The soil was damp with slimy azure blood and guts of roaches. Moist carapaces of earthy red littered the soil amidst the debris of small rocks and splinters of rotting wood. With the buzzing of their wings, giant bees fogged above ground for any prey to be found.
Like droplets from a faulty faucet, fat roaches swam in their brethren’s corpses in search of cover. And like honey in their eyes, the foot-long bees dove from above, trapping roaches of their size using their sword-like legs.
Beneath the carnage and slaughter lies the mother of these giant cockroaches. Zharan, despite her giant frame, walked gently but swiftly through the wide tunnels of the sewers. With her antennae dancing mid-air, she felt for her children’s cries with a stone in her mouth, her limbs shackled by her own lack of bite.
Gulping the embers that burned her heart, she straightened her gaze, polishing it like a clear pond at spring
Something’s wrong, she couldn’t help but feel. She was like walking on clouds, despite being grounded beneath the earth. The Mad Intrusion’s numbers fell like a landslide, and in another battle, her colony will fall below a billion.
One of them proved crucial in the war, and her roaches made sure the bees knew of it. By spilling out their life, their blood would become a drug that bathed the bees in a pool of delusion, tricking them into turning their blades against one another.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
With the tapping of someone's shoes echoing in the sewers, Zharan's mood dipped in the stagnant waters. Slowly, a hooded figure entered her field of view. A mellow flame illuminated her frame as the man's hand lit up in fire.
Stretching one of her legs, she punctured the crumbling stone floor as her voice crackled for a few seconds. Slowly, Rex came to a halt.
With a sigh, “Too bad you’re not that smart, you should’ve joined me a year ago,” Rex shrugged.
“I guess you’re a bug after all,” Rex mumbled.
HISS!
Parting her elytra and stretching her folded wings, Zharan sent a punching glare toward Rex.
Dousing ice in her mind, Zharan retracted her wings and closed her elytra tightly. She knew herself well, and she knew that she was no better than a turtle with wings.
Now, however, she had chained her wings by hiding inside a cramped tunnel.
“Clever girl,” Rex clicked her tongue as a bird's cry pierced the dark sewers. Then, a small dot of red and orange illuminated the end of the winding sewers, rapidly expanding like starving flames.
Relaxing his tense hand that was coated in fire, Rex gave Zharan a closer look. “Your shell may be tough, but let's see if they're as durable as I think.”
Suddenly, Zharan saw Rex turning to a streak of fire that roared toward her like a phoenix.
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CHZZZZ—BANG!
Feeling a blunt blow to her thorax, Zharan hissed and pushed her energy on the impacted spot. Her defense had evolved after a long time of trials, but she still felt as though a boulder had punched her!
Zharan hissed out, trying to hide her pained voice. It didn't escape Rex's ears, however, and he looked at the spot on Zharan's thorax. Zharan's exoskeleton showed a tiny crack and seeing it, Rex stopped his retreat.
Despite seeing the crack vanishing almost instantly, Rex still had a grin on his face. Zharan couldn't retaliate at all! Judging by the winded look on Zharan's steps, the latter spent too much energy at once.
“Heh, short of stamina?” Rex licked his lips, clenching his fists as fire covered his bleeding hand and the exposed bones of his knuckles. Although fire was drowning his wounds, he silently endured the pain.
“Let's see who surrenders first!” Rex challenged, dashing toward Zharan and slamming both of his flame-covered fists into her thorax, specifically, the same spot as before.
Zharan shifted in her spot, halting Rex's plans. However, the latter wasn't stopping with two punches.
BANG! BANG!
“HAHA!”
CHZZ…
With a hiss, Zharan hurriedly used her second ability before the fourth strike from Rex's fists.
Blue blood oozed out of her cracked armor, growing into large, scalding bubbles that soon popped into a pale blue steam. Rex frowned, restricting his breathing and jumped back. To his shock, the pale blue steam chased after him, forcefully entering his lungs and stinging his eyes.
“Gah!”
Rubbing his eyes as though a thorny rose rubbed his eyeballs, Rex knelt and focused on the Sunlight Sparrows that were coming toward them. Taking half the energy from one of the ten sparrows, the irritation vanished as quickly as it came.
Looking back at Zharan, his heart paused a beat.
Zharan was gone, in her place was someone he longed to mutilate.
