CHAPTER 25: CHAPTER 25: TEETH IN THE CROWN

The newborn pressed forward, its claws flashing in wild arcs. Every strike landed where the Queen was weakest—across her wounded side, at the crack Buzz had torn open, at joints that still bled gold. The sound of their battle was a storm: shells grinding, wings thrashing, ichor hissing on soil that screamed when it burned.

The Queen reeled back under the assault, her footing uneven, her wings stuttering. She tried to lift her claw for a killing strike, but the newborn lunged first, clamping onto her throat. The coalition gasped as one body when the mother was forced down onto her knees.

Scarabs pounded the dirt with claws, not in rhythm this time but in raw desperation. Centipedes writhed, coils snapping as they pressed against each other, debating whether to strike or wait. Glowbeetles lit frantic signals in the sky: help her, let them fight, run while you can. No two lights matched.

Buzz leaned on Zza, both their bodies shaking with heat and exhaustion, their eyes locked on the two golden monsters. His voice rasped low, words rough like sand in his throat. "If the newborn finishes her, we’ll be staring at something worse. She doesn’t know hunger. She is hunger."

Zza’s claws twisted silk until it cut her own hands. "And if the mother wins, she’ll remember we let her bleed."

Neither option felt like survival.

The newborn wrenched her head sideways, ichor spraying across the field in a curtain of molten light. Scarabs shrieked where drops touched them, shells blistering. Centipedes scrambled back, leaving smoking furrows in their coils. The Queen slammed her fists into the dirt, shoving herself upright, blood pouring down her chest.

Her mandibles opened, a guttural roar tearing from her throat, and the air itself seemed to recoil. For a moment she wasn’t only fighting her spawn—she was dragging every creature in the clearing into her rage.

Buzz staggered, his knees buckling as the weight hit his mind. Zza fell against him, her silk unraveling in her claws. Both of them gasped like the air had been stolen from their lungs. Around them, Scarabs beat their drums against their own shells to stay awake, Centipedes bit into their own coils to ground themselves, Glowbeetles dimmed and flared erratically, trapped in the Queen’s pull.

The newborn shrieked and thrashed, its wings slicing the air. The Queen rose, ichor dripping, her claws gripping her child’s shoulders. She pulled it close, slammed her forehead against its face. The impact cracked through the clearing, louder than drums, louder than light.

For a breath, mother and spawn locked in silence.

Then the Queen dragged her child into the air and turned its body toward the coalition.

Her eyes burned. Her mandibles stretched wide. She wasn’t just fighting her spawn anymore. She was using it as a weapon.

The newborn screeched, flailing as her claws forced it down toward the army. Every creature froze as the weight of both Queens fell toward them together.

Buzz’s claws clenched tighter on Zza’s arm, his voice raw. "She’s not choosing between us and her child."

Zza’s voice cracked, her eyes wide with horror. "She’s choosing to kill both."

The sky split open with their descent.

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The sky burned with two bodies locked together, mother and spawn twisting in a spiral of gold. The Queen dragged her child down by the throat, wings thrashing, claws digging into its shoulders. The newborn flailed, its mandibles snapping, its light brighter than fire. Together they fell, a storm of ichor and fury, aimed squarely at the army below.

Scarabs froze mid-drum. Centipedes coiled in confusion, some rearing back, some pressing forward. Glowbeetles scattered in a broken cloud, their lights stuttering like dying stars. The Elder’s threads dropped in panicked waves, snaring nothing but smoke.

Zza pulled at Buzz, dragging his half-broken body backward. "Move—Buzz, move!"

But he planted his claws in the dirt, chest heaving, wings trembling. His voice tore out raw, cracked. "If we scatter, they crush us. Together."

She whipped around, eyes wide, silk snapping in her claws. "Together we die."

Buzz bared bloodied mandibles, his grin jagged and unshaken. "Then we die standing in her way."

The two golden bodies hurtled closer, screaming through the air. Heat seared the ground before they even hit. The army faltered, caught between terror and loyalty.

Buzz tore himself from Zza’s grip and staggered forward, claws raised though his arms shook like snapped branches. His voice cracked but carried, ripping through the panic.

"Drums! Walls! Light! All of it—on me!"

Scarabs pounded the ground until it split. Centipedes whipped into coils, dragging roots up for cover. Glowbeetles lit themselves blinding bright, their signals frantic but clear.

Zza screamed his name, silk binding his waist, yanking herself to his side whether he wanted her there or not. "You are not doing this alone!"

The coalition snapped awake at their defiance. Scarabs pushed forward, forming a battered line in front of the pair. Centipedes wrapped around them in layers, scorched coils grinding against dirt. Glowbeetles circled overhead, blinking in furious rhythm.

The sky broke open as Queen and spawn crashed into the shield of bodies. The shockwave threw dirt and fire across the clearing. Scarabs screamed as their shells cracked, Centipedes shrieked as their coils burned, Glowbeetles burst in showers of sparks.

Buzz slammed his claws into the ground, anchoring himself against the quake. Zza’s threads lashed between creatures, pulling them tighter, weaving bodies into a wall no fire could scatter. Her hands bled, silk fraying, but she didn’t stop.

The impact tore through the coalition. Drums split, roots shattered, wings broke. But they held.

And when the dust cleared, the impossible had happened.

The Queen and her newborn lay tangled in the dirt, their bodies twisted, their wings bent, ichor spraying in uneven bursts. For the first time since the battle began, both monsters were on the ground at once.

Buzz spat blood and staggered upright, pulling Zza with him. His eyes locked on the two titans thrashing before him. "She wanted to kill us both with her own child."

Zza’s voice shook, tears streaking her ash-stained face. "Then we end them both before they rise again."

The army, broken and burning, roared back to life behind them.