The Hive (Solo/Job)

And so that was the both of them. The third of the three who left to try to get some information was back, though he did seem kind of dizzy. His eyes were also a little bit odd, but not in any sort of way that kind of made him seem dangerous, but more like he were stupid. All of them would tilt their heads to the side, the right side, in perfect unison to show their confusion and that he did not seem normal. And what exactly have you been up to? The She Phoenix would ask him, which he clearly did not mind telling them. In fact, his smile grew wider as she asked him. I met someone, and she was so nice and fun. We hung out for a little bit and a- Elyx would cut him off before snapping right in front of the forehead of the mage, activating a support spell in the process. It was supposed to cure any status effects that he might have had. The Wind Slayer assumed that Tyme has some sort of love potion placed in his system that needed to be relieved. As of currently, he did seem to be any different, except for maybe the fact that he was confused. Then again, so was the rest of the group, and who could blame them. Finally, after a few seconds, Elyx would let out a sigh as he realized that this was actually him. Who knew the mage from Haydelle could get so worked up over a girl? Sorry guys, he does not seem to be under some sort of spell based on what I know. He would announce to the four of them, Ignite and Neko both dropping their backs forward to hang their heads, so it was true that he had fallen for someone. That poor child will probably ask where they met and how. Tyme was quick to pounce onto the Wind Slayer for making him look stupid. His mouth opened wider than an ocean while pretty much screaming at him. HEY! THAT'S NOT NICE! WHY WOULD YOU THINK I AM UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ANY DRUG!? Tyme would exclaim, leaving Elyx to just stand there awkwardly. his voice was hesitant, a bit of sound here and there, but not really too much. And in the end, Ignite would ask the real question. So did you get anything from the girl? She would ask, only for the Hearing mage to scratch the back of his head in a bit of embarrassment. Er... Does getting her number count as something? And it was at that moment the She Phoenix almost jumped at his throat. Glad to see she was still herself, but it was even better to see how she was able to restrain herself with out the help of Elyx.

26/100

27/100

So the first ten mages were on there way, Elyx did find a gap that he was able to punch through a few times, now for anyone who wanted to enter and exit it, they would have to climb a distance of about 50 meters before they could go inside. However, they would face a lot of enemies already once they entered the scene, it was only a hope that they would be all right, and if they needed to bail out, they were able to help each other. Those who went through the hive did not have the help of the family from above, which was why Ignite decided to send ten people, so that around forty people would guard the society while the party would search for an exit. The fate of the society rested within their palms. The Wind Slayer looked up at the starry sky, it was a nice night for sure, despite all of the buzzing that was going on below. Tyme was too distracted, and instead was focusing on the while the both of them were pretty much flirting with each other. It made him wonder exactly what exchange they had with each other. Now, could they have not chosen a different time to be doing such things with each other? The society might die out. Then again, if that were the case, maybe they could spend the last few days this way. Such a sad way to end it, but at least they thought they were happy, so Elyx would leave it alone. They were were a group however, in fact, the red-haired lady was helping them guard, and she seemed to most excited as much as she was focused. It would have been a great idea to send her into the hive instead of the ones who volunteered, with her gun magic and perkiness to fight, she probably would have cleared the areas easily. With a smile on her face, she would keep waling around in a line, back and forth across the edges of the mountain, which stretched out for a good 200 meters. At least, she would have a nice night of sleep once the shift had been over. As for food supplies, everyone seemed to be having their share without complaining, and none of it seemed to have rot yet. Good, at this rate, maybe they would have a slight window of opportunity to be able to survive for a weak. It was hard to keep faith when you could do nothing when you really wanted to. That was the stress of a leader, and just thinking about it make the She Phoenix curl her lips, it was definitely not an enjoyable role to have in society, even if it was her own.

28/100

And then he'd begin to go off guard, thinking about his motives for trying to be strong for the tribes. Cain was a big one, but a certain story also bugged him... The story of Lerale is a story of three men, Japheth, Lian, and Tyr. They all were brothers, Japheth being the most known and loved brother amongst the people, Lian being the smartest and wisest of the three, and Tyr to be the most caring and loving of them all. They were so bright and young, it was a miracle that they ended up killing each other. Though they were brothers, they always were competitive, no matter what. Eating, playing, and even fighting to the point in which they hurt each other on purpose. Everyone around them thought it was normal sibling things, but it was much worse than that. Nowhere near close to just a few siblings fighting for something or some things. They kept fighting… and fighting… and fighting for so unbelievably long. It was just something they did. Grades at school, running, doing chores, gambling, making bets, truth or dare, they all had their own territories. When they became rank SS mages, they all wanted to be the ace of the tribe. They all had one way of settling the biggest scores. Music. They all used music to fight, having the crowd choose who they liked best. Japhet earned his charisma through those music battles, but it was Tyr who won… he become the Ace of the tribe and a rank H mage. From there, Lian tried to kill… kill his brothers. Not just Tyr, but both of them. He started swearing and hissing about being the lowest brother, despite him being the smartest and having the most recognizable grades, I kind of envied his teachers for being able to have him as a student.

