Thursday November 3rd, 2018

  “Get them!” Shouts someone from the back of the mob. Hinata no longer considers them attacking parties. They have devolved into a mob of people trying to throw themselves into the meat grinder that is Rurgrim, Gabi and Rocco. Even after Hinata called for her party not to kill, people are still ending up bloody.

  Every step they take is met with more people throwing themselves at her party and she has no idea why they are even doing this. To Hinata’s knowledge, the number of points that a party gets for winning a challenge would be small when spread between all these people.

  “Alli! Clear a path!” Hinata shouts at her friend on the platform above her. With a smile, Alli conjures up a second construct.

  “Drink this!” Alli shouts. The construct above her glows the classic light blue of mana, with dark blue runes filling it. One of the unique features of Alli’s class and mana affinity is that when she uses runes, she doesn’t need to match the mana affinity to get them to activate.

  Unlike Helo’s enchanting. When it comes to filling runes with mana, he needs to jumpstart the runes by using mana of the same affinity.

  A second after she shouts. Water starts to flow from the construct above them. Not a trickle. But an outpouring of water that is like ten fire trucks shooting at the same target. The force is enough that everyone in front of them is washed away.

  Stepping over the sputtering people Hinata and her party rush to the front gate. They can easily enter and when they do, they are even more shocked than when they saw the destroyed path outside their wall. Inside the wall, it is far worse.

  When they enter Helo is in the middle of a fight with six other individuals. This is a party of decently strong people that wanted to try their luck before the Heiresses got home.

  Wielding both his knives for the first time that day, Helo is a blur as he dodges and deflects attacks. “Clang. Clang. Claclaclaclang!” Sparks shoot out from each clash, but nobody seems to have the upper hand.

  Even with a second class and a few levels into tier 2 they are not having much luck in being able to pin down Helo due to his fast movement, incredible body control, and powerful instincts. At the same time Helo has some backup with Lelai. Small ‘Mist Orbs’ are constantly launched as Lelai runs around the circumference of the fight. She is arguably doing more damage to the landscape than the intruders.

  As the gates open and the party returns home the fight in the front yard stops. “Oh shit.” One of the attacking party says. That is all he has time to say before a barrage of water knocks him and the rest of his team off their feet.

  The water also has the effect of washing away the last of the shrubs that had managed to survive until then. Before the attacking party can get back to their feet Helo, Hinata, Rocco, Gabi, Carl and Rurgrim are there with quick blows to knock everyone out.

  Hinata looks around with a shocked expression. “Helo-Kun… I’m so sorry, I had no idea it would be this bad.” Hinata says while taking in the destruction that befell their home. The mansion itself doesn’t have much damage, only a few places with cracks or burnt siding.

  Helo looks around and chuckles. His laugh takes most of his party off guard. When they first met him, he was quiet and serious. Then he became slightly apathetic and instinctual. Now he is laughing.

  “It’s all good. After I got over being angry due to the damage, I actually had fun.” Helo says while scratching his cheek and looking away. “Plus… a lot of the damage was Lelai.”

  “YIP! RRRRRRHHHH!” Lelai barks and growls at Helo. Her attitude makes it seem like she is placing the blame back on Helo like, ‘How dare you say it is my fault. Takes one to know one.’

  Hinata relaxes as she sees that Helo is doing well. “Well, I’m sure Arisah will enjoy growing the garden herself. She sometimes complains about the positions of the plants.”

  Helo tenses at Hinata’s words. Everyone notices his actions and looks at him. “Ah… Are you sure we should let her grow the new garden…?”

  “Is she okay? Did she get hurt?” Alli cuts in with worry.

  “Oh! No no no. It’s just… she is kinda going on a power trip. But with how sweet she is, its freaking me out…” Helo says while looking even more embarrassed than when he blamed the damage on Lelai.

  They all give Helo an odd look at his words. Nobody. Absolutely nobody in the party can picture Arisah going on a power trip. Seeing that nobody believes him, Helo just shrugs and falls in step with Hinata.

