The Calm Before the Storm

The rising sun shined into my new house through a window located near my new, comfortable bed.

The house was a simple loft with one bathroom, and about six hundred square feet of space.

It wasn't exactly what I'd call roomy, but it had everything a girl like me needed. Not to mention nobody would complain about my so-called 'Sleep Cuddling and Drooling.'

I gazed outside looking to the blazing sun and clear sky of Kume from the comforts of my home.

"Ahh, home. Finally, I don't need to deal with that annoying Robius when I'm trying to sleep." I said in a relaxed, peaceful, voice.

"Ouch. I'm not that annoying. Help me out here Kukiri." Robius complained as he casually left from my bathroom while Kukiri sat at the foot of my bed, having just woken up.

"I dunno Robius you are pretty annoying." Kukiri said after a good yawn and stretch.

"You traitor. And after everything we've been through." Robius exclaimed dramatically snapping his head away from the black and white fox.

"Anyone gonna explain what you're doing in my house already?" I said in a voice more of disappointment than shock. "I thought I was bothering you back at the guild." I added with a childish attitude.

"Don't you know? Today's the day. Today we're gonna go to Drasil and proving to everyone that we're the strongest guild! I didn't want you sleeping in too late, so I came by to wake you up. Only it turns out I really shouldn't have drunk so much. Sorry about your bathroom by the way..." Robius admitted without shame.

"Robius... It better be cleaned by the time we get back." I growled; it was still early so I had no patience for Robius' typical stupidity.

"Yes ma'am!" Robius exclaimed with a gulp.

********

Riding atop the Aqua-Rails positioned over the smooth, crystal-like surface of the boundless ocean was an experience in and of itself. But doing so in the famous Dart, made it all the more memorable.

Dart was a masterpiece of a train, and the very fastest way of transportation available to the public of The Orochi Isles.

It was typically reserved for the incredibly wealthy or at least those who were in the service of them, so we had the entire car to ourselves.

It was created by Jiroki Co. A company founded by Tokuma Jiroki. The Jiroki Company was responsible for many modern inventions to the Orochi Isles such as, firearms; commonly used by nulls incapable of using Mana or Ether, the design of the skyscrapers in Torik, and of course the trains and rails used to navigate the Orochi Islands.

"It's pretty impressive we could afford this. I bet once we rank as the strongest guild, we're gonna draw in pretty-ladies, like moths to a flame." Jex said as he stretched his legs unto an elegant glass coffee table while crossing his arms behind his head in a relaxed position.

"We could only afford because of the quests you guys went on, it's only because of you we are able to ride in this beauty." Master Frost said as he sat comfortably on one of the many elegant, white booths that decorated the interior of the elaborate Dart, petting it's soft leather. "Imagine the look on everyone's face when they see what we arrived in." He finished with a crooked grin on his aged face revealing his true intentions.

"You look a little too happy, Master Frost." Aceil said as he polished his Tanabo's individual studs with care, preparing for the task at hand.

"Does it really surprise you Aceil? This is our chance to finally prove ourselves. In my opinion it's been a long time coming." Nosora said coolly as he gazed out the window he was nearby, whilst Lilac covertly braided his long blue hair without him even noticing.

"Whoa! Did the ocean grow since I last saw it!" Robius exclaimed as he cracked the glass window with his face. Making Master Frost cringe in pain a little.

"That's not possible, at least, I don't think it is." I replied (almost) equally intrigued by the peerless view we were witnessing, as we sped between islands at impossible speeds.

Meanwhile Shade had the complete opposite opinion as he hung his entire upper body out of a window.

"It's endless." He said with a shallow voice before he began feeding the fishes with his predigested food. "If we were to die now. Nobody could even find our bodies..."

"Now, now, Shady." Okami said as she rubbed his back nurturing him to the best of her abilities. "Wow, was that was an entire burger? Most impressive." She added as she identified Shade's colorful bile with professional proficiency.

********

Drasil; the smallest of the five Orochi Isles and also the capital which houses the Keep of the Exorcists where the seven Exorcists discuss the Orochi Isle's political issues.

It's buildings remained medieval in appearance for the most part, especially the seven magnificent granite mansions for each of the Exorcists. And the whitewashed stone Keep of the Exorcists itself.

But as much as I'd like to take a tour of those beautiful pieces of architecture, we didn't come for that. We came for the giant crimson-demonite, amphitheater that would be acting as the arena in which the Guild Ranking Ceremony would commence.

The residents of The Orochi Isle's capital were all wealthy no doubt. But seeing the lowest ranked guild arrive in one of the most expensive forms of transportation available, shocked everyone who saw it.

It was just as Master Frost wanted and his crooked smile only widened at the sight of the bewildered pedestrians.

"Heh, let's see them underestimate us now." He said with arrogance.

As though fated to break our master's spirit. A giant golden chariot drawn by ethereal golden horses, seating sixteen people, raced through the sky before landing gracefully in front of us.

Surprisingly enough the nearby pedestrians were actually quite joyous of their near-death experience with the chariot as they swarmed around it like fangirls. Which was actually quite possible seeing as the chariot belonged to the number one guild.

From the chariot leapt a man with slick gold hair and piercing red eyes. He looked a little younger than Master Frost with a face of finely trimmed stubble.

Wrapped around his back was a long golden cloak decorated with a sword between a crossed bow and harp. The crest of The Golden Chariot.

"Well, well Niko. Looks like somebody got a bit of dough." He said, as though he was a friend of Master Frost's, while he gestured to the dart.

"Really Kiris. It's Nikolos. But seeing as I'm a guild master now, you can call me Master Frost." Our frosty haired guild master said with a sense of annoyance and familiarity.