Yet the teachers who did notice him, he never noticed them. The irony is all I would be able to say, what else one can say if they saw or heard things like that. Lian was able to kill one of his brothers, Japhet, by using what was considered illegal magic back then known as Zeax magic. Try ended up fighting for his life against his brother using his instrument since that was what got him to the highest of rankings. To avenge his brother and defend the tribe from the most that his brother became, he used his instrument to cast spells, and he was much strong than Lian and killed his smarter brother. There was no contest in the beginning. This is all that is currently known about the history of Lerale magic, but there is a lot more to it that just has not been uncovered. Adding in current details to the story, there had to be some current details that just did not add up correctly. But the pieces were not being placed together correctly, meaning the pieces were still not all there.

What about Klaydelle and Haydelle though? How exactly were they made up? Though Shadelle tribe blood was in him, should he not at least try to learn the history behind the neighboring tribes? It was worth a try to ask them, right? Turning his head over to Tyme and the red haired girl, he would sigh as he realized that trying that was currently not an option. But despite this, he still had some hope in Neko. So turning over to her, he would see her with a brighter smile onto her face. Why exactly was she so happy? Maybe she wanted to leave the scene. Possibly a lover that she missed? Admittedly, she was a cute mage, compared to many of the Lerale mages that he had seen. It would be expected that because of her looks, she might have a guy. Then again, her personality might be what repelled them away. The poor thing did not even know it, and would he dare try to explain it to her? Well, if he would like a nice big backslap to the face, he would do better and shut his mouth. Instead of letting such a thing occur, he would just avoid asking her. The two mages from tribes, as of currently, he could not learn from them. It was fine though, he was able to figure things out for himself now, that was the job of a bounty hunter after all. It was to gather info on a target and exploit its weaknesses. Then take advantage, conquer, and all of that nice stuff. As for the Lerale blood in his veins, they could not possibly know a little bit more about it than he does. The story did not fit in his own tribe, how the hell would the other tribes know anything about it? So he would just shake his head and continue looking at the sky, his guard let down completely for the moment. The weight of the world was off of his shoulders for now, no paperwork to sign for one thing. However, he had to admit, he kind of did miss the mean teasing that Iza would give to him everyday. Despite how rude she was, it was not like she ever actually meant what she said. The tanuki just wanted to get a kick out of his emotions, which is kind of screwed up actually, but she meant well. Besides, it was not like she would listen even if he told her this. He definitely will not tell her that he missed her verbal actions against him, because that would multiply so quickly if he did.

29/100
30/100

A sudden ambush would occur however, as another swarm of bees would suddenly appear in front of them. The perfect time to fight and relieve some stress, Elyx would jump backwards by pushing his palms against the ground hard, launching himself upwards as if he were a spring. One of the giant bees would fire a stringer at the group, only for the stinger to suddenly meet the bullet of the red haired gunslinger. Is that all ya got!? Attack! And the mages who were guarding would fight back, all sorts of elements firing at the swarm of bees as they were trying to end the family. However, the Rosella family would not back down so quickly, and the group was able to keep the distanced enemies away from them. Tyme not only could hear things rather well, but his speed is amazing, for the moment he could run on air due to his speed, a nice element that should be noted by Black Rose. But this was his friend, so the Wind Slayer would do no such thing, just for this moment though. The bees were all being shot down rather quickly. Neko and Ignite were working together as well, the white haired mage placing all sorts of negative effects on a huge bee, paralyzing it, stunning it, poisoning it, it was a chaos in the body of the enemy monster. And finally, Ignite would knock it down with many spheres of exploding fire. It was a nice combination, burning effects now placed with the help of Neko as well as major damage. A sudden cry would be let out as a female mage was pierced by one of the stingers, and she was not the only one sadly, as three bodies around the same area were swarmed with the giant bees, who clearly outnumbered them. This sort of torment, they were probably dead, which would add four more bodies into the grave of the tribe. The attackers... They were going to pay heavily. His eyes would glow in the night to a nightmarish sort of purple before breathing in air to compress it into his lungs. As he breathed out, he would send a bunch of spinning wind in a spiral shape as he emitted the spell. SKY DEITY WIND BELLOWS! He would exclaim the words through the winds, knocking all of the bees out of the way and off of the mountaintop, causing them all to fall, and it serves them right... The deaths of the members in the society was hard to swallow, not just one, but four more bodies have been sent to their graves. No way to bring them back, the Rosella family took a dent, these enemies are ruthless. They may have won the battle, but the war was far from over.

