The clearing was silent but for the faint crackling of chitin plates under the iron stakes. The two Mutant-Class ambrosia beetles, each nearly the size of a small carriage, struggled against the stakes shot into their limbs and impaling them to the ground. They most certainly jerked spasmodically, and if they’d been holding any strength back during the entire fight, they weren’t holding back now—so Dahlia didn’t give them a chance to break free and run from the clearing.

  Tossing her hammer to the side, she dashed between the two impaled beetles and grabbed their iron stakes in each hand. Four stakes, four hands. While the rest of her team rushed forward to check up on the beetles, she closed her eyes and let out a cool, shallow breath.

  “Swarmblood Art: Stormlure,” she whispered.

  Her black chitin hands gripping the stakes crackled from the strain. Her chest heaved and she panted for breath—that single second of activating the firefly’s explosion of lightning made sweat drip from her brow, but a single second was all she needed. The lightning sparked from her palms, shot through the stakes, and made the beetle twins screech in pain as golden electricity coursed through their blood.

  Quickly, though, their struggle slowed, and their once-violent thrashing reduced to feeble shudders. A faint smell of ozone hung in the air alongside the earthy scent of the forest, but by the time the rest of her team reached her, she’d already released the stakes with a quiet gasp and stumbled back, her knees threatening to buckle.

  Muyang, who’d already taken off his giant beetle helm and was dragging it behind him, caught her by the arm before she could fall.

  “Are you alright, Miss Dahlia?” he asked, calm but just a tad bit worried. She nodded quickly, blinking away the tears that’d gathered in her eyes.

  “Yeah. Just... needed a second,” she mumbled, shaking her arm free and rubbing her sore wrists. “I don’t think… they’ll be moving anymore.”

  Muyang helped her stand upright as the rest of the group gathered. Otto and Emilia dropped down from their tree, their descent light and practiced, while Wisnu lingered a bit further back, her giant sawtooth blade still gripped tightly in both hands as she fixed her sharp gaze on the convulsing beetles. She was right to be wary—Dahlia didn’t think any of them saw that super miniscule spark of electricity born on her palms—but Dahlia didn’t feel like telling them about her Swarmblood Art, so she just let Wisnu be wary for a few more seconds before it became clear.

  The beetle twins were, all things considered, dead.

  Now it just came down to giving them their funeral rites.

  "... Well, that was a workout," Otto said, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow as he adjusted his bag, throwing everyone a wide grin. "Not bad, though! I can’t believe we actually got them! I was half-worried either Wisnu or Muyang would get their heads popped off like a cork!”

  Muyang and Wisnu bumped fists, their smile matching the sense of relief that finally settled over the group. “I agree. We had good teamwork,” Wisnu said, before turning to dip her head at Dahlia. “For what it was worth, I did not think you would actually be able to predict their escape routes that accurately. Just how did you realise they were going to dash to that tree in particular in order to use their Swarmblood Art to heal?”

  Dahlia gave a faint smile, though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her fingers flexed unconsciously, her mind replaying the moments before the ambush: she’d spent what felt like an eternity studying the beetles’ movements, trying to decipher their attack patterns. It’d been exhausting, both mentally and physically, and her eyes were still watering from how intensely she’d been staring at them, but… reading and understanding bugs was her thing. It was her talent. Maybe it was the assassin bug blood in her, or maybe she’d just spent too many hours reading that bug encyclopaedia, but when the beetles started to run—when the opportunity showed itself—she hadn’t hesitated.

  Silver flowers bloomed on the tree they were going to jump towards, so all she did was jump up and intercept them with her hammer.

  So, to Wisnu’s disappointment, all Dahlia could offer was a disinterested shrug as a response.

  While Wisnu turned away and tried to hide her sulking, Otto stepped forward to nudge one of the beetle’s heads with his foot. “So… this is it, right? We’ve passed the exam. Now all we have to do is kill them.”

  Wisnu straightened her back and stood at attention with her greatsword planted before her, pommel clasped in her hands. “As per the prior agreement, I will be forfeiting this exam.”

