CHAPTER 29: CHAPTER 29 : ENDLESS BATTLES,SMALL VICTORIES

Buzz could taste ash in his mandibles. His arms burned with every motion, every strike sending fire through his cracked shell. The wound they’d carved into the fused Queen spilled rivers of gold that hissed in the soil. She staggered, wings trembling, ichor dripping thick. For a breath, it looked possible—an end within reach.

Zza braced against him, silk coiling his arms, forcing his swings deeper. Her claws bled raw from the friction, her breathing ragged. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder as if her body alone could keep him upright. "Buzz, she’s breaking. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop."

His vision blurred, gold and black swimming together. He wanted to collapse. To crawl into the dirt and let someone else carry it. But her voice anchored him, and the drums behind him drove his body forward. Scarabs beat their cracked claws against the earth in rhythm with his strikes. Centipedes squeezed tighter, their coils smoking against her burning legs. Glowbeetles burned brighter, their light flaring wild.

Buzz’s claws dug deeper into the Queen’s wound. Gold burst upward, spilling across his arms, scalding his shell. He screamed, the sound ripping his throat raw, and swung again.

Zza’s silk snapped, her body jerking as threads tore across her hands. Still, she tied them back, binding herself to him again. Her whisper cracked as she pulled. "You make her fall, Buzz. You *make her fall.*"

The fused Queen shrieked, her roar shaking the forest. Trees split under the sound, their bark shredding to ash. Her body swayed, her balance broken, her head snapping back in rage.

For the first time since her creation, she looked mortal.

Buzz grinned through blood, teeth cracked, his chest heaving. "We can end her."

He pulled back his claws, ready to drive them in again. The coalition screamed with him, the forest itself shaking under their fury. For one heartbeat, victory was a taste in the air.

Then the fused Queen moved.

Her wings snapped open, shredding the Elder’s nets in bursts of gold fire. Her mandibles spread, ichor dripping in ropes that seared into the ground. Her glow swelled, not flaring outward but folding tight, condensing into her chest like a star collapsing.

Buzz’s instincts screamed. Every nerve lit up. "Zza—"

The Queen’s claw slammed down.

It tore through the soil like lightning, cracking the clearing open. Scarabs scattered, some crushed under the blow. Centipedes screamed, coils snapping apart like threads of rope. Glowbeetles burst in showers of light, their bodies falling as dim husks. Even the Elder’s silk caught fire, threads curling into ash before they hit the ground.

Buzz shoved Zza back, taking the strike across his chest. The impact ripped through his shell, blood pouring down his body. His knees buckled, but his claws locked tight into her wound, refusing to let go.

Zza’s scream cut through the chaos. She lashed silk in frantic strands, binding him to her, binding them both to the Queen, refusing to let either of them be torn away. "You hold, Buzz! Hold with me!"

His body shook, every muscle screaming, vision fading. He heard her voice, trembling but fierce, and he clung to it like air. "She won’t take us," he rasped. His claws dug deeper, splitting against golden bone. "She *won’t.*"

The fused Queen reared back with another roar, ichor raining down in sheets of fire. The army writhed around them, screaming, breaking, burning. And yet—even under her full fury, Buzz and Zza stayed locked to her chest, their bodies one with the wound they refused to release.

The Queen’s glow burst outward again, a wave of fire that swallowed the field. The Scarabs, the Centipedes, the Glowbeetles—all thrown back, battered but not destroyed. Their cries echoed across the clearing, ragged but still alive.

And in the middle of it all, Buzz leaned into Zza, their foreheads pressed together, their voices whispering against the storm.

"She bleeds," he gasped.

"She bleeds," Zza repeated, her claws shaking, her silk burning.

The fused Queen’s wings beat once, tearing the forest open in a blast of ash and fire. Her eyes burned hotter, her scream splitting the canopy.

And for the first time, Buzz felt her fury aimed at them alone.

The fused Queen’s scream tore across the clearing, a wall of sound and light that bent trees into the dirt. Ash rolled in waves. Golden ichor rained thick, burning into the soil until smoke clawed upward and swallowed the sky.

Buzz’s arms shook under the weight of her fury. His shell split deeper, blood streaming hot. His claws locked in her chest wound, trembling but unbroken. Every breath rattled like it could be his last.

Zza’s body pressed against him, silk binding them together, her claws anchoring his arms even as her own bled raw. Her face pressed into his neck, her whisper shaking. "She’s trying to rip us apart. Don’t let go. Don’t give her that."

He bit down hard, tasting copper and ash. His voice was nothing more than a rasp. "If she wants us, she takes us bleeding. She doesn’t get us bowed."

Her silk snapped in places, but she tied it again, her threads pulling tighter until her whole body trembled. "Then we drag her down with us."

The Queen slammed her wings wide. The blast sent Scarabs tumbling, their drums splintering into shards. Centipedes writhed, coils snapping and smoking against the fire. Glowbeetles burst into ash mid-air, their bodies falling like sparks. Even the Elder’s webs broke loose, threads burning as they fell.

The army scattered.

Buzz saw it through the haze, saw fear choke the rhythm. Scarabs frozen in place, Centipedes thrashing without form, Glowbeetles dimming one by one. Even the Elder sagged in the canopy, silent, as if the web itself had given up.

Rage clawed through him hotter than the ichor. He bared his broken grin, forcing his voice louder than his own body allowed. "Don’t stop! Don’t you crawl away from me!"

His roar cracked his chest open. The Scarabs froze, then one slammed his claw against the dirt. Another beat a broken drum. A rhythm stuttered to life again.

The Centipedes dragged their half-bodies together, weaving broken coils. Glowbeetles pulsed jagged signals in answer, their faint light flashing like sparks from dying stars. Even the Elder, trembling, dropped a single net of silk. It fell wide but held.

The army rose again.

Buzz felt their rhythm pound through his cracked shell. Zza’s threads pulled tighter, her forehead pressed to his. Her voice caught, wet but fierce. "They’re moving. They’re still with us. Push, Buzz. Push now!"

He screamed, dragging his claws deeper into the Queen’s chest wound. Gold burst upward, splattering across his face and hers. His body burned, his arms shaking near breaking, but he didn’t stop.

The Scarabs surged, pounding their claws in rhythm with his strikes. Centipedes coiled higher, smoking as they bound her legs. Glowbeetles dove in waves, their light searing her eyes. The Elder’s silk tightened across her wings, anchoring her to the earth.

The fused Queen shrieked louder, her body thrashing, the ground splitting beneath her. Her ichor flooded the field in rivers of fire, but still the coalition clung, still they struck.

Buzz roared again, blood streaming from his mouth. "We hold! We break her here!"

Zza’s silk burned through her hands, skin blistering, but she pulled tighter anyway. Her whisper cracked in his ear. "We bleed, but we don’t bow."

The Queen’s mandibles snapped, her eyes blazing hotter than fire. She reared back, wings flaring, glow swelling until the clearing drowned in gold.

And then—her head tilted low, her glare locking on Buzz and Zza.

Her voice came, cold and sharp. "Mine."

And the ground collapsed beneath their feet.