Monster Hunter: This Dragon's Built Different

Logan felt terrifyingly powerful.

His blood coursed faster and faster, his heart pounded at full speed, and the surging strength hidden within his body sent his nerves into a frenzy of excitement.

Flames surged along his wings, tail, and the ridges on his head.

He looked like an orbiting satellite, circling the Rathalos at increasing speed. The moment his opponent revealed even the slightest opening, it would face a fatal strike.

After a prolonged standoff, there came a moment when the Rathalos was once again affected by the flames scorching its cheek. The prolonged exposure to intense heat at such close range had dried even its protective membrane. With no alternative, it shut its eyes again.

And in that fleeting instant, Logan's mind's eye locked on with perfect clarity.

The flames on his body converged. His entire form became a blazing orange-red fireball, tracing a glowing arc through the air before launching forward with unstoppable momentum—like a meteor from beyond the heavens—straight toward the Rathalos's flank.

The Rathalos sensed danger and hurriedly opened its eyes, adjusting its posture and flapping its wings in an attempt to retreat.

But under the force of gravity, Logan had already reached the peak of his current speed. Even though the Rathalos had reacted in time, it couldn't completely evade the attack.

The blazing fireball ripped through the sky and exploded against the Rathalos's side.

The explosion echoed through the canopy of the Ancient Tree, startling countless birds into flight, scattering in a black cloud.

A mushroom cloud bloomed in the sky.

At the base of the smoke, the massive Rathalos plunged from the sky, unconscious. Its right wing was clearly broken and bent, half its body charred black as it crashed down onto the Ancient Tree, snapping thick branches before slamming hard onto a platform.

Blood burst from beneath its scorched scales and spread across the ground. The wyvern writhed in pain, but couldn't stand.

The injuries were devastating. At this point, even a few Jagras could take its life.

Above, Logan slowly emerged from the smoke, thin trails of black haze still clinging to him.

His eyes were bloodshot from the intensity of the maneuver. Hovering mid-air with wings outstretched, wisps of flame flickered from the seams in his scales—emerging from one gap only to be absorbed into another.

His crimson armor reflected a silver-white glow. Despite his relatively small juvenile frame, he appeared every bit the true King of the Skies—looking down from his throne upon the rebellious one who had been punished.

Blood dripped from cracked scales caused by the recoil of impact, but rather than diminishing his aura, it only made it more overwhelming.

Under Logan's cold gaze, the fallen Rathalos finally stopped struggling, curling into itself and letting out a low whimper.

It had lost—completely.

What awaited it now was either exile from the nest… or submission.

From now on, whenever they both set their eyes on the same hunting ground, the Rathalos would have to yield. Only once Logan was done hunting would it be allowed its turn.

Of course, there was still a sliver of hope.

It had lost to Logan—but the battle between its mate and Aki hadn't yet ended. If she could win, then the two families would stand as equals.

Even if Logan had his eyes on their nest, they wouldn't have to surrender it. Logan could simply establish his own nest on equal footing.

But dreams are one thing. Reality is another.

When a bloodied Aki rose into the air to meet Logan, while the injured Rathian could only crawl to her mate's side and lick his wounds—this battle had truly come to an end.

The Rathalos pair had been completely defeated.

If Logan now chose to take their nest, then even with their grievous wounds, they would have no choice but to carry their young and find a new place to build a nest in the Ancient Tree—or leave the Ancient Tree altogether.

What came next would depend entirely on Logan's choice.

Compared to Logan, Aki looked far more battered—after all, her fight had been pure melee, and scratches were unavoidable.

But from Logan's perspective, Aki seemed in excellent spirits. In fact, her whole body radiated excitement. The fire of battle hadn't yet faded from her eyes.

It looked like Aki had thoroughly enjoyed the fight—completely unleashing the wild instincts rooted deep within her. But that was only natural. Aki was indeed strong, but so was her opponent. After all, that Rathian had fought her way through countless rivals to remain here in the Ancient Tree as the 'official mate'.

