Who is the real monster

Chapter 14

It had been ten days since the monster had last been seen; it was as if he had manifested for a moment and then disappeared for the rest of time. Still, that gave me and the rest of my squad time to practice with our new weapons and learn how to use them to their full potential. I had become completely used to my new sword as my last one had been straight and not a katana as I had now. It was still a sword and I had already been trained with a katana by Nick when I first became a monster hunter. As I got into a fighting stance a loud siren came over the intercoms calling for all monster hunters to report to their stations and captains at once. I began running through the halls to where squad Divine was supposed to meet and found Caleb already there. "Captain Zane the monster you fought ten days ago has reappeared in the downtown portion of the city. He currently hasn't attacked and seems to be waiting for something" Caleb said with a nervous tone. "Alright I'll get going when my squad gets here tell them to get a move on and get to my location as soon as possible" I said as I put my sword on my back. I then left the room and ran out of the monster hunter building. "Shadow movement" I said as I went into the shadows. Being in the shadows allowed me to move much faster and go long distances without tiring myself out. I arrived at my destination 20 minutes later and saw the monster was just standing there waiting for something or someone. I came out of the shadows behind him and kicked him in the back. As he fell to the ground he turned around and tried to attack me. But he failed as he was failing and using too much strength to prevent it. I grabbed my sword from its sheath. He had a look of rage on his face as he began to stand. "So I see you already have a new sword as well Zane Destiny" He said in a pissed off tone. "Dark night slash of the ages" I said as I attacked. "Blazing dragons" the monster said as he attacked as well. His attack took the shape of a dragon that he was able to control without any problems. As our swords clashed I covered my body in darkness so the flames wouldn't burn me. After his dragon was distinguished I jumped into the air. I cut into his shoulder but the wound I created was shallow, barely doing any damage. He quickly regenerated his wound and turned around with a look of disgust on his face. "My brother said you were a powerful monster hunter and yet you've only been able to leave a small scratch on my body. Pathetic my elder brother is truly pathetic for saying you're the key for the humans to finally defeat every monster in the world" the monster said with hatred and disgust. "Then let me show you my full power that I possess as the most powerful monster hunter in the core" I said as I tightened my grip on my sword. "Finally you decided to release this power, go ahead I'll even let you have the first attack" the monster said as he dropped his sword. "Night blade hear my voice and release the darkness that resides within you and cover your blade with it" I said as I released the darkness within the sword. "Night Strike" I said as I cut the monster. When the dust fell back to the ground my sword was embedded into the monster's chest. He had a small grin on his face until he looked down at his chest. When he noticed my blade pierced his flesh and through his body he was not happy one bit. "You damn child have injured me worse than I ever believed you could and you're going to pay for that" the monster said as I pulled my blade out of his chest. "Dark moon flower" I said as darkness started to take over the monster's body. The patterns left on his body looked like flowers. He looked at me shocked as he stood up and grabbed his sword from the ground. "Maybe my brother wasn't wrong about you after all. Even without your dark overflow you're still a formidable opponent" the monster said in an enraged tone. "Blazing night" I said as I lit the darkness within him. He screamed in agony as his flesh burned alive. I charged him and chopped off his right arm as he screamed in even more agony from all the damage I was giving him. When I finally stopped the flames he fell to the ground catching his breath trying to comprehend the power I possess. "What the hell, those attacks were so powerful. I was completely wrong about you Zane Destiny. My brother, I'm sorry for thinking you were lying about the true power of this damn child. Shall we begin round two" the monster said as he quickly regenerated his wounds. I watched as he stood up and grabbed his sword and stood in a fighting stance. Both of us waited for the other to make a move when I sensed my team's magical powers. All of them were now behind the monster waiting for him to make his move and attack. "This battle is going to be between you and me Zane no one else" the monster said in anger. "Alright then squad Divine my orders are for you to stand down and not attack unless I am killed in battle" I said as I stood in a fighting stance. "But Captain Zane," Dylan said with shock. "No exceptions this monster and I have a score to settle and trust me I won't die in this battle" I said as I tightened my grip on my sword. After I finished speaking I charged the monster and we started trading blows on one another causing massive damage to each other. My regeneration was that of a human well he could regenerate in near seconds. But even then I started to notice that his regeneration was