“What do you see, McConnell?” Asked the principal through the Walkie-talkie.

“The students that were taken away, Homer and Mariel at least look alive.” Coach McConnell said with a relieved tone,” not sure about the rest though.”

“Yeah I see some of my kids, but there are other people in there, with some other people in there. We need to save them as well.” Replied the Principal.

“I spot 3 Giga’s, you?” Asked the Coach.

“Wheeler, says 4, another just crawled out of the closest hole to our door.” Replied the Principal.

“Great.” Sighed the Coach,” Your team takes two and mine will take the other 2. We can't go in here blasting since we might hit people. I told a few of my archers to focus on the sneaky ones, those are the most troublesome.”

“Will do.” Says the principal getting off the channel.

Coach McConnel turned back to team Alpha closed the door and began giving out orders. “Alright folks, queens not here.” He said, setting surprise throughout the people in the hall, “but your kidnapped classmates and a few other people are trapped there, so we’ll focus on them.”

Hearing that their classmates were alive they rejoice and the sour morale from before rose at the thought of saving them from the beetles.

“This is what we’re going to do.” Began Coach McConnell relaying the hasty plan he’d come up with. “This won’t go like the boys' gyms, we can’t risk magic and exploding arrows hitting the people on the far side of the Gymnasium, so we’re going to do this the old-fashioned way. Shielders go in first and attract attention. The rest of the VFO members are to pick off the beetles that come for them. Niko, Zane, Ranzer, Josiah, Owen, Irene, Emelia, Rosemary, Leo, Toby, Steven, Troy, Lea, and Danny. You guys split into 2 groups and take on the 2 Giga’s on our side. Archer team c will focus on finding and killing the sneaky beetles. Wizards I want Shield up the moment you get in there, help anywhere you can. Was that clear?!”

“Yes, Coach!” Responded Team Alpha, low enough to not agitate the beetle in the gymnasium.

“Form up then! I’ll tell you when it's time to go.” said the coach as he put the Walkie-talkie back to his ear.

“Niko your Scapegoat again,” Ranzer said, patting the man on the shoulder. “What! Not again, that's really scary!” replies Niko as he formed his team with Owen, Leo, Zane, Ranzer, Emilia, and Josiah." “That's your position now man. Deal with it. You're too good to replace.” says Leo to which Niko groaned wondering why he had volunteered for the position the first time.

“I don’t even know why we allow you to do that, it's very dangerous,” says Mr. Val joining in with the conversation. "It's because it works, and we keep the beetle off him while he rolls. Give time to take the bastard down.” Josiah enlightens. “Doesn’t make it any less dangerous.” counters Niko.

“In 3!” Shouts the coach, snapping every attention as they readied their weapons.

“2!” The Wizards began reading barriers as ordered by Coach McConnel.

“1!” Everyone tightens their grip on their equipment, focusing on the surprise rescue mission.

“GO!!” Says the Coach as he pushed the only door they could go through, holding it for everyone to pass.

The Shielders charged in from both Alpha and Omega’s sides screaming and drawing attention to themselves. The beetles in response screech and rushed them in attempts to protect their food, some even beginning to grab and move some away. However, the Archer that passed through began taking care of any beetle making a beeline for the holes.

Not a moment too soon, the Wizard put up the shimmering barriers as goo began raining down on them from the ceiling. Some of the archers, now aware of the positions of the invisible beetles began shooting at them with their sev enhanced arrows.

The teams in charge of taking the Giga’s did not idle and attacked them before they could reach the fighting. Now experienced in fighting and tricking the Giga’s all 4 fell down swiftly after a few minutes with minimal injuries from the groups attacking them.

