Confrontation in the Forest

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"Quick! Fire the gun Mae!" (Esther)

The purple lines reached a bright point, and a low rumble started to sound.

𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮

Finally, the gun fired, with an explosion large enough to light up the forest around them, and the recoil pushed Mae into a tree very hard.

The shot seemed to have gotten a couple of them, but there was still a huge swarm surrounding her.

"Nice one Mae!" Esther shouted as she quickly ran over to Mae's Aid.

The impact was hard enough to blur Mae's vision, and her head was all dizzy.

"Damn... That gun packs a punch eh?" She said as she tried to stabilize herself, but she ended up falling on one knee to the ground.

"Dammit, I can't get myself to stand..." Mae groaned to herself as she put all the strength she had into lifting her gun with her back against a tree, and charged it up again for a second shot.

"I'm gonna... Wipe 'em all out... In one shot..." Mae said to herself as the purple lines on the gun glowed again, and a low hum signaled the gun springing into life.

Before she could pull the trigger, A familiar tall, slender, and muscular build stepped in.

"Don't worry bub, I got this." Esther whipped out her staff and stared down the oncoming swarm.

"Wait, I can-" Before Mae could finish speaking, she was staring at a smashed locust, and Esther was just running darting around the place, avoiding them and killing locusts.

Her moves were so fast that Mae could barely comprehend them.

She made quick work of the swarm that was around Mae, and she was speechless.

After that, Mae also noticed that the staff was glowing the same purple sheen as her eyes, a saturated purple.

"Uhh Esther, is it just me hallucinating or is your staff glowing?" Mae said as she pointed out to her staff.

Esther's back was facing Mae, and she turned to the side and let out a smirk. "You'll see now. Finally, I'm on a roll." 

A swarm came flying down, and Esther jumped to intercept it.

In quick succession, she took out three in a row, and when she hit the fourth, the locust exploded from a burst of energy.

"Woah, what was that?" Mae asked.

"That's her innate technique, Fate's edge," Leona explained. "It's like rolling a dice, and once her staff or whatever she holds glows, she can land an extra-powerful attack." 

Esther continued to make quick work of the swarm surrounding them, her staff flashing with purple energy as she attacked. The locusts fell one by one, but the swarm kept coming at them.

Leona now stepped in and started dealing with the swarm with her fire pumpkins too.

Mae watched on in awe as this duo cleared group after group of swarms.

"Oh my god Leona, we're gonna gain so many points and be rich!" Esther exclaimed in joy as she slew more and more of these insects.

Mae finally composed herself enough and pulled up behind Leona to cover for her.

The situation was still chaotic, but it was getting somewhat manageable.

Mae thought to herself "If I can't mow down swarms like these two, at least I can cover for them in case they get attacked from behind."

She then heard a rustle behind her, and that rustle certainly wasn't, and quickly turned around with her gun pointing in that direction.

"Don't move." (Mae)

It was the white-haired guy from before during the initial briefing, and he had a katana on his side.

Leona noticed him, and turned to face him "Who are you? Did you perhaps lose your way in the forest, traveler?"

"I'm just here to do my job." He pointed to the katana sheath on his side.

"I suggest you look for a job elsewhere, so please get out of here," Leona said in a very cocky tone, almost mocking.

He just stood there menacingly, not saying anything or moving. And in the blink of an eye, he was gone from their sight.

Mae's eyes frantically darted around, looking for him, and she froze as she felt a cold breath graze her shoulder.

"Don't move." He warned, his katana drawn.

Chills ran down both of their spines as they stood there.

In a blur of motion, every insect around them was massacred in an instant, leaving a trail of dead insects in his wake.

"Who the fuck is this man? Is he obscenely fast to the point where he killed everything in our vicinity in an instant?" Mae thought to herself as she couldn't even see this man's movements.

To her, it was akin to high-speed teleportation.

"Is it okay for me to move now?" Her mind raced, and her legs started quivering.

He landed in front of the frightened duo gracefully and put the katana back into its saya.

"Are you seriously kidding me? What the hell are you doing here?" Esther sounded pissed at this guy's presence.

"D-do you know him, Esther?" Leona stuttered out, to which she begrudgingly replied "Errrr Yes I do."

"Don't make life harder for us, Mirai. Please. Go carry out your shit somewhere else." Esther was almost bitching to this guy. Mae could tell that she sounded so fed up.

"Fucking leave something for us, please. We all have lives to live too." Esther groaned as she walked over to where he was standing.

Leona was just speechless. "M-mirai? What the hell is he doing in a place like this? and Esther, y-you know him?" 

"I know I haven't told you this, but we kinda go way back." Esther shrugged.

Before she could place a hand on him, he disappeared again, as explosions and thuds could be heard around the forest.

"H-how could you not tell me something like this!? That you knew someone who was ranked as number four on the leaderboard?" Leona asked Esther, but she remained silent.

In a matter of twenty seconds, the entire forest was cleared, and a chime sounded, notifying them that the quest was finally over. Leona couldn't believe it. "It's over?" she said, sounding a bit shocked.

Mirai was back to where the trio were and smirked "Can't bother you folks with it. I'll handle this, you just relax. I, um, well, I've got it covered. You might be a bit...uh, weak for this."

Esther's anger finally boiled over. "You dare underestimate me, you little bitch?" She said as she split her staff into a pair of tonfas.

A strong breeze blew throughout the forest, and also the thought that it was a terrible idea for Esther to go up against someone like that in Leona's head.

"Esther sounds so confident, but this guy is one of the top 10, and also will she be okay?" Leona said to Mae, placing a hand on her shoulder.

It finally clicked in Mae's head, and this was Mirai, ranked number four on the leaderboard.

"A top guy eh? Super strong?" For some reason, she wasn't intimidated by this guy at all.

Without hesitation, she raised her gun, pointing it at Mirai.

"W-what the hell do you think you're doing, Mae?" Leona asked, perplexed.

She couldn't quite answer it herself, but she stood resolute.

"Oh ho, things are about to get interesting, huh?" Mirai smirked, as his hand slowly made its way to his katana.