Vivienhe way deeper into the byrinthine halls, her footsteps eerily silee the stoh her feet. The air grew heavier with each step, thick with the mingling sts of sweat, steel, aher. She she air, tasting the faint traces of dawher that seemed to g to the walls like an unseen mist.

  Renzia followed closely behind, her movements poised and deliberate. Her red hair gleamed faintly in the dim light, her needles at the ready, refleg her quiet vigihe two wandered for a time, weaving through the endless corridors and passing rooms in varying states of disrepair. Some were empty and decayed, while others bore the strange, discertihey’d seen before, as if retly teo by unseen hands.

  Eventually, the muffled sounds of voices and shuffling footsteps reached Vivienne’s ears. She raised a hand to halt Renzia and pressed herself against the cold stone wall. Peering around the er, she spotted a rge gathering of soldiers—nearly a dozen in all. Among them stood several robed figures, their attire immediately reizable as the clergy of Aegis. Their presence made the orb’s influence all the more palpable; it seemed to radiate off them in waves.

  Vivienne’s grin widened, her cws flexing eagerly at her sides. “Well, this is promising,” she whispered. “Shall we introduce ourselves, dear?”

  Renzia tilted her head slightly, needles glinting ominously in the faint light as she stepped into position beside Vivienne.

  Without warning, Vivienne lunged into the open, her cws tearing into the soldier before they could react. The man’s scream was cut short as she ripped him apart in a spray of blood, her movements fluid and precise. Chaos erupted as the soldiers scrambled to draw their ons, their shouted orders filling the air.

  The priests began ting, the glow of dawher coalesg into swirling orbs around their hands. Renzia moved swiftly, her form a blur of motion as she darted through the fray. She leaped onto one of the priests, her needles plunging into his throat before he could finish his intation.

  Another soldier swung his bde at Vivienne, but she caught it effortlessly in her cws, the metal screeg as she twisted it out of his grip and drove her other hand through his chest. She tossed his lifeless body aside like a ragdoll and turned her attention to a priest attempting to summon a barrier. With a feral growl, she charged him, her cws slig through the shimmering shield as if it were nothing. The priest’s expression of terror was short-lived as Vivienne silenced him with a swipe that nearly decapitated him.

  The battle raged on, but the resistance was futile. Vivienne and Renzia moved like predators in their element, their bination of brute ford surgical precision overwhelming the cluster of soldiers and clergy. Within moments, the room was littered with broken bodies, the air thick with the st of blood aher.

  Vivienne licked the blood from her cws, her grin never fading. “They’re certainly putting up more of a fight,” she mused, stepping over the remains of a fallen soldier. “That must mean we’re getting closer.”

  Renzia nodded silently, her head tilting toward a nearby corridor. The fai sounds of muffled voices and movement echoed from beyond.

  “Good girl,” Vivienne said, her voice dripping with anticipation. “Let’s see who else is home, shall we?”

  Vivienhe way deeper into the byrinthine corridors of the keep, her steps nguid but purposeful, the blood on her ashen skin beginning to dry into darkened smears. Renzia followed close behind, her movements sharp and deliberate, the gleam of her needles promising swift death to any who crossed their path.

  The oppressive air thied as they tinued, and the sound of footsteps and muffled voices echoed faintly ahead. Vivienne’s grin widened as she motioned for Renzia to slow. “Looks like a weling party,” she whispered.

  They rounded another er and came to a wide, open hall. A rger group of soldiers stood clustered he far end, their ons drawn and shields raised. Among them were robed clergy, their hands glowing with the telltale radiance of dawher.

  Vivienne’s grin faded slightly, her bck eyes narrowing. “Finally, a bit of a challenge,” she murmured, her voice tinged with mock excitement. “Let’s not disappoint them.”

  The soldiers spotted the pair and began to advan formation, shields locked together as the robed figures behind them started ting. Vivienne lunged forward with a feral growl, her cws striking against the first shield with enough force to send the soldier reeling backward. The csh of steel and the hum of aether filled the air as chaos erupted.

  Renzia darted to the side, her fluid movements a stark trast to the rigid formation of the soldiers. Her needles sliced through armor and flesh with surgical precision, taking advantage of the gaps Vivienne’s brute force created.

  One of the priests fiheir t, and a searing bolt of light shot toward Vivienne, grazing her side and leaving a sm wound. She hissed in pain, her grin twisting into a snarl.