It was like this that in 10 or so minutes, all the beetles in the gymnasium were taken care of. Now they had to focus on retrieving the people that were still alive and trapped in the hardened goo.

~~~~~~~~(18:23PM)~~~~~~~~

Homer could not be more glad when Niko and a group of other people began walking towards where Mariel and himself were trapped. Behind them, the battle came to an end, with only the archers still searching for the elusive invisible beetles that still lurked about preparing to immobilize people.

“Homer! You mad lad!” said Leo walking towards him,” You're alive!”

“I am too. Not that you asked.” Says Mariel as Emelia and Owen pulled her from the pile.

“I was getting to you!” Says Leo as he went to lift up the head of the gray rex off Homer which he assumed was dead, only for it to wake up. Leo yelps and falls back onto Homer's chest, knocking the air out of him. The Gray rex, none too happy at being awoken stared at Leo.

“That thing isn’t dead!” Shouts Ranzer, grabbing his butterfly knives back out.

“Nah.” Heaved Homer sounding a lot calmer than he thought he’d be,” a few creatures in this room were still alive and trapped just like us. And some seem to have been here a while. This one like the 15 others in this pile is just too tired to do anything. It's been eying me for a while though, and it's a bit unnerving how close it is to me. Its breath smells really bad.”

“Ok.” Said Leo, getting back up.” Nice rexy.” he said, patting the snout of the creature as it looked on at him with dead eyes.

“Let's get this guy off Homer.” Says Ranzer going to one side as Leo went to the other. If they had been like they were before Armageddon started, it might have taken more people to lift up the creature's massive and heavy head. But now, the 2 of them easily lift the creature's head off Homer while Niko dragged him out.

The gray rex growls in protest, but still, it doesn’t move. Leo and Ranzer then set it’s head back down.

They then used a bit of the bleach used to free Mariel to get Homer free from his prison “Oh god! How good it feels to be able to move my hands and legs again!” Cries Homer throwing his hand up in a stretch. He then went to fix the go pro which had been recording on his shoulder.

“You can say that again,” says Mariel as she stretches, her bow now back in her hand.

“Where’s the other 3?” asked Zane, grabbing the bleach to try and free them too.

“Ah.” Says Homer where he sat, his previous joy now ruined as he points to the top left of the pile he had been on. Eye followed his fingers as he pointed towards the 3 packed bodies on top of the pile. Their entire top half was covered in the hardened substance, including their head. By now, there was no way they were alive.

“God. Damn it.” Ranzer said in anger as he looked up at the ceiling.

Zane rushed up the pile, avoiding the living creatures and he picked up on, pouring the bleach over them to release their heads. It only served to prove what they already knew. They were dead and weren’t coming back.

Zane swore and got back down. There were a few tears on the other side of the Gymnasium as a similar thing had happened with Team Omega’s team members.

“Someone's gotta tell me where that damn Queen is. It needs to go down!” Screamed someone out at the far side of the room holding the dead body of one of his friends as he cried.

~~~~~~

“Get out of the Tunnels! Now!” said the Principal through the Walkie talkie. She was on the verge of crying as she watched the student pick out the 5 dead. She had expected some would die as they pushed forward, but the start had gone so well that she let her guard down.

Taking some time to compose herself. She joined a few of the adults in talking to the other people they had saved from the beetles. 7 of them were regular people, thirsty and starved from their confinement, of those there were 2 grade schoolers, and 1 teen. The other 5 were military personnel, who looked somewhat better. They had given these 12 people some of their water which they gulped down to quench their thirst.

“Thank you so much.” Said one of the Military privates to the teacher,” we thought we were goners when these things ambushed us 3 days ago in the next building over.”

“You’ve been here for 3 days?” Mr. Valko asked

“Indeed. We were holding out in the building next to this school, waiting for the helicopter that was supposed to extract us. Weeks ago. But then our radio cut out so we’re not even sure if they’re coming anymore.” Relied and other Private.

“We can deal with that later.” Said the Principal as she arrived,” Let’s get y'all over to our hideout with some food and a bit of rest.”

“That would be nice,” they replied.

“If I may ask.” Said one of the privates,” what's happening here?” causing the teacher to pause.

“Our school gained a hive to some giant beetles. You’ve seen them. They’ve killed practically more than 85% of the school. We’re trying to find and kill the queen.” responded Coach McConnell.

“I’m sorry, the queen?”

“Yeah. apparently, it is a big ass beetle. Someone tried to attack her when she was in here without a plan and massacred most of the people who survived the initial Armageddon.” Ms. Stillwater continued.

“Ok.” said the 3rd military personnel, this one a specialist, who was a little distracted by the whole thing,” may I also ask how they're doing that!?” he asked pointing over to the solemn Wizards as they used the piece of rubble people were moving to them to mold some of the holes closed.

