Chrysalis

Watching Brixin and her two chumps being bathed in the combined firepower of my siblings is certainly entertaining, almost entertaining enough to make me forget that I'm about to land in a world of hurt, but luckily I come back to myself quickly enough to roll over and look down at my waiting pets. To my joy and somewhat to my surprise, Tiny is looking up at me, arms out and face creased with concentration as he repositions himself to attempt the catch.

Please don't stuff this up, big guy, I do not want to end my second life scattered across the rock like an ant that got stepped on. I'm too young and certainly too shiny to go out like that!

Luckily Invidia is on the ball. The brainy demon spins together a series of shields, each one layered atop the other with a metre between. I can even appreciate that he's managed to adjust the strength of each shield so that I'll hit the weaker ones first before smacking into something stronger, thus bleeding off a little more speed each time. The ability of that eyeball to do this at the speed he did it… absolutely astonishing. Just another reminder that the distance between me and a truly dedicated spell slinging monster is rather wide.

Thanks to my efforts with gravity mana, I don't weigh half as much as I normally would, and I have far less force. Even so I crash through the first of Invidia's shields without even feeling them, but the following ones begin to get harder and harder, drawing out a wince of pain as I smack into them. To minimise potential injury, I roll onto my uninjured side and allow the carapace there to take the force, the inner-carapace plating doing a lot of work to disperse the impact. Despite all that, my HP still takes a hit, much like my insides, as I effectively run into wall after wall.

After a dozen of these the ground looms large in my sight and so too does the hairy chest of Tiny which I crash land into, sending the two of us tumbling over the stone. When we finally come to a halt, I've rolled out of the big ape’s grip and come to a stop a few metres away. Tiny has a wide grin on his face and gives me a bold thumbs up, looking so pleased that it takes me a moment to realise his other arm is hanging uselessly by his side.

Why are you looking so happy when your arm is broken?!

With a sigh I spin together some more healing mana and apply it to the big ape. It'll be enough to get him through the short term and kick start the healing process. I'm not nearly as good a medic as someone more dedicated to the art.

[Thanks Tiny. And thank you Invidia. You both did great. Looks like we were successful.]

Above our heads the air is still packed full of explosions, acid, fire, ice, bursts of steam and all sorts of things as the irate Colony continues to unleash their wrath without holding back. To be honest, I don't think Brixin is even there anymore. She probably managed to lift herself above it all a little while back but being exposed to that barrage for even a second or two is going to strip the hide off even a tier seven.

I doubt she's dead, but wherever she is up there, she's

and I'm in no rush to repeat the experience. Around me the ants are beginning to move on from their unending assault on the air above their heads to conquering the city more generally. As the moments tick by, more and more of my siblings stop slinging their anger and ordinance upwards and begin to

tell Vibrant to slow down!" a blast of pheromones billows out from nearby, stinging my

her antennae still swinging wildly as

thought Victor was in

plate. She should be up here

think you're imagining

just another story to add to

"What's that?"

in any

my legs

be able to move about. Won't be all

dealing with Brixin yet. I believe she's been weakened, along with the two tier