taking longer. It was as if my sword was damaging him on a near cellular level causing him to use more energy on regeneration. "Blazing night of the seven sins eternal suffering" I said as I released a powerful blaze on my blade. When I cut the monster's flesh he screamed in agony as if the blaze was painful. Even a monster that was ranked incredibly high in monster society could feel as much pain as I could give. "Burning wisps of hell" the monster said as he covered the battlefield in small fires. "Dark winds of space" I said as I did my best to gather all of them into one location. "Combustion blaze of hell thrusting burst" the monster said as he tried to stab me. "Dark moon eclipse" I said as I blocked his attack. He lost grip of his sword and it started to go flying which allowed for me to attack him in quick succession. "Night Strike 10,000 slashes" I said as I cut him. His blood spilled to the ground as I started to catch my breath. He by far is the most powerful monster I have ever faced since I've joined the core. "Your powers are truly incredible. I could barely read any of your attacks even with my advanced knowledge in fighting. You truly are an opponent that far surpasses Kamion even if your power comes from the sword your queen created. I truly am glad I was able to fight you monster. Thank you for letting me have such a challenge" I said as I got ready for my final attack. He looked at me with anger and hatred in his eyes as he grabbed his sword and got into a fighting stance. "One more attack, the first to fall is the one who has to die" the monster said as he stood in a fighting stance. "Alright monster I agree but this means that I won't hold back on my attack" I said as I tightened the grip on my blade. "My queen's eternal fire" the monster said as he lit his sword ablaze. "Night blade hear my voice and release the darkness within you and become a blazing night of the seven sins of eternal suffering" I said as I released the darkness and set it ablaze. We charged each other causing the dust on the ground to fly up causing everything around us to become foggy stopping people seeing the battle unfold. When we finally reached each other we both swung our swords and inflicted damage on the other but no flames burned one another. It was as if we both wanted to kill the other with a strike instead of one of our fires. When we both stopped we stood back to back a good five feet a part. The dust settled leaving the two of us standing there waiting for the other to fall. Both of us were left shocked by the others' attacks. Then they hit and multiple slits came over our bodies causing both of us to cough up blood. I felt my body begin to fail when I decided to thrust my sword into the ground to support my body. It wasn't cheating when it came to monsters as they never played by the rules. "I see so my brother was right" the monster said as he fell forward. I turned around and charged the monster and attempted to chop him into little pieces but he quickly stood up and counter attacked me instead. I already had multiple wounds on my body but these attacks caused even more to become deeper and make me cough up blood. "I may be tired Zane but I know you even more because of the fact you're human. Maybe if you released all your darkness you could use it to close up your wounds and heal your body. It's pure speculation on my end Zane but I believe you would be able to quicken your regeneration" the monster said with a wide smile. "Fine then if you want to see my dark side so bad then I will allow you to. Rylie prepare to stop me in case of an emergency" I said as I coughed up a small amount of blood. "Alright Zane" Rylie said with despair. "Captain Zane, you can't be serious right now" Dylan asked in a furious tone. "None of you get any say in the matter so don't fight with me on it. Dark overflow" I said as I released the darkness within. "Finally we can begin round three" the monster said as he charged me. Darkness enveloped my body and started stopping my bleeding and protecting my exposed wounds. I was now able to use more strength without losing even more blood and I was able to counter his attack before it landed. "Dark overflow" I said as I released even more darkness. The monster kept trying to attack me but I was quick to counter and watched as he fell to the ground in front of me. "Black hole" I said as I spun my darkness at top speeds around my body. He had a look of horror on his face as I cut off his right arm and leg and took part of his left foot. "This is why I didn't want to release this darkness within me as I am unable to control this power. Now get out of my sights as I kill you with my last attack. As I sent my sword down on him he dodged my attack. I watched as his arm and leg slowly regenerated knowing my sword had a part in slowing his regeneration by a lot. "Blazing night of the seven sins eternal suffering" I said as I released a large black flame on my sword. I then charged the monster and cut off his arms and legs. He screamed in agony as the flames burned him alive. "This is what it means to mess with the child of Jessica and Noah Destiny monster" I said as I cut his head off his body. He had a look of shock as the life in his eyes slowly left. When he finally died I looked at his body and quickly destroyed it so they couldn't find a way to resurrect him. My body was at its limits and I fell to the ground in exhaustion not knowing how bad my injuries were.

