CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 30: NO RETREAT NO SURRENDER

The ground cracked open, dirt giving way like rotten cloth. Buzz and Zza tumbled as the fused Queen’s glow pulled them inward. The air shook with her voice again, cutting through every scream around them.

"Mine."

Buzz hit the dirt hard. His claws ripped furrows as he tried to anchor himself. Zza’s silk yanked him back before he slid too far, her body pressed against his side, both of them shaking.

"Buzz!" she shouted. "She’s pulling us in!"

"I feel it!" His claws burned, his shell splitting deeper. His voice cracked, raw and furious. "She thinks we’re hers? She doesn’t get to claim me!"

The world around them warped. One blink and the battlefield blurred into shadow. Scarabs, Centipedes, Glowbeetles—they all smeared like ash in wind. The Elder’s web sagged above them, torn into threads.

And then it was gone.

They stood inside her.

The space stretched dark, endless, lined with gold veins that pulsed like a heartbeat. Chains slithered across the ground, rising up, curling tight around Buzz’s arms, his legs. Another chain snapped onto Zza’s wrists, binding her in a violent jerk.

Zza gasped, silk spilling from her claws and evaporating as it touched the gold. "Buzz—she’s binding us!"

Buzz snarled, straining against the links. The chains cut deeper, but he dragged his arms forward anyway, his teeth bared. "She doesn’t bind me. She doesn’t bind *us*."

The Queen’s voice rippled through the dark, heavy, calm, certain. "Everything bends. You bend. The forest bends."

Zza thrashed, her claws digging against the chain. "You bend us, and you kill the very thing you want!"

The voice pressed harder. "Alive or broken, you are mine."

Buzz roared back, his arms jerking so hard the chains split skin. "I am not yours!"

The chains pulled tighter, forcing him to his knees. Zza screamed, struggling against her own restraints. She twisted her wrists until blood streamed down her arms, silk spilling out in frantic bursts. She turned her face to him, her eyes burning wet.

"Buzz, look at me!"

His head lifted, sweat and blood running together.

She pulled against her chains until her whole body shook. "If you give her an inch, she’ll take both of us. Fight! Don’t fight for yourself—fight for me!"

Her voice cracked on the last word, sharp and desperate.

Buzz’s chest heaved. His mandibles clenched. He dragged his arms forward again, screaming until his throat tore. The chains split, gold sparking, cracking against the dark. One broke free, dangling useless.

Zza gasped and yanked harder at hers, silk flashing white-hot from her claws. She screamed his name. "Buzz!"

He tore free the second chain and staggered toward her, blood dripping from his arms. "I’m coming!"

The Queen’s voice dropped low. "No escape. Chains are not for breaking. Chains are for wearing."

More links slithered up from the ground, twisting toward them both.

Buzz lunged, grabbing Zza’s wrists, his claws wrapping hers tight. Their foreheads pressed together, their voices one.

"She doesn’t own us," he rasped.

"She never will," Zza whispered.

Together, they pulled. Chains snapped one after another, the sound like glass shattering. Gold veins split, spilling light across the dark.

The fused Queen shrieked, her voice tearing through the psychic space.

And then—Buzz and Zza were back.

The battlefield crashed into focus. Scarabs screaming as they slammed claws into the dirt. Centipedes dragging themselves into coils, smoking. Glowbeetles flashing wild signals, half-blinded. The Elder dropping burning silk across the Queen’s wings.

The fused Queen reeled, her glow stuttering, ichor dripping heavy from the wound in her chest.

Buzz staggered, still clutching Zza’s wrists, both of them dripping blood, both of them breathing like the air itself was fire.

He bared his teeth at her towering form. His voice shredded but steady. "You break chains. You don’t wear them."

The Queen’s wings flared, and her scream shattered the forest.

---

Buzz’s arms still throbbed from the chains, blood dripping steady down his claws. Zza leaned against him, her silk barely holding, her eyes glassy but alive. They had broken something inside her. He could feel it. The fused Queen staggered, her glow uneven, her ichor spilling faster.

"Now," Buzz rasped, mandibles clenching. "Before she finds herself again."

Zza tightened her silk around his arms, pulling him steady, her whisper fierce despite her shaking. "We hit her while she’s cracked. We drag her down while she’s weak."

Buzz raised his claws, broken, jagged, but still sharp. He staggered forward, each step a battle, but Zza pulled with him.

The Scarabs saw. One slammed his claw into the dirt, the sound sharp. Another followed, then another, until a rhythm beat again. The Centipedes coiled tighter, wrapping her legs, ichor burning them but not driving them off. Glowbeetles burst bright, their pulses flashing in rough waves. The Elder dropped silk wide, strands lashing across her wings.

Buzz screamed, his claws slamming into her chest wound. Gold burst upward, burning his arms, but he didn’t stop. Zza’s silk shot through the crack, splitting it wider, her voice raw. "Fall, damn you! *Fall!*"

The Queen shrieked, her body jerking back, wings thrashing, the ground splitting under her weight. The coalition surged with Buzz, their voices one roar, every body pressed into the fight. Scarabs clawed deeper, Centipedes tightened, Glowbeetles burned themselves blind. Even the Elder’s silk snapped taut, binding until smoke curled off it.

For one breath, she reeled. For one breath, the crown looked ready to fall.

Then the retaliation came.

The glow in her chest collapsed inward, folding tight. The wound they carved flared, sealing not shut, but into a forge. Light poured out in waves so hot the soil melted into glass beneath her feet.

Buzz’s eyes burned white. His claws tore from her chest as the blast threw him back. Zza screamed, her silk snapping, her body tumbling against him. They hit the dirt hard, rolling through ash and blood.

The coalition shattered. Scarabs thrown in every direction, drums broken to splinters. Centipedes split apart, coils scattering like broken rings. Glowbeetles fell dead from the air, their lights blinking out. The Elder’s web ignited in a sheet of fire, silk burning to dust.

The fused Queen straightened. Her glow pulsed steady now, too steady. She raised her claw, ichor dripping in rivers, and slammed it into the earth.

The clearing erupted. Ash surged upward in a storm, golden fire spiraling. Screams filled the night, drowned by her roar.

Buzz pushed himself over Zza, shielding her with his body. His voice cracked as he shouted over the chaos. "Stay with me! Don’t you give her what she wants!"

Zza clung to his chest, her claws dug in deep, her whisper fierce even through the tears. "I’m here. Always here."

The storm began to settle. Smoke curled across the battlefield. Broken bodies lay scattered, the rhythm of the drums gone silent.

The fused Queen stood tall, her glow unbroken, her mandibles dripping thick. She looked down at them—at Buzz and Zza—eyes burning hotter than ever.

Buzz staggered back to his knees, his claws raised though they trembled, his voice torn but steady. "If she wants the last of us..."

Zza stood with him, her silk tying them together once more. Her voice cracked but fierce. "...then she fights for every breath."

The Queen stepped forward, the ground bending.

The final clash was no longer about armies. It was her against them.