  It only takes a minute for the party to walk to the Greenhouse. Before they can enter, Helo bars their path. “I’m being serious… Just brace yourselves.”

  Rolling her eyes, Alli steps past Helo and opens the door. Looking to the side and then further into the room Alli’s eyes go wide. The party tenses for what she is about to say. “Woah, the flower has gotten so big!”

  Rushing into the doors the rest of the party checks out the flower. “Damn.” Gabi says. “We are definitely going to win, that thing radiates mana.”

  “DEAR LORD.” Carl says out loud. “Whatever is happening here is a sin against everything right and holy.”

  The rest of the party looks to Carl and then to where he is looking. “Fuck.” Gabi mumbles.

  “Ummm…” Alli for once has no idea what to say.

  The rest of the party has their own reactions as they all look toward where almost a hundred bodies are stacked neatly along the wall of the Greenhouse. Each body is wrapped tightly in vines with colorful flowers emitting different chemicals to keep everyone sedated and producing life energy.

  Stepping up next to Helo, Hinata whispers. “I can see what you meant.”

  “Hey everyone. Are you all doing okay?” Comes a sweet voice from behind them.

  Whipping around they all find Arisah standing behind them. All the plants around her bend like they are trying to nuzzle her. At the same time her eyes are glowing with a green light that radiates with vitality.

  The image makes the hunger that Helo hasn’t felt for a long-time return. With so much vitality flowing into and through the Dryad, he can’t help but think about how great she must taste. His own bloodline should have been something like what Arisah is experiencing. But thanks to the curse he was born with, he went from a wellspring of life and a bottomless pit.

  Helo quickly snaps himself out of his hunger induced daze. “Nope, we just came to drop off these six new batteries.” Helo says with a forced smile before slowly leading the rest of the party from the area.

  Walking back to the front of the house, everyone is completely silent. Finally, after a minute it is Hinata that breaks the silence. “This could be really bad.”

  “What do you mean?” Aiko asks.

  “Well… There are stories that Dryad parents are supposed to pass on. One of them comes with a lesson. Never absorb the vitality of a sentient creature.” Hinata looks at everyone seriously.

  “We all know that Helo can absorb vitality.” She gets a round of nods in return. “Well, he uses it as a fuel. But Dryad’s are naturally able to become a conduit for vitality in nature. It is where our power comes from. Nature mages can use their mana to help a plant grow, but we can tap into the vitality around us.”

  Some of the party members look surprised, but for people like Rocco, Aiko and Alli, they already knew that. “But we are all told not to absorb vitality from sentient creatures. What Arisah is doing, she is making herself a conduit for the flow of everyone in the Greenhouse. It only has to start small, she takes just a little bit into herself on accident. Then it can quickly grow into a craving.”

  “Wait wait wait.” Gabi says with her hands waving in front of her. “Your saying that Arisah is getting a vitality high?”

  Hinata looks a little embarrassed, but she nods. “Yeah.” Before anyone can speak, her aura unconsciously pulses due to her frustration and desire to protect Arisah. This draws everyone up short. “This is serious. One of the worst Dryad’s in the history of my people started because her daughter was dying and she absorbed her vitality so she could live on through her. She got a taste for it and went on to kill worlds full of people.” Hinata looks extremely worried but she shrugs slightly. “At least that is the story.”

  This causes everyone to look more serious. “So, what do we do?” Rocco asks seriously.

  “Well. There isn’t much we can do now. I doubt we are going to get any free time with everyone trying to steal from us.” Hinata looks toward the wall where she can see a few heads peaking over like some perverts. “We can deal with it tomorrow morning. But Arisah is going to have to go into some kind of solitary so that she isn’t tempted by anyone.”

  The entire party agrees to help out Arisah the next morning. Then they all quickly turn toward the entrance to their property. “It is baffling to me that none of the mob are trying to enter.” Carl says.

