Chapter 32: Chapter 32 : THE FINAL BATTLE
The fused Queen loomed tall, wings spread wide, glow swallowing everything. Ash swirled thick, the forest bent, the air heavy with her voice.
"Yours ends. Mine begins."
Buzz staggered forward, every step dragging blood into the dirt. His claws shook but stayed raised. Zza bound herself tighter to him, silk fraying at the edges, her claws raw from pulling. Her breath came sharp, uneven, but her voice cut clean.
"Then take us. If you can."
The Queen lunged. Her claw ripped down like fire, splitting the ground. Buzz caught it on his arms, shell cracking further, ichor burning across his body. His knees buckled, but he shoved back with a roar.
Zza screamed his name and lashed silk across the wound in her chest, threads glowing white as she yanked him deeper into the strike. "Push, Buzz! Don’t you give her an inch!"
Her wing swept wide, blasting air hot enough to melt soil. Buzz wrapped his arms around Zza and rolled, dirt and fire tearing across his back. They crashed hard, but he shoved her upright, his claws dripping.
"Still here," he hissed. "Still fighting."
The Queen’s mandibles snapped, ichor spilling in streams. Her eyes locked on them, glow burning brighter.
Buzz leaned close to Zza, their foreheads pressed together. His whisper cracked. "It’s us or her. Nothing else left."
Zza’s silk pulled taut around them both, her whisper fierce. "Then it’s her."
They charged.
Buzz swung with both claws, striking across her chest wound. Gold burst upward, scalding his arms. Zza lashed silk into the crack, dragging it wider. The Queen shrieked, wings thrashing, the ground shaking under her weight.
For a moment, it felt like they could split her apart.
Then her roar rolled across the clearing, blasting them back. Buzz hit the ground hard, his vision swimming, his arms too heavy to lift. Zza crawled to him, blood dripping down her face, silk torn. She pulled him close, whispering through the tears. "Get up. Please, get up."
He clenched his mandibles, forcing his body upright, even as it shook. "Not done. Not yet."
The Queen’s glow flared again. Her wings beat once, sending Scarabs tumbling, Centipedes scattering, Glowbeetles dimming. The coalition lay in ruin, crushed into ash.
And yet—one Scarab staggered up. He slammed his claw into the dirt, the sound weak but defiant. Another answered. Then another. The rhythm rose again, broken but alive.
Centipedes dragged their coils together, wrapping her ankles one last time. Glowbeetles burst into light, their bodies burning themselves out mid-air. Even the Elder dropped the last of its silk, thin threads catching and smoking on her wings.
The army rose for a final charge.
Buzz’s chest heaved. He felt their rhythm pound through his body. He pulled Zza against him, their foreheads touching, his voice torn but steady. "They’re with us. We finish this."
Zza’s claws locked onto his. Her whisper broke but burned. "Together."
They surged forward as the army screamed with them. Scarabs pounding, Centipedes coiling, Glowbeetles flaring, silk snapping.
Buzz and Zza slammed into the fused Queen’s chest. Their claws and silk carved into her wound. Gold poured out, flooding the field. The Queen shrieked, her scream shaking the forest to its roots.
The battlefield drowned in fire and blood.
The fused Queen’s scream ripped through the clearing, her wings flaring so wide the canopy itself tore apart. Gold poured down her chest wound, rivers of fire spilling over her body. Every creature froze beneath it, their shells trembling, their breath stolen.
Buzz’s claws shook as he braced against her weight. His chest heaved, blood flooding from cracks in his shell. Zza pulled tighter against him, her silk binding their arms, her claws raw and shaking. Her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"She’s too strong, Buzz. She’s burning everything."
His mandibles clenched, his eyes locked on the towering shape above. His voice rasped low, broken but steady. "Then we don’t stop until nothing’s left of us to burn."
Buzz’s claws shook as he braced against her weight, chitin grinding under the strain. His chest heaved raggedly, each breath wet, blood flooding from the cracks splitting his shell. Zza dragged herself closer, her silk lashing around them both, binding their arms as if to fuse their broken bodies together. Her claws trembled, raw and bleeding, every pull carving deeper grooves into the earth.
Above them, the towering shape writhed, shadows boiling off her form like fire made flesh. The ground quaked with each of her steps, every motion peeling the stone black, leaving trails of smoke that stank of ash and rot. Zza pressed tighter against him, her whisper shredded by the roar overhead.
"She’s too strong, Buzz. She’s burning everything."
The air itself blistered, the heat searing their antennae, curling their edges. Buzz’s mandibles clenched so hard the crack of enamel echoed over the battlefield. His eyes locked on the monster’s molten silhouette—an inferno given shape. His voice rasped, low and broken, but steady as iron.
"Then we don’t stop," he growled, forcing his ruined limbs to push upright against her bindings, claws digging into scorched stone. His carapace split further, spilling dark rivulets down his side, but he surged forward anyway, dragging Zza with him. "We fight until nothing’s left of us to burn."
The earth trembled again as the shadow-fiend bent low, flames lashing like whips. Buzz lowered his stance, braced in the firestorm. His chest shook, his shell screamed, but his gaze never wavered.
The Queen raised her claw again, her glow folding inward, brighter, hotter. The ground itself began to melt beneath her feet.
And that was when the coalition moved.
Scarabs—every one that still breathed—slammed their claws into the dirt. Their drums were gone, their shells cracked, their bodies broken, but they pounded anyway, their rhythm louder than the Queen’s roar.
Centipedes dragged their burned coils forward, wrapping her legs again and again until their segments smoked. Their bodies split, but they squeezed tighter.
Glowbeetles rose, wings beating ragged, their lights sparking bright until they burst mid-air, each flare searing the Queen’s eyes before their husks fell dark.
The Elder dropped the last of its web. Threads burned before they hit the ground, but still they fell, weaving themselves across her wings, anchoring them for one final breath.
The coalition knew they wouldn’t survive it. And still they struck.
Buzz staggered forward with Zza bound to him, their claws slamming into her chest wound once more. Gold burst upward, scalding their bodies, but they pressed deeper.
The Queen shrieked, her roar shaking the forest, her wings tearing through the silk, her glow flaring hotter. The Scarabs crumpled under her weight. The Centipedes split apart, coils shredded. Glowbeetles burned themselves out to ash. The Elder’s threads vanished in fire.
One by one, the coalition gave everything they had left.
And in the end, it left only Buzz and Zza standing in the blood and ash, their bodies broken, their silk burned, their claws buried in her chest.
The fused Queen leaned low, ichor pouring, her voice thick and cold.
"Mine."
Buzz spat blood into the wound, his grin wild through the pain. "Come and take us."
The forest went silent.
The coalition was gone.
And the duel began.