Now that the battle had concluded, the other wyverns who had been watching from afar returned to their nests, and the skies around the Ancient Tree fell quiet once more.

Logan flew with Aki to the treetop canopy of the Ancient Tree to inspect their spoils of war.

The defeated pair's nest was located on a large platform, where overlapping branches above scattered sunlight down in fragmented rays.

There was no built-in water reservoir on the platform, suggesting that this fire wyvern couple likely shared a communal pool with others.

Inside the nest, a few juvenile wyverns stared wide-eyed at the two 'uninvited guests', clearly on edge. A slightly larger male, close to four meters in length, stood protectively in front of them, spreading its wings and roaring at Logan.

Logan paid no mind to the hatchlings. After scanning the nest, he turned to look at Aki, only to find her equally disinterested. He understood immediately—she felt the same way he did. This place didn't impress them.

With a short call to Aki, he was the first to leave the cave and took off, circling the Ancient Tree in search of something better.

The wounded wyvern pair staggered to the entrance of the nest. Seeing Logan and Aki fly away, they finally let out a breath of relief and dragged their battered bodies back inside to recuperate.

The Ancient Tree was rich in life energy, and fire wyverns had impressive regenerative capabilities. With that, such injuries would heal in just a few days.

And with a stockpile of herbivore corpses inside the nest, the pair wasn't worried about surviving.

Logan and Aki spent some time searching and eventually found a suitable place to build their own nest on this level of the Ancient Tree.

Several thick branches, along with two layers of tough vines, formed a small platform. Above, more Ancient Tree branches extended to form a natural canopy.

The platform had only two entry points. One connected to the outer canopy of the Ancient Tree, and next to a large slope was the nest of another wyvern couple. Their nest had a small dam built from mud and branches, forming a pool filled with water.

The other exit was inside the canopy, where hanging vines concealed a vertical gap that led straight down to the base of the Ancient Tree.

However, Logan noticed that the edges of that opening were very smooth, with no vine leaves around it—as if something frequently passed through there.

Still, he didn't think much of it. The gap was quite narrow, too small for even a Pukei-Pukei to squeeze through. So he paid it no mind.

After selecting their nesting spot, Logan and Aki, both exhausted from the intense battle, curled up beside one another and slowly drifted into sleep.

As for the actual nesting... that could wait until they had recovered their strength.

Not long after Logan and Aki had fallen asleep, a furry feline head with a pair of long, pointed ears suddenly poked out from a gap in the nest. Upon spotting the two sleeping Rathalos, the cat-like creature nearly died from fright.

This was a native Lynian species of the New World, known as the Grimalkyne. Due to their social habits and appearance being quite similar to those of Felynes, they were also referred to as wildcats.

"Meow?" (Why'd you stop? Get moving already!)

The voice urging from behind nearly gave the little Grimalkyne a heart attack. It gave its companion below a light kick, then quickly retreated back into hiding.

Moments later, two Grimalkynes crept onto the platform, moving with utmost caution. The black paw-like markings on their snowy white bellies trembled slightly from unease, betraying the fear inside them.

Their large eyes locked onto the slumbering Rathalos, every movement deliberate and silent. They even held their breath, inching forward without a sound, until they finally managed to drag the prey to the opposite end of the platform.

Then, with practiced agility, they scaled the vines and disappeared into a concealed crack in the canopy above. Once inside, they dropped to all fours and darted off into the passage.

On the platform, the sleeping female Rathalos cracked one eye open, watching as the two Grimalkynes slipped into the crevice before closing it again.

Years of surviving alone had made Aki exceedingly vigilant. Unfamiliar scents or strange noises would immediately catch her attention—even in sleep, she retained that same awareness.

This long-ingrained habit hadn't changed even after Logan's arrival.

The two 'tiny' wildcats had been deemed harmless by Aki. Once she was certain they had left completely, she shifted closer to Logan, nestling into the warmth radiating from her little male Rathalos, and drifted back into a deep sleep.

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