Three hunters and two monsters descended through the icy mountains.
"Where is this thing?" Isa asked. "We've been everywhere at this point."
"It should be nearby." Mary answered.
"Yeah, but like, where nearby?"
Laura scanned the environment. She paused.
"There."
The others tried to follow her gaze, finally spotting the target a short distance away.
"So that's our rampager." Isa commented.
"It looks fairly peaceful to me."
"There's only one around here. You saying we wander around some more?"
"No, I was just saying what I thought. Sorry."
"It's gotta be it. Just look at all those scars along its side. Can't even tell what made those."
"I guess that's true. Just to be safe, we should think of a plan of appr-"
Not caring for the conversation, Laura began to slide down towards the monster. Isa and Irontusk quickly followed.
"Already? We should really be careful!"
Reaching the bottom of the slope first, Laura landed the first strike against the creature's horns. Recognising its challengers, the Banbaro roared.
The reason they were here to defeat this Banbaro was unusual. It had been travelling around, attacking anything it crossed paths with. No one could work out why. But nonetheless, it was a threat that needed eliminating.
The Banbaro charged towards Laura, the two meeting each other halfway in a clash. The girl with the greatsword lost, being knocked away. Just a moment after, Isa managed to land a strike to the creature's head.
"Maybe we shouldn't just rush in without a plan?" Mary asked, barely keeping up.
"Stop worrying so much, it's fine!"
As though the suggestion irritated her, Isa's next strike was even more forceful than before. Regardless, the Banbaro seemed barely affected
It began to rampage, forcing her and Irontusk to escape. Laura charged in again, managing to land a solid slash before immediately being kicked through the snow. Kasa launched a fireball to little effect.
No matter what the attackers did, the Banbaro was undeterred. Yet, this only seemed to spur half of them on.
Mary and Kasa were the only ones left out of the spiral of madness.
With reckless abandon, Isa struck out. In a frustrated frenzy, she struck out. The girl would not stop striking.
As expected, this left her completely open. The Banbaro slammed its antlers into her, launching her a great distance.
Mary approached her.
"What's gotten into you?"
Isa's eyes were barely able to focus from the pain.
"Not even starting with checking if I'm okay?"
"Huh? No, that's not, I mean, of course I-"
Cutting the words off, Isa threw herself to her feet. She began her march back towards the monster again.
Irontusk ran over to help her.
"I wonder why… I'm acting like this? Today started fine, I think. So why am I so pissed now? I should probably cut it out, I feel like I'm not that far off from dying. But right now it doesn't feel like I'm allowed to stop."
She stared the Banbaro down.
"It's your fault. You did this somehow. I just don't know how. All I know is that I won't find out until we fight some more."
Isa charged again, in sync with Irontusk this time.
"You two got into another fight?"
"They started it." The girl answered.
"You always say that."
"Because they always do. They were making fun of us again."
"Oh, that again? You already know that what they say isn't true. Because we know that your father will be back someday."
"...Yeah."
She didn't try to argue.
The girl could tell. Apart from her mother, every adult in that village was a liar.
They gossiped among themselves. About that outsider. About how she was stupid for trusting him. How they always knew something was off with him. How it was no surprise that his children turned out like that.
But, even after saying all that, they still wore masks of compassion. They pretended to care. Because all they were concerned with was not looking bad.
The children who heard those words had no such concept of keeping up appearances. Perhaps in that regard, they were better. But she hated them all the same.
She fought because that was all she could do. She didn't have the words to refute them. She didn't have the strength to ignore them. All she had was violence.
Isa attacked the Banbaro once more. As she distracted it, Irontusk slammed a chunk of the ground into its skull. It stumbled back, but managed to headbutt the ground to unbalance the opposition.
Laura threw herself into the fight, bad at being ignored. Kasa swooped in for a few attacks.
Through a team effort, the fight seemed about equal.
The fight was interrupted by a strange, almost metallic roar from above. Their focus immediately shifted, spotting a Bazelgeuse.
The atmosphere shifted. Mary's eyes widened, noticing the creature's exceptional glow.
Only one moved. The Banbaro chased after the beast at top speed, trying to challenge it.
The Bazelgeuse descended in response.
As the two clashed, the onlookers stared in amazement. Before them was a furious rivalry that felt as though it was threatening to tear the mountain apart.
Blasts tore the earth to pieces. The juggernaut refused to flee, instead charging through. Such an act was not suicide. It simply recognised that the path of fire was the most direct route to its opponent.
The berserker of the snow continued to blindly close in. For just a moment it caught up to that opponent, allowing it ample opportunity to smash it into the ground before it escaped. This cycle repeated.
