Dying Again?

__FAIRY's POV__

BANG! SHHHIIIIIING! SHHHHHING! BANG! BANG!

Sounds of fighting could be heard all over the place. From above everything was beautiful because of the snow. But down there, it was chaos. I could see my comrades fighting to stall stags. The idea here was to stop them from attacking the bunker. But the bad news is, they were now out to attack us. The power that these monsters used to leave a crater on a mountain side was now directed towards my comrades.

"Fairy! A little help would be appreciated!" Ash complained.

BANG! The sound of the antler from one of the high-tiered stags collided with Ash's Gauntlets as she grabbed onto it.

"RRRRRAAAAAAH!" She was desperately trying to pin the high-tiered monster down. But she was being pushed back. Soon she was able to find her footing and was able to stop the beast.

On the ground, large tree trunks started to grow and grabbed on to the stag's neck. She then let go with one hand and started to punch the stag mercilessly while holding on to one of its antlers. It was giving of little damage but since she was repeatedly doing it, the damage became evident.

The other high-tiered stag and the king-tiered stag were chasing Jaden. They were having a hard time since Jaden was really fast. She would try to shroud herself with mist and be invisible from time to time in order to land sneak attacks on one of the stags. But it was doing little to no damage at all. After all, she was still only a Silver Survivor.

When the King-tiered stag saw stag number 1 being beaten mercilessly, it stopped following Jaden and sped up towards Ash.

Jaden tried to warn Ash, "Look out!"

"Nine! Take out one eye!" I yelled as I gave out the order.

Without any reply from the other line, a shot rang out.

BAAANG!

The king has been shot on the eye and staggered a bit. I didn't take any chances and pulled my bow string and released it.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Two wind arrows shot from above were now aimed towards the king-tiered beast. As it was about to find its balance, the arrows found their way to its neck and eye. As a result, it shifted its direction and crashed towards the other stag piercing its body with its antlers. Stag number 1 was dead.

When the King-tiered stag saw this, it got enraged. It glared at Ash and was now preparing to dash towards her. But just when I thought that it was going to charge at her, it opened its mouth and let out a loud growl.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

"That can't be good…" Shadow said on the comms

"Fairy! What the hell was that?!" Grimm asked.

"None of your business!" I retorted

"IT IS MY BUSINESS!" Grimm angrily answered back.

"GUYS! FOCUS!" Toni had to stop us from arguing.

This was getting out of hand, we're getting tenser by the second. Where the heck is Paradox?

"Grimm focus on the supplies. We'll definitely give you guys the opening that you need." I assured them.

"… Roger…" Grimm replied.

"Paradox are you there?" I tried to communicate with that bastard.

There was no response from him.

Where the heck is he?

"I guess we're on our own for now." I said that and smiled.

*RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE*

There were rumbling noises from a distance. I flew higher and tried to see where it was coming from. A cloud of snow dust was seen from a distance about 10km away. But they were coming over to where we were at a rapid pace.

"Could it be…?" I thought out loud.

It couldn't escape the ears of Toni and she became worried and asked, "Fairy? What's wrong? What do you see?"

I didn't respond and was in shock.

"Fairy? Do you copy?" Toni tried to snap me back to reality.

"I'm moving in watchtower. I need a better view of the situation." I finally responded.

"Permission granted, proceed with caution." Toni approved

"Guys, hold them up for a sec, could you? I'll be back in a bit." I instructed.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK WERE WE DOING THEN?" Jaden grunted.

I didn't reply and just flew to where the sound was coming from. I'm sure of what it is, but just in case, I had to check and see for myself. I just hope I'm wrong.

"Uhh… Fairy… Do you see it yet?" Jaden spoke in a worried tone. She seemed to have stopped running from the beast.

"Not yet." I asked.

"Something's wrong. The high-tiered stag just stopped attacking me and is now heading to where the king-tiered beast is. It's not even in a hurry." Jaden answered.

"Is Ash fine?" I asked again.

"Yes I am. I'm just… confused about what's happening." Ash answered.

I was now nearing the cloud of dust. It's just a couple of kilometers away now.

Suddenly, Ash's voice sounded terrified on the other line, "Oh my God…"

"What? What is it?" I asked.

"Fairy… Any updates over there?" Jaden said in a flat tone.

This doesn't seem right. Jaden is usually bubbly.

"Jaden, what's going on over there?" I asked.

There was silence on the other end. The cloud of dust was becoming more visible as I draw near. My heart won't stop beating fast as if it's sensing the danger in the situation.