  “Well… I think there is more going on here.” Hinata says seriously. “I don’t see those people being the type to attack us without good reason. They were crafters and… well, no offence but weak fighters.”

  “Ha! You got that right.” Gabi says while flicking off the people that are staring at them. “It sucks the garden is gone, it was stopping the PERVS!” She shouts the last word loud enough for them to hear.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Speaking up Helo draws everyone’s attention. “We should leave in groups to go get geared up.” After his idea everyone in the party quickly agreed. Starting with the two heiresses, everyone quickly went out to put on their gear. Unfortunately for Helo he has yet to finish the enchantments he wanted to make for his own gear. He was planning on taking four of the forty outfits that Hinata and Alli made for him and enchanting them. They already have the Tri-Enchant on them. But that is a self-clean, self-mend, and self-size enchantments. The nice thing about it is that it was created so that other enchantments can be added to it.

  “Are we ready yet.” Dorimer sneers at the thugs that are sitting in his office. He just wants all these disgusting lesser creatures to stop staining the air that he is breathing. It is already barely tolerable that he must deal with mercenaries on a regular basis. But now he is dealing with street thugs.

  “Yeah man.” Allen says with a smirk. “I went down the streets that you run and told everyone that they had to participate or pay extra fees. Then I offered some school credits to some of the fighters that will do just about anything to get some cash.”

  “Good.” Dorimer nods. This idiot might be a thug. But at least he is competent. “As long as they are not at full strength. When classes end more of the stronger parties should start making their attempts. Once they are nice and worn out, we will strike.”

  Sneaking back to his party Helo looks at Hinata and Alli with a serious expression. Everyone is geared up, in what Alli would say is their ‘Mismatched and haphazard gear where they are just asking to be hit by friendly fire.’ When she said that she wanted to get matching gear for the entire party, she was serious.

  “That bad huh?” Hinata asks him when she sees his expression.

  “Yeah… It is worse than it looks. Everyone that you fought earlier is still out there. They are lined up like some kind of first century meat shields.” Helo says seriously.

  “Hhm.” Hinata’s quick and serious mind rapidly goes through what that means for them. “We won’t be able to attack seriously until they are all gone, even their unconscious bodies. That will severely weaken our own mana reserves before the fight even starts.”

  “That isn’t the worst part.” Helo grimaces slightly. “I felt more people than we can see. There are some genuinely strong individuals on the other side of the weaker students.”

  “But. There is a positive.” Helo looks at the two heiresses. “Two of the teachers revealed their auras to me. I wouldn’t have been able to feel them if they didn’t want me to. It was the Runeglass siblings.”

  Hinata perks up a little at this. “That is good.” She smiles as she thinks it through.

  “How?” Alli asks. “If they were going to help, they would have already.”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt that.” Hinata responds. “But I bet they will be clearing away anyone that gets knocked out. It means we won’t have to hold back for long.”

  Alli, Luna and Aiko nod in agreement as Hinata explains her reasoning. To them it makes sense, they just hope that the teachers will act like they are expecting.

  Looking back at Helo, Hinata asks him to explain what he meant by stronger individuals that are hiding.

  Looking at the front gate Helo points toward the right. “Obviously nobody is off the cliff, but I wouldn’t put it past someone to try and sneak attack us.” Pointing to the left he says. “We have our wall. Then a path that leads between us and the next mansion. On the other side of that mansions wall, I felt some people waiting. My range has increased and I was just able to feel them.”

  Pointing toward the gate, Helo says. “Our front there is a road, then the mansions across from us. I can’t feel that far, but I wouldn’t put it past the other students if there were more people hiding there.”

  “That is to much? Isn’t it?” Alli asks them. “How are they going to split the prize between so many people?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised if they just want to steal it from us, then they will fight between one another.” Luna speaks up with a depressed look. She is probably the least excited about the fight to come. It is only four PM, and they don’t turn in their challenge flower until the next morning.

  “Don’t worry!” Alli smacks Luna on the back with a smile. “We are going to do fine.”

