Chapter Text
Inspired by Sky Knights by RegalEagle and the fantastic works of Jumpingshinyfrogs. Give them a read I Beg of u!
And of course, hunting bgm for this chapter:
The wind serpent roared, a sound less heard than felt, a resonance that rattled every living being in the Coral Palace to their bones. Hurricane-force wind screeched across the arena, stripping anything taller than a felyne clean from the basin’s surface. Water vapour, sharp gravel stone and shattered parts of monsters rampaging just moments ago assaulted Tomioka in a brutal salvo, his armour plates protesting, threatening to rupture.
“Meowster! Down!”
A small projectile clad in pitch black fur tackled him from behind. Both hit the dirt in a tangle of limbs and armor, just a fraction of a second before a jet of pressurised air swept across the battered arena. Like hot knife through butter, it carved out a deep trench through hard brimstone where Tomioka’s head had been a moment before.
With a burst of glowing silk from his wirebug, the hunter resumed his battle stance, Long Sword hissing as it cleared its sheath. The wirebugs on his hip glowed, their silk condensing along the length of the glistening blade until it hummed with potent energy. The weapon was a masterpiece of black steel, forged from the Nargacugas that had fallen during the Rampage. He had slain them all, not stopping when the azure airborne Elder retreated to the high heavens, not even when the crazed red haze in their eyes faded and was replaced with palpable fear.
As his blade danced in the air and through flesh, he felt the familiar, cold clarity wash over him, It was a state of total selflessness, where every muscle and nerve existed solely to deliver the next cut. These beasts deserved a quick end to their misery, but no mercy. They had taken too much. They had looked at his village, the one family he had left, as insignificant specks to be trampled. He’d proven otherwise with wanton bloodshed.
Now, he finally looked the architect of that tragedy in the eye.
“This foe is beyond you - Pips, go! Get Hinoa and go!” Tomioka commanded his trusty palico.
His Palico, Pips, stood his ground, gripping a boomerang tailor-made from Tigrex scrap. The Melynx puffed up like a little ball of black mist, starkly unbefitting of his crafty species. “Palicos don’t leave their Meowster behind!” Pips hissed with flattened ears, yet he took not a step back. “And Meowster don’t get killed by flying upside-down anglerfish on my watch!”
Despite just brushing past certain death by an inch at best, Tomioka could not suppress a breathless laugh. “Anglerfish. Right, that’s all it is.” If his little companion could stand up to a living calamity, he had no excuse to cover.
“Here! Split-jaws!” Tomioka roared, pointing his sword at the Elder Dragon gracefully dancing through its own whirlwind. Beside him, Pips produced a cat-sized war drum from his apparently space-defying stock.
BADAM- the noise reverberated through the entire battlefield - must be a Melynx trick as always. One can always trust Pips to have handy tricks up his belly pockets.
Air pressure dropped. The hunter felt his hair stood on end, an instinctual reaction of being locked onto by an unearthly presence. The apocalyptic storm swirling around them seemed to pause, creating a terrifying dead calm. The Elder Dragon rescinded its command upon nature to stir as much chaos as possible, and looked with those burning, inverted eyes deeply - solely - at him.
“Fall back! Everyone, fall back! Find cover!” Master Utsushi’s voice cut through the wind. The Ace Instructor was herding lower-ranked hunters and Wycademy researchers toward the makeshift bunker constructed from a downed airship, leaving only Kamura’s more sharpened knives to weather this fight. In that case, Tomioka and merely a handful of others.
The people will be fine for the time being, but without his Ace gripping Ibushi’s attention, this rusty shell of metal would not withstand its hurricane barrages for long.
Utsushi wanted nothing more than to join his Ace in the fray, though he was anchored by the writhing figure of the Wyverian sisters. Ever since Wind Serpent Ibushi dove down into the rampage and single handedly devastated an entire regiment of Kamura’s defenders, Hinoa and Minoto hadn’t been the same. The merry Minoto was whacked by random headaches, like the thought of something inhuman flooded her mind and overwhelmed her senses. Hinoa was not faring much better, clenching her head and muttering in a metallic baritone not befitting her vocal cords.
Reports were sent to the Yukumo Guild Quarters, then presumably to the higher-ups on the other side of the Old World. But instead of healers, they sent Wycademy researchers. The men are currently huddling in the backmost part of the cabin, as far as possible from the horrific shrapnels blowing past. But they haven’t torn their eyes from the sisters, as if they were a pair of fascinating antiques to muse over. A few even pulled their notes and scribbled furiously.
“Look! She is resonating again!” A man chittered in awe, and Utsushi turned back, with half a mind to smack the academy boy in the head. Now is hardly the time to-
“Hinoa! Stay with us!” Ms Rodine pleaded.
Hinoa’s entire body convulsed, and her eyes suddenly rolled back. when they focused again, they were glowing a luminous, possessed azure.