"Hey! Can you hear me? Can you give me a status report? What's go-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I've already come close to see clearly what the cloud of dust really is. And it horrified me. My body began to tremble and my mouth won't seem to speak out the words that I wanted to say.

Then, Jaden said something that made my fear reach its peak. "Fairy… Something is up… The beasts… they… they're eating the dead stag from earlier."

Hearing this from the other line, all of the hair on my body stood up. It made sense. This is why they were evolving so fast. To evolve… they must eat their kind. After we killed that herd back then, that stag must have eaten the corpses of their herd in order to be a king-tiered beast!

Now this… The cloud of dust turned out to be a horde. The growl earlier must have attracted them and called for them to come. This group is mostly composed of mid-tiered and high-tiered beasts. They are now 5km away from where everyone is. What can we do? Once they come, they'll go on a rampage. We totally won't stand a chance! This is really bad!

Breathe Fairy… Breathe…

"Watchtower, I'll give you a live feed on what I'm seeing. You decide on what to do." After saying that, I pressed something on my watch to activate the contact lens that I was wearing. This would show Toni what I was seeing.

"Holy Crap! Everyone prepare yourselves! There's a huge wave of beasts heading there! You guys can't possibly take it!" Toni was now flustered. Even I would be the same if I was in her position. But this is who I am. I'm adorable in front of Paradox but I'm cold towards everyone else. To be honest, I'd rather be here in the skies and watch the whole world burn. But I can't. Somehow, I've grown attached to these people after all that we've been through. Well, we should prepare ourselves for our deaths.

WWOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

"Ash, Jaden, prepare to regroup. I'm heading over as fast as I can. Nine, give me a heads-up if you see anything wrong within a 2km radius. And Stay hidden. We can't back you up for now. You're on your own." I commanded

"Roger!" All of them answered.

We should start preparing to leave soon. Otherwise, we'd be annihilated in minutes.

"Kai! Grimm! Are you done loading supplies? Toni inquired.

"Affirmative Watchtower. We are ready to go. Waiting on your cue to disembark." Grimm replied.

"Noted! Shine, can you transfer all the monitors in those iPad over there and start packing some of the equipment and gadgets? Afterwards, head straight to the plane. It's in Hall 46. The place where we couldn't open before. We'll monitor everything from the plane." Toni instructed.

Shine gave a nod and immediately plugged a flash drive on the computer to copy all the data and then opened all the cabinets and drawers to start packing all that she could. Shadow was there to help as well.

"Paradox?! Are you there?! Now would be a good time to come and help!" Toni yelled on the comms.

We were all anxiously waiting for a response, but unfortunately, no response came from the other end. His comms was still turned off.

"Damn! Where the hell is that guy? Busy at a time like this?" Ash angrily complained as she slowly backed away from the beasts to regroup with Jaden.

"We have no choice then…" Toni muttered to herself before she continued speaking. "Shadow, head out. You need to help tank the monsters out." Toni instructed Shadow.

She then tried to retort. "But Paradox said-"

"Paradox isn't here!" Toni said as she slammed her fists on the table.

This is bad. Everybody's getting tense. I guess this is where I step in.

"*sigh* Shadow, just get here. We need all the help that we can get." I tried to comfort Shadow.

"Toni… listen. I know you're pressured right now, but you need to be the one who needs to be the most level-headed person right now. Head to the plane. I'll take it from here. Take charge of the commands once you've cooled off. We need you the most right now Commander." I said in all sincerity.

This has been my job and will always will be. Nine and I have always been the stoic people in the team. But Nine is more quiet than I am and he can't give of commands so I had to be the one to remind everyone, especially the three muchachos, to cool-off when necessary.

"Thanks Fairy…" Toni said.

I just smiled and landed beside Ash. Shadow had also arrived and was standing next to me. We huddled up.

"Everyone, we have to stall time. I think Paradox has a plan. But he needs all the time we he could get."

GRRRRRRRRR! GRRRRRRR! ROAARARRRRAAGGGGGH!

Suddenly, we could hear a rumbling sounds and roaring in the distance. The horde of beasts were drawing closer.

I faced them again and smile before saying, "Let's take out as much as we can."

I then faced Ash, "Take the supporting tank role for now. Grab as much as you can from the front lines. Don't let go no matter what."

Ash nodded.

"Shadow, let loose. Kill everything that Ash gets to trap." I commanded.

Shadow started clapping and jumping before she summoned her giant sledgehammer. "Yes! Finally! I've been dying to get some action!"

