A/N I managed to finish! A bit short but packed full of action. I don't know how long I can maintain 2 chapters per day, but expect at least one for the foreseeable future.
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Shelia landed gracefully directly in front of the giant ant, her long legs absorbing the impact of the fall. She reared in challenge, her front legs menacingly striking out at the last defender of the ant queen. As Damien gazed upon the pair, he saw that they should be nearly equal in strength. Relishing in the chance for his pet to prove her worth, he ordered his other minions to form a circle around the pair.
Sheila's hunting for the past two weeks had paid off. The little brown spider that he had nearly squished not so long ago had undergone a shocking transformation. As a predator, her entire day was spent hunting and killing every fly she could. And for every kill she made, her strength grew slowly but surely just as his own did. She had reached a menacing two inch leg span, and her color had darkened to a rich russet with red-brown highlights accenting her back in a striking pattern. Her fangs had scaled with her body, and wickedly jutted out from her mandibles. As she taunted the ant with her thick, sturdy forelegs she let out a hissing screech, she had waited hours for this moment. Her chance to feed on something more filling than a tiny fly.
The ant had accomplished an equally amazing growth over the course of the battle and the infusion he had received in Damien's bid to control him before. He was a pure black armored behemoth at a full inch in length. This was cause for concern, as Sheila might be larger, but most of that size was in her legs. The ant on the other hand was solid, muscle, chitin and mandible. In response to Sheila's challenge, the ant's mandibles gnashed so harshly it was audible. It tensed it's powerful legs, and began to charge at the teasing spider.
Sheila danced around the rushing foe, using her long legs to keep her just out of reach. She darted from side to side, striking an taunting with her front two legs. Using them as a boxer would in the ring. But her claws scraped harmlessly across the oversized chitiinous armor. She would strike or feint with one leg, and then dart in to try and land a bite. However every lunge was received by the fiercely gnashing mandibles. The ant was not politely waiting for her to find an opening either. He kept charging straight ahead, aiming for her body. As she frantically scurried around, he would bite at anything that came close. Sheila was wary of those fierce weapons, as she knew that anything that fell into their grip would be lost.
She waited until he charged straight at her, and then she leapt over the ant, whirling to try and strike his rear, instead she was met with a stinger mid strike, and he nailed the side of her face. She leapt back and released a painful hiss as the weak venom coursed through her body. The ant was not about to let his wounded foe escape, and renewed his charge with fearless confidence. Sheila continued to dance away, dodging the ant's furious advance, however her wound began to slow her down. Once again, the ant charged in and as she danced away she move just a moment too late. The ant's mandibles caught her in the middle of her second left leg. She angrily screeched and pounded on his head with her other left legs, but it was all in vain. In a single heartbeat, the ant bit clean through the leg and Sheila's blue ichor spouted from the crippling wound.
She stumbled back, her second leg cut off just above the second section. As the ant charged forwards, she reared up, exposing her stomach. The ant did not waste the opportunity, and latched on just above her abdomen at the narrowest part of her body, biting through and causing severe damage. Then, using her full weight, Sheila threw herself down atop the ant, burying both of her fangs deep in the ant's thorax and released all the venom she had stored in her body. The ant released her from his maw, reeling and screeching in agony. He writhed and flailed trying to escape the horrible pain coursing through his body. As he was unable to escape and felt his body beginning to succumb to the fatal dose of venom he turned his gaze on the one who inflicted that terrible pain. Sheila lay bleeding and crippled, and the ant did not intend to leave this world alone.
Before he could charge, the maggots swarmed in front of Sheila and surrounded the ant. He screeched again in rage at being denied his final victory, and violently thrashed through the maggots. But Damien had no intention of letting Sheila fall. Her dying was a calculated risk, but she had fought well. She would serve him well in the future if she survived. The maggot hordes swarmed over the ant. They were unable to harm him, but their job was merely to hold him in place while the venom did it's work.
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As the ant was secured, Damien focused on his wounded pet. He poured mana into her body, and it accelerated her healing. The energy wove together her cuts, purged the venom, and even started the process of regrowing her leg. It was a miracle, but the cost was staggering. The act of healing his favorite pet rapidly consumed more energy than he had gained from the entire battle. A thousand ants and thousands of maggots had fallen, and mending this single spider consumed all of that power. But she was worth it. She was his most powerful pet, and his fiercest warrior. The second spider would fall soon enough, but for now she was his only predator. He had seen the tremendous growth a predator would have in his realm, and she was worth more than half of his legion. Soon she might even grow to contest the great bearded dragon who currently raided with impunity.
There was a limit to how much of his raw mana she could take. The healing process was demanding, but there was still a limit. She absorbed a chunk of the overflow directly, and her body trembled with power. After that, the rest of the energy he poured into her dissipated into the air. The infusion had an immediate effect on her size and strength on top of healing her terrible wounds, she grew a half inch in mere moments. Just when it seemed like she had reached the limit of her new growth, the monstrous ant ant finally reached his limit and expired, his organs dissolved by her wicked venom. Amazingly, she swelled in size again after his essence flowed into her, reaching over 3 inches from foot to foot! This brought with it another pair of very important lessons. Intense battles between strong creatures brought greater rewards for the fighters, and the energy absorbed could go over the limits of what he could grant a creature himself.
As Sheila stood finally, her body scarred but the bleeding stopped, Damien had one final task for her. He turned his gaze on the queen, cowering on the other size of a maze of tunnels choked with corpses. She had tried to escape time and time again, but the way was shut. With the battle over, Damien grinned wickedly, and began quickly carving out the dirt that lay between him and the helpless queen. The ant that had reigned over her own kingdom, reduced to a helpless peasant against his wriggling hordes. He widened the tunnel to a full six inches from end to end, and in the queens chamber he carved out a two foot wide rounded hall. And then he sent Sheila.
She marched down the path, slightly awkward with her new size and still healing leg but as she neared the queen, the queen scrambled against the rear wall. Having faced the mighty warrior ant before, this queen posed no threat. Sheila steadily walked forwards, and when the queen tried to bolt past her to the side, Sheila pounced, and pinned her down with her forelegs. She continued to keep her pinned with one leg, while she excreted her spider silk and drew out the strands with her free fore leg. She wrapped a single loop around the queen gently and as soon as she was secured, she picked up the queen with her claws. The queen flailed and flailed, but Sheila firmly held her in place, and carefully wound her strands around and around until all that was visible of the queen was her head and her fiercely clashing but tiny mandibles. Sheila grabbed onto the silky cocoon with one of her rear legs, and dragged the queen behind her.
The maggots did not know the meaning of their victory, or even truly that there had been a battle. But they felt their master's excitement and pleasure, and the wriggled with glee as they basked in his euphoric energy. Screeches of delight taunted the vanquished queen as she was publicly humiliated and dragged down through the middle of the maggot army column that was marching back to their favorite worm piles. Sheila continued her laden trudge the entire 20 feet back to the middle of the cave, and she gently lay the queen down atop Damien's heart. She then drew more strands and anchored the captive queen to her master. The vibrant ruby pulsed and shined with a radiant light reflecting Damien's delight at his latest acquisition. His heart was the source of all the energy in the cave and the air around him was the most densely concentrated part. She would soon submit to his rule, she had no choice.