--------///----Reina's POV----\------

Thanks to Eclina, all we had to deal with now was the queen. Though looking at her... It, the question turned into how. From the look of it, the carapace was probably way tougher. And i was right. I tested it out and slashed my Siellas forward but they just bounced off like i hit metal or something. Even if i coated them in darkness or fire, there would only be a few scratches. Endis' daggers didn't make much of a difference and even Orven couldn't smash the queen fully. He could do a little damage, but it wasn't enough to kill her. We were sort of at a loss on what to do to the queen so we ended up just sitting down by the entrance and started tossing ideas at each other.

Though we could tell we weren't really going anywhere with it. We even tossed the idea of having Orven try to pick her up and swing her around to throw her at a wall. We didn't really have the most effective ideas since the queens carapace was harder then we were expecting. It even shared the elemnt negating properties while leaving out the burning side effect. We kept thinking but eventually Eclina decided to cut in.

(Eclina) " Should i just deal with it? No one has any good ideas. "

We knew that, but hearing it said out loud made us all a little embarassed. We knew Eclina's capabilities so it wasn't suprising if she was able to deal with it.

(Mina) " How do you plan on dealing with it? "

(Eclina) " Like this. "

Eclina didn't explain but from looking at her tails, we could see the light in her fire tail go out while an aura of darkness started to seep out from her darkness tail. She closed her eyes and i could feel the earth around us start to shift as sections of the walls and ground started to break out and gather around her. Then the earth started to compress and thin as more then twenty earth spears formed and started to spin above her. Then the darkness from her tail started to flow around and into the spears as the earthen spears started to change from the normal brown to darker shades and even gray and black.

Seeing it was amazing since it felt like watching it more would help me find a way to infuse my darkness with my earth or the other way around. It might not ever be at the level she was at since it was happening smoothly without any rejection, but still doing it would lead to a boost in my capabilities. I could even see how much Endis was paying attention since we both had darkness and earth. Though she wasn't done yet. After she was done with the darkness infusion, she started using her air to speed up the speed that the spears were spinning which made the air sound like it was being split.

Then, when she was ready, she opened her eyes and slammed her tails against the ground. That proppeled her spears forward and they shot at the queen at a speed where if we blinked we would've missed it. The spears impaled the queen and shattered her carapace into thousands of fragments. Though they didn't stop there as the darkness in the spaers started to corrode the queens flesh and started to melt her into a giant mass of gunk. The screeches from the queen while this was all happening were deafening but we shook it off and looked at the fragments of carapace that flew out and we all went for different fragments.

The one i went to was a medium sized one that was the size of my hand. I tried to scratch it with one of the claws of my Siellas but i was hardly leaving a scratch. Seeing how hard it was, even after being broken to pieces by Eclina's spears just went to show how much force those spears were able to put out. It was kind of awesome.

(Endis) " Wait... Didn't we agree we would just have Eclina guide us? When'd we end up letting Eclina do everything? "

Oh... He had a point. We did agree to that. Though after thinking about it, Eclina pretty much had the biggest contributions as she gave us maps, cleared out the hatcheries, held the queens guards down and even killed the queen. When did we get on a bus? Eclina had pretty much handled everything despite us agreeing that we would do it. Though there wasn't anything that we could do about it since everything was done. After the moments of realization, we kind of just sulked and gathered as many fragments as possible. Eclina mentioned making a barrel or two and we did so that just made it easier.

We probably spent a half hour just collecting all the fragments that we saw and put them in the barrels. The fragments had properties that almost felt like metal so maybe they could be refined into armor or used to upgrade our weapons. After we were done, we burned all of the new eggs the queen had made and then started heading back up. On our way, we checked all the dead ends that we thought were hatcheries and made sure there weren't any eggs left. With that done, we headed back up and made it back up to the entrance.

As we made it out, we could see the sun was way lower so we spent a few hours dealing with the ants and coming back up. Though that wasn't all that was waiting for us. When we looked over, it was impossible to not notice Espiral who was stirring from his sleep and Eclina who was walking towards him. Espiral ended up waking up as Eclina was right infront of him. He was about to move but Eclina was looking at him in a weird way and got closer as her light tail turned on. After a bit, the light in that tail turned off and she nodded with a satisfied look on her face.

(Espiral) " Sis? "

(Eclina) " Just making sure. "

Espiral seemed a little confused but then he just accepted it and started to stand up. He shook a bit and ruffled his feathers, which led to a few of them falling out. Since we already had permission, we grabbed them and stored them away. After that, we started to make our way back and talked about a few things. Though at one point there was this awkward silence from Eclina and i don't think any of us knew why. But when we were maybe an hour away from the wall, she told us why.

(Eclina) " We're going to have to leave soon... "

That surprised us since Eclina had just gotten here today and we knew that Espiral had sped up to the point of hurting himself so she could see us. But now she was saying they might have to leave soon? No matter how much i thought about it, it didn't make sense. And after she said that, even Espiral seemed to be confused so this was new to him too so he obviously wasn't in the loop about what was going on.