There stood a strange insect barely a fourth of Zharan's size. Its wings were bigger than Zharan’s, and they shimmered slightly in blue as though a silk cape bathing underneath the sunlight.
“Helzar,” Rex growled, and his fists suddenly erupted into hot flames. “You were listed last, but pass up the offer to kill you now,” Rex smirked, rushing toward Helzar. On the back of his mind, he knew that something was amiss, but his doubts were quickly buried by bloodlust.
Instantly, he channeled all of his energy into one of his fists and punched Helzar's face while the latter tried to dodge, only to stumble and fail. With Rex's fist slamming into Helzar's head, Helzar's blood erupted like a firework and showered upon Rex, but Helzar refused to fall and in a second, his head fully regenerated.
On the other hand, Rex retreated a distance away from Helzar and was gasping for air like a dying fish. “Nine,” Rex mumbled, feeling one of the connections with his soul shatter like a broken strand of glass string.
“You're still damned alive,” Rex grinned, his toothy smirk reaching both of his ears. Once more—FOOSH—his fists burst into massive flaming spears. A burning headache crossed his brain, but he brushed it aside.
No matter the price, getting rid of a nemesis is his priority.
CAW!
At the same time, nine giant birds landed beside him, staring at Helzar with fury in their gaze. Their bodies blazed like tongues of fire as they bathed their majesty.
“Go!” Rex yelled and ran toward Helzar, while at the same time the Sunlight Sparrows flew like arrows toward Helzar.
With a cry, Helzar's body suddenly filled with cracks, and blood sprayed out like a fountain, striking five Sunlight Sparrows and fueling their rage. However, their focus was lost, their bodies and pointed talons clumsily landing on Helzar's body while they twitched madly in pain. Seeing them in pain, the other four flew back like arrows.
Rex, however, was a bit slow to react and was on his way to deliver another punch to Helzar, when he was blinded by a sudden burst of light.
The four Sunlight Sparrows ballooned to thrice their size. Through their connection, Rex could feel the four growing in strength, but like cancer cells, their growth was destroying their body at the same time.
Before Rex could revert the Sunlight Sparrows into their younger forms, a rumbling explosion shook the sewer tunnels. Rex slammed into the wall, coughing up blood as the energy of three sunlight sparrows revived him according to the damage he took. Otherwise, he'd be dead thrice.
Three sparrows nestled in Rex’s shoulders as baby birds, while on the other hand, Helzar flew back and slammed into the wall, his body crumbling and slowly, the illusion fell.
Zharan's body reappeared, and her body was falling apart like a man with a split-open abdomen. The side where she slammed into the wall was turned into mush, her exoskeleton having been turned into bits by the impact. On the other hand, the side that protected her from the explosion was blown off with a large chunk of her body.
Zharan could barely breathe as her blood gushed out of her mangled body.
“The fuck?!” Seeing red, Rex limped toward Zharan and yanked a chunk of her exoskeleton out of her body. The tearing of tendons like paper and squelching of sloppy flesh filling his ears.
“You mother-fucker!”
Rex growled, taking a look at his soul links. Only one Sunlight Sparrow remained able to fight, while the rest reverted to chicks to save him. His body felt stronger and tougher, but happiness couldn't touch his toes. The last time the Sunlight Sparrows turned into helpless birds was during their final battle with Helzar a year ago, and it took more than half a year and countless efforts and sacrifices to raise them back up.
“All that for nothing…” Rex gritted his teeth with bulging eyes, staring to the ground as his nails drew blood from his palms.
A moment later, he gazed back at the motionless Zharan.
Flames aroused on his fingertips as he callously carved Zharan's heart out of her, crushing it and burning it into ash. BANG—After punching a hole through Zharan, Rex finally felt his mind start to cool off.
“I made a mistake,” Rex closed his eyes and breathed out.
“Be thankful I killed you quickly,” Rex scowled, grabbing handfuls of Zharan's flesh and stuffing them inside a small bag. Then, he took another handful and chewed on it.
Feeling the slimy meat enter his mouth, a strange mix of bitterness and spiciness enveloped his tongue, before his stomach began churning and his body tensed as his blood began to rush.
“Trash,” Rex spat the flesh out, and also vomited the blood that he accidentally swallowed.
A ghastly hiss tickled Rex's ears and sent him trembling, making him groan. “Still alive?”
Rex reached out for Zharan's head.
All of a sudden, bright blue mist was rapidly crawling toward them.
“Helzar…” Rex whispered.