"You're having a lot of fun up there, Sir Wilhelm. Mind if I join?"
Boom!
Hedin darted into the sky; a wave of colours following close behind him.
Spreading about his arms, he gathered all his mana and muttered under his breath.
"Al Jiwald."
Shaaaaaa!
Three beams of light escaped from each of his hands, each one targeting the already injured white whale!
Bwaaaaa!
The whale screamed. It's flesh and scales which had been torn asunder by Hedin and Wilhelm did nothing to block the magic. The other two moved to intercept Hedin mid air. One of the whales opened it's mouth, threatening to swallow him whole.
With a maniacal grin, Hedin only gripped his cleaver tighter! The spirits fled, not willing to jump into the whale's mouth. For them, being devoured meant being drained of mana. And being drained of mana naturally meant death.
And so, Hedin found himself suspended in darkness. For the split second in which he was swallowed, he felt as if he was suspended in nothing. His eyes which held the two miniature suns saw through everything. The whale's tongue moved above him. And then, a profound weight descended atop him, accompanied by a sticky substance that was no doubt the whale's saliva.
Trying to crush me with it's tongue. Hedin clicked his tongue and twirled his cleaver in his hand. Then, his eyes flashed with a cold light.
"Die you fucking bastard."
...
"What the hell is happening?" Crusch muttered to herself, feeling the boundless strength coursing through her veins. She looked up to the sky and saw three whales circling there. Two of them were visibly shaken, veering off in sharp cuts and roaring out in pain.
Slowly, a dry smile began to bloom atop her face.
"Sir Hedin... if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have been able to defeat the whale in any respects." She shook her head, feeling herself incompetent for the first time in years. For a moment, she imagined all her army dead on the ground with her own corpse atop it. The imagery sent a shiver down her spine.
"I am thankful." She muttered again, standing up to see one of the whales swatting off a familiar figure from atop another one. It was none other than Wilhelm. The old butler landed on his legs some distance away, forming a large crater. Seeing the opportunity, the uninjured whale began to dive, it's maw opening wide.
Crusch grinned.
"Everyone! Listen here! The battle isn't over yet! The whales are protecting the one at the top! We only need to get to it!" And with a hold of her sword, she pulled her arm back, and slashed.
Fwiiiiish!
Shaaa!
The gale swept into a sword slash, a hundred meter in length! It bit lengthwise along the body of the whale, drawing blood!
Bwaaaaaaa!
Ooooooooahhhh!
The army raised their arms into the air, feeling more pumped than ever. They held up their cannons, gasped onto their wands and made their attacks.
The whale would fall today.
No one seemed to doubt that statement.
...
Hedin had never been one to find himself filthy. Even when soaked by blood and viscera, even when he fought for weeks straight in the dirtiest places on the planet. getting sprayed by entrails was a normal experience for a hunter, after all. It was to such an extent that his sense of smell had dulled over the years. He could still increase it with glory, but smell was one of the only senses he almost never magnified while he was fighting.
And so, when he dug through the top of the whale after roaming around inside it's stomach for a minute, he still felt good as new. His dark trench coat had been dyed in a shade of deep crimson from being bathed in blood and his crimson eyes seemed to glow with an eerie light. His cleaver, cruel steel with a frightening edge was dripping with even more blood; though most of it had been evaporated right after contact with the weapon.
Hedin exhaled and raised his cleaver right above his head.
The whale would fall now. He had done more than enough damage; or so he had thought. The mabeasts were built different it seemed.
So he would give it a push.
Hedin gripped the cleaver.
And a different sun rose in the sky. Throughout the Lifaus plains, it looked no different than sunrise. Many travellers along the Lifaus highway covered their eyes and looked into the horizon.
Hedin let out a toothy grin. Summoning the power of twilight, he slammed the cleaver right into the whale's head.
And it's brain withered at a visible place.
The scales and skin began to grow black, the blood underneath began to boil and turned into tar; it's bones began to undergo rapid osteoporosis and it's muscles degraded.
The soft organs turned to mush in an instant.
And just like that, the defeated and very much dead whale began to transform into fog.
Hedin's eyes widened and he jumped off at the last moment, perching himself atop one of the branches of Flugel's tree. The army below roared in victory as they saw one of the whales dissolving into mist.
Hedin found his suspicions turned true. The whale had created clones.
