On a arid road, a massive armored bus rocketed down the hot asphalt road with naught in sight for miles along the flat terrain. Inside the armored giant several people were scattered amongst the various seats. Each person was engaged in their own activities such as reading books and playing on their phones. None of them paid any attention to the unique view that was sprawled outside of their windows.
Infinite black sand soiled and twisted in the breeze that swept across the empty plains. The occasional tumbleweed would also roll along across the road before being swept off to parts unknown. The sand would also occasionally be broken apart by massive craters that dotted across the plains, the remnants of savage battles from the original opening of the Gates. The size of the craters would make the average hunter feel overwhelmed with insignificance but that thought never crossed the minds of any of the people in the armored bus.
It should be noted most of the people in this armored giant of a bus are teenagers. Mainly around the ages of 16 to 19 years old. Many of them were swelling with excitement at the thought of their first Gate diving excursion. The noise they generated was quite typical for teenagers but was still quite loud to the other occupants of the bus. Towards the backside of the bus several older men and woman were seated with nary a peep amongst them. Their thoughts were wandering back towards their families, friends, and dreams. Some of them even doubted if they would be going back home alive on this day, such was the life of a low level blessed Slayer.
The difference in experience and energy between the two groups of people was apparent to anyone that had eyes functioning in their skulls. The older generation made no moves to silence the youngsters that were on board with them since they knew without a shadow of a doubt the Gate would do it for them before they returned back, if they came back at all. If they did come back they certainly wouldn't be as loud and as boisterous as they were currently being.
The men and women knew this because they had been like these youths as well. Energetic, full of life and burning ambition to get rich and go on adventures. The drive to test the new powers that the Gods had bestowed upon them and become famous and rich like the super stars they had seen on TV throughout their childhoods. However life is seldom if ever fair, No life is far more brutal than they ever imagined it could be.
After seeing countless friends and companions die horribly in front of them without being able to do anything to save them the elders had finally understood how weak and powerless they truly were. The frantic energy they had to for getting better and stronger just seemed utterly unrealistic to them and the thrill they once had for adventuring was replaced with a desire to just make it back home in one piece.
This was the depressingly miserable life of Slayers ranked at F and E. The difference in life from being a Slayer ranked at E and S was like the difference between Earth and Heaven! Slayers in the ranks of B, A, and S were treated like celebrities and movie stars of the past. They made millions alone just by appearing on cheesy ads for sports drinks and cereals not to mention how much money they earned from diving into Gates!
Seated in the middle of the two exceptionally diverse groups was an exceptionally pretty young woman. She couldn't have been any older than 19 but she carried herself with refined grace as she stared outwards at the endless black desert that stretched out beyond her window. The young woman had wavy pink hair with blue strands tied back into a simple ponytail. Her figure was shapely but still quite thin yet it still attracted ones eyes, regardless of gender or orientation. Her amethyst colored eyes stared lifelessly as it appeared her mind was focused on something only she knew about.
Across the bus a handsome young man stared intently at the young beauty, much to the amusement of his friends from the young teenage group. He found her quite attractive from the moment he first laid eyes upon her when he first arrived on the bus but he hadn't quite worked up the motivation to approach her yet. He was just about to get up and moved towards her seat when a friend of his seized his arm before shaking his head.
"Eh? What the hell man?" The young lad asked as he abruptly sat back down next to his friend.
"Were you really about to go talk to her? Don't tell me you don't know who she is man." The other young man spoke in hushed whispers as he leaned closer to his friend while sneaking glances over at the ethereal beauty across the bus.
Noting the glances and his friends lowered voice he also lowered his voice before tearing his gaze off the female and asking his friend. "What are you into her too? If so my bad man. She's just pretty hot with those exotic eyes and hair combo."
A snort abruptly escaped his friends lips before shaking his head, and still whispering began to explain things to his friend. "Brian I get it, you think she's hot but therein lies the problem. Since you're the first Slayer from your family I guess it should be expected that you don't know of her. That is Lucielle Everstar. Just like us she became a Slayer at 16 but the blessing she received is completely useless in regards to Gate diving."
"Why is that? Her powers can't be that weak right?" Brian asked with a curious look on his face as he glanced between his friend and the aloof Lucielle.
"Weak would be a gross overestimation of her power. People say that after she was blessed that her appearance abruptly changed until she turned into what you see now." Brian's friend took a deep breath after his brief explanation of the young woman.
"Dude..Chris you never even mentioned what her power is though?" Brian slapped the back of his friends head before moving to leave his seat once again before Chris stopped him again.
"Ouch! Dude what the fuck!" Chris rubbed the back of his head as he dragged Brian back to his seat before he could run off again. The thing is that I did tell you. People say her power is simply just to make herself beautiful and that's it. No major increase in physical strength, no element control, just nothing."
"So.. how is she even still alive at this point?!? If she has a blessing then by law she does have the right to enter Gates but if she entered so many years ago with barely above the strength of a regular human then there is no way she should even still be here by now. It doesn't make any sense that she would be able to make it out alive when higher ranking Slayers haven't.." Brian's eyes were wide with shock as he looked between his friend and the pretty girl across the bus.
Chris' lips twisted themselves into a sneer as he glanced over at Lucielle before shifting back to his friend. "Some say she sleeps around with the stronger members of the parties so that they'll protect her in the Gates. Though nobody really knows the validity of these claims because the people she allegedly sleeps with die in the Gates. That's why her reputation is no good and why you shouldn't seek to align yourself with such a shady character."
Upon hearing everything there was to know about the girl on the other side of the bus Brian no longer felt nearly as attracted to her as he originally was, though her beauty was very much still affecting him. 'Maybe after we finish this dungeon I'll pay this dangerous black widow a visit. Seeing that indifferent face filled with disgust and shame would certainly be amusing.' Brian was unbeknownst to his friend Chris a sexual predator of the highest degree and had helped him find his next victim.
The other teenagers in their group hadn't been paying any attention to their conversation as they were all excitedly arguing over who would kill the most monsters in this Gate dive. Others mocked Lucielle openly saying such things as; "Try not to give too much sloppy sucky this time around slut!" "Who knows maybe if you strip and dance maybe they'll be too mesmerized to fight us back as we slaughter them!" The older crowd sighed and merely shook their heads while gazing at the young woman with pity in their eyes. Some of them had frequently dived with the young lady so they knew the rumors about her were unfounded.
Lucielle was not paying them any mind as her face still remained as indifferent as ever. However her mind was whirling as her eyes gazed at the red and black screen that appeared before her out of this air. It contained a message that she had been waiting for such a long time to appear.
Lucielle read the message as tears began to well up in her eyes. All these years of torment, pain, and misery had finally paid off. She wiped away the tears before they fully formed and looked at the page before her once more before responding to it with her thoughts as she did all those years ago. Lucielle took a deep breath before exclaiming her answer.....