“In fact, how were they fighting off those beetles from before?” asked a man in a ripped suit holding one of the children in hand, with a woman next to him, likely his wife, holding the other with the teenage girl right next to them.

The Principal and the other adults were a little surprised by this. They had thought the people they’d saved were surprised by people coming to rescue them from the beetle and never expected them to be surprised by something else, Sev and Magic.

“Explaining that is going to take time. Let’s, just head back to Velysium hall and give you some food.” Replied Mr. Valko, putting off the conversation for another time.

“HOLY SHIT!” Screamed the wizards closing one of the 2 Giga-sized holes and they scrambled away in fright.

Their screams attracted everyone's attention as they looked over at them wondering what was happening. “What's the matt---!” Before the coach could ask what was wrong, there was a blast of lighting which destroyed the Wizard's efforts to close off the hole, followed by a loud screech.

“Shields and barriers up now!” Shouted the Coach as he guessed what was coming,” remember, this one shots acid strong enough to melt you as well! Be very careful!” He said running over to assist in the fight that was about to unfold with the 2 officers.

As the Magic capable beetle crawled out of the hole, followed by 6 more of its kind, it sent a blast of lightning around the room. One head straight for the group of people they had saved. The civilians screamed while the military cursed as they tackled people to the floor. Mr. Valko, in the split second as the blast head for them, formed a barrier which rebounded the blast up, striking the corner of the Gymnasium.

The barrier cracked, surprised at what had happened, Mr. Valko looked back and shouted,” get out of here!”

The rescued group did not need him to tell them twice. They were in no shape to fight and so followed Mr. Stillwater out of the gym.

The Wizards fought back against the magic beetles, their barriers, blocking most of the lightning their shot out, as well as keeping the acid off of them. This beetle's armor was between the Giga’s and the Mega’s, more so closer to the Giga’s as it was hard to damage. But like all the beetles so far they were starting to push them back.

Wizards blasted magic at them in barrages, while the archers sent plenty of exploding arrows their way. The rest of the students started cutting off their mobility by cutting down their legs before hacking them to pieces.

The frustration that they felt after losing more of their friends poured over as they coordinated attack after attack. Even Coach McConnell was surprised at how quickly their first fight with this kind of beetle came to an end.

Like that. Everyone got back to whatever work they had been doing before. Brooding on the deaths of their friends all the while.

~~~~~~~~~~

Leo sat in front of one of the gray rexes whose species he had uncreatively named the grex. This particular one he sat in front of was the one that had been laying on top of Homer not too long ago.

Leo extended a piece of the Magic beetle they had finished off to it and it opened its mouth to receive it like the 19 other pieces he had fed it already. Leo tossed the piece of meat into its mouth, not stupid enough to put his hand anywhere near the teeth it had.

The grex munch slowed at the food it was fed as Leo watched it. The dino still looked like it had given up on life, but hunger seemed to overtake that feeling after Leo's constant nagging for it to eat. Still, Leo found it relaxing to feed the poor creature. Even if it had likely been one of the creatures that fought with people outside, it was just in as bad a situation as they were. It was a great distraction from the sadness he was feeling.

The teachers had allowed them to keep the creatures alive, for the time being, as they kept them distracted from their pain. First of all, they moved all the dead bodies in one pile to cover the gaping hole in the side of the gymnasium. All except for the human bodies. Then the creatures that were alive were spread along the back wall as the students tended to them with curiosity while they waited for what to do about the queen's whereabouts.

Some animals like the Grexes and the ones that were big and looked dangerous were kept locked in their hardened goo as they fed them some food. While others, the smaller and seemingly cute-looking ones were broken out of the Hardened goo and tended to.

Emelia was crouched in front of the baby Grexes and was feeding them out of her hand as the final one of their parents, who refused to be separated from them, watched intently. Emelia had tried feeding it too, but it always nudged it to its child instead.

Niko was with a very strange creature. It looked like an orange baby griffin the size of the average german shepherd with a small reddish-orange beak with a black tip. its gray eyes were big and round upon its small head. Behind its fox-like ears sprouted 2 long light blue horns. It had a lion's mane of white fur on its neck which spread further below its body and to the tip of its two thick tails. Orange fur covers the rest of its body. It had 4 legs with another pair in the process of growing a bit behind the first pair, each with fairly sharp black claws. And like the rest of the creatures in the room, it was dirty and smelled really bad.

It was laying on Niko’s lap, cuddling with him for having freed it. It was still very weak, but nonetheless accepted the food Niko was hand-feeding it. Even though it was caked in a layer of mud, sweat, and a bit of Hardened goo on its fur, the creature was still fluffy with left Niko to relax as he pet it. He had always wanted a pet.

