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A Hero Tale {Complete}

Cilia's expression didn't change at Jenso's outburst. She glared down at Alvios, ignoring the bombastic golden-clad man, overcome by a quiet anger that rippled through her vertebrae. "I didn't need to be killed," She growled, "You didn't offer me a shred of peace. I begged you, I prayed... Scrambled across the ground, desperately searching for sanctuary, but still.." Cilia's jaw tightened for a moment. A sheen overtook her pupils as she continued, choking back tears and spastic breaths, "And now... Now, look at what I've become." The woman rose her hands and exposed her body, coated in purple crystals and fetid pinkish skin. "I told you," She whispered, "I said I could overcome it. I told you that I could purge it. Alvios... Don't... I begged... Begged... I wasn't weak. Not like Apollo, not like the other women who were stolen. I could have freed myself." She looked to the seaweed casket and clenched her fist. "You took her from me. You took me from her, all to satisfy your own corrupt righteousness. All to satisfy your pride."

The swarmlings began to tear away the Seaweed, revealing Melina. The beginning stages of infestation were setting in. Her skin was covered in purple blotches, and her consciousness faded in and out. The young girl looked up to Alvios and struggled violently to raise her arm, to no Avail.

"You had no faith in me"

"A..Alvi..."

"Not until now, when all hope has been lost, do you tremble and hesitate

"H-Help.."

"Pathetic"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 115 ~

_{A Maiden's Blood}

Cilia looked down to Alvios and Jenso with a blank expression, pointing across the room towards the swarmlings that carried a wrapped body.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The bug Queen's body went limp as Alvios' blade struck her eye socket and dug into her brain. Jenso's feats also appeared successful. The bug general spun around as quickly as he could and rose his blade to defend, but was knocked off his feet straight afterwards, and obliterated as the ground beneath its head crumbled beneath the blow of Jenso's attack. The swarmlings ceased their spawning, and the cave grew quiet.

But just as their victory was assured, several swarmlings carried something into the room. A body, wrapped in seaweed. Why weren't the swarmlings dead? What the hell was going on?

Suddenly, the Queen's body ruptured, and released another humanoid entity. It jumped up and landed on a higher ledge, where the first bug general had first introduced himself. It was a woman. An all-too familiar woman. Her torso bared a giant scar, as if she'd been cleaved in twain at some point, but her face was as vivid and beautiful as ever.

"Justice?" The woman said, in a softer voice that crept across the room like a fetid memory, caressing the scar across her stomach. Jenso would find familiarity in her face as well, albeit subtle.

Cilia glared at Alvios and narrowed her eyes.

"Is this... Justice?"

---

~ End Of Chapter 114 ~

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The bugman General smiled and spun around in midair, facing its back towards Jenso and propelling itself slight above Pij with a small gust of air. With as much precision as he could muster, the bugman spun around again, and aimed to cut Pij with both his blades from behind. In a quick strike, the phoenix was struck hard, and the bugman fell to the ground, propelling himself behind Jenso and landing clumsily with a stumble. The jets on his back closed up, exhausted momentarily for their constant usage.

The Queen, on the other hand, was not so mobile. Alvios' arrow pierced right through her abdomen, exiting through the other side, and striking the rock wall behind her. A copious amount of purple sludge erupted from her mouth, and she leaned onto the ground in front of her. She looked up at Alvios, on the verge of death already, and panted heavily.

"You're too late, humanSssss!" She garbled through a torrent of buggy blood, "My new hoSssssst body iSssss AlmoSsst..."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

???

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The queen's arms were promptly secured, and ceased all movement, ultimately falling prey to Alvios' blade of light, in tandem with Jenso's flame whip. The large crystalline appendages fell to the ground with a chorus of resounding thuds. The claw that headed for Alvios was dispatched in a similar fashion, drilled through and pushed back into the magma. The queen reeled back in pain, pulling her last two arms back into her crevice, and placing her back up against the wall behind her. Alvios' attack against her torso struck as well, leaving a large crack in the hardened carnival of joints that ran up her stomach. She growled as he earlier light shards continued to dispatch the small creatures pouring out of her body, and leaned forward. Suddenly, another humanoid bugman launched itself upwards, and flew through the sky towards Alvios' blade that spat the shard storm, deflecting any attacking headed his way with his twin blades, and aiming to stop the onslaught for the small swarm.

The Queen herself, without her appendages, was mostly defenseless. But she seemed to be preparing something else in her bowl, to release when the time was right..

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The queen dispatched Jenso's flame saw immediately, striking at its center. Again and again, enemies have been able to dispatch his ultimate technique with little to no effort. Was it worth using on more experienced warriors if they were free to move? As Pij flew down and around, the Queen simply moved her arm out of the bird's path, letting her fly back into the center of the room.

The swarm continued to pour out of the queens orifices, taken down one after another by the continuous hail of light shards. But as Alvios approached her, she moved the hand that he targets downwards, and then punched up at the light-bathed warrior. With her other three hands, she aimed to dispatch Alvios' sword, Jenso, and Pij, all at the same time. The Queen had no more words for them after hearing their responses. She was rather upset. They'd interrupted dinner, after all.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 114 ~

_{Swarm Queen Fye'Zlok}

The queen overlooked Jenso and Alvios. He hundreds of swarmlings sat patiently, at every last inch of the room, growing in numbers every second. Her eyes narrowed, and she smiles. "Ju'go claSsssss generalSsssss are a dime a doSsssszen," She growled arrogantly. "What did you expect to accomplish by coming here, foolish little humieSssss?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

The bug-man landed hard, bending his knees on impact. He took note of Pij immediately, considering Jenso's positioning, but couldn't do much to react. Her speed was insane, and with Alvios already aiming for a killing blow... He rose one sword in front of him, and bent the other backwards, attempting to block both. But in the end, it would prove to be a greedy defense. Alvios' strength far surpassed the bug-man's. His two-handed strike V.S. a one handed block? No chance. Pij tore past his back guard as well, drilling through his leg, and outright snapping it off. Alvios' blade cleaved through was well, rending his head from his body, and dropping the general to the ground, lifeless. Was that it?

Meanwhile, Jenso's efforts to suppress the swarmlings were for naught. They continued to come out of the giant crevice. His stream of flames was not wide enough, or fast enough to burn them all. Several flanked both Jenso and Alvios, eventually surrounding the two of them from all angles despite their victory against the general. A loud hissing noise erupted from the depths of the pit, signalling the arrival of a new foe..

Lava bubbled up, into a large mass, dripping away to reveal a giant, extraordinarily fat creature. Four large leg-like appendages flew up from the lava pit as well, smashing against the edge of the trench on either end of the massive creature. Its head rolled forwards, looking identical to the bugman's but larger, with more jagged, with twice as many eyes. This creature had holes all along her sides, where swarmlings continued to pour out without any sign of stopping.

"Humans should not be this Ssssstrong!" She protested, raising two more massive appendages from the lava, which had humanoid hands at their ends. This must've been the source of all this trouble. This had to be the queen.

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~ End Of Chapter 113 ~

Petrichor

Gonna have to bail. The pacing is not to my liking. Good luck with this one guys.