Kyrad shuffled through the lifeless foliage under his foot, watching as Mage landed in front of him.

“I may have accidentally angered a big bee,” she said happily as if she wanted this outcome.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “That’s a plaguebringer.” He watched as it flew towards them at blinding speed. Still, it was so far away they had about a minute to spare. “We can’t kill that, so either you clean up this mess, or we all die.”

“So I must eliminate it?” she said with menacing glee.

“Y-yes.”

“Order confirmed. I’ll kill it then.” Mage turned her head to observe the approaching creature.

Kyrad had only seen one plaguebringer before. It was when one attacked the city four months ago, dooming his sister and slaughtering most of his living relatives, though he wasn’t sure if it was this one. Only the aid of five mages and the combined efforts of every hunter was enough to kill one. Nobody was sure where they had come from, but they were no natural creatures, abominations made of bee tissue, plague, industrial titanium, and radioactive material that shined green.

“Project Plague level 4: Estimated speed: 450 kilometers an hour. I can outspeed it significantly. Strength level: built of titanium, powered by corodium. Weapons: atomic missile, stinger missile, crowd control bees, contact. Target appears angry and about my level of power.”

Jakal stepped in while he checked his inventory, ensuring he had everything he needed to defend himself against a plague of bees. “Project Plague? What are you rattling on about?”

“It appears that I have been previously informed on these creatures. It may be quite informative to fight it!”

The bee paused in midair, then pointed its stinger towards the group. The stinger detached, moving faster than a bullet.

“I wouldn’t call it ‘fun’! More like we’re likely to-”

Mage’s hand moved faster than Kyrad’s eye could see and released a tiny bolt of brimflame, which met the stinger, annihilating it midair just before it plowed through the group. “Did you see that?!” she asked giddily.

“I saw it. Y-you saved me.”

“The creature’s mind is that of a bee. It can’t aim well with those weird eyes, so if you just keep moving it is not likely to hit!”

“Thanks for the assurance...” Jakal said begrudgingly. “Mage, keep that bee busy. Protocol eight, everyone!”

Mage floated off the ground, and the rest of the group split up. “Time to eliminate!” she yelled.

The bee refused to approach, a new stinger regrowing where the other had ejected, so Mage matched it and shot another laser of brimflame at the abomination. When the explosions settled, Kyrad saw the bee had simply moved to the side. Mage cackled in excitement, then burst forth, flying towards it so fast Kyrad could hear the studdered sound.

Kyrad ran towards their foe, signaling to the other two from across the waste to approach.

Mage soared straight to the bee, but seeing her approach, it quickly shot a stinger towards Kyrad. Mage glanced back in concern but noticed he had leaped out of the way just as it landed not far from him, shattering into shrapnel. Both he and the others appeared intent on interfering in her fight somehow.

The bee, uncaring of Mage’s slow thoughts, rammed straight towards her. Mage barely avoided its charge, marveling at its titanium exoskeleton and greenish pollen coat up close. She heard the deafening buzz of wings, and couldn’t react as she was smacked to the ground by one of its artificial green wings.

She rose from the crater she’d made, marveling at the strongest hit she’d taken in her life. The bee didn’t spare her time to sit in awe, shooting a stinger at her, which she easily vaporized with a bolt of brimflame. Thinking she’d stumped the bee, Mage prepared another medium blast.

Only to see the bee’s hexagonal eye as it rammed into her again, launching her another kilometer.

“What a beast!” Mage yelled in pleasant surprise. Yes, this was what she was made for. Destruction.

Regaining her posture midair, she decided to focus more on the fight. She was confused, however, when a giant metal canister shot towards the ground beneath her.

“What is...Oh, a nuke!”

Realizing what it was, she soared high into the sky as an explosion large enough to level a city block rattled the ground beneath her. She laughed as she prepared for the bee’s approach inside the explosion’s smokescreen, readied with a bolt of brimfire.

This might just be fun!

Kyrad and his comrades watched as the clone and abomination began to fight high in the air, zipping across the skies in a spectacle of destructive prowess. Mage and the bee quickly fell into a dance of attacks, dodging each other with precision. The bee would shoot a stinger, Mage would burn it up, then charge an attack, then the bee would charge towards her, halting her channeling. If she approached the ground, it would shoot a bomb so powerful it almost knocked Kyrad off his feet from a mile away. Mage didn’t seem to be learning very quickly, though. In fact, she might have been even dumber than the relentless bee, not learning from her mistakes at all.

