"I can't believe I'm in the same carriage with the Dancing Phoenix!"
"I'm so lost." Hinata spoke softly as the three of them were utterly dumbfounded, her attitude was nothing like the one she displayed before.
"Huh?"
"It's really you, Haru Shin! The beast of the Dancing Phoenix!" She threw herself on him but he was swift to stop her by extending his right arm. "Hold up! The hell is going on!?" He proclaimed with a confused tone.
"You all will have to forgive me for the attitude I displayed earlier on, I'm sure you've experienced first hand my dad's displeasure in your amazing guild. That's why I had to act like I was on his side regarding this opinion." Amelia said, bowing her head down in apology.
"And what's your story?" Renji questioned.
"The truth is, I've always been a huge fan of the Dancing Phoenix even before the accident that claimed many lives, causing the public to lose faith in you. You all inspired me to become a mage, but my father disagreed. He thinks I'm the one that needs protecting not the one to protect." Amelia spoke, explaining the contradictive position her father put her through despite her input.
"Aww thanks, I felt the same that's why I also joined the Dancing Phoenix. Wait you can use magic?" Hinata asked as she felt the beginning of a new friendship.
"Yes I'm a water mage, however I'm not so good at it because, well you know." She replied with a radiant smile.
"I don't recognize you, I'm pretty sure I've mastered all the faces of the Phoenix guild. Are you new?" She added with curiosity, after all for a guild as notorious and popular as the Dancing Phoenix, all members should be known.
"Yeah, I joined the guild hours ago and I'm already on my first quest." Renji answered, crossing his legs and supporting his jaw with his right fist.
"He's Renji Storm, I asked him to join the guild after he helped me complete my quest a day ago." Hinata chimed in.
"Oh, I see. I'm just so glad that it was the Dancing Phoenix out of all possible guilds that answered my quest." She spoke happily in an angelic tune.
An hour passed and the carriage was still on route to the Nile Kingdom, it followed a vegetative habitat as that was the shortest route to the borders of the kingdom.
Her original intent for going to another neighbouring kingdom was to attend a conference. A conference where the king, princes and princesses as well as nobles attended. Amelia and her father are both considered nobles of the Fiol Kingdom hence their extreme wealth.
However for this particular conference both of them had no intentions of going, that was until her best friend, the princess of Fiol, invited her.
"Where are we going anyways?" Hinata asked as there was still part of the mission that was unclear to them.
"Oh right! We are headed to the Nile kingdom for the United conference." She replied.
"United Conference?"
"The Nile kingdom as well as the Fiol kingdom is part of the several kingdoms that resided within the Gaia Continent. Legend has it that the goddess of the earth, Gaia descended upon the earth and nourished a large region of the earth as an experiment and test of her powers and that gave birth to our surplus and immensely rare resources." She replied.
"I'd love to hear about one of your journeys." Amelia requested as it didn't matter to her which of them spoke, she cultivated the assumption long ago that each member of the Dancing Phoenix had an interesting story to tell.
"Well since you asked."
SWOOSH!
From opposite sides of the carriage, two magic arrows were shot at the windows of the carriage at an insane speed with both it's trajectory being Amelia and Hinata.
Both Haru and Renji's senses were sharp, in a quick succession they both faced the two sides of the windows and caught the arrows with their bare hands. Swiftly, they ran in sync towards the windows opposite to them.
"Wind Magic..."
"Beast Magic..."
They both took in deep breaths, building up their respective magic types within their stomach.
"Wind Dragon's Blast!"
"Sonic Roar!"
Simultaneously, Renji released a huge blast of wind from his mouth which assumed the shape of a dragon at the assumed direction the arrow was shot from, while Haru released concentric circles representing the force and reach of the sound wave he created. The lines became progressively wider and more distorted as they move outward towards the proposed target.
"Oh!" Amelia spoke aloud taken away swiftly by the instantaneous movements of both Haru and Renji.
"Hang on!" Hinata exclaimed as she held Amelia down on the ground to prevent her from being exposed to further danger.
Both the [Dragon's Blast] and [Sonic Roar] carried debris of rocks, dust and other objects in it's path, the sonic roar especially ripped the grounds as it travelled towards the trees.
"Don't stop!" Haru yelled out to the horseman who drove the carriage, instructing him not to stop it at all costs.
"Take care of her, Hinata." Renji said as both him and Haru jumped through the windows in front of them before using their hands to launch themselves backwards over the carriage as they landed on it's roof before jumping to the ground.
"Alright!" Renji exclaimed, he had been hoping for a new challenge and stronger opponents all along as that's what he needed to level up.
"Show yourselves cowards!" Haru declared with a menacing smile as he clenched his fists.
"Their teamwork is remarkable, are you sure that Renji guy just joined recently?" Amelia questioned with a curious mind. The synergy both mages had was something that is only possible through years of teamwork.
"So you're alive after all huh Renji?" A voice said chuckling from the within the trees.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Renji asked with a bit of shock applied behind his voice.
"It's your old pal Nicholas, you ask how huh? Maybe it's because..." A total of six men emerged from hiding, four crouching up in the air on the branches of the trees and the remaining two on the ground. "You're one of us, or should I say used to be one of us." He chuckled as he spoke.
"Renji, what's he talking about? Who are they?" Haru questioned as he couldn't understand what was going on. "What does he mean by you're one of them?"
"I don't know, but my guess is, they must be the Phantom Pact Tanji told us about." He replied.
"You talk like you're not acquainted with us, Stormbringer of the Phantoms Pact." He said with a slight smirk on his face.