No one was surprised when Raon paved his way to a frontal position within the hunters. Emblem and poise was all they needed to notice for them to put him right into their core positions. His hands both resting on the hilts of his blades, his head downward, and the left leg ready to push himself forward and right into battle.

Titania took off her helmet and placed it in front of her. The small sound almost made her flinch. Tension was palpably hanging in the air. Next to Titania, the gunner from earlier positioned himself. He looked at her and she looked back at him. 

Not a word exchanged.  

“I’ll take the left.” He suddenly said and she nodded. Then she would take the right.  

“How strong are the blasts supposed to be?” She asked him.

“Judge on ya own newby.” He told her as suddenly the ground trembled. The bike underneath her swayed a bit but planting her feet down she kept it stable, “It seems those motherfucking sons of butchering bitches have sent us a-plenty today for advanced target practice.” The other gunner cursed loudly. 

She needed a moment to swallow the curse and then proceeded without commenting, raising her guns, one in each hand. These felt more natural then her old ones, a lot more natural, and they would have a lot more power too. Then the first monsters came into sight with them the noises that had been lacking until now. 

Screeches, shouts and screams.

Large Ape-like animals, their faces angry masks and their anger echoing over the barren wasteland. Their large bodies drove forward nimbly as they made the ground tremor under their weight. Titania gathered her magic and felt it flowing into the crystals, the focus came effortlessly, far too easy compared to before. As if some limiter had been removed from her.  

Pulling the trigger she fired, the recoil was lighter compared to before, almost unnoticeable. But, despite that, she immediately knew… too much, too much magic, too much energy. Luckily, she had aimed far enough away or it would have posed a danger to the ones she was supposed to cover. 

The blasts were piercing explosions. Not only was their sound too loud, but also their range of impact far too large. Both leaving behind two ginormous craters in the ground and blasting the beasts into bloody bits and pieces that hit their comrades enraging them even more. For a moment Titania's stomach twisted in the brief second afterwards. 

This is too much…I need to tone it down. 

Putting much less Magic into the crystal cores she fired again. This time it was more concentrated an explosion, less dust rose. 

Still too much ... but better. 

Next to her it whistled. 

From the corner of her eye she saw the first monsters hit their front line of defense. Raon dashed forward in a fluent lightning-like movement and released both his blades, which were pulsing with a dark grayish red energy. 

“Sure got a lot of whooms for someone your age. Sheltered little princesses aren’t ya; one of those with little experience but lots of magic. The Master sure has a good eye... Warning to ya though; He is a nuts in the head. But that is all of them, considering you are wearing that birdy on your clothes sure ya know that.” Next to her someone howled up as he continued shooting away and cursing at their attackers loudly using words and expressions in a language she did not know.

Titania continued wordlessly, she focused only on shooting. One after another, it did not seem to end.

Next to her, soon enough, her partner started to falter. His shots became weaker and weaker, until they were nothing more than small bullets of concentrated energy that did nothing but be a measly distraction. Titania herself felt no significant drain, but the fact she could feel any drain at all, told her that this was not child's play.

Normally, normally, I would have run out of magic long ago…Chry what kind of monsters did you make. 

Seeing her partner-in-covering falter, now dangerously weak, she raised her gun and started watching the left as well. Both guns firing she started to feel the drain more significantly. Still, the ones who had to engage at monsters that were not shot down in time had it hard nevertheless.  

In teams of three the second line started to engage into the fight. They quickly divided into small separated teams. All of them taking care exclusively of the left side. They moved with experience and trust in each other, covering blind sides and dangers, dancing about light footed and swiftly.  

The right side was handled by her brother alone. He was dancing through the attacks. It looked like a rehearsed act to her observing him. Slicing and cutting with both of his swords. Even from this distance she could see and feel the difference. He seemed… happy. A faint smile lit up his face and although she could not make it out from this distance one felt it the longer it went on. The more blood was spilt the harder the skirmish raged. He was fully there, truly awake.

He was present, not like usual, a bit gone or lost. A bit mad. Battle this one, the kills, he seemed so much in his element. 

“A monster that one is.” old Joe said next to her, reverence in his words. She wanted to give him an ear full. Raon was no monster, just a tad different, “But so seem to be you girly. Most mages would have kicked the bucket a while ago with how you are burning through your own energy.” 

She shot another enemy, they were now sparser in numbers and all of a sudden it was back to being deadly quiet. The tension was still there but not a bird was chirping, not a person speaking, nothing but seemingly endless silence. Now the wasteland held two new craters, the ground was redder than before, but the next rain would wash it away. 

