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A short man in long robes holding a staff double his height. His name was Hike. He was the B-Rank Healer for the Orange Fox Party. He was always praised for his excellent strategies and healing abilities. He was also known for being the strategist of the Party, someone who could be relied upon, especially for the lower ranks.

The lower ranks praised him as an inspiring figure of achievement since he climbed from F-Rank all the way to B-Rank.

And now he stood before Mel. A short man looking down on an exhausted woman. He glanced with anger, with hatred for the power inside her. He raised his staff to the sky.

"I was watching the whole thing Miss Mellody and I have to say, you are strong. Stronger than Wendy, stronger than..." (Hike)

He chuckled under his breath.

"What are you mumbling? Hurry up and... Heal me. The fight could still be-" (Mel)

Hike stopped chuckling.

"Now that's why I hate your type of people! Oh-oh! I'm so strong I'm so strong! Look up at me! You peasants, I am strong! Bow down bow down! But when it comes down to it, in the end... In your final moments. While I'm staring you in the eyes. Watching you cry out! Heal me heal me! Heal me heal me! But when they die... It's always my fault!" (Hike)

"What are you saying?" (Mel)

Mel pushed up on her leg, trying to stand, but her body wouldn't let her, she couldn't move. The staff fell like a hammer. Hike smashed his staff into the side of Mel's head, throwing her back down into the sand.

Blood began to spill.

"You know Miss Mellody. I was gonna go and kill your Axel friend but... This is much more pleasurable!"

He rose his staff to the tallest heights at which he could reach. He spread apart his legs and readied himself for the killing blow. He let the hammer fall.

It fell but not fast enough.

"What do you think you're doing?" (Bollin)

Hike turned around slowly. He looked at his staff. He looked at the stump. His staff was instantly blown apart, sent in two, flying toward the destroyed hordes of the undead.

"You... Your... Shit!" (Hike)

Bollin turned slightly to the left. He saw Mel's bloodied forehead. He looked at the army of crumbled undead soldiers. He looked at the orange smoke that simmered in the center of the mass. He looked closer. He saw Gen trying her hardest to carry Axel back.

"So you...? Can you tell me what you're doing to her?" (Bollin)

"Uhh. Umm. Sir. Mr. Bollin actually. I was trying to heal her, but you blew away my staff." (Hike)

"UHHHH HUUUUUHHHHH. Sure, whatever." (Bollin)

Bollin turned around and walked the other way. Hike looked at Mel's unconscious body. He looked at Bollin with his back turned.

"I can do this! An A-Rank!" (Hike)

Hike pulled a black egg from his pocket. He channeled his Harmony into the egg.

Bollin turned around.

"That's! Kid you shouldn't be..." (Bollin)

The Harmony spun. It spun in the opposite direction. Light from dark. Dark came from light.

"Kid don't use that! You don't know how to control it!" (Bollin)

"Hehehe! I have power! Finally! I can-"

Bollin ducked down and pulled out seven gold coins.

Curse.

---

Mel woke up to the sight of Axel and Gen standing over her.

"What happened Mel?" (Gen)

Mel rubbed her head and stood up all limp, her legs shaking and her head bouncing.

"I don't know? Something hit me I think? I feel nauseous." (Mel)

Axel Mel and Gen all walked back to where they left the Orange Fox Party. They stepped over undead after undead, soldier after soldier. They reached the pools of blood. Wendy standing with Mike in her arms. His body covered in scratches and cuts. The C-Ranks stood with faces of tears and pain. They carried their friends across the sand. The dead, the alive, the sick, the injured.

Six dead. Five C-Ranks, and one B-Rank, Tinnin.

Three injured. Two C-Ranks, one B-Rank, Mike Yellow.

Hike B-Rank, missing.

One B-Rank remained. One B-Rank stayed behind. Wendy Sinci.

---

Five minutes later after the blood-soaked deeper into the orange sand.

A woman with long silver hair and a stunningly beautiful face walked toward the surviving adventures. She wore a pitch white fur coat over a very revealing red dress heightened by her tall glistening golden heels that shined in the sparkling sunlight.

