel's back.
She held Haze against the wall, choking the life out of him. Haze looked not to his attacker, but to Nebulo.
"I can't be like them. I can't be like her. I can't be what the master wanted me to be. Don't look at me with those eyes. There's no way I can compete here."
His heart was sinking into the lowest depths it could find.
"No."
"No. This isn't right. This isn't what I want to be. You threw it all away to save him, didn't you? He's the reason you're still a human, isn't that right? What will I be if I don't save you!? I won't be anything!""
His fear did not melt as he had hoped it would. But a new feeling swept through his body, briefly overpowering it.
Like a puppet being dragged forwards, he dashed.
He raised his arm, readying the strike. Acceleration. He drew ever closer.
The time it took to reach her felt like it stretched out to an eternity, but simultaneously it was less than a second.
The point of no return was reached. As he reached her the blade attached to the side of his arm was swung down, ready to slash through whatever crossed its path without mercy.
And Isabel turned.
She made no attempt to dodge this time. She did not make any attempt to deflect the attack either. She simply blocked.
Still holding onto Haze, she turned around. The blade sunk into his back.
Nebulo stared blankly.
"I figured there'd be more than one of you. Your injuries didn't match. Different weapons too. I'm not as stupid as you think. So come on. How many of you are there, really? I don't care. I'll tear each and every one of you hiding there down."
She looked at Nebulo while tilting her head.
"Hey, you not gonna say anything? Do you want him back or something? I don't care, so just take him. He's free."
With those words, she threw Haze forwards into Nebulo. Still unmoving, Nebulo simply crumpled under his brother's weight.
Not missing a beat, Isa then gripped her hammer with both hands once more and swung it around. She hit the pile of humans from the side, sending them flying to an adjacent side of the room.
"Irontusk, gimme a big one. Big enough to be their gravestone."
Irontusk gathered up various pieces of the room into a decently sized boulder.
"One burial, coming up!"
Isa spun around and swung at it, sending it sliding across the room to where the two had landed.
Monster art: Glamorous Slugger.
It loudly crashed into the wall.
No time was wasted. The hunter simply dashed forwards at the top speed she could manage, hammer readied. The second she drew in close enough she swung her hammer down, smashing the rock.
The dust quickly settled, revealing that nothing was there. She turned her head, trying to work out where they disappeared to.
Around the corner, Nebulo looked at Haze's injuries.
His left arm had been crushed, rendering it useless. His throat had also nearly been crushed.
Blood was gushing out of the wound in his stomach. The wound that he had inflicted. Nebulo stared helplessly, unable to do anything about what he had caused.
Blood dripped onto the floor.
With each drop that he witnessed hit the floor, the feelings of responsibility crashed into his brain like a sledgehammer. It was the wound that he had inflicted.
Before even that. None of this would've happened if he hadn't been so half-baked.
The hunter was looking for them both. If they waited long enough, then the trail of blood would surely lead her to them.
In this situation, running would've been pointless. She would undoubtedly catch up to them.
Nebulo looked Haze in the eyes.
In that moment, both attempted to transmit a message to the other without saying anything. As they had always done.
A second later, Nebulo stood back up. He headed forwards.
Isabel and Irontusk's rampage stopped as they saw him approach.
With the room so quiet, all that could be heard was the sound of his footsteps tapping against the stone floor.
He stopped a few steps short of the pair.
"Even if I die, you won't make it to the throne room. I need at least that much resolve in order to reach your level."
Without saying anything, he raised his weapon.
"What's this? You finally feel like showing yourself? That's fine. No, it's good. Having to drag you out of hiding was getting boring."
Memories kept playing back in her mind, incessantly. Driving her forwards. Metamorphosing her into a being that existed to judge the dishonest.
Mist and dust swelled in the room.
Both sides were sinking, racing to the bottom of the abyss.
The true fight began there.
The first to make a move was Isa.