"We should probably escape. That Bazelgeuse is seething, so it's even more-"
"I get it now."
"Huh? Get what-"
"How'd it take so damn long to realise it. Ahh, I'm pissed now."
The bombardment finally overpowered the Banbaro's will to continue. Its legs gave way, shaking the ground as it collapsed.
As its vision blurred, it saw one person step in front of it. Isa met eyes with the Banbaro, much to the confusion of everyone else involved. For those two, the rest of the world seemed to be drowned out. Even the sound of explosions went silent.
"I'll finish this fight for you. So get some rest."
The Banbaro closed its eyes.
Isa turned to face her new target. Irontusk finally caught up with her.
"Sorry. I'm being kinda selfish, aren't I? But I figure that if anyone here would get why, it'd be you. It annoys me, so I wanna beat it down. You feel the same way?"
The amphibian let out a grunt of affirmation.
"That's my girl."
"What are you doing!?" Mary's yells finally reached her ears.
"I'm pretty sure the reason this Banbaro was acting up cause it wanted a rematch against this one. That'd explain its scars. We're just gonna finish up that fight for it. You can go back if you want."
"Wh-what are you even talking about?"
"Well, I'm not really an expert on monster behaviour, but I just kinda got a feeling from how-"
"Not that, I mean fighting it! You've got barely any chance of winning. It's more dangerous than anything we've dealt with. Probably worse than that poison weirdo!"
"What?" Laura asked, getting ignored.
"Ah, that's great and all." Isa asked. "But it doesn't really matter to me. If I run right now I'll feel worse than if I died."
Before Mary could retort with even more confusion, the Bazelgeuse went on the attack once more.
"I know I went and said all that, but I haven't actually thought about how to fight this thing." She thought with a grimace.
The Bazelgeuse descended towards her, trying to crush her.
"Well, that makes it easier."
Isa dodged around its attack and swung for the head. Her attack barely felt like it left a dent.
Laura suddenly entered, striking the right wing at full power.
"Don't leave me out of it. It's not fair if it's just you two."
She failed to notice a scale in the ground nearby until the moment before detonation, removing her from the fight for a moment.
Kasa descended from the sky, landing a largely ineffective kick. Mary lunged from her back, landing several more slashes before backing away.
"I thought you were scared?" Isa asked.
"I can't just leave you three out here to die, don't be ridiculous. I'm not planning on beating it, just stopping it from killing you long enough that you have time to change your mind."
"Or until it dies."
"Seriously, it's not going to be that eas-"
The other girl started to run forward.
"I know it won't!"
Her attack bounced off the creature's side. Before it could use the opening she created, Irontusk threw herself into it. This staggered the monster for just a moment, allowing the pair to attack even more wildly.
More scales littered the ground. Irontusk dug up a rock to shield them both from the blasts, but the rock was immediately crashed into by the full weight of the flying wyvern.
They struck out. Repeatedly. Futilely. Even when it all seemed like a waste, they continued on.
The blasts wore her down, heavily burning her armour.
The entire group was relentless, but the maddest of them all was that girl who first challenged the beast.
Isabel's tiredness got the better of her, for just a moment. Her leg slipped, preventing her from supporting the weight of her weapon properly. It was only a short opening, but in a battle like this one it was far more than enough to be fatal.
Mary yelled out. Irontusk and Laura tried to dive in. But they were all so much further away than the opponent before her.
Time seemed to grind to a halt.
"Ah. Yeah. Heard of this, haven't I? Next comes the life flashing before your eyes thing, doesn't it?"
The memories returned to her. But rather than in any order, they all arrived at once.
They clashed, collided and overpowered each other. It felt as though it was driving her insane. At the top of all those, was her memories of that village.
They treated her and her family like demons. It drove her mad.
She recalled her first meeting with Irontusk. For some reason, they were drawn to each other. Perhaps they were seeking the strength the other had? Staring at her somehow felt like looking into a mirror.
The whispering kept swarming her mind. Her powerless past tormented her.
The father that left them all behind. The mother that kept holding onto his return until the end. Even now, she rested while still waiting for him.
All those people placing themselves above us, then pretending otherwise. Even after her death, their sympathy was fake. They kept treating us like demonic children. That was all we were to them.
She felt like she was sinking.
"I just shouldn't care. If lies are just going to tear me apart, then I'll just become something that can't be hurt by them. An ironhearted devil, just like they always wanted. One that can't ever be deceived."
Her eyes finally opened, piercing through the darkness.
