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!"

she roared, her

"WE SEEK!"

OUT THERE! IN THE MASSED RANKS OF THE

"WE SEEK!"

began to advance. There were almost two hundred 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 tons of pure, righteous ant fury. Their charge began as a walk, the armoured column moving in lock step, the tread of their six legs shaking the ground as they moved as

Boom. Boom. Boom.

the rhythmic drumming of their steps matched the urgent beat of Leeroy's heart. Every time she had sortied over

So close.

end that she had 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

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

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 to retreat

The ka'armodo were cunning and their mastery of magic beyond what the Colony could manage. Using their unknown methods they'd been able to guide their insect slaves through twisted and convoluted paths in the rock, evading detection and penetrating deep into ant territory. The

elongated mandibles, their strange, alien bodies, with only two segments rather than three, and their beady, near sightless eyes. They were unnatural and did not belong in this world.

Immortal column accelerated to full speed. The avalanche was no longer in the

she was normally capable of as her Dash

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

the enemy grew larger and larger in her vision as she lowered her head

moment of impact was like