Ant Queen

Clasius entered, in his hand, a two handed great sword made from metal. Strangely enough, it shone in such a dark and damp place, providing him with visibility.

He stopped, though he had barely entered it.

The soldiers ceased their steps behind him, their weapons clenched and their shields gripped tightly. They all wondered why Clasius stopped, then they saw around them. The swarm and seas of ants awaited them.

The main hall of the catacomb. The place was spacious and humongous, damp and bloodied, it was shaped in a circle and its ceiling shaped like a dome. In its walls were carved several humanoid statues with wings on their back and weapons of meticulous work and variance in their hands.

A glamorous sarcophagus, placed in the middle of the hall, shone, its extraordinary and golden ray of light made it to be the center of attention. A golden throne was placed in front of it, carved and created by those of master workmen with an exceptional attention to detail.

A figure sat on it, a figure that shouldn't.

With legs crossed and two antlers emerging amidst her short black hair, a humanoid woman of great beauty but a sinister aura. Her body covered by armor-like scaly skins of crimson purple and her eyes colored black.

"The food has come…" she said, her voice echoed through the hall.

Her children squirmed and their antennae trembled. Their jaws snapped repeatedly, like the sound of a thousand war drum being hit by a thousand men continuously.

"That's the queen," Kira said to Clasius, readying her massive flail.

The soldier's heart pounded by the sound, their eyes slightly shaky and their muscles lightly stiffened. Their grip over their weapon gradually weakened by each seconds the ants' war beat sounded.

"Do not fear!" Clasius shouted, his voice stern as always. His presence became the protector of the men's fighting spirit.

"Augh!" the men echoed, their battle cry echoed against the wall.

"Stop!" the queen commanded, her children obeyed. Their snapping of jaws and vibrating of antlers immediately stopped.

"Why have you come here, servants of the church? As far as we're aware, this place is of no use to you," the queen asked, her voice, though far, reached the ears of the soldiers.

"You have trespassed on the church's protected territory! We gave you a place on the eastern forest before!" Clasius answered, his voice as stern and commanding as her.

"Bah! That place is desolate of food and mana. Do you expect us to survive there?" the queen denied.

"We have an agreement, queen ant! You betrayed us," Clasius shouted.

"You expect me to believe you? After all that you had done to me and my children back then?" the queen questioned, her voice slowly controlled by frustration and anger.

"The past has got nothing to do with this!" Clasius answered back, his tone remain unchanged since the start.

"Then we have nothing to negotiate with, you have come to my throne, devoid of any courtesy and manner,"

Then the ants' antlers continued to tremble. Their hostile glare from their abyssal-like eyes directed to the group of soldiers.

The soldiers readied their weapons.

"Triangle formation! Advance!" Clasius ordered and charged forward.

Swing!

His muscle pumped with blood as he swung his sword. Each of his swing from the great sword in his hand created a yellow slash-like energy, eliminating over 10 ants.

The men followed behind him, shouting and yelling as they swung their swords and halberds and magicians casted their magic. Killing the countless numbers of ants that came to them.

"Ignem ruptis!" the magicians chanted, from their hands came great burst of flame directed to the ants. The flame flickered and flowed through the sea of ants, burning and exterminating the ants.

But the crowd was infinite. The ants came and came, replacing their fallen brothers and sisters from Clasius merciless strike or the magicians' annihilating magic.

"These… ants!" a soldier yelled as he struggled to hold his shield.

"They keep coming!" another exclaimed while piercing his sword deep into an ant head.

"Is there even an end to this?"

"Tch, these people, all they can do is complain," Kira muttered as she walked leisurely behind the path of corpses of ants that Clasius created. Her huge spiked iron ball dragged on the ground, creating a visible and dinted trail on the ground.

"…" Henry was quiet, his breath deep and his muscle relaxed as his eyes scanned cautiously. He held his rapier close by, only swinging it the moment an ant broke through the formation of soldiers, saving their life.

"Why are you even here, coachman? Shouldn't you be licking that bitch's foot or something?" Kira asked, her tone challenging and taunting.

"I've come to help the extermination of ants, I believe I would be most useful in the upcoming fight," Henry responded, his voice filled with professionalism, unbothered by Kira's taunting.

