THE BATTLE BEGINS

UNDERGROUND, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN EDGY EDGE TERRITORY ON MOUNT ADLER:

Blaze and 5000 Edgy Edge warriors were being carried at top speed in long serpentine body of a spiky dragon made of FYBER. The FYBER dragon's intermittent roars seemed to blast tunnels ahead of them through the ground. But in actual fact, the FYBER dragon was the manifestation of the joint effort of the 1250 earth-major warriors in Blaze's division.

"Boss was being a real jerk back there. As always. But at least, he entrusted me with this mission. I won't disappoint him. We will take down AOTL and become the strongest guild," Blaze thought.

MOUNT ADLER, THE UNDERGROUND ARENA, AOTL GUILD BASE:

Five hundred AOTL warriors, stood at attention in formation as Abs addressed them. Himari stood among them, confused as she observed.

"As you have all been informed by now, our enemy this time, is the Edgy Edge guild. The amusing bit about all this, is that their Edgelord guild master, Noydale, is someone Chibilamb and I have been trying to track down for years. It seems he's confident in his own abilities now, and is willing to risk everything to attack us and get back his members who are currently seeking refuge here. As expected, his troops are already on their way here. But we obviously won't be waiting for them to get here before we strike. If you each look in the guild-battle-formation section in your tabs, you'll notice that many of you have been assigned to a unit. We're keeping things simple. A lot of you have been assigned to one out of three units. These are the Spearhead, Shield and Air-strike units. The Spearhead unit will be led by Perez. The Shield unit will be led by Magen, and Air-strike unit, by Aquila. If you don't have a unit, you're with me. Now, split up," Abs commanded.

Himari swallowed hard just as others broke formation to convene as units. She hadn't been assigned to a unit.

"I suspected she wasn't going to go easy on me but this is OVERKILL!" she thought

"She probably intends to rush into the center of the battle or target the strongest player..." She paused as a frightening thought entered her mind.

"She's going right for Madman is, isn't she? She's targeting Noydale himself!" She exclaimed in her mind

"Himari," Abs called out.

"Why would she want to send a newbie like me to the frontline? What is she thinking?" Himari thought

"Himari," Abs called again while approaching her

"What if I mess up really bad and he ends up taking me hostage?" Himari continued thinking.

"Pig-sqeak!" Abs yelled up close into her ear, causing her to jump and squeal.

All eyes turned to Himari. She stared back sheepishly.

"Oh hey! That's the newbie we heard about! The one Ari mistook for a pig." a random male voice yelled from the crowd.

The entire arena erupted in laughter while Ari growled.

"Ok that's enough. It's good to be in high spirits, but stay alert. And no one else apart from me is allowed to make fun of the newbie. Understood?" Abs ordered as she dragged Himari along by the wrist.

"Yes Ma'am" they all answered in unison.

Ari followed behind Abs's and Himari, frowning pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What gives? Why am I going with you? And what happened to Archie and May being the only ones I haven't met yet?" Himari asked

"Great memory you've got there. I said that because they are the ones you will be spending the most time with since they are your fellow unit members. Getting to know 767 other guild members will take a lot of time, don't you think?" Abs responded.

Just then, they arrived beside the quartet they had been walking toward. Among them were Chibilamb and Elias. The other two were a young man with chestnut hair in a man-bun and a girl about the same age as Himari, with long wavy blue hair.

"These are the two you just asked about, Archie and May. Archie is a very skilled marksman and an earth-major warrior, while May is an excellent healer and a water-major warrior. I'll explain what those terms mean on the way. Or you can just ask your guide instead," stated Abs.

Archie and May shook hands with Himari while Abs introduced them.

"It's great to meet another one of Chibilamb's children," said Archie.

"Oh, come to think of... Dad, is Big Sis here? She's also a member of this guild, right?" Himari asked.

"She's banned from logging in till she's done with her exams," Chibilamb responded.

"Oh ... Wait... How come she's still allowed to spar with me then?" Himari asked.

"That's allowed because it constitutes physical exercise, which is good for her brain. It helps her release stress too," Chibilamb answered.

"Good to know I'm her stress relief punching bag," Himari responded as she hunched with a frown.

"You know that's not true. She spars with me too," Chibilamb replied.

"But at least you're both crazy strong, the difference between you two isn't that much," Himari continued.

"That so...?" Chibilamb asked while rubbing his chin.

"There, there, Himari," May reached out and gave her a pat on the back.

"I know what it feels like to be surrounded with crazy strong people, but in no time, you'll be able to hold your own too," she comforted.

"Till you joined, May was the newest member of this unit. So, you'll be able to relate very well to her. She's the best fit as an intermediary between the two of us since I trained her myself. In terms of power, she's pretty much halfway between you and me. So, consider her your... senpai, right?"

Woah! Really? Finally! Someone I can relate with! Please take good care of me, Senpai!" Himari responded in a more chipper fashion with her hands clasped.

"Just call me May" May whispered.

"Aye Aye, May Senpai!" Himari responded

Archie and Abs cracked up.

"Seriously, drop the senpai bit." May continued, looking a little annoyed.

Immediately, a large hole opened up in the wall of the arena about 20 feet above the floor. Ari picked Himari up and seated her on his shoulders.

"What are you...?" Himari started to protest but was interrupted by Ari.

"GRAB ON TIGHT TO MY MANE, PORKY."

Without exchanging any words, Abs, May, Archie, and Chibilamb started walking and eventually broke into a run toward the opening in the wall. Large metal wings shot out of the backs of their hoodies. Each of them cloaked themselves in FYBER, and Ari's amber-colored FYBER cloak covered Himari as well.

"N-No... wait you didn't tell meEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...." All six warriors of the special unit shot up into the air through the hole before Himari could finish her sentence.

Loud blasts could be heard from within Mout Adler. All the other units had already left for their missions. The battle had just begun.