31/100

32/100

That was the end of day two, they survived the end of the night with four deaths and a hefty amount of injuries. Maybe it was time the system be fixed, but with the limited amount of mages in their society, there was not too many options left that might work. The goal was to keep as many of them alive as possible, to use them like pieces of a game of chess was cruel and uncalled for, they did not want to sacrifice lives. Admittedly, that was how the tribe worked things out, if they were able to save a giant group of people by killing their own, that was exactly how they were going to do things. The guilds, based off of what the Wind Slayer and the She Phoenix knew of, did not do such things to their own members. About every guild he had ever gone to claims that their guild is like a family, nothing original, but it meant something valuable at least. But in the end, when it came down to the moment where you had to choose a member of the family, or the family itself, could you really make the decision between them? That was exactly how Ignite was feeling, and maybe it was time to take the stress off of her back. Elyx would try to split her work in half, but the cost being that the weight he lifted off of her shoulders will now be placed onto his own. With such stress, it might not even be worth fighting for. But this was Ignite, the one that he had raised when she was just born as a little Phoenix Bird. For her to have the stress of a human was unfair, he refused to let her do such a thing to herself. Hey Ignite, I'll help you out with the job, I do not like to see you struggling like this. He would tell her, causing her to turn her head to him, as if to think about letting him do such a thing. Finally, she would lean her head on his shoulder, throwing all of her body weight onto him as he was to support her, that was what his magic was designed for anyways. That would be really nice. In all honesty Elyx, I am so tired, being so stressed constantly non stop does not do good things for your body. I just want all of this to end, being back home and studying the mechanics of rifles on my bed with clean clothing and different sorts of food, a sheltered home where I do not have to fear going to sleep every morning... Not even night, I can't sleep at night, but morning.

33/100

He did not get any other visions from the dream that he had received. It was simply him once again as a street performer. Nothing new in all honesty, just him playing three pieces. The first one was dedicated to Iza, The Gift. The Gift was a piece played and made by a composer who had a baby boy, and that child meant everything to that father. To prove it, the piece was made in dedication to his pride being born. It was a nice and gentle piece, where all of the strings had the melody at some point. It was a sweet piece, slow, and it took its time. Though the insane tanuki never really took slow things to heart, he still liked to play the piece in honor of her. After all, it was a symbol that she was his gift, regardless of the amount of trouble that she may put him through, and trust him, there were many times in which she had troubled him. After the gift had been played, he decided to give the audience a little history lesson with the second song called "The Elizabethan Legend", where there was a sweet slow blend of Elizabethan music being played. Some of the people started to call him Elyxabeth, and he did not really mind, just as long as they were enjoying the music, they were allowed to give him a nickname. There was not as much of a story behind the piece, though it did provide a lot of challenge to anyone who tried to learn it. If Elyx were forced to be honesty, it was one of the shortest pieces he had to play. It was also one of the most brutal pieces that he had to play. And the final song for the crowd would wake them up from the sleep that he probably had put them in. It was kind of hard since it required him to play both the first and second violin parts of the song, which required a lot of string crossing and many times, a lot of pressure onto the bow. Mantras had a change in tempo and musicality as time went by, a legend being told in the first forty measures before it was slowed down and became a waking part of the song. Like a legend being born, a hero in a way. Finally, with a triumphant cry, the strings would exclaim their strength as all of the arm weight was placed into the bow. The journey continued as he played before the song came to a suddenly slow part, before the final note was played. The crowd loved it, the performer loved it, they were all having fun, now if only this moment could last forever. How sweet it would be. Oh how he missed it all.