"Then, don't weight us down!" Kira said. Her calf bulged.

Woosh!

She launched herself into the air by pure brute strength of her body. Her flail of chains, connected to the spiked ball of metal, followed herself onto the air.

"It's time?" Clasius asked.

"Yeah! It's time!" Kira answered midair, her voice full of excitement.

Her body flew in the air smoothly akin to a flying squirrel. The reflection of the ant's queen showed itself in her eyes as she clenched her fist over her chain of flail.

Clasius placed his great sword over his shoulder. His muscle bulged as it readied itself for its duty.

Swing!

Then Clasius swung his sword diagonally from the northeast to the southwest. His swing summoned a captivating crescent shaped energy from the edge of his honed sword.

That crescent shaped energy made contact with the ant's flesh, cutting through it like a hot knife through blocks of butter. In an instant, corpses of ants fell on the floor and their blood spurted out, creating a rain from their green blood.

A path was created by him. A path of slaughter and massacre and corpses and death of ants.

"Prepare to die! Ant!" his voice echoed. His legs moved and his body leaned forward.

Clasius rushed forward, his grip over his weapon strengthened. Each step he placed took him closer to the ant queen and shook the ground on which the sarcophagus stood.

He readied his sword by his side as he charged forward. When at the right time, he pulled it back, readying himself to launch an assault. His thick brows wrinkled, his cautious eyes pointed at the queen's stomach and his hands moved, swinging his sword from left to right.

"Straight sword style!" he shouted his technique.

At the same time, Kira flowed downward, her body pulled by gravity.

She raised her arms overhead.

"I'll sure be missing you!" she said, her voice sinister and full of enjoyment from the events, atmosphere and hope of victory.

She dropped her arms. The chain of her flail streamed forward, akin to a river flowing toward the sea. The huge and threatening rusty metal ball followed the chain, flying through the air and toward the ant queen.

"Huh, child's play," the ant queen smirked. Faced by an attack from the right-side of her body, aiming for her stomach and another targeting her head.

She extended her arms.

Bang!

A loud shrinking sound of metal meeting metal was heard throughout the cave and a cloud of dust formed around the queen.

"Wha-what? How could this be?" Kira asked, as she landed safely on one of the corpses of the ants. In her hands, the chains of her flail full of tension.

"..." Clasius was silent, as he watched the cloud of dust gradually disappearing into the air.

The ant queen silhouette slowly appeared inside the diminishing dust. Standing up, her right hand grabbed the sharpened edge of Clasius's great sword and another holding onto the metal ball of Kira's weapon.

"Weak," she told. Then her right hand jerked backward Clasius's sword.

Clasius held his sword tightly and was thrown into the air toward the wall of the catacomb.

Thud!

A loud thud reverberated around the hall, a cloud of dust could be seen forming on the wall he made contact with it.

Thud!

His body was pulled down and he landed feet first, damped by the body of ants on which he stood, with sword in hand. The countless swarm of ants gathered around him and surrounded him. Their threatening jaws charged to him.

"Tch!" he clicked his tongue, annoyed by such sight, as he continued swinging his sword.

Meanwhile, the queen grabbed Kira's metal ball with both of her hands. Her grip was so strong that a dent in the ball could be seen forming. With her pure and brute strength, the queen rotated her body, bringing with it Kira.

The queen rotated repeatedly as Kira gained speed and flew in the air in circle.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Kira groaned as she was pulled by her own chain.

Akin to a hammer throw, the queen released her grip over Kira's huge metal ball. Sending her airborne and toward an opposite side from Clasius.

Thud!

A loud thud could be heard as she landed on the bodies of crushed ants, her impact damped by it.

The queen smirked, prideful of her accomplishment.

Step, step, step

Then she turned her head forward upon realizing the sound of steps coming toward her.

"Oh, an interesting one has come," the queen mentioned, her arms crossed.

"…" Henry was quiet as he stopped in front of her and raised his dirty rapier in front of his face.

"But will you be able to take me? It seems that I'll be the victor of this after all," the queen said, a grin on her face formed and her voice filled with confidence and pride.

Henry pulled out a white cloth from his chest pocket and placed it at the bottom of the rapier's blade.

Then he pulled it upward, cleaning off all the green blood of ants.

His rapier glinted. Ready to cut.