"Nine, Jaden, anything that gets through the traps gets killed. Do you copy?"

"Roger that!" They both answered.

"What are you going to do?" Ash asked.

"Me?" I turned my back before I answered. "I'm going to give them hell from the heavens." I smirked.

I tried to control my breathing to relax myself.

Right now, I can't be the happy-go-lucky girl that everyone knows.

I need to be calm…

I need to be decisive…

I need to be… Devilishly Evil…

The air around me changed. It was now cold and surging with killing intent. Every time I breathe in, I became relaxed. And every time I breathe out, I gave off a sense of danger to everything around me. My teammates could feel it to. Even Ash admitted she had goosebumps.

"There it is, she's back again…" Jaden said in a flat tone.

Even Nine who had now taken his post could feel my killing intent as he hummed in agreement to what Jaden said.

"I definitely don't want to get on her bad mood. She'd be a terrible enemy to make." Shadow said.

"But she'd make a powerful ally." Jaden added.

I was already focused and my mind was at its calmest. I opened my eyes slowly and I could see the horde rapidly approaching us, which was only less than a kilometer away. The king-tiered beast and the other stag were just standing there waiting for the horde to devour us. I breathed in again and released my breath all at once. "HAH!"

"There it is…That's her…" Jaden said.

"Yep… the Demon Fairy" Ash said.

"I'm still scared of her… but I'm just glad that she's with us." Shadow said with a wry smile.

I then bursted through the skies and summoned my bow. "READY!" I yelled through the comms. Everyone summoned their weapons and we're now testing it out. I then summoned an air arrow over to my bow. I pulled the string and the arrow immediately grew as if I was slinging a spear instead. "ATTAAAAAACK!"

I released the spear-like arrow from my bow and it dashed towards the back of the horde. As it neared the group of beasts, the arrow became larger and larger before separating into multiple spear-like arrows.

TTATATATATATATATATATTATATATATATTTATTTAT!

The arrows stormed the horde and a bunch of them were killed. Only the mid-tiered beasts were killed under fire. The high-tired beast continued to surge forward.

"Guess it's my turn… [ROOT SNARE]! HAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ash laid out her mega skill and trapped most of the high-tiered beasts with metallic roots. It's basically effective against high-tiered beasts and is also unbreakable.

"YAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!" Without any second thought, Shadow jumped towards up in the air raising her Giant Sledge Hammer and headed towards the trapped beasts.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!

A loud explosion could be heard in the middle of the herd as she landed there. Dust, rocks and logs flew all over the place. She then started swinging her Hammer towards the nearby beasts and they all fell one by one. Wow! The strength of that woman is insane!

SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!

Sounds of blades piercing something could be heard. Jaden was starting to get to work. Anything that went through the traps were either sliced by Jaden or was sniped by Nine.

"Wooooh! This is really easy!" Shadow was obviously enjoying herself.

"Stay focused. We can't let our guard down." I reminded her.

"You're such a party pooper Fairy. YAAAAAH!" She said as she hits another beast. "Nothing bad is going to-".

Shadow suddenly became quiet.

"Shadow?" I tried to confirm if she was still there. I have a bad feeling about this. "Jaden, check on Shadow."

"Roger that" She responded. I watched her as she sprinted towards the dusty area of the battle field waiting for her to report on Shadow.

"Shadow? Come in Shadow?" Jaden could be heard through the comms as she was trying to communicate with Shadow.

Unfortunately, there was no response.

Suddenly, a shivering voice came from Jaden on the other end. "Oh my God…"

This gave off an eerie feeling. "Jaden… Status report…"

No response came from the other line.

Then Jaden said something that made the hairs on my body stand up. "You sick bastard! I'm going to- AAGH!"

"JADEN!" Everybody yelled in the comms.

"JADEN! WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Toni yelled.

"BLAGHHH!" The sound of someone vomiting was heard on the other end. "I'm down… so is Shadow. She… She was attacked by the King-tiered beast. I can't move." Jaden reported.

This is not looking good. We have to get them out of there.

"Ash, get them out of there ASAP but be careful. Nine! Help me cover them!" I ordered.

"Uhh… Boss, did she just say that Shadow was attacked by the King-tiered beast?" Nine asked.

"Yes! Now help me cover them!" I answered.

"But boss, I'm looking at the King-tiered Stag right now, and they are at the sides just observing us." He reported.

"That's impossible!" my voice at this point had a tinge of fear in it. If the stag didn't attack Shadow and Jaden, who did?

"Fairy…BLAGH!" Jaden tried to talk and was now vomiting.