"Captain Zane" Dylan said as he ran over to him. The rest of us were right behind him wanting to assist him in helping Zane any way we could. "Alex called for the recon team to converge on our location. Tell them Zane needs medical treatment stat" Alyssa said in a stern tone. "Understood my love" Alex replied. I walked over to Zane and looked over his body and wounds he had received. "You did a good job Zane fighting that monster and won the battle" I said as I kissed his forehead. Minutes later the recon team arrived and took us back to base to take care of our wounds and tell us Zane's condition. "Do you think he's going to be alright; you guys?" I asked with concern. "Captain Zane will be fine, don't worry about him" Dylan said as he put a hand on my shoulder. "Zane is currently in a coma and we don't know how long he'll be out for" the doctor said as he looked up at us. "Thank you doctor for everything you have done for Captain Zane" Dylan said with despair. The doctor shook his head and then left the room leaving the four of us looking at Zane who was lying on the bed motionless. "What are we going to do without Zane? We have no chance of fighting off these higher ranking monsters without him. Not to mention without a captain we can't fight since we don't get orders from anyone" I asked with concern. "It's stated that any captain that falls in battle the second in command is to take charge of the squad and lead them into battle until another captain can be found. Since Zane is only in a coma I will be the one to lead our squad into battle until he awakens and can fight again. Now fighting off these higher ranking monsters may seem difficult but that doesn't mean we still can't hold them off and make them run. We now have the weapons to fight off these monsters on much closer grounds. As you probably saw in that last battle the monster was taking more time to regenerate his body. Sure that could have just been Captain Zane's blazing night but I believe otherwise. Divinite seems like a material that is able to slow monster regeneration even if it isn't by a lot. Maybe if we land enough attacks on these monsters then maybe we can do some serious damage that they can't easily recover from without using more energy" Dylan said in a calm tone. "What if you're wrong on your assumption and it truly was a blazing night" Alex asked with a stern tone. "It's true my theory is only a hunch and that all of this is speculation. Or maybe its effects aren't as powerful on higher ranking monsters because of their more quick regeneration. When I talked to Carson they told me that they didn't completely understand the power that Divinite possessed. But I'm willing to take a risk and say that my theory holds some ground" Dylan replied in a calm tone. "That's good enough for me so for now we should train and become even more familiar with our weapons" Alex said as he stood up from his seat. "I agree with that statement you guys go ahead and begin your training well I go and talk with commander Nathan and get his opinion on me begin captain" Dylan said as he stood up. "Alright Dylan will do that" Alyssa said as she stood up. "Why do you need to talk with commander Nathan if it's stated in the monster hunter code that you're the active captain until we get Zane back" Alex asked. "Because he may have us split up into other squads such as silver and moon to help them out with lower ranking monsters. Even though it's stated in the code commanders have every right to go against that code for the safety of the core" Dylan said as he left the room. "He seemed upset about all of this that had just happened," I said with concern. "Yes he did it's as if he has a special bond with Zane that no one else can compare to" Alyssa replied with concern.

"Commander Nathan I need to speak with you if that's alright" I said as I entered his office. "Come in Dylan no need to ask for persimmon especially in a situation like this" Nathan said in a calming tone. "As you have heard captain Zane has been badly injured and in a coma and I need to ask you what we should do about squad Divine until he awakens" I asked in a stern tone. "We still need a squad Divine but without Zane we can't defeat that monster that killed his parents without him even with all 12 squad captains. It just goes to show you how much power Zane actually possess" Nathan replied in an upset tone. "So what do you want to do about squad Divine until he is able to fight again. Because we both know that no matter what injuries he faces he will still stand and continue fighting until his death" I asked with concern. "Both of us know what we're going to do Dylan, you're going to be the one to lead the squad into battle. This is because you have already been a captain. I believe that even if you face the monster that killed Zane's parents you'll be able to hold him off and make him regret attacking you guys. Zane himself told me that the current squad Divine is the strongest to ever exist in the monster hunter core. Even when he led his last squad they pale in comparison to the amount of power you have. Not to mention his last squad only one person took part in captain training as all of you have done that. I bet you know who that person is" Nathan said with a smile. "I do commander Nathan thank you for your words of encouragement I will tell the squad right away" I said as I left the room. "Captain Zane, if you truly believe that we can surpass you in terms of power then I won't fail to meet your expectations especially since you spent all that time training me" I said as I walked down the hall.