  “Renzia!” she barked, her voice sharp. The mannequin was already moving, her needles fshing as she silehe offending priest before they could cast again.

  But the remaining clergy proved more coordiheir voices rising in unison as they began a rger intation. The air shimmered with golden light, f a barrier that the soldiers quickly fell behind.

  Vivienne sneered, her cws raking against the barrier to no effect. The wound on her side throbbed, slowing her movements. “Clever little rats,” she muttered, gng at Renzia. “Distract them. I’ll deal with the barrier.”

  Renzia nodded, her movements a blur as she darted into the fray, drawing the soldiers’ attention. Vivienne focused on the barrier, her cws digging into the aether-ced energy. It resisted her, the light burning against her flesh, but she pressed harder, her frustration building.

  Finally, with a surge of raw power, Vivieore through the barrier, the golden light shattering like gss. She stumbled slightly, panting as the exertio her momentarily vulnerable.

  The soldiers hesitated, their formation breaking at the sight of their shattered defense. Vivieraightened, her griurning as she stalked toward them. “Oh you are so fucked, darlings.”

  With an uling crad a low growl, Vivienne’s form began to shift. Her bowisted audibly, and sineed before ref as her body elongated. Additional limbs sprouted grotesquely from her sides, sharp and spindly, their jagged edges gleaming uhe faint light. Her lower half stretched unnaturally, dividing into the eight articuted legs of her drider form, the joints clig with a sound that sent shivers through the room. Her torso swelled into a hardened, chitinous abdomen, bck as obsidian and faintly pulsing with an inner glow. Her grin widened into something utterly inhuman, revealing jagged, needle-like teeth. Her bck eyes gleamed with sadistic delight as she loomed over the now-panicked soldiers and clergy.

  The transformation itself was enough to shatter the fidence of the gathered knights. They hesitated, ons wavering, while the clergy stumbled in their ting, the words of their invocation faltering as terror took root.

  Vivienne chuckled, her voice distorted into a guttural rasp. “Run if you like,” she purred, her cws flexing hungrily. “It will only make the hunt more fun.”

  One knight screamed, his nerve breaking as he turo flee. It was a mistake. Vivienne pounced with unnerving speed, one of her razor-sharp legs shing out and impaling him through the spine. His scream ended abruptly as she flung his lifeless body into the soldiers behind him, sending them sprawling.

  “Cowards,” she hissed, venom dripping from her tone.

  The captain of the knights barked an order, and the remaining soldiers formed up, shields log together as they advanced in a disciplined phanx. Their halberds jutted flinting with an unnatural light that hi the aetheritments they bore.

  Vivieilted her head, chittering softly as if mog their resolve. “Adorable. Let’s see how long that sts.”

  Her abdomen pulsed, and with a sharp hiss, she sprayed a web of shimmering threads. The sticky strands spread out in a wide arc, catg several of the advang soldiers in mid-stride. Their ons cttered to the ground as they struggled against the adhesive, their movements growing more desperate with each passing sed.

  The captain snarled, his halberd glowing brighter as he swung it in a wide arc, slig through the webbing with an effortful grunt. “Hold the line!” he shouted, rallying his men. “Bring it down!”

  Vivienne hissed, her bck eyes narrowing as she observed the captain’s defiance. “Admirable,” she rasped mogly. “But hopeless.”

  Before the soldiers could regroup, she skittered up the wall with unnerving speed, her cws digging into the stone as she maneuvered above them. Her elongated shadow loomed over the group, casting them into a foreboding gloom. The knights shifted uneasily, their eyes darting upward as they tried to predict her move.

  Without warning, Vivienne dropped from the ceiling, her legs extended like deadly spears. She nded directly in the ter of their formation, the impact sending shockwaves through the ground. The force aloaggered the knights, and her serrated limbs impaled two of them instantly. Their blood sprayed across their rades as she ripped her legs free with a wet squelch.

  "Is this your best?" Vivieaunted, her voice thick with sadistic glee. "Surely Skoll Rathik afford better guards than this."

  The soldiers roared in unison, their anger overriding their fear as they surged forward. One knight swung his halberd, aiming for Vivienne’s exposed abdomen. She twisted with serpentine grace, avoiding the bde by a hair’s breadth. Her cws retaliated in a savage arc, cleaving through his armor and sending him crumpling to the ground.