"Stop talking…Ash is heading to where you are. Don't worry." I answered.

"Fairy… it's not a stag…" Ash confirmed in a voice that sounded like it saw death in the flesh.

Then what is it?

WOOOOSH! WOOOOSH!

"FAIRY! I GOT THEM BOTH! WE SHOULD MAKE A RUN FOR IT!" Ash yelled.

I threw two shots of [SCATTERED SHOT] at the back end killing most of the beasts while Nine also followed suit using his skill called [SNIPER MACHINE GUN].

"What are you talking about?!" I was already expecting the worse answer possible and believe it or not, I was right

"Fairy! It's a two-headed Dire Wolf! IT HAS SIX LEGS AS WELL! IT'S A SECOND KING-TIERED BEAST! Ash shouted as she ran out of the battle area towards the entrance of the cave.

The Stag who was just watching suddenly bit the head his companion. It instantly died. It didn't stop there. The beast continued to chow down the rest of the body before giving Ash a glare. It was planning to attack!

After eating the other stag, it probably had a boost in strength. Ash was carrying two people on her shoulders as she ran towards the cave. I swooped down and grabbed Shadow to lighten her load. We were heading towards the cave as Nine covered us.

"Boss, I've killed the last of the small fries… Only two of the big guns are left." Nine reported.

"Great! Toni! We need back up to kill the King-tiered beasts! We can't fight with two injured people. They need immediate attention! Where's Paradox?!" I yelled over the comms.

"I don't know where he is! He's still not responding!" Toni replied anxiously.

We were now just a couple of meters near the entrance. Almost there!

A flash of a dark shadow suddenly appeared at my peripheral vision and soon enough it became visible in front of us. It was the King-Tiered Stag!

"CRAP!" Ash cursed.

We turned around and started heading to the opposite direction. That was when the King-Tiered wolf emerged from the dust where the battle happened earlier. It was growling and was waiting to attack. One at the front. The other at the back. This just turned from bad to worst.

"What now Fairy?" Ash asked.

I looked at both of the beasts as we waited for them to move.

"Anytime now Paradox…" I muttered under my breath.

Ash and I were now panting heavily as we watched the Stag slowly making its way towards us.

"Crap…" I cursed.

BANG! BANG! Two gunshots were fired towards the head of the Stag but it didn't even get a scratch. It made a low growl and stared at the area where Nine currently was hiding. It opened its mouth and light was beginning to form from it. Are you kidding me?! It can breathe fire?!

"NINE! GET OUT OF THERE!" I warned him.

"Too late boss… I won't make it in time." Nine answered.

"NO! No one is dying under my watch!" I yelled as my eyes began to tear up from the thought of losing another companion.

"Sorry boss… Tell Paradox I'm sorry" Nine said in a flat tone.

The fire on the Stag's mouth fully formed and was ready to fire. It was like time stood still for us as we watch the monster with that much power, readied itself to fire. I closed my eyes and waited for this nightmare to end, wishing that it was all a dream.

Please… someone… anyone… save us…

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTT! BOOOOOOOOM!

A loud explosion echoed in the entire area as we were sent flying backwards. I slowly stood up and helped Ash up. We then grabbed Shadow and Jaden and hid behind one of the rocks.

"What the hell was that? Did it fire the shot?" Ash became curious.

"I don't know…N-Nine… are you there?" I nervously asked.

Suddenly a voice came from the comms, "Why don't you tell him yourself Nine?"

That voice…

"About time!" Toni yelled happily.

The dust began to settle as a figure of a man became clearer. I was shocked to see an object that bounced off beside the man.

It was the head of the Stag!

"Sorry I'm late. Did I miss the party?" The man smiled as he said that.

I wasn't able to answer as I was now weeping uncontrollably. Nine's voice was heard in the line as he answered, "You're right on time actually. I owe you one… Paradox."

__END OF CHAPTER__

[SCATTERED SHOT] – Fairy's skill. Fires a barrage of spear-sized wind arrows to rain down on enemies. Effective against hordes. Can be used 10x in one day.

[SNIPER MACHINE GUN] – Nine's skill. Summons a machine gun with the fire power, fire rate, and firing range of a sniper. Lasts for 10 seconds and can be summoned only three times in one day.

[ROOT SNARE] – Ash's mega skill. Summons metal-like thorny vines from the ground to entangle the enemy within a 2km radius. Effective against low-tiered to high-tiered beasts and 1st grade to 4th grade zombies. Can be used 3x in one day.