“It’s over, tell ya what's girly. This ain’t natural. Crystal Deers running with Bears and Apes…that only happens when Humans shove them together. They gather them up in groups and then they drive them towards here, like a wave.” 

She remained silent and nodded at his words.

“But tell ya what. Those Zhang bastards, and it's them I tell ya, can eat our asses and if stupidity could hurt then they would be screaming ya know. Real lousy too. What they are doing is beyond dangerous. Not even our guys, like the master, who are completely wonkies up there are that stupid.” The gunner shrugged his shoulders, shuddering, “Rather be working for a nuts person than a stupid one, not that I or the other guys gotta a choice.” 

He was being bitter in his tone and quietly she pressed her lips together. It might be better if she kept her mouth shut and would not say anything.

“I know it better than most would ya listen. Those stuck up asses in the magic families think they are kings…except those damn motherfucking sons and daughters of a good old husband killing whore, like Marcia Tarajan they are worth a damn shit. Leave you to die on the field. If a black widow and a bunch of crazies are the most intelligent ones out there, that is the time when ya know things are going wrong, like totally wrong.”

“Stop spreading stupidity Joe. Little one, you did a good job.” Another person said, and she recognized him/her as one of the tandem fighters from earlier, “Sorry Missus, good old Joe here has a grudge against all the upper magician families and the world in general…He persists till today that he once slept with Macia Tarajan, when she was still some weak chicken in the slums. But then he insists on having fucked all half way attractive woman in posession of boobs.” 

Now that was something Titania did not want to know. 

“If it is anything, if you ever want to join a hunting party, consider ours will you? Standing invitation. You sure pack a lot of magic power even if you are a non-combat mage.” 

“Thank you.” 

“You are…” Raon suddenly had his knife at the man's neck, which immediately raised both his hands in surrender. Pale as a sheet and trembling like a leaf. He had not seemed as nervous when they were fighting earlier. “...Hey give a man a chance, she has a magical oomf and not many got that anymore; most have died away on us.” He said, frightened.

“Try with another.” Raon hissed the knife grazing his captives skin, a trickle of blood escaping. Her brother's eyes started glowing menacingly.

“Raon!”. She interrupted him and shook her head, “You promised me something.” He let out a disappointed sigh, closing his eyes and tucking his murderous intent back inside him, turning back to her. 

In this spilt second he had returned to his usual hairbrained and goofy self that was sometimes always somewhere different. 

“Sis. Put your helmet back on, please.” 

Done as asked she put it back on. 

“Don’t worry Raon…” She said, “....He merely asked. No harm in that. ” 

“I did not like his question.” The man stared at her gulping while old Joe let out a slightly muttered curse she couldn’t decipher. 

So please do not kill him.

Raon grumbled as he got back on the bike and drove further out. Now she knew how much trouble that must cause. “How often in a week?” She asked him and he stiffed next to her. Before starting to talk in low tones. 

“Not in a week. Every day by now they attack. It is approximately four to five waves…they run out of magic eventually and weill be overrun. This troup will not live long if it continues.”

The head, she guessed he had to be, rubbed his neck from where Raon had removed his knife. “Young Mistress, things are very bad." He added to Raons words, "We lost three teams alone this month, maybe not a problem for other places but it is for us and we keep losing especially the experienced scouts at an alarming rate.”

“I haven’t heard about that.” She muttered to herself, like so many other things. “How long can we hold the status quo?” 

“A few weeks, maybe months with some luck…our system works differently, that is currently acting in our favor. But you know what? you would make me a happy man if I hear about some dead Zhangs. The Lumiere are stuck up assholes and you are probably all totally crazy, but none of you are stupid. Now the Zhang, they are being stupid, what they are doing, that is far more dangerous than greed for power can justify. If this continues, heck no doubt the slums will be lost, the working zones…most likely lost as well… and who is gonna work their farms if those people are dead? Nobody."

“One does not need to be a genius to know…it could mean the end…for all of us.” Titania knew that everyone present knew that. 

All of a sudden Raon shoved the helmet over her head and muttered something before he got on the hover and drove them away. 

She stayed silent, feeling his silent anger. Hugging him she snuggled closer, held on tight and made a decision. Whether she felt comfortable with it or not, it did not matter. If it was for the sake of everyone. “I will write those contracts, Raon… for my mother” She muttered. “I’ll write as many as one could possibly need."