The night had fallen deep over the palace, veiling the world in a silken shade of blue.
On the highest balcony, where the cold wind carried the scent of distant pine, the Emperor walked alone pacing back and forth with deliberate, steady steps.
In his hand, a glass of dark wine swirled lazily. Every few strides, he would tap the rim of the glass with his finger a soft, sharp ting echoing faintly through the stillness. Each sound marked the passing seconds like a silent metronome to his heavy thoughts.
The stars above shimmered coldly. The moon, half veiled behind drifting clouds, cast silvery shadows across the polished floor. The Emperor's robes fluttered lightly in the wind, his expression unreadable storm hidden beneath a mask of calm.
Suddenly, he stopped mid-stride. His eyes, sharp and piercing, shifted toward a corner of the balcony where a figure stood — motionless and silent.
The prince.
Who kept his head bowed low, his fists lightly clenched at his sides as if bracing for whatever would come next.
The Emperor turned fully to him with swift precision, The glass of wine tilted slightly in his hand, but not a single drop spilled.
For a moment, there was only silence heavy, expectant.
The Emperor's voice finally broke it, low and cold,
"Why do you stand there like a guilty man, when you have yet to answer for anything? Where are they?"
"Your Majesty…..who?"
The Emperor's eyes glinted sharply under the moonlight.
Daita and your attendant…what's his name again?"He tapped the rim of the glass once more, "Ah, yes. Zuzu…Where are they?"
The prince slowly raised his head shaking it slightly, answering with measured calm,
"Zuzu… I sent him away, Your Majesty.
He would have tried everything to disrupt my punishment. And as for Daita… I don't know. He hasn't—"
"Lies."
The Emperor's voice cracked like a whip across the balcony. In one sharp step, he closed the distance between them, the force of his presence enough to make the very air seem heavier.
"Lies," he repeated, his tone low but seething.
"How easily you lie, Akira… without even a flicker of nervousness."
The prince stiffened, his mouth opening slightly as he tried to respond,
"Your Majesty, I—"
But the Emperor turned away sharply, swirling the wine in his glass with a harsh motion.
"Punishment?" he scoffed under his breath, voice laced with disdain. "That's exactly why I called you here tonight."
The Emperor's back remained turned, but his words lashed out with all the force of a sword, "Tell me, Akira… How dare you go against my orders?
Again. And again."
His grip on the glass tightened. "You unsealed your spiritual power before your punishment was over. You thought I wouldn't notice it?!"
The stars above flickered coldly as the weight of his anger pressed down like an iron chain.
Meanwhile, Daita stared, eyes wide. "It… has transformed."
The creature that loomed before him was no longer a man no longer anything near human. A grotesque spider twice the size it had been before now crouched on jagged legs, its massive, bloated body glistening with thick fur and slick webs. Its eight gleaming eyes pulsed violet. Venom, black as ink with a shimmer of deep purple, dripped steadily from its dagger-like fangs… and now from the sharp, curling tips of each of its legs.
Astra's breath caught as her knees buckled.
Her eyes glazed, her skin turned chalk-white. Behind her lashes, the faint shimmer of her soul flickered half-leaving her body in terror.
"What… what just happened?" she stammered, her voice cracking, barely a whisper against the buzzing silence. "What is that?!"
Before she could scream, Daita launched forward, his blue-glowing spear flashing like lightning.
He clashed with the spider's front legs, his blade scraping against their armor-like surface, sparks flying with every strike. The creature let out a hissing screech that pierced the trees, shaking the mist from their branches. Its legs shot forward four at once striking from all directions like whips. Daita twisted, ducked, rolled, avoiding them and not letting it stab him.
The spider's body spun, launching a strand of glowing silk toward Astra.
She stood frozen eyes wide, body unmoving.
"ASTRA!" Daita roared, and in a flash, he lunged, catching her by the waist and yanking her aside just in time. The silk splattered against the ground, sizzling and burning the earth where she had stood.
"What are you doing?!" he growled, shaking her. "Go hide behind that tree! I have to kill it before it kills us!"
Astra blinked as if waking from a nightmare, her lip trembling.
"I—I—"
"Now MOVE!" Daita barked, his tone leaving no room for argument.
He shoved her toward the grove of trees just as another leg came spearing down. It missed them by inches, cracking the stone floor beneath.
Astra stumbled back, clutching her chest, then turned and ran, to hide behind the nearest trunk as Daita spun to face the monster once more blood trickling from his shoulder, his eyes burning with fire.