Attempting to catch her opponent off-guard, she did not swing her hammer around, but instead thrusted it into his chest. Nebulo slid to the left, avoiding the brunt of the attack. He quickly retaliated with an elbow strike, only for Irontusk to attempt to crush him.
In order to avoid a near certain death, he rolled away. But that didn't mean that he had given up completely. As he finished his roll, he chucked something towards the hunter.
A poison bomb, like the ones employed earlier.
It missed. Watching his movements, Isa had predicted that something like that would happen. Now without any hesitation, she charged in.
At the same time, Irontusk tried to crush him. Nebulo dashed away, placing himself between the two of them.
Isa closed in to attack. Only at the last second did she realise her mistake.
Rather than attacking with his blades, Nebulo grabbed another poison bomb. Knowing that he would likely miss again, he didn't throw it this time. A good way to increase accuracy was to reduce the distance. Therefore, he shoved the bomb directly into Isa's helmet.
Isa was too close to dodge out of the way like before. But instead of worrying about the poison, she continued to attack while Nebulo backed off.
"He's going to disappear again!"
Frantically, Isa dashed forwards, determined not to lose sight of her opponent. Just as Haze had before, he would surely disappear into thin air, hiding behind a camouflaged monster.
"Monster, attack the girl."
Those were the first words that she'd heard Nebulo speak. The combined shock of this, combined with him acting in a completely unexpected way and the sudden appearance of the monster that had been hidden until then momentarily left her stunned enough to prevent her from dodging.
The Chameleos lunged forwards, attempting to bite through Isabel. The attack landed. Her armour just about held out against the creature's jaws for the few seconds before Irontusk could slam into its throat, freeing her from captivity.
"Monster, steal."
Before Isa could regain her bearings, the Chameleos' tongue lashed out and hit her. It took a second before she realised what the true purpose of the attack had been.
One of her antidotes was missing.
"What's up with that freaky monster? Whatever it is, his plan's clearly wearing me down with poison. His surprise attack when I was drinking the antidote failed earlier, so now he wants to prevent me from recovering at all. Should I back off? Nah. I'm tired of getting pushed around. Let's take the lead. I wanna hit something. He's hard to hit. But the monster probably isn't."
Isa threw herself back into action, targeting the Chameleos. She hadn't said a word to Irontusk, but both had ended up picking the same target. Without saying anything, they went for the same attack.
Monster art: Shining Launcher.
Nebulo was unable to issue orders to the Chameleos in time, leaving it defenceless as both Isa and Irontusk simultaneously attacked it with all the force they could muster.
The Chameleos was launched off the ground and smashed into the ceiling. It was heavily damaged, but still breathing.
"Monster, drop poison on the ground!"
At Nebulo's order, it dropped a cloud of poison to the ground. This expanded outwards in all directions, forming a circle.
Isa had no reason to fear it, but Irontusk had at least some reason to be wary.
As Irontusk tried to hop over it, Nebulo attempted to go for her eyes. He ended up missing slightly, stabbing just below. Irontusk quickly turned around in an attempt to crush him.
At the same time, Isa charged in with her hammer swung overhead.
Nebulo dived out of the way of Irontusk swinging her body about.
With a slight movement of his hands, he flipped a switch attached to his wrist. Two more blades emerged from his gauntlets, pointing forwards. He lunged upwards, intending to sink them into his attacker.
Isa swung her hammer towards the earth, now at the point of no return.
Neither side succeeded. Nebulo had intended to thrust with both arms at once, but his left side slightly out-ranged his right.
These blades were meant to be last-resort weapons, used only to take the opponent by surprise when they thought they had him completely solved. As a last-resort, they were meant to kill, no matter what. Obviously.
His level of experience with these was skewed compared to his experience with the normal weapons. Had he been more familiar with them, perhaps things would have gone more in his favour.
