Just a heads up, I'm not exactly the best at writing these fight scenes, so if it seems really wonky, I'm sorry! And I kinda wanted to just get this chapter over with, tbh.
Snow kicked up into the snow, every stroke of Reiya's sword making the snowflakes dance in the air. Brilliant flames lit with every slash of Wyvern Blade "Pale," though the Tigrex's scales made for formidable fire resistant armor. However, the same couldn't be said about Joe's Charge Blade, Fate's Curtain, the dragon element turning the snow a sickening, almost evil shade of red. The element danced all over the Tigrex's body every time Joe's sword connected, and even leaving a massive cut on its face once he switched to axe mode.
The Tigrex flailed on the ground, having been knocked over by the duo as they continued their assault. Spirit energy filling her body, Reiya took point, her sword dragging across the ground as she performed her Spirit Blade technique. Fire sparked off of every blow she landed, the wyvern screaming in agony moreso from the sharpness of her weapon than the burns of the element.
Side slash.
Side slash.
Side slash, one-two.
Down slash.
Just as she made a move to finish the technique, the Tigrex stood back up, roaring as its extremities turned red. Just before making contact, the wyvern jumped backwards. With a grunt of annoyance, Reiya reset herself as the Tigrex widened its stance and raised its body. With a bellowing roar, it was quick to charge, more and more snow getting kicked up as it closed the distance. Unlike Ilia, however, Reiya stood firm. Her eyes locked onto her target, she raised her sword up, holding it sideways and to her left. The excited grunts of the wyvern began to fill her ears, her mind, spirit energy practically bursting from her body as she waited for her chance.
Only, she never got her chance as an explosion of dragon energy exploded the ground in front of her. Reiya's eyes widened as she barely saw the axe form of Fate's Curtain slammed into the ground from the corner of her eye, snow clearing from the track that the dragon energy left behind. The energy reached its peak at precisely where the Tigrex was, throwing the wyvern off its feet mid-charge. Once again, the monster found itself on its side, flailing around.
Charge up.
Up slash.
Downslash.
Spinning slash.
The cartridge in Joe's charge blade blinked, turning yellow.
Slide.
Slash.
Joe slid around, getting to the tail of the beast. The Tigrex finally found its footing, about to turn and face the hunter until Reiya's longsword found a piece of its skull, cutting off the ridge above its eye, and following through with a cut to the side of its face, leaving a noticeable open wound and breaking a few teeth. The Tigrex, startled, backed off and howled in pain as Joe loaded the cartridges of his Charge Blade into his shield.
Side by side, Joe and Reiya both glanced at each other and gave a nod, then turned back to the Tigrex, extremities turning a bright red. Blood rushed throughout its body as it stamped its feet into the snow defiantly, letting out an ear piercing, echoing roar. However, neither hunter flinched. They both had their eyes locked and loaded on their target, already calculating their next moves. Reiya gripped her Longsword's handle tighter in anticipation, Joe his Charge Blade sword and shield. The ground thundered, snow flying once again as the Tigrex charged, mouth agape and breath heavy, eyes red in a blind rage. Reiya began to gather the spirit energy in her body, smoothly sheathing her longsword and bringing it to her side. Joe's eyes broke off the Tigrex for a moment to watch what she was doing, then turned back to the charging wyvern as she slide the weapon to her waist, cracking the sword out just enough to free it from its binding. Her armor, her sword, both resonated with a deep blue glow, Frostcraft taking over as she took in a breath, then released a slow sigh. It would be any moment now that she would draw, just in time to cut down the Tigrex's charge.
That is, until the sound of a man yelling filled the air.
Reiya's focus broke momentarily, as did Joe's, as Lucian came flying down from a nearby ledge. His hammer raised, his eyes only saw red as he eyed the Tigrex down, not even caring that his fellow hunters were in the way of a charge. All that mattered to him was taking this monster down.
A loud "CRACK" filled the air, as well as a loud whimper as Lucian landed, his hammer slamming right down on the Tigrex's skull. Just the sheer force was enough to stop the charge, to the amazement of Joe and Reiya. The wyvern's body lifted into the air momentarily before falling down into the snow yet again, body once again flailing about as it tried to recover. Lucian went to smash his hammer into its head again, but stopped when he saw a flash of blue fly past him. Immediately behind the wyvern kneeled Reiya, her sword drawn from an Iai Slash as a large gash suddenly appeared on the Tigrex's jaw and the claws on one of its arms suddenly broke and scattered into the air. This was immediately followed up by Joe slamming his Charge Blade into the ground, an Axe Amped Elemental Discharge exploding the ground next to Lucian and decimating the other arm. The Tigrex roared in pain as Reiya then did a Spirit Thrust, her blade digging deeply into the Tigrex's tail before she leapt high into the air, eyes focused on her target. Upon landing, the air cracked with a high pitched screech, her sword coming down and cutting the wyvern's tail clean off and throwing it forward. A pained screech from the wyvern followed as it fell forward, then attempted to scramble to its feet.