~~~~

Deep down in the beetle tunnel, Amyth and his team were cursing their luck again as they hid in the hastily dug hole in the tunnel's walls. They were all sickened with fear as Amyth fumbled with the Walkie-talkie to contact the teachers.

The beetles were bad at being stealthy, that was a fact. This was mainly due to their bioluminescent bodies which shone through their Chitin. So when coming down a tunnel and a beetle was in front of them, they would see it almost immediately, but by that time the beetle would have long since detected them and prepared an ambush.

So when Amyth’s team stumbled upon a massive dark chamber with all the tunnels converging on it, along with the mass of glowing beetles of all kinds crawling about, they knew they had found it. And were reassured when they spotted the titanic glowing beetle in its center.

“Oh we're so dead, we're so dead.” clattered Avalee as she held a barrier, blocking any sound they made from reaching the beetles.

“We had simple instructions.” Cowered Rudy,” Get out of the tunnel and we walk right into the beetle queen's area.”

“We fricked up bad.” Aspen agreed with a terrified look on his face.

“Yes Coach, we really sure it's the queen. That thing is massive. Goddamn terrifying.” Said Amyth through the Walkie Talkie. After a second more listening he walked over to the little peephole they had made to spy on the room and continued talking,” yeah I see the room. What I’m I looking for? A flashlight? No, I don’t see it---wait! Yes, I see a light falling from the ceiling!”

Amyth watched as the flashlight fell rapidly, spinning and lighting a part of the room as it spun, strangely not disturbing the beetles. It wasn’t until the object hit the floor that the beetle flocked it in great number, crushing and destroying it before moving away to check up on the queen.

“Ok team.” Said Amyth pulling away from the wall.” we're taking the long way out and regrouping at the Gymnasium. The hole that leads to this chamber is there. Let's go.” he said.

“Avalee, keep that barrier up!” Said Jolene, worried about what would happen if the beetles heard them.

“I’m trying, and you’re not helping!” She responds, hand outstretched as the group sneaked away silently.

“She’s gonna have to cancel the barrier and focus on closing the tunnel. Coach McConnell wants to trap them in there.” Said Amyth.