On the other hand, Isa expressed no surprise at the surprise weapon. Her resolve to crush him was seemingly infallible. She had also expected both of Nebulo's attacks to connect simultaneously. She was prepared for that. The left side hitting first threw her sense of balance off, causing the hammer to only skim Nebulo on its journey to place another crack on the floor.
They looked at each other, not fully sure what had just happened. Isabel went for another attack, but was caught off by the Chameleos dropping between them.
Hiding behind it, Nebulo thought to himself.
"If I take one attack wrong, then I'll be dead. That much is clear. I won't win if I keep running away like this. So I can't run. If I want to surpass death, then I have to run headfirst into it!"
His path to victory was formed in an instant. Preparations took even less time than that.
Nebulo dashed around the Chameleos, trying once more to close the distance between himself and his enemy.
Isa raised her hammer to defend herself. Then she paused. Something wasn't right. Her suspicions rolled off her tongue before she even realised she was saying anything.
"You want me to hit you, don't you?"
Nebulo also paused, taken aback that he had been seen through so easily.
Since the fight's start he'd been unable to ignore that his tricks were barely effective on her.
But this, truly, was a person who could see through anything of the sort.
Fighting her had only confirmed that she wasn't anywhere near the level of Minerva or the old swordsman. Just how could she see through him like that?
She must have been his natural enemy.
This revelation prevented him from moving. His resolve began to crumble as he realised that it may have all been vain.
That was when it occurred. His first experience with good luck in his entire life.
Isa was not going to attack him until she ascertained why Nebulo wanted to be attacked.
But she was the only one who had such reservations.
Irontusk dived in headfirst, looking for revenge for earlier.
"No, wai-!"
Isa was only able to finish part of her sentence before Irontusk hit Nebulo squarely in the chest with her left tusk. An explosion of sound cut off anything she had left to say.
Nebulo had snuck a sonic bomb into his clothes. Having hit it directly, Irontusk found herself completely disorientated.
But she wasn't his target.
Isa had no choice but to cover her ears up. Despite being closer, Nebulo pushed himself through the pain to dash forwards.
A once in a lifetime chance. One that he couldn't waste. The moment that would decide his fate was before him.
He piled onto the attacks as frantically as he could, trying to cram as much as possible into the short timeframe he had.
Several strikes were made to Isa's head, trying to break through her helmet to deliver a fatal blow.
He even threw in some kicks in a desperate attempt to prevent her from moving for just a millisecond longer.
Nebulo made somewhere around a dozen attacks. But Isa was still standing. So he pushed himself further.
He grabbed her and leapt into the air.
Nebulo was by no means weak. If anything, he was far above even the average hunter. His training was to thank for that.
The reason why he couldn't take much damage was because he didn't wear armour made from monster parts, as the sound of his footsteps would give him away.
The reason he couldn't deal much was similar. Heavy weapons would clash with his style.
But a feat like lifting a hunter clad in Banbaro armour, with a hammer equipped, into the air was just within his power.
They rose a considerable distance, before turning.
They started to spin. Head-first, the pair shot towards the ground like a missile. There was not a chance for Isa to escape this attack.
Nebulo pulled away at the last moment, causing him to avoid the worst of the damage.
Isa did not avoid any damage, her head crashed directly into the ground.
She flopped onto her side and then ceased to move entirely.
Nebulo landed on the ground, his breath ragged.
"Not yet. You know that isn't enough. Finish the job."
He stepped forward.
"Surely she must be dead. But I have to be sure. Just to eliminate absolutely any possibility."
Irontusk had finally recovered, but was too far away from them to reach him in time.
As he reached where she lay, he raised his weapon.
It swung down, pointed directly for the right temple.
And Isabel turned.
The blade had stopped. She had stuck her hand up before it could reach her. Blood dripped out of the wound onto her face.
In spite of everything that had just happened, Nebulo could still feel her gaze piercing through him. It had gotten even stronger.
"I won't forgive you."