34/100

Ignite would have a dream of her own, the Phoenix Mountains. This was the first time she had such a dream, and it was actually kind of ironic to have it on a mountain while she was stranded on one. Regardless, there were many other Phoenix Birds around her, some of them in the Demi form while others relaxed and stayed in their natural form. As for her, she still seemed like regular old Ignite. The only difference was that she had a tiny glock on her right hip, but that was the only real difference, and the She Phoenix did not feel the need to use it, not while she was surrounded by those she considered her blood. Many greeted her rather kindly, offering some of the volcanoes flames to eat. It was a nice offering, but she would refuse since she just did not seem too hungry. I am just wondering though, do you know where my mother and father are? I would like to meet them. And with that, they would suddenly back away like she had some sort of nasty disease. For ones who acted so kindly around her, they seemed rather startled now. And instantly, the ones who had heard her within earshot would quickly turn away without even saying so much as a goodbye. They just flew and ran away from her, leaving her in the silence that was the moving magma of lava in the bowl of fire. Watching them all go with her light purple eyes, she would then sit herself up on the ground before lifting her knees to her face. Both arms would lock around her legs, the pupils of her eyes growing bigger as they bored with shame and sadness. She wanted to know so badly, because the She Phoenix had missed them. Every day that had passed by, she was wondering who actually gave birth to her, she full well knew she did not just pop up randomly. But how would Elyx know? He merely adopted her, the egg would have been there for days at the least before the Wind Slayer, previous Lerale Magician found her there, got to her. It was official, even if she did not know them, she missed her parents. In fact, she had missed her family in general, the Phoenix Mountains no longer held a home for them. They most likely scattered, and just the thought of her being the only one made her want to shatter the volcano they used to live on, just to make sure no memories of them but her were left. The nightmare would end, bringing her to the afternoon in her dorm. The clothes on her felt a little bit slim onto her, seems like she was losing weight... Despite having an already slender body. This was bad...

35/100

Tyme would have a dream of his own, and guess who it was about. It turned out her name was Sara, a night and simple name, also not quite spelled the way it was supposed to. However, it was not like he cared, for one thing, his name was the same way. His parents just tried to be clever and replaced the 'i' in his name with a 'y'. So why should one worry about her taking an H away from her name? Besides, it would give her something cool to do with the name once she hit H rank, lucky for her. As for him, his name was so much fun to work with when it comes to ranks. But at least he was able to have some fun with her name. Right now, they just were friends. And to think that he was the charmer, but now he was under the control of her. Sara turned out to be a light based elemental mage, mixed with a bit of wind from her Lineage. But that was it. As for why he was unable to hear her, no one could enter her body without permission, her thoughts were hers while she had the effect of "Holy Shrine" onto her. During the attack, she had saved him many more times that he could count, and in such spectacular fashion as well, slayer the bees that almost pierced him through the heart. As for him, he could no defend himself because there was just so much noise going on, making it hard to focus on only one of the bees alone. They would back each other up, switch places, it made things so much harder for him since the lack of focus threw him off his game. To embarrass himself in front of her, it was rather shameful. So in his dream, it was the roles being reversed, because that happens in dream only. His hearing would allow him to manipulate sound, creating a giant lethal weapon from it before blowing all of the enemies away. It was a hopeful dream that he hoped to make a reality out of. But for now, it was just what it was, a dream. Reality told him that he was obsessing over her instead of trying to be a better mage, a nasty balance that Haydelle heavily tried to discipline. That was how the enemies could get their prey, and though he did trust Sara, he could not let her stop him from progressing any further. There was a society to take care of. Maybe he could take party in the next search party to keep his mind off of her. A bit of distance should do the both of them some good.

36/100

Neko's dream was a lot more hopeful, she was traveling down the heavily populated streets of Klaydelle, it was nighttime as well. She was just getting by, trying to avoid people bumping into her. This was because she did not want someone to get angered and try anything. It was not their power that she feared, because she was more than able to twist them into a pretzel if she needed to, but it was their judgment that they had over her. It was merely due to the fact that they might have a negative opinion on her, which she heavily tried to have others avoid doing to her. Her shy nature made this a lot more obvious, despite not even giving her any attention, she still had this fear. The only way she would actually talk to others was if she wanted to buy something from a shop, but it seemed like she was unable to keep her wallet with her. For some reason, in the dream, she had forgotten it. So now without being able to shop, all she could do was walk and look for the Tribe Hall, which was where Mindy would be located. Mindy was the current leader of Klaydelle, and she was rather nice to Neko. Despite calling her by her real name, the snowy haired mage felt rather comfortable around her leader as a leader. However, as a friend was a much different thing. To reach her, there was a heavy set amount of stairs that one would have to climb. According to the lore she had read in the library, one actually took the time to count the steps, which ended up being a nasty result of 972. There was no real reason behind this number, not that she knew of anyways. With her wooden sandals, climbing upwards would be sort of a challenge, but anywhere she felt safe was good enough for her.