  “I don’t doubt us…” Hinata looks like she has an idea. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t prepare for the worst.”

  For the next thirty minutes Bibbin and Helo work to fix and lay more traps. They debate on opening the gate to try and funnel everyone in. But in the end, they decided that people would still try and sneak in. Instead, they are laying every single trap that Bibbin has. This is to alert them of where people are entering from.

  The two main entrances are in the middle of the front wall with the gate and the secondary wall. Thankfully having two sides of their property near the cliff makes them less worried about people entering from that side.

  The two parties are going to split to defend the two main weaknesses. Thanks to the destruction of the garden if someone is trying to enter from one of the few other places where the barrier is weak, they will be able to see it. If said person is trying to sneak in the traps should alert them.

  “It is quite peculiar that they are giving us time to rest and prepare.” Carl says to the group. “I would have expected whoever is leading the group to do the dishonorable thing and just attack.”

  “I can agree to that Metal Head.” Rurgrim raises his drink from where he is sitting. The entire party is sitting around the front of the house. They found some lawn chairs and now they are just waiting for someone to try and break in.

  “HELLO TWIN HEIRESS PARTY!” Someone shouts from the other side of the gate.

  “Phu.” Alli pouts as she perks up. It causes her to make a weird slumping motion in her seat. “I hate that name.”

  Hinata rolls her eyes from her own chair and stands up. “Well, it sounds like it is time to speak to our guests.” Looking around she gestures to Rocco and Carl. Giving one last glance toward Arisah. Hinata speaks. “Go ready yourself near the wall. Alli, Helo and I will check the gate.”

  The party splits into two and each side heads toward one portion of the wall. Alli’s party goes to the left and the wall with the path on the other side. Hinata’s group goes to the right of the gate and where the wall meets the road.

  “Well… We don’t want to keep them waiting.” Hinata leads Alli and Helo to the gate. Placing a head on an enchantment to the right of the gate, a small screen appears with a view of the other side.

  On the screen there is someone that Helo recognizes. It is a tall man with shaggy brown hair, brown eyes and a face that makes you want to hit him. He also dresses like he would rub his own grandmother for her lunch money. His clothes make him look like a thug that wears poorly kept leather armor.

  Whispering to Alli and Hinata, Helo says. “That is Allen. I knocked him out at that store. He is the reason that Jorden started a protection racket.”

  “OHH!” Alli says out loud with very little consideration for the people watching. Pointing at the screen she says. “His nickname is like Little Finger? Little… Little something right?”

  Allen the Brutal Finger glares at the screen on the other side. There might only be a few feet separating them, but the enchantments on the gate and wall in this area are far more than he can overcome. To Allen it seems like Alli is mocking him. When truthfully, she is just being herself.

  Glaring at the screen Allen sneers. “Just hand over your flower. It isn’t like you need the points.”

  Behind Allen, Eric is looking at the screen in surprise. Seeing Helo standing between the two Heiresses, he is having a flashback to when he got knocked out at a restaurant. He wants to say something, but before he opens his mouth, he remembers that he lied to his boss about that situation.

  “I appreciate it. But you’re just going to have to try and take it.” Hinata says it in a playful tone. It is a little unlike her to act so flippant. But she already knows that they won’t be talked down. So, her best bet is to irritate Allen and get him to attack recklessly.

  Allen’s sneer turns uglier. “I can’t wait to rub your face in the dirt once I’m done with you beasts.” Slamming his hand on the screen.

  Turning to Alli, Hinata smiles. “Well, good luck.”

  “HA! This is going to be fun.” Alli says with a grin while she conjures the hammerhead on her staff.

  The two girls split to take care of their own parties. The leave Helo in the middle. Bibbin and he are both acting as traveling help. Bibbin has shown his own worth due to his plethora of unique traps.

  He can toss them out and inconvenience anyone. At the same time, he has control over the hundreds of traps that he laid over the property. Most are along the wall and the Greenhouse.

