Beesekai [A Monster Reincarnation Isekai]

Ben was flying for his life. He flew as fast as his wings could carry him, skimming the tops of Lemonholm’s wooden rooftops. He was already on the opposite side of town from the entrance gate, some distance away from the fighting. To make things simple, he was moving along the outer row of buildings closest to the town’s wall.

His breath was short. His whole dang body hurt, and the healing process made it somewhat itchy too. And worst of all, his Mind felt unreasonably strained. If the fight went on too long, the only option might be to have Moomom do some Link experimentation in the heat of battle; probably not ideal.

Just as he crossed over a gap in the buildings, the wall below exploded, releasing a deluge of searingly powerful Mind. Right. The real problem. Even though Ben was flying his fastest, so fast he barely had time to think, Jey was hot on his heels, angrier than any human Ben had ever seen. She was crashing through houses both empty and occupied, and as a result, her body was covered in a layer of splinters, dust, and blood.

He didn’t know if the blood was hers.

“I’LL KILL YOU.”

Jey’s words were interspersed with the screams of strangers and the destruction of walls and buildings, but Ben got the gist. She’d been shouting similar exciting quotes since she began chasing him. Thankfully, the overwhelming exclamations of support from the hive far overshadowed Jey’s rage-filled screams. Imminent danger was stressing Ben out a bit, but this chase was actually one of the best outcomes of the battle so far. Instead of doing as Muweh instructed, Jey was wholly preoccupied with the futile chase around town. She’d even directly disobeyed an order from Greyan, which was abnormal behavior for her. Meanwhile, Ben was being healed, and was feeling stronger by the second, thanks to Elofan’s bog reaching even the outskirts of Lemonholm. All of Jey’s problems, on the other hand, were only being magnified by the overexertion of her Mind. Any moment now, she’d suffer Mind Collapse, the Knights would be down a member, and things would become awesome.

“I’LL TEAR YOUR LEGS OFF ONE BY ONE.”

But seriously, how long was this going to take? For all his advantages, Ben had never taken such severe beatings before, never had to strain his body or his looking so hard. Any debris Jey flung could spell death if it stopped his flight and she managed to catch up. If she caught him, he’d have too many severe injuries to heal. It was exhausting, and yet Jey was still charging like a boulder rolling down a hill - she just seemed to be gaining momentum.

Even so, things were looking up. Through Beelzebub, between the brutal clashes, he could feel Greyan’s intense concern. He was shouting at the other Knights, imploring them to finish their jobs, help the casualties, and restrain Jey all at the same time. Meyara and Herwen, of course, weren’t capable of doing everything at once. Meyara was accelerating her assault even further, pushing Grehn far beyond his limit. Vlugh, on the other hand, only grew sharper with each exchange. He was growing, just like Grehn - maybe he would even level up his own Ability during this battle. But the key difference maker was Elofan.

Elofan wasn’t attacking with her Mind, nor was she using her long, gorilla-like arms to help Grehn on the frontline. No, instead she had slowly and deliberately inched towards the house Jey had first been flung into and found her forgotten rifle. So Elofan was wildly firing a gun in Meyara’s general direction.

To be fair, it was surprisingly effective. The bullets weren’t even really enough to distract Meyara, but they were at least something. They were most effective when they were melted by Vlugh’s flame and splattered as hot metal against her less-armored parts.

It also happened to be a decent deterrent for Muweh. Judging by how she only fired her pistol and ducked away from any approaching cultsits, relying on Herwen to protect her, she was no fighter. All of her power came from her Mind, and then she was only really using it to avoid immediate death at the hands of cultists or activating her Ability. But even with a powerful Mind, she probably wanted to avoid running through a battlefield into a hail of random gunfire coming from a fernen who, if Ben didn’t know any better, would seem like she watched too many action movies with guns.

Not that he knew all too much about that. He’d only ‘looked’ at a couple of movies, but they weren’t as interesting as real life for him.