Reiya and Joe both turned to Lucian, nodding at him. The man nodded back to both of them, Joe's Charge Blade now back in sword and shield mode as he raised it over his head. Immediately, Lucian jumped up and onto the shield, using it as a platform as Joe pushed up. Lucian kicked himself into the air, using the aid to gain height on his action, hammer up and ready as the Tigrex finally jumped back to its feet. His eyes narrowed, Lucian eyed his target, watching as the wyvern shook its head before looking up. Finally, the last thing the monster saw was the hammer coming down on its skull, and with a sickening crack and a give in the skull that only Lucian could feel, he knew he had done it.
Reiya and Joe both watched their comrade, the Tigrex's body giving off some last second twitches before it ultimately stopped moving. Reiya furrowed her brow, not that she wasn't used to monsters dying before her eyes, she was a master hunter in her own right. But seeing a hunter with a Hunting Horn or Hammer finish a hunt with a smash to the skull…she could never get used to it. But the deed was finally done. Granted, she and Joe did most of the work, but as she sheathed her sword onto her back, she couldn't help but feel satisfied that it was Lucian who finished the fight. The sound of Joe ejecting a cartridge from his Charge Blade came next, followed by him sheathing his sword into the axe-shield and putting it on his back followed. His eyes went first to Reiya, who met his gaze, then turned to Lucian as well, seeing the man with his hammer still on the Tigrex's skull. Lucian's breath was heavy, still filled with adrenaline and anger, though now satisfied with the result.
A hand placed itself on Lucian's shoulder, causing the man to turn and see the Velkhana clad Reiya, who's deep blue eyes reflected her armor. However, there was a hint of sorrow on her face, followed by a look of approval. Joe's hand was next, placing itself on Lucian's hammer and finally pulling it off of the now dead wyvern. Immediately, this was followed by Reiya pulling Lucian's hands off the weapon, letting it drop to the ground as she smiled at him and said, "...you did good."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"...Lu…ci…."
"?"
"LUCIAN!"
Ilia shot up into a seated position, eyes wide open and hand outstretched, catching the group's handler by surprise. Granted, she was seated off to the side, but still not something she expected at all. Immediately, Ilia winced, her body screaming disagreement with her and causing her to fall back down onto her back. At the least, the beds weren't the same stone beds of hunters of old, and she wasn't going to receive a double concussion after getting brutally beat down.
"Hey, easy," the group's handler said as she jumped over to Ilia's side, "You're still recovering. Though, you hunters really are something else. Any normal person would be dead…probably."
Ilia's eyes wandered to the handler, seeing the young woman's serious, yet soft expression. Ilia knew that the girl meant no harm, and that she had seen her fair share of injuries. Most of the time, it was her and Lucian getting hurt during their quests, though the handler had seen her fair share of Joe and Reiya getting hurt as well, albeit much more rare. However, the handler's attention was on Ilia, and seeing as they weren't exactly in an ideal area for medical care, the others needed to get back soon.
"...where…where's…Lucian…?"
Ilia was in so much pain, a raspy voice was all she could muster. Ventus, her Palico, jumped up onto the bed to try and comfort her as the group's handler stated, "He went off after the Tigrex after he got you back. I would think they're almost done."
"...'they're…?'"
"Yes, 'they're,'" the handler repeated, a smile gracing her face.
A hand caressed Ilia's cheek, her eyes turning to see the familiar face of Lucian, eyes saddened, relieved, happy to see her still alive. Ilia's eyes reflected the same, Ventus hopping away to give her and Lucian their moment as the man leaned down and touched foreheads with her. Their eyes closed as he simply muttered, "...I'm sorry!"
At the tent entrance, Reiya leaned against the door, arms crossed. Joe was right across from her, both of them watching as the couple had their moment. The group's handler simply smiled, then stood up and walked up to them, looping her arm in both of theirs and dragging them away to let the couple have their moment in a more private fashion.