The Demon Hunter's Final Hunt
Demons chew on the suffering of others, and they savor it.
They drape themselves in thick, matted hides and toy with their opponents in the form of beasts.
They approach us wearing familiar faces, only to snatch away our souls in an instant.
That is why—
That is why, before becoming a Demon Hunter, one had to protect the members of an ordinary family.
One must never forget what they sought to love.
"Ah."
Arcein was a devout believer and a faithful father to his family.
Even when the entire village was possessed by 'something' and turned into a living hell, he had sacrificed his own life to protect his kin.
And so, here he was now.
Bearing the noble mission of the demon hunt, he stood upon the corpses of his own family.
"...Ah."
He could only let out a hollow breath. He was the source of all this, yet he was forced to act even more fiercely to ensure that no other victim like himself would ever emerge.
'I must protect them.'
Protect what?
He had protected nothing.
Not the village, not his family, not even his own heart.
"I will continue the search for the demon's trail."
"Arcein, shouldn't you rest for a while this time?"
"My body is still perfectly fine."
"It’s already been three days. You haven't even had a proper sleep."
The assembly of Demon Hunters.
The man revered as their leader looked at Arcein with concern.
In response, Arcein simply smiled gently, conveying that he was alright.
"The harder I work, the more our other brothers and sisters can rest in peace, can they not?"
"I am worried that you will collapse while running."
Yet, he did not stop.
Perhaps it was a form of illness.
Because he knew what was gnawing at his heart, he could not tolerate its existence in this world as long as he drew breath.
"...You."
In the midst of that desolate life, he found it.
White hair, shining palely under the moonlight.
Though it took the form of a young girl who had not yet fully grown, he felt the wicked energy residing within.
"Demon."
"....."
'It' turned its head to look at Arcein.
The moment he met those blood-soaked red irises, every cell in Arcein's body seemed to react.
Kill that terrible existence right now and bring peace to this world.
A demon, yes.
Arcein was certain.
That monster was the root of all this, the object of his hatred that had stolen everything from him, including his village.
"The hunt begins."
Gripping his weapon, which flowed with a chilling, murderous intent under the moonlight, Arcein lunged blindly at her.
"Ugh."
When he opened his eyes again, he was in a space where everything had already ended.
After the fierce battle, there was no part of his body left intact.
Furthermore, he sensed that his mind, which had been stained by corrupted mana, was nearing its end.
"If I stop here..."
If he died here, he would have no face to show his family.
-Grind.
That was why he could willingly stand up, even with a dying body.
-Whoosh...
Draping his body in the mana born from death, Arcein decided to burn his life for his final hunt.
"GRAAAAH!!"
He killed the rampaging Lycans with sheer obsession.
One, two.
Without even thinking of his own death, he surrendered himself to distant madness and continued the hunt.
"...What the."
In the center of the blood-stained plaza, when he faced Doyun, most of his mind was already drowned in madness.
"The hunt begins."
The battle started abruptly.
At the unnatural speed with which the enemy lunged, Doyun brought out every trick he had.
'Aira.'
There was no answer.
However, two strands of blood-red chains stepped forward, blocking the crazed Demon Hunter.
".....!"
-CLANG!
Behind the sound of sharp metal clashing, the chains could be seen barely holding back the Demon Hunter 'Arcein's' advance.
"So heavy...!"
It was the first time.
The first time Aira had shown signs of struggling while taking on an attack.
"I'll handle it."
Those days when he left everything in the battle to Aira were long gone.
Doyun, who had immediately decided to take over the cover, lunged at the Boss Mob.
"This energy."
Arcein muttered as if he had realized something, but Doyun's attack did not allow him to continue his train of thought.
-Whoosh!
A strangely curved blade reflected under the moonlight.
Arcein's red pupils tracked the trajectory of that blade.
-Clang!
"...What?"
Doyun reacted instinctively to the bizarre behavior of letting go of the handle so easily.
The thing that had actually blocked his attack was an unidentified piece of armor hidden beneath the long coat.
'Is it just powered by mana?'
It didn't seem like an opponent he could kill with a single successful strike.
Recalling the intense battles he had fought with Boss Mobs in the past, Doyun moved busily, plotting his next move.
"You, you really were a fanatic serving demons."
"Of all the things you could say, you had to use that word."
Doyun felt a sting of guilt and spat out an excuse.
"Ugh...!"
It was Aira who drew the violent reaction.