Seeing the two beings as far above their weight class, Kyrad signaled for his allies to reconvene in a safe spot. After a minute of jogging, they approached each other. Jakal yelled to Ethir, “Keep watch on the bee, shoot down its stingers!”

Ethir nodded, “Good as done, manager!”

Kyrad looked back as they convened. “We’re small fry compared to the fight up there.”

Jakal spat on the ground, “That’s the strength of a demigod.”

“She’s the clone of the Calamitous Witch, what would you expect?” Kyrad said. Mage missed a bolt of hellfire, the laser contacting the ground not far from the group in a windy explosion.

“Exactly this level of destruction.” Jakal motioned around them, where countless craters already littered the ground. “We can still make use of this opportunity, though.”

“How?!” Kyrad asked, too intimidated by the catastrophic fight above to think of a reasonable way to help.

“The plaguebringers aren’t the queens to their nests, Kyrad.”

“Right...?”

“So while its defense is busy fighting Mage, we invade and kill the queen.”

“Wait, why can’t we let Mage handle that on her own? Once the beast is dead she just-”

“Look at its head!” Jakal pointed to it. Sticking from the bee’s forehead was a bulb, like an angler fish’s light. “The Plague communicates through radio waves. Every queen bee is connected to the goliath, so each one can request reinforcements.”

Ethir stared wide-eyed at Jakal. “They can do that!?”

“Yes, and don’t look away! I don’t want to be impaled by a stinger.”

“Got it, sir...”

“The point is, Miss Mage seems caught up fighting that beast, but if another one joined the fray, she’s a goner.”

“So we need to invade the hive before then?” Kyrad asked for confirmation.

“Exactly. A fight between beings of such sheer power often takes quite a while, so we can’t rely on her to get the job done. Are you two ready to fight your way through?”

Kyrad nodded.

Ethir shot his bow, the arrow exploding as it collided with a stinger not far from them. “If I have to!”

“Then march!”

Mage watched from the corner of her eye as her allies trudged towards the tree in the distance. The colossal bee seemed to be worn down significantly. She’d hit it solidly a few times, but its titanium armor was even stronger than the thick walls of the old lab, and it was so fast that her biggest bolts couldn’t hit it. Still, her speed advantage was significant. She could easily dodge any attack it sent her way, but only if she wasn’t trying to retaliate. Mage knew she wasn’t exactly proficient with her powers, and if she were more skilled, the fight would be easy, but greatness didn’t come that quickly, let alone in her one-hundred and seventy-two days of life.

Even worse was her inability to feel pain. Was she slowly dying, or had the bee not even scratched her? She couldn’t tell. Those were questions for later, though, as she couldn’t properly think and fight at the same time. She was hit head-on by the plaguebringer and a few seconds landed on the ground in yelling distance of her allies, sending dead plant matter flying as she skirted to a stop.

“What are you all up to!?” she yelled, keeping an eye on the bee as it readied an attack.

Kyrad yelled back, “We’re killing the queen! Keep it busy, and far away from us!”

“Got it!” Mage intercepted a stinger shot towards them to with a bolt. The bee seemed to think they were a serious threat, so it even shot a missile towards them. Mage laughed as she flew towards it and caught the canister in midair with all her physical strength. The bee didn’t let up and dashed towards the hunters. “No, you don’t!” Mage threw the missile a mile to the side, then intercepted the bee with a bolt, sending it sprawling on the ground.

Seeing no other option, it charged Mage once more.

Kyrad and the hunters approached the mist of bees. Just a few hundred meters from them, they could begin to make out the tiny insects’ visages. They were cyborg bees, of course.

“Infernal flasks!” Jakal ordered.

The hunters unlatched the red flasks at their sides, then took a full shot of them, the liquid burning like hard alcohol as it fell down their throat. An aura of light refraction began to emanate from their bodies, burning the foliage beneath their feet. Known as infernal water, the potion made someone emanate an aura of heat, hot enough to burn anything nearby to cinders. It was normally their last resort against the bees, but in this instance, they weren’t running from the swarm, but walking through it.

“Are each of you prepared?!”

“Yes, sir!” the others affirmed.

“Then let’s begin our coup d’etat!”