Civilization

"Kingston, what does he mean by the queen?" - Devel

"Oh my god… There is no way…" - Kingston

Turning toward me, Devel's face showed a hint of confusion. However, I wasn't confused. I knew exactly what he meant, and I was terrified. How long has it been since we met her? Since she came down and attacked us in the forest, inflicting her curse upon Ian. Gulping down my saliva, I shook my head as I look at Devel.

"The queen he is referring to is the Queen of Spiders, Selino, a General for the Horde and also the reason he has spider legs on his back. I can only assume the reason for his sudden outburst is related to the curse which is affecting him. Ian has told me that there was a timer on his curse and as the timer goes down, he has become more and more spider-like. Well, looking at him, there does seem to be an extra set of eyes and legs." - Kingston

"He has also become a lot stronger compared to before. Does he get a damage boost or a stat upgrade when the curse timer goes down?" - Devel

"Not sure, I think there were times when he grew stronger exponentially, but this looks very different. I think he might have acquired a new skill or something." - Kingston

Stomping off the ground and cracking the surroundings, Ian leaps toward us. Instinctively, both of us separated, as Ian zooms in between us bouncing off the ground once more, as his spear pierces the space next to Devel. Kicking Ian in the chest, Devel backflips away from Ian but in the middle of the flip, Ian accelerates thrusting his spear at Devel's chest.

Knocking the spear to the side with his sword, Devel lands on his feet and immediately swings at Ian, gripping the handle with two hands. Bursting around his sides with pinpoint accuracy, Ian's spider legs stop the attack mid-swing. Flying in to help, I attack Ian with my trident, but with a single glance in my direction, he tumbles in the air rolling under me and punching my stomach.

Unable to block the attack, I feel his fist break through the chest plate and hit my flesh. Gritting my teeth, I flap my wings downward aggressively, blasting me up into the air as pieces of my armor fall to the ground. Spinning down, Ian's spider legs repeatedly strike at Devel, aiming for his legs and arms, forcing Devel to take a step back. However, a few of those strikes hit their target and small cuts can be seen on Devel's skin.

"Fierna, Belial, any thoughts on how to defeat Ian? He is obviously faster and stronger than before but his reflexes and flexibility have also improved greatly. There was no way he would have been able to fight like that before. " - Kingston

"Just attack him and kill him? Why are you overthinking this?" - Belial

"Belial is right, I'm sure you win against him if you use everything." - Fierna

"But not even Devel is beating Ian… Isn't that kind of strange?" - Kingston

"Didn't that person attack both you and Ian before Ian turned evil?" - Fierna

"Ah… He is waiting on his cooldowns. Alright, I just attack him with all I got. Fierna, can you help me?" - Kingston

"I would be happy to help." - Fierna

"Alright then, prepare to come out! Seal of Fierna!" - Kingston

Bursting out from the back of my palm, a gorgeous beauty flies out wrapping thin flames around her body as she lunges down toward Ian and Devel. Conjuring a flame sword in her hands she slams the ground in between them, sending a wave of fire in all directions. Diving behind her while thrusting my trident at Ian, I hit his spider leg as it attempts to block my attack, creating a small explosion that sends cracks along the leg.

Looking at Ian up close, I see that his eyes were bloodshot as he stares at me. Pushing me away with his legs, his focus turns toward Feirna who is giggling beside him, slashing and swinging her flame sword at Ian. Dancing around her attacks, Ian nimbly positions himself on her right, giving him an opportunity to strike at Fierna's flank, but she smirks as she ducks down.

Jumping over her body, Devel's sword slices through the air, aiming for Ian's neck. Spinning his spear up such that it was vertical, Ian stabs it into the ground penetrating into the floor. Just in time for the sword to connect with the body of the spear, pushing Ian to the left as he takes the full force of the attack. Stopping his momentum, Ian uses his lower spider legs to pierce into the ground.

Unfortunately for him, the momentum was so strong that his lower spider legs snaps from the force. After traveling for quite some distance, Ian turns toward us but to his surprise, Fierna is already next to him, grinning like a child as her sword slashes at Ian's body. Leaping into the air, Ian abandoned his weapon as he narrowly dodges the attack, with only the tips of his fringe burning.

Licking her lips, Fierna creates a pair of flame wings, eyeing Ian as he repositions himself midair. Flying toward him, I attack with my trident, forcing Ian to tumble in the air to deflect my attack, but I was only the decoy. Fierna leaps into the air, accelerating with the help of her wings as she slashes upward, cutting the rest of Ian's spider legs as well as his left arm.  With the crackling of electricity, Devel also attacks at the same time, flashing forward and redirecting his dash midair slashing cleanly through Ian's legs.

Blood rains down from the sky as Ian screams as he falls to the ground. Unable to protect himself, he lands with a thud creating a small dust cloud. Flashing back to the ground, Devel lets out a small sigh of relief, glancing at Fierna and me, who float down calmly. We stand somewhat far away from the crash site, observing the situation, waiting for the dust to clear, so we can see what happened to Ian.

Seconds passed and then minutes as the dust cloud eventually dissipates. With a sharp inhale, I see Ian standing on his two legs as his left arm regenerates visibly. His spider legs drop to the ground as new ones replace them. Throwing his head back, he cracks his neck before looking at us once more.

Blood-red eyes stare at us menacingly, but that is only the start. Crawling up from his neck were small black spiders that cover his skin, reaching from his right fingers to across half of his face. They crawl and scatter around, but never going past half of his body, eventually crawling down his right leg, before stopping once they reached his feet.

Shivers run down my spine as I grimace at the sight of what seems to be hundreds of spiders crawling along his skin, but then I notice that these spiders were different. A flash of memory appears in my head, is that the spider tattoo on Ian's back? Having no idea what that would mean for us, I only grip my trident harder as I activate Sand Armor which covers my defenseless body with the surrounding dirt.

"This is going to be troublesome… I'm sensing a power that is a lot stronger than what we were previously fighting. The only difference I can see is the spiders on his body, and they only cover half of his body. Not sure if I want to find out how strong he will become if the spiders cover all of his body." - Fierna

"I'm guessing this is part of the curse that Kingston was talking about and are you our ally now, demon?" - Devel

"I'm only a temporary ally to you, sweetie." - Fierna

"I'm guessing it is part of the curse as well, but I have no information about this. I have no idea how strong Ian will become, and it seems cutting off his arms and legs or even his spider legs will do nothing to him. If we want to stop him, we need to kill him and one of those ways is to attack his chest, neck, or head." - Kingston

"No shit Sherlock, I think all of us know how to kill someone. At least we have stalled enough time, I have everything I need to all out on Ian now.  So, let's attack him with all that we have before we die." - Devel

"No problem from me, sweetie. I'm just getting started with my attacks." - Fierna

"Alright then, let's attack him all at once, kill him by all means. Blade of Fire! Demon Servant!" - Kingston

Conjuring a flame blade, much like Fierna, I feel the warm hilt in my hand as a small demon is summoned from a black portal in front of me. The black Imp looks at me before flying up and around my body positioning on my shoulder. Grinning sinisterly, it waves its small arms around enveloping both my trident and my flame sword and a blackish aura. Looking at the both of them beside me, I yell at the top of my lungs.

"Alright, ATTACK!" - Kingston