“No wait. I can do that, I’m great at molding. Keep that barrier up Avalee.” Says Rudy as he works some magic on the tunnel walls.

~~~~~~~~(22:00PM)~~~~~~~~

When they figured out that the Queen's new chamber sat directly through the largest tunnel entrance in the Gymnasium, Coach McConnell and the other adults took the magisterium and Artificerium down into the other tunnels as they closed off any tunnels leading outside of the chamber. They did not want any beetles making their way out of there. They made these blockages especially thick so they could dig through them to get into the tunnels without taking a considerable amount of time.

The direct effect of them was the beetle would then do another way, through the only tunnels not closed off to get to their destination. One of the popular options was through the tunnel leading to the Gymnasium.

Any beetle who made its way up there was immediately killed off before it could even screech and alert the others below it.

The rest who went through other tunnels were dealt with when encountered, but those they didn’t find would have to be dealt with later.

It took 4 hours and multiple round trips through tunnels to make sure there was no other tunnel they could escape from. But then again they were unsure of just how much many tunnels the beetles had made, so all tunnels being closed may be a stretch.

In the Gymnasium, the creatures they had rescued were dragged off back to the boys' gym as it was more intact than the girls'. They had lots of trouble moving the particularly big ones, like the grex.

When that was done everyone gathered at the gymnasium for what would hopefully be the conclusion to this battle. At this point, all the tunnel entrances around the school had been closed and rubble pilled unto them to make sure the beetles wouldn't be able to make their way through them.

“Y’all ready?” Asked the principal as all 17 of the staff stood around the huge hole. There were 2 students behind each of them. The furthest near a pile of Mr. Val’s handmade bombs. The other is a Wizard ready to light the bomb before handing it to their respective teacher. The rest of the survivors surrounded them with weapons at the ready.

The teachers nodded as they shifted in place, enhancing their bodies with sev.

“Now!” Shouted Principal

To her words the Wizards behind them lit the bombs they held and passed them over to the teacher, who immediately chucked it into the hole. Repeating the motion endlessly as screeching became apparent.

The school shook on its already shaky foundation as blast after blast took out scores of beetles. The beetle were acting much different than before, they were more suicidal and charging recklessly only to be blown to bits. The Invisible beetles, Megas, Magic beetles, and even the hardy Giga were getting injured. Most plummeted back down into the hole as their footing was taken away by a blast.

Still, the beetles did their best to break through the bombardments of bombs. The Magic ones were blasting magic after magic, and spitting boiling hot acid. The Invisibles join in by sending their own barrage of hardening goo.

This made it hard to keep to the bomb volley for long. But they soon found that their gamble was paying off.

“There it is!” Said the Coach bravely looking into the hole as a blast of lightning narrowly missed him,” The queens coming up! Pull back, Wizard get the shield up, Archer charges your arrows! Everyone else get your weapons vibrating. This is it!” Ordered the Coach as the teachers and students scramble back from the hole, leaving the pile of bombs where they were.

Surrounding the hole, they watched as beetle after beetle poured out of the hole, rushing at them in a frenzied state. “Blow them sky high!” Said Coach McConnell giving them the signal to detonate the bombs as soon as he saw the queen's massive head burst through the hole.

Aiming for the Bombs a few of the wizards sent fireballs their way, while everyone kept the beetles off them. The rest of the wizards, not keeping up a barrier, fired all kinds of magic followed by the Archers exploding arrows.

The Gymnasium lit up in a loud explosion, most of which hit the queen in rapid succession. The Massive beetle, a lot bigger than they had first thought and much scarier, screeched at the ceiling in pain.

As the smoke cleared, they saw they had done minimal or absolutely no damage at all. The queen's Chitin was fine, not a scratch on its surface. Its underbody only slightly singed, but it had sustained no notably bad injuries.

“Holy fuck…” Said Leo in shock along with everyone else.

With most of the beetle that had rushed out of the tunnel before the queen dead or dying, they had time to look over the queen before it began attacking. The Queen had 8 massive legs to support her huge body. Instead of 3 feelers like the rest, it had 6. The first 3 were non-bladed while the other 3 had huge long jagged blades. Its mandibles were 7 whole feet long and had the power to likely crush a tank if given the chance. And Like the invisible beetle, she had hook-like scythes, except duller and more for hitting than slicing.

As the queen beetle exited the hole, it charged for Coach McConnells side of the beetle field, allowing a myriad of other beetle blowing it to shoot out and head on the murder rampage. Shield, magic or not, withstood the impacts of Gigas ramming into them or the electric magic of the magic Beetles blasting them with it. All the while multiple Wizards were put in charge of holding the barriers blocked acid sprays and hardening fluid that was coming for them.

Niko, Neo, and Leo back to back took a stand and were cutting down beetle after beetle with their vibrating Sev swords.

“On your left Leo!” Shouts Neo cuts a normal beetle in half.

Leo dropped narrowly dodging the swipe from the bladed feeler of the Giga everyone was ramming their blades into. “Thanks!” Leo said, swinging his sword clumsily up and severing the blade from its feeler.

