CHAPTER 26: CHAPTER 26 : STRIKE THROUGH THE FLAMES

The clearing heaved with smoke and gold. The Queen and her spawn writhed on the ground, wings bent, claws snapping, ichor pooling into rivers that hissed where it touched stone. Every creature watched, stunned, as if the sight of both titans brought low had stolen the breath from the forest.

Buzz leaned into Zza, his body trembling, his shell split wide in places that wouldn’t hold much longer. Her silk wound tight around his waist, threads glowing faint in the firelight, her claws digging into him as if sheer will could keep him upright.

"This is it," he rasped, spitting blood into the dirt. "We don’t get another chance."

Zza’s face was pale, her mandibles clenched so hard she shook. "If we go first, we won’t come back."

Buzz bared his broken grin, wild in his eyes. "Then we make it worth it."

He staggered forward, dragging her threads with him. Zza cursed, her claws pulling tighter, but she followed anyway. She always followed.

The coalition faltered behind them. Scarabs stood swaying, their drums cracked, claws dripping with their own blood. Centipedes dragged ruined coils through the dirt, bodies trembling but still weaving into shaky walls. Glowbeetles hovered dim and scattered, their light weak but unbroken. Even the Elder sagged in the canopy, silk hanging in tatters, threads still trembling with life.

Buzz raised his claws high, his voice ripping raw from his chest. "With me! All of you!"

The Scarabs roared back, pounding what shards of their drums still remained. Centipedes slammed into formation, broken bodies locking together. Glowbeetles pulsed light in jagged waves, their signals messy but fierce. The Elder’s silk dropped heavy across the army, stitching the weak points tight.

The Queen’s head lifted, ichor dripping from her mandibles. Her spawn shrieked beside her, wings tearing at the dirt as it clawed its way upright. Both sets of golden eyes locked on the army.

Buzz didn’t wait. He lunged forward, claws high, blood spraying from his wounds. Zza lashed threads around his arms, guiding his strikes, binding her body to his.

They hit first.

His claws slammed into the Queen’s wound, driving deep. Zza’s silk shot past him, binding the newborn’s throat, yanking its head to the dirt. The ichor erupted, burning across their bodies, scalding their shells, but they didn’t let go.

The Scarabs piled in next, claws raking, drums beating in time with their strikes. Centipedes wrapped around both titans, burning as coils tightened, refusing to release even as skin blistered. Glowbeetles dove in waves, lighting every crack and weak point, guiding each strike. The Elder’s threads dropped wide nets, pinning limbs, weaving Scarabs and Centipedes into a single massive body that pressed down together.

The ground shook as the two Queens thrashed, ichor spilling in waves, wings beating so hard the canopy itself ripped open. The air burned, the soil cracked, screams filled the clearing.

Buzz roared, his claws buried in gold, Zza screaming beside him as her silk frayed against molten flesh.

For the first time, the Queens bled together.

Their ichor spilled thick, flooding the field, golden rivers hissing in the dirt. Their screams shook the army’s bones, yet the coalition pressed harder, broken bodies pouring everything into one strike, one moment, one wound.

Zza’s forehead pressed to Buzz’s as the ichor sprayed across them both. Her whisper cracked against his ear. "We’ll burn with them."

Buzz grinned through blood and fire. "Then we burn louder."

The battlefield glowed as mother and spawn screamed in unison, golden blood raining.

And for the first time, the forest saw both Queens stagger under the same blow.

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The clearing stank of burned shell and blood turned sweet from the heat. Golden ichor ran in channels through the soil, pooling in pits where roots used to be. Scarabs limped across the muck, their claws dulled and splintered. Centipedes dragged half-coils behind them, bodies twitching but still trying to form walls. Glowbeetles flickered dim, their signals weak as guttering lanterns.

Buzz knelt in the middle of it, his claws sunk into the dirt just to stay upright. Every breath rattled like broken glass in his chest. Zza crouched tight against him, silk binding his shoulders, his waist, his side. Her threads stuck to him in layers, each one straining, melting in places, but she kept weaving more.

The Queens hadn’t fallen.

They stood locked together in the center of the field, blood dripping from both. The original swayed, ichor still spilling from Buzz’s wound. The newborn burned brighter with each breath, its shell steaming, its wings twitching like they didn’t belong to it.

Neither moved on the other. Both stared at the coalition.

Buzz spat blood into the dirt, forcing his body upright. "They’re not fighting us anymore."

Zza’s claws shook as she bound his arm tighter. "No," she whispered. Her eyes stayed locked on them, wide with fear. "They’re watching us. Both of them."

The silence pressed down heavier than the fire ever had. Every Scarab froze, every Centipede went still, every Glowbeetle dimmed. The Elder’s threads hung loose from the canopy, trembling but refusing to fall.

The Queens stepped forward together.

The ground split where their claws landed, ichor burning into every crack. Their wings opened in unison, light flaring so bright that shadows vanished from the clearing. The coalition shrank back as the glow stretched wider, swallowing the air, swallowing the trees, swallowing the sky.

Buzz clutched Zza’s wrist, holding her close as his body shook. "She isn’t trying to kill the spawn anymore."

Zza’s breath hitched, silk dripping from her claws like tears. "She’s trying to make it hers."

The newborn screeched, not in rage but in answer, its voice echoing its mother’s roar until both sounded like one. Their wings flared again, light twisting into spirals, pulling their blood from the dirt, drawing it back into their shells.

Buzz’s knees nearly buckled. His chest burned, his eyes blurred, but he understood. His voice came out raw, heavy.

"They’re fusing."

Zza’s claws slipped from his shell, her threads slack in her trembling hands. "If they do that... we don’t have a Queen we can wound anymore. We have something else."

The glow swelled, gold spilling across the field. Scarabs beat their claws against their own shells in panic. Centipedes writhed, thrashing coils into broken walls. Glowbeetles flared erratic signals into the dark, but no pattern held.

The Elder’s silk threads finally dropped, falling over Buzz and Zza like shrouds.

And in the center of the field, the two Queens stepped closer, their bodies burning together.

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