  “Mister Otto will kill one of the beetles,” Muyang said, frowning distastefully down at the bugs, “and one of us from Team Dahlia will kill the other one. I am not inclined to kill prey that cannot fight back. It is dishonourable.”

  Emilia crossed her arms behind her head and mumbled, “says the man who definitely didn’t stick magnets on them just to weaken them–”

  “–that was a strategic decision, and it was honourable–”

  “I can do it,” Dahlia said, raising her hand slowly as she struggled to pull her hammer out of the dirt. “I… wanna be the one to kill it.”

  All eyes turned to her. Otto’s expression was one of mild surprise, while Emilia’s was unreadable. Muyang’s brow furrowed, but he didn’t say anything.

  “You sure?” Otto asked, looking slightly concerned. “You look… winded. Did that one swing take that much out of you?”

  Dahlia gulped. So they really hadn’t noticed her lightning after all. “Yeah. But it’s not a problem who kills it, right? Unless… Emilia, you want to–”

  “No, I don’t,” Emilia said, waving dismissively as she turned away. “Do what you will.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Dahlia was glad she didn’t have to elaborate. In truth, her reasons were far from simple. She wanted to know the conditions of activating her Swarmblood Art, because the magic to ‘use the Swarmblood Arts of all bugs she defeated and devoured’ wasn’t very specific. Just what, exactly, counted as her ‘defeating’ a bug?

  Would she have to wring the life out of the beetle and eat its heart with her bare hands?

  Could she smash its heart apart and then just eat a random chunk of its flesh?

  Kari didn’t finish its sentence, and Dahlia, for her part, wasn’t too interested in continuing this line of thought either. They’d have plenty of time to think after the exam was over.

  “Alright, then,” Otto said, his tone casual as he slung his rifle off his shoulder. “Once we’re done here, let’s meet up back in the city. Drinks on me if they let me keep the carcass.”

  “Drinks at a fancy inn, no doubt,” Emilia muttered.

  Otto grinned. “You know it. I’m staying at Golden Cicada Inn in the northwestern part of the city, by the way. Look for me there once you’re out.”

  Muyang dipped his head politely. “I will be there.”

  Wisnu did the same. “I would like to exchange farewell pleasantries with all of you before I depart from the city as well. Please excuse my presence even though I will not be a participant in the second stage of the exam.”

  “Oh, come on.” Otto sighed, glancing up to wink at Wisnu. “I’ll buy you extra drinks. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, after all.”

  With that said, he turned his attention to the first beetle, raising his rifle. The weapon gleamed in the sunlight, its polished barrel catching the light as he took aim at its chest.

  “Let’s see... one heart shot should do it,” he murmured.

  The rest of them stepped back, giving him space. The moment felt heavy, the air thick with anticipation—then Otto squeezed the trigger.

  One bullet. The anti-chitin round rang out, sharp and deafening, echoing through the forest, but the actual bullet pierced through its chest with a spark of fire. The beetle on the left jerked once before falling still, its body lifeless.

  Then, without warning, glowing blue wormholes opened beneath both the slain and the slayer.

  “What the–”

  Otto’s voice cut off as he fell through, swallowed by the swirling vortex. Then both wormholes closed as quickly as they’d appeared, leaving nothing behind but an empty patch of dirt where the two of them had been.

  For a moment, no one moved.

  “... Well,” Emilia said finally, breaking the silence. “Glad to know we’re actually being observed. It’d suck if we had to walk all the way back to the city with the carcass in hand.”

  Dahlia adjusted her grip on the hammer, the weight of it both comforting and daunting in her hands as she trudged over to the remaining. While she prepared herself for the killing blow—she was just going to smash its chest in and hope that counted as ‘defeated’—Muyang turned to Wisnu, extending a hand.

  “You are an honorable noble, Wisnu Balam Hunahpu,” he said. “You fought alongside us without hesitation and without reward. I respect that.”

  Wisnu shook his hand in return, her grip firm. “It was simply my duty to give it my all,” she said, her tone measured but with a hint of gratitude. “I will see you again in the Golden Cicada Inn, yes?”

