Horter watched those greater insects under his undead butterflies control as they swarmed the land beneath him. They moved as one giant mass of clicking claws and shining carapace. Horter was pleased at how large the horde of greater insects he controlled had gotten as it showed his skill at controlling the minds of so many and different greater insects. Though he did have to admit to himself the large horde he controlled made it a little difficult for him to patrol.
As he has to be careful near any of the grass pixie villages. As if he let the cloaked butterfly ship too far left or right, it could cause the horde enslaved to its hypnotic wings to accidentally tear through a grass pixie village as he went by. Luckily so far he had avoided such a great accident with the use of his greater control over the cloaked butterfly ship. Though it would have probably been easier to simply give the grass pixie villages some distance as he passed through that specific section of the kingdom of necrotic smog.
But sadly for Horter, he didn't get the easy option, as part of his patrol was to monitor the grass pixie villages that were now a part of the kingdom, and so he had to get close to get a good look at them. Especially as he was usually high in the sky, details were a bit hard to spot if he was far away. So he got close while being in the air, also being careful not to accidentally destroy anything, which he continued to do so rather well; he thought so himself.
It was rather boring work when he wasn't in danger of overwhelming a grass pixie village by mistake, though he found himself able to occupy his spare time by coming up with scenarios. Horter used the experience he had gained to come up with battle scenarios, and then he thought of how he should best act in whatever battle situation he had put himself in. It was during one of these hypothetical battles that were playing out in his mind that Bunet's undead messenger hornet reached him.
It quickly passed on the message of the intruder as well as the threat he posed. Horter saw the immediate severity of the situation. As with their ruler, too focused on holy work to sound the alarm for everyone within the kingdom of necrotic smog. It had left them strung out and unaware of the danger that came into the kingdom, which was delaying their reaction time. Horter immediately turned the cloaked butterfly ship and made to go help Bunet, though he hoped it would be unnecessary and he would show up to see her having already dealt with the intruder.
Horter made quick progress in the closure butterfly ship. So did his horde, but sadly, as they were all patrolling apart from one another, each commander was at least two territories apart, which meant by the time he arrived, the battle was over, which he had hoped for, though it was not the outcome he wanted. Horter stood there a moment, staring at the wreckage of the Hornet Doom Sphere, trying to sense the new erotic signature of Bunet but finding nothing.
Horter found himself filling with pure, unadulterated rage. As Bunet and he had been rivals, his more tactical approach was the opposite of her aggressive and straightforward approach. Their style of commanding showed their personalities, and they were opposite from one another. But despite that, they had once been one being before they had split into two. As such, he and Bunet were as much siblings as they were rivals.
So as a brother, how could he look at the shattered remains of his sister's great flying doom shere where her broken corpse lies in and then turn to see the one who did it cheerfully walking away? If his senses weren't deceiving him he was even whistling a little . "That bastard!" Horter said his voice was filled with complete and utter venom.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Attack!" Horter roared, his voice echoing through the sky, his rage becoming almost palpable as it caused a visible change over both the butterfly swarm that followed him and the cloaked butterfly ship. As Horter rage mixed with his necrotic nature and transformed all the undead butterflies under his command, dyeing them an angry crimson red. Those greater insects under the control of the undead butterflies flew here also changed.
They were turned crimson as well by the undead butterflies control of them. They not only turned crimson but also grew spikes and stingers as they charged forward, becoming an angry red spiky sea that was heading for the one that had slain Bunet, commander of the undead hornets. The slayer and intruder saw what was heading towards him and simply smiled before saying. "This will be a great battle to add to my legend." Greero said, holding his sword, the Gratana.
Horter's hearing the intruder seeing him trying to avenge his sister and rival as nothing more than another part of some story to be told among his friends only fueled his rage. "Tear him apart! Run him through! Tear his legs off and make him choke on them." Horter roared, threatening a grizzly death to the intruder. His threats did not stop, and he kept going until his words became incoherent, showing that he and Bunet were more alike in some ways than either knew.
Soon enough the battle began as thousands of rabid, mutated, mind-controlled greater insects threw themselves in pure savage fury at Greero. Their charge did not do much as the area soon filled with the blood of insects as the hero became a blur as he sliced through dozens with each swing. So it was that a red sea was made in a land covered in the colors only black and green.
As the undead butterflies dyed the sky red with their kind, the greater insects now turned crimson, turning the ground red. The final trace of red was the blood being shed, filling the air and hitting the air as the greater insects on the ground were slain. The greater insect's blood connection, the sky and ground turning the blood sea into a red world. The battle went on for a long while with the bodies stacking as Horter continued to send the great insects through the meat grinder that was the hero swordsman Greero.
The flood of red seemed unending as the crimson undead butterflies above directed more and more greater insects at the intruder, looking to have him destroyed by being overwhelmed by unending numbers coming at him from all sides. But it didn't work no matter how many they directed at the intruder, as he just kept slashing his hands, never tiring, nor was his blade ever dulling.
This went on until finally the roars stopped. The tide of red ended as there were no more greater insects to direct, much to the shock of Horter, as there had always been more greater insects, but it looked like he had truly depleted all the greater insects, at least in this territory. With the forces on the ground, Red destroyed the sky. The intruder looked to the sky towards Horter specifically and smiled. This caused Horter's rage to reach heights before unreached.
So Horter, seeing the battle was lost on the ground and that his forces in the air weren't likely to do any better, gave an order. "Form up!" He shouted, causing all the undead butterflies to form together into one single mass with the cloaked butterfly ship. "Let's see you handle this." Horter said as he charged at the slayer of Bunet, hoping to take him out with a suicidal charge. The intruder didn't try to dodge or flee.
He stood there on top of the great cloaked butterfly ship, which was the center of the mass of undead butterflies. Horter stared down the intruder as he brought everything he had down on him. Greero simply smiled back and waited. Once the swarm was in reach, he swung, and he didn't stop swinging until the horde passed him.
He then turned and walked away, the undead butterflies and the cloaked butterfly ship falling to pieces behind him. With this defeat, there was only one undead commander left. The question the kingdom of necrotic smog now had to ask was, would the miserable rage catapult succeed where others failed?