The woman walked past Wendy who laid crying in front of the dead Tinnin. The dead body covered in shattered sparks and blood. A sword through his abdomen, a dagger in his heart. There was no room left to breathe, to speak, for last words. He was dead the second his armor gave way, the second his heart was pierced.

The woman walked past the undead soldiers. Her face as still as beauty itself. She walked past the two crying C-Ranks as they carried their dead friends. She walked past Mike's unconscious bleeding body. She walked up to Mel. Her eyes lit up.

"So Mel you're the one who took care of the monster?" (Jayy R)

"Long time no see R, but... Yeah no, this time it wasn't me." (Mel)

"Heh, being as humble as ever. You really do never change. Just like your Dad, just like the old times." (Jayy R)

Mel smiled.

"What are you smiling for?!" (Jayy R)

"Nothing. Nothing at all..." (Mel)

Jayy R looked around, she looked at Axel's uncaring gaze as he held Mel up by one shoulder. She looked down at Gen who stared back with awe and inspiration at the A-Rank standing right before her own very eyes. She looked to the distance, the army of undead soldiers defeated.

"Mel I guess this as good a time as ever. The Guild Master told me to give this to you before you went off on your vacation, but I was busy so I wasn't able to see you. But now that your here... Do you know what just take it!" (Jayy R)

She pulled a letter from her fur coat and tossed it to Mel.

"What is it? What does that old geezer want?" (Mel)

"He wants you to come this year. He says it will be a big one, the biggest yet. All the A-Ranks, all the B-Ranks, all the C-Ranks, all the Adventurers spread across the four Kingdoms are coming back for one event." (Jayy R)

"Don't tell me..." (Mel)

Gen jumped up excited.

"Yup. The Promotion Trials. He wants you to come again. He always says you have the most potential." (Jayy R)

Mel shook her head in annoyance. She turned away looking at Axel.

"Of course I'm joining the Trials to you know... Become an S-Rank, but like every year it's prob not gonna happen. Only-" (Jayy R)

Mel interupeted Jayy R.

"Do you want me to come?" (Mel)

"Hmmph. I know your not, but it wouldn't hurt to see you fight a bit. Like old times."

She smirked a little smirk. Mel smirked back, looking back at Axel. She handed the letter to him.

"Nah nah. Yeah, your right..." (Mel)

She wiped her sweating face, her exahsted state, her tired eyes.

"I'm not participating this year. I'm never participating again. Never ever ever! But..." (Mel)

She pointed up at Axel's face.

"He's going in my stay." (Mel)

"Him...?" (Jayy R)

She looked closely at Axel at his strong tall figure, at his fierce gaze, at his potential.

"Yeah him..." (Mel)

Jayy R glanced at Mel's face as she looked fondly at Axel. She chuckled under her breath and turned around in a flash.

"Mel, I don't give a flying shit what you do with the letter, just... Yeah, do whatever you want." (Jayy R)

She walked away from the scene, into the distance, her clickity clacking heels, her swaying fur coat, her tight red dress.

"Who was that?" (Axel)

"That was-" (Mel)

Gen jumped forward screaming!

"Mel you know Jayy R the A-Rank! She's like the strongest in all the A-Rank Magicians. I heard she once defeated an A-Rank monster with just one finger." (Gen)

Mel blushed.

"Hahaha yeah. It's a long story." (Mel)

---

Hours later. In the middle of the dark forest.

Bollin stands over a charred dried-up dead body. Jayy R appeared from the shadows.

"Bollin, what happened?" (Jayy R)

"This B-Rank... He was tried to curse me?" (Bollin)

"How does a B-Rank know how to curse?" (Jayy R)

She squatted down in front of Hikes dead body. Bollin turned away. He pulled out a gold coin and tossed it into the air.

"There's something off here! This B-Rank... He wasn't strong one bit. Weaker than weak but..." (Bollin)

Jayy R looked up at Bollin.

"What are you saying? He couldn't control it right, it backfired on him. Did someone teach him how to do it?" (Jayy R)

"No, he was holding some sort of egg." (Bollin)

"A Cursed Conduit? How would a B-Rank acquire one? The smallest weakest Cursed Conduits go for hundreds of millions on the market." (Jayy R)

"I don't usually like to work with that man but... He would know. He always knows something." (Bollin)

"To the Guild Master it is." (Jayy R)