The spider dies by my hand. Today.

Xan flung a table across the room, the wood shattering into bits from Dyré’s web, the spider firing them in quick succession. Xan dove to avoid them, but took a hit to shoulder. He stumbled, but his body held. No blood. Dyré beamed brightly. Still think playing games, witch? He leaned over to grab hold of her dresser, his face straining in the mirror.

“That’s it, panda. Show me you still have that killer instinct!”

He roared, ripping the wardrobe up and chucking it as hard as he could manage. Dyré yanked herself away, letting the furniture smash to pieces while she shot more webs Xan's way. A few attached to him, but he rooted himself to the ground, grabbing the black material to give his heaviest yank.

The spider continued smiling even as she came rocketing his way. Even as she took the brute of his headbutt, getting knocked backward. Xan winced, pain shooting across his body. Blowback. He'd anticipated as much, but it didn't make it any less annoying.

That was the thing about signals. Great for augmentation, but terrible for a sapient body. That was the whole point of their weapons. They were conduits. As long as he had Sledge, he could use as many signals as he desired, to the point that the air itself was his to wield. But he didn't have Sledge. And sapient bodies could only hold so much energy without breaking apart.

Dyré stood up, the hit barely fazing her grin.

"More."

Her red eyes glowed.

“I want more, panda.”

Xan growled. Her webs landed on the wall behind him, Dyré yanking herself in his direction. Xan tried to intercept her, but she ducked the blow, her webs breaking as she slid to a halt. He went for another, but she blocked the attack with one hand. Two more came, one grabbing him by the head and the other by the throat.

"Give me more!"

She dragged him through the air, the panda feeling her grip loosen seconds before he went careening across the room. Glass shattered against his body.

“Show me,” Dyré said. "I want you to show me you still know how to kill."

He pulled himself back up, shaking the pieces off his fur.

Dyré's broken bedroom was gone, replaced instead by a spread of intricate black webs and pulsating yellow orbs. The dozens of eggs marked the place as Dyré's nesting room. As did the many bone-dry skeletons being preserved in web sacs for later digesting.

"Show me," Dyré said, the broken glass door opening with a gesture. "Or you can feed my children like the others."

Stolen story; please report.

Xan spat. "Your kids can starve for all I care."

He shook off the hit, ignoring the increasing blowback pulling his body apart.

It was nothing he hadn’t felt before. Nothing he couldn't walk off with a bandage and nap. Don’t you dare underestimate me, you friggin’ spider. He let the signals wash over him, a roar rising deep in his throat. He ran at Dyré full speed, the spider extending all six arms out. She made no attempts to move.

Xan plowed right into her, slamming the spider against the web-covered walls.

“Get a nice grip.”

Pain magnified.

Dyré's webs extended from all six wrists to Xan's body, the ends attaching to the ground. Xan's blood ran cold, the panda looking down at the holes made across his frame. Dyré's smile grew.

“So long pa- Wha-”

“GRAAAH!”

Xan roared, grabbing the spider and slamming her into the floor. The many spears of her webs broke apart, still embedded in his body. He didn't care. He glared at Dyré, dragging her up as she stared back at him in disbelief. His grip tightened around her waist, the panda pouring all his strength into moving forward. Carrying the spider with him as he started to run.

“What in the world are you doing, panda?”

He smiled, the panic in her voice a small consolation. The effort to move made the blowback ramp up in intensity. Especially as he came running with the spider from the nest back into Dyré's room. He forced himself forward, picking up speed as he refused to let the spider grow. Webs shot through him again, but Xan kept charging. Kept running. Barreling straight forward, rushing through the wreckage of Dyré’s room.

“Don’t you look down on me, spider!” he screamed.

He ran spider-first straight for the metallic door of the garden. A door which, just as he was seconds away from contact, swung wide open.

“Graaaah!”

He held on, the wind blowing against his face as both he and Dyré came plummeting through the opening and towards the garden. The greenery and statues rushed up to meet them.

Dyré threw trying to kill him to the side, frantically shooting webs out in an attempt to save herself. They all connected into a giant net. One which, on contact, bounced them both off like a trampoline. His grip broke, the two getting pulled apart. Xan barreled into a hedge while Dyré rolled over to one of her statues.

“You...You..." Dyré panted. She jumped to her feet, eyes wild. "Brute.”

Xan hacked up blood. The fall, blowback, and getting impaled multiple times combined into one big compilation that shredded the panda from the inside out. He tried to appear calm and in control, but just the act of wiping his mouth made his body tremble and shake. His vision wavered, numbness setting in as he tried to drag himself back to his feet.

Crap. Guess I overdid it a little, huh?

His legs wobbled, but he tried to force a smile.

Sorry, Erin. Guess I won't get to chew that kid out after all.

He looked to Dyré, whose smile had disappeared completely. She ripped off the edges of her dress.

“Alright, Panda,” Dyré said. “If this is the game you want to play, I'll play it.”

Long legs extended out, drawing a line in the dirt as her six hands rose. Four of her wrists were pulsating red, but the other two retained their smooth shape. Enough that she could still release her webs, the black material sharpening rather than shooting out.

They became long and slender. Like black needles. Her gaze met his, red eyes burning in his direction.

“Let's see how long you'll last, panda?”

Xan barely had the energy to raise his arms. In fact, the spider had already become a blob of black and white.