Her words were spaced apart, each syllable matching up to the rhythm of the drops of blood falling to the floor. The concussion appeared to be affecting her ability to speak properly.
Even so, she continued on. Nebulo found himself being grabbed by the leg and dragged to the floor. Isa's words sped up as she regained her ability to think.
"I won't let you get away with it. I won't let any of you get away with it. Don't think that you can treat us like that and get away with it. Crimes need punishments, don't they? So I'll be the judge."
Her mind still somewhat scrambled, Isa relied on what she knew through experience. Nebulo's attacks were annoying her. She knew that the way to make monsters weaker was to break their parts off. So she instinctively tried to apply that logic here.
But Isa had no idea how to cleanly break a human limb. All she had experience with were monsters. So the best she could do was attempt to break his arm like she would a monster's.
Crudely, brutally, repeatedly, ruthlessly, savagely, repetitively, ungracefully, roughly, she swung.
She pinned Nebulo to the ground and smashed the hammer into his arms. With each hit, an eerie sound was heard as his bones were subjected to forces they were never made to endure.
Nebulo lacked the strength to free himself, slipping closer to unconsciousness with each strike. Each strike weakened him further. At this point, there was nothing he could do but accept his fate.
An attack came from the right. A sword cut through the air, reaching Isa.
Haze was just barely managing to stand there.
The attack hadn't been effective at all. Haze could barely swing his weapon. It bounced off her. But it was at leat effective in getting her attention.
Isa hadn't been expecting this. But rather than shock, she felt tired while looking at him.
She tensed up for a moment, before relaxing completely.
"Seriously, what's up with you two? I'm getting the same feeling from before, that you want me to hit you. Are you crazy?"
She paused for just a second, recalling her memories. Nebulo could barely hear
"No, wait. Now I get what this feeling is. You've been trying to die from the start, haven't you?"
Haze was Nebulo's inferior.
It was something that he had always known, from the moment his memories began.
He couldn't match his strength. He could barely keep up with him. Nebulo's tolerance pain was far higher than his.
In every aspect, Haze's older brother overshadowed him.
Yet he felt no jealousy. He felt no resentment. That wasn't what he had been taught. If anything, he was overjoyed.
Nebulo was the ideal successor that their master wished for.
To Haze's mind, only ever having lived within that tiny world, there was no greater bliss than to be in the presence of such a superior being.
That did not change even when he overheard their master's condition for Nebulo to become complete.
A life like his was a small price to pay for his brother becoming even stronger.
So he did not run. He did not plan to resist his demise. He fully accepted death and waited for it.
At the end of that week, their master was dead. Nebulo didn't say anything to him.
Haze wished that he had.
But he continued to follow Nebulo wherever he went.
Haze's death would make Nebulo complete.
That was the last teaching their master had given them. So all that Haze had to do was be strung along, going wherever his brother did.
Waiting for his place to die.
Waiting for his purpose to be fulfilled.
"Just wait there. I'll be done soon."
Isa ignored Haze, raising her hammer with the intent of crushing Nebulo's skull this time.
The reason that Haze had come here was to assist his brother in any way he could still.
If he used up the last of his embers to do so, then that was all the better.
Since he could only die once, he was worried about dying in a way that was wasteful. Would Nebulo only become complete if he saw Haze die?
The information he was working off was too vague, so he couldn't be too careful. That was why he was here, risking his life.
Just briefly, in that moment of crisis, he was able to break through the shackles of his broken body. Haze dashed forwards with full force, intent on stopping the attack. He lacked the strength to interrupt Isa. So if he couldn't interrupt her, then the only thing to do was soften the impact.
Haze raced to throw himself in the way of Isa's attack.
The hammer swung down. Haze rushed forwards.
At the last moment, someone moved to interrupt.
With a new burst of energy, Nebulo threw Isa off him. She briefly went airborne, but managed to keep her footing upon landing.
Nebulo wasted no time checking that she landed, grabbing Haze and dashing away.
