Chrysalis

It was almost as if Leeroy had died and entered some sort of paradise. Except, frustratingly, she still clung to her mortal shell, along with the other Immortals. Despite this, she revelled in her current existence. The release she sought, the glorious end she strove to experience, had never felt as close as it did now.

As she strode back and forth before the massed ranks of her followers, her chosen sisters, the massive weight of her armour was a comfort bearing down on her carapace. The Immortals were almost shivering with excitement to the point the joints of their armour rattled. They had fought recently, a glorious battle that had pushed them to their limits. The Colony had pulled them back and forced them to wait until their Phoenix Fire organs had recharged, and now they were ready to be sent out once more.

"Are you ready my sisters?" she demanded of the waiting armoured troops. "Are you prepared for the fire that is to come?"

"YES!" they roared as they slapped their antennae against their armour.

"Will your charge never falter? Will you crush the ranks of the enemy?"

"YES!"

"Will you fight until you collapse? Will you fight until the last breath leaves your body?"

"YES!"

"Then, when you are engulfed in cursed flame, will you rise? Will you do it all over again?"

"YES!"

her pheromones billowing around

"WE SEEK!"

IS OUT THERE! IN THE MASSED RANKS OF THE TERMITE

"WE SEEK!"

of them now, each tier five or six, each armoured with a custom, fully enchanted suit of the finest armour the Colony could provide. Every individual represented multiple

Boom. Boom. Boom.

sortied over the last weeks, the battle had been desperate and they

So close.

yearned for from the moment she'd hatched had been within her reach numerous times. Even now, the scent of desperate battle hung heavy in the air. The acrid tang of formic acid, the bitter waft of ichor and the meaty iron of fresh Biomass washed against her antennae as the battle drew closer. Her eyes burned with passion. As she'd told the others, it was out there. They just had

picked up the pace, no longer a stately march, she accelerated to a quicker gate, her legs beginning to eat up the ground and the column behind rose to match her pace. No longer did their tread create a steady beat; instead the noise had elevated to a constant rumble, more like an avalanche

battle lines up ahead. A horde of ravening termites threatened to overwhelm the ant defenders through sheer weight of numbers. A desperate struggle had broken out as the Colony fought

been able to guide their insect slaves through twisted and convoluted paths in the rock, evading detection and penetrating deep into ant territory. The breaches could happen almost anywhere at any time, tunnels crashing open and vomiting thousands of enemy

the hated enemy ignited a primal rage in her gut and Leeroy embraced it. Their elongated mandibles, their strange, alien bodies, with only two segments rather than three,

column accelerated to full speed. The avalanche was no longer

capable of as her Dash

forward from behind them, the still battling ants scrambled to disengage and get out of the way, unleashing potent blasts of acid

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