"̸Y̶o̷u̶.̶ ̵Y̴o̸u̴ ̶a̶g̸a̶i̸n̶.̷ ̸Y̴o̸u̷ ̴w̴i̴l̵l̴ ̵n̸o̴t̶ ̴d̵e̵p̵r̸i̷v̴e̸ ̵m̸e̸ ̷o̵f̴ ̴m̸y̷ ̷Q̸u̵e̸e̴n̶.̷.̵.̴"̵
̸"̸B̵l̵a̴s̷p̶h̸e̴m̷e̵r̵.̸"̸
“Who? Who is she talking to?” Rodine gasped in horror, hand on her rapier.
It was the researcher who replied. The man’s face was covered in sweat, but his shaky voice betrayed barely suppressed excitement. “It’s Him, my lady. And he is addressing… Hunter Tomioka.”
“That’s right. Eyes on me.” Out on the ground, Tomioka did not hear those words, but the sheer malice of Ibushi manifested as static in the air. It growled viscerally in response, throat sacs pulsing with enthral energy.
Tomioka released his sword just an inch from its leather sheath. He slid his right foot back, lowering his center of gravity.
Focus.
SHREEEEK! The Dragon’s ear-splitting roar carried a physical shockwave. Tomioka met it head on. In a blur of motion faster than the eye could track, Tomioka drew his blade. The steel whistled, cracking the sound barrier.
CLING. The Iai counter carved a narrow path through Ibushi’s shockwave. A technique that walks a fine line between life and death, but his hands were steady.
Hello death, my old friend. The Hunter dashed forward in a blur of capes and armor, sword bright red after the friction gave it an extra coating. Pips followed right on his heels.
The duel was on.
Thunder shook the small cavern in the middle of nowhere.
Dust drifted down onto silver scales that had not yet hardened, coating the creature curling himself into a tight, shivering ball. As irritating as it all were, he dared not move, dared not venture out of this temporary sanctuary into the brave new world outside.
Mother warned of this.
The thought was a sharp pang in his empty stomach. She seemed so strong, shield and spear so utterly impeccable, and he could never imagine that anything would be stronger than her. Yet she had spoken of the dangers of the world, and there were many. The bitter cold and the searing heat, the Life Drainer and its gluttonous minions, and many, many shadows of yore he could not begin to understand. He was a dragon, he could take on all monstrosities. Yet, she would quickly remind him that it would be long until that day. For now, he need only remember-
Predators become prey. The most dangerous and marvelous of all were the most unassuming; resourceful two-legged creatures. Beware the tiny ones. They wear the skins of our kin and wield artificial fangs.
Their warriors are tiny but mighty. Their fangs come in different shapes, and they brandish the dead parts of their opponents as trophies and harass their power. He had scoffed at that prospect. Death-prey or not, no one shall have his hide, ever! He remembered preening his half-formed wing-lances, boasting that he would slice through the two-legged things. Mother had hissed in amusement, nuzzling him with her snout.
Territory is a responsibility. There was a pact, a duty that bound all his kin to these lands for generations. This one made little sense to him. He had not seen a single trace of those so-called abyss dwellers. A myth the forefathers have already taken care of, surely?
But Mother flew away in a haste many moons ago, over the strait and towards snowy peaks that stood vigilant above the two-leg prey’s fortress, answering a call he could not hear. She had not returned.
Hunger had driven him afar, across the vast wilderness to this forsaken place overlooking just a nest of the two-legged creatures - not that he had a choice. He had marked his path, leaving a scale here, a claw-mark there, hoping she would somehow follow his trail, until this malicious maelstrom sucked all air from beneath his tired wings and forced him to seek shelter in this infernal cavern. He had hoped beyond hope that Mother would miraculously return- but now, a dreadful pit in his stomach tells him that she might never do.
He yelped as another thunderous clap rocked the earth, this one much closer and much more powerful. The hatchling whimpered, tucking his nose under his tail. His kind were not to fear a mere storm, but this one sounded… alive. And furious.
Perhaps demons can come from both the heavens and the abyss.
"̴M̸y̸ ̵Q̸u̸e̵e̷n̸.̷.̸.̴ ̵M̷y̷ ̶Q̶u̸e̵e̸n̸!̴"̵ Hinoa’s throat was raw from all the guttural snarls channeling Ibushi’s consciousness, But now her cry was one of sheer, mad joy.
On the battlefield, Tomioka landed a crushing Helm Breaker, his blade sinking deep into Ibushi’s chest with a sickening squelch. Then the world exploded in a wicked flash of golden lightning.
He had barely been able to block the brunt of it with his blade. Tomioka was blasted backward, barely getting his blade up to absorb the impact. He tumbled through the mud, his wirebug frying instantly with a pathetic sizzle.