"Get back here! Don't run! You coward!"
Irontusk loomed before them both. She dug into the ground and pulled up a large rock blocking their path off. Barely able to stand upright, it started to topple towards them rather quickly.
Nebulo did not hesitate.
"Monster, grab me!"
At his command, the Chameleos extended its tongue to grab both Haze and Nebulo, pulling them out of the way.
"Wait! This still isn't over! We're still not done!"
"Monster, prevent them both from going any further."
Those were Nebulo's parting words as he staggered away. The Chameleos descended with shocking speed, slamming its full weight into Isa. Focused completely on the two that were escaping, she failed to dodge the attack.
She was knocked off her feet, but rose just as quickly.
"Don't you dare turn your back on me!"
That final yell echoed throughout the halls of the castle, but received no answer.
She tried to continue forwards again but the Chameleos roared, forcing her to stop to cover her ears. The two had slipped completely out of sight.
As her hearing returned Irontusk grunted at her, trying to snap her out of her tunnel vision.
A flash appeared in Isabel's mind.
The one who had told her to go on ahead.
The one she left behind.
The one who she had to save.
"Godamnit. Godamnit!"
She slammed her hammer into the ground in desperate frustration, before refocusing herself. Until its dying breath, the Chameleos would use everything it had to prevent them from leaving. As it had been ordered.
Akem Okino sat next to the Kushala Daora and Rondo, still unconscious.
"Oh, so it's you again."
Nebulo staggered forwards. The journey from the castle to this spot had exhausted all of the adrenaline that had propelled him earlier. He had no effort left to spare on hiding himself.
"Indeed, I am here."
"You don't look like you're up for a fight."
"Indeed, I am not. My part in this battle is over. I am here to retrieve Rondo."
"Oh, him. He shouldn't be dead, I think. But why are you so concerned about him?"
Nebulo looked down for a few seconds.
"I feel a kinship towards him. We're so similar that I can't bear to leave him here."
"Oh, that's nice."
They stared at each other for a few seconds.
"Hmm." Akem continued on. "Then how about a trade? Nothing in this world's free and all that. If you want your friend handed over, then how about telling me a few things?"
Nebulo didn't answer.
"Since you're leaving, it doesn't matter to you, right? I just want to know what's up with the monsters you guys use. Like this guy here. All it's done since I knocked your friend out is stand there idly. Apart from breathing, it's not doing anything. Just about anyone could tell that's unnatural. They only act when you give the order, right? Not only that, but they only ever listen to one person. So just what did you do to get him like this?"
"...I didn't do anything. I don't know anything either. The king is the one who prepares the monsters for us to order. I doubt that anyone has seen how he goes about it."
"Hmm. That so? Then I guess you don't know anything about breaking it, either."
Nebulo didn't answer. Akem sighed dejectedly.
"Well, that's good enough. At least I'm sure it's to do with the king now. Alright, go on, take him."
Nebulo placed Haze gently onto the ground before slowly stepping forwards.
His advance was extremely cautious.
Akem watched him step closer in silence. When Nebulo was right next to him, he finally spoke.
"You've really got no intent to attack, do you?"
Akem's voice carried no suspicion. It was clearly a question only asked for the sake of sating his curiosity.
"Of course I don't. I can't compare to someone like you."
"Hmm? What are you on about?"
"I couldn't become complete. I can't fight against someone like you, or Minerva, or that girl. My cowardice prevents that. So I won't fight anymore."
"I'm not fully sure what you're talking about, but aren't you being a bit too quick to give up?"
Nebulo didn't answer.
"Is that how you say no?" Akem paused, looking around. "I'm not anything that abnormal. Anyone can reach my level with enough dedication.
"No matter how much I train, this cowardice refuses to disappear. It's a gap that simply can't be bridged."
"Hmm. So that's how you see it." Akem rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment before continuing. "Then how about this? I love swords. Can you guess why?"