  Another soldier luhis time from behind. Viviened too te—his bde plunged into one of her spindly legs, severing it ly. She let out a shriek of pain, stumbling slightly as bck ichor poured from the wound. The captain seized the opportunity, charging forward with his halberd raised high.

  Vivienne braced herself, her remaining limbs digging into the floor as she prepared to ter. But instead of engaging directly, she spun her abdomen again, releasing another burst of sticky webbing. The silken strands shot toward the captain, tangling his legs and arms as he brought his on down. He fell to his knees with a grunt, struggling furiously against the restraints.

  "Persistent," Vivienne hissed, her griurnie her injuries. "But futile."

  The clergy had not been idle during the chaos. Their ting reached a fever pitch as a sphere of dawher materialized above them, its radiant glow intensifying with each passing sed. Vivienne’s grin faltered as she felt the oppressive heat of the energy building. She luoward them, her cws outstretched, but the knights blocked her path, f a desperate shield wall.

  The orb burst forth in a blinding wave of light, the force of it smming into Vivienne like a battering ram. She was thrown backward, her body crashing into the wall with a siing ch. Her abdomen cracked uhe impact, and two more of her legs shattered, leaving her writhing on the ground.

  For a moment, the soldiers and clergy thought they had won. They advanced cautiously, their ons ready to finish her off. But Vivienne’s rasping ughter stopped them cold.

  "You think... that’s enough?" she wheezed, her voice ced with malice. She pnted her cws firmly into the ground, dragging herself upright. Her once-fluid movements were now jerky, her mutited form trembling with the effort. Yet her eyes burned with uing fury. "You’ll have to try harder."

  Renzia stepped forward from the shadows, her crimson drills boung lightly as she moved with meical precision. She darted past the knights, her needles glinting as she severed the tendons in their legs and arms, toppling them like puppets with their strings cut.

  The knights crumbled under Renzia's precise strikes, their ons cttering uselessly to the ground. Her movements were eerily smooth, each step calcuted as she weaved between their faltering defenses. Despite her ck of facial features, there was an unspokeermination in her as, her needles glinting like fangs in the dim light.

  Vivienne gritted her teeth, her cws scraping against the floor as she steadied herself. Her body ached, her ichor poolih her as she forced her broken form to move. She was far from defeated. "That’s my girl," she rasped, her griurning, though it was now tinged with both pain and pride.

  One of the knights roared, swinging his halberd in a desperate arc aimed at Renzia’s exposed side. She twirled away with an unnatural fluidity, her frame bending in ways that should have been impossible. Her needle pierced his shoulder ialiation, severing the joint with a siing crack. The mao his knees, clutg at the useless limb as Vivienne lunged past him, her cws finishing what Renzia had started.

  The remaining clergy regrouped, their ting resuming with renewed urgency. Another sphere of dawher began to form, its glow casting long, flickering shadows across the age. Vivienne s the sight, her bck eyes narrowing. “Not this time.”

  Her cws struck the ground with a thunderous crack, propelling her forward in a burst of speed. The clergy barely had time to react as she closed the distance, her cws slig through their defensive formation. One mao unleash a desperate bst of aether that seared across her side, burning deep into her flesh. The acrid smell of charred ichor filled the air, and Vivieaggered but did not stop.

  She hissed, her cws crushing the orb of light mid-formation, shattering it into harmless shards. She whipped her abdomen around, releasing a cascade of silk that enshe remaining priests, sileng their ts as she dragged them toward her one by one.

  From behind her, a knight lunged, his bde aimed at her exposed back. Renzia intercepted with an acrobatic leap, her needles embedding in the knight’s chest. She twisted them with a flick of her wrist, the motion and final. The knight’s body crumpled, his on g to the ground.

  Vivieore through the st of the clergy with brutal efficy, her cws a whirlwind of destru. Yet her movements were slower now, each strike costing her more energy. A soldier’s spear caught her in the abdomen, the bde pierg deep before she ripped it free, r in fury.

  Her body sagged as the st enemy fell, her legs barely supp her weight. She shifted bato her prime form with a pained gasp, her bloodied, battered figure heaving as she caught her breath.

  Renzia stepped beside her, silent support. Vivienne g the mannequin, her lips curling into a weak grin. “Well... that was lively. If this is the wele party, I ’t wait to meet the host, but I think I need a quiack before we go.”

  SupernovaSymphony