Before the blade could pierce through the King's abdomen, Maximus swiftly blocked it with his sword. The single act cost him his entire strength – as he gradually felt his body weaken, the assassin who had struck at the King jumped back, suddenly feeling dizzy and strange after their weapons clashed together.
"My vision feels... weird..."
Maximus's legs gave out beneath him and he fell unconscious on the spot. The King moved quickly to catch him by the back, making sure he did not collapse to the cold stone floor. Once he had settled Maximus carefully against a nearby pillar, the King slid the young man's sword back into its scabbard. His eyes then turned to fix directly on their enemy, his expression hard and unyielding.
"This will be the end of your life."
He began to gather his power, preparing to unleash half of his full strength to put a stop to this cycle of murders once and for all. The assassin was struggling to see clearly or stand steady, so they scrambled away to hide behind a tall far-off bookshelf. They managed to stay just out of reach of the King's brutal air force attacks that sliced through the air around them.
"Well... I feel uneasy... I guess... I have to do this myself... now."
From within their cloak, the assassin pulled out a strange potion vial. A worn mark was etched into its surface, with words that read: [Refrain from drinking, Drink when you need it.]
"Well... this is exactly the type of situation I was told to save this for."
They lifted the vial and gulped down its contents in one go. Almost instantly, their body began to feel even more twisted and wrong than before. Sharp bones pushed through their skin to form extra limbs – acting as both arms and legs at once. Multiple eyes began to emerge across their frame, merging and molding together until there were fifty in total. Their chest contorted violently and they let out a scream loud enough to echo like a siren through the vast library halls.
The transformation left them as a raging arthropod creature, standing nearly forty-five meters tall with sixty legs that skittered and scraped against the floor. Patches of their human skin still clung to the monstrous form, though their internal organs were not exposed to the open air – at least not all of them. The heart remained safely tucked inside their chest and continued to beat steadily, but everything else was twisted beyond recognition. Kidneys, intestines, liver, stomach and lungs had all warped into shapes like twisted wet towels, riddled with holes that leaked dark blood and other fluids onto the ground below.
The King stared at the sight before him, a look of deep disgust crossing his features. He could see chunks of flesh, disfigured organs, acidic fluids and thick black ichor seeping out from every crevice of the spider-like beast.
His own mana core began to glow with a bright orange light, taking the shape of a perfect equilateral triangle. With a fluid motion, he drew his kingly longsword – a weapon forged to channel and amplify his destructive wind-based attacks.
"Gosh, I hate fighting insects."
Maximus was still deep in unconsciousness, and the King was quietly glad for it. He did not want the young man to witness the grotesque thing that now stood between them in the grand library.
The arthropod let out a low growl and scuttled forward, raising one massive leg high above its head to crush the King where he stood. But before the attack could land, the King evaded with barely a second to spare. As the creature's leg slammed down onto the stone floor, a deafening sound rang out – like countless blades cutting through solid rock.
The King had already moved in close, his sword moving so fast it was little more than a blur. The arthropod was sliced into thousands of pieces that scattered across the room. The King's eyes immediately locked onto the creature's mana core, glowing dark as obsidian and shaped like a crescent moon. He was about to strike the finishing blow when the scattered pieces of the beast began to pull themselves back together, healing completely in just a matter of moments. The creature's small mouth moved as it spoke, its voice raspy and distorted.
"You are nothing like me."
The arthropod lunged forward with another attack and the King dodged away easily. He knew from years of battle experience that regenerative abilities like this made enemies almost impossible to kill through normal means – he would have to find a way to break the creature's ability to heal itself.
His gaze scanned the room until it fell on a glowing black orb tucked inside the sack Maximus had been carrying at his side. The King moved with incredible speed, snatching the orb and leaping high into the air. He landed lightly on the stone bridge that spanned across the library's upper level, looking down at the beast below.
"You dare to step foot into my kingdom? You will not prevail here."
With all his strength, he threw the weakness orb directly toward the arthropod. The creature, still disoriented and unable to think clearly, did not even attempt to dodge. The orb struck its body and shattered into a million glittering pieces, releasing a thick black smoke that drifted down and seeped into the beast's mana core. Almost immediately, the arthropod staggered back, letting out a guttural cry as dizziness and sickness washed over it once more.
'What the hell? What did that old man do to me this time? Was it that... that orb?!'
The arthropod screamed out in agony and thrashed wildly, gathering what little strength it had left for one final desperate attack. The King stood perfectly still on the bridge above, his eyes calm and focused as he waited for the right moment to act.
"You are formidable in your own way, but when I outsmart you first, defeating you becomes simple."
He raised his sword high and unleashed a single precise air strike. The attack cut clean through the air and split both the arthropod's mana core and its twisted heart into two separate pieces. The creature's massive body immediately went limp, all movement and life draining away as it slowly collapsed to the ground in a heap. It twitched and convulsed for a few final moments before falling completely still.
The King watched from above with a cold, unwavering gaze.
"Too weak."