Nebulo was genuinely baffled.
"Because of… artistry?"
"Nah, before even that. I like 'em cause they can cut things."
Nebulo was now more baffled.
"There was this book I read when I was a kid. About this swordsman that could cut through anything. Fire, water, wind, lightning, steel, diamonds, elder dragons, sound, eventually space. Whatever it was, that guy could cut it. I loved that book. So I started studying the blade so that I could cut through things like him."
"...And did you?"
"Well, most of them still elude me. I wouldn't even know where to start with cutting space or sound. Steel and diamonds were easy enough, though. Monster parts are tougher than either of those. Most of the elements are still a bit tough. Though as for whether I learnt to cut through wind…"
Akem looked over at the Kushala Daora, still next to him.
"I still haven't checked my answers."
Akem then turned back.
"Got a bit sidetracked there. Age makes you want to reminisce about your glory days. The point you shouldn't be taking is what I did, but what you can do. It doesn't matter whether you're scared of dying. Everyone is, far as I know. All a person needs to advance is a clear image of what they want to reach. It's fine if what you're looking for doesn't exist yet. Actually, it's better that way."
"I see."
Nebulo still didn't have many words to offer. He picked Rondo up and began carrying him, before returning to where Haze was.
As he did this, Akem spoke again.
"Oh, one last thing."
Nebulo turned.
"You're a ninja, right? Why not try learning a shadow clone technique?"
"Is… that possible?"
"Not yet. But I reckon that we wouldn't even be here to have this conversation if humans were only limited to what's currently possible. So why not try?"
Nebulo began to walk away without saying anything.
"Quiet kid." Akem muttered, before glancing in the direction of the castle. "Now then, what to do about that king? In weird situations like this, knocking the guy out usually solves everything. But I doubt I have the strength to go all the way up there and then back."
The images of those he'd spent the last week teaching flashed through his mind.
"They'll reach him. No doubt about that. All I have to do is wait."
Sitting atop his throne, the King finally heard movement. Someone was getting closer.
A hunter with a hammer strapped to their back stepped forward. Behind her was a Tetsucabra.
"Congratulations on making it this far, intruder."
"You the leader here?"
"Who else would sit upon the throne?"
"What kind of idiot would just sit there and wait for the attackers to come for him?"
"Fool? Nothing of the sort. I was eager to see who would make it here first. I can't converse with the dead. Only the living. So while they were still alive, I wanted the chance for a face to face talk with one of my enemies."
"What?"
"Give something a break from the constant struggle to survive and they'll get bored. Tired. Delusional. If they don't need to worry about what they need, then next they'll start looking for whatever interests them. And what interests me right now are my enemies. I want to know what kind of battles they've struggled through to get here, to me. Judging from how you look, you must have fought someone on the way here. Who was it?"
"Dunno."
"What do you mean?"
"What else could I mean? I don't know."
"Did they not give their names?"
"First few guys did and I forgot. Guys I fought in here didn't say a thing to me."
"Hmm. Then it must have been Nebulo. I swear, no matter how many times I remind him to introduce himself, he still sticks to his own ways."
"Huh? But you didn't introduce yourself either?"
"Oh, you're the anti-hypocritical type. I don't really need much of a name. I'm the king, you see? I certainly won't ever be anything else, and don't need any other name. Just the King of the Wild. If that's too many words for you, which it seems like it may, then it's fine to shorten it to King Wild."
"I'm Isabel."
"It's good that you at least have the manners to introduce yourself. Now that I think about it, there were some hunters with monsters other than us around a week ago. Was that you? It's quite interesting that you'd come all this way to us, considering that-"
Isa thought to herself as Wild rambled on.
"This guy's weird. My skin feels like it's crawling every time he opens his mouth. But for some reason I feel compelled to make a rebuttal to everything dumb he says. I doubt he'll say anything useful. And I really can't take much more of listening to him. Screw it."