  At the same time, Helo will be able to easily deal with anyone that tries to sneak in.

  “BOOM! BANG! WHOOOSH!” A cacophony of sounds starts to ring out as the weaker students start funneling over the wall and onto the minefield. Wind, sticky things, explosions, light, sound, and all other sorts of traps start to go off. Each time someone is incapacitated they vanish in a blur as one of the tier 3 teachers takes them away.

  The party members are standing stoically as they hold off their own efforts for when more of the weaker students are dealt with. Each dealing with them will drain their mana and stamina. Something that will be crucial for when the real fighting starts.

  They all watch and wait for their own opportunities to step in. At the moment all the work is being done by Bibbin’s traps. Bibbin is rarely seen and he speaks about as much as Cody. But his place on the heiresses’ party is well earned.

  While watching, Helo starts to wonder why Jorden or someone else isn’t coming to help. But he quickly realizes that they not only have their own challenge victory to deal with. But there was a reason that Akira let extra rifts form, even if it was a weakness that got exploited.

  Growth comes from struggle. If someone came through and dealt with their problems, they wouldn’t grow. Plus, only two of the tenish tier 3 teachers are here. If this was the only mansion getting attacked this night, more teachers would be here.

  Most of the party chuckles on both war fronts as the weak fighters and crafters keep getting stuck, tossed around, blinded and deafened. One of the traps blows up in a swirl of wind. The wind carries the tier 2 crafter over the other traps and directly in front of Rocco.

  The man clears his head and looks up. Only to see Rocco’s gleaming foxlike eyes and then a boot coming down on his skull. After a few minutes of watching ,more and more people start breaking past the traps. On both sides there are paths that lead through already spent traps. In these places Carl steps up on one side, on the other Rurgrim is holding his ground.

  They have already planned for this eventuality. Both defenders are using minimal energy to push the enemies back and onto unspent traps. Near the wall on both sides, there is a half bubble of almost twenty feet where people can stand freely without having to worry about traps.

  In these bubbles the stronger of the fighters start to gather. Allen has yet to show his face. But it seems like they are preparing for their push into the Heiresses’ property. Near the corner of the wall. On the other side a command is shouted in Allen’s voice. “CHARGE!”

  All at once the two groups of people rush out at the same time. The front line is picked off by the dwindling traps. But by the time they reach the defenders, the fighters can make it over the wall and into the fight without having to worry about the traps.

  On one side Carl is in the center with Gabi beside him. Covering his back is Alli, Luna and Arisah. Even if Arisah’s presence is a constant worry to Alli. On the other side Rurgrim is leading the defense with Rocco and Hinata covering his sides. Watching his back is Cody and Aiko.

  Checking over both groups, Helo is happy to see that the two parties are doing well. The attackers seem to be set on taking the parties out first, then going for the Greenhouse. They are trying to circle the parties. But after realizing just how much effort their professor are putting in to keeping people alive, the two parties relaxed their restraint considerably.

  The tier 3’s are so fast that even if Cody shoots a full powered arrow directly at someone’s head, they will be able to get there in time to take the person away before the arrow even hurts them.

  Because of this they don’t have to worry about aiming for non-vital areas or weaking their own attacks.

  On the other side of the wall Allen is standing with his party watching over the fighting. Once it started they raised a piece of earth to the wall’s height and can now look down over the two battles.

  Half of what they are doing, Allen never would have considered. But Dorimer gave him very specific instruction on how to wear the two heiresses down.

  Just as Allen gets lost in his head thinking about all the booze and girls he is going to spend his money on. He hears one of his subordinates speak up. “Um… Boss… Are they trying to kill them?”

  Focusing back on the fight Allen shudders slightly as he watches an arrow that is coated in ice and blistering with power, shoot from the left side and explode on the wall with a “CRACK!” of shattering ice. Following the line of swirling ice mana, Allen can see as the students that should be there are either gone or laying on the ground in frozen groaning heaps.

  Forcing back his gulp. Allen isn’t sure how he should respond.