Re:Ant Lord-Chapter 95: Sister Steel (Castle bonus)

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Flint answered with a shrill whistle, the east alarm. Needle answered west. Cerastis warriors sprang from bedrolls, shields locking into a half-circle. Mia stepped from her makeshift command tent, crimson armor buckled but cloak still half removed. She took one glance at the incoming tide and drew her double-sabre.

"Thea!" she hissed. "That bitch finally showing her true colours."

Blue-cloaked twenty ants slid down dune faces, kicking plumes. Their formations were tight and drilled. Thea’s elite razors. At their head strode Captain Darius, aura bright enough to cast his own moonlit shadow. His eyes found Kai first, glinting with satisfaction.

He raised his hands. "Advance."

The two banners collided like storm fronts. On the east flank Flint’s repeater clacked, bolts lancing into the first wave. Shale met three glaives at once, hammer roaring. Needle danced, parrying, and counter thrusting.

At the center, Mia darted forward to intercept her sister. Thea glided down the rock slope, sapphire armor reflecting moonfire, a smile like frost on her lips.

"Little sis, Mia," she crooned, twirling her rapier-staff. "I offered you safe harbor. Instead you sit in a trench like a frightened larva. Allow me to end your embarrassment."

Their auras clashed. A six stars rank against seven stars rank. Their aura sparks crackling in the dry night air. Sand around their feet swirled in miniature cyclones.

Blades blurred. Mia’s spare tires cut low, Thea flowed aside, staff ricocheting. A hole opened in Mia’s cloak. She answered with a scissor strike that nicked Thea’s pauldron. Sisters wheeled through dust devils, every impact sending shockwaves. Yet Thea pressed steadily, her higher rank dripping force into each flick.

"Still slower," she taunted, landing a palm thrust that shoved Mia two steps back.

While royal siblings dueled, Darius carved his own path. He let two Coatl troopers screen him, then broke left, seeking Kai. A scorpion stinger blade gleamed at his hip.

Kai was finishing an enemy when he sensed Darius’s hunter glare. He slid the dying trooper aside and leveled his spear.

"Captain Darius," he growled.

"Corpses shouldn’t speak, you were lucky to survive the star crystal mine." Darius replied. Aura flared. He darted with speed that blew sand like arrow trails. Kai barely intercepted, shaft meeting scorpion-blade...

CLANG!

The vibration numbed Kai’s wrists; four-star weight bore down. Tiny Tank triggered; Kai’s chitin hardened. He twisted, redirecting momentum, and kicked Darius’s knee. The captain hopped back, grinning.

"You improved, grub. Still two stars behind me. It’s like I am playing with a child. Hek Hek Hek!"

He lunged again, blade slashing in shimmering arcs. Kai back-stepped, counting each swing, looking for overreach. But Darius fought conservatively, he didn’t need flashy movement to deal with Kai. He just wants to play with Kai before Kai loses all hope.

From the gulch rim came cries, Cerastis lines bending inward under strong and healthy enemies. Mia’s team members, most of them had taken small or big injuries in previous battles. Kai’s squadmates couldn’t spare him help. He circled and controlled breathing.

"Hold. Draw him..." he advised himself.

Darius feinted high. Kai parried and struck low but missed. Darius slid aside, tailing scorpion blade flicking up to slice Kai’s upper arm. Red ichor spattered. HP –140. Pain flared.

"Bleed," Darius whispered and laughed. "Hek! Hek! Hek!"

Kai gritted his teeth, jabbed spear butt into sand, vaulted and kicked Darius’s chest. Hit landed; captain staggered half-step back. Kai landed on the ground. His spear whirling.

"Hek! Hek! Hek! Nice try."

But Darius only smiled wider. He had more aura to burn, limitless compared to Kai. This duel would grind Kai down.

Unless something shifted....

The shift came from the desert itself, as if the world wants to give Kai an opportunity.

At first a low hum trembled under their feet. Kai’s Predator Instinct howled: Seismic anomaly and deep mass movement, his previous instincts finally made sense it was telling him to RUN.

Sand around boots began to dance. Pebbles hopped. Across the gulch Mia and Thea paused mid-clash, antennae twitching.

Then the ground lurched, a rolling wave of earth like a titanic serpent turning in sleep. Dune crests shivered and collapsed. A thunderous crack split the night, slabs of basalt shearing away.

Every ant stumbled. Kai threw himself sideways as a fissure ripped through the battlefield. It widened with horrifying speed, sable void yawning. Tents, supply crates, three Coatl troopers vanished screaming into darkness.

"The Desert ruler!" someone yelled. "It stirs!"

The quake intensified. Columns splintered; glass shards sprayed as rock ground rock. Cerastis and Coatl forgot their rivalry and scrambled for safety. freēnovelkiss.com

Mia lost footing near the fissure edge; her sabres skittered down the slope. She teetered, arms pinwheeling.

"Mia!" Kai shouted. He dashed, ignoring Darius. A fresh rift opened between them, he hurdled, slammed chest-first onto a trembling ledge and reached out.

Mia’s hands clawed sand, sliding. Kai caught her wrist at last instant, muscles tearing with strain. The cliff lip broke further, dropping them half a body’s length. He anchored spear into shifting gravel, prayed.

Darius watched from safer rock, scorpion sword poised. Hatred twisted his face. He sprinted, leapt toward Kai’s exposed back.

Kai felt the predator tingle but it’s too late to dodge while clinging to Mia. He threw a glance, a green blade flashed under the moon.

Impact never came. The ground beneath all three simply vanished.

A deafening roar, a giant cavern roof giving way to swallowed sound. Kai, Mia, and Darius plummeted amid boulders and cascades of sand.

Mid-air, Kai wrenched Mia close, twisting so his body shielded hers. They struck a sloping sand chute, tumbled, and bounced into darkness. Darius’s scream echoed somewhere to the side.

They slid... slid meters, scores of them until the chute curved upward and spat them onto a ledge inside a colossal subterranean cave. Sand hissed off in river streams. Above, the opening sealed as dune debris poured, drowning moonlight. Night silence fell.

Kai pushed onto hands. Pain screamed from every limb, but nothing felt broken. Mia lay beside, dazed yet breathing.

"Princess?" He shook her shoulder.

Note: Tomorrow is my exam so I can’t write the last bonus Chapter today. Hopefully Saturday, I will upload one extra Chapter.