“What in the… blazes?” Tomioka spat out a mouthful of bile. The dull, burning sensation in his chest indicated something fractured. Pips was nowhere to be seen.
"̵I̸ ̷w̸i̸l̵l̴ ̵p̵u̷n̶i̸s̵h̷ ̷t̶h̸e̵m̷ ̵f̸o̸r̵ ̶y̷o̵u̵,̶ ̸m̸y̵ ̸l̷o̷v̷e̸"̶
̵"̸T̸a̵k̴e̷ ̴i̴t̵,̶ ̸t̵a̶k̷e̸ ̶i̷t̷ ̷a̵l̸l̷,̷ ̷j̷o̵i̷n̴ ̷m̶y̷ ̷l̷i̶f̵e̴ ̸w̴i̷t̵h̸ ̶y̶o̷u̷r̸s̴"̴
̶"̶S̷o̵ ̵o̷u̴r̵ ̷f̷l̴e̴s̵h̴ ̵c̴a̵n̷ ̴g̵i̸v̸e̷ ̵b̷i̶r̷t̶h̷ ̶t̸o̵ ̵a̵ ̸P̸a̶r̸a̵d̴i̶s̴e̷̷ e̷v̵e̵r̷l̶a̵s̸t̵i̶n̷g̶!̶"̸
The new golden beast sunk its teeth into Ibushi’s neck, and tore with all its power. Blood fountained along with pure, white dragon energy. Tomioka watched in horror as Ibushi’s life force was drained, his body withering as he willingly fed himself to his mate.
Narwa roared, her form shifting, evolving, fueled by the sacrifice of her king. Tomioka’s blade felt impossibly heavy. But hunters, it seems, are nothing if not persistent. Tomioka then heard the buzz of more wirebugs, and someone landing behind him.
“Dear Ace! Never forget your ever loyal Master Utsushi! Let’s give this beastie what-for!” That cheerful voice, he’d recognize anywhere. Tomioka blinked, vision blurring. “Master?”
“These old bones are spitting fire once more! Squirt, do not give up hope!”
“Been a while since I’ve done any field work outside my smithy. Can’t lag behind Fugen, huh?”
Indeed. Tomioka’s lips curved up into a bloody smile as the village of Kamura backing their new spearhead. Whatever god-like entity this was, they would face it together.
This maelstrom will be his proof of a hero.
“Have you ever seen the sky so clear?” Kagero the Wywerian asked softly.
He extended a clawed hand to catch a small golden particles raining down from the Allmother’s dissipating aura. The elder-dragon fell almost gracefully, crashing to the earth with a finality that shook the foundation of the Coral Palace. Liquid energy seemed to leak from its every orifice, seeping into battered ground and evaporating into the wind.
"̶M̶y̶ ̴L̴o̸v̷e̴.̷.̴.̷̶f̸a̴i̸l̸e̷d̵.̷.̸.̷"̴ Minoto and Hinoa’s bodies gave one final soft shudder, and their eyes returned to their original amber hue. The researchers swarmed them with potions, but they pushed them away weakly. But the Wyverian sisters had only one person in mind. “To-Tomioka… Go see Tomioka.” Hinoa whispered.
Tomioka dragged his longsword along the ground. He had exhausted every technique he’d ever known, every ounce of stamina, every bit of fight spirit. But he still had one duty to perform. He walked past the cheering villagers, past Utsushi, and stopped before the massive head of the Allmother. As the undisputed main combatant, the honour will be his.
He looked into the Dragon’s half-lidded eyes. They were inhuman and alien, but he could spot a profound, deep sorrow. Not of Ibushi’s, or her own life, but of those she failed to bring to the world.
Children. He knew when he set eyes on Narwa’s pulsing egg sac, losing its light by the second.
But he could not allow it. Countless lives will be lost, entire biomes will be annihilated. It was as if nature itself deigns it - that he, a hunter, a being that runs parallel to nature, will put them down when nothing else could.
“I am sorry,” Tomioka murmured. He placed a trembling hand on Narwa’s snout. The heat radiating from her was fading. The rush of victory was now faint white noise. “I am sorry it has to be this way. But many more lives have been lost because of your union.”
He lifted his blade on shaky arms. He didn't notice how the dragon’s pupil dilated slightly at his words, a flicker of acknowledgement before they closed in resignation.
“May the Sapphire Star guide your soul.” His blade plunged into the back of Narwa’s skull, severing the sinews of life in an instant. Narwa let out one last, shuddering gasp - and moved no more.
“They would be proud of you, my Ace.”
A gloved hand squeezed his quivering shoulder. Utsushi did not cry out his usual stream of congratulations. He just held his student steady. Well, perhaps the little ball of fur begged to differ - Pips barreled into them both, singed and bruised but thankfully alive.
“I hope… I hope.” Only the wind heard how Tomioka’s voice cracked and saw the tears cutting trails through the thick ash on his face.