  “We wil. I will be waiting—”

  “My god, just get a room already,” Emilia groaned, chopping their hands apart so she could shake Wisnu’s hand as well. “Yes, yes, for what it’s worth, you were pretty good. Nice swordsmanship. A hundred times better than my dad’s.”

  Wisnu finally turned to Dahlia, but she was already holding her hammer with all four hands, so Wisnu resorted to bowing slightly instead. “Thank you as well, Miss Dahlia. I figure out what your insect class is one day, though–”

  “Get in line,” Dahlia and Emilia mumbled.

  Chuckling softly, Wisnu gave one more faint smile. “Well, I will be back here next year. Or the year after that, if I can find the time.” She paused for a moment, her eyes distant as she glared down at the beetle. “Though… after this year, I suspect I may not have the luxury to register for the Hasharana Entrance Exam again. I will be coming of age, so I may not be able to afford leaving my homeland.”

  A small pang of sadness twisted in Dahlia’s chest. Wisnu had given everything to the team, yet her path forward seemed so uncertain.

  If there was something Dahlia could do, she most certainly would try… but as she gripped her hammer tight and prepared to swing, she didn’t expect her antennae to twitch involuntarily.

  Something was wrong.

  Her danger instincts flared suddenly, catching a faint disturbance in the air. She froze and whirled to the right just as Emilia shouted a shrill, warping note that wrapped all four of them in a sound barrier—but the projectile that sliced through the air wasn’t aimed at them.

  A soft and a quiet was all Dahlia heard before she slowly looked around, eyes widening at the glowing syringe sticking out of the remaining beetle’s neck.

  Within seconds, the beetle started convulsing violently, and by the time Muyang thought to stomp the syringe into little glass shards, it was already too late. A feather-cloaked figure hopped down from a branch at the edge of the clearing, cackling.

  “... This is how a Plagueplain Doctor fights,” Blaire said, her voice dripping with smugness as she approached the four of them, not a single syringe, blade, or weapon held in her hands.

  Wisnu’s face contorted with rage as she gripped her giant sawtooth blade. Her voice was a low growl. “You. What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Just proving a point,” Blaire replied, a wicked grin spreading across her face. “You all were so busy with your little goodbyes, you forgot the most basic rule of the exam: can interfere. And now you’ve lost your kill, little miss cicada, mister beetle, miss… whatever the fuck you’re supposed to be.”

  There was no hesitation. No thinking. Wisnu let out a roar of fury and charged at Blaire, her sawtooth blade gleaming as it sliced through the air. Blaire stood her ground, her grin never faltering, even as Wisnu closed the gap in an instant—and just as Wisnu swung her blade at Blaire’s neck, the beetle gave one last, violent shudder and went still. The poison had done its job.

  Three wormholes opened.

  One swallowed the beetle’s carcass, but another opened in Wisnu’s leaping trajectory, and the last opened beneath Blaire’s feet. All three of them disappeared into the swirling vortexes they closed as abruptly as they’d appeared.

  Then the clearing fell into silence once more.

  Dahlia lowered her hammer slowly, her knuckles white against the handle.

  “... She killed it,” Dahlia whispered, her voice barely audible.

  Muyang’s jaw tightened as he stared at the spot where Blaire had stood moments ago. “She killed it,” he echoed, his voice flat.

  Dahlia turned to Emilia, her antennae twitching with uncertainty. “What… what now? Why are we still here? Are we… supposed to stay here until the duration of the exam is over, even though the beetles are already dead?”

  Emilia didn’t answer immediately, her eyes still locked on the now-empty space in front of them. Muyang said nothing either, his hand gripping the edge of his giant beetle helm so tightly that the chitin started to crack.

  For Dahlia’s part, she was about to grab Emilia’s shoulder and shake the cicada girl out of her paralysis when a colossal shadow fluttered over the clearing.

  Her antennae twitched again. She tilted her head back, her eyes widening as she caught sight of the bug soaring over the mushroom caps—and the Mutant-Class sun moth’s glowing red eyes were unblinking and alien as it glared back at all of them.

  Muyang shouted at the two of them to move as the moth’s eyes started swirling, charging up a beam of pure, blinding fire.

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