Chapter 87 - Grotesque Hives

After a grueling journey on towards the hive's last seen location by Vale Ashford, they finally saw it.

She surveyed the location with her eyes first, seeing if there were any winged harbingers hovering on top of the hive, ready to strike at unsuspecting Slayers unfortunate enough to stumble upon these birthing grounds.

They were above a plateau while the hive was positioned below them.

Snow had started to cover the hive, she was indeed curious as to how this was affecting the Angels slumbering, waiting for their chance to become a slaughterer in their own right.

"S-So those are the hives, Vale?"

Ajay was taken aback.

Vale Ashford nodded.

Ignis Silva's eyes darted around the surroundings.

Vale and her squad regrouped with Ignis.

"That's about it. That thing right there is the hive. Hundreds of Angels lay dormant there, who knows when they are ready to awaken?"

Vale said.

"Then we are going to have to burn them to the ground before that happens, is that right?"

Ignis Silva responded coupled with a dark glint on his bloodlust gaze.

Dark humongous towers of doom – that was how one of the S Rank Slayers in the Operation Phoenix had taken to describe the hives themselves.

"T-Those things are where these cursed Angels come from?"

Another one asked.

They all laid their eyes on the hive towers and had noticed no Angels guarding them.

Although it was only one hive, the grand scale and sheer size of it was truly gigantic.

Vale Ashford had remembered her partner, Dunham.

Both of them were one of the best reconnaissance and stealth deployment Slayers in the Corps right now, she still could not believe that her colleague suffered a mortal blow for her.

"Dunham, we are going to avenge you, these dozens of Slayers here right now all want one thing and only goal in mind – to exterminate and to burn these wretched hives to the ground, no matter where it might be."

The S Rank Wind Slayer thought to herself as she had her eyes closed, channeling her focus.

Ignis coughed in order to clear his throat, catching everyone's attention.

"Gentlemen and women! We are here to do our jobs as Slayers! We know not of the properties these hives possess or what might happen once we hit it with other affinities other than fire, so it is safe to assume that flames are the best way to exterminate them, none other than that! I am sure I have already told you this during our last meeting at the Grand Castle, but I shall repeat it for those who were not in attendance for some apparent reason."

Ignis Silva's eyes locked in on Faust Keisuke's, he was not sugarcoating the fact that his words were dead set on target towards the Primal Hounds' second in command.

"We do not need heroes. Do not sacrifice yourselves for anyone who is less valuable than you. As cold and callous as that might sound to some of you in each squadron, that is how the Inferno Garden has maintained a ninety percent mission success rate. And I do not intend to break that percentage, specially not today."

Hector Incendium was reaching out to his backpack, he took out a small red box the size of his palms, they were marked with the sigil of the Inferno Garden.

The A Rank Slayer then gave it to Ignis Silva who was still rallying the troops.

Ignis opened it and grinned.

"Thank you, Hector."

His hands opened the red box to reveal dark red playing cards, a bit different from his main variant of weapons which were just plain ones.

Luken whistled softly. Just soft enough to not disturb Ignis' prep talk.

"It looks like someone is really taking things seriously."

He said.

"Are you not going to take the mission seriously, Luken?"

Gavin shot him an angry glare.

"Do not worry, Gavin. I will, for sure. It's just that I have not fought alongside Ignis for as long as I could remember. The last time we probably got clumped in the same squad was when we were still rookies, right?"

The Commander asked Gavin.

"How am I supposed to remember? Anyhow, it seems as though your memory is superb once it is tasked with memorizing and remembering utterly useless facts and information, I will give you that much."

The Serpent Summoner shut him down and chuckled.

Faust followed in Gavin's laughter in no time.

But both of them were stopped by Ignis' dark sanguine eyes seeing if anyone was not listening.

"Now! Seeing it with your own eyes, you can see the hives themselves have not hatched, right, Vale?"

Ignis asked the Specter, whom replied with a hasty nod.

"The formation is now going to be changed until we march back home towards Niflheim. Every Fire Slayer, form a line with me in the middle! We will burn these hives to ground until nothing remains but dust and would-be Angel corpse burning away into nothingness!"

The Fire Slayers were quick on their feet, walking lightly towards where Ignis was.

"Are these all of them?"

Ignis asked.

They nodded.

"Yes, sir!"

"In order to make our extermination and burning of the hives a success, we must be able to assure that we are safe while casting our flame spells. I shall designate Vale Ashford, Ajay, and Sae'jal to scout the area for Angels, scour them and point out their location, and together, we shall bring the wrath of mankind down on them!"

Ignis and the Fire Slayers were on stand by, as well as the others. 

"Why did you say that Ignis was getting serious, sir Luken?"

Faust Keisuke asked the Commander.

"Just one look at Ignis' hands and I already knew. It is those red boxes of cards, Faust. Once he pulled that out, I was certain that the man is not going to hold back for anything else in the world."

Luken answered the young Slayer's question.

Faust's eyebrows were clearly wrinkled.

"Are those cards enchanted or something? I am sure his normal playing cards from earlier once we went up against the chameleons were also enchanted, right? What makes those ones different?"

Luken was trying to find the words to explain the strength of Ignis' trump cards, literally, but the only words his brain could come up with was "B-Because they're stronger! That is right, they much stronger than the cards from the earlier fight!"

The Commander answered ecstatically.

Gavin butted in and decided to answer Faust instead.

"Those cards are red for a reason, a quite disgusting reason at that." Gavin said as he was polishing up his grimoire in preparation for the Operation's most important step. "It is red because those cards are soaked in his blood."

"W-What?!"

Luken Regalia and Faust Keisuke screamed while asking.

Someone prompted them to keep it down, afraid that these two doofuses might blow their cover in any case that there was an Angel hiding.

"How do you not know that, Luken? Isn't he your rival or something? Why did you even say they were stronger if you did not know just why they were stronger than his normal playing cards?"

Gavin was agitated at Luken's simple mindedness.

With a sigh to exhale all his disappointment at his life long friend, he immediately went back to explaining it to Faust.

"The Silva bloodline are no joke when it came to their wealth and renown. Ignis Silva's grandfather and his father died in the line of duty, both of them were the Inferno Garden's leaders as well, retaining the mentality of strength above all. Because of his family's long line of being S Rank and above Slayers, they have generated wealth which would last their bloodline ages to burn through." Gavin cleared his throat. "That is not all though, for reasons I for one do not know, his family's blood itself is special, again, I mean this in a literal sense."

Luken was puzzled.

"I think you told me this long ago, but I kind of forgot about it."

Gavin rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, his blood amps up the Fire affinity his family possesses. They are what you might call generational Slayers. He dips the cards in his own blood, amplifying it ten fold. The explosions are no joke, even I can admit that."

Gavin said.

Luken nodded as if he had not forgotten all about this.

"But that is not doable every single time he gets deployed, right?"

Faust asked.

"Precisely. The amount of blood needed to even fully coat one single card is pretty unnerving when you think about it. So he only brings those red blood coated cards out whenever he is in a rut or when there are big exterminations or conquests. "

Gavin replied.

Luken was stretching and jumping up and down.

"What do you think you are doing, Luken?"

Ignis approached him and asked the Commander.

"What do you think? Warming up, of course!"

"You do realize you are not going to be in the front lines right? Have you forgotten your affinity as well?"

Ignis asked him.