And so she would begin the exhaustive climb. Being in a world that she had made up on her own however, the stamina in her body was beyond that of her own in the real world. Despite being labeled SS ranked in the Tribe, the climb was still a long way up and tiring for her. But here, it felt like the easiest thing to do. It took a bit of time, but in the end, the Snowy Haired Mana mage would reach the top. Inside would be an even more populated area of people in the Hall, expected since no one would like to make their way downwards, and who could blame them? But inside was a face she had not seen in the tribe before, taking the place of Mindy was... Fey, the red-haired gunslinger.

37/100

And so the afternoon would arrive, and the three of them would wake up once again to a brand new day. It seemed pretty rough on the next shift of guards as well. The search party that had been sent out was still not there to report back to them. No reports of a signal was shown either, though one did report some screaming going on below. It was hard to tell if it was screaming with all of the violent buzzing, but the mage thought he had heard it. There were others to confirm what that mage had said, so Ignite and Elyx both had to take it with absolute certainty. If that were truly the case, they knew the fate of the search party, the bees were now probably on high guard. The help could be on the way, and maybe they needed to survive the week. But looking back onto that idea, it seemed pretty awful of an idea, they were losing members quickly as time went by. The morning guard lost two people in the process, and eight of the mages ere wounded. They took care of the enemies and made sure none got into the dorms of the ones who were sleeping, but at quite the hefty cost. Elyx would have to tend to them, meaning that planning things were currently out of the option. Losing his magic power over this was stressful, but if they had wounded, they needed to be treated with, even if it required squeezing every last ounce of magic out of him. It was not like he wanted to do such a thing either, but... Well, there he was doing it. So as of right now, the current demise count in the tribe has been 7, and it is day three. Provided every three days they lose 7 mages, they would probably have most of the society, but the ones who lost such valuable members would not see it that way. However, the Wind Slayer and She Phoenix were both not to blame for it, and the guilds and tribes will understand that. If the ones who made the training camp were still alive, they would take the blame. It helped that Neko was giving Elyx her magic power to help him continue healing, the bleeding being the worst case for every single one of them. And so finally, once he tended to them, they both would have a moderate amount of magic left. Within a few hours, the guard shift would be needed once again, and they were going to have about 38 members to guard instead of the usual 50 something. Always fun, lower amounts of magic and a higher chance of getting attack. Great.

38/100

39/100

40/100

And so that was how it was going to be, they were going to have to go all out on the Beehive. It seems like the group could not just wait long enough for one week, and they did not need anyone to go insane. With this, Ignite was going to call a big meeting of the tribe. If they did not scale down the beehive now, the enemies that were the bees would multiply way too quickly and finish them all off. That was not the result that any of them wanted, and to prevent it, they would have to take a night off altogether so their bodies would adjust with each other. Yes, they are going to hve to rely on luck and hope they do not get attacked. It was the afternoon after all, and not one attack had been made in the afternoon. If they could sleep peacefully for that time, they will start attacking the bees at night. With this plan in mind, some of the bees might try to attack them again, which will reduce their numbers and give the society a chance to fight against what was in the hive. This was going to be a live costly battle, but it was better than losing all of them. For those who will lose their mages due to this, the Wind Slayer and the She Phoenix wished them will. They were going to charge in like an army, climbing down the rocks before entering. Before they even think to do anything though, they were going to have to eat and drink as much as they could so they were able to fight at their best, and not on their stomachs. Once that has been done, they would be all set to go. They did not know how the family would take the news, but hopefully they would accept it. They were needed, because with just the two of them alone, both having slayed demons, deities, giant monsters, and anything of the sort, they are able to admit that they could not do this alone. Embarrassing how it would be bees that they lost to out of all things, and maybe when he returns back to Black Rose, Elyx will try to keep that a secret, especially from Iza. She would not let him live it down, and she was probably right to do what she would do. There was the option of summoning Phoenix, but by the time they climb down as a group, she can't tame the bees with her animal charm. And going alone, the bees will attack her without giving her a chance, so that was out. The same plan goes as follows, be defenseless for a night, then attack the hive from the inside before making their way to the ground.

41/100

And so once everyone had been gather around, Ignite would make her speech, standing on a bump to make her a little bit higher above the ground, the bump was a noticeable difference however, so it was fire. Raising a stick from the ground, she would set it on fire and lift the stick into the air, making her own torch out of it for everyone to see. Elyx was standing by her side, on the bump as well. Tyme and Neko were both in the front to watch them, definitely interested in what they had to say. People of the Rosella family! I am Ignite Rosella, your leader and a mother figure to all of you! I have some exciting news! We are all going to spend only one more night here before we then execute our next action. Things are going to get better before they get worse, but then get really better once again. We are all going to be sleeping, and the first one to wake up the came while the sun is down will holler out and making sure everyone is awake. After that, we will dedicate 15 minutes into eating our meals and interacting with each other one last time before then we leave the scene! Have as much food and drink as you can within these 15 minutes, whatever you find is yours! After this, we will all meet up in the middle, and then we are all going to storm through the hive and fight to get to the exit. We will avenge our fallen brothers and sisters, we will thrive! And when we make our way out of the hive, we will all return home! No more time to be stranded, we will fight for the right to be free! Any question?