"None of this matters." Isa raised her voice to cut him off. "I've only got one question. How the hell did you get all these monsters under your control? And how do you break it?"
"That was two. And we're only getting started. If I gave that away now, then just what would you have left to look forward to? Building up tension is very important. Don't be so impatient, Isa."
"You don't get to call me that."
She began to sprint towards the throne
"Hey, Wait-"
Her hammer swung around before Wild could finish his pleas.
The sound of it smashing into something resounded throughout the expanse of the room.
Time seemed to stop.
Isa quickly realised that it wasn't Wild, nor was it the throne.
Something had extended its reach to cover Wild, blocking the attack. Wild smiled sheepishly at Isa from behind its protection.
Isa looked up for a second before dashing backwards to where Irontusk, almost tripping over herself to get away.
Something dangerous was behind him. Even with no idea of what it is, just touching it gave her the overwhelming feeling that this wasn't something that should have been there. Something that she should never encounter. An entirely different type of being to anything she'd encountered before. That was the feeling being shot through her nerves.
Half of her brainpower was dedicated to being baffled that she hadn't noticed it until that moment. It was relatively small for something so imposing.
It hadn't been hiding. It hadn't been camouflage. She just hadn't noticed it behind the king.
"Don't be so rash. What if I'd died?"
"That was the idea!" She snapped without thinking.
"Is that so? I'm heartbroken. But it's fine. Hey, don't you think it's a bit odd how people treat the king in chess like it's the weakest piece?"
"No idea what that is."
Wild continued on, ignoring her response.
"The game can only end once the king is taken. The other pieces are still strong in their own way, but if you lose them you can still win. But not the king. He's the one who holds everything up. So in order to hold everything up, I got this on my side."
He paused for just a moment, as if reminiscing.
"These lands still haven't been conquered for a reason. Perhaps you haven't experienced it yet. The fifth area of this place isn't somewhere that hunters can survive. It's only despair. So consider this brutal difference in strength a taste of what would've come had you not been twisted off your path by meeting us."
Wild threw his arms forwards, still going on.
"Even a single monster from that place leaving would be considered a once in a century disaster. If they were all to suddenly mobilise themselves and attack the outside, that would spell the end of society as we know it. As it is now, as it ever will be, the guild couldn't ever stop that. The fifth area is that sort of a powder keg. But it'd be boring if the end of the world came out of nowhere, right? We kept provoking you for the sake of this dramatic reveal, so the guild can take heed and fully prepare themselves. No one left behind in the ashes will be able to dispute my role as the new king of this world if I don't crush my opponents fairly."
"Nothing you say makes any sense." Isa spoke, before thinking "Which makes it more unnerving completely that he's so serious about all of it."
He looked Isa directly in the eyes.
"Still don't get it? Then I'll really dumb it down. We're making an example out of you. So, monster, make these two into an example."
Haze felt his eyes slowly open. He found himself looking up at the sky, which was slightly shaking around.
Correction. As his feelings returned to him, he realised that he was the one being shaken. It wasn't violent. Rhythmically, he was slowly bobbing up and down.
It took him a few seconds to realise that he was being carried on someone's back.
Below the sky were trees, stretching impossibly high. Haze realised he was in the forest of the third area.
"Have you awakened?"
Haze didn't say anything in response. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't have. His entire body was in pain. Too much to even make a sound. The fight had left him broken. Yet for some reason, he was still alive to feel the pain. His thoughts were solely dedicated to wondering why.
"I've come to understand that a few of my beliefs may have been wrong this entire time. The first is that the thoughts between us might not be as clear as I initially believed. That's why I've decided to say this to you directly."
He paused, contemplating his next words.
"I thought that I'd resigned myself to being human. But when you almost died I found out that wasn't the case. I finally understood what he said all those years ago. If I lost you, then I'd probably reach the level of a demon. I wouldn't fear death anymore. But I also realised that would only be a result of my lack of reason to continue living."