“Watch for the magic blast!” warned Niko, eyeing a magic beetle that was coming for them. As expected its horns cracked with lighting before it shot it out at them.

Josiah slid in bringing up a barrier that reflected the energy back to the beetle, blasting it back as it tumbled away.

“Nice Save Josiah!” all 3 of them said before focusing back on their battle.

Josiah didn’t respond, adrenaline keeping his hyper-focused state as he observed the battlefield, sending out magic wherever it was needed, Luke! Duck!” He shouts as he blasted magic toward the guy who was fighting with one arm, as the other was warped to his chest.

Magic, charge arrows, and beetles flew across the room missing and hitting their targets alike. It was chaos as the gymnasium began to crumble on the strain of so many explosions and hits from the explosions and the beetles ramming it while aiming at the people.

The one doing the most damage though would be the queen. It could apparently also use magic, just another extra addition to the terrifying strikes she already did with their scythes. Anywhere she went it took her a couple of strikes with those and a blast of magic to break down the shield the few wizards were straining to keep up. Each time this happened they had to break formation and run for dear life.

It took a fourth of the wizard just to hold the barrier when the queen attacked, and even then they struggled. The very angry queen was not leaving them any space to pull back and heal up from its previous attacks.

The battle waged for hours, with people pulling back to heal when it was even possible. Many of them were bloodied with nasty-looking cuts and injuries all over them. But they did not want to die so they kept going, making their way slowly to where the OHS was protecting themselves while healing people who came to them. The queen was still being successfully held back by the 15 wizards, and over a hundred other people while the rest took care of the swarm of beetles that had stopped coming through the hole.

At this point, both sides were running low on everything. The survivors had nearly depleted the Sev and Magic in their core. Even as it regenerated, they were using it too quickly for it to matter. The beetles’ were in much of the same situation. Acid, immobilizing fluid, and lighting had long since stopped making their way towards them as they grew tired as well.

With a huge portion of their forces converging on the queen, the survivors attacked from both sides. Sending attack after attack, which mostly all bounced off. The Chitin was way too thick and strong to give away, stabbing its skin did nearly nothing as it was very tough.

The thing was invincible.

Niko, by some chance, found himself in front of the queen. She opened her mouth and sent a long black blade from her mouth which he raised his sword, empowered and strengthened by Sev to block it. Only Zane tackled him away when right as the queen's blade cleaved the katana in 2, leaving behind a cut smooth enough to see your reflection staring back at you.

“Thanks…” Said Niko in shock as Zane picked him back up

“Yeah, my glaive got cut just as bad.” Said Zane as they continued the fight.

With an already sour mood due to the queen's apparent invincibility to their attacks. The mood turned worse as it revealed another of its abilities.

Opening its mouth, it set out a stream of acid, causing everyone to jump back and the wizards to push the shield further out, pushing the acid away from them. The Acid boiled the last few remaining beetles’, apart from a few Giga’s and Magic beetles, other groups were fighting.

Now all the groups were surrounded by bubbling acid while tired Wizards doing their best to stop it from melting them alive. The queen's strikes continued in its intensity with the main force attacking it, seemingly with no problems dealing with its own acid. Cracks were already forming upon the barrier as the Wizard did their best to hold the dome that surrounded them active.

“Freeze the acid!” Scream the Principal.

Wizards from all over, after a bit of screaming panic, used a few of the last remaining mana they had to freeze the acid solid. It was barely in time for them to scatter as the barrier finally broke on the queen’s might, her scythe cracking through it and striving the floor they had just stood at. The scythe, enhanced by Sev, because of course it could use it as well, passed right through the floor, sending bits of wood and other rubble flying everywhere. Further injuring people in the process.

The battle continued on, the melting acid sizzling skin. The survivors were pushing it at this point. Many of the wizards passed out, overdoing their magic pathway. Others succumbed to their injuries and were knocked unconscious as well. The next to fall was the OHS, who ran out of their magic healing everyone.

Holding off the 17 beetles left on the battlefield, including the queen while their members passed out one by one did not put a good image in their heads. Half of them were down as well, and everyone was sure Mr. Galvon was very dead.

Then the queen was rearing back as it had done before spraying acid and everyone knew it was over. The Wizard was falling down one after the other. With only 12 barely standing fighting the overload in their mana pathway as it threatened to send them to sleep.

It was over, they were going to lose.

But in a moment when all hope was lost, Vincent Valen, Mr. Val, Pulled out the bomb he had prepared especially for the queen as it open its mouth again. He had been looking for the perfect moment to detonate it, and this was it. Seizing the chance, in an Olympic-worthy moment, the cameras that Dale had put a few members of the survivors captured the bomb being thrown by Mr. Val. the bomb sailed across the air and plopped right into the Queen's mouth.

Feeling something amiss, the queen beetle snapped her mouth shut, right as the Bomb exploded, lighting up the areas like the sun……..