And with that, there was plenty of small chat among the people, most of them rather happy with the plan. They all wanted to go home, and who could blame them? They all probably had lives to return to, many of them missing meetings and things of the sort. This was the fastest and possibly the best way to get out of there. With a smile on their faces, none of them would speak up to her, and so she would nod to them before they returned the nods. Get some sleep then, all of you! The first one to wake up, let out a holler if the sun is down and the moon is coming up. If not, go to sleep! And we will now go to sleep! Good night! We will prosper and free ourselves, for we are the Rosellas! And with that, she held up the torch as the people cheered, such a victorious moment.

42/100

This job was even harder than the time that he and Ignite had to go out and they were going to have to face off again with two tribes. That one required for them to have some help from Zack, probably the strongest mage they had witnessed yet. And yet, he was not going to help them out with this job. Elyx did it on his own, without the Celestial Spirit on his side. It was a well put together puzzle, but in the end, the boy was able to figure it out. It was something beyond his understanding at first, but when he did his research it all made sense. Zack was quite the confusing character.

There was one thing that Elyx finally learned about him though. The research was tough, and all of the reading caused him to show a few veins on his face popping out. Staying up just to understand what it meant, and though nothing was quite too clear, he was able to put the pieces together. Analyzing Zacks previous battles fought and his current magic used, he gave off many signs of it. Remembering his encounter with Aiyana, he learned that the Celestial Spirits can stay out in the real world for as long as they like if they had enough resistance. Another thing about Celestial Spirits, they had a king. The one that ruled all over them, such a powerful being he must be if he were able to look over both Zack, Aiyana, the Zodiacs, and the Chronicles at the same time. All of that while he was not even scratching the surface of what could be in the whole set. That’s right, Elyx confirmed a 13th Zodiac to exist, and that one is Zack. Not only was he a Celestial Spirit, but he was by far one of the strongest. He did not have a key however, so it was not like he could be summoned by a Celestial Spirit user whenever that user felt like it. That was Aiyana, and even then, she has the ability to deny the user of being summoned. The keys alone are a mystery, and the ones who are revealed in front of them are just out of this world, no pun intended.

Still though, Aiyana would be a nice help to the job whenever it was needed. Then again, if he were correct, she probably had some more owners who needed her more than he did when it comes to a job like this. Even if not, what if he were trying to call her while she was flirting with someone, what does he do then? Fortunately, calling her onto the battlefield is not his first resort, maybe they were not as powerful, but he knew that they would not be busy at all. the Chronicles were definitely able to help him out. Phoena, the one who was leading the charge even if she were not the strongest. Aludra, the drink loving mage who is on fire, and no one wants to put her out. Yuni, Lindsey, Toka... They were all there for him.

43/100

There he was, he was falling into nothing but darkness. His right hand was held upwards, reaching towards the darkness that was upwards, and no one was there to grip it. The whole world was dark, and there he was left to fall without even an idea of when he'll make impact. Such a weird nightmare, he jerked upwards in his bed as he would take deep breaths. The air felt a lot more clear in his room than it did in his dream, like he was free from the toxins of smoke. A piece of paper was lying on his blanket over his lap, blank on the side that he was looking at it from. He could not remember placing that paper there, and the window suggested that it was too early for even Ignite to awaken. Could this be the work of Iza? To try to confirm that theory, he activated his Swordsman senses, which would detect her from huge distances away. However, she was not around the area based on what he could sense. It would have been a lot better if she came here to save them. Even if it meant she would taunt them for the rest of their life, just having them come down from the mountain without going to through the hive. The piece of paper with a journal from Ignite's paper. It was an update on day three, it seemed rather detailed on how she felt on it. It was a smart idea, giving the ones who read it a feeling of what their life was like and maybe the data on the hive. But why was it here out of all places? It did not matter, it was in his hands, and it was clearly Ignite, because no one could write in what one could only describe as smoky handwriting. Once that had been done, a smile would appear on his face, it was going to be their escape, and despite these being emergency notes, they were also memories to treasure. Though he does not age any further than 25, he was going to look back upon this and laugh, hopefully with a few others who could relate with their own adventures. Every moment of fear as well as laughter should be treasured, because there will be a point in time where he can't do this sort of thing any more, and he can only watch life pass on by. Life had to be lived to the fullest, living at the age of 90 without doing anything is pointless, but dying a death while having fun in battle, you have your fun and enjoyed a life you wanted to live. And hopefully the eulogy would be a bright one, you deserved it.