As the word she hated most—even amidst her painful memories—was uttered, the blood-red chains thrashed even more fiercely.
Under the pale moonlight.
Two red flashes began to intercept the Demon Hunter like madmen.
With every collision, the ground erupted, and the shockwave reached even Doyun.
'This is actually better.'
If Aira's aggression became more active, it meant he had more ways to utilize the situation.
If it were before, he would have been helplessly dragged along by such a situation.
-Watch closely.
However, he had the teachings directly bestowed upon him by the Tower Master.
'You must hold the brush yourself and paint.'
The flow of mana she had taught him by grabbing his arm.
His vision expanded, and he could even read Aira's heart.
It was because the mana of the two, encountered through Resonance, had eventually come to possess similar properties.
-Step!
Catching Arcein as he stepped back, Doyun finally succeeded in finding his blind spot.
The Demon Hunter, who had been focused solely on Aira's attacks until then, belatedly became aware of Doyun's presence.
"Die."
Once again, he swung his curved blade toward the neck.
Just before the blade touched the exposed skin.
-CLANG!
Suddenly, a red blade appeared from nowhere and blocked the strike of the curved sword.
"....?"
Where did it appear from?
He had clearly checked Arcein's weapon, which was tied up tightly in Aira's chains.
"It disappeared!"
Aira shouted belatedly.
Did he have the ability to store it at will?
At an ability that felt strangely similar to a Hunter's, Doyun reacted immediately.
"So it is true. My eyes didn't deceive me."
A brief silence descended in an instant.
In the suffocating standoff, Arcein looked at Doyun with eyes soaked in madness.
"I told you, you've got the wrong person."
"How long do you intend to keep up the charade? Those chains imbued with that bizarre power—they are clearly the power of a demon. But I made one mistake."
Surrendering his body to the power of death once again.
"I thought you were possessed by the power of a demon. But you were their devotee."
-BOOM!
Arcein lunged at Doyun once more.
However, Doyun no longer had any intention of going easy on him.
He wasn't an opponent with whom he could reason in the first place.
'This isn't Resonance?'
Bizarre exchange of emotions, followed by the possibility of communication.
He had thought that was how relationships with Boss Mobs were established.
Enough with the thoughts.
Doyun, having adjusted his stance, decided to parry Arcein's attack.
'The difficulty is all over the place, too.'
He possessed a strength that was on a different level compared to the Alchemist of Oblivion he had seen before.
'What went wrong?'
He hated it when things became troublesome.
Even so, he had to overcome the crisis right in front of him.
-Clang! Clang!
And strangely, he felt an unknown energy from that red blade.
It felt similar to Aira's, yet there was something unpleasant about it—
"I will end this quickly. To protect everyone."
"What is there left to protect here?"
All that was left were corpses, or the remnants of a village already crumbled to dust.
There was nothing left for the man named Arcein to protect.
Other than the Demon Hunters still wandering about, there was nothing but the Lycans.
"It's all over."
"...Do not try to deceive me."
'He really has no intention of listening.'
Another intense clash of strength.
The raw power was similar, but Arcein was slightly superior in technique.
However.
Doyun had many cards to play.
-Whoosh...
Mana gathered.
The remnants of a True Ancestor.
Or, the immature mana from before she became that entity condensed.
It walked along Doyun's mana circuits and soon began to spread softly across the ground.
"...!"
Arcein, sensing the anomaly, hurriedly put some distance between them.
"Come in."
"...What is this?"
Memory of the True Ancestor
There was still something he hadn't shown him.
"Hum, hum-hum~"
The humming of an innocent young child, which did not fit the atmosphere of a scene where they were trying to kill each other.
"Ah."
Arcein witnessed it.
The familiarity within the rising blood-red mana.
And the tiny white hand that slowly climbed onto Doyun's shoulder.
It was a young child.
A child much younger than the demon he had seen back then.
"Demon."
His teeth clenched on their own, and a harsh sound rang out along with a grinding noise.
"Demon...!"
At the sight of Aira fully manifested, the fallen Demon Hunter shrieked in a seizure.
"So you did know something after all."
At Doyun's momentum, which had changed drastically from before, Arcein faced him with a resolute attitude.
"I will kill you here, without fail."
"Is that possible?"
"Hehehe."
The tide of battle had completely turned.
He knew it instinctively, without even having to clash.
There was no chance of winning this battle.
Yet, Arcein did not back down.
He was, indeed, a noble Demon Hunter and a warrior filled with pride.