Time moved once more.
The scales exploded. But as the dust cleared, she was untouched.
Mary stopped approaching, now frozen with confusion. Ignoring her, Isa looked to her enemy. The girl's eyes shone with a renewed brilliance.
The Bazelgeuse was just as confused as the onlookers, so it tried to attack again. It failed once more.
Isa's eyes remained locked on it as she closed in, weaving through the wild blitz.
"I can finally see through it. I can finally tell for sure. Every single thing you're planning! It's all so clear now! Even those mad movements can't do anything!"
Her grin widened as her movements hastened. The girl skipped through the battlefield in glee.
"I can't be hurt anymore. Not by anyone."
Her hubris was unwarranted. Even with this newfound confidence, she was still only human. It was impossible to avoid everything. She was a fleshy human, at that. The damage wrecked her body even further.
Yet she failed to show concern. Ignoring the world around her, she only closed in and swung. What mattered was not the damage she took, but the damage she dealt in response.
She spiralled further and further into her crazed fever.
Something stopped her.
"What are you doing?" A concerned voice asked. "You'll die if you keep going like this!"
Her momentum completely thrown away, Isa slowly turned her head. She saw someone there. Her head swarmed with thoughts again.
Someone was interfering. Someone was in her way. Her brain locked onto the target, finally recognising who it was.
"Stay out of it."
Mary seemed stunned at her response. "Why are you so determined? This is just some random monster, it's not worth getting this hurt ov-"
"What does it matter to you?"
"Because I'm worried about you, obviously!"
Isa laughed softly.
"That's a good one."
She leant forward.
"I don't have any reason to listen to liars, though."
Silence.
"What? You confused?" Isa movements became more unnatural. She lost focus on the battle entirely, the one who made her brain fire off so many bad signals was now her sole target. She cracked an unnerving smile.
"Then I'll make it clear-"
A tusk slammed into Isa's head, immediately knocking her into the ground.
Mary blinked twice, surprised that neither of them noticed Irontusk approaching.
A few moments later, the girl sprung back up.
"What was that for!?"
She locked eyes with the Tetsucabra for a moment. Then she sighed.
The two of them began to move towards the Bazelgeuse. Not a word was exchanged, leaving Mary behind.
"I went overboard for a minute there. Gotta stay under control. You're in control. Let's run through it all."
She breathed in and out slowly.
"Irontusk's here. That's what she wanted to tell you. So don't run ahead. And don't let your mind run. It still drives you mad. Use that as your strength. But don't let it drive you too mad."
The Bazelgeuse finally turned away from dealing with Laura to face them.
"And finally… don't you ever consider losing."
The two braved the bombardment once more. Even faced with certain death, they continued to advance.
Irontusk shielded them from the majority of its attacks. In return, Isa guided the two to victory.
As the Bazelgeuse found itself struggling more than it expected to deal with these two, Laura stood up once more. As though she had never been injured to begin with, she continued to hunt the target down.
Mary and Kasa too, continued to join in. Because right now, there was no other choice that seemed like it would lead to survival.
The Bazelgeuse swung around again to scatter its scales. Isa stared up for just a moment, before deciding the best course of action.
"Keep charging straight ahead. The scales won't land at its feet."
They were over a dozen metres apart. The scales rained down between them. The Bazelgeuse's intent was clearly to create some distance.
Yet, the iron devils pushed forward. Irontusk launched herself from the ground, hopping underneath the scales as Isa hung onto her back. They barely escaped.
The Bazelgeuse's mind froze, not able to quickly process the difference between where the pair should have been and where they really were. This instance of hesitation was their opening.
Isa swung for the head, finally managing to daze it. Irontusk extended her jaws, catching the flying wyvern's neck and trying to crush it. She failed to completely finish it, but caused some considerable damage.
The two kept striking wildly, without end.
The Bazelgeuse seemed to be unmoving. The strikes continued.
It suddenly sprung into action. This was its last gambit. To let them get their hits in so they'd assume it was stunned, then make a fatal counterattack at the last moment. Unfortunately…
"I could tell."
Isa stepped out of the way of its attack.
How long had she been prepared for? How could she have known?
Those answers never reached the Bazelgeuse, as it watched the girl's hammer swing down for a final time.
Silence. It completely stopped moving. The others watched on. Isa stared down at it, before breathing in and staring at the sky.
An unintelligible yell. What it represented was unknown, even to her. Victory? Frustration? Relief? Sorrow? Fear? Every emotion filled her at the same time. Since she didn't know anything, all she could do was yell it out.
TO BE CONTINUED