44/100

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Thread Word Count

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46/100

So being the first one to wake up, he would walk up and get himself dressed up in his clothing, all of the equipment that was needed in order to take on many enemies. And once that had occurred, he would look out the dorm window to see that night time sky. It was too easy, no one was there, and the sun had just set. Clearing his throat by placing his fist against his lips, he would prepare himself to let out a cry to the society. Everyone of the Rosella family! It is time for you to wake up, we are going to travel through the hive TONIGHT! I repeat, it is time for you to wake up, and we are GOING TO TRAVEL THROUGH THE HIVE TONIGHT! You have 15 minutes to eat as much food as you can to fill your stomachs, and once that is done, Ignite Rosella would come together to give one final speech of encouragement! We will free ourselves from the hive! And just like that, people in their dorms would begin to come out, some pieces of meat in their mouth as a bunch of chatter was going on, lights turning on, even a few loud yawns were heard before he would go to Ignite's dorm. It had the six guests in it, the Snowy Haired Mage, The Blonde Tribe Mage, the She Phoenix, the Red Haired Gunslinger, and the random girl who Tyme had fallen for. They were just starting their meals while chatting with each other, saying their last prayers and telling each other how they would miss each other and that sort of thing. It was kind of sad to see this, he felt kind of close, some more than others, but he still felt close to them. And if he saw them die, he does not know what he would do next in the hive. Sure, he had only met them literally a couple of days ago, but did that matter? They acted so friendly towards him and treated him like an equal member of the family. They even goofed around and did some stupid things, created funny moments, and laughed. They grieved together, ate together, it kind of did feel like a family. To learn of a couple of people from two of the eight tribes, he was able to help enhance his knowledge of the land of not just Shadelle, but Haydelle and Klaydelle as well. It was all too perfect, a smile placed onto his face as he would sit down with them, just in case it really was their final moments together. Though he did not want it to be the end, that was just how life went.

47/100

All right everyone, I would like to say that this was a great moment, I am glad to have met all of you. We will survive, we will make it, and we will all go home and act like this was just a bad nightmare. But you guys, you all will be remembered as the good dreams, because this time we have had together has been great, even if it only has been three days. Elyx would announce before holding up a glass of water, the only thing that they were able to toast with. Everyone would all lift their glasses to match his movement before Ignite then took the wheel. To good friends, who we have met and been taught by as well as we have taught them. To the lesson we have learned, that even the worst of moments can bring greats friendships. The She Phoenix would say, and then all of the glasses would clink together as they drank. If only they had cider to make the toast a lot more formal, but definitely not wine. Regardless, they had their drink and began to eat what they could until their stomachs were satisfied. Many smiles and laughs were shared by the six of them, the more that they learned from each other, the better and easier their lives would be. They taught each other different techniques in battle that could be used against the average opponent, comparing their elements and playing around while saying that ones magic was stronger than another. It was kind of sad how they only had 15 minutes to do this, but they did not want to be attacked. They were lucky to be able to sleep for the afternoon without anyone guarding them. But every second in the night did matter, they all learned that very well. The bees could arrive at any minute for all they knew. The group eventually stood up and walked out of the dorm, leaving it be ten minutes after the waking of the society. Five minutes left, so what was there to do left? That was a simple question for the She Phoenix. It would be to write down her last entry, then leave it behind for someone to see. It might never be read, or maybe everyone would read it. It did not matter if she were dead anyways, and she will find it if she were alive when out of the hive. What matter most now was giving what she knew and telling everyone where the society had been, so that the ones who find it can spread the information. Ignite would use a dull pencil to write down the final words into the journal.