Behind the tree trunk, Astra crouched low, her hands pressed against the bark, trying to steady her breathing. Her chest heaved with each ragged inhale, the air thick with the stench of venom and scorched ground. But her eyes never left Daita.
He moved like a storm blue light trailing from his spear, his feet barely touching the earth as he twisted and struck. The giant spider shrieked in fury, webbing flying like bolts of lightning, legs stabbing down in unpredictable patterns. Daita dodged one, slashed another, rolled beneath a third.
She could see it. His breath coming faster, his shoulder bleeding, his arm shaking just slightly with each thrust of the spear.
Astra's fingers curled around the edge of the trunk, nails digging into the bark. She wanted to help, but what could she do? Her spirit trembled. Her body still remembered the vision of that monstrous form. She had never seen anything so horrible… so deadly.
Then, it happened.
Daita turned mid-swing and the spider had vanished out of sight.
His eyes narrowed. "Where did it go?!"
He glanced around, body tense, spear raised.
Astra's breath caught in her throat she could see it.
Behind him, from the trees. The spider had camouflaged itself the shimmer of its form just barely visible to her from her angle. It was crouching high above, coiled and ready to strike down on Daita's unguarded back.
"Daita!" she screamed without thinking.
And then she ran.
Her body moved before her mind could stop her leaping from behind the tree, straight into the battlefield.
Daita spun in surprise. "ASTRA, NO!"
But she had already thrown herself between him and the descending leg.
A sharp, bone-piercing sting.
Astra's scream tore through the night as one of the spider's poison-tipped legs sliced into her side, the venom instantly burning through her veins. She crumpled forward, collapsing into Daita's arms.
"Astra!" Daita caught her before she hit the ground, his eyes wild with horror.
The spider screeched in rage furious its strike had missed its intended target. But Daita was no longer listening.
His gaze dropped to Astra's pale, pain-wracked face… and the purple-black wound blooming across her side.
Daita's chest heaved as he held Astra in his arms. His mind was a haze of panic and fury, her blood seeping through his fingers. His jaw clenched, and something inside him snapped.
The venom was already taking hold of her—he could see it in her eyes, the way her pupils trembled, the way her body shuddered from the poison's onslaught. It was now or never.
Daita's grip tightened around her, but his gaze was fixed on the spider, which was now skittering back to its original position, poised for another attack. His fingers clenched into fists, his teeth gritted.
"No more."
He slowly rose to his feet, Astra's limp form supported against his chest. His mind raced with thoughts, thoughts of his mission, thoughts of everything at once. He was done with hesitation. The time had come to end this.
He stepped back, his foot crashing into the ground like a thunderclap. His body tensed, every muscle drawing together as he began to channel all his spiritual energy into a single, concentrated force. The every mana he had absorbed surged through him, the air crackling with intensity as his very being became a vessel of power.
His eyes, filled with burning hate, focused solely on the spider.
"This is the end," Daita muttered under his breath, barely a whisper over the crackling energy gathering around him.
The world seemed to freeze for a moment. He raised his arm, his fingers twitching with barely contained energy, and with one sweeping motion, he spun around, his whole body an extension of the force that swirled around him.
He hurled the spear not with brute force, but with all the precision and spiritual strength he had left.
The blue aura around the spear began to flicker, glowing brighter as it cut through the air. But it didn't stay blue for long. The aura shifted turning fiery red, then sparking with brilliant tendrils of lightning that surged through the air. It became a storm contained in a single projectile, a bolt of fury aimed directly at the demon.
The spear struck like a thunderstrike, its force like nothing the creature had ever encountered. It pierced the spider's massive, venomous body, the momentum carrying it clean through and beyond.
The trees around them splintered as the force of the spear's strike ripped through them, the shockwave tearing apart dozens of ancient trees in its path. The spider's shriek of pain echoed through the forest, but it was drowned out by the sheer power of the impact.
The creature's body was torn apart, the intense energy that had been imbued into the spear consuming it from within. The air around the spider shimmered as the spear's fury ignited the monster's flesh, turning it to ash and embers, its grotesque form consumed in the raging flames that followed.
Daita stood still, his chest rising and falling with each strained breath. The battle was over.
He watched in silence as the last remnants of the spider burned, its body disintegrating into a pile of blackened ash. The forest around him was eerily quiet, the only sound being the distant crackling of the fire and the wind rustling through the remains of the trees.
The air smelled faintly of charred wood and burning venom. His eyes shifted to Astra, still cradled in his arms, her body trembling, but he couldn't afford to relax yet. Not yet.