Then there was Herwen. His Ability, that ghostly suit of large, blue armor, was clearly intended to be used for defense. If he had any attacking power, he most certainly wasn’t using it, as he was in the midst of being completely dog piled by cultists beating on him with clubs, torches, and pitchforks. Some of the cultists even had these fascinating weapons that looked like little metal baskets attached to the end of a long stick, apparently a tool for grabbing lemons from hard-to-reach places. Every point of impact flashed a brighter blue, but resisting all that damage wasn’t anywhere near to fulfilling their mission. Whether because he physically couldn’t, thanks to the cultists, or maybe because his powers weren’t suited for attack, Ben wasn’t sure - regardless, the result was a Herwen who was being excruciatingly slow at fulfilling his mission of killing the cultists.

As long as the Knights were still concerned for the lives of the regular citizens of Lemonholm, the hive’s advantage was strong. Ben just really needed to keep out of Jey’s reach.

“A bee! A bee! I, the greatest form of life, reduced to self-induced calamity. The lesser beings think they can overcome us, but the bees. The bees are the most arrogant, like the pathetic bug they tend to be. Always the bugs. Oh, how fragile is humanity. With rage in my heart and the sounds in my ear, I will destroy the bees for the world to stay free.”

If the danger to his life wasn’t squeezing his brain, Ben would’ve stopped to stare at Jey after she spoke. What the hell was she even saying? It was completely unlike her previously clipped, enraged comments - this was calm, almost elated. She leaped, slamming into a rooftop, causing it to buckle under her weight, but she leaped off that too, even as the wood cracked. She nearly reached Ben, but at the last second, he dove, weaving between an alley. His agility was a part of why his speed was so awesome, so he tried to misdirect Jey’s unrelenting attack by making sharp turns and unexpected loops, but she simply fell to the ground and began running again.

But something had changed. She was no longer taking the most direct path to reach him by destroying any obstacles in her path. She was being more careful. Less rash.

“Ben, oh Ben. Your Mothers deceive you. They use you. Looking is little more than the function of a machine, and to them, that is what you are born to do. A number on the field, in the game of life upon which we stand supreme.”

Okay, that was extremely weird. He chanced a glance at Jey, whose voice was now so calm it was like the sound of a deep pool of serene water, which shouldn’t even sound like anything. He found the same Knight, covered in the remains of Lemonholm, her Mind bursting with power and furious emotion. And her face, no longer hidden by her helmet, which had, at some point, been discarded, was the picture of contentment. Her smile was easy, her eyes soft, her skin devoid of creases or blemishes or anger. Of all things, she seemed happy.

Something had happened to Knight Jey, something Ben thought was familiar. But it was impossible. Yes, they had smuggled two Linkers to Lemonholm, hidden beneath Elofan’s mass of mossy fur, just in case one of the mercenaries managed to become unLinked. But there were only two. What’s more, those two Linkers had already been deployed and were searching for two particular targets, with no guarantee that the Link would be established in time to provide another advantage. None of the Knights, nor Muweh, were the targets, considering how limited the Linkers’s numbers were. Losing even one was halving the potential advantage, and the Knights were practically impenetrable walls. So what was taking control of Jey’s Mind?

Whatever it was, it had knowledge of the hive it shouldn’t be able to have. Ben didn’t everything about his two Momaroons, but he knew there was something like that going on. But only bees knew about that.

“A bee! A bee! For the bee to learn a secret of Mind, one hidden even from me, it should truly be an impossibility. But it did, and I bid my time, and the secret is now mine. I will help my child, keep her Mind in check and her actions sane. Her team will be able to fight again. My child will break, naturally, but it is enough for me to destroy a bee.”

Greyan was weak. Distracted. Before Beelzebub was the perfect opportunity to sting him and begin the journey to the battle’s end, where Greyan would be under threat of Mind collapse. It would be easy. She had remembered something Ben said at some point, back when he was watching Greyan create the new barrier around Lemonholm. ‘Oh, I think I found a tiny gap in the armor, near the back.’ He was right; at the small of Greyan’s back there was a miniscule gap in the armor, the only place on the full suit that had any discernible weakness. It only became visible when he bent over at a certain angle, and was so tiny even Beelzebub’s stinger might struggle to fit, but it was something. All she had to do was use this opportunity, while he was pre-occupied with his concerns about Jey, to land the sting, and the tides would turn almost entirely in her favor.

But she hesitated. Her Ability was, in theory, very powerful in a situation where the enemy might hold several advantages, or where they might be relying on calmness, patience, or carefulness. This wasn’t necessarily asituation like that, in Beelzebub’s opinion. The Knights were already somewhat desperate. Some of the bees argued that, when taking into consideration the Knight’s apparent goal of keeping the rest of Lemonholm safe, patience and carefulness were paramount. But that wasn’t what made her hesitate - it was just something the hive was talking about.

What gave her pause was Jey. Before her sting caused Jey to become so angry she began using a higher and higher percentage of Mind, she was fending off Ben with relative ease. Sure, she was stumbling, and nearly got stung a couple times, but a wound as grievous as the one Beelzebub gave her would make any fighter struggle. And yet, she had entrusted Meyara calmly with handling the bigger threat, and was content to wear Ben down, striking occasional blows to weaken him gradually.

Just like Greyan had done to Beelzebub.

Yes, if she stung Greyan, he would eventually become angry and irrational, using more Mind than he should and lead to Mind Collapse. But forget the question of how long it would take with a Mind as strong as Greyan’s. Beelzebub was afraid for her life. The truth was, Beelzebub was just scared. Greyan hadn’t let her land a single solid blow until he became distracted. He had barely used his Ability, wimpy as it seemed. What would happen if, like Jey, he suddenly unleashed the full power of his Mind?

She had to act. Beelzebub steeled herself, drawing upon all the instinct she could muster, every fiber of her being that told her she needed to fight, not for herself, but for the hive. With a burst of speed, she flew, aiming for the small of Greyan’s back.

“Jey?”

Greyan spoke softly, almost too softly for Beelzebub to hear. Something had changed. She realized she could no longer hear the crashing of distant buildings being destroyed. Already committed, she flew, hoping her speed would be enough. Her eyes were drawn towards Greyan’s left hand, empty save for Muweh’s bullet. But then her brain throbbed as her attention was suddenly snatched away by Greyan himself. Her attention was split between the two spots, and her aim was thrown off by the sudden tug-of-war being played on her head. She missed, landing a bone-shaking blow on Greyan’s upper back, sending him tumbling through the street. His armor hadn’t even dented under her strength, but he did groan as he rose, meaning her attack wasn’t completely useless. But her heart sank regardless. She had missed.

“I don’t know the situation, but it seems like Jey isn’t hurting innocents anymore. I can still feel her Mind, though, so she’s still alive. This is worse than I expected. No longer can I afford to keep this fight going.”

He clicked a lever on his rifles, causing the bayonet at the end to jump slightly. He grabbed it and dropped the gun, ending up with a knife in one hand and the attention-stealing bullet in the other.

Beelzebub looked at Greyan, rage mixing with hopelessness. Of all bees, she was struggling? She was losing? She was a Valkybee. The strongest. Maybe the strongest bee in the hive. This was unacceptable.

Rather than be consumed by rage, Beelzebub intentionally fed the flames of her emotion. She forcefully grabbed the hopelessness, the fear, the uncertainty, and threw it into the fire to feed her anger. With all her heart, she refused to accept Greyan’s superiority. Thoughts of the hive, of Mom, propelled her forward, and she clashed with Greyan’s bayonet. He wouldn’t recognize it, but a sinister leer spread over her face.

“If you’re finally gonna stop underestimating me, then this is the final round. Show me the fight humanity has in them. Make it fun!”

And, of course, she laughed.