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50/100

All right everyone of the Rosella family! This is the last time we will be seeing each other for a long while! I want you to know that I am very humbled to have been your leader for so long, and though we have been split apart now, and maybe we do not make it to the end, the family will still continue on in spirit. Remember the new faces that you have met as friends, treasure them, because they might be the only friends that you have one day. As for me, I have made a plentiful amount of new ones I feel I could rely on, and I hope that you all know that you can rely on each other. I hope that the distance that will be made between all of you will make your friendships die, but instead make them a lot better. Open doors for each other when another one of us is in trouble to keep the fire burning, and know that we will all look out for each other. Because that is what a family does, they look after you and protect you from those who try to attack it as a whole. Sure, they discipline the ones who need correction, but that correction comes with a lesson learned, and the punishment should be lifted all within due time. It was only a while ago when I was a kid in my mind, and I remembered all of the times I had to be corrected. Hopefully I am living proof of a good person to follow, and with this, I say that we will enter the hive. Our memories together shall stay together, I have made sure of it. The group of us that make it out, we will live a legacy of a life. Achieve greatness, earn positions that will make you all proud. My teacher, Elyx Reiaki, is the fifth Wizard Saint of Fiore, and if that does not give you any motivation, I honestly can't tell what would. Now everyone, enough with the mushy stuff, I am a Phoenix Bird, and I am immortal according to the legend. And if I am, you all are as well! So we will take back what is ours! Destroy the enemies who dare oppose us! Everyone, we are now going to charge into the scene! Climb down the east side of the mountain until you see a passageway in! That is where you will go, and prepare to fight once you go in! And that was the end of the very inspirational speech before all of the members ran towards that direction. Elyx could have not been any more proud of her, those words were very well spoken, especially for her.

51/100

Just like that, the group of the mages were climbing down, the bees were about to make their way up any second, but they were too late. Once they got to the top, all of the mages who have climbed went down, lowering the number of bees in the hive and allowing them to fight back now. As a group, they charged through all of the buzzing bees, slicing them, firing at them, beating them to a bloody and sticky pulp with all of their might and magic. They could have not looked any more powerful at this current state, working together like they were in some sort of guild war. Elyx and Ignite were fighting with fire and Bound Iris, side by side as the bees were flying by them, big, small, medium all of the same. They were careful to avoid the friendly fire as well, ducking every so often before jumping upwards and punching or slicing in the process. It was great, they were gaining ground in the hive, the road becoming a lot clearer as they passed through. It was beautiful, he felt like nothing could stop them as of right now. As more time passed, the mages were separating from each other, trying to cover even more ground. A dangerous strategy, but a worth while one if they were able to pull off the task. With a smile on his face, he would look over to see Neko and Leyla fighting alongside each other, the both of them handling enemies quite well. The burning effect had quite the effect on insects in seemed, which was perfect since Neko had plenty. Then with the bullets mixed with the burning effect, there would be triggered explosions and possibly even destroyed atoms. If that were the case, what normally caused bomb explosions laid inside the body of the giant bees. It was too perfect, provided they were able to handle enemies in such a way, they would be fine. Turning back to Ignite, she pressed a palm full of flames into the belly of one of the bees before sending it flying, causing it to spiral intensely before crashing into the side of the mountain, causing it to shake and trigger a lot of the bees from above. This called for Elyx, who placed his palms out before creating a massive tornado to catch all of the insects before shattering them with the piercing winds. It was so beautiful. The bees were all destroyed, a little sting here and there from the small ones, or the normal sized ones, but those stings quickly healed with the health regeneration that he had. And so finally, they could try to catch up with the others who were ahead of them.

52/100

The both of them were finally fighting side by side once again, all alone with no one to help them, and in all honesty, it felt great. What felt even better was the fact that they got to handle two different enemies now. They were definitely large, duh, but they did not have normal color of a bee, nor did they have the shape of a bee. It was not too happy with them being around either, it's cry to call out the others made sure that they would not get off as easily as they did before. More annoying sting bites one could assume? Hopefully that would not be the case, those were as annoying as mosquito bites considering their defenses allow them to only feel partial amounts of the pain. They would snarl as the giant bug came at them, trying to mow them down on the path down. That could not happen, so some risks were going to have to be taken. Jumping upwards into the air, he would flip around and sideways before forming a spear of wind in his hand, nothing too dangerous side he did not want to waste any magic power on this. Once that he been done, he would launch it downwards onto the back of the insect, causing it to take the spear to the back before it could get to Ignite. Once it's body slid right in front of the She Phoenix, she would ball her right fist once before coating it in flames, a smirk on her face before uppercut punching the beast into the air by striking a sweet spot, the area of the head that the average human would consider the chin. She'd then shake her hand a little bit, probably from how nasty that beast was, and he could not blame her. The giant insect fell out of bounds on the road, but it's wings were able to keep it up, seems like it did not want to go down without a proper fight. They were not even close to being done with it, what they were showing it was mercy. If they wanted it dead, it would be right now, they were just giving it a chance to flee the scene without having lost its head. By trying to fight back after that brutal barrage, its option of fleeing is now no longer available and out of service, come back again when the brain is working again. It was so much fun to take down monsters for the sake of fun, maybe they should start making games out of it like they did back at the desert. Like the silent game. Or the monster counter game. Something to make these fights a lot more fun.

53/100