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!"

SEARCH FOR IS OUT THERE! IN THE MASSED RANKS OF THE TERMITE YOU CAN FIND YOUR REST! GO AND TAKE

"WE SEEK!"

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

Boom. Boom. Boom.

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

So close.

blazing and climactic 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 drew closer. Her eyes burned with passion. As she'd told the others, it was out

and the column behind rose to match her pace. No

the 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 to retreat as termite reinforcements

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

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. She firmly believed that,

a flick of her antenna the entire Immortal column accelerated to full speed. The avalanche was no longer in the distance, now it

was normally capable of as her Dash

battling ants scrambled to disengage and get out of the way, unleashing potent blasts of

Leeroy lived for. Her soul was on fire. The ranks of the enemy grew larger and larger in her vision

moment of impact was like the detonation