The Exiled Hope

" I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN"

a shooting guardian yelled, as he charged towards the king Nasod's core. I quickly follow suit, disregarding my own injuries, I feel the electric fabrication of the essence of magic flow through my body, as I summon one last attack with all my strength. I raise my hand to the sky, as a blue '3' materializes a sword in the air and crashes down into the core with such force that the air rushes around it as I hear a crack of static electricity. Then it all happened in an instant, as the others were attacking, the king Nasod was charging up a beam of light, one that would finish this battle once and for all. I quickly glance over to Viri-chan, my heart going wild, my vision in a haze. Nothing would cooperate with me, until finally I made my legs move by smashing my sword into them. I could hear the cracking of the beam as it was fully charged and about to fire, I ran quicker than I thought possible. A dazzling white light filled the room as I crashed into Viri-chan, pulling her into my chest as I activated my last ability; one that granted me mana armour that surrounded me, one that was superior to any physical armour known. I felt the white hot burning of the laser, as it hit its mark, screams filling the air, and all I could think of, was the first time I met this girl in front of me, the girl that I was petrified of, all for a skill.

"This skill will help you rise to the top, like countless others who are traveling your road. But it will not be easy to control, if you can beat the king Nasod, then you will have proven you are worthy of such a skill."

My eyes burn with passion, as I re-read this note Camilla gave me. I think back to Camilla, the woman that lets her fists do the talking. Sparky, energetic, black hair woman that always is covered in band-ads, I'm assuming from all the fights she does. I stare at the note again in wonder, as I think of all the personas I will have to face to get to the top of the arena rankings. I am a rune slayer, my name is Myon, but everyone calls me nii-san, or older bro (to this day I don't understand.) My goal is to earn the coveted SSS rank in the arena, but the path is long and arduous. There are countless others, even other versions of me from different dimensions, that I have to battle. All the more reason to get as strong as possible, for starters, learning this ability. I grip the note in my hand as I head off to the Alteria Core, the bright, peaceful terrain, clashing perfectly with the machine made tower of Alteria. As I make my way to the tower I hear a voice in the distance yelling for me to stop, but I ignore it, my mind in other places. Then I feel a warm touch on my shoulder, as I jump back in reaction.

"You're not expecting to go in there alone are you? ~"

A girl's voice trails as I get a view of her, relaxing my grip on my sword. Slightly annoyed, I was about to give some sarcastic remark until my heart stopped as I took in her image for the first time. She was an elf that carried a bow and was dressed in such a way, that one would of thought she loved flowers. She radiated an aura of beauty- no exhilaration... no that is not even the right word, she aurated something that struck the heart instantly, as the sun glanced off her hair and body, only to mesmerize all who gazed at her.

"Well I'm coming along too, the more people there are, the more fun the task is, right? ~ ^-^"

As she started ahead, her voice is a musical and light as the chime of a bell.

"O-of course"

I managed to stammer as I weakly follow suit behind her, hanging my head in defeat and shame for being so easily swayed.

"Great! my name is ViriDivinity, I am what they would call a wind sneaker, a master of martial arts as well as a bow...I like to kick things mostly :3"

As she announces this, she playfully punches the air and jump kicks it, all the while as has a smile on her face. Unbelievable, this girl is something else, we are about to head into the battle of our life and here she is messing around... not even kicking but punching -.-" we are doomed. Even as I think this, I still can't shake this feeling about her, she is friendly, nice, but there is power she isn't showing, and every time I see her smiling face, my heart skips a beat... WHY?! Usually when I meet others, we do missions for our own benefits and barely talk, it's a mutual thing. I feel a poke on the head as I recover my grip on reality, Viri-chan giving that cat like look as she pokes me.

"Jeez you can't be day dreaming like that right before a mission, it isn't healthy for you, yeah know, by the way, what's your name? ~"

I push her ahead,

"My name is Myon, and I like fish"

... fish?! where the hell did that come from? -.-" what was I thinking? Viri-chan just smiled and skipped ahead as she simply replied

"I love fish too! they are so cute and taste even better :D ~ "

Breathing a sigh of relief, we both make it to the entrance where we see two other people standing, one is a small kid with a huge cannon, and the other was a girl that resembled a queen. As Viri-chan ran up to the both of them, I quickly looked up at the tower and held the note out one last time, my mind wondered off as I looked at the title, then the last words...

"Phoenix Talon, This mission is not to be taken lightly, one's life is at stake..."