Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 141: Sister Clashes

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The royal halls of the capital of the Ant Kingdom had never felt this colder and lonely to Mia. She stood on a balcony of veined jade, eyes fixed on the northern cavern mouth where Kai had vanished weeks ago. Moon orchid lanterns glimmered above, yet not one spark eased the heaviness inside her heart.

Her lavender carapace normally shimmered beneath court lights, now it looked dull. She kept worrying about Kai, her fingernails pressed against the rail, carving idle gouges while her eyes twitched for any rumor of Kai’s return. None came.

Behind her, the royal promenade buzzed with a different tension, nobles ants bristling, courtiers whispering, the faint crackle of aura from two seven star ants circling the same throne room. They were talking about Darius, who killed him? Who was that silver-haired man? Many questions were raised, but no answers found. Darius’ mother was furious. She wanted to find the murderer of her son.

Far below, on the transparent floor of the Crystal Court, Thea was standing, strode across mosaic runes. Her segmented pauldrons clicked with every step, the quartz-spines along her spine flaring pale light as she addressed a knot of admirers. Mia’s ears picked up every acidic word she spoke.

"She lost their prize asset, her toy boy." Thea hissed, mandibles flashing like pearl knives. "And now our precious Dawn-Blade Captain mopes in balconies. The predator had eaten her pet, that is why she looked like a loser."

The taunt carried. Mia vaulted the balcony rail in a single bound. Her legs jointed power limbs that could kick through limestone absorbed the drop with a dull thud. Court attendants scattered as she advanced, irises burning violet.

"One more insult about Kai," Mia warned, "and you’ll wear your own spines as earrings."

Thea’s lips curled. "Does a failure give commands? Your little toy boy is gone. I didn’t lie, just said what everyone else knows. Accept reality, little sister."

Mia’s breath caught, her fingers flexing, long, elegant, and tipped with aura hardened to claw nails.

From both sisters, aura erupted. Thea’s shimmered liquid silver, coiling like a living blade around her arms. Mia’s burned lurid green, her hair lifting as if caught in an invisible storm. The marble tiles beneath them cracked in spider web patterns, the Crystal Court groaning under the pressure.

Above, balconies of foreign envoys and Ant Kingdom nobles watched in stunned silence as two seven-star sisters fought, stared one another down.

Thea’s figure was tall, statuesque, wrapped in white court silk interlaced with thin plates of carapace along her hips and spine. Her fingers bore blade-rings, aura-forged and humming.

Mia stood strong, power coiled like a spring in her lean frame. Her gown was forest-dark, sleeveless, cut to expose the full arc of her shoulders and back, where the emerald tattoos of her Dawn-Blade division glowed faintly. Her eyes twitch with controlled fury. From her hips, segmented exo-plates flared slightly, a reminder of her hybrid body beneath the humanoid skin.

Without further words, they lunged. The court shattered into motion.

Mia launched first, her leg muscles, denser than stone, coiled and released like compressed steel. She surged forward in a blur, her fingers transforming mid strike as her forearm blades burst out, chitinous and gleaming with micro-serrated edges.

Thea spun gracefully, white silks trailing, pivoting on sharp heel-spurs embedded into her combat boots. A flick of her arm discharged a sonic pressure burst generated from a wrist-socket lined with resonant carapace that deflected the blade’s edge at the last second. The force rattled chandeliers and shattered five glass columns nearby.

Their auras collided midair: Mia’s aura licked against Thea’s silver storm. The shockwave flattened nearby guards.

Mia twisted her hips mid-strike, raising a knee reinforced with under-skin plating into Thea’s side. Thea grimaced but caught the blow, hooking Mia’s elbow with a retractable wrist-claw then using the momentum to hip-throw her sister across the chamber.

Mia struck the far wall, shattering four glyph-lamps and gouging deep claw marks into the floor with her heels. But she was up in an instant, aura glowing, green veins pulsing under her skin.

She dashed again, this time faster.

Thea caught her half-step, silver aura coalescing into luminous blades along her forearms. They clashed, blades shrieking, aura flashing.

Onlookers shielded their faces as two storms slammed into one another, like queens of opposite kingdoms both too proud to bow.

Until...

A thunderclap of emerald light flattened every corner of the royal court. The Ant Queen, mother of millions of ants, alighted upon the Royal Dais. Her crown star crown glowed piercing the air, with imperial authority. The fight died instantly, Mia and Thea knelt, chests heaving.

"Seven star ranks should be pillars, not petulant larvae," the queen said, voice as calm as grinding glaciers. "Your quarrel stains our honor."

Both sisters lowered their eyes.

"Yet your fervor can serve the realm." The queen’s secondary eyes flicked toward a polished obsidian screen displaying the same eastern scar Kai had seen and was going to find the essence pool. "A void-phenomenon opens. Relics and an alleged Essence Pool await. I require retrieval teams. Neither of you may leave the kingdom, our borders demand your strength here but each will dispatch a hand-picked squad of three to five persons and the same star ranks. There’s a rule that anyone over five star rank can’t enter the area. Send your teams. I want to know everything that happened inside."

Thea straightened first. "Your will, my queen. The Dawn-Blade captain Mia may send children but I will send killers."

Mia’s mandibles clicked. "My blades will carve a path to the pool, even through her ’killers.’"

A faint smile touched the queen’s mouth, unreadable. "You have three hours. Present team rosters at gate delta." Her aura dimmed. Audience dismissed.

Mia’s Dawn-Blade Team:

Shale (4★)

Needle (3★)

Flint (3★)

Vexor (3★)

Mia inspected each at the armory vault. She gave them a personal mission. "Find Kai information, if you could," she told them. "Come back alive."

Thea’s Shadow-Talon Squad

Grev – Five-star executioner

Sil – Four-star illusion caster

Brask & Drask – Twin four star warriors

In a private barracks Thea delivered quieter orders: "Claim the treasure. If Mia’s Dawn-Blade insects impede, you strip their cores and leave husks for the guardians."

Sil’s wings whispered anticipation; Grev’s eyes glinted like onyx.

Under the vaulted Delta Portcullis, bioluminescent vines cast teal shafts across freshly oiled armor. Mia’s unit stood ready, rucksacks brimmed with storm pearls and ant-bread. Vexor flexed his arms, his forearms chattering with impatience.

Opposite, Thea’s team loomed: Grev idly scraping one obsidian scythe against the stone, sending sparks up; Sil fanning air in small aura pulses of glittering dust; the burrower twins tapping claws in unison on the floor.