"I don't want to live in a world without you in it. It was that selfishness that led us to this place. Now my selfishness is leading me to drag you away from it."
Haze was still in too much pain to speak.
"I'm not entirely sure what that old man was talking about. I also realise that I may look ridiculous switching from the teachings of one old man to the next. So I've decided to work things out for myself. The one thing that's for certain is that I wasn't living as a human until now. It was like I was at a crossroads. Too afraid to become complete but too afraid to abandon the life I'd experienced until now. I doubt I can ever rid myself of it."
"If you're willing to put up with even more of my selfishness, then I'd like to try something different. I don't know exactly what, but I want to try living in the most human way we can manage."
Haze had already decided long ago to follow his brother wherever he went. No matter what it was, that meant he couldn't complain about it.
He would have to properly tell Nebulo that later. So he thought, as he drifted back to sleep.
12:07
Nebulo, the Demon Mist.
Retired from the battlefield.
Judah slowly advanced through the castle, intent on finding the teammates that he had lost track of. He hadn't been able to see the bottom of the abyss that Laura leapt down, indicating it would've been a bad idea to follow. He also lacked the ability to fly, so going upwards like Spencer had wasn't an option at all. That left him taking the middle path, going through the castle in the hope of finding a way to either of them.
His guard was up, prepared for a fight to begin the moment he caught sight of anyone.
Footsteps from behind him. He swung around quickly, ready to defend.
"Huh? Mary?"
Mary stared at him, seemingly equally as confused as Judah was. Behind her was Kasa.
"What are you doing here?"
"This is the castle. Why would I not be here? Where's everyone else?"
"Right. This is the castle, isn't it? I should've asked your question instead."
"...Should we just say it at the same time? That might work better."
"Then we wouldn't be able to hear each other. I'll just ask. Spencer and Laura ran off, didn't they?"
"Spencer was carried away, but that's mostly correct."
"Mm.
"And what about you?"
"I don't know. They just disappeared. I came all this way looking for them, but nothing."
"What do you mean they disappeared?"
"They were there one second, and gone the next. I have no idea."
Judah stared with some concern.
"I can't see them doing that. Well, perhaps Jean. But definitely not Fen."
"I don't know. I just have no clue."
"Well, I suppose the one silver lining is that we ran into each other here."
"Yeah, that's true. I'm still concerned about those two… now it's four, actually, but this is at least better than being in enemy territory all alone."
"I understand. So let's-"
They heard something from atop the set of stairs just before them. A wall collapsed.
In the next second, they could both faintly spot the shape of someone in Banbaro armour and a Tetsucabra falling down the stairs.
Judah rushed forward before he could even think about it. Sheathing his lance and shield, he closed the distance between himself and the target's trajectory in a matter of moments.
He caught the hunter before she could hit the ground. Titan stood behind him to further soften the impact.
Not a lot could be done to stop the Tetsucabra's landing.
"Isa!"
Isa looked up.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
Mary caught up to the other two.
"That's our question. What's going on? What happened to the rest of your group?"
"Had to leave 'em behind for a bit."
"Is this some kind of joke? How did all of us get separated like this?"
"We got bigger concerns at the minute. Oi captain, put me down, he's coming."
"Who is?" Judah asked.
"Who'd ya think? The guy we came here to beat the hell out of."
Footsteps from above.
Something was slowly descending those stairs.
"Oh, and his monster too."
Judah and Mary's eyes both widened. Any semblance of words had been stolen away from them by the sight before them.
It was something they had never seen. Something they never should have seen. Something they should have only ever heard tall tales of. Something they should have only been able to find vague information before.
Something that existences of their level should have never encountered.
That was what was before them. That was what was under the king.
At the top of the stairs was an Alatreon.
Hunter side: 16 hunters, 7 monsters.
Poacher side: 26 poachers, 27 monsters.
TO BE CONTINUED