"You just called me Kiris, so I'll keep calling you Niko kay? But that's not why I stopped here. I heard you recently got a new member and you'll be participating in the ceremony." He stated before pointing his finger at me. "That her?"

"Indeed, Kenki Asuma. She's a Runie no less." Master Frost bragged about me, which was flattering and a little awkward to say the least.

"Hmm. Good for you. I hope you can manage to get in second place. We could really use the help as of late." Kiris said genuinely as he boarded his chariot again.

"I wouldn't worry about that if I was you!" Robius exclaimed with intention. "But we're not gonna stop there! We're gonna beat you guys too!"

Kiris laughed loudly at Robius' remark not taking his threat seriously even in the slightest "I'd get going if I was you. Don't wanna be late after all."

Without giving Robius' time to say something stupid Kiris raced away in his flamboyant chariot with the rest of the guildmates he brought.

"That pompous bastard! Laughing at me!" Robius roared as Aceil and Nosora held him back from running after the chariot.

"You do know that you'd never catch up to that thing, right?" Nosora said disappointed by Robius' stupidity.

"Shut it!" Robius said before bursting in laughter at the sight of Nosora's elegant French braid "Wow Nosora! Nice braid."

"What? When did that happen?" Nosora said as he admired Lilac's handiwork.

Lilac casually whistled as she tiptoed past the noisy bunch of fools.

"Wow. You're so pretty." Aceil teased mercilessly.

Meanwhile, once again Robius' performance was scaring the nearby pedestrians, and ruining whatever reputation we gained from arriving in the Dart.

"Oh crap. That guy was right. We're gonna be late!" I exclaimed.

"Then we better get going!" Master Frost said having already began his mad dash, with surprising speed.

********

Fortunately, we weren't late to the registration, and we even had some time to admire the interior of the amphitheater entrance. And there was a lot to admire, for starters it was by far the largest building I ever entered, it's crimson walls were polished to such a degree that I could see my reflection on them and because of it's durable demonite material, it would likely stay that way no matter the stress it would no doubt withstand.

It was also bursting with people, most of which were spectators but there were a few combatants like us, some of which I even recognized as members of Azure Ursine, a fact I found odd considering I had never seen them compete before. It didn't matter though; I was a member of Draconum Familia now, and I'd fight for them no matter my enemy.

Master Frost's handled most of the registration leaving us with nothing more then signing a contract, basically saying that our families aren't allowed to charge the arena's officials, if we die or are permanently damaged.

But it also allowed us to participate in the ceremony, where we would finally earn the respect, we were owed.

********

From the outside the arena was big.

From the inside it was impossible, even though there were seven guilds occupying it's space it wasn't even slightly cramped and even had its own ecosystems from a deep forest to a desert. And even, deep water, my nemesis.

That wasn't even mentioning the amount of people that populated the stands which stretched outward to the sky.

There were also two boxes on opposite sides of the stands, one where the commentators would dwell doing whatever they did.

And the other was reserved for the guild masters.

If I was a different man, I might have felt a little nervous about the thousands of eyes watching our guild and cheering our enemies on.

But in reality, I knew that all of them would soon be cheering for us.

"My name is Cion Dite. And I, along with Takono Jiroki from Jiroki Co. And Exorcist Hoji Hanz will be your commentators for this Guild Ranking Ceremony." A short bald man dressed in a long yellow robe announced with help of a magically boosted microphone, as he dwelled in the commentators box.

"To begin I'd like to introduce the guilds participating." The brown haired, red eyed, Takono Jiroki sitting beside Cion said gowned in a Jiroki Co. Red trench coat. "We have, the rank one guild Golden Chariot. With sixteen members."

The audience roared vigorously as the Golden Chariot's participating members performed a courtesy bow.

"The rank two guild, Lunastray. Also, with sixteen members."

To that guild the audience had a mixed reaction due to their unsavory reputation.

Regardless the guild's members brandished their crescent moon crest with pride.

"The rank ten guild, Specialty Maid. With thirteen members."

Another awkward response from the audience.

And rightly so as the entire guild was dressed in French maid attire, even the dudes.

Their crest was even a maid uniform complete with a crossed feather duster and katana.

"I don't even know what to say. I'm both aroused and disturbed." Jex said without a filter earning him a glare from all of our female members.

"Ranked at nine is Kin of Bestia, with ten members" Takono continued.

The members of the guild (all of which were female, and animal-human hybrids called Homo-Bestia.) performed cutesy poses, in a successful attempt to seduce the audience.

Meanwhile Shade fell back from the loss of blood due to a nosebleed.

"Shade? Who knew you were such a perv." Okami said devilishly.

"Next is the thirteenth ranked guild, Azure Ursine with thirteen members."

Azure Ursine performed no outstanding show and honestly surprised most of the audience. But they cheered anyways.

"And finally, the ninety-ninth and lowest ranked guild. Draconum Familia with eight members." Takono ended.

I wasn't expecting a warm welcome. But to hear the audience in such a deathly silence was a low blow right in the pride.

"Ouch, I suppose I should've expected that though." Lilac said with slumped shoulders.

"To begin the ceremony, we'd like to do a simple game of capture the flag. Each guild will be teleported to a secluded location in the arena, in this location there will be a flag with your guilds crest on it. Your goal is to is to find an opposing guild's flag and bring it to yours as many times as possible in two hours. Every successful capture will earn you a point towards your guild's total score throughout the ceremony. Of course, while doing so, you can expect every one of your foes to attempt to stop you. Kin of Bestia and Draconum Familia will get a ten second head start due to their lack of numbers." Cion explained joyously.

And with that we were all advised to shut our eyes, before we were all teleported throughout the arena.