(Mina) " Is something wrong Eclina? "

(Eclina) " Something came up... I want Espiral to get some more rest so we weon't leave right away... Maybe in a day or two... "

(Espiral) " Sis... Wh- "

(Eclina) " I'll tell you about it later. For now we'll relax for a bit and then leave when you're ready. I'm not sure how serious it is but you come first. "

Eclina seemed to have an entirely different demeanor now and seemed to be way more... Domineering? She seemed to have a more dependable aura around her. It was similar to how Mina felt sometimes so it was probably better to call it an older siblings vibe. Espiral didn't say anything but the look on his face went from being confused to accepting what Eclina said. Meanwhile, the rest of us looked to each other with the visible confusion still on our faces.

Though there wasn't much we could do about it since it didn't look like Eclina was going to tell us about it. So we just kept running and eventually made it back. The gate was closed but the guards who were on shift saw and realized who we were so they shouted for the gates to be opened so we could get in. But while we were coming back, i felt like there was someone staring at me a little too hard but i had an idea on who it could be so i didn't care since no matter what he did, we would be fine.

We started to head back to the inn we were staying at but then we realized that we might not have been able too. We did have a strange seven tailed fox and a massive unknown bird with us after all. If we went to th inn, we'd have a lot of explaining to do. So we had to figure out where to stay for now... Though when i voiced that concern out, Endis brought up an idea i was highly tempted to go for. Though the idea wasn't exactly the most... Practical.

(Endis) " Can't we just take over the fat guys place? The servants don't like him and neither do the actual people. We won't even lose anything if we kick him out. "

(Mina) " Why do you just choose the most absurd option everytime? "

(Endis) " Violence is always the answer. "

(Ava) " ...But it doesn't always work? "

(Reina) " This one might... "

When i said that, my party menbers, aside from Endis, jolted. Mina gave me the scary look and i could feel a little pressure coming from her. This was something that Mina would do right before admonishing me for something.

(Mina) " Reina, are you really thinking of throwing a lord out from his own mansion? In his own city? "

(Reina) " ...Umm... Maybe..? Yes... "

Mina kept looking at me while i was saying that and it just made me feel more embarassed saying that i was tempted to do it. It was at moments like this that Mina really felt like my big sister calling me out for doing something stupid. Though it wasn't just Mina, everyone else was looking at me, including Eclina and Espiral. Though they didn't seem to actually follow the conversation and just looked confused. But Mina just kept looking at me and just let out a long sigh and just started to rub her eyes.

(Mina) " Ahh... I miss my pure Reina. "

(Reina) " Wait, what's that supposed to mean? "

(Mina) " You know what i mean! Anyway... Let's just do it. It'll be better then staying at an inn anyway. "

(Endis & Reina) " YES! "

(Orven) " Oh my... She actually agreed to this... "

(Ava) " Orven... Were we bad people in a past life? We must've done something bad to deserve all this stress."

(Endis) " Aren't you two being a little too down? "

Ava and Orven just sighed with looks of acceptance on their faces after Endis said that. Orven even started to pet the children to relieve some stress and even Ava started to follow his lead which suprised the one she was petting. She would always hesitate when it came to getting near the kids but now she was just doing it like it was nothing. Stress makes people do unexpected things.

(Mina) " Anyway. We need to have some justification atleast. If we just go in and kick him out then after we leave the people are going to have a hard time. "

(Endis) " Then should i ju- "

(Mina) " We're not killing him. "

(Endis) " Tch. "

(Mina) " Don't click your tongue at me. And before you try, no putting a hit out on him. "

(Endis) " Ughhhh. "

(Orven) " Do you have a plan in mind? "

Mina was quiet for a bit and seemed to be thinking about what exactly to do. Eclina and Espiral seemed to be having a seperate conversation but they seemed to be in an air bubble so we couldn't hear whatever it was they were talking about. Though i could see that Espiral seemed to be tense.

(Mina) " Reina... You should be due for an announcement. Don't you think? "

Mina caught me off guard with that and i couldn't help but show my confusion. But then i remembered that i had to make an announcement to make up for the lord not doing so. And i did strong arm him so his impression of me was not the best. So if i made another announcement, especially one that let the people know they wouldn't have to worry about the ants... That would probably get him close to bursting so i could see where Mina was going with this. If he fell for it then we would be justified and i wouldn't have to worry about any backlash about abusing my authority. It was perfect.

(Reina) " When should i make the announcement? "

(Mina) " The sooner the better. Especially since he's already mad at you. "

True. He was already staring daggers at me as soon as we got back so if we did this now, he probably wouldn't manage to keep it to himself. I didn't see anything wrong with the plan and the sooner we did it the better we'd be.

(Endis) " We should do it at his mansion too. That's an extra kick to the dick. "

(Mina) " Good idea, horrible phrasing. "

And we kept talking about it so we could make sure it would work. Though at some point, Eclina and Espiral had flown off to the docks, probably to get something to eat. It was probably a half hour later when they came back and we were ready to piss off the lord. We started to make our way to his manor with Eclina at our side and Espiral in the air, which made people make way since they seemed scared of them. Eclina didn't mind but when i looked up, i could see some small changes in Espiral's face from time to time. It reminded me of what i heard happened when Eclina and her family first came to the capital.

At the time, i could imagine what it felt like and that had made me mad. But imagining what it felt like and actually experiencing it was way different. I was tempted to glare at the people treating them as just beasts. Though i had to keep it in for now... Though i did have an idea of taking a page out of my father's book. And the time for me to do that was getting closer.