If I had some companions with me, I wouldn't have to go off of mere guesswork. When the Order of the Hunt sent a squad, some members were specifically for information gathering. They had been trained to use their miracle to draw out information from the memory of the world; making the main fighters not spend their cradled power for information or try guesswork.
Shaking his head off these useless thoughts, he set his eyes back on the prize.
The original body of the whale. It floated significantly higher in the sky, untouched by any cannon or magic. Hedin took off his revolver from it's holster and pointed it at the underbelly of the whale.
The light of twilight began to suffuse into the revolver. Hedin called upon the miracle, imbuing the revolver with power equivalent to 3 Al Jiwalds. And the shot was fired.
Boooom!
...
Wilhelm Van Astrea had always hated the White Whale.
There was nothing more in the world that he wanted than to plunge his blade into the White Whale and to kill it with his own hands. Nothing more in the world than to avenge his late wife.
And now, as he saw the whale fall from the sky, battered and bruised and bloodied from the relentless assault from all forces; he could not help but feel thankful. Thankful towards the man who had made it all possible.
His eyes sharpened, catching the figure running all over the body of the whale.
It was none other than Hedin Haverill.
Wilhelm smiled. The crowd roared out in victory as the whale slammed right into the ground, a large hole in it's body.
Filling his body with a final bout of strength, Wilhelm dashed in for the kill.
...
The sun began to rise over the horizon. Everyone rose to see the dawn of a new day. Wilhelm stood at the head of the White Whale.
A sword was tightly grasped in his hand. Wilhelm felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked back. Hedin, Crusch and Felix were standing some distance atop the whale. Rem was standing right behind Hedin; furiously checking for injuries.
They all nodded at him.
Gripping his sword, he held it above the whale's head and drove it right into it's skull.
The whale moaned one last time in pain. Before it's life functions ceased.
Wilhelm felt a tear slip by his cheek. He almost felt his legs give way under his weight, but he kept standing.
"Theresia..." He muttered under his breath. "I've finally avenged you... you can finally rest now."
The sunlight flickered across his face.
And for the first time in a long while, Wilhelm felt at peace.
The Sword Demon felt at peace.
He turned around and walked to Hedin. Then, he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank you... Really... thank you..."
The Hunter sighed with a smile. His crimson eyes caught the sunlight and gleamed. In his eyes, the emotions of Wilhelm, gratitude, relief, contentment, and above all... love; it all came together to make something Hedin had never experienced before. As an empath, it was honestly... overwhelming.
Hedin shook his head.
"Thank you, Wilhelm. You have my gratitude for showing me such an emotion."
Hunters were content with seeing war, suffering and filth. They had never truly known what it was like to have someone genuinely thankful towards them.
He had felt hundreds of new emotions ever since arriving here. Out of all of them; Rem's emotion was the strongest. But if he had to choose the most vibrant, the most expressive and the one that made him feel the most, it was undoubtedly Wilhelm's.
And for that, Hedin thanked him.
Wilhelm let out a low chuckle.
"Don't thank me yet... Thank me when we get rid of the witch cult in Arlam Village."
Hedin laughed.
"Very well then."
So, the chapter of the white whale came to an end.
And with that end, a new friendship was formed. Not only between two camps, but also between two war veterans.
...
A/N: I think it's about time I explained why the spirits are so attracted to him.
Glory, as it is, is an amalgamation of all of humanity's strengths, all their victories, all their losses, their history and even parts of their future. Destined to inherit the stars, the universe being our birth right and all that.
But it is also something deeply inherent to all other things. Every being seeks glory.
Every being seeks the power that comes with it. And glory as it stands, is a power that is inherently positive to whichever world it is situated in.
When Hedin practices glory, the world's will takes notice. It directs all flows of mana to Hedin's own gate; flooding him with an almost infinite supply of mana. So long as glory is in effect, he can never run out.
Glory also attracts spirits because it makes him appear as an almost 'divine' being in front of simple creatures like spirits. it not only strengthens them if they are near Hedin, the world itself also benefits from it. That is the reason all spirits rush to heal him whenever he is even the slightest bit injured.
It can similarly have the opposite effect on mabeasts. Turning them weaker and scaring them away but that effect is very weak. It can easily be ignored by anything above the most basic form of intelligence.
...
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the chap.
Cheers.