*The Widow*

“The scouts report the same ‘bad air’ can be found to the west as well,” one of the Widow’s officer spiders reported. “We were able to spot the same plants at those locations too, much as you suggested we would.”

The Widow hissed and clicked her mandibles. Having returned to fulfil her orders only to find that she could no longer move her soldiers along the lines she wanted frustrated her. The humans were planting small bushes that put some sort of poison into the air, and removing them would take time- but she ordered them to do so anyways. Perhaps, before she had come, these plants would have driven the wild demons into kill zones, but under her leadership she would turn the human’s defenses against them. She would strike from where they felt the most secure and send the rest of her forces on.

Traveling through the shadows briefly, she went to a hill above the shallow valley where the forces were gathering. Tens of thousands of demons were waiting here, of all sorts of races. The actual numbers were hard to say, some of them were less sociable than others and would eat their own allies if provoked, but overall they were the tip of the spear that would strike at humanity.

From what her scouts had told her, The Widow knew humanity was woefully unprepared.

A day and a half later, The Widow had further proof of this- her soldiers had managed to force a hole through the plants large enough for her troops to move, and so the order was given. She herself would lead the forces that would pin down the human forces while her second in command took the rest to take the human city.

When the humans marched in force to retake their lost territory, the first of the hordes would strike everywhere else and overwhelm the undermanned forts! True, aside from the High Spiders who could slip through the shadows, all the demons here would die- but with the low class of demons that made up this force it was of little consequence. Still, the success of this plan hinged on their ability to hold back the main human force until they took the city, which is why she had to take care of it herself.

While it was impossible to hide the assault from the human’s scouts, the panic in the camp let The Widow know she was right in her assumption. The foolish humans had really thought those plants had made them safe! The imps made it to the humans before they had even managed to form a battle line, and the results were quite satisfying.

Horns were blowing in the camp, but with what she was seeing, her forces might be able to do more than simply hold the humans back- at this rate they might route them entirely! The only issue was that her messengers reported none of those half-bloods had show so far, and The Widow desperately wanted to slaughter those disgusting fools for the shame they had caused her! More importantly, they were stronger than the humans, and if they were not accounted for…

Then, suddenly, there was a bright flare towards the front lines. It almost looked like the entire front line had burst into flames! What was going on?

*Imp on the front line, Temez*

Temez had been happy, even eager, to join in the attack against the humans. They were disgusting worms, but they had delicious meat and sweet blood and he would drink his fill tonight! The humans were scrambling in front of him, crawling out of their tents without arms or armour, and in one case without clothes. There had been two people in that bedroll, and was twice the blood for Temez.

He wanted to stop to drink, but he did not want to disobey the Lady High Spider- and there would be plenty of blood left later anyways. This nest of humans was practically a feast!

He was near the stone dwelling now, and Temez thought it was the height of hubris for humans to build structures like the Greater Demons. Despite being pathetic worms, they were arrogant creatures. As if to prove that thought, one human stepped out from the building showing its teeth with its lips curled upwards.

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There were other humans coming out behind the first, and one of them drew a blade that filled the air with a beautiful sound. Next to him, another imp, Rikkat, leaped at the new arrivals only to be sliced vertically in half by that noisy blade. However, Temez was smarter than other imps, and so he hung back as his other fellows charged forwards to avenge Rikkat, even followed by one of the gigantic Rippers, and it seemed that they would overwhelm and shred the humans- but they never made it.

Instead, the leading human showed more teeth- an expression a demon more familiar with humans would recognize as a widening smile- and where he looked the demons exploded and burst into flames! Rikkat was gone in a second, and the human was leisurely walking towards Temez, who had fallen down and was scrambling to get away.

“Now, now don’t be shy.” The human could speak the demon language! “I just have a few questions for you, it does not have to hurt.”

“Temez will tell you nothing human!” Temez spat, and he would say nothing because he did not plan to stick around. This was not a human an imp could fight!

“Haha, well I think you might change your mind.”

The human did not actually question Temez for long, but it felt much longer to Temez who was thankful for his eventual death.

*The Widow*

“Impossible!” The Widow nearly beheaded the messenger who spoke to her, “you are telling me that the Hero, who could not escape without the help of the half-bloods, is pushing back our forces? Are all of you that worthless!?”

The bursts of light and fire had not stopped since they started, and they were slowly drawing closer. From her position, she could see her forces flow towards the fire and do little more than feed it. If this was truly caused by the hero, it was overwhelming strength…

“You two,” The Widow snapped at her High Spider guards. “Go! Take care of this, but be careful not to kill him- reclaim him and restrain him!”

They acknowledged her orders, and then… Did nothing.

“What are you waiting for?” The Widow hissed, her rage nearly boiling over. “Go!”

“Pardon us, Lady.” Her guards were in a panic, “But we cannot enter the shadows!”

The Widow was stunned for a second, and then focused on her own powers. That well of power was there, but when she felt towards the shadows, she could not reach them!

“What is this?” For the first time away from the greater beings, The Widow felt fear. What could possibly be happening to stop her from going through the shadows? Her- a Widow!

“I thought I felt a reaction from over here,” a voice suddenly called out. “Fancy seeing you here, creepy spider woman.”

The Widow whirled around and saw the hero standing behind her with a seeming causal stance. In the distance, the fires began to die down, did he move through the shadows to get here? Impossible… But there is no other way…

“You know,” the hero continued. “After our little meeting, I felt I had to get a bit more serious- cross some lines, you know? What good are morals if you are dead, right? So I decided to let go a bit, and I have to say this is pretty damn refreshing.”

“Restrain him!” The Widow ordered her guards, her own fear growing the more she heard the man speak. The order had hardly left her mouth when her guards exploded into fire and gore.

“You might not know this,” the hero said with a chuckle. “But a lot of the chemicals that make up a living creature are pretty volatile in certain situations. None of those situations would really arise naturally, but with magic there is no reason I cannot separate Sodium Chloride to its base elements among others, and the reaction is quite funny to watch.

Though the more I think about it, the more I wonder why I cannot simply break all the bonds in a creature? Could I just disintegrate a being if I wanted too? I am already capable of interfering with space itself and can prevent you from using your ‘shadows’ so maybe with more power I could simply walk home. But that is neither here nor there.”

The Widow turned to run, but the hero was still just talking casually.

“Well, I had thought to question you, but does it really matter? When one has unassailable power, is information even worth anything? Well, that is for me to figure out, to you I simply bid